By Joshua Shea
In the last few years, I’ve noticed as I age, I become more open to alternative ideas when it comes to maintaining health. Yes, anybody can go to the gym and take vitamins, but I’ve always believed that there is an unexplained organic bond between all living things.
People have told me this is a spiritual way of looking at the world, but I disagree. As someone who strongly favors science over sorcery, I’ve found myself laughing at faith healers, but taking a stronger look at the world of alternative and holistic medicine.
I appreciate the fact that there is a scientific basis behind most alternative and holistic healthcare options, but also appreciate the fact that modern science may not have the tools to quantify the benefits.
If you bust up your leg, you can take pills to quell the pain. You can have an operation. Relief is expected. What about when you don’t take the generally accepted scientific way of doing things? If it works, does it make it any less legitimate?
As somebody who is a “show me, don’t tell me,” kind of person, I recently booked my first Reiki (pronounced Ray-kee) session with Sandra Maguire, Reiki Master Level III Practitioner at Holistic Pathways Yoga and Healing Center in Gorham.
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I’m open minded enough to allow alternative medicine to work, but skeptical enough to keep my BS detector tuned-in to any chicanery.
Maybe it was the end of a long week. Maybe the barometric pressure was dropping as the impending storm was near. Maybe I just needed some “me time.” Whatever it was, this stuff worked.
Reiki is a Japanese word for “universal life force energy” which flows through all living beings. It’s an ancient science that was rediscovered in the late 19th century. There is no dogma associated or spiritual belief needed, just an acceptance of the energy that flows from practitioner to client.
“You don’t have to believe that Reiki will work for it to work,” Sandra explained to me. “Reiki is a natural system of healing that uses the practitioner as a facilitator, or conduit, to direct energy for the clients body to receive. The body knows how to heal itself, and will use the energy as it is needed. Therefore, the client himself/herself is the healer, and I am assisting that process.”
The theory makes enough sense to me. You’ve seen people who have a self-imposed dark cloud over their head. Conversely, positive thinkers with good attitudes seem to get the most of out of life. Is this scientific? I don’t know how to measure it, but having seen it enough times, there
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certainly seems to be something to it. Energy is everywhere and it seems that if we can make magnets dance around, we can learn to harness human energy.
I’ve talked to naysayers since my appointment, telling them that while my chronic knee pain isn’t magically healed, I felt more relaxed and calm after my session than I have in a long time, including after traditional massage.
My guess is that my open mind may want to see something that’s not there, but conversely, I think their closed mind wouldn’t allow them to see something, even when it is there.
“There is no traditional medical treatment that works for everyone, or has a 100 percent success rate. The same is true for Reiki and other alternative therapies. For example, chemotherapy, surgery, psychotherapy, and pharmaceuticals all produce different outcomes for each patient, and they are not always completely effective. That is why it is so beneficial for people to consider a combination of traditional and alternative therapies to be used together,” said Sandra.
While the non-believers may still have a lack of hardcore scientific evidence to point to for the benefits of Reiki, those days may be numbered, according to Sandra.
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“There are several studies that have been done and are being done to measure the benefit patients of all kinds receive from treatment with Reiki, as well as other forms of energy work. These modalities work at such a subtle energy level that it is hard to measure that energy, but outcomes are commonly measured by a reduction of pain, depression, and fatigue, for example. Additionally, nurses right here at Maine Medical Center and other local hospitals are trained in Reiki to provide pre- and post-operative support. This is a great testimonial to the influence Reiki has on reducing anxiety and pain, and inducing a relaxation response,” she said.
I may have slept; I was actually a little embarrassed to ask in our post-session conversation. I have explored various modes of relaxation, stress-relieving and healthcare options in articles through the years, and be it a reflexologist or a massage therapist, I always promise them, and myself, I’ll be back, but my hectic life gets in the way. I don’t think that’s going to happen here. Following the session with Sandra, my wife asked about the results. It was when I told her that I’d pick Reiki over a massage that I recognized it had made a lasting impression and I look forward to the next time I can lay down, focus on breathing, and receive the energy of a Reiki treatment, whether anyone else wants to believe or not.
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