All About Reiki and Energy Healing
Even before tarot, I first got into reiki and energy healing.
I know not everyone knows what reiki is, and “energy healing” does sound very woowoo and “un-practical” (so not on brand, oh no! /justkidding). But I thought I’d devote a blog post to this topic because honestly, reiki has actually been very practical to me in so many respects.
Reiki is a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch, to activate the natural healing processes of the patient's body and restore physical and emotional well-being.
This is the dictionary definition of Reiki, which doesn’t take into account how it can also be administered over distances—you don’t actually need touch to channel reiki and sessions can be done remotely. I first experienced reiki through my neighbor psych who I saw for therapy. She would couple our sessions with reiki to help me get through some medical treatments I needed to undertake. Reiki seemed like a perfect complement to my more western medicine-based regimen.
A few years after I had recovered (thanks to both medicine and energy healing!), I decided to take reiki training for myself at White Space Wellness. Since then, whenever I felt like my vibe was off or imbalanced, I would seek a treatment and feel relaxed, calmer, and a lot more serene after. The treatment wouldn’t exactly solve an issue for me (don’t we all wish we had something that could do this for us?), but it assisted me in getting my bearings back so I could deal with my issues with a much clearer mind (just like tarot!).
Reiki has done a lot of good for my overall wellness, so when one of my good friends, Mimi Tiu, decided to embark on reiki training herself, I was over the moon.
One of my fave memories with Mimi—spending time together in Calgary and visiting Banff and Lake Moraine in 2018.
Mimi and I have known each other since working for the same magazine in the early aughts and we’ve stayed close since. These days, I seek regular reiki treatments from her… as well as regular jars of her yummy Whistle Handcrafted Polvoron (wellness for my tummy).
Pre-COVID, Mimi was a content creator and editor doing work for various websites and publications. These days she’s added reiki and small batch polvoron-making to the activities that keep her busy and sane. To wind down, she indulges in Netflix (highly recommending Kdrama It’s Okay to Not Be Okay), baking, and chatting with siblings and friends from all over the world. Mimi is also hosting Papercon PH this October (where I’m giving a talk!).
I thought I’d shoot Mimi a few questions for the blog today to give all of you a better handle on what reiki is, what happens during a treatment, and what you can get out of it.
PM: Since people perusing this blog are into tarot, let’s start with your first experience with the cards. How’d you come across tarot or oracle?
Mimi: My first experience with tarot was back in 2001, when my sister and I stumbled upon a tarot/crystal shop in Australia. We were drawn to The Mythic Tarot Deck and instantly decided to split our travel allowance money to buy it. Eventually, we even bought a tarot book to help us make sense of the cards, but we never really got around to practicing it regularly.
As for oracle decks, I think I first came across it during my readings with you. The first oracle deck I ever bought was your Quiet Mystic collab with Wiji Lacsamana, which I love to this day. The illustrations are just so beautiful!
PM: What about your first encounter with reiki?
Mimi: The first time I came across the word reiki was from your Mystic Matter event in May 2018. There, I bought a reiki-powered box filled with different goodies from you, Wiji, Mansy Abesamis, and Pierra Labrador. Fast-forward to December 2018: we attended our first sound bath healing session by Miqo Dionisio and Kimi Lu. Kimi did a bit of reiki healing combined with the sound bath healing, and I felt its lasting effect for days.
PM: How have your practical + magical practices evolved since then?
Mimi: I usually start my day with a morning meditation. It can be a full-on reiki breathing and healing session, or just a short centering meditation to clear the mind. After that, I pull a tarot card and write in my A Year of Practical Magic journal. I only started doing both (pulling a card and meditating) this year on a daily basis, and I feel it has immensely helped me in staying grounded and being in the moment.
For the oracle cards, I only use it occasionally, usually at the start of the week and during New Moon and Full Moon mini-readings.
PM: On to the meat and potatoes of this interview… What is reiki and what can those who receive it expect from a treatment?
Mimi: Reiki is a Japanese term that means “universal life force energy.” It is a gentle, hands-on healing technique that involves channeling energy from a giver to a receiver. During a treatment, a client can expect his seven chakras to be balanced by his reiki healer. This results in harmony between the mind, body, and spirit, and encourages general well-being. The client can also set an intention, which will be the focus of the healer.
Mimi has a helpful primer on Reiki on her Instagram feed.
When the treatment is done in person, the healer usually hovers or touches different parts of the client’s body to balance the flow of energy. The client can either feel warm or cool, see colors, or he can even feel tingles in certain parts of his body. Some clients don’t feel anything but end up falling asleep during the session.
Due to pandemic restrictions and health concerns, reiki healers can also offer distance healing. This involves scheduling an agreed upon date and time, with the reiki healer healing the client wherever he may be. The same chakra-balancing process is done but without the need to be physically together.
PM: How long have you been offering reiki healing and what’s the experience been like for you (on the giving end)?
Mimi: I am still a neophyte since I only started officially healing other people last August. Because of COVID-19, the majority of my treatments have been done via distance healing. Overall, the experience has been exciting and gratifying for me. Exciting because I never know what the client will experience during the session (and if I’ll get to experience the same things), and gratifying when the client says he felt so much better days after a treatment. Though we are taught not to be attached or to expect anything from the reiki session, it feels satisfying to know I am able to spread positive healing energy through this practice.
PM: What were the most impactful lessons you learned from your training?
Mimi: I really learned A LOT from Teacher Eileen Tupaz of White Space Wellness, who taught all my first degree and second degree reiki workshops via Zoom!
In a nutshell, I learned that everything boils down to intention—from the way you start your day to how you interact with others.
The five reiki precepts shared with us have helped transform the way I interact with the world. Though there are still days I fall back into my old patterns and bad habits, I find that I have become more self-aware about them as they happen. The training has also taught me more about compassion, forgiveness, and people’s capacity to be agents of change in different ways.
PM: When do you do reiki for yourself? Has this changed since you started offering it to others?
Mimi: Honestly, I don’t have a set reiki schedule for myself. I find that when I am healing others, I am also healing myself, so it’s a win-win situation for me and the client! However, I make it a point to do self-healing when I feel my energy is muddled or if something is ailing me, like a headache or cramps.
PM: What have your experiences taught you about “energy”?
Mimi: Energy is EVERYWHERE. From the annoying noises coming from a construction site (this is one of my pet peeves!) to the comforting hug a mother gives a child, we all emit energy in various forms. I’ve become more conscious of the energy I send out into the world, and hopefully, this energy helps create a more positive space that’ll benefit everyone.
PM: Do you have any advice to anyone who wants to explore reiki healing?
Mimi: GO FOR IT! The world needs more reiki healers. If you decide to do reiki professionally, expect to meet people who will question, doubt, or even fear the practice. But at the same time, expect to meet people who will wholeheartedly support the practice.
PM: What’s a practical and magical life to you?
It's finding magic in my everyday life, whether it's connecting two seemingly unrelated events or taking a moment to appreciate the small wins of the day.
Want to gift someone a reiki session? Message Mimi and she’ll gift your loved one with a virtual GC!
Get in touch with Mimi through Facebook, Instagram, or Viber at 0917-8800920. And because September is Mimi’s birthday month, she’s offering a special Buy 4-Take 1 reiki treatment package for P2,000 available until September 30, 2020. Treatment sessions have no expiration date, but are non-transferrable!
I’m booking one today after I post this and if you do have the means, I highly recommend it (as well as the polvoron). It’s a monthly gift of self-care I give myself and have also gifted others <3