A Reiki Story with a happy outcome

Blog Layout

A Reiki Story with a happy outcome

Kate Jones • 25 January 2024

How Reiki helped my husband through a journey with prostate cancer

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/

< Older Post Newer Post >

Guest Blog by Gulara Vincent: How Reiki Taught Me Trust

by Kate Jones • 6 December 2024

How Reiki Taught Me Trust by Gulara Vincent Reiki found me one Tuesday evening in late February 2009. I saw a leaflet on the windowsill of my Tai-chi teacher’s class at the Buddhist Centre in Birmingham. There was a taster session the next evening and on an impulse I decided to attend it. The next evening, I walked in the vicinity of the Health Centre in King’s Heath without any luck. I couldn’t find the right building in the dark. Disappointed, I came home. Wasn’t meant to be, I decided. Except when I saw leaflets advertising Reiki 1 a week later, I was drawn to it like a moth to the light. I had no idea what Reiki was, but couldn’t resist signing up for the class anyway. I remember the night before my Reiki 1 training, a housemate who had Reiki initiation a few years earlier said: ‘Are you sure you’re ready for this?’ ‘What is there to be ready for?’ I felt puzzled by her concerns. It didn’t take me long to find out. Reiki seemed to have created some energetic sweep clean in my whole system, helping me to release some outdated beliefs and offering comfort and nurture at a time in my life when I often felt lonely and lost. It also unlocked my gifts as a healer. I was so enthusiastic about sharing the Reiki magic that I wanted to put my hands on anyone who was willing to receive the healing. One day, I was with my friend in my office. At the time I was a PhD student in law at the University of Birmingham. My friend was a complete non-believer in any alternative therapies. I put my hands on her temples and the energy flowed and pulsed with heat and intensity. After a few minutes, she removed one of my hands and checked its temperature. ‘But your hand is not hot,’ she looked puzzled. ‘I tell you this works!’ I felt so excited that she could feel the flow of energy that when I put my hands back on, I willed even more energy to come through. I was very keen to convince her. A few days later, I shared this incident with Kate Jones, my Reiki Master. ‘Gulara, you can’t command Reiki to flow stronger,’ she said smiling, ‘whatever needs to be given will be given, and whatever needs to be received will be received.’ Those words have become my mantra for over 15 years now. I apply it to everything I do, including my healing sessions with clients. When I teach healing methods, I always quote Kate to support my students in surrendering and trusting the process. When I write my books and worry about what to include and what to leave out, I often say to myself: ‘Whatever needs to be given will be given. Whatever needs to be received will be received.’ I didn’t know that what this mantra taught me was to trust. I’m forever grateful for Kate’s teachings and her Reiki treatments, especially in relation to my writing journey. Reiki helped me to heal so many of the stories I have included in my second memoir Fragile Freedom. You can find out more here: www.gularavincent.co.uk/blog/fragile-freedom