A few months ago, one of my close friends told me she will be hosting a reiki master who is coming to Zurich for a few weeks of private sessions. I said it sounds awesome, signed up for a session and posted the event here.

I’ll be honest: I had NO CLUE what reiki is. A few days later I did some Google research… and I still had little clue what reiki is 🙂

So I thought I’d just go and see for myself.

Filipa Pereira is the reiki master who introduced me to this practice, and I was extremely lucky to experience two sessions with her during her time in Zurich. The first one was on a hot Saturday afternoon in my friend’s sunny loft. Minutes after arrival I was already contemplating the massage table yearningly. However, we didn’t start with the session right away – Filipa took time to introduce herself, the practice of reiki and the expectations for this initial session.

Some concepts around qi sounded familiar after practicing qigong before, and the reference to the energetic centers of the body (chakras) resonated with me as they’re applied in yoga as well. But I won’t lie: I was skeptical.

So in practice, a reiki session involves lying down, relaxing, staying open and receiving energy (however that may feel, who knows…) – so nothing invasive, nothing actionable on the receiver’s part. One may meditate or think about their shopping list or daydream of their next holiday, anything works… even taking a nap. I think I did the first three, while Filipa proceeded to gently touch my head, forehead, ears, chest, belly, legs and feet. All locations associate to an energetic center and her touch first cleared the remnant / negative energy before transmitting positive healing energy from the universe.

I know what you may ask: so how does energy feel like?

Honestly, I didn’t feel a surge of anything during the session, just relaxation, peace, comfort. What truly amazed me was Filipa’s feedback afterwards, and her assessment of what she felt in me! She evaluated my overall energy, state of mind and emotional baggage so accurately, it was unbelievable! And that without any knowledge of my background, life experiences, and present mood.

That surprising experience motivated me to go for a second session, which was a bit more targeted. Filipa asked me if there’s a certain area I would need to reenergize or heal. Even though in reiki the belief is that the universe will give everyone whatever they truly need at this time, I guess it doesn’t hurt to investigate if that energy can be routed to a focus area. And that was certainly a very revealing experience…

I’ll be very transparent here: I asked the universe for more self-confidence, especially now that I am starting to teach yoga and “put myself out there”. Filipa tried to work on the relevant chakra (the manipura located around the belly area) but her hands fluctuated between belly and head. She told me afterwards that she felt my self-confidence is there, it’s just my fear of failure that’s undermining it! The thoughts, expectations and standards anchored in my brain are sabotaging my capabilities – it’s so true my jaw almost dropped when I heard that.

We spoke about many things after the session and I was amazed at how safe, comfortable and connected I felt to Filipa. I wish we’d had more time…

My head is still instinctively trying to look for logical explanations for Filipa’s accurate reflections. I can’t explain it but I want to do more reiki and delve into depths I haven’t explored yet.

Healing can take many shapes and forms, but to me the most important requirement is to stay open for whatever may come.
Only then you can truly experience it ♥