What is a Healing Crisis
What is a Healing Crisis?
I am aware that some Reiki classes don’t teach their students about what a healing crisis is. If you don’t understand it, then it can be a bit daunting if it happens when doing a treatment on someone. To be honest, the first time it happens to you while giving a treatment can be scary if you have never been taught.
I do cover this in a bit of detail in the Reiki 2 class and how to respond and deal with it, but I believe not only do all practitioners need to be aware of what it is, but they also need to make it aware to their clients. Not all treatments end in love and light with rainbows and feelings of peace. So, what is a healing crisis?
Reiki is not only good for physical healing but is also good for emotional healing. If someone is receiving Reiki and they have some deep-seated emotional issues, then because Reiki energy wants to balance the energy in the body it can release these issues and bring them to the surface. This can be traumatic for some client’s because, well for 1. They are dealing with something traumatic that has been suppressed, and 2. If the person giving Reiki had not forewarned them that emotional issues may come to the surface, and that they weren’t expecting to deal with them right then in front of someone.
The healing crisis is a good thing, because it is releasing a negative energy or emotion from the body that you have been holding onto for a while. Depending on the amount of trauma and how long it has been repressed for will have an impact of how hard and fast the release is. When it is released, then the body begins to balance energetically and emotionally.
It is also worth noting that the healing crisis might not all come out at once, and the client may be feeling emotional or low energy for up to 3 weeks. If the client was informed of the different effects that Reiki has on people and emotions, then they may prepare mentally for deep emotional balancing.
The healing crisis is not common, but it is definitely not uncommon either. As a practitioner you should be informing the client it may happen and that they may get emotional. Make sure they know it is perfectly alright for it to happen and make sure they know where the tissues are just in case they need one. Remember, you are not a counsellor (unless a certified counsellor), you are just the channel for the flow of Reiki energy and allow it to balance the client’s energy.
As a client, just remember that any release is a sign of healing and although it might be negative things coming to the surface, it is actually a positive thing, because the bodies energy is shifting and balancing and enabling itself to heal. Know you are in a safe place with someone who cares and who passes no judgment. There is no need to explain why you are crying if it is personal, just let it come out.
