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Who wants to practice distance Reiki on me?

  
 
PhatMikey
01:38 / 10.09.06
Hello,

I know there's been at least one thread on Reiki, but I couldn't find one that was specifically about asking for help Reiki-wise, if there is one, feel free to kill this thread and spank my bottom.

I know that there are some Reiki practitioners on Barbelith, and I thought I'd give you a chance to flex your distance-reiki muscles, and offer myself as a target to practice on (do be careful though, I don't want to end up hearing voices like Mordant C.! ).

Other people in need of reiki-goodness can feel free to ask on here too, hopefully some kind souls will zap us from afar with healing rays.

Why do I need Reiki you ask? Well, I have quite a nasty case of Clinical Depression, which doesn't actually make me feel very depressed most of the time, but it totally screws up my life in a myriad of other ways though. Google 'clinical depression symptoms' and I have about 90% of the lists of symptoms you'll find. Ironically, it's the net effect of all these other sypmtoms that actually makes me feel depressed, not the other way around.

I've tried lots of different drugs, and the side-effects tend to outweigh the benefits (I'm giving some new ones a shot next week). I'm currectly seeing a therapist too, but that won't last long due to the NHS and my medical insurance not wanting to pay up.

I've been off work due to stress for the last few weeks, and my sick pay is about to run out, so I can't really afford any other therapies.

So if anyone wants to help me out, or practice on me, give it a shot. Let me know if you need anything to focus on, like a location/name/piccie, etc.

Thanks,

Mike.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
10:40 / 10.09.06
You hurt my voices' feelings. You're a bad mean PhatMikey.

Main Reiki thread here.

Hmm. There's certainly a precedent for coming to the Temple with requests for help, and I don't see any harm in having a 'shout-out for reiki/healing/magical aid' thread. I'd like to add the proviso--and this is important--that people asking for help give us a rough idea of what they themselves have done/are doing to remedy the situation. I think it's very important that the Temple continue to move away from the 'free lunch' model of magic so prevalent elsewhere.

I would also hope that people presenting in a public forum are OK with having their cases discussed and commented upon, and that their prospective therapists are likewise OK with having the success or faliure of their efforts discussed. We should be in the business of interrogating our practices. If people are unhappy with this then private communication might be a better idea.

Now to PhatMikey: I'm perfectly happy to have a stab at your problem. I'd caution you against expecting miracles--I have Reiki 2 myself and I still suffer from major depression. (What I'd really recommend is getting the Level 1 attunment yourself.) As to focii, I'd prefer a photo but something you've created might work too--a piece of text is okay, but drawings, even a roughly doodled self-portrait--are better. Something with a bit of you in it. I also like to get the punter's full name.
 
 
Princess
11:59 / 10.09.06
threadrot
Would it be entirely stupid if we had a thread specifically for spell begging/asking for help/etc? Just I noticed a lot of threads which are like "what does this reading mean" or "charge my sigil" or "fill me with reiki", and I can't see how any of these really give much scope for discussion. I recognise the temple forum should perhaps still receive these requests, but I wonder if placing them all in one place would be useful.
Or not?
/threadrot
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
12:04 / 10.09.06
I think that's a good idea, yeah. PhatMikey, do you mind if we repurpose this topic as a general request-for-aid thread?
 
 
petunia
12:40 / 10.09.06
Yaya! finally the barbelith healing shack (i still know it's tacky, and i still like the word shack.)!

I'd like to put my name down for helping out where I can - if people feel uncomfortable for whatever reason about asking for reiki juice, feel free to PM me and we can sort something out.

/blowing own trumpet
 
 
Ticker
13:30 / 10.09.06
I have a fondness for 'shack' as well as I live in a crooked one.

On the Reiki front I'm happy to do remote Celtic Reiki treatments though I need folks to fill out a brief Question-Air-e honestly and follow the intructions that came along with the treatment.

Part of what you should consider before stepping up is the Energy Alignment Process. After getting an energy treatment it is possible to have a healing crisis. Basicly as your own engertic body realigns the 'detox' can maifest as symptoms similiar to a minor cold, emotional release, vertigo, and intense dreaming. The window for these reactions can be up to 3 weeks though that's the extreme warning tag.

Celtic Reiki uses the vibrational Essence of trees and plants to 'tune' the universal Reiki energy. While many of the trees are from the Oghamic system many modern ones have been added.

The questions I ask allow me to select which trees and combinations of Master treatments to use. All answers are confidential unless you'd like to share them with the class. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to keep it ultra private.

...also next spring I will be happy to offer other folk attunements in Celtic Reiki.
 
 
PhatMikey
12:54 / 12.09.06
Thanks for the replies everyone.

I like the idea of a Barbelith 'healing shack', that was partly my reason for starting this thread.

Princess/Mordant C, I think you have a point there, maybe we could have a seperate 'charge this sigil please' thread. Is there already a tarot reading thread? I'm sure I remember seeing one. I'd like to keep this as a 'please send me some Reiki' thread, where people could comment on the results they've had.

I've had a couple of people offering to send me some Reiki-love, so what I'm thinking of doing is accepting the offers of about 3 people and asking them to send me Reiki at different times. Then I'll keep this thread updated with any results/weirdness that occur so we can all see what sort of effect multiple 'Reiki zappings' have.

Does anyone see any problems with this? Do you think the Reiki would be more/less effective in this way?

Thanks,

Mike.
 
 
petunia
14:19 / 12.09.06
I somehow managed to miss the whole of Mordant's first post. I really don't know how it happened. But anyway, I think

I'd like to add the proviso--and this is important--that people asking for help give us a rough idea of what they themselves have done/are doing to remedy the situation. I think it's very important that the Temple continue to move away from the 'free lunch' model of magic so prevalent elsewhere.

Is an excellent point. There's little point in doing reiki when the healee is unwilling to move themselves towards healing. Kinda like taking a paracetamol to cure a headache while hitting your head with a stick... Or some other, better analogy...

I also second the idea of keeping the stuff as open as possible if it's going to be posted on the forum, but would like to make sure that people who would rather have this stuff kept private know they can PM any of us if they want a zap.

Getting yourself attuned can be very handy indeed, and I'm willing to do attuny stuff if people want it. I was never taught the level stuff, so I tend to attune the full lot, but I'm sure I could work something out if someone just wanted to stick with hands-on or whatever.
 
 
rosie x
16:30 / 12.09.06
Mike, my sympathy is certainly with you. Clinical depression can be so difficult to manage, and the side effects of the various meds can be quite hard to live with, often exacerbating the original problem. It's a good thing that you've sought medical care though; you might find something that works. And short term therapy may be better than no therapy at all.

On the subject of Reiki though...

First let me say that I'm more than happy to send you distance healing, but I'd need more than your user name to do so. Feel free to PM me with your full name and location, and I'll get on it.

Secondly...

I've been working in the healing arts for nine years now, as a massage / holistic therapist, aromatherapist, as well as a practitioner and teacher of Usui Reiki, Karuna Ki and Polarity Therapy. These practices have helped me to manage both clinical depression and rheumatoid arthritis, sometimes with great success. I've also seen the positive effects of these treatments manifest in others: those I have had the honor to work with personally, and to teach.

In the Reiki thread that was active here a little while ago, I was quite critical of the casual approach that newly switched on healers take towards working distantly, be that work the administration of treatments or attunements themselves. I think that I hold to this opinion, not because I believe the practice of Reiki should be restricted in any way, but simply because bodywork is so very integral to my own practice.

Mike, I don't know how much long term relief you're going to find just by requesting that a handful of practitioners send Reiki your way. I work one to one with people, and believe me these things take time. And the more serious the condition, the longer healing has been known to take. Hopefully, you'll find some relief, but just from experience, I would also recommend that you investigate other ways that you can proactively manage your condition.

The herb St. John's Wort has been clinically proven to be effective in the treatment of depression, and has far fewer undesirable side effects than prescription anti-depressants. It's not for everyone, especially women on contraceptive pills, but it might be worth a shot if you've not tried it before.

Aerobic exercise also helps to raise serotonin levels in the brain, and can be VERY effective in combatting long term, clinical depression. In one study, doctors found 30 minutes of regular cardiovascular training 4-6 days a week to be even more effective than many prescription meds.

On the energetic side of things, you might want to receive an attunement to First Degree Reiki, so that you can perform regular self-treatments. Or perhaps enroll in a Tai Chi class... Anything to get that stagnant energy moving.
 
 
PhatMikey
15:11 / 13.09.06
Thanks for the reply rosie, I'll pm you my details.

I tried St. Johns Wort a while ago, but it didn't have a noticeable effect. I had to stop taking it when I was perscribed some antidepressants though, as the instructions warned about mixing the two.

I have started taking regular excercise again (I used to go to a gym almost daily, but I have barely excercised at all for the last 3 years), and it does seem to be helping.

I'm not expecting miracles from Reiki, but I figure it's worth trying, and someone might be interested in seeing how well it works on me. I'd like to thank everyone who's offered to help so far, I appreciate it a lot, and I'll keep everyone updated on how it's going.

Ta,

Mike.
 
 
Princess
22:37 / 16.09.06
So, er, any results/action?
 
 
PhatMikey
01:28 / 19.09.06
Not a huge difference yet. I did feel really thirsty a couple of days ago though, and had to keep drinking water.

My general mood has been a little better, but that could be my new medication, or the Omega-3 pills I recently started taking, but it could be the Reiki, or the placebo effect of those things(?)

I have had some pretty mental dreams over the last couple of days too, I meant to write down what happened in them before I forgot, but didn't.

I'll keep you posted.

Mike.
 
 
petunia
21:20 / 24.09.06
Miss Wonderstarr and i have been discussing some reiki treatment via PM and we feel that our work could benefit from being posted on this thread.

As many of you have probably read, MW has recently had some surgery on her face to fix the damage made to her face in a recent attack.

We are planning on doing some reiki with the general aim of helping with the physical and mental healing process. As a bit of an attempt to get some measurable effects from the treatment (i know.. i know..), we are going to focus on:

- The numbness in Miss Wonderstarr's upper left lip and the area between it and her left eye. We will see if any noticeable change in the degree of sensation is felt.

- The degree of openness of MW's left eye - she has noticed that this eye is more open in its relaxed state than her right eye, so we will see if reiki treatment will help to 'tighten' the eye up at all.

- MW is also finding it difficult to sleep due to thoughts of the incident. We will see if we can encourage better sleep, and some degree of mental 'resolution' in respects to the incident.

We hope to do at least one, but preferably 2-3, session(s) per week, with an as-yet undecided end date. We will probably start off with some hands-on, choku rei and dai ko myo aimed specifically at Miss Wonderstarr's face, with focus on the specific area around her eye and cheek. This will be combined with some unfocussed sei heki, to give MW's mind-body a degree of connection. After a week or so, we will move on to more focussed sei hekis that will focus specifically on MW's mental trauma and connections to the event.

Obviously, if any of the other reikiers here have any tips or ideas for the treatment, they will be gratefully received and appreciated.

Another element of the 'experimental' aspects of this working is that we are working with distance healing with a bit less than the usual amount of info to work on. Due to past experiences, MW would rather not share much in the way of personal info, so we are going to be working on a connection formed by my knowledge of Miss Wonderstarr's post's here and the knowledge of her general location.

Personally, i'm quite excited about this, as i'm all for trying out the limits and abilities of reiki. I realise that progress may be slow, hardly noticed, or that there may not even be any progress at all, but i think this is what makes the thing so interesting.

It also goes without saying that i'm happy and grateful to be able to help out with Miss Wonderstarr's ongoing healing.

We'll keep you posted on our progress.
 
 
Quantum
21:31 / 24.09.06
I know nothing about reiki but I'll send best wishes and luck in the general direction, get well soon Wonderstarr!
 
 
miss wonderstarr
21:36 / 24.09.06
In an interesting side-effect, while .trampetunia was only starting to think about the treatment over the weekend, I started to experience some physical sensation. I'm no (medical) doctor but as I understand it, the numbness and lack of sensation in my face is due to the nerves being severely damaged. If and when the feeling returns, it will be preceded by tingling. I have experienced a fair amount of significant tingling over the past two days in that area, and I think some change in the amount of "normal" feeling in my upper cheek. The landscape of the numbness ~ its borders and territories ~ is redrawn to a small extent. It may now start at a slightly different point, and perhaps be less severe in the affected zones.

The eye is, for what it's worth, skewed slightly because of the process of cutting and stitching, and scarring... in that area, a couple of millimetres makes a lot of difference. It's also on about 70-80% of the vision of the left; that is, it's blurry, swimmy to that extent. This does have a knock-on effect on the vision with both eyes, slightly reducing my ability to judge distance and the relative locations of objects (as I realised, fortunately without accident, when I started running again today), and to some extent, to read.

Also just as a side-note, .trampetunia and I agreed that I'm not really comfortable being a "passive", "helped" person who just "receives" in this experiment. I have, I think, got something positive out of the way I've processed and dealt with a bad experience so far, through my own physical and emotional strength, so I wouldn't feel happy sacrificing agency now and just sitting back. Which is partly why I was keen to make this into a shared experiment, which could perhaps benefit others on the Temple as well.
 
 
grant
13:36 / 25.09.06
Hmm. Now I'm wondering what a double-blind protocol would look like for reiki treatments.

Jotting notes:

You'd need a control group, either of similar patients not receiving "proper" reiki, or the same patient receiving similar treatments from a reiki practitioner and someone posing as a reiki practitioner.

Their identities (which practitioner was was real) would have to be concealed from the patient(s) and from whoever was collating the patient reports. The therapists would probably identified by number, but fakey mcfakenames would be more fun and equally effective.

Actually, to be really thorough, one group of collators would know which report was due to which practitioner, and another collator would be evaluating the reports without *any* identification, fake or otherwise. ("This report shows 95% percent effectiveness in reducing pain!"). So there's an evaluator and a collator, neither of whom know what the other one knows, and neither of whom can link any kind of therapist's identity to any specific effect. ("My, therapist A is certainly in good form today!" "Yes, therapist A always is." = THING TO AVOID).

Wouldn't be that hard to set up, y'know.
 
 
Quantum
13:55 / 25.09.06
I'm not really comfortable being a "passive", "helped" person who just "receives" in this experiment

Good thing too, you should be getting help to heal yourself rather than being healed, your agency is likely to be a large contributor to your (hopefully wolverine-like) healing factor. During my psychology reading I found most sources agree that active participation significantly increases healing.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
17:40 / 25.09.06
Thanks, I have been surprised by my own recent wolverinian healing powers... of superficial wounds anyway. Who knows, perhaps my active involvement in this process is hastening my repair... I have felt distinct sensations in my dead face-zone all day, not always pleasantly. It's what you might imagine grass growing feels like, speeded-up. A kind of activity in the nerves... not quite like cold or heat, and not quite like pins and needles, and not quite pressure, but similar to those. A slightly painful "waking-up".

My eye is not great today. At times I closed my good eye and felt I had about 50% vision in the left. I don't know if it's just watering more, or if the muscles are slacking and skewing, failing to focus, or both. Obviously if you are cut down to 50% on the left, then you have a limited vision with both eyes combined.
 
 
Ticker
18:16 / 25.09.06
Miss W, would you like some remote treatments? Though I'm sure the adoration of your board-peers hasta be a balm in and of its own right.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
18:33 / 25.09.06
Oh yes, certainly xk. I am all for it. I really don't know much about Reiki so I am open as to whether it will "work" for me, whether my openness to the idea will in a way work healing for myself, or whether the nerves growing back (or whatever they do) is simply happening "naturally", independently of anything I or anyone else could do to augment and improve the process, faster than I would have anticipated.

The eye is a bit of a bind as it actually seems to have become worse since I came out of surgery and thought I'd defied all predictions. It was only last week that I felt I was probably seeing less well than usual, and now it's undeniable and perhaps worsening.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
18:33 / 25.09.06
I don't know about adoration, I only get barbecrushed when I parody something
 
 
petunia
16:07 / 26.09.06
Update 1:

We did our first session yesterday. The session was done without Miss Wonderstarr being told when the reiki would happen.

I started with a choku rei and some hands-on on and around MW's left eye, then moving around the whole of her face and head. Focus was made on the cheek bone as well. A few dai ko myos were sent in, some for the whole body/aura and some specifically located (cheekbone, eye, third eye, heart chakra). Hands-on on the third eye and the heart chakra.

I then did an 'unaimed' sei heki, with a few choku reis thrown in to aid it along. After this, i did a bit more hands on on MW's third eye, heart chakra and hara, and then on her ribs, to help ease any memories that may be clumped there.

It all seemed to go well from my end of things but obviously the proof lies in the effects. I'm not sure if there have been any effects so far that can be specifically ascribed to the reiki, but i'll let Miss Wonderstarr comment on that...

As i've said, we're starting off relatively light and unfocussed, but plan to move on to more direct and 'immersive' treatments (assuming MW is cool with this..) - asking the sei heki for specific helps, spending more time working on all the chakras etc.

We are planning to do a session on Wednesday where we will both set aside a specific time, so that MW can be on the look-out for specific effects and sensations. We will alternate between setting aside specific times and me sending reiki 'whenever', to see if there are any notable differences in what happens.

On a personal aside: I'm feeling quite happy and excited about helping with this treatment and putting it up on this thread, but i'm also a bit self-conscious about the whole thing.

It feels a bit odd writing 'and then i did x y and z with a special energy twist!' - a bit 'show and tell' - but i agree with MC's comment above that we should interrogate our practices. I'm interested to find out what other reiki practitioners think of how i'm going about things and i'm interested in finding out how they'd go about things, too. I figure i need to put up what i'm doing if this is going to happen.

If people have any tips, comments, ideas etc. I'd be grateful to receive them. Likewise, if anyone would rather i wrote a bit less, or if they feel i'm being a bit 'look at me!', then please say.

Grant - I really like your ideas for the double-blind test and agree that it wouldn't be all that difficult to arrange. One problem that i can forsee is the potential unwillingness of the 'patient'. In some cases, people can play the 'i want reiki/i dont want reiki' game, where they ask for it, but end up refusing it for whatever reason. As reiki won't work on somebody who doesn't want it, there could be an issue arising where the patient ends up saying 'yeah, i didnt feel nothing!', simply because they refused to let anything happen.

This (along with other reasons) might make reiki difficult to test in a scientific manner. A process that works so closely with human consciousness and will, and that can be affected by these things can be pretty hard to pin down.

I'd still like to give the testing a shot, though, and if we could find a way to work around or incorporate this issue, i think we could have a damned good time trying it all out.

I was daydreaming the other day about working out a test with small pots of watercress, or some other herb that you get in little plantpots. You could get a few of these pots and treat each one in a different way - give some reiki, leave some without. Take photos everyday and see if there are any noticeable effects...
 
 
miss wonderstarr
16:36 / 26.09.06
I thought we might have had an interesting correspondence yesterday (Monday 25) but .trampetunia's treatments seem to have not been at the same time as I experienced some sensation. Ze was working the reiki around 21-22.00 GMT, and I noted distinct sensations around 14.00 and 17.00 GMT. As above, I'd describe the sensation in terms of heat, pressure, cold, but not quite any of those things ~ a kind of tingling, pins-and-needles. I don't know how that matches up with people's experience of receiving Reiki. A tingling in the numb area is certainly one of the "scientific", medical symptoms of nerves regrowing or healing.

So, it would have been nice to have some matching in that regard, but as above, I wonder whether my openness to the idea of the treatment could have had some effect anyway. In the same way as you hear about people who are determined to beat an illness, and supposedly do so (or do so in part) because of their psychological resolve.

I would say with some certainty that the nerve feeling on my left cheek has changed; I can feel properly over a larger area, and the numb part has retreated to a smaller patch. I can trace the boundaries in relation to moles, things like that. There's a distinct patch of swelled cheek just above where they cut into the side of my mouth to insert one of the metal pins ~ and that's still numb, tender, uncomfortable.
 
 
grant
16:55 / 26.09.06
I wonder if it'd be possible to create a questionnaire or something that would indirectly indicate a patient's acceptance of treatment.

What's a sei heki? What's a choku rei?
 
 
petunia
17:38 / 26.09.06
A questionnaire might work. Or we could allow for reiki practitioners to say 'i think x might have blocked or not wanted the treatment'. This would probably work if, assuming the comment was made straight/soon after the session, and not after the results were made public (for obvious reasons).

As for sei heki and choku rei - a brief summary/myth is: They are two of the symbols that are used during reiki. The practitioner draws them with their hands, or can 'imagine' them if they wish. The symbols in reiki are (to quote my zen master) 'the language of existence'. They are used to bring about a certain 'flavour' of reiki. They symbolise this 'flavour' or 'style' or whatever, but are not the Stuff itself. (Just as 'apple' is the symbol for an apple - 'choku rei' is the symbol for choku rei).

As reiki is a lovely, varied and changing thing, it is always hard to say what each symbol 'is' and any attempt to do so will always miss something or lie in a certain way. A handy parallel is Love, which has had poets, philosophers and Hallmark card writers trying forever to define it or capture its essence. Some get closer than others, but all fail in the end. Reiki is alive - live things resist definition.

So it's easier to give a few uses for these symbols than it is to say 'what they are' (or maybe they are their use?).

Choku Rei is the first symbol learnt (usually) and provides a good grounding and balancing of energy in the mind/body. It can be used to clean, to calm, to energise and to protect. I often use it as a 'primer' in treatment and also as a catalyst for the other symbols. I know very little about it, but like to use it :-)

Sei Heki is the second symbol learnt. It helps to connect the mind and the body and to work general healing goodness within both. Where the other symbols are drawn and pushed/thrown/guided into the body pretty quickly, Sei Heki moves slowly through the body while the practitioner holds hir hands on the head of the practitionee. This takes around 15 mintues. I use it a lot for various emotional or mental problems that i or the people i do reiki with may have. When i talk of using it 'unfocussed' or 'undirected', i mean that i 'push' it into the body and let it do its own thing.

It helps to think of reiki as an intelligent entity - it will do whatever is best, in terms of healing.

Sei Heki can also be 'directed' - you can ask it for specific things. I can ask it to help me calm down about my money worries, or to take away my fear of death. On a further level, it can also be used to get things. People can use it to make people love them, or to get money, or whatever other thing they desire. Obviously, there will be a lesson to be learnt (always with the healing...). An example being - X uses Sei Heki to make Y fancy hir. Y duly fancies X, to a remarkable degree; ze'll hardly leave hir alone. X realises ze doesn't really want Y to fancy hir and is now stuck with an adoring unwanted.

Another zen master metaphor - Sei Heki is a dragon. Think of all the myths (eastern and western) to do with dragons - they often represent wisdom, power, mystical power, wealth, and also a tad of fearsome unknown.

Does that go any way to answering your question, grant?*

I wonder if this should be posted in the other reiki thread. Or perhaps another reiki learning thread, or maybe a reiki wiki. I know i'd like to hear other people's experiences with and interpretations of the reiki symbols, and it would be nice to do this where we could rattle on at great length without worrying about derailing threads..

*Disclaimer: These are obviously my own interpretations of a couple of the reiki symbols. They hardly scratch the surface and should only be used as quick snippets to give a rough idea of the symbols. I find capturing reiki into language pretty difficult, and i'm sure someone else can do a better job. Listen to them.
 
  
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