By Dr. Lori Pitts, Founder of Still Whole Wellness

I believe it was 2016 when I first heard the word Reiki. I had no idea what it meant and definitely was ignorant of the healing powers this ancient modality possessed. I recall my spiritual mentor introducing the word to me. She explained that the physical pain that I was experiencing was due to unhealed emotional pain from being sexually violated. I had also been in therapy for quite some time and although it was helping, there was clearly something missing. I discovered that I was still carrying the energy of my trauma, within my lower chakra center, which was manifesting itself as physical pain. These blockages affected me in ways that would take me years to fully understand. 

When I began to do research on reiki, I learned that not only was my spiritual mentor correct about my being affected by the emotional pain, but I came to understand that I had been performing reiki on my loved ones for a long time, and had not even known. See, I grew up in the church and was told as a child that I had, “healing hands”. I had been using the power of touch to heal emotional and physical pain, but had not yet been directly attuned to reiki. It was as if I instinctively knew that touch could make others feel better even before understanding anything about chakras or reiki.

Reiki translates as the “universal life force energy”. It is the energy of consciousness that has the ability to heal a multitude of ailments. Brought to the US by Madame Takata, reiki is now being used in hospitals and treatment facilities all over the world. Reiki helps to reduce issues like anxiety, depression, being overwhelmed, lack of trust, guilt, and shame, and even low self-esteem. During a reiki session, the practitioner will use their hands and place them in different spots just above the body transmitting reiki energy to remove energy blocks within the chakras. While the recipient may not feel anything, other than being completely relaxed during the session, they will feel the effects of reduced symptoms following the session. 

Reiki has assisted me in using my voice to speak my truth, increased my feeling of independence, raised my consciousness, and healed my lower chakras to increase intimacy within myself and other relationships. I truly would not be the woman I am today if not for reiki. This became vitally important as it was around this same time that I was discovering that my trauma was affecting my relationship with my children. I am embarrassed to say that it was a challenge for me to be close to my girls; I was aware that I was responding to them in a manner similar to how my mother had responded to me, due to her own unhealed trauma. I wanted something different for me and my girls. I wanted them to feel close to Mommy and I wanted to feel close to them. 

Well, this meant I had some work to do and I was determined to do it. I began to not only learn more about reiki to heal myself, but also so I could help others rid themselves of the same pain that I was experiencing. I began focusing my reiki sessions on the sacral and thymus chakras in order to remove this energy. The result is that I enjoy a wonderful and close relationship with my girls, and now bonus son, because I had the bravery to go outside of what I knew, (the church) to get the healing that we so desperately needed. 

I now pride myself in providing the space for countless others to feel the balance I now feel by performing reiki sessions for sexual trauma survivors in conjunction with trauma coaching. Still Whole Wellness is now also teaching new reiki masters so that more people can experience this amazing healing modality that, in some ways, saved my life. 

Edited by the GNL Editorial Staff