The First Time I Felt the Energy Flow. {poetry}
There are times in our lives, events that happen to us, years we live through, that can lead us to grow and change exponentially.
They help explain and define us; they sculpt us into the person we are.
Several years ago, a chance occurrence on a trip to India infused me with a desire to find out more about the healing art of Reiki. On a long boat trip between two cities, I witnessed someone who had suffered an accident being given Reiki. I was amazed when I saw how quickly she healed. When I returned home, I immediately ordered all the books available in the library system and started reading.
After a few months, I found a teacher who had a Reiki class that I could join. After the class, I had what some people have since told me sounded like a kundalini experience when my energy channel opened — sensations I attempt to describe in the poem below.
We were taught that anyone with the desire to heal themselves and/or others, and the belief that this is possible, can be given an attunement and shown how to practice Reiki. It can be given to yourself, to others, to animals, to nature, and even to situations. The person giving Reiki is a channel through which universal energy passes to the person receiving.
Reiki has been shown to strengthen the immune system, facilitate better digestion and sleep, alleviate pain and stress, detoxify, lessen inflammation, speed recovery, and give a sense of calm and wellbeing.
Using the hands as a conduit for energy has a long history, going back to healing formulas found in ancient Sanskrit texts in the second and first centuries and earlier. Reiki was brought to light and to the knowledge of the modern world by a scholar of religious texts and teacher in Japan, Mikao Usui. Several decades later, Reiki spread to the United States and to other countries.
The amazing thing is that the Reiki energy goes to whatever area of the receiver that needs healing — physical, emotional, or mental. Also, Reiki works exceptionally well with traditional medical treatments, and it can do no harm. I have had a few experiences, both giving and receiving, where to my astonishment the issue was resolved during or right after the treatment, what truly feels like a miracle.
While I am giving Reiki, another marvelous gift is that I am also filled with the healing energy. This gives me a profound sense of peace. My experience of Reiki has made a believer out of me. So much so, I became a master and a teacher.
***
Pulsing sensations
come out of
nowhere, a bubbling
brook from feet to
heart, then
flowing like
rushing spring water
down arms and
out hands. Impossible-
to-conceive waves
of energy travel
like earthquake
tremors originating
in some small
southern country
making their way
through the earth’s
crust to another distant
continent. A seismic
shift so profound,
with aftershocks
lasting for
days. She
knows her life
is about to change,
and will never, ever
be the same again.
***
Carolyn Chilton Casas is a Reiki Master and teacher. Her stories and poems have appeared in Braided Way, Energy, A Network for Grateful Living, Reiki News Magazine, Touch, and in other publications. You can read more of Carolyn’s work on Instagram or in her first collection of poems titled Our Shared Breath.