I MET SHANNON (name changed for privacy) at a free Reiki clinic where I was conducting a healing session. She was a child of only 10 or 11 years old, but her shoulders slumped, and her head hung low to her chest, like someone who had already experienced a world of pain in too few years. I was taken by the sad, haunted look in her eyes.
She held her mother’s hand as her mother spoke for her. “This is my daughter, Shannon. She suffered a traumatic brain injury a few years ago….” Her voice wavered as a tear fell down her cheek. “We have been to many doctors and clinics, but not much has helped. We are almost out of money. Can you do anything?”
My own eyes filled with mist as I listened to the mother speak. I thought of the unborn son still kicking in my pregnant belly, and I wondered what I would do if my own child ever experienced this pain. I closed my eyes and breathed a prayer, “Spirit, help guide my hands and release the light of Reiki to this child.” I asked Shannon to sit in a chair by my side, and then I asked for her permission to place my hands on her body. She looked up and stared into my eyes, and I saw the glimmer of hope, that small awakening of healing.
Healing is always a team effort between client and healer. Hope and love are the key ingredients. Jesus, one of the greatest healers of all, talked about loving your neighbor as yourself and having hope for the kingdom, the place of holiness and peace that resides within us all, if we only open our hearts. I was praying for a miracle that this child could open her own heart and trust again, despite all the terrors and obstacles she had encountered on her journey.
As I opened my own heart, I felt her pain. I began to let my love and the love of Spirit flow through me. My hands grew warm with Reiki healing, and I placed them on her shoulders. She shuddered a little, and I could feel a mixture of fear and relief. I stilled my own body to let the healing warmth flow silently for some moments. I focused my thoughts toward the peaceful flicker of the candles and soothing smell of incense filling the room.
I envisioned the room expanding to a forest, a lake, a place of sacred calm and reverence. I knew that the Universe has a plan to redeem this young one’s pain and turn her story into something beautiful. She closed her eyes as her body relaxed and her shoulders found their way up into a more natural position. I felt a melody come into my spirit. I sang quietly over her, letting the Reiki flow through my hands and my voice. The music of universal peace flowed into her damaged cells, beckoning forth healing from her own resilient spirit.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked deeply at me. I marveled at the wide ocean blue, a new clarity in her eyes, a spiritual opening beyond the damage her physical brain had sustained. She whispered, “Thank you,” and then closed her eyes again.
Her mother began to sob. “I have not seen her this peaceful in years. The doctor’s treatments and rehabilitation helped her to regain her strength, but they did not help her sadness. I have never tried Reiki before. What is this?”
I smiled and explained, “This is the ancient healing of light and love.”
This is the value of energy healing. Modern Western medicine is great at healing the physical body, but energy healing touches places deep within our spirits, realigns our chakras with the Universe, teaches us about our highest being, and nurtures our deepest psychic pain. If your intuition tells you that it is time to begin or take another step on your healing journey, consider seeking out an energy healer to partner with you on your path.