The Reiki Digest for August 30, 2006: Let's Talk

Psssst! It sure is quiet in here -- so quiet that this week's edition of The Reiki Digest begins in a whisper.

Last week, as you may recall, we introduced a new feature, the Question of the Week. Our first question, "Do you talk during Reiki sessions?" was met with a decidedly underwhelming response. One person used the subscribe form to answer, but otherwise, silence.

Here in the United States, the end of August is a pretty slow time, especially the week leading in to the Labor Day holiday. So maybe that explains why we failed to get a conversation going. It could also be because -- my apologies here -- our first Question of the Week was actually a trick question (the session begins before the client gets on the table).

In any case, I'm still hoping to get a conversation going here, because I want The Reiki Digest to serve the global Reiki community not only by collecting the most interesting news about Reiki from around the world, but providing a forum where Reiki practitioners, Reiki teachers, Reiki recipients and even curious visitors can communicate with each other.

If you're reading this on the web site and you'd like to join in, simply click on the word "comments" below any post, and type away. Your comment will appear within a few hours, maybe sooner.

If you're reading this by e-mail, you'll have to visit the web site to comment.

To get things moving forward, I'm going to answer my own question. Yes, I talk during Reiki sessions -- I greet my client, and then we sit down for a brief conversation before the client gets on the table. According to the Reiki training I received, this conversation is referred to as Reiki spiritual counseling. We talk a little about what's going on in the client's life, and I ask clients how Reiki, and this session in particular, can support them with the issues they identify. In that conversation, my job is primarily to listen, not talk. When the client is on the table, however, I rarely talk, usually just a few words to ask the person to change positions. Most clients prefer not to talk while they're on the table, either, although I've encountered a few who do. Then after the hands-on portion of the session is over, clients often want to talk a little about their experience, so we have a brief conversation before saying goodbye until the next session.

The reason I asked in the first place is that in several of the Reiki videos I've found in online searches, some practitioners talk quite a bit more than I do, almost narrating the session. That got me wondering what other practitioners do. 

Irene, a Reiki 2 practitioner in New York, is the only one who's responded so far. She says, "I like a little dialogue during a session but feel that conversations are distracting...."

How about you?  Please add your comments.

Meanwhile, let's move on to the second Question of the Week: We're thinking of adding a "Please Send Reiki" feature to The Reiki Digest, in which readers can request that other readers send Reiki. What do you think? If we included it, would you participate? Please add your comments.

On to the weekly Reiki Roundup. This week we begin at About.com, where Phylameana Iila Desy, Guide to Holistic Healing, has done her own roundup of some of her favorites among the more than 15 million sites that turn up on a Google search of the word "Reiki."

From there, we travel to Amesbury, Massachusetts, where a mother whose child died of cancer is establishing a foundation in her memory to help provide alternative treatments, including Reiki, to children in similar circumstances. Beecher Bartlett is following through on the work her 12-year-old daughter, Lucy Grogan, began before she died. Not only did Lucy come up with the idea of the foundation, she even designed the logo for it.

During Lucy's treatment for acute myeloid leukemia, her mother told a reporter, "the only time Lucy felt complete relief from the pain was when she was given a strong pain medication and reiki, massage, or acupuncture."

In Orlando, Florida, senior citizens lined up to find out more about alternative therapies at a fair sponsored by a local parapsychology organization. One of those waiting in line told a reporter, "Who's to say this stuff doesn't work? If you believe in it, and it gives you some peace of mind, then why not?" Another explained, ""I think people - seniors - are less hesitant today to say they're interested in this. They are at a point in their lives where they can finally say I'm going to do it and I don't care what anyone else thinks." The reporter talked to one attendee right after she received Reiki at the event, and she said she was "very relaxed."

In recent weeks we've seen stories about Reiki for dogs and even for horses, so it's no surprise that this week, there's a story about Reiki for cats.

We have an all-star cast of Celeb-Reiki's this week: Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Kate Bosworth, Sandra Bullock, Ellen DeGeneres, Macy Gray, Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson, Helen Hunt, Sharon Stone, Uma Thurman and Naomi Watts -- all wearers of Reiki-infused jewelry by Los Angeles designer and Reiki Master Catherine Michiels.

No edition of The Reiki Digest would be complete without a link to the world's only weekly Reiki podcast: The Reiki Show from Bronwen and Frans Stiene at the International House of Reiki in Australia. This week, they interview James Wells, a Canadian Reiki Master and Tarot consultant.