The Healing Crisis: When Our Wellness Practices Leave Us Feeling Worse
This Is Too Important To Overlook
A Reiki session may temporarily feel miserable.
WHAT?!
Yep. A Reiki session very often induces a relaxing state of ease and bliss, but Reiki can also unearth the dis-ease and discomfort that was previously dormant below the surface.
“Well, darn.”
In fact, any of our go-to wellness practices can eventually reveal deep-rooted distress. Ever abruptly tear up in a massage? Sometimes feel sentimental in a heart-opening yoga pose? Yoga Journal recently reflected on this, noting: “Finally got that cry out that I needed thanks to yoga today. When emotions get stuck in the body it causes pain and tension.”
That’s energy — chi, prana, ki — shifting. It’s rebalancing and remapping to promote an eventual sense of calm and alignment in body, mind, and spirit. But at the moment, it can feel like you are being cracked wide open.
MY STORY
I first experienced Reiki momentarily at the conclusion of a massage. I had zero understanding of what was happening — which current-day me does not love one bit — but I felt profoundly shifted. It grounded me. I was serene. Though I left the session puzzled, I felt thrilled at the prospect of a positive shift in my mood. Intrigued, I reached out to the masseuse months afterward to investigate what that feeling was, and I rebooked for a full hour Reiki session.
I awaited the same inspiring results — more so, even, from an hour-long session. However, I was disappointed, angry, and scared when I felt uneasy during and after the session. It seemed like my body was unbalanced and my whole right side appeared weighed down with a muddy, blurry energy. For a month after, I was so irritable, it was hard to be around my family and colleagues.
I now understand why I felt awful, but I didn’t then, and the Reiki practitioner didn’t inform me (🚩).
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
This is what we call a healing crisis, and it can feel like the flu crossed with clinical PMS after working a night shift. A healing crisis can encompass mental and physical aspects, and though it’s temporary, it’s no fun. It’s also baffling if our Reiki practitioner didn’t prepare us for the possibility of it happening.
The term “healing crisis” feels inaccurate to me, but I use that term because it’s the wording my teacher shared, and it’s a fairly accepted term. I’d prefer to ease the connotation of the term “crisis” and instead focus on the “healing.” A crisis feels hopeless, but here, we know what’s happening. Adopting the more gentle expression of a friend, this is a healing “dilemma.”
WHY?
We somatically accumulate stress, angst, worry, and unease. If we apply the analogy of our body as a watering hose, the twists and turns of life kink and knot up our hose. We may become accustomed to the knots to survive, forging ahead with willpower while living with suppressed physical and emotional pain. Acts of self-care may temporarily smooth a knot or two, providing intermittent relief. However, when we delve into more powerful, repeated practices like Reiki to address the engrained layers of knots, all the gunk caught in the hose has to go somewhere as it washes away.
While that release is ultimately beneficial, it can be a rollercoaster during the unraveling. Some may experience physical detox symptoms, like a headache or body aches, and others may have a temporary mental shift, feeling prickly or angry.
It is imperative we are conscious of these potential side effects not only so we can make informed decisions, but also because our deep-rooted stress is at an unprecedented high. If you’ve been on planet Earth in the past 2 years, you’ve experienced a level of cumulative trauma unique to our lifetimes.
In my practice as a Reiki practitioner and teacher, I estimate the cases of temporary post-session “eww” have risen by about 1/3 since 2020. That makes sense, considering our wellness and spiritual practices are being put to the test after a jarring turn of the decade. We may discover that while wellness practices like Reiki once offered a sense of relief, they now uncover deeper, unresolved angst.
This may all sound bleak, but it’s not. Rather, it's a reminder that a quick, superficial “fix” is also likely impermanent. The complex work of healing and realigning our physical, emotional, mental, and physical selves takes time and can sometimes appear messy. I propose that “messy” feeling is a signal of growth, and I’m proud of all of us for forging ahead with open minds and hearts.
Support For Clients And Practitioners
If you’ve had a healing crisis or worked with clients who have, let’s reaffirm:
A Reiki practitioner should be available before and especially after the session to support you, particularly if you have a healing dilemma. Book with a practitioner who checks in the day after your session and truly communicates a sense of support for your journey.
If your Reiki practitioner includes alternative modalities in your session (sound, breathwork, essential oils, psychic channeling, or other modalities) it is completely acceptable to clarify that you prefer the session be a traditional Reiki session conducted with the absence of other practices. While the aforementioned can aid in eliciting a relaxation response, it can also feel overwhelming. Remember, it’s OK to go small.
A Reiki practitioner is a conduit of Reiki energy and thus not directly in control of how you receive or process energetic shifts.
You can skip the 60-minute session and opt for a shorter, more digestible session length, like 15-45 minutes.
If you feel your mental health would benefit from other modalities, like therapy, your practitioner should support your choices.
You may require multiple Reiki sessions. In fact, it’s likely that you do, and you deserve a pressure-free approach to booking more sessions. For optimal health, Reiki is a regular practice. A sporadic approach to Reiki may produce unintentionally uneven results, like taking your car in for service only after the oil has run out and the tires are flat. I discovered this sentiment while writing this journal: “in a world that glamorizes ‘big breakthroughs,’ the truth is that most of the healing work actually lies in the small, slow, tedious, digestible process of showing up for ourselves over and over and over again. keep going.”
It may take some extra effort to get there, but the breakthroughs are coming. My journey has been a very messy squiggle and never a perfect, straight line. I invite you to forge ahead with me.
