For those of you wondering… “What is a Reiki Massage?” “How can Reiki Massage help heal emotional and energetic blockages?” Or “Is Reiki Massage for me?” I’ve got answers! Let’s get into it.

I recently saw a new client who’d signed up for a Reiki Massage. (For those of you who don’t know, Reiki Massage is a combination of traditional therapeutic bodywork and energy work designed for deep relaxation and healing. The combination of energy work and bodywork together create a special opportunity for clearing and releasing energetic blockages and stored emotions.)

Going over her intake, she presented with the typical “generalized stress, nothing specific, just need to relax” answers. As with each client I see, I made sure to make her feel safe, encouraging her to relax and breathe. She was doing great, breathing deeply, relaxing more, and letting go, and I felt her moving into a deep subconscious state. 

Then, about twenty minutes in, when I began working on the area near her heart/lung she began crying. Now, a therapist who is not trauma informed or trained in Reiki might have gotten uncomfortable. They might have asked if something was wrong, or might possibly have felt like THEY had done something wrong. They might have tried to make their client stop crying, thinking that it was a bad thing. But I knew better. 

I let her know again that she was safe, that I was here for her, and encouraged her to allow herself to feel through what was coming up without judgment. I didn’t probe her or press her to tell me what was wrong. I simply used the Reiki energy to cleanse and clear her field and the heart chakra and heart/lung meridian. Then she REALLY began sobbing, and so, I just held her hand gently while sending her Reiki until she was done. 

One thing I’d like to point out here: sometimes our clients know when they have something energetic or emotional coming up. Other times, they don’t! Quite often, they don’t have an awareness of just how much they’ve been holding, because work, life, and society require us to push our emotions to the back burner. Only when we can relax in a safe space do we then finally realize that maybe there’s a lot more going on than we initially thought!

Neglecting Our Emotions Causes Physical Pain

We human beings are emotional creatures. Our BODIES are physical representations of our MINDS and SOULS. Just like physics, energy trickles down into matter. In the same way, our spirit trickles down into our soul, which trickles down into our mental, emotional, and then physical bodies. 

Many times, the emotional, spiritual, and psychological stress we carry gets supressed and shoved away, which can then often cause phsyical pain, disease, and even chronic illness.

The problem is, most of the time, the majority of us almost always only focus on the physical. We incorrectly think that what we see is all there is. We forget and neglect the other aspects of ourselves until we get triggered, exhausted, or have a breakdown, injury, or ailment, and then we are forced to address them.

As therapists and bodyworkers, it’s important for us to understand that when we touch someone physically, we are actually touching ALL the aspects of their being. When we use our tools and awareness to create a safe space for someone to relax, go deep, and connect with their emotional and spiritual bodies, it allows them to heal on a deeper level. 

When we don’t understand the body/mind/soul connection, or don’t have the tools to address the emotional aspects of our clients, we risk triggering their emotional trauma and leaving our clients worse off than when they started. 

Lack of Awareness Can Trigger Our Client’s Trauma

I remember after I had my back surgery how emotional I was. I’d been in pain for over 6 months and had PTSD from the traumatic events leading up to, and from my surgery. My physical body was still holding all of the emotions of fear, grief, and pain. I was mentally, physically, and emotionally, exhausted and hurting on all levels.

When I started going to receive bodywork again, my body was so tense and fearful that even the lightest touch on my back would send me reeling off the table. Even though I saw some really good therapists, these people were not aware of the emotional effects of the trauma that is stored in the body, and were not well equipped or educated enough to know what to do. 

After one horrible session where the completely oblivious therapist did not hold safe space for me and I subsequently burst into tears, the therapist was so uncomfortable that they actually offered to leave the room. (THERAPISTS: PLEASE DO NOT EVER DO THIS!) I left that session feeling so awful, I knew that I needed to see someone trained in Reiki right away. I called my healer and got on her schedule immediately. After a few sessions, I was feeling more emotionally clear and ready to start getting massages again. 

When we are working directly with someone’s body, it doesn’t matter if you’re a chiropractor, a physical therapist, a doctor, yoga instructor, or a massage therapist: you MUST understand that you are ALSO dealing with a HUMAN BEING who has emotions, and furthermore, the emotional body IS a part of the physical body! 

When getting a massage, it is especially important to have someone who understands this and has the training and tools necessary to hold space for ALL of you, not just the physical. 

Reiki Massage Encourages Emotional Release

The beautiful thing about combining bodywork and energy work is the emotional release and even spiritual healing that often occurs. If you are open to it, you can have incredible healing results that go far beyond a traditional massage. 

I’ve seen clients have breakthroughs regarding childhood trauma, ancestral trauma, and even past life trauma. I’ve seen clients heal from things that traditional western medicine coouldn’t even touch. Many times, clients come to me after they’ve exhausted all other avenues, at their wit’s end and desperate to find someone who can help them.

The fact of the matter is, until we start treating people as whole human beings, we will never be able to fully heal, becuase we are only addressing the parts. 

I have found that Reiki massage is a beautiful way to address ALL of the parts, and myself, as well as many of my clients have had truly miraclulous results!

Have you had amazing results with Reiki Massage? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you! 

Interested in trying a Reiki Massage session? Send me a DM for more info, or to book online, click the link in my bio!