By Olaf Growald
When I met Rebecca Emery at her small studio behind Ridglea Theater for our scheduled session, I was not in a good headspace. But, such is likely to be expected when one visits Rebecca, who is a master at an alternative, energy-healing medicine called reiki. If reiki turns out to be a legitimate form of treatment, then Rebecca’s hands are said to heal.
Rebecca’s calm disposition is contagious; she has a soothing voice and a general glow that beams with the quiet confidence of a guru. Her space is minimalist and understated with blank walls, wood floors, and two yoga mats lying under light from the westward-facing window — it’s far from the stereotypical Far-East clad digs one might expect.
I lay down unsure of what to expect. She customarily asked if there was anything she needed to know, and I explained that I was in the midst of a very stressful day and that I am currently undergoing physical therapy on my shoulder. At that point, we began. As she put her hands on various chakras — crown, third eye, and throat — I admittedly had a difficult time leaning into the process. Then, all at once, Rebecca placed her hands on my heart chakra and immediately something shifted. This palpable shift made me feel simultaneously grounded and suspended. My breathing deepened, and my mind cleared.
Reiki, pronounced “RAY-kee,” is a Japanese method of energy healing — using the power of touch — that dates back to the late 19th century. In Japanese, “Rei” translates to “God’s wisdom” and “Ki” translates to “life force energy.” The practice of reiki is based on the belief that when spiritual energy is channeled through a reiki practitioner, the recipient is healed and, thus, the body healed, as well. There are three levels of reiki attunements or the opening of chakras. Chakras, pronounced “shah-kras,” are thought of as the energy centers of the body. There are a total of seven primary chakras, each representing different areas of the body that correspond to physical, emotional, and spiritual states of being. Reiki opens the chakras, specifically the crown, heart, and hands. Because of this, one must have all three atunements in order to be a reiki master.
Rebecca became a reiki master in 2012 after studying the original form of reiki, called Usui reiki, under Libby Barnett in New Hampshire. On top of being a reiki master and teacher, Rebecca is also a nutrition therapist, yoga instructor, and holistic life coach. And, like Barnett, Rebecca not only practices reiki, but trains others to become practitioners.
While this ancient form of touch therapy has exploded in other parts of the country — primarily East and West Coasts — it has been a little slower to catch on in North Texas. No Fort Worth hospitals or physicians would comment on the story when contacted. “Usui reiki is the purest form of reiki. It can be such a powerful complementary therapy. I’ve seen it blend seamlessly with massage therapy, sound therapy, essential oil therapy, and even crystals. In other areas, hospitals are using reiki in conjunction with surgeries, cancer treatments, pain treatments, and even end-of-life care,” Rebecca says.
A 2015 and 2016 study conducted at Harvard University performed over 1,400 reiki sessions, which resulted in the largest study of reiki to date. The results documented significant improvements in psychological and physical health, including improvements in pain, drowsiness, tiredness, nausea, appetite, shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, mood, and overall wellness. Ultimately, this research surmised that even one reiki session can improve mental and physical health.
New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Campus was one of the first hospitals in the U.S. to offer reiki as part of their Integrative Medicine Program. Now-famous New York Presbyterian Hospital cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Mehmet Oz, even brought reiki practitioners in to treat his patients during open heart surgeries and heart transplant operations.
UCLA conducted another study that supports reiki’s validity using the Touchstone Process, an evidence-based research method developed by William Lee Rand, founder of the International Center of Reiki Training. The case study conducted reiki sessions in two control groups. The groups that received a legitimate reiki treatment saw significantly reduced stress, anxiety, and depression, while the placebo groups that received fake reiki treatments showed no reduction in stress, anxiety, and depression. The Touchstone Process hypothesizes that reiki can significantly help ailments and disorders such as post-operative pain after tooth extraction, cognition in elderly related to dementia/Alzheimer’s, pre-operative relaxation and post-operative pain, pain in chronically ill patients, depression and stress, and well-being in reiki practitioners.
At the end of the day, Rebecca uses reiki to help others alleviate stress, anxiety, and pain from their bodies. “More often than not, my students aren’t learning reiki to become practitioners. Some want to use it on themselves as a self-soothing technique. Some use it to let go of trauma. One of my students is in graduate school and began using reiki on herself and saw her grades go up and her test anxiety lessen significantly,” Rebecca says. “Others choose to apply it to their current roles or careers, such as special needs teachers, social workers, new parents, and even people who work with animals.”
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety affects 40 million adults in the U.S. alone — 18.1% of the population. And, according to a 2016 study by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, depression steadily increased among those 12 years or older between 2005 and 2015. With what appears to be a near epidemic when it comes to mental health, reiki is touted as a powerful coping mechanism.
“In our society, our sympathetic nervous system is consistently kicked into overdrive. This means that your brain constantly feels you’re under threat, and cortisol, the stress hormone, floods your system, resulting in fight-or-flight response. We need more practices that activate our parasympathetic nervous system that allow us to rest and digest,” Rebecca says.
Rebecca has no shortage of stories where reiki has helped people. She told me of a friend struggling with fertility. After multiple trips to specialists and fertility treatments, her friend scheduled a reiki session as a last-ditch effort. About six weeks later, Rebecca’s friend couldn’t contain her excitement and explained to Rebecca that she was finally pregnant. “Was it the reiki? I don’t know,” Rebecca says. “It could have been. Sometimes it’s just about being open. It is the ultimate gift of allowing things to happen as they need to.”
As evident by her minimalist space, Rebecca isn’t in the business of wowing people. In her one-on-one sessions, her main focus is to help people get out of their own way in order to heal. “Healing doesn’t always mean you’re fixing the problem. Sometimes healing is the mere acknowledgement that there is a problem. Some people have trauma that comes from really old wounds, and people need to release that trauma. Like an energetic flush out,” Rebecca says. She is fully aware that reiki isn’t exactly a logical practice, as it’s difficult to quantify its results.
After an hour, our session was over. “How was it?” smiled Rebecca. I felt more relaxed but also more receptive to whatever else was going to come my way. She explained there were some things that she saw during our session. She noticed my throat chakra was humming with energy — this means that I am feeling seen and not heard. Accurate. She also told me she saw a specific male in my life that was the ultimate cause of this. Also true. Usually, issues in the throat chakra manifest because of not speaking your truth. This is something with which I habitually struggle. I could not get over how incredibly accurate this was. Rebecca also explained my other chakras and ways to improve overall. While this evidence is purely anecdotal, I did leave her studio walking a little taller and feeling as if a weight had been taken off my shoulders.