There’s a technique that I share with some reiki clients called ‘anchoring’ that I think is a good idea to share with you here too!

It comes from Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, and a proper explanation can be found here in this article:

NLP Techniques: Basic Anchoring in 5 Simple Steps

But here’s my summary:

Anchoring is a technique to ‘anchor’ a feeling to a physical gesture. I propose either pressing your hand on your chest or squeezing a finger with your hand.

Do this and close your eyes and take in a deep breath. Then feel a positive state of being.

Sometimes, after a treatment, I’ll ask clients to really feel the positive feelings of the treatment, say, of relaxation and calm, or feeling light.

Just really sit in that feeling. Feel it.

And then, at another time, you do the gesture, close your eyes, take in a deep breath, and bring back this feeling that you anchored.

So, it could be particularly useful if you’re in a period of stress or anxiety. Or if you’re thinking negative thoughts or worrying about something that has happened or what will happen.

You can anchor any positive feeling, not just from a reiki treatment, so the feeling after a nice walk or after a good meditation.

The idea here is that you are shifting your energy from a negative (or neutral) one to a positive energy, one that is inside of you. It’s not someone else that has brought you this calm and it’s not beyond your ability, because it’s inside of you.

Try it out if you think it might help you!

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given over 3,400 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

I am guessing that most of the readers of this blog are interested in having a reiki treatment in Sydney, and found me through a search engine like Google. Some readers will find this through my newsletter, which I send out a few times a year. A few might come from me posting a link to this blog post on Facebook. And some will be generally interested in reiki, rather than in coming for a reiki treatment.

It might surprise you that with this post, I’m not going to try to sell you on the benefits of reiki and convince you to come in for a treatment. My marketing philosophy is to remind people I’m here and be visible (and I’ve heard that writing blog posts occasionally, which marks my website as being active, helps my website come up in search engines). And I will basically trust that if my clients want to have a reiki treatment and can find me that they’ll come for a treatment.

What I am happy to promote though, to anyone, is that we should regularly, continously and actively be taking care of ourselves. Our bodies won’t be able to be healthy unless we take care of them with healthy eating and drinking and exercise. Similarly, our minds and energy are likely not able to naturally be in a positive place unless we put our intentions there.

So, it may be reiki that you find is a practice that helps you feel good or feel better and it may be something else! It could be yoga, meditation, chanting, acupuncture, counselling, therapy, long walks, exercise or time to yourself. It could be reading, getting massages, a flotation tank, making something with your hands, spending time in nature or spending time with friends and family. It won’t be any single thing.

I advise clients not to view a reiki treatment as a one-time cure for your problems. It should be just one of the tools that you use on a regular basis for your well-being, and you may not use the same tools in the same combination forever. Find what works for you and use the tools regularly and an ongoing basis, instead of waiting until you’re in crisis to act. I hope you can take care of yourself and encourage others to do the same.

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given over 3,400 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

Clients often come to me with stress and anxiety, either generally, or in response to a particular situation. So, I often ask if they are seeing a counsellor or therapist. It’s part of my general philosophy about reiki, that a reiki treatment may be a tool that will help you in some way but that you will need a number of tools in your toolbox. One treatment is not going to magically solve a problem or issue. And furthermore, if the issue is primarily one of the mind or emotions, then I think the first place to start with is someone who specialises in these, just like if you are physically injured or sick, a medical doctor would be my first port of call.

I just came across this article in the Washington Post, ‘Not everyone needs therapy‘, by Emily Edlin, and it nudged me to think about how I word my question. As the article says:

‘People need therapy when their mental health symptoms are causing serious impairments in their daily functioning — in close relationships, work performance, sleep or social activities. For instance, if a person’s work stress overwhelms them to the point that they miss work and are subsequently at risk of losing their job.

They don’t need therapy when they are able to manage their symptoms well — if they feel stressed about their work but continue to perform well, have a supportive network of family and friends, engage in meaningful activities outside work and do not have significant levels of depression and anxiety.’

I think this is a good framework and that it is true that sometimes stress and anxiety don’t require therapy, but are a signal that you need to reflect and change the situation. And many of my clients already do some form of therapy, and are coming for a reiki treatment as an alternative way to support what they are already doing.

I’d also add that there are different kinds of therapy and counselling. A number of clients who have had prolonged terrible periods at work could benefit from, I believe, workplace counselling or coaching, as the problems really are specific to work. People who can’t get over a relationship break-up or are suffering from the loss of a loved one could benefit from counsellors that specialise in these areas – relationships, grief – to help them get through this time.

I can sense that sometimes clients just need to be able to talk about how they feel, and I think being able to pay someone, a professional, to listen to you and provide objective guidance, is a wonderful thing. Very occasionally, a client will want to tell me all about the problems they are facing and this tells me that a professional listener would be good for them, rather than telling their problems to friends or family … or a reiki practitioner.

Finally, a number of clients have said that they tried counselling but that it didn’t work. There are many types of counselling available, and it’s not a given that you’ll find the right therapist right away (just as I know that some clients will ‘click’ with other reiki practitioners better than with me). So, if it didn’t work once, it may mean that counselling is not for you, but it may also mean that it wasn’t the right counsellor or type of counselling.

In any case, the important thing is recognising that you want to feel better and that you are doing something about it. If this includes reiki, I’ll see you at your next treatment!

P.S. Some time after I wrote this blog post in March 2024, a client told me about what seems like a terrific service in Australia. It’s an Australian online-based program, so would be particularly useful for you if you’re comfortable with doing counselling online or can’t get to someone in person. Looking through their website, it looks like it has a lot to offer, no matter what your situation, and is inexpensive OR, with a doctor’s prescription, free. Check it out at www.thiswayup.org.au.

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given nearly 3,500 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.