Article by Alison Burton
My introduction to energy healing came when I was studying Hypnotherapy. I had a pain in my side a little like a stitch and I said, somewhat tongue in cheek, to a couple of classmates, “OK see if you can heal this?” It was morning tea time and during the break we went into the student lounge which was quite a public area. The three women I had asked to “heal” me were all Reiki Practitioners. I had no idea really about energy healing. When people talked about their energy being blocked I thought they were talking about constipation. Anyway I lay on a couch and the women very solemnly put their hands on me. Initially I just relaxed and enjoyed the attention. Then I started to feel quite hot and I could hear something like sparks of static electricity around my head. The next thing I knew I burst into tears! I had no idea why or where the emotion came from but I was beside myself. I was shocked by my reaction and quickly asked them to stop. I knew something big was happening but I also knew that morning tea break in a public place was not the time and place to pursue it. I composed myself as best I could and sat through the lectures for the rest of the day. I don’t think I took in too much because I had an awful headache, I felt nauseous and I kept having hot flushes. I was only 41 at the time and I knew I couldn’t blame menopause. I spoke to the women through the afternoon and we arranged to have a private session the next day to clear whatever it was that had come up for me. I must say I felt disgusting, and was apprehensive about submitting myself to more of what triggered that awful reaction. I intuitively knew though, that we had to finish what we started.
The next day the same three women spent a good 2 hours working on me. I lay on a massage table in the lounge room of one of women’s home. I was covered by a comfy blanket. As they worked on me I felt an amazing range of sensations and emotions. One minute I would feel a tingling throughout my body and a feeling of what I could only describe as white light flowing through. It was such an exquisite feeling I would spontaneously laugh out loud. A few minutes later I would feel an unbelievable sadness welling up within me and the tears would flow. As I wept I had the most painful sensation across my forehead. I recognized it as the headache I had every time I had cried in the past. I particularly remember that pain from the nights I cried myself to sleep after my mother died. As soon as I had that thought I sensed her presence in the room. My mother had passed away 15 years earlier and I really believed I had come to term with her death. Obviously my body hadn’t and this headache was a beauty. I sensed that I was supposed to let the pain go and had quite a discussion in my mind with my mother. She was telling me that I didn’t need the pain any more and she asked me to give it to her. I argued that I deserved the pain, and that she had experienced enough pain already. (She had died of cancer.) I said I was so sorry I couldn’t have done more for her while she was still alive. I felt so guilty that I didn’t care for her better while she was dying. My pain now was like my penance for continuing to live when she couldn’t. She persisted in telling me to give her the pain and when I said I didn’t want her to have any more pain she said not to worry, she knew what to do with it. She would not keep it, she said, there where people who needed it much more than me. She told me it was time to forgive myself and let it all go. She eventually convinced me and I handed her the pain. I immediately felt that delicious white light flow through me and the headache and the tears cleared instantly.
After the session, although no-one had spoken for the entire time, all three women said they had sensed the presence of an older woman. Was it my mother by any chance? I had to laugh. Together we thanked her and sent her to the light. Since that moment I have never had that same pain across my forehead and I have a whole new respect for energy healing.
