HEALING ENERGY:

You came into this world with the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energy needs of a newly bloomed flower — flower that required love, care, and attention.

Dania Garcia, a divorced single mother with two kids living far from her — homeland in Ecuador, unexpectedly had turned her world upside down. She lost her grandmother, the person she once considered her second mother, the person who had nourished her since she was a child.

"I was devastated," said Garcia. "My emotions were on the surface, and I fell into a very big depression because she was a significant person in my life…
I didn't feel like doing anything. I had occasional headaches, and stomach aches and felt very weak." She followed up on work and taking care of her children, hoping it might help her keep her mind off of her loss. In reality, it didn't.

Garcia's family was concerned about her mental, emotional, and physical state and decided to take her to her doctor. Garcia's longtime physician,
Dr. Henry John Merola, likes to suggest natural treatments for his patients. After listening and hearing how Dania was feeling, he recommended that Garcia look into Reiki treatment as a way to relax and improve her mental state as a way of healing her loss. Reiki is a Japanese energy healing technique and a complementary therapy that involves the transfer of universal energy from the practitioner's palms to the patient. Lillie Marshall, a Reiki practitioner and life coach, defines it as "using gentle touch to channel universal life force energy for greater well-being."

Though practitioner Lisa Bedoy didn't treat Garcia, she describes how a typical Reiki session works. "[It] begins before the client enters the room." Bedoy says that she "prepares her clients for the session by making sure their own energy is clear and grounded." Bedoy explains that sessions begin with a client consultation. "They ask any questions they have and tell me the reason for their visit, usually a problem, physical pain, difficult emotion, etc., for which they would like support. I make sure they understand what Reiki is, how it works, and what the session will be like. Then I ask them to make themselves comfortable on the massage table."

The one-hour session consists of Bedoy placing her hands on or just above the body of the client, with I am feeling imbalances in the energy and waiting for Reiki to shift the energy as needed… Any Reiki practitioner will tell you that they themselves are not "doing" the healing, only acting as a vessel for the Reiki energy. "When the session ends, I thank the client and ask them to sit up as they feel ready. "We then discuss the session. They can ask questions or share their experience with me. I also share with them what I felt and how I interpreted the energy," Bedoy says. Bedoy mentions how "most people feel better after just one session. How many times they come in depends upon the intensity of their situation and how long it has been going on.

For Garcia, Reiki treatments were not a one day job. "For several months I went to this therapy weekly," she says. "These Reiki sessions helped me express myself and get rid of all the negative feelings that I had stored in my heart and so much sadness that I felt for the loss of my grandmother. Each session helped me emotionally, de-stressing all my tense muscles and sore body and transmitting my good energy by letting this flow in my body"."Gradually my headaches and tensions in my body have reduced as well as the anxiety that I had improved my mental state," she continued. "After each session, I felt very fresh, and light, and I could think more clearly at the same time I was able to sleep and relax at night. I couldn't believe that with the warm hands and the massage that each session gave me, the pain gradually disappeared and I was finally able to drain all the pain that I felt in my heart. After each session, I drank a dandelion, lavender, or chamomile tea to help relax my body." Garcia has continued to get treatment, explaining that "over the years, I have learned with Reiki to cleanse and detoxify my body, especially to heal my soul."

She has also explored other therapies. "Several times when I traveled to Ecuador, I resorted to cleansing the soul and the body with shamans and also with several sessions to clean my seven chakras of the body with rocks and minerals. That helped me to focus on the nerves and organs and to balance my life together with my children." Today, she still utilizes these methods of healing and shares her journey with her family and loved ones.