Medical reiki: Where medicine and spirituality meet

By Eleni Philippou

When life gets tough, we look outside ourselves for answers, guidance or a glimpse of hope. The issues we face can be emotional or physical, more often than not both. Holistic practices treat the physical and the spiritual and a new one of these to the island is Medical Reiki.

Reiki healing is not a new concept, it is practiced globally and by several practitioners on the island. Energy healing has seen a rise in recent years with many people shifting towards, or at least taking an interest in, more holistic ways of treating the body. Reiki works in transmitting energy through a qualified practitioner’s hands onto the body and aura of the person under treatment, Reiki Master Melina Demetriou explained.

“Reiki very much increases the energy flow in the body and elevates its vibrations,” Melina said. “It clears energy blockages and supports a person’s system into balance on all four levels: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.”

Practicing reiki takes rigorous training and a School of Life-type knowledge that is passed down from master to student. Ancient Tibetan Sutras that are 2,500 years old mention reiki but it wasn’t until the early 1900s that it was revived by medical doctor and monk Mikao Usui in Japan, after a long spiritual quest.

“Reiki is all about world humanitarian values,” explained Melina, “and has a lot to do with self-love and with love for others, aiming to make the world a better place through love, healing and acceptance.”

But reiki isn’t only for the optimists, yogis and gurus. It’s helped millions around the world to heal new and old patterns in an all-round way. Melina’s clients come to her for a variety of reasons; battling anxiety, insomnia, gynecological problems, childhood trauma, work issues and even codependency issues. One of her patients was also me as I volunteered for her medical reiki practice, in collaboration with doctors around Cyprus.

Before we started, Melina explained that medical reiki can take place alongside a medical treatment and in hospitals abroad many doctors work alongside reiki masters. Our sessions took place at her space but medical reiki can be applied in all sorts of medical environments including hospital rooms, operation rooms, delivery rooms and the ICU.

“Medical Reiki is the integrative practice of activating the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Patients can have, apart from their doctors, someone working on their whole being, the physical, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual,” she added.

Used during chemotherapy, surgery and other medical scenarios, research is showing a link between Medical Reiki and physical healing. Clinical studies have shown that the health benefits of Reiki for medicine include activating the parasympathetic nervous system to reduce stress and anxiety, easing pain and tension, and stimulating the immune system to ultimately boost the self-healing mechanism of the body. It aims to boost any medical treatment given to a patient, alleviate side effects and instill healing and wellbeing.

In the rest of the world, Medical Reiki has gained a lot of attention and recognition,” Melina said. “Medical Reiki has been shown to measurably improve health outcomes for patients who undergo invasive, and often traumatic, surgeries.”

This is now happening for the first time in Cyprus, Melina said, “and I believe is very important as it may pave the way for the medical world and energy healing to work hand in hand for the public benefit as it happens in other countries.

The driving force behind introducing Medical Reiki to the world, Raven Keyes’ mission is to train and build an international network of advanced Reiki practitioners who are qualified to serve in challenging medical settings. In the US, Reiki is one of the top three complementary in-patient therapies.

Melina said she is the first Reiki Master in Cyprus qualified to perform Medical Reiki. “It is a big responsibility and also a big challenge for a Medical Reiki Master to have to use their spiritual knowledge, intuition and abilities to address very dense, human and serious health issues. The more serious the problem the more I feel the presence of higher beings in the session. I will not forget how intense was the feeling of such presence after a session with a woman that had suffered a brain tumor, it was divine. She is doing very well now, thank God.”

Spiritual practices and angelic work can sometimes look like they lack structure but Medical Reiki uses medical history and close communication with a doctor to dig deeper into the patient’s issue, searching for any blockages or energetic wounds on the spiritual body. In her first steps into the medical environment, Melina has started cooperating with two doctors, an obstetrician-gynecologist and a general pathologist at established medical centres in Nicosia.

Alongside their medical background she performs reiki on patients guiding them through visualisation meditations and breathing techniques. Held in a relaxing environment, or as relaxing as can be if it is in a medical space, she uses a light touch to work on the body and the aura.

When I visited her space for our sessions, it was easy to get into a relaxed state. There were candles, crystals and soft music playing. Each session began with a herbal tea while discussing how I was feeling and any updates to the medical issue we were focusing on.

At first, lying down and simply breathing for the 40-something minutes of Reiki seemed like a mountain to climb. But Melina’s gentle reminders and visualisations as she moved up my chakras took me out of my thoughts. At the end of each session we would share how the experience was, what blockages or releases were felt.

With each session I felt a sense of empowerment, a reminder of the strength and love the body holds within it. The image of complete health started to unravel and in a very simplified way, that is a major goal of medical Reiki. To unite medicine and spirituality, to re-awaken the potential of mind, body and spirit towards ultimate health.

To find out more about Melina Demetriou’s work and services, contact [email protected] Facebook page: Eternal Light- Reiki Healings by Melina Demetriou, Instagram page: Reiki by Melina Demetriou