Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
If you’ve had a reiki treatment and your stomach gurgles OR you’ve heard the stomach gurgling of the person giving you the treatment, you’re not alone!
A reiki treatment oftens stirs up the energy around the belly. Why is this?
Many reiki practitioners relate reiki to the Indian system of the chakras, which is quite well-known. But traditional Japanese reiki doesn’t relate exactly to this system. It instead focuses on three energy centres relating to heaven energy (at the head: spirit, intuition), heart energy (at the heart: oneness), and earth energy (at the hara: centering, grounding).
The hara is the area just beneath your navel. The energy there provides your base, your foundation, and it can help you feel grounded and centred.
Since most clients come for stress and anxiety, it makes sense that energy is needed at the place of feeling grounded and centred.
Hence, fairly often, I’ll hear a client’s stomach gurgle. It was the first thing that one of my clients said after her treatment, “I’ve never heard my stomach sound like that”. But the funny thing is that because my stomach sometimes makes noises during a treatment, I’m never sure whether it is coming from me, my client or both of us!
When I first started giving treatments, I wondered if I should warn people in advance, but then I didn’t want clients to be expecting and waiting for our stomachs to make sounds!
Of course, it doesn’t matter. And it’s also a nice little lesson. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about if your body is making sounds (or if it jerks or moves in an unusual way), or if you fall asleep or if you cry during a treatment. It’s all in the name of healing and what your body needs to do!