Nurses, Teachers, Trauma, Reiki & You
Recently, while going through some old papers, I found documents I received 20 years ago that started with, “Dear Ms. Walters, Your name was listed in a police report as a victim of a violent crime.” I would think normally, one would immediately be taken back to the traumatic events of that violent crime upon reading those words. However, I had no idea what crime they were referencing. I had been working as an emergency room travel nurse in New Mexico in 2004-05. I moved on to California for my next assignment in July 2005. My mother had been receiving my mail back in Illinois when she called me in California and asked me what happened in New Mexico that would cause a District Attorney there to send me this letter. I told her I had no idea and to open the letter. She read the above words, which were a part of a large packet of legal information regarding a defendant I’d never heard of. She was quite surprised, as was the victim assistance representative I talked to in New Mexico, that unfortunately, nurses are assaulted often enough that to try to remember this particular case was not realistic.
After 23 years, I left emergency nursing cynical, jaded, and not a fan of humanity. I then started studying energy medicine and Reiki. I was learning about all of the things that these healing modalities can help when it was brought to my attention that trauma is all relative.
We may not know something is traumatic to our psyche until long after it’s over. To me, getting assaulted was just part of the job. As was seeing the effects of child abuse and all of the ugliness humanity can do to one another. That all took its toll, leaving me cold and apathetic. Energy work and Reiki brought me back to life.
I volunteer with a wonderful group called The Reiki Brigade. We give free Reiki to Police, Fire, and First responders who have the same stories – the same physical, emotional, and mental trauma I had years ago. After short 10-minute sessions, they say things like, “I felt a calm inside I’ve never felt before.” “I know something was released from my heart.”
We also work on the other side of the coin when we give similar sessions to inmates at downtown detention centers. Reiki is not just for those who have been traumatized, but also for those who cause the trauma. Similar comments were made by them too: “I’ve never felt such love.” “I can’t believe I cried.”
Everyone experiences trauma. Whether we choose to see it or not, the world we live in provides plenty of intentional and unintentional suffering that we are exposed to every day. On some level, that shapes our psyche, which then shapes how we see the world and how we see ourselves.
Reiki can help alleviate the negative effects of trauma and suffering we’ve accumulated in our lives. It can help reshape our perspective of all the negativity in our world, balance our energies, which invite in more happiness and healing, and keep us hopeful for both our personal future and our collective future.
My Reiki clients and students receive Holy Fire Reiki energy. The following is taken from my Reiki course manual from the International Center of Reiki Training: “Holy Fire Reiki is a spiritual energy that creates wholeness through purification, healing, empowerment, and guidance.” Imagine receiving that into your life from a Reiki session, or better yet, imagine bringing that energy into your life every day after you have Holy Fire Reiki placed inside you during my Reiki classes. By the end of a 2-day class, you can do Reiki on yourself, share it with others both in-person and send it distantly. You can even share it with the world. Imagine sending that healing energy to our politicians or to the Earth itself for its healing. There are no limits to the wonders it can provide.
This week is both Nurses Appreciation Week and Teacher Appreciation Week. Sending Reiki to all nurses and teachers is a wonderful way to say you appreciate them. You can also send them love and light if you’re not able to send Reiki yourself yet.
