What is Reiki I was asked...

scribe611,

Sorry about the tardiness on entering in on this.  Bonhomme directed me to look into the reiki stuff on a hunch and I never found the time.  Then didn't have it for the last couple weeks. It's a little eyebrow raising to say the least because it hits on a little strangeness for me and my own experiences.  I know nothing of reiki, mind you, and am an atheist with a science background to boot. However, I have experienced things that science offers no explanation for and it puzzles me.  Add that all up and that means I'm looking at this from an atheistic point of view with one foot firmly in science and absolutely zero knowledge of reiki.  In other words, I skimmed and stopped reading at your post as that combination could actually be beneficial.

Here's why.  We're similar.  In fact, oddly so. Like you, I've had my gift with animals called remarkable.  Like you, I can lull a wounded animal to relax, even when feral, in order to tend its wounds.  I have even cleared quarter sized abscesses out of animals after relaxing them into that state.  They do not struggle, fight, scratch or bite.  I can also handle bees and even wasps when they are in trouble and are in need of rescue.  No other insects are like that with me that I've found. 

The mandatory thing that I've found necessary to do all of these things is what I'm holding in me.  I cannot have any fear or anxiety whatsoever present within me to do this with animals or bees/wasps.  In fact, when I was rescuing a trapped wasp from a store, that was absolutely put to the test because my daughter took it upon herself to announce loudly what I was doing to everyone in the store.  I'm not a fan of that so my anxiety shot up and the wasp started to actually panic and tumbled to the ground.  Forced relaxation, retrieved the wasp, daughter spoke up again, rinse and repeat.  It took scolding my daughter to silence so I could maintain the calm and the wasp then started to groom all the dust and yuck off off its wings as I took it some distance to the nearest flowery/tree area nearby.  Thinking positively is absolutely mandatory and, from the gist of what you wrote, I'm guessing it's the same for you.

My little scientific pea brain has a few explanations for why that relationship might be.  My first thought is pheromones.  The animal and insect world has very heightened senses and the stronger an emotion is, the more likely a pheromone is being put out.  If they smell fear, they may think "fear".  If they smell "love" or "caring", they may trust.  That would seem to be the most plausible explanation of why there is a seeming surrender; however, there's something else going on, right?

Buzzing hands.  Yep.  I've long been my friends' tender of muscle knots as I can pinpoint the pain with my hands hovering above their skin.  I'd rationalize it as my subconsciously feeling heat from inflamed muscle except one thing.  My hands are buzzing and my friends feel that buzz, too.

One of the things that has been noted about me by doctors is that I tend to zap the crap out of them.  In fact, it was enough where they were checking my electrolyte levels whenever I went in and was on a zapping spree.  The first time someone had me hold a voltmeter was when I was 21.  My doctors did it, too (I dish out some considerable zaps).  In each case, I carried a heavy, above average negative charge and frequently well above average.  My docs couldn't explain it.  No foot drag as I pick up my feet when walking.  I could be sitting still on their exam table and strands of my hair would begin to rise as if somebody was hovering balloons over it.  We joked that I had an electrifying personality (ironic joke as I'm actually pretty quiet). 

That's been my entire life.  Every home I've lived in has had its electrical system checked because of rampant light bulb death (CFL bulbs survive).  I've shocked through hard plastics like those "crystal" knobs on water taps to the point where they exploded.  My kids actually cringe when I first reach out to touch them for fear of a zap, which kind of sucks.  The list of odd zaps are running water from a tap, bananas, tomatoes, and well, wood.  Go figure.  (For the record, I do not claim to be a SLIder as any streetlamp going out above me is coincidence and most don't.)  The one interesting thing is that when I'm anxious, upset, or angry, it's been noted that I do amp up faster.  Whether that's true or not, I don't know but my loved ones are fairly convinced of that one.  I do know that the more upset I get, the little invisible balloon trick does start happening (btw, don't tell my doctors that or else they'll know I kind of hate them, lol).

Now here's my curiosity driven question--do you do that, too?  I tend to attribute that buzzing sensation as possibly being that little upped electrical charge of mine.  If I hover my hand over someone while charged up, the little body hairs on their skin will rise so obviously, it would have some sensory effect.  That's my current thinking on it. 

Thanks in advance.  

PS.  Tossing in one more thing--this is not meant to question anyone's personal beliefs but instead looking for common ground by observation of the similarities that exist outside of beliefs.  It would never be my intention to alter something that works for one person.