Tools for Positivity - Reiki

Over the past two weeks we have discussed the benefits of positive thinking and tools you can use on your own to make positivity centre stage in your life. However, what happens when you cannot move past a negative event and the emotions it created. This could be from battling depression, unrelenting stress or something you are having a hard time resolving. In all of these cases, you do not need to battle this alone. Alongside your team of medical practitioners (i.e. your family doctor) there are holistic practices such as Reiki that are effective in helping your natural coping systems achieve spiritual balance and putting the spotlight on love and joy in your life.
To understand how Reiki works, let’s first take a quick look at how stress impacts the whole person: body, mind, emotions and spirit. When we encounter a situation that our mind categorizes as a “threat” it triggers the stress responses in the body. The mind narrows to focus only on the threat, which directly impacts our emotional state and the stress response of the body which ignites the adrenals. Muscles tense to prepare for a quick response, our senses become heightened to warn us of danger and our digestion slows down to reserve energy for the fight. Emotions are impacted by our thoughts, so when we become focused on a threat it can create feelings of anxiety, aggravation, moodiness and depression.
It is important to understand that there is a direct link between our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and when they are out of balance our spiritual wellbeing also suffers. After a threat has passed the body is designed to return to its natural relaxed state; however, sometimes we get trapped with pockets of stress in the body, lingering emotions or negative thought patterns and in extreme cases the stress response stays active all together, unable to let down.
In all of these cases getting support from your team of medical and holistic practitioners is beneficial to restoring a natural balance. Reiki is a very powerful complimentary tool in returning this balance to the body. With gentle hand placements over the body and over the clothes Reiki helps bring about a profound sense of wellbeing. It helps to relax the mind, which lets down the stress response and directly calms our emotions. As this happens the stress and tension held in the body can also begin to melt away allowing your energy and thoughts to be refocused on love and joy in your life.