By Bob Reynolds
When Jolene Stillings was undergoing radiation and chemo she felt sapped, physically and emotionally. “I was sad, and cried a lot,” she remembers. She credits Reiki treatments for giving her more energy and improving her mood for days after each session.
Jolene was diagnosed with cervical cancer in October 2011, and suffered a recurrence a few years later. The first time she underwent cancer treatments she did not receive any Reiki. She was getting two kinds of chemo that were hard on her body, and she felt nauseous and tired all the time. Medicine for nausea wasn’t helping.
The second time around, however, she was ready to try anything that might minimize those toxic effects. She went online to research alternative therapies, and found LifeSpark. She found out that Reiki could help with nausea and fatigue, and could “be healing” generally. She received one session a week, for a little over a year—about 60 treatments in all.
Her sessions always soothed and relaxed her. A couple of times she remembers falling asleep. In the process Jolene developed a close relationship with her practitioner. Jolene says, “One of the unexpected therapeutic effects [I experienced] was just talking about a lot of different things [with my practitioner], which made me feel better as well.”
Her mother-in-law was her primary caretaker; it was she who took Jolene to all her appointments. Her mother-in-law noticed that, after the Reiki sessions, Jolene had more energy and her overall well-being was better. “I wasn’t around a lot of people during my cancer treatment,” Jolene recalls. “I mostly stayed home because I felt so horrible.”
She’s recommended Reiki to quite a few people. She has told them that “With all the things you have to put up with when you have cancer, plus dealing with your regular life, it’s important to set aside that hour per week to get those treatments.”
