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Show Give up pills? Reiki could show you how ' ! I ' ' I .7 Patricia Constable gives Record circulation manager bookkeeper Gloria Johnston a hand with her month-end billing blues. by ROBIN MOENCK Record ccy editor It doesn't come in a bottle and you don't need a prescription to use it. Yet it could soothe a sinus flare-up, a bumped knee or a backache quicker than a medication. What is it? Your own two hands and some training in the Reiki (pronounced (pro-nounced rake-ee) system of self-healing. self-healing. Massage therapist Patricia Constable Con-stable is the Reiki coordinator for Park City. Although people have varying reactions to Reiki, regular practice of its 12 holds "gives you more energy, makes you need less sleep and, generally speaking, always helps to reduce stress," she says. Reiki is a Japanese word that means "universal life force energy." The first traces of the art and science of tapping this energy are believed to lie in Tibet of 10,000 years ago. The system was lost, then rediscovered in the 1800s by a Japanese monk who was looking for a link between the spirituality he learned from the ancient sutras a book of knowledge and healing. Restoring the self-healing science to use became his personal mission, Constable says. Eventually, Reiki centers became a part of nearly every Japanese community. . It was not until after World War II that the method crossed the Pacific to the United States: A Japanese woman living in Hawaii returned to her homeland to die. Instead of succumbing suc-cumbing to the multiple ailments that plagued her, she took an eight-month eight-month course of treatment in the natural healing art. She lived to bring news of it back to America. Constable describes learning Reiki as "an attunement process seven is the highest. Constable, for example, is one of seven second-degree second-degree therapists in Park City. Thirty Thir-ty therapists here are at the first-degree first-degree level. Master teacher Bar bara St. John, who teaches classes in Park City periodically, has fourth-degree fourth-degree training. The system "is like a light switch, in a sense," says Constable. "Light is always present in the universe, but it wasn't until Edison set up a technology whereby every time you pressed a switch, it came on . . ." that light became concentrated and useful. "By putting your hands on your body, (universal life force) energy can be harnessed like a light switch. . . at any time you want it." And anywhere. "I love it. It works," says Park City Ci-ty resident Cathy Kaufman Kennedy, Ken-nedy, who travels as a representative represen-tative of a vitamin company. "I do it all the time while I'm driving. driv-ing. You know that tightness in the shoulders? I don't get that anymore." Constable says when you give Reiki energy to someone, you receive it at the same time. It works in a re-energizing cycle. "I use it on my husband when he has a headache or is uptight," says Kennedy. "I put my hands on him and he mellows out. "I don't have to make a time for it," she adds. "I can do it when I'm doing something else." It also can be used as a first-aid measure and to promote a feeling of wellness. "I use it as a tool every day," says Park City resident Nina Macheel. "It's something I always have with me for injuries or stressful situations. I don't have to stop what I'm doing, find a quiet place or go to church to get it." All three of her young children are trained in the method. "The little girls Reiki their dad when he has a headache. I'm training train-ing them so that when they stub their toe . . . they don't come running to me for help. "It's a self-help system they can use on themselves." Park City masseuse Chris Murphy agrees it is a kind of insurance on the health of his family. The family went through a bout of flu last weekend quickly, he claims, because of Reiki. "Things (illnesses) never stay," he says. His son, now 2, was initiated in the system at about 6 months. "He rarely rare-ly has problems," says Murphy, who believes Reiki helps foster "healthy, happy little kids." But the effects of the system are subtle, he said. "It's not always easy to see. Over the long term, you look back at your family and other people's peo-ple's situations and say, 'Gee, in the health area, -in attitude, we're ahead." He agrees with Constable that Reiki is reciprocal. "It's nice to know you can help people. It's an in- : tegral part of what I've done in massage. I can work with it and br- , ing it on home. It's a return on your investment in energy." Constable says, "We all live on a level of stress." If you would like to learn a method that might help combat com-bat it, a free lecture and demonstration demonstra-tion of Reiki will be held at the convention con-vention center at the Park Meadows Racquet Club Nov. 14 from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Classes in first- and second-degree Reiki will be held Nov. 15, 16 and 17 at Racquet Club condominium ) 170. The fees are $15Q ; and$220. - : For more information, call 649-8219. |