A practitioner's hands will often heat up as a result of the reiki energy flowing through his palms. The recipient frequently feels sleepy and repeatedly yawns as incoming Reiki energies soothe and calm pent-up emotional tension and stress. Some people are more in tune with their bodies than others and will be able to experience any of the following sensations during a Reiki session: heat or coolness, pins-and-needle tingling, vibrational buzzing, electrical sparks, numbness, throbbing, itchiness, and sleepiness. They may also experience imagery or inner voices.
Reiki sensations can be very subtle and maybe overlooked, but with continued practise, Most people will begin to notice even the slightest shifts of energy. A few people will seldom if ever, feel anything with Reiki beyond the tactile sensation of hands-to-body touch. Fortunately, Reiki works whether you feel it or not... Every time Reiki energy is used the chance of miracles increases. It is an entirely natural question to ask, but to ask it is also to misunderstand the nature of Reiki and disease and healing. Explained very simply – Reiki does not cure diseases, it heals people. To expect Reiki to cure a disease is to expect Reiki to conform to the limited understanding and knowledge of a disease that we have.Indeed the name helps neither a healer nor the healer in their Reiki journey. The name of the disease can hinder the healing route. Consider our expectations that accompany a disease name. Cancer – immediate thoughts are that it is a terminal disease with much pain and trauma. Diabetes – always described as a disease from which we can never recover. But I ask, why should cancer and diabetes be different from a cold, or an injury. If we cut ourselves we don't panic that the cut will never heal, we simply let the body continue with its natural task of healing itself. Yet when we are confronted with a terrifying name, we lose that trust in our bodily defence system and healing ability. But if the body has the ability to cure itself of minor disease and injury, why would it lose this ability when it comes to more potent disease? I am not suggesting that we should avoid the diagnosis of our disease, nor turn away from orthodox medicine, but merely hope that we can retain the open-mindedness and faith that has allowed our bodies to grow and develop as we age. The placebo effect is well known. We all know that the power of the mind can have a positive influence upon our bodies – i.e., a sugar pill removing a headache because we are told it is ibuprofen. But the nocebo effect is not so well known. A nocebo (Latin for "I will harm") is "a harmless substance that, when taken by a patient, is associated with harmful effects due to negative expectations."Research has also shown that the nocebo effect can reverse the body's response to actual medical treatment from positive to negative. The nocebo effect is so powerful that it can not only prevent the body from healing; it can also induce disease where there is none. The nocebo effect occurs with medicine, medical treatment and diagnoses.Tell a patient that he has only three months to live, and you increase the chances that he only has three months to live. We need to understand that disease is not a punishment nor merely something that happens by coincidence. The roots of illness are found deep within our system and our psyche. The disease surfaces when we become stagnant – in our life or views; when we take life for granted or forget about our own needs. Sometimes disease occurs to help us become better people. Dis-ease comes to assist us in our growth – by cleansing our system, as in a comen cold; or by teaching us the value of life, such as in "terminal" disease. If we look deeply, we can always locate the reason for our condition, the lesson we must learn and the message of hope it brings for us. The disease is a part of us, as much as our limbs or our heart. It exists in us in all our layers – mental, emotional, spiritual and physical. We may not welcome it at the time, but it plays a vital part in our development and growth. Hence when we take on a healing journey, we begin to see that it is not the disease that needs healing, nor a particular part of our physical body, but it is the whole self that must be healed. To heal the physical body but to remain with a soul in pain is not a true healing. We all have the ability to rid ourselves of our physical diseases. Still, the question must remain – do we have the right attitude, the courage to face our inner demons and the perseverance to keep going even when things seem hopeless? We must also remember that a "cure" will not necessarily come in the form that we wish. Sometimes physical disability remains, but this is counteracted by the opening of the mind and the spirit (Enlightenment). Some believe that to have a closed mind is a more significant disability than physical paralysis. To be cured is to be freed from constriction and limitations – often these are limitations that we set for ourselves.
