The Center for Massage Therapy & Sound Healing

Thanks to Rebekha Bogan with Essential Integrative Health and Wellness for this wonderful opportunity to share some insight about the practice of Reiki energy work and its effects on mind and body. We hope you enjoy listening and check our Sound Healing podcast, as well.

Transcript:

Announcer

Advanced practice, holistic nurse and family nurse practitioner with essential integrative health and wellness. And today on the podcast, we’re going to be talking about Reiki. For you guys that don’t know what Reiki is. It is a Japanese technique used for stress reduction and relaxation and promotes healing. And we have a special guest with us this week. So tune in, listen and enjoy the show.

Rebakah

Hi. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for the podcast.

Judy Grier

Well, thank you for having me, Rebecca. I’m happy to be here with you today.

Rebakah

Thank you so much for doing this. So for you guys who do not know, we have Judy Grier on the podcast today. And she is not only a health care professional yoga guru, she is also a Reiki instructor, Reiki master.

So I’m so thankful for her to be on the show. So thank you so much for joining us today.

Judy Grier

Thank you for having me.

Rebakah

And one of the questions that our listeners would like to know is what inspired you to become a Reiki practitioner?

Judy Grier

I think that was just my need as a nurse that I saw that other types of integrated approaches to patient care or something that included more mind body medicine, et cetera, was really necessary.

And I started just exploring different paths for that alternative and complementary care, primarily through the Holistic Nurses Association. Yes.

Rebakah

For you guys who do not know, the Holistic Nurses Association is one of the certifications associations that you can get to become a holistic nurse, which gives you more education on different complementary therapies such as Reiki or acupuncture or essential oils. Just all of the other more natural things that you can help with health care.

How long have you been in practice?

Judy Grier

About 22 years now.

Rebakah

Yes. And how does being a Reiki practitioner benefit your health care practice?

Judy Grier

Well, right now I’m primarily providing a variety of massage body work services.

I’m no longer working as a nurse, at present, and so really just integrates really well with a lot of different types of modalities.

At The Center for Massage Therapy, we offer a brand called Synergy Reiki Therapy, where we combine it with psychology, with sound healing, with restorative yoga.

And I feel that what Reiki offers me in particular as a practitioner is that unique ability to combine it with these other modalities so that people have more of an enhanced mind body kind of experience. And I feel like a deeper level of relaxation due to that.

Rebakah

And where did the practice of Reiki originate from?

Judy Grier

Well, it’s actually been around a long time since 1930s, and it started in Japan with Usui Mikao, and it actually started as more of an individual meditative practice to deepen one’s connection with mind, body and spirit.

And it came from a very similar sort of tradition as martial arts like Akito. And it had a major influence, as well, from just the traditional Indigenous Japanese culture. And it’s unique features that it had that those other forms of meditative awareness didn’t was that aspect that they call palm healing. It transitioned sometime in the 80s from Japan over to Hawaii through one of Usui Mikao’s students named Hawayo Takata.

And then she started to westernize it. And once it got westernized, it got really popular in the US complimentary type of mind body treatment. And now it still has a lot of roots in its original practices of meditation and breathing awareness and palm healing for selfcare, for the practitioners, as well as clients.

Rebakah

Yes, I have noticed as well that there’s a lot of versions of breaking out that you mentioned that it’s been Westernized and energy healing.

Judy Grier

Absolutely. It’s gone through a huge transition since its original form, because in this original form, it was really more of a self care practice. It was intended that way.

And just throughout the years, it kind of went through this metamorphosis where it became not only a self care practice, but then also a real complimentary treatment practice.

So, a lot of influence there. That happened in the 1980s when we had all of the New Age medicine and all of this big exploration of both alternative modalities over here.

Rebakah

How does it benefit our well being, the rating?

Judy Grier

Well, primarily, I think what it does is it promotes an increased awareness of the mind body connection, and it does that through the use of just therapeutic touch.

There’s kind of an old saying that says, “where our attention goes, our energy flows”, and that touch, that essence of what they call palm healing back in the 1930s, of just actually putting your hands on various positions of the body, really just brings a lot of awareness. And it creates a really strong kind of mind body connection there, if you will.

And as that happens, it also creates a bit of a relaxation response, which decreases our stress response. And that is ultimately beneficial to all of us because so many of the illnesses, chronic illnesses especially, are really stress related.

Rebakah

Yes, this is very true. I just left another podcast interview, and she spoke as well how stress influences health. And I know I can recall in nursing school learning about therapeutic touch, but they don’t really go into that much of a detail about it. We learn just a few little hand techniques, like a back massage.

But how long does it take to really master the art of Reiki and energy healing?

Judy Grier

Well, that’s a good question.

It’s a lifelong practice, really. You’re always kind of refining your skills at anything that you do.

And there’s actually three different there’s three different levels of practitioners in Reiki, and there’s quite a bit of difference between the them.

Level one Reiki– is really about self care. There’s a lot of emphasis on creating regular meditative practices, learning different breathing exercises that go along with the Reiki and then learning how to do a self treatment of palm healing.

Level two Reiki, you learn a little bit more on how to work on others and clients and formalize that a little bit.

Third level Reiki, you actually learn how to be a teacher of that art.

So it really just depends. Some people take years in between those levels and practice and refine those skills. And some people, depending on their background, just can complete that relatively quickly.

Rebakah

And how do you go about to find a really good Reiki practitioner?

Because I feel like there are so many people that are getting certified in this and that. How do you know the difference?

How do you know that you have a good practitioner?

Judy Grier

Well, as always, with anything in massage, body work, complimentary care work now is always wonderful.

So, ask your neighbors, ask your friends and relatives if they know of anybody. That’s always a good place to start.

And then just in your local community, find out from others as well, too. And again, that kind of goes back to those levels of practitioners we just talked about.

So level one has the beginning knowledge of skills.

Level two has refined those skills quite a bit and learn some different techniques. And then level three, Reiki Masters have refined those skills to the point where they’re able to teach them to others.

So you would always just want to look and make sure that they have at least a level one certificate in breaking that. They’ve taken some training in that. And that’s a really good place to start.

Rebakah

And what are some of the main principles of ranking?

Judy Grier

Well, like we said, the complimentary, really health approach, what kind of makes it unique or stands out is, again, this idea of the palm healing.

So, the practitioners actually use their hands in real light touch on the body or just above the body with that goal, again, of facilitating that mind body connection.

And that’s largely how we receive the benefit that we get from that is by creating that connection and that healing response that comes about from it.

It’s really based on the principle of the Eastern belief that all things are made of energy, and that we call that in the Japanese Reiki school, we call that Ki with “K”, Ki,

Traditional Chinese medicine, they call that Qi. In yoga, they call that Prana.

So that’s that same sort of principle in all of those art forms that you’re talking about is that vital life force, that energy life force. So that’s the essence behind it. And then the way that that essence is manifested or used is largely, again, through that mind body connection and therapeutic touch.

Rebakah

And I know it talks a lot about energy, and I don’t know about you, as a nurse for me, before I even step in a room with the patient, sometimes I can feel the energy from them, whether they’re having a bad day or if they’re anxious or whatever.

I kind of feel that before I even step in the room to approach them.

What are some things that we can do to nourish our energy, our energy for ourselves as just every day with work and every day at home? Because I know whenever your energy is off or you’re having a bad day that radiates out.

Judy Grier

People can feel that.

That’s an excellent question.

I think one of the most intuitive things that we can do to help with that is to just take a deep breath.

I mean, intuitively, we just know that if we can just stop what we’re doing and just slow down for a minute and focus on our breath.

In reiki, we teach a lot of simple belly breathing.  Japanese talk about the Hara, which is the center of the body, which is this area just below the belly button, just simple, focused belly breathing.

It starts to calm the mind, calm the body, and then any sort of just kind of simple movement along with that, or in addition to that, anything that promotes a little bit of awareness into the moment takes us out of that hectic frenzy of everyday life.

Rebakah

And if one were to start a Reiki session, how many sessions of Reiki do you recommend to improve your health?

Judy Grier

Well, that really just depends a lot on the reason why people are seeking that type of alternative care to begin with.

So there are clients who come to do that as a preventative means to just help keep their stress in check and their body and balance.

And then their clients come because they’re working with that more as a complementary care practice that may have some sort of chronic illness or cancer that they’re dealing with, et cetera.

So it really just depends on the individual person and what their goals are.

Rebakah

And then when you come in as a client for Reiki, what should you expect? How should you dress? Should you just come in just regular clothes? How does one expect experience for Ricky?

Judy Grier

Reiki is not like massage at all. And it’s very light touch. We’re not really manipulating any of the muscles or soft tissue. So it’s done fully closed on a massage table.

And the session itself usually takes anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes.

And it just creates this state of relaxation.

So you should expect to have a professional practitioner that really just explains all that to you. When you come in, there may be a little bit of an intake form to kind of fill out or discussion about everybody’s client and practitioners expectations.

Reiki practitioners don’t diagnose and they don’t even really aim to treat any kind of specific condition. They’re more like a midwife in a way that they just kind of facilitate the body’s own natural processes or self regulation.

Rebakah

And where can we find more information on your upcoming Reiki certification because you are a Reiki master, and I know that you teach Reiki.

So where can we find more information on that?

Judy Grier

Well, the best place to find information about that is on the website, and the Web address is just centerformassagetherapy.net. And when you go on to the Web page, you can just look underneath the Reiki therapy session and you’ll find information about more information about what a Reiki therapy session is like, about our combined modalities, our synergy Reiki sessions with Premiere, with Restorative Yoga. And then you’ll also find some information just about those Reiki certification classes.

Rebakah

That is awesome. And you also offer the sound therapy as well?

Judy Grier

We do.

Rebakah

And I can’t wait to experience that because I must sign up for that.

Judy Grier

I’m so excited about that.

Rebakah

And where are you located?

Judy Grier

At The Center for Massage Therapy in Cape Girardo.

Rebakah

All right. And thank you so much, Ms. Judy, for taking time for us to interview you. And I look forward to the sound session. I cannot wait because I have not experienced that yet. So I’m so excited about that. Anything else that you want to share with our listeners?

Judy Grier

I said thank you again so much for giving me the opportunity to talk to you about Reiki. And we look forward to being able to connect with you at the sound session as well.

And then just one other little bit of information. If you, for whatever reason, don’t have access on the Internet, you can always give us a call. And our number is 573-20-6465.

Rebakah

Thank you so much.

Judy Grier

Thank you.

Announcer

And that was an excellent interview with Ms. Judy. Now before I get out of here, I wanted to let you guys know a little bit more about Essential Integrative Health and Wellness. Here at Essential Integrative Health and Wellness, we Help With Sustainable Weight Loss So if you’re tired of your diet, unhealthy dieting, fatigue, stress, irritation, bloating and just a return and weight gain every time that you try to work on your weight, why worry with this? Why worry with the Yoyo diet when there is a better way? And I understand.

Announcer

I have been there. I am an advanced practice holistic nurse and a family nurse practitioner. And we help with weight loss management through a holistic approach to weight management. So schedule a consult, we’ll do an assessment, and we’ll come up with a patient centered weight loss plan at your visit. And we can help work with you each week. You don’t have to do it alone. So call today for an appointment and get your sustainable weight loss plan so you can transition into that healthy lifestyle that you want. A decrease in diabetes, a decrease in hypertension, a reduce your pain level from the weight. We reduce weight related to pain. We help you feel good about your body and help reduce fatigue. So if you want to avoid trying to do it alone, avoid having that return and weight gain, avoid having that lack of motivation and avoid not having a plan and if you want to go from feeling depressed about your weight gain and not having confidence in yourself about it, come transform with us we can help you feel confident about your health so check out essential integrativehealthandwellness on essential integrativehealth integrative.com or you can also give us a call we’re always taking phone calls.

Announcer

Our phone number is 618-484-8709 give us a phone call here at Essential Integrative health and Wellness we are a patient centered healthcare service so we can help you with creating a plan that’s going to help you with sustainable weight loss using a holistic method. We also integrate the practice so we can do some traditional medicine with it as well. To integrate with it we offer injection therapy to help you with your weight loss or help you with fatigue and help you with other things. We offer supplements and vitamins as well so give us a phone call check out our website and thank you so much for listening to the podcast here at Essential Integrative health and wellness.

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