When I was invited to have a Reiki session with Jissel Ravelo I had no idea what to expect. Zen is not a word I’d use to describe myself. At all. It’s been said on multiple occasions that I’m an intense person. My mother is probably reading this and nodding along.
Yoga classes used to feel like torture because they were so slow and I would spend savasana thinking about what I need to buy at Whole Foods. I promise I’ve come a long way in my journey to “relaxing” since my yoga hating days.
I came into my Reiki session with an open mind and excited to see what it was all about. As for anything that falls into the more “holistic medicine” category, it’s important to come in with an open mind. I’m a believer that the mind is insanely powerful in that if you come in thinking something won’t work, it probably won’t.
What is Reiki Therapy?
Reiki Therapy uses gentle pressure to work with your body’s energy system or chakras if you’re familiar with them from yoga. Reiki can help with stress relief, relaxation and overall wellbeing.
Before my session, Jissel explained Reiki to me in her own words. What really stuck out to me was hearing that it produces a similar reaction to meditation, but even more powerful. Despite my lack of zen, I did my fair share of meditation in theater school (yup, we had to mediate in voice and speech). Like yoga, it took me awhile to warm up to meditation but when I got into the groove I was amazed with how much it helped me stay grounded as an actor and helped with the voice work we were doing in school.
Jissel also explained that people will get out of what what they need. In my case, I can always use some relaxation…
What does it feel like?
After answering some simple questions about myself (unexciting medical history, sleep habits, stress level, etc.) it was Reiki time! Similar to a massage, you lie on a bed with your knees comfortably propped up a touch to encourage natural back alignment. Jissel applied light pressure with her hands on various points starting from my head and working my way down. It’s not painful at all.
As the session continued I could feel a tingling session depending on where she was working. Kind of like when your foot falls asleep, but this tingling was clearly more deliberate. It also reminded me of a relaxation technique I used to use to help me fall asleep where I would tense and release each muscle of my body from my toes to my head.
About halfway through I flipped over so she could go head to toe again. And then I’m pretty sure I fell… or fell into a super deep relaxation. As someone who doesn’t know how to nap, and has never fallen asleep during a massage or anything like that, I was like woah, did that just happen? Talk about relaxed.
Afterwards I felt so calm and practically floated out of the session. It felt like a mixture of a massage and yoga, wrapped into one ball of relaxation.
The most exciting thing to me was how good my jaw felt. I’ve struggled with TMJ since I was in middle school thanks to a misaligned jaw joint. It’s literally impossible to open and close my mouth without clicking thanks to this and I hold a lot of tension in my jaw. It didn’t fix my messed up joint (that would take surgery) but it did release that clenching sensation I often times feel. It felt like magic and worked better than Advil.
What I learned about myself
Jissel mentioned my jaw before I even told her I have a history of jaw issues. How cool is that that she could sense the energy there? There was also something interesting going on in my stomach which is linked to anxiety and self-esteem issues. I’ve talked about my struggle with being awkward and a tad self conscious before so this isn’t incredibly surprising.
I’ve been thinking about doing acupuncture to help with some of my anxieties, but have been to scared because needles give me even more anxiety. I can’t speak from personal experience, but Reiki uses the same principles and instead of using needles use touch and light pressure.
I could see myself doing a Reiki session every few months as a “tune up seasion” if you will to get back in touch with my body and energy. I went right before Thanksgiving and it was honestly just what I needed to reset and recharge before heading home for the holiday.
Question– Have you tried Reiki Therapy before?
Thank you Jissel for the complimentary session.
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