Welcome everyone to another episode of Reiki & Life. Today we would like to introduce you to Jonathan Doyle, who recently graduated from Reiki Level 2 at the Reiki School.
Jonathan is willing to share with us the invaluable experiences he’s had with Reiki to this day so it might help others in the pursuit of improving their lives.
My experience with Reiki
by Jonathan Doyle
I originally signed up for the Level 1 Reiki course as I felt I was going through a “spiritual awakening” after the passing of my Gran who I was extremely close to.
From the day I took the Level 1 class through Healing Hands Edinburgh The Reiki School in July 2021 my life has completely changed and improved in so many aspects.
Not long after Level 1, I left my job as I realised how much damage it was doing to my mental health, and I discovered what I want to do with my life - to help people, both physically and mentally, through complementary therapies. I quickly signed up for the Level 2 course as I had gained so much self-healing from Level 1 that I wanted to learn how to share this with others as well as further improve my own life.
Through the 10 case studies that I worked on, I feel I have learned a lot about my technique for giving a Reiki session, what works and doesn’t work for me and how to ensure someone feels relaxed and safe and optimise the benefits they will get from their session. I felt that the more I practised, the more sensitive I became to the energy and feelings that I would get during the session, and this in turn improved my practice for self-healing. I also feel that my intuition has improved from practising, and I am more confident listening to the intuition to understand where to work on through the session. It has also been very encouraging receiving such good feedback from my case studies about the benefits they experienced.
In addition to the 10 people I worked on, I have also given my dog Larry some Reiki sessions. When I give him Reiki he will lie still and peacefully for the full time and will sigh a lot, something he doesn’t usually do. He also doesn’t fall asleep when I am giving him a session, whereas if he is in my lap and I am patting him he will always fall asleep. I believe these sighs show how relaxed he is and I often see some muscle twitches in his legs and ears. I set the intention of his sessions to help with his separation anxiety and I feel this has improved as when I return after him been left alone for a while he is now a lot calmer and has stopped making a mess with his toys when no one is at home with him.
I also use Reiki energy when I am watering or pruning my indoor plants and I feel that they are thriving compared to when I used to just water without Reiki energy, and the same goes for outdoor gardening. Another time I harness Reiki is when I cook and for any food that I get that is prepared by someone else to ensure there is no negative energy attached to the food.
Through all the work I have done with self-healing – focussing mainly on mental health – I managed to come off my anti-depressants in December. I had been on these due to depression caused by various things including my relationship with my dad, work and the passing of my Gran.
I am now in a place where I have coping mechanisms which I learned through Reiki to deal with stress and low mood. I worked on all these situations (such as quitting my job) using Reiki to eventually get mentally strong enough for life without anti-depressants.
Today, although I still have down days and struggles, I am in the best place mentally than I have ever been, and I attribute this feeling to Reiki.
A massive situation I have been using Reiki for is to deal with the loss of my Gran and the grieving process. Before Level 1 I had really struggled for the 3 months between her passing in April and the Level 1 class. Post Level 1 I was much better at dealing with my emotions about her loss and I felt I was moving into the acceptance phase. Post Level 2 for about 2 months I struggled much more with her passing than I did, to begin with, and felt overwhelmed with emotion quite often. I think this was caused by my increased sensitivity to energy and the increase in time I spent alone meditating and practising Reiki, allowing for more time to think about her.
After these 2 months however I started to feel a lot better, I could deal with my emotions better and I was able to accept what had happened and begin to move on.
To this day I am in a much better place mentally with her passing and I feel extremely close to her. I now use Reiki to send good energy to her and I feel very connected to her, having dreams about her often and noticing signs that I believe were sent by her.
The next thing I am working on using Reiki is my weight and physical health. I have always struggled with my weight even when I was a competitive swimmer training every day and swimming 10k swims. The past couple of years I have put on over 9st due to depression mixed in with lockdown and covid. Now that I am in a really good place mentally, I feel I am now ready to deal with my physical health, get back to a healthy weight and become fit again. I plan to use Reiki to achieve this, using it to keep me on track with my goals and keep me in a good headspace. So far this year since using Reiki to achieve my goals I have lost almost 2 stone and feel that I have achieved this much easier than in previous attempts without Reiki.
Other situations I plan on using Reiki to help with are my journey with Reflexology and beginning a complementary therapy business.
Overall, my whole experience has been amazing with Reiki. It has changed the course of my life completely and I know now that I will not be stuck in a job I hate and that I can hopefully help to improve the lives of others using complementary therapies. Reiki has helped me through some of the toughest situations in my life and allowed me to move on from them. I know that in the future when difficult situations arise, I will be better equipped to deal with them.
It has been one of the best decisions I have made doing Levels 1 and 2 through Healing Hands Edinburgh The Reiki School and I can’t thank you enough Maija for the courses and sessions you offer and the way you teach Reiki.
I can’t wait to see what Reiki can do for me in the future!