Reiki and Autism

One client of mine was a teenage boy of 11 years of age who had autism and teretts syndrome. He had recently been diagnosed at the B.C childrens hospital and had a particularly bad case of teretts where he had a bad facial tick.His mother attended all the sessions with him.
She had mentioned that he was getting quite violent at school and home and would start to attack other children and even his mother a few times. This was part of his behaviour with the teretts and the autism. When I asked the boy he said that he was trying so hard to control his facial tick, as he would get teased and felt uncomfortable at school. But unfortunately,by bottling up and holding himself back, by the end of the schoolday he was ready to explode as he couldn't control his tick any longer. I really felt for the boy and how much he felt affected by his condition, he was quite aware of himself. The mother had mentioned that he had been put on medication, for a few days, but he took himself of them .They wanted to try something alternative.
The first session the boy greeted me with a big smile and said "I have been waitng for this"after asking him a few questions about his behaviour, he said he did not like what he was doing.He wanted  to try and help himself. The boy was very open to the Reiki session. I started out by getting him to lay down on the massage bed, then used reiki to calm him down. His body was quite tense and twitchy. Interestingly as  I scanned his body I went to his head and I could feel a buzzing energy around it. I placed my hands on their for a while. When I mentioned it to the boy, he said he could feel it, and then said " I felt an energy shift", to my amazement at that moment the boy, blew a puff of air out of his mouth. I asked him if he is o.k and he said it was a air packet from his head. I could feel the energy had shifted and he commented my head is calm now.
The boy them placed my hand over the same spot on his head and said " hold my head" . He actually had a smile on his face and was very relaxed. He mentioned that his tick was not happening and said how happy he was about that. He told me that was the first time in ages, that his facial tick had completely stopped. I was so happy for him.This was a big ordeal for him, he said he felt good and calm.
I continued with the session for about 20 minutes longer after the inital hands on his head. By the time I was finished he was fast asleep and asked me if he could come again. It was a priveledge to work with him, he was very responsive to the sessions.

Reiki and Stress

Stress seems to be a normal part of our lives, but when it is experienced over a long period of time, there may be detrimental effects to our health.
Working long hours, family obligations, traffic jams, financial issues, not eating nutritious food can all create extra stress in our lives, and eventually create imbalances in our physical, emotional and mental health.By realizing that we are stressed out, we have a choice to manage it through stress reduction techniques such as reiki, yoga and exercise or eliminate  the stressful situation. Reiki has been found to be very beneficial in assisting in stress reduction and relaxation, by activating the bodies ability to heal itself on all levels, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Reiki an ancient form of Japanese healing, a subtle form of energy  work, that works with  the universal life force energy or (reiki) . The reiki practitioner allows the universal life force energy to flow through their hands and to their client, which assists in activating the healing response in the clients body. It is powerful, gentle and non-invasive, reiki can assist the body  to return to balance and promote health and well-being by increasing the levels of life force energy in the body. Many clients have found that by experiencing reiki sessions, their  symptoms of anxiety, digestive disorders, insomnia, chronic stress were greatly reduced and some relieved after a few sessions of reiki. Some clients commented how
they could feel the tension melt as they felt the heat of the reiki energy moving through their bodies. The most successful techniques  to relieve stress has been placing the hands on the head, as we hold a lot of tension and stress here, heart as this is we store our emotional memories, stomach, solar plexus area, is a place where we hold a lot of tension, stress and worry and then lower abdomen, bringing us more in touch with our bodies and emotions.
There has been research done in the area of reiki and it’s effect on stress .
A study by  Annie Goldman Shore Ph.D on ‘Long term effects of energetic healing (reiki) on psychological depression and self perceived stress’
Published May/June 2004,Volume 10, No.3 issue of  Alternative Therapies Magazine.
The study concluded that after six sessions of reiki, it was very effective in relieving symptoms of  both stress and depression. Re-testing a year later, showed that the positive results of the six reiki sessions remained intact.
The hospital community is starting to recognize the benefits of reiki and it’s effects on relieving stress and anxiety and continue to do studies in this area.
In England there are some hospitals who employ reiki practitioners to work with patients pre and post operative, understanding the positive healing benefits it has on patients.
Reiki is truly a beneficial way of transforming stress into relaxation and balance and to enhance well-being and positive energy .