Today, there are dozens of different healing modalities for you to choose from. Some of the alternative therapies may be less familiar to you like the practice of Reiki or the practice of Shamanic Energy Healing.
While these practices aren’t yet considered mainstream nor do they follow the Western healing modalities in which you might be accustomed, they offer an alternative that might be worth exploring.
As with the ancient shamanic practices of the Andes, Reiki practitioners believe that everyone has the ability to connect with their own healing energy. Both modalities work with a client's energetic body, the invisible energetic field which surrounds each of our bodies.
Our energetic body sits invisibly about eight inches off of our physical body. You know how you can sometimes sense or even feel the energy of someone as they enter a room without them ever having to say a single word? That is our energetic body communicating.
The energetic body is composed of seven energy centers or “chakras,” each one corresponding to different organs, glands, emotions, and psychological states. Each of our energy centers also hold the energetic or toxic residue leftover from the trauma or experiences we’ve had in our past. And each energy center corresponds to the age at which that experience may have happened to you.
When these energy centers are out of alignment or unbalanced, it can cause our body to remain in a state of fight-flight-freeze and anxiety, depression or a host of other psychological ailments. If left in an unbalanced state, according to the ancient practices of the shamans of the Andes. These blockages can ultimately manifest into physical disease or ailments like chronic back pain, insomnia, digestive issues and communication difficulties. Other possible manifestations include problems with our neck or throat, fibromyalgia, bones or organs issues, and even cancer, along with a whole host of other ailments.
When balanced, these energy centers can provide people with the relief of certain conditions but also help them to access and move into higher states of being (consciousness). Once the chakras are aligned, energy flows more freely throughout the entire physical body which can revitalize the system and boost energy levels.
However, while both practices work with our energetic body with the purpose of realigning and balancing the chakras so they can spin freely, the two practices differ greatly in both their approach and modalities.
The word "Reiki" comes from the Japanese words "rei" (universal) and "ki" (life energy). It was developed in Japan in the late 1800s by Mikao Usui, a Buddhist monk. Usui based his healing technique on Buddhist healing disciplines. Usui wanted to create a healing technique that was accessible to everyone, regardless of their religious beliefs.
Essentially, Reiki is an energy healing practice that aims to remove those energetic blockages in the flow of energy in the body. Reiki is taught through attunement, an initiation ceremony that is thought to help open the student's energy. From there, the practitioner will lay hands on the client on whichever energy center they feel is blocked. This process usually takes anywhere from 60-90 minutes. Some say that Reiki activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which can reduce heart rate and blood pressure, and increase heart rate variability.
In contrast, the shamanic energy healing practices, assessments and modalities are far more extensive. Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves interacting directly with the spirit and energetic world.
There are several modalities within any shamanic energy healing session which a shaman may choose to employ during any session to offer relief to a client.
The shamanic energy healing practices date back thousands of years. Shamans primarily treat physical and emotional issues. Shamans use remote viewing to find danger, shelter, or resources. They also lead sacred ceremonies like Fire Ceremonies to provide transformative healing, they can communicate with the spirits and ancestors for guidance, and protect land and communities from energetic aggression.
The goal of shamanic practices is to direct spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world to help people heal from a variety of conditions.
Clients typically come to a shaman because they are suffering either from physical, emotional or spiritual illness or difficulties or from unresolved issues from the past that they are ready to address, heal and let go of.
The shaman will assess the client using a thorough verbal assessment of the client's concerns and needs and choose from any number of modalities to treat the client from an Illumination which is designed to assess the energy centers as with Reiki. However, the shaman goes much more in-depth into this process.
The role of the shaman in any energy healing session is to hold space for the client to actually heal themselves. This is a huge distinction between Reiki and the ancient practice of shamanic energy healing.
In one of the many processes employed in the shamanic energy healing, the process called an Illumination is one where the shaman will diagnose each chakra and bring into balance any and/or all affected energy centers.
In this process, the shaman will begin by assisting the client into moving into a trance-like state. It is in this state that the client moves out of the analytical mind and into a higher brainwave state, gamma, allowing them to become receptive to the guidance the shaman will then provide. The shaman then sets about diagnosing each chakra one at a time and opens the affected chakra. Opening the affected chakra allows the shaman to coach the client into actually locating the energy within their own system. It also serves to “announce” to that energetic center that we are going to get to work to heal. From there, the shaman will coach the client to move their own energy out of the energetic field to clear the blockage.
Several other processes could also be employed with the client based upon what the shaman senses or feels energetically. If the client comes to the shaman with unhealed trauma affecting one or more of their chakras, the shaman could choose to do an Extraction which would serve to remove a negative entity from the client's energetic field. Cord-Cutting is another energy healing process that allows for a client to release themselves from an energetic bond or attachment from a former partner, family member or friend. Perhaps the client would like to journey back to their past to uncover parts of themselves that have been brought forward into this lifetime. In this case, the shaman might perform a Soul Retrieval with the client. Or if the client would like to understand what their purpose is in this lifetime, the shaman might perform a Destiny Retrieval to uncover the client’s Soul Contract.
Following a shamanic energy healing session, clients typically report feeling as if they’ve “left their body” which in fact, is true given that they have transcended the 3D world, their analytical “thinking mind” and moved into a higher state of consciousness. In this state of consciousness, the client experiences a void where there is no thought, nothing, nobody and they have an experience of being nowhere in time or space. This is what is commonly known as the fifth dimension or the quantum field—the energetic field where space and time do not exist.
Following an energy healing with a shaman, the client typically feels a lightness in body, mind, and spirit and may even notice the physical, emotional, or spiritual healing already beginning.
If you are interested in experiencing Shamanic Energy Healing for yourself, you can find all of Maggie's offerings HERE!