My Journey to Reiki-A Physician’s Path to Healing

If you’ve landed here, I’m going to guess that you are interested in Reiki, or you are a Reiki Practitioner. I am a Reiki Master with 8 years of experience with Reiki. I’m also an Internal Medicine physician with 17 years of practice experience. Reiki and Medicine complement each other well; I have been integrating these for years.

I found Reiki through yoga. I had started practicing yoga in my home while in medical school. Due to time and finances, it would be over 10 years before I attended an actual yoga studio. A very dear friend of mine told me about Yoga Home of Therapeutics  and the owner Sara Alavi. I went to my first class after a devastating break up. I was emotionally distraught and suffering from burnout at work . I attended yoga class with Sara for a few years. After a wonderful class, she told me she was teaching a Reiki class and I might like it.

Attending yoga at the studio had done so much for me that I didn’t even hesitate to sign up. After signing up, I forgot to research what Reiki is, and when I arrived for my Reiki 1 attunement, I had no idea what to expect.

My experience during my first attunement was like nothing I had experienced. Keep in mind, if you decide to take a course in Reiki, everyone’s experience is individual, and every experience is beautiful. I assumed prior to the attunement that only gifted individuals could see auras, or have empathic abilities. As I felt the internal changes of the attunement, I didn’t realize that soon I would feel some of the same.

As a physician, I’m used to interacting with people. I am used to dealing with people when times are good, when they are bad, when they are scary and sad. I’ve always tried to approach patient care with the “Golden Rule”, do onto others…

After my Reiki 1 attunement, I was so happy to have this tool to heal myself. I still had a lot of sadness, and my pressure at work was ever increasing. I felt that Reiki would be a wonderful addition to my self care toolbox.

So when I saw my first patients after my first attunement,  I was completely shocked that I was seeing something. Every patient had a glow. They were all different, and constantly changing. I didn’t always see  this with every patient. My left brain, traditionally trained physician brain sought a rational explanation.

After many exhaustive Google searches (yes, even when I prefer my patients not to consult Dr. Google) I started to understand this glow was the patient’s aura, or subtle body. I continued to treat myself with Reiki on many days, sometimes just for a few minutes, and as time passed, I became more comfortable with this new sensitivity.

Seeing auras is wonderful, but like with any new tool, I am still learning when to work with this. I did notice my empathy was increased. As I saw patients, I could listen to their stories in a much more clear manner. I could sense their suffering beyond what the labs and x-rays told me. I could hear better why they came to see me. Although I had intended for Reiki for my own healing, it was already helping my patients.