The Reiki Room, Leeds – Review

Reiki – a Japanese touch therapy – can get mixed up in western minds with certain far-out New Age notions. But mindful practitioners use it to offer clients practical relief from many different physical and mental stresses. A sceptical Peter Spafford visited one location in Leeds to try it for himself…

I really had little idea what to expect from my first session with Reiki practitioner Barney. I knew very little about Reiki and I purposely didn’t research it. I was a blank page! I’d tried other things in the past: a bit of acupuncture here and there, Alexander Technique for my rickety neck, and I do like the occasional massage. But Reiki was new to me.

It was certainly good to chat with Barney before the session in response to a few questions she had for me: How was my general health? How was I today? And by the time the first session began I was entirely at my ease.

I’ve now had four sessions and I’m really pleased that I’m underway with the treatment. Part of what I enjoy is giving myself a half hour, or sometimes an hour, that is absolutely my own and for me. As for what the Reiki practitioner is doing during that time, in a way this could seem minimal, but only in comparison to more hands-on approaches like massage or chiropracty.

“Place of safety”

How can I describe it? You’re fully clothed and either sitting or lying, by your own preference. The therapist’s hands are either on you, but very gently, or they circumscribe the space near you. It feels as if someone is creating an invisible place of safety around you. It’s delicate – light, you could almost say – but certainly not ‘lite’. In fact I find it very powerful, and the experience has deepened with each session.

I always feel emotionally softer and more receptive afterwards, and also quite profoundly rested. It’s a mysterious process and, if you’re happy to give yourself up to the pleasures and surprises that may unfold, it’s thoroughly worthwhile.

For more info The Reiki Room, Leeds click here: Reiki in Leeds