Reiki - Energy Medicine for the Heavy Heart

by Christina Gregory

We often express our emotions in physical language: My heart feels so heavy. My heart is broken. I feel so anxious; my heart feels like a weight is on it.

Sound familiar? Our thoughts and emotions are felt in our bodies, our cells and internal organs. The heaviness of sadness, for example, is often felt physically in our heart. We have all had moments of sadness or feeling overwhelmed in a situation and it can feel like a brick laying on our heart. Those thoughts and emotions vibrate just as our physical body and all its parts are vibrating.

Healthy vibration is light and often quick. Think about how the heart feels when happy or excited about an upcoming event. It gives physical energy and we may feel like jumping around because of it. It can also be at peace—the main ingredient for a happy heart to function well.

I feel so much lighter. I have a different perspective on my illness. I don’t feel weighted down by the pain.

Heavy vibration, on the other hand, feels like a weight, stuck and sapping our energy both mentally and physically. The emotion is not separate from the rest of our body; it is connected to every part by vibration. Because heaviness is a slow vibration, a higher vibration is then needed to move the heaviness, balance the weight of the emotion and help release it. Enter energy medicine.

Reiki, which means “universal energy”, in Japanese, is a vibration in itself. It is physics, actually. You are vibrating internally based on your thoughts and your emotions. When an additional and different vibration through reiki healing hands is put on the body, the body goes to work. It is the body’s mission to heal. The body is never against us; it is always on our side. When mental, emotional or physical issues appear, it is a red flag that balance needs and wants to occur. Reiki can help bring the body and emotions into balance. Reiki can help lighten the load on your heart.

Lightness. Happiness. Peace. Reiki can offer hope for the healing to begin.

Nurses at the hospital where I volunteered asked if I would see a patient with leukemia to determine if reiki energy medicine would help. He was very cranky and negative about his illness and hurled it toward everything and everyone. His heart was angry most of the time and working overtime. His wife begged him to try it. Within five minutes he was snoring, and when he woke up from his 20-minute nap, he gasped, “I feel so much lighter. I have a different perspective on my illness. I don’t feel weighted down by the pain.”

Another woman, after brain surgery, obviously expressed her need for pain relief at the incision sight on her head. After her reiki nap, she woke up exclaiming, “My heart feels so light. It feels like a big weight has been taken off.” She had never mentioned her heart but the vibration knew that was where the work needed to happen.

My heart feels so light. It feels like a big weight has been taken off.

Those coping with anxiety and stress also express the lightness they feel after a reiki session. The vibration clears the excess heavy energy and allows the heart to have room to heal the heavy emotions it has been experiencing. This creates space to think calmly and clearly.

Patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), who often face the challenge of dissociation, frequently comment on the heart and mind connection after a reiki treatment. The healing vibration of reiki helps bring the mind and body, especially the heart, into oneness, bringing the pieces together if only for that session. Continued sessions help to bring space for further healing. This is most effective coupled with psychotherapy (talking from the heart) which also assists in the healing process.

Our heart wants hope. Our heart wants healing. Lightness. Happiness. Peace. Reiki can offer hope for the healing to begin.

Christina Gregory is an energy therapist collaborating with other practitioners at Bhakti Wellness Center, in Edina. For the past two years, she has created a practice especially working with the emotional challenges of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression and grief. Her previous 10 years of experience have been primarily in hospital and hospice centers. To contact her, email InnerKimcg@ gmail.com.