Friday, October 05, 2012

The Healing Power of Reiki


I'll just come right out with it: 
Raven Keyes has written a book, and it goes on sale today! So today we celebrate the mystical healing art of Reiki, and the launch of Raven's book, with a sit-down with the new author. 

Raven Keyes
Those of you who read Faery Tale will remember my good friend Raven, who you met at the beginning of the book. She was renting my apartment during the day to conduct Reiki sessions with her clients. I would come home at the end of the day to the soft smell of incense and this nearly indescribable sense of peace, calm, that I hadn't noticed before. In an effort to help me understand and experience Reiki, she's given me Reiki more than once, and every time it's been nothing short of blissful. What surprised me most was the warmth and the physical pulsing I could feel coming from her hands as she gently lay them on my body. You really can feel the healing energy as it passes from the practitioner's hands into you. (Any of you unfamiliar with Reiki can read Raven's description below.) Each time she and I did a session, she also received some pretty interesting "information" as she calls it, from the spirit realm, which she would share with me after the session. It was always right on, and often helped me to gain some insight into a particular area of my life that held important meaning for me. Raven's calling in the world of Reiki has led her to work in some large arenas - with the National Football League, in the operating room of Dr. Mehmet Oz, and if you can believe it, even more. She's written a moving, absorbing and fascinating account about Reiki and her otherworldly experiences with it: messages from the spirit world, incredible spiritual encounters, but mostly, her book is offers story after moving story of the incredible results Reiki can deliver to those in need of healing, no matter what the ailment. 

A fascinating glimpse into the life and experiences of a Reiki practitioner

It was Raven, of course, who first told me she felt the presence of faerie spirits in my apartment, bewildered as it made me at the time. Imagine if she and I hadn't met - would I ever have begun the journey that would utterly change my life? Later she arrived in Glastonbury to stay with me at the Chalice Well - a place I'd selected to try and have an encounter based upon a few of the experiences she had reported having there, and well... you know the rest! 

The book is truly absorbing - I finished it in two days. Not to sound cheesy, but I really hope you'll get a copy and discover what Reiki might be able to do for you. I caught the new author for a cyber-sit down to talk Reiki - I hope you'll enjoy our conversation below. Click here to order.

1. First of all, for the layperson, what exactly is Reiki? 

Reiki as a practice is the absorbing of healing energy from the universe by a practitioner who then shares that energy with their client through gentle hand positions on or over their client's body. What the energy called Reiki actually IS cannot really be described. These days, I'm often in the operating room during surgery with doctors and technicians who have never heard of Reiki, and when they ask me about it, the way I describe it to them is probably the best I can do: I tell them that I, as a Reiki master, am the delivery system, like a hypodermic needle, that gets filled up with healing energy - energy as impossible to describe as love - which I then pass along to their patient through my hands. This explanation seems to satisfy them, and I hope it's helpful here.

2. Your book is entitled THE HEALING POWER OF REIKI: A Modern Master's Approach to Emotional, Spiritual & Physical Wellness. What can readers expect to glean from reading the book that might differ from another Reiki book out there on the market? 

I've had the opportunity to bring Reiki onto world stages, so I have many stories to tell that are unique. Most books on Reiki in the market today describe it in a more text book like manner. Although I do share information about Reiki, that's done mostly to clarify the stories I tell about real-life experiences I've had throughout the years. The readers get to travel with me and to experience firsthand the operating room with Dr. Oz, the locker room of the New York Giants, a big event with the NBA, cancer patients, those suffering from PTSD, family members of victims of 9/11, rescue and recovery workers behind the police barricades at Ground Zero... and readers also get to meet regular people just like you and me. There is no other Reiki master in the world who has performed Reiki in the combination of places to which I've been able to bring my work; therefore my stories are truly unique. Readers have said they couldn't put the book down, and one person even said it was like reading a thriller, which really surprised me.

3. What do you think the biggest misconception about Reiki might be?

For those who don't know anything about Reiki, it might be thought to be religious, which it isn't, or woo woo, which it isn't either. Reiki is more in line with universal law. Einstein understood that there was more going on in the universe than he could put his finger on, try as he may. However, scientists had a recent big break through in Switzerland at CERN this past summer when they discovered the Higgs Bosen particle that some labeled the particle of God. It's interesting to note that I have a scientist friend who claims that the word GOD is really an acronym: Geometric Order of Divinity = GOD. In any case, this intangible energy that heals called Reiki is just beginning to be researched to discover its underlying nature, which probably can't ever really be understood. However, this research is being championed by doctors who have observed the clinical results of Reiki's use with patients and in hospitals. These doctors are working to get the funding for the research necessary to find some answers that will allow Reiki to be used more widely to help patients to heal, and possibly to even be paid for by insurance.

4. What was the most difficult challenge you faced in writing this book? 

I'd have to say the greatest challenge for me came in the the actual writing process. My book sold on a proposal, which meant only a few of the chapters were already written. I wrote the other chapters that were listed in the table of contents in the book proposal. Shortly after I turned in what I thought was the final manuscript, I received 13 pages of notes from my editor, with instructions to scrap chapters of what I had written. This meant that 25,000 words were now out of the book, and I had to make them up in new chapters that my editor now wanted instead. I remember how panicked I was! I remember sitting at the computer crying and telling my husband, "I can't do it! I can't write all these other words!" Of course I did in the end, and the book turned out to be much better with the new chapters, because there was a more natural flow to the overall progress of the book.

5. You and I have obviously shared a great deal of exploration into the world of faeries together. What do you think, if any, is the connection between faeries and Reiki? Is Reiki something you think is also implemented by the faerie realm?  

A wonderful question, Signe! Reiki is really unconditional pure love from the universe that those in the know (like you & me) can SHARE with the faeries so that we can feel truly connected to each other. Last year at summer solstice time when you & I were in Glastonbury, England with the ladies who came on our retreat, we shared Reiki energy with the Holy Thorn Tree, with each other, in the Chalice Well Gardens, at the White Spring ... and in response to all the love we spread around out of our Reiki hands, we saw the sparkling lights of the faeries two nights in a row! These days, I sit on the back porch of my country house and send Reiki out of my hands into the trees. I always think to the Fae, "here is some love for you, I love you, all is love," while holding my hands up. More times than not, they respond by showing me their sparkle! And I also feel the energy of love coming back toward me from them ... it's truly wonderful when these things happen.

Raven Keyes is a Reiki master, teacher, certified hypnotherapist and guided meditation instructor. She was part of the original Complementary Alternative Medicine program at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital led by Dr. Mehmet Oz. In the world of professional sports, Raven has brought Reiki to athletes in the NFL and NBA.  Featured in national magazines such as “Vogue” and “W,” she was named “Best Reiki Master in New York” by New York Magazine and was televised as “New Yorker of the Week” on NY-1 for providing volunteer Reiki services for 8 ½ months after 9/11. Raven lives in New York City with her musician/composer husband, Michael Pestalozzi and their dog, Murphy.

4 comments:

  1. Love this post and love both of you! Buying my copy now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow that was strange. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I
    clicked submit my comment didn't show up. Grrrr... well I'm not writing all that over again.
    Anyway, just wanted to say great blog!
    Look at my web blog - Pure Green Coffee Extract

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like a very fascinating book...and I don't think anything is coincidence in the universe...as I have never been to your blog before but KNOW I am suppose to be HERE.
    I viewed a few youtube videos where some laymen were laying hands on patients in India, I think that is where they were. And one technician was viewing a screen which showed the sick person's area on their body where there was either a cancer or tumor. The laymen would also chant specific words while laying their hands on the person. This went on for a number of minutes, possibly fifteen. Then as the technician was viewing the cancer or tumor on the screen, the cancer would literally disappear.
    So, I am very fascinated by Raven's profession and also her book. I recently was treated to a foot spa and back, shoulder, neck massage and the lady who performed the lovely massage was radiating a peace and calm about herself. And of course she was Asian or a mix as she was in Coastal/Central California. I enjoyed the massage very much and just let myself relax and go with the flow. My mind was no where at all...like the Beatles.
    Please do come visit my blog as I highlight children's books (as my own brother is an author/illustrator, and I create as much as I can and also am in the midst of writing two novels.
    Have a blessed rest of the week~
    Teresa in California
    http://amagicalwhimsy.blogspot.com/
    My sister's blog is http://rebeccasrainbow.blogspot.com/ and she was drawn to the same background format that you have used for yours. You can also access her blog on my sidebar as well as my brother Troy Howell's blog who wrote the book 'The Dragon of Cripple Creek' available on Amazonbooks.com or Kindle

    ReplyDelete