During Phyllis Furumoto's professional Reiki practice
seminar that I attended last weekend one of the participants shared her
experience of a recent hospital stay in Oregon USA. Elizabeth is a Reiki master and found that
there was a culture of kindness in the hospital. She observed that the staff relationships were supportive and relaxed. She also received this kindness in her
treatment and care.
She complimented them on this culture of kindness, saying
they must have a good human resources department. She was told that it was not down to the HR,
but came right from the management at the top.
One evening she needed to have some intravenous treatment,
but the nurses were having difficulty finding a vein. Her nurse said she would have two more
attempts, which were also unsuccessful.
"Time to call Amber" she said. Amber, it turned out, is the Hospital
Supervison and, Elizabeth discovered in conversation with her, a Reiki
master. She is also a midwife and the
person who is called when there is a difficult birth. She duly arrived and rather than begin to try
finding a vein right away, she first gave 10 minutes of Reiki to the arm where
she wished to insert the needle. She
then inserted it with no problem.
I have been thinking about how Reiki could help our beleaguered
NHS in the UK - I can see many possibilities, but to hear this story about a
hospital in the USA where Reiki and
culture of kindness are already happening and benefiting patients was
very inspiring.
I would love to see more NHS staff receiving Reiki, to help
them deal with the stress levels many of them currently suffer. It would also be wonderful if an
understanding that people do better when there is a culture of kindness could
reach management levels and could be acted on.
It would also be wonderful to see Reiki integrated in the
care setting, to support the allopathic treatment with the relaxing and calming
effects of Reiki. Doctors already know
that patients who have a positive outlook and are relaxed about their treatment
do better - and are often easier to treat!
If Reiki could be available for more patients alongside the intrusive
treatments sometimes necessary, it could help those treatments to be more
effective.
I also know of several Reiki students and practitioners who
have had to have surgery who have needed little or no pain relief (they used
Reiki instead) and who were up and about quickly and therefore able to vacate
their hospital bed sooner. One case I
heard of recently (a man whose sister was treating him) needed his intensive
care bed for only 1 night when it had been booked for him for 3 weeks!
However in order to be accepted in such settings
practitioners need to be properly prepared, which means doing further training
after 2nd degree. Those who have been
attending my Professional Practitioner Foundation Course in Ludlow are making
those first steps and I hope that others will follow their lead in the future.
