Reiki, Current Life Regression & Releasing Trauma and Stored Pain from the Body (with Client Stories)
Painful emotions and trauma can turn into a tangibly manifested energetic/physical mass or presence in our body and subconscious mind, and we can go for years without being aware of its presence and sometimes, its origin. Sometimes there is suppression and burying for survival and coping. The wonderful thing is, it is possible to retrieve this information/bring it to the conscious mind and release it from the body in very direct ways.
When this retrieval occurs during a healing session, the client travels back to various painful/stored emotional and traumatic experiences from previous points in their life, including back to childhood, re-experiencing them in the mind/body/spirit field as if they were happening in real time, retrieves them from the subconscious and brings them into the conscious dimension, receiving information and clarity. There is often then the experience of feeling these things leaving the body in varied and tangible ways both during the session; as well as feeling their absence afterwards as life continues.
This is a form of “current life regression” (CLR), going back to resolve things in this lifetime that persist in the present emotional, physical and energetic body and then letting it go; similar to “past life regression”, done to work out things from a past life.
Client experiences
Below are a few stories of what some of my clients have experienced regarding this specifically (please note a spectrum of things are possible to occur within a Reiki healing session; CLR is but one possibility)). I’d like to offer these stories as a testament and reminder of our power to truly release things inside of us that seemingly "become us", but don't have to stay with us. “They” will tell you different (there’s a whole narrative and industry that say trauma and pain will be with us “forever”) but I know from personal experience and work with many clients, WE ARE ALCHEMISTS, and we can change the course of forever. I’m on a mission in many ways for us to remember that we have abilities to shift anything in our minds, our bodies, our lineage, our emotions.
A recent client who experienced this was seeking, amongst other things, to heal from ongoing anxiety and what they felt was some unhealed trauma; during the Reiki session, as soon as I put my hands on them, they traveled back into various painful trauma filled moments from childhood. They found themselves back in their family home, feeling the anxiousness and trauma in their family line, their parents trauma and siblings trauma from that time- it came to the surface in their physical body. Their body was shaking uncontrollably for a while under my hands (shaking is a form of purge/release and harmless) and they felt the amplification of anxiety of others in their family that they were holding IN THEIR BODY (very common to hold trauma of others in the body unknowingly and to experience the distinction during Reiki); the distinction of what was theirs and what wasn't was loud and clear for them for the first time in their life. Several other messages and releases and visuals were coming for them around this and other things; when we checked in afterwards they said the shaking and the anxiety they felt in their body didn't feel current- they weren't feeling anxiety directly but feeling the "presencing" of old anxiety from their subconscious/physical body from these past traumatic moments come to the surface and "manifest" and amplify. This is also something that is common in Reiki in general; the surfacing of what is buried in the subconscious coming through as a loud communication to the surface.
Since the body is intelligent and holds memory, it sent a message to their mind: this anxiety that you feel is connected to these trauma experiences (yours and your family’s) that have been buried in your energetic/emotional body and then they got the message to release it. They felt what was described as a ball of anxiety being pulled from/ spilling out of their body (from the solar plexus - or stomach- area) and expanding out into the room; they felt this ball of manifested anxiety actually leaving their body and then felt an overwhelming calm and lightness, and felt as if this buried trauma and anxiety had been released. They explained feeling an unfelt before peace as the separation and release was occurring.
Prior to our session I had the intuitive feeling that what they were carrying wasn't fully theirs; but they received their own confirmation of it inside of the session. This is why I call this a co-creation - their system was open and ready to enter into this state of suspension and release. I enjoy clients receiving information and messages directly as opposed to solely telling them what I "see.” (I prefer to offer what I’ve downloaded after they tell me what they saw, felt, experienced, messages received, points of clarity etc). Clients getting messages directly themselves excites me because I do feel we all have the ability to intuit and receive on this level.
The release of these buried trauma's is experienced, is retrieved and/or comes "out" of the body in different ways; some people's ancestors have literally been there with them in the time travel communicating specific information important (to them directly) for the release to happen; some people's release looks like crying during a session or feeling things being pulled from different areas, sometimes it's a clear message never heard before or a detailed visualization. I’ve had several clients re-experience their child selves inside of their body and have an awareness that a certain programmed belief was present, or going back to the moment something happened that they didn’t realize had occurred. This aspect is related to the suppression of trauma that occurs; where people sometimes completely “forget” what happened to them in order to cope. In this instance, people are able to “recall” it.
Another client recently experienced a form of current life regression in a different way. Prior to the session they shared that they went into a shell at some point several years ago....stopped being outgoing, talkative, and happy, something silenced them; they expressed not being able to remember how it happened and had blocked out the experience that caused them to move this way. They wanted to return to their old self but weren’t sure how as they weren’t sure of the origin.
During the session they had what was described as an out of body experience and traveled back to some years ago and immediately were in a specific time and home of their past; back to the time when the silencing occurred that they hadn’t been able to remember. They started to re-experience painful things that had happened that had been deeply suppressed...this memory was brought to the surface of the conscious mind (from the subconscious mind/body) and it was finally clear what happened so long ago to cause them to lose their voice/ability to connect with others in the way they once did. They also re-experienced other emotions that were completely blocked out and felt a sense of relief and release of the repressed trauma that had occurred.
For some it’s not only about traveling back but also feeling the separation of what is theirs and what is not can happen for the present moment too. This is the case for one client, who had been hearing voices in their head for some time; they felt the presence of these voices in the session and then felt the separation of their own voice. They expressed that they could hear their own voice for the first time during the Reiki. Similar to another example given here, the “presence” of anxiety was amplified here and then the feeling of it being pulled from the body as well.
Current life regression often involves revisiting childhood and visiting the exact moment something happened and making the connection to present day fears, belief systems, identity, etc.
Another client experienced current life regression by traveling to their childhood and feeling as if they were their child self again; a grandparent who is now an ancestor was there, communicating messages to them, giving messages of the truth of what happened then and within their lineage; the client began crying and deeply sobbing as the revelation was brought to the subconscious mind and the old story was freed from the body. There was a relief that was felt as this heaviness and related ongoing fears were able to be recalled and let go.
I increasingly call this work (and Reiki in general), a co-creation. While we as practitioners help to guide a process, by no means are we doing it "alone"; the client is involved (though they are often in a theta/surrendered/ "out of body" (as some folks report) state, their body and spirit are participating and co-facilitating. In fact, being in that theta state is what allows this work to happen. It's one of the essences of reiki - the body being able to heal and recalibrate itself comes from full surrender and calm.