As you grow older, you’ll realize that life can be incredibly stressful. With so many decisions to make, and responsibilities to fulfill, stress finds a way to always surround you.
Falling into a pattern of constant stress will greatly impact your mental health and seep into your physical well-being, too. So how do you relieve yourself of some of the stress weighing on your shoulders?
More and more people are starting to explore alternative stress relief methods. With these alternative methods, you are encouraged to try natural healing strategies in order to keep your mental health strong.
Reiki is the perfect example of a natural meditative method that helps to alleviate anxiety. As you practice Reiki, you will be able to find a sense of calm that will help you manage your stress and improve your mental health.
What Is Reiki?
Reiki is a Japanese form of energy healing that was developed in the early 1900s. The name itself comes from two Japanese words, “rei” meaning universal, and “ki” meaning function of life or life force.
When you combine the two together, you get a meditation practice that uses the energy in your body to relax and release any tension. Reiki is known to be a secondary treatment for depression, anxiety, and stress, with proven medicinal practices preceding it.
It is meant to lift your mental state and provide a realm of calm in your mind. Reiki involves finding your own personal balance – spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally.
It will help you on your journey to discover yourself, and become a better person. Overall, Reiki meditation is a great practice for anyone looking to find balance and improve their mental health.
Living By the 5 Principles of Reiki
There are some common principles you can rely on to help you implement an on-going strategy of using Reiki to achieve a sense of calm and serenity in your life. There are five main ones, as follows:
Just for today, I will not worry.
Worrying takes up a large portion of your day when you tend to be stressed out often. With this principle, you can decide to push your intense worries to the next day. This will take a weight off of your shoulders, and allow you to focus on the more important tasks for each day.
If you are struggling to let go of your worries, you may want to try imagining physically pushing your worries into a box, one that you can plan on opening up the next day. And when the next day comes, do the same thing again.
A major challenge to this principle is learning how to let go of the things you cannot control. Once you can accept what is out of reach and teach yourself not to worry about those things, you will find that your life has become much less stressful when it comes to a day-to-day basis.
Just for today, I will not be angry.
Life is not an easy place, and it’s common to feel angry with the world. When you can replace your anger with positivity and change your perspective, it will completely transform your mental state.
Anger will never get you anywhere, so learning to let go will bring you to a calmer state. The principles of Reiki are meant to lead you to a better place with yourself and the way you view your life.
In order to move past your initial anger or frustration towards something, try taking deep breaths and counting upwards until you feel calmer. If that doesn’t work, focus on an activity that brings you joy or peace.
Just for today, I will be grateful.
When you focus on what you should be grateful for on a daily basis, you can shift into a much more positive mental state. Bringing positivity into your life every day will give you a better outlook on your life and the way you treat others.
This Reiki principle will be a great tool to have whenever you are feeling hopeless or down. In order to be more grateful throughout your day, try making a list of all of the things you are grateful for each day, and add on to the list as your day goes by.
Every little thing counts, because they add up over time. Once you fall into a rhythm of noting those things, you’ll notice that you are picking up things to be grateful for more and more every day.
Just for today, I will be honest.
Bringing a new level of honesty into your life will improve your mental health overall. You won’t have to worry or stress over honesty if you give it your all, at all times. Be honest in your work and your relationships and you will find that things will fall into place much easier.
It isn’t always easy to find your drive and do things the more challenging way, but it will be much more rewarding for your life and mental health. It will help you to be a better person, and will help you grow as a person as well.
Just for today, I will be kind to all living things.
Being kind to others is something that will help not just your mental health, but the others’ around you as well. If you can turn kindness into an instinct, it will help carry you forward in life.
Being able to exercise kindness at all times will make you more likable, and will ensure you that you are being a good person. Being able to hold confidence in your kindness will take the pressure off of yourself to always be good, if you can know that kindness will always come to you.
Kindness takes practice. Try giving compliments to several people each day, and focus on making your words and actions as kind as they can be, while being kind to yourself. A lot of people forget to treat themselves as well as they treat others.
But one of the most important points of this Reiki principle is to practice being nice to yourself. Even if you just do little things that will make you happy, you need to treat yourself the way you would want others to treat you. You must take care of yourself to the best of your abilities.
How to Use Self-Administered Reiki to Achieve a Sense of Peace
Although Reiki is more commonly done with someone to assist, you can utilize self-administered Reiki to achieve a sense of peace within yourself. Here are some steps to help you get started:
- Set aside time for your Reiki practices.
It’s recommended that you set aside a half an hour at the start and end of your day, so that you welcome the day and close it out with a calm mind. It’s best to set a regular schedule, and that you work on your meditations every day.
- Find a quiet area.
Before you begin, it’s important for you to find a safe and quiet environment for your Reiki sessions. This will help you achieve inner peace before you start your session. Limiting the distractions in the area will improve the mental results of the Reiki meditation. If you feel completely comfortable in the environment you are in, you will be able to fall into a relaxed state quickly.
- Activate your inner energy.
Close your eyes, and imagine the energy that is flowing inside of you. Allow that energy to flow to your hands, and imagine it as healing energy that you’ve accessed. Give yourself that power of inner healing.
- Begin the initial hand positions.
As you focus on the energy flowing to your hands, begin taking slow, deep breaths. During each hand position, it is recommended that you hold the position for two minutes.
- Place hands in prayer position.
Bring your hands together into a prayer position, and imagine the healing energies flowing between the two hands. As you carry on through each position, focus on taking slow, deep breaths.
- Place both hands on the top of your head.
Bring both hands to the top of your head. If you feel comfortable enough, close your eyes. It will help you concentrate and calm your mind. Imagine the energy’s healing properties flowing to your mind, and alleviating the pressure you may feel there.
- Gently move your hands to cover your eyes.
Now bring your hands forward and slowly cover your eyes. Each hand should be covering its respective eye. Remember to hold for around two minutes, and take deep breaths.
- Lay your right hand carefully on your throat, and rest the other above your heart.
Bring your right hand to your throat. Make sure it is gently resting on your throat, in a way that is most comfortable to you. Take your right hand and place it on your heart. Focus on your heart beat as you breathe in and out. Let the energy flow through your hands and your upper body, and imagine the stress on your body being lifted.
- Move both hands to your upper stomach, then lower stomach.
This one could count as two steps, but it is simple to understand. Take your hands and place them on your upper stomach, right below your chest. After two minutes, bring them down to your lower stomach.
- Reach your hands up and rest them on your shoulders.
Bring your hands back up and place them on top of your shoulders. Make sure to avoid grabbing your shoulders. Your hands should just rest gently on your shoulders. If you are feeling any tension or pains in that area, focus on the flow of healing energy inside of you, and let it find its way to that specific area, from your hands to your shoulders.
- Move hands down and place them on your hips.
Finally, slowly bring your hands down to your waist, then place them on your hips. Hold the stance for the allotted time, all while taking special focus to your deep breaths.
- Determine your next step.
If you are still feeling deeply overwhelmed and stressed out, you could consider repeating the steps again. But if you are feeling like you’ve been able to bring yourself to a calmer state, you can take a few more deep breaths, and conclude the meditation.
The setup of steps above is a general idea of a self-administered Reiki session. The goal is to focus on points of stress and tension throughout your mind and body. In order to utilize the healing Reiki energies, you have to learn what spots and methods work best for you.
After enough sessions and practice, you will be able to find your problem areas easily. It will take time to get to that place, especially if you embark on your Reiki journey all by yourself.
Reiki is also a good method to use in order to meditate and work on your own personal growth. If you start your day with a simple Reiki session, live by the Reiki principles during your day, and end it with another Reiki session, you will find that your mental health has improved and as you are lifted from the burdens of your stress and anxiety, life will become much more pleasant for you to experience.
Working with a Reiki Master for Better Mental Health
A Reiki master serves as a bridge between you and natural life force energy. In order to find a reliable and efficient Reiki master, you could try looking up Reiki therapists in your area.
A safer bet would be to go through your local hospital, yoga studios, or health stores. They may be able to guide you towards someone who will work best for you. To know whether or not you are receiving the right kind of session for Reiki, here’s an idea of what an in-person session may look like:
To begin, you might be asked to focus on your breathing, and work to take deep breaths. You may lie on a massage table, or the Reiki master will have a place for you to sit or stand.
It’s usually up to wherever you will feel the most comfortable. Next, the Reiki practitioner will place their hands, palm down, on or directly above different areas of your body. The areas will be where the practitioner feels your mind and body most needs healing energies.
During this, you may feel different sensations or pulses throughout your body. However, for some, you may not feel any difference. It does not mean that the Reiki practices are not working.
The most important focus for you should be on your breathing, and opening yourself up to the flow of energy. There should be no massaging, or pressure utilized during these sessions.
It’s about gentle touch, and sometimes there is no touch needed at all. A Reiki session should last anywhere from a half an hour to an hour, depending on your experience and comfort with the process.
After the session is finished, you and the Reiki master should both take a moment to thank each other and the energy for the exchange and connection you had. If you have a Reiki master that doesn’t work in person, you will find that it is similar to self-administered Reiki.
But it may be much easier because you will have a guide who has more knowledge on different practices and properties that will work best for you. If there are specific issues that you are concerned about, and want to relieve the tension or stress in those areas, you can discuss that with your Reiki master.
Although they will probably be able to sense those areas during the session, it does not hurt to make sure you are getting the right treatment for the stresses you struggle with. No matter what, having someone to guide you through the process will be the best way for you to learn.
If you are interested in becoming a Reiki master yourself, it’s best to learn through another Reiki master and become an apprentice. They may be able to open your eyes to new methods and practices that will bring you a new sense of peace that you had not known before.
Understanding Your Chakras When Utilizing Therapeutic Reiki
Reiki is a useful tool when it comes to opening up your chakras. As you practice Reiki sessions frequently, you will be able to open up the heart chakra, the chakras you find located in your palms.
As the energy flows from your palms to other stress points on your body, you will be able to open up the flow of spiritual energy. Reiki prepares your mind for spirit. This will help to clear your mind and memory, opening up your sights to the spiritual world.
If you are looking to heal and energize your chakras, you can focus your Reiki meditation specifically on that one goal. It will give you several places for the healing energies to flow to, which may help you organize your practices.
