How Reiki has helped my Fibromyalgia
Lets start with my adventure with fibromyalgia. In 2007 I was going to school full-time, part of the student council, member of the choir, member of a underprivileged student program, math and business tutor, and working overnights at a motel full-time. For months I felt tired and had body aches all over that didn't get better with ibuprofen. Honestly I thought it was because I was trying to do too much and was burnt out.
After feeling so horrible for months and things just getting worse and worse I finally went to my doctor. She ran a series of test, which all came back good, and then she finally did what is called the touch test. For this test to be positive 11 of the 17 points they palpate have to be sensitive, well I had 16. The one my doctor was sure would have a reaction didn't. After the diagnosis we tried a variety of medications to try and get the pain manageable. However, if the medications did work they had such horrible side effects that I didn't want to take them. The pain was better than what was happening because of the medications.
Then in 2008 one of my closest friends suggested I look into Reiki to help with my fibro. I had absolutely no idea what Reiki was and was skeptical. So I researched it and it still sounded like fluff... serious bullshit fluff. Although I did (and still do) believe in the ability of humans to transfer energy between each other it was hard for me to understand that universal energy could pass-through one person into another. As I was studying Reiki, my husband and I went to an event in Des Moines, Iowa and I got to experience Reiki for the first time. It wasn't a full session but the results amazed. The Reiki provider worked on my back between my shoulder blades, my lower back, and my right knee. For about 2 weeks afterwards I felt great. My pain was reduced to the point I almost felt normal again.
After that experience I decided that I needed to be able to do this on my self on a regular basis, not having to depend on anyone else to provide this service to me. It was then that the universe spoke to me and provided me with the answer I was looking for. The local community college (Southeaster Community College, West Burlington, IA) was offering a Level I Usui Reiki Course at the Massage Therapy School. Even though the course description was obviously geared towards massage therapists I still decided I wanted to take it. My wonderful husband paid for me to take this intense 3 day course. I loved every moment of it and exchanged Reiki with the other students that were there. It was amazing and I felt better for weeks afterwards. As part of the course it was suggested that we each practice Reiki either on a family member or ourselves for 30 consecutive days after the attunement and I did just that. However, since I felt so good after that 30 days I stopped doing Reiki on myself because I didn't think I needed it any more, how naive I was.
Fast forward to September 2012 and my fibro was once again bad even though I was exercising and trying to eat healthy. I was frustrated and felt like my will was being broken by the universe. Then I see that one of my good friends was a Reiki Master and offering a class but this class was too far for me to drive to, so I sent her a message asking her what it would cost for her to come down to my house and teach me. After settling on the price and the class date I felt a sense of relief. Then on October 12, 2012 I received my Level II Usui Reiki attunement.
Even though I didn't practice daily I was practicing more regularly and it did help. Then I found out that we were going to move to southern Kentucky in late January of 2013 and knew that if I wanted my friend to do my ART and Master attunements I had to get them in quick. So in March of 2013 we did the class and she attuned me. Now during our move and subsequent house hunt it was very hard for me to practice daily but I did practice as often as I could. I noticed that the more I practiced my Reiki the stronger it seemed to get and the better I felt. So after we bought our current house and got mostly settled in I started doing daily Reiki.
Most of the time my daily Reiki practice is me sending Reiki to others, situations, and my goals that I have written down in my Reiki notebook and it may only take 10-15 minutes. I have found that even though I am not directly sending Reiki to myself, since the energy flows through me it heals me. Now between exercise, diet, and Reiki my bad days now are what I used to call good days and my good days are awesome. I can do almost as much as I was once able to do and life has it vigor back. My fibro is still a part of my daily life and as I sit here typing this blog it is snowing here and I feel it. However, I will still get up and get my workout done and then get to working on my accounting business. I don't let days like today stop me any more.
Reiki has saved my life and my quality of life and for that I will ever be grateful!
