The Gift of Reiki – A Personal Story of One Woman’s Road to Self Healing
By Erica Rock
This is a my personal story of how I came to discover the energy of Reiki and all of the wonderful doors it has opened for me.
This path is truly magical and unique for each practitioner. For those that do not know what Reiki is, the easiest definition I can give it is this; Reiki is a Japanese form of stress reduction that balances and heals the mind, body and spirit.
Reiki energy is different from other healing modalities in that you must be “attuned” to it by another Reiki Master/Teacher. The energy comes directly from the “source” and since it is not connected to any religion you may call this source whatever you wish: The first source, the creator, Mother/Father God, Great Spirit etc.
Reiki is completely safe and anyone can learn it. The beauty of Reiki is that it has an innate intelligence of its own and is Divinely directed, so you cannot do it wrong. Another wonderful attribute of Reiki is that since it can never do harm and cannot be misused you do not have any cellular memory within you of being harmed by this energy. It is truly a gift to all sentient beings and I cannot say enough what a “God send” it has been for me personally. Below is my personal Reiki journey and I hope it inspires you to take a Reiki class so you can take sovereignty and mastership over your health and well being. Enjoy!
Erica’s Story
Before I found Reiki, or maybe I should say, before Reiki found me, I was riddled with anxiety and depression. My anxiety was so bad I did not even recognize that I had depression at all. Apparently they go hand in hand. As I grew into a young woman I had a very difficult time with boundaries, energetic boundaries that is. I was not clear about where I ended and someone else began and I could FEEL on every level of my existence “other people’s stuff”. Now I know this is what lightworkers call “empathic”. I could barely go out in public without being bombarded with various emotions and feelings, that I was unaware of weren’t entirely all of my own! I wanted this all to stop.
I sought traditional treatment methods through psychotherapists, psychologists, counselors and they suggested the routine solutions; antidepressants and anti anxiety medications (benzodiazepines), like clonopin and xanax. My anxiety grew worse and with that came insomnia and living in a state of constant fear. Somewhere deep inside myself I knew there was a better way and a reason why I was facing this difficult challenge.
I got to the point that day to day activities like grocery shopping and being in social situations was almost excruciating for me. Out of desperation I started taking a class on spirituality that taught us about chakras, meditation, past life regression, soul retrieval, dream programming–you name it! It was a wonderful class and it helped me to begin to be able to meditate and get in touch with my body and establish proper boundaries.
I still had plenty of anxiety though and this class was in a group. I remember that during class I would have many amazing visions or when class mates would share their experiences I wanted to share too and give feedback but I didn’t want people to look at me or speak in front of a group of people, so I stayed quiet. The day that changed my life, the day I “found” Reiki, it was the last day of class. My girlfriend and I car pooled and we pulled into the driveway to celebrate our last evening together and I completely froze! I had taken my anxiety meds earlier but was in the midst of a full fledge panic attack. My mind was swirling and fear and fright took over my body relentlessly. I couldn’t catch my breath and my heart was thumping out of my chest. My girlfriend was in the passenger seat and I knew she had just received her level one Reiki training.
I looked over at her and said, “I don’t think I can get out of this car because my anxiety is so bad, can you try doing some Reiki on me?”I had NO IDEA what Reiki even was, except that it was supposed to help heal and I certainly needed some healing!
She half smiled and said, “It’s not going to work in two minutes.”
I replied, “Well you’ve got to try because I can’t get out of this car.”
She took her left hand a drew a Reiki symbol over my right shoulder and placed her hand very gently on me. One hand was all. Within less than a minute I could feel the anxiety which had collected in my upper chest area, travel down my body, further on down my legs and right out the soles of my feet. That’s right, it was GONE!
What a miracle! My face literally beamed with gratitude, tears streaming down my cheeks. I could not believe it. I had finally found what I was looking for! I went into class that night a changed woman. I shared my visions, asked questions and laughed with my classmates. I was reborn! I found a local Reiki Master/Teacher and received my Reiki one “attunement” within days of this first experience. She gave me a handout with the Reiki hand positions and a picture of Dr. Usui, (the man who rediscovered Reiki), we played with the energy a bit and she sent me on my way. I went home and “played” with the energy.
I would lay down and take my time going through the hand positions, just feeling the energy and allowing it to teach me. I worked with the energy as much as time would allow and my anxiety got better. Whenever I would feel anxious I would place one hand over the center of my heart and the other hand below my belly button and stay just like that until I felt better. I would actually feel better within less than ten to fifteen minutes, usually.
My joke now is that the energy can help re-balance your body quicker than popping a pill! I was so delighted with my progress that I went on and received the Reiki II attunement and then the Reiki III Master Teacher level all within in a six month time span. With every Reiki attunement I received I could feel the energy get stronger and stronger and I wanted access to ALL of the energy.
In the meantime, I was doing daily Reiki treatments on myself and even doing a little on friends and family. The more Reiki I did the more it would “teach” me. I was beginning to learn that every “dis-ease” has it’s own energetic “feel” to it. Being empathic was now working to my advantage, by the way I was able to get off of all of my medications within six months of my Reiki III training! If someone had strep throat I knew what that felt like because over time I grew to learn that strep has a certain feel to it, as does various types of cancers, MS, fibromalaysia, Chrones disease, inflammatory diseases etc.
By working and working with Reiki this “gift” opened up for me! By simply placing my hands on someone I can detect where the dis-ease or imbalance is and often times what it is. I could never do that before. My psychic gifts were opening as well. While I would work on people I began hearing things, seeing movie like scenarios in my mind or have knowing about things I couldn’t possibly know. All of this happened through working with the Reiki energy. Now I do psychic readings for people in addition to teaching Reiki classes. My primary psychic gift was clairsentience “clear feeling” and obviously early on I had a hard time with that gift and often times it felt like more of a curse than anything else. Once I was able to establish clear boundaries and know what was mine (internally) and what was someone else’s and re-balance myself using Reiki, you could say I had “mastered” that psychic gift, others opened up for me.
I have intuited that this is the natural process of things. As you master one psychic gift others will open. Most people want to have clairvoyance “clear vision” they want “to see”. I always say, “one thing at a time!” If all of your channels were blown open at once and you had clear vision, clear hearing, clear knowing and clear feeling all at once you may just go insane with overload! Working diligently with the Reiki energy has helped me to get to a place where I have all four psychic gateways opened and functional. Keep in mind that this has taken over ten years to develop.
Reiki has also helped me establish a very clear connection with the angelics, ascended masters, celestial beings of love and light, nature spirits, crystal people and others. The more I work with this energy one thing is clear. The only limits are the ones in our own minds! This concept took a while for my mind to wrap around, but it is true. The energy of Reiki is limitless and through working with it you come to realize how limitless you are and that anything is possible. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to the Creator for gifting all sentient beings the Reiki energy. Each day is new and exciting as I never know where the energy will take me next. It has helped me have a wonderful connection with beings greater than I, establish clear boundaries within and without of myself so I can safely navigate through this world and feel safe. It has helped me become a confident healing facilitator and a clear channel of the Divine Force to anchor more light upon Mother Earth.
What I love most about this work is watching others open to the source or Reiki and see all of their unique gifts open and the amazing amount of joy that brings people. Gifts they never knew they had. This amazing energy can open doors for you and lead you in directions you couldn’t possibly dream.
Blessings to you on your personal Reiki journey if you choose to embark on such a great adventure.
For more information about distance Reiki classes or Erica’s Reiki meditation CD entitled, “Riding the Waves of Reiki,” please e-mail her at Erica@ericarock.com or visit her web site: EricaRock.com.
Erica Rock is certified to teach Usui and Karuna Reiki along with several other healing modalities. She is a natural healer who was always interested in nature, animals, and healing since a child. She currently has a private practice and offers workshops throughout the NorthEast United States. She stays busy with her many passions which include her 100 percent natural Body care products, her Reiki music CD, and a Reiki for Youth program for kids and their parents.
