The Benefits of Reiki in Pregnancy
Feb 19, 2024Written By Emily
“Being Pregnant, Women are literally manufacturing the next generation of people, isn’t it important that out of all the products on this planet, that we produce wonderful human beings.”
Sadhguru
Introduction
For the majority of my nursing career, I have worked mostly with women in pregnancy, and new parents. I was overjoyed when, in my own private healing practice, I found so many women experiencing profound benefits with Prenatal Reiki. Pregnancy is a unique experience - with it comes transitions, changes, and challenges to the physical body. With all these major developments happening in the body, I feel it is really important that expectant mothers know about the benefits of Reiki.
What Is Reiki?
Reiki is an ancient energy healing system, re-discovered in the early 20th century by Japanese scholar, Mikao Usui. “Reiki” is Japanese for “Universal Life Energy”, and is a word used to describe a system of natural healing. There are many variations of Reiki, but in essence, Reiki treatments can help the body physically, emotionally or spiritually. It is a tradition that is open to any belief system.
The Reiki practitioner is the channel between the client and the source of the universal life force energy; the energy flows through the practitioner’s energy field and through her hands to the patient. The energy is not the practitioner’s own, so they do not experience a drain.
The Reiki treatment can be completed with hands on or off the body, dependent on the client’s preference. Reiki sessions can also be given remotely, if the expectant mother is unable to attend a session in person. Reiki offers healing energy not only to mothers-to-be, but also to their unborn babies. Sometimes, the Reiki practitioner can feel the energy of the baby in utero, which is incredibly special. (If you want to know more about the science of Reiki, click here)
Reiki Eases Pregnancy Symptoms
Pregnancy is not easy. It’s a life-altering experience, changing every part of day-day existence, that literally puts a mother’s life on the line. Dealing with morning sickness, food aversions, exhaustion, and mood swings can take your focus out of your pregnancy and into the difficulties that come with it. During a Reiki session, the energy often soothes the mother’s symptoms and helps her to deeply connect with her body.
A large 2019 study aimed to measure the effect of a single session of Reiki on physical and psychological health in a large nonclinical sample (Baldwin et al.). 1411 Reiki sessions were conducted by Reiki practitioners across the United States and included in the analysis. Statistically, significant improvements were observed for all outcome measures, including positive affect, negative affect, pain, drowsiness, tiredness, nausea, and appetite, shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, and overall well-being (all p-values <0.001). This really evidences how effective Reiki can be as a tool to manage pregnancy symptoms.
Reiki Helps Prepare the Mother for Childbirth
Reiki really helps to ground the mother-to-be into her body and connect to her innate wisdom within. Birth is in your body, and not in your head. Reiki helps the body release stress and tension, to become more relaxed. Often, in a Reiki session, the mother’s brain waves will go into a meditative state, which lowers the stress hormone, cortisol. This means that they start to feel more relaxed and confident.
Reiki Reduces Stress
Preparing for parenthood can be equally magical and stressful at the same time. Pregnancy can be an emotional period. In western society, women are often under a huge amount of stress, caused by factors such as maternity leave planning, relationships, lifestyle, and work. McManus (2017) reviewed 13 studies on Reiki, finding that Reiki is a safe and gentle complementary therapy that activates the parasympathetic nervous system to heal body and mind. This would further prove Reiki’s effectiveness in supporting women to relax in pregnancy.
Reiki Strengthens the Mother-Child Bond
The healing that comes with Reiki is holistic - it envelopes an entire person, including the baby. Whenever I have healing sessions with pregnant women, they always express that they feel like their babies are responding to the treatment through their movements. Reiki opens up the opportunity for moments where a mother can enjoy communicating with her baby without stress, worries, or physical pain.
Summary
Pregnancy is one of the most beautiful physical and spiritual experiences, and each mother deserves to experience this opportunity positively. However, stressors to the mind, body, and soul can ruin the experience. Reiki is such a wonderful tool to support women throughout pregnancy. If you want to find out more about my specific sessions for Mothers-To-Be using Reiki and Sound, click here.
If you or someone you know wants to experience pregnancy in a way you/they haven’t before, consider a Reiki session!
References
Baldwin, A., Dyer, N. and Rand, W., 2019. A Large-Scale Effectiveness Trial of Reiki for Physical and Psychological Health. [online] Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. Available at: <https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/acm.2019.0022> [Accessed 18 February 2021].
McManus, D., 2017. Reiki Is Better Than Placebo and Has Broad Potential as a Complementary Health Therapy - David E. McManus, 2017. [online] SAGE Journals. Available at: <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2156587217728644> [Accessed 10 March 2021].
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