There has come to be an unfortunate divide – almost a war of opposing sides – in the minds of those who choose to use supportive methods of care, such as Reiki, and those who use medical treatment. I say this is unfortunate because most of us don’t realize how much we rely on modern medicine.
Although it has its flaws, and those practicing it are human beings with healing needs themselves, we have all needed help from medicine, and we all know family and friends who have as well.
I admit, I have bought into this mental divide myself, feeling a huge pushback against a medical system I felt had been cold-hearted and had let me down at times. It took me many years of healing work within myself to realize that this was trauma in me that needed my care and attention. I have spent much of my life facing health challenges and, of course, those were not easy to deal with. Some of the situations, procedures, and doctors I dealt with over the years were beyond unpleasant. In fact, I can honestly say that a few of the doctors I have encountered were actually abusive and traumatizing.
And yet, as I began healing those wounds, I saw that I had only been punishing myself by pushing the medical community away, refusing to go to the doctor for preventative care or treatment. My chronic health conditions worsened, I ignored new issues that may have received better care if treated sooner and remained ignorant of treatment options for a longstanding illness that kept me sick no matter how healthy I ate, how much meditation and yoga I did, or how much Reiki I practiced.
On a mental and spiritual level, I was blind to how much anger and resentment I carried. I used that anger to justify my position and to remain self-righteous about using only alternative methods. I was sure that the medical community was bad and that I had to choose one side or the other.
I think there are many of you out there who can relate to this. I told myself I could do it on my own, if I just ate right, meditated enough, did enough yoga, enough self-Reiki. I was actually becoming very UN-healthy through this thought process.
Slowly, it dawned on me that it wasn’t really true – I didn’t have to choose between medical care and supportive practices like Reiki. I had been fooling myself with my trauma and anger, and once I saw that, the scaffolding of my self-righteousness began to crumble away. All those years, I had still required a pill every day to control seizures. And even though I justified this by telling myself that it was less than I had needed in years past, I still very much needed the medication in order to function.
Using the Reiki principles, I worked with my anger, my fear & worry about doctors, and I was very honest with myself. You know, once I did this, I began to realize that there is no way I can ever say that I reject doctors or medicine. Being an older person, I went to school with people who were disabled because of things that…
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