The Reiki Dojo

Thank you for all the good wishes when I shared in December that my husband Alec has been going through treatment for prostate cancer. I realised that I didn’t let you know the latest results, so here is our story, to cheer up the Winter days, about how Reiki helped us achieve a happy outcome!

Over the years of practising Reiki, I have learned that difficulties are inevitable in life and it’s how we think about them that makes a difference. The Reiki Principles invite us ‘Just for today do not worry’. So, when I realised that Alec was getting up several times in the night to pee and that this could be a sign of prostate problems, instead of worrying and doing nothing I suggested he booked a PSA test*. This took courage because he doesn’t like needles!

Initially the GP didn’t think there was anything from the result and his examination that should cause concern. However, he decided to make a referral to a specialist to make sure.

I have often found that when Reiki is present this sort of grace happens (some might call this ‘magical thinking’!). This grace continued in the series of appointments that followed, with an expert nurse practitioner, the MRI and the biopsy. We got cancellations for each of them, so the diagnosis was fast. 

Then came the difficult news: prostate cancer was confirmed and was serious enough to require treatment. My daily self-treatments helped me to remain calm and I continued to practice ‘not worrying’.  We then had to decide on treatment options: surgery - offering a complete cure but with a long wait and risk of potentially difficult long term after effects, or radiotherapy – also offering a cure and with it’s own potential side effects.

We decided that the less invasive option of radiotherapy was preferable. This was partly influenced by the belief that Reiki would be more likely to be able to heal the side effects from radiotherapy than those of radical surgery. We also found the surgeon had not been honest with us when talking about the radiotherapy option and, following the ‘Earn your living honestly’ principle, honesty is important to us both. 

We agreed that I would treat Alec daily during his radiotherapy and keep records of his energy and any side effects, to see if Reiki seemed to be helping. I know that Reiki can help with burns, which can sometimes happen with radiotherapy, so anticipated that it could help with this.

It was an intense four weeks of treatment (radiotherapy and Reiki) and I am pleased to say that not only did Alec have no skin marks of any kind, he has also had no issues with bowel or bladder (which can be affected alongside the damage to cancer cells in the prostate). He did have to get up more in the night as the radiotherapy caused inflammation. Once the radiotherapy stopped I believe Reiki helped this inflammation to resolve quickly, contributing to a reduction in night-time trips to the bathroom soon after the treatment ended. 

Many people find radiotherapy tiring, but Alec’s energy stayed good through-out and he never needed me to drive him to the hospital – a 40-minute journey each way. 

I’m pleased to say that at the follow-up appointment in November Alec’s PSA score had dropped from 4.8 to 0.01 – the registrar said it couldn’t be any lower and Alec is now in remission.



He’s also getting up less often at night!

*PSA test – prostate-specific antigen test which shows the levels of antibodies that can indicate a problem with the prostate. This is not always cancer and sometimes is slow growing cancer that won’t kill a man. However, as in Alec’s case, it can alert us to more life-threatening cancer and the earlier it is treated the better. So if you are a man over 50: GET TESTED!  Please find out more here: https://prostatecanceruk.org/