HOME

518 686 1817

Articles in the News

Sonya Burdge RN, MS
e- mail me

Health and Science Section - Post-Star - Glens Falls NY 1999
CAMBRIDGE - It is a late Thursday afternoon at Mary McClellan Hospital. Members of the hospital's staff have congregated on the West Wing's second floor for their bi-weekly Reiki treatment. They lie on massage tables, as Reiki practitioners stand silently over them, their palms placed gently on strategically selected areas on the body.

Sonya Burdge, staff development coordinator at the hospital, stands over a maintenance employee receiving a treatment As the one who spearheaded the movement to get Reiki practiced at the hospital, she recalls her first encounter with the technique. "I got a call last November from Reiki Masters Mary Kochenour and Lynda Pruden in Rutland, Vt., asking if I wanted to have a demonstration at the hospital," said Burdge. "It's being used at hospitals and clinics in Vermont and they thought we might be interested."

Burdge described her initial Reiki treatment as love at first feel, so to speak. "It's all about using energy through the hands to heal," she said. She said that Reiki is a gentle and non--manipulative form of healing that can promote stress reduction and relaxation. It is the non-invasive and calming nature of the practice, Burdge said, that makes it an ideal complimentary therapy for health care practitioners. An average Reiki treatment lasts between 30 to 60 minutes. The practitioners leave their hands on each position for three to five minutes. Recipients of Reiki report feeing a warmth emitting from practitioner's' hands.

Without the motion of massage therapy, the stillness of a Reiki treatment often allows for deep and uninterrupted relaxation. It is not unusual for participants to emerge from a session feeling as though they have wakened from hours of deep sleep. But Burdge said that therapeutic benefits aside, Reiki is not meant to replace a physician's medical attention. "Reiki is not meant to be a substitute for seeing a doctor or pharmacist," she emphasized. "It is used to complement treatment.

From the demonstration in March, Burdge reported that she and five other hospital staff members were so taken by the treatment they I signed up to become Reiki I Practitioners. There are three levels of Reiki: level one, level two and Reiki Master . The Master level allows the individual to teach Reiki to others.

In the near future, the hospital's surgical staff would like to begin using it on surgical patients to facilitate the convalescent period following surgery and ease patient's jitters that often prevail prior to surgery. "Anxiety is one of the most destructive forces in healing.

However, many clients are not interested in exploring their life-stressors. They just want to feel better today. Stress in our daily lives is one of the main obstructions to healing ourselves. It clouds our aura and meridians, filtering the life-giving flow of healing energy. Clients come to energy healers frazzled and aching in their backs or necks or knees. As the energy fields are balanced, the stress pulled out of the aura, and the energy sent sparkling along the meridians, a deep relaxation is experienced. The mind untangles , the muscles unknot, and the aches and pains wash away. Clients report that everything is so much clearer both visually and mentally. They know what to overlook and what to deal with. They feel ready to make their life work better.

"I do not suggest that energy healing should replace traditional medical practices, but it can certainly complement it, and make treatments and medications more effective. As you work with diet and exercise, also consider some sort of energy healing to support your process. "
Burdge, who is a level two practitioner and is currently at work on becoming a Master, hopes to begin teaching Reiki to members of the nursing staff so they will have the ability to practice on patients. But for now, a growing number of staff members are happy to receive Reiki treatments at the hospital every two weeks. "It started out small, but we have about 20 who attend regularly - they look forward to it," she said.

Sarah Weber, who works at the hospital as a credentialing coordinator said that regular Reiki treatments have had a transformative effect on her. "I've been having a lot of stresses in my life." she said. " But the day I had my first Reiki treatment, I actually went out later and had fun for the first time in a very long time. " In general, "I've become more relaxed and confident; I'm able to cope with things better:" According to Burdge, Reiki practitioners don't view themselves as healers, but rather as vessels for the life force energy that is everywhere.
Burdge said that the energy that is funneled through the body from Reiki can have a dislodging effect, physically and emotionally on the person receiving it. "Sometimes blocked emotional pain or suppressed feelings surface as a result of treatments." She said. "People have told me that after a treatment they cry"

The area's Reiki movement seems to be spreading beyond the hospital staff. Burdge reported that a recent Reiki demonstration to members of the Cambridge Senior Center following a blood pressure clinic has also produced a loyal following. Weber said that her husband reluctantly had his first treatment a few weeks ago." He ended up loving it and hasn't stopped talking about Reiki ever since."

Recently, she and Sharon Beaty, a licensed practical nurse, opened the Sunburst Center on Lake Lauderdale. They offered services at the center that include Reiki and Jin Shin, a high touch accupressure that Burdge said is just like acupuncture but without the needles. From time to time, free Reiki clinics were for those interested in trying it for the first time.

Burdge said the center charged $65 for a Reiki treatment, which lasted about an hour. The treatment was not covered by insurance. As a medical professional, Burdge said, she would never recommend Reiki as a substitute for medications or surgery, but she added that it has and could complement a person's recovery and healing process

"We wouldn't take on people who have cancer and say it's a cure," she said. "But it does make chemo work better. The Reiki helps to wipe out some of the fear and lets the body do its work. I've also been told by patients who went through it that it dissipates nausea. "
"I gave a treatment to a woman I who had knee replacement (surgery)," Burdge said. "When you have surgery, the energy meridians (linear energy conduits that lie under the skin and conduct energy throughout the body) are cut. This woman said she felt the pain was drawn out of her after the treatment. Burdge said that she herself has found Reiki invaluable when it comes to healing emotional pain. "It gets to my emotions and wipes away stress."

Has she seen any miracles connected to Reiki ? "What happened to me was pretty miraculous; the energy from Reiki reached right into my soul and awoke my hidden self, my child-self," she said.

Burdge also maintains that the emotionally healing effects of Reiki can have a significant impact on physical healing. Anxiety is one of the most destructive forces in healing," she said. "Reiki can dissipate it because it helps (one) to relax; it can also help with removing the effects of anesthesia which can linger.

What does Health and Fitness mean to you ? Does it mean a lean and trim body conforming to the pictures in magazines ? Does it just mean an absence of diagnosed illness ? Should we also include our mental and spiritual wellbeing? The answer, if we are to answer truthfully for ourselves, is probably the magazine look. We compare ourselves to those golden bodies and sigh.

In non-traditional views of health we consider not only the physical health, but also the emotional and spiritual well-being of the individual. It is clear that in many cases the causes of chronic illnesses can be traced to a long-standing emotional stressor. For example, my adiposely challenged physique is probably the result of emotional neglect as a child.

As we go through life we cope, again and again, with various life events and the body itself stores the negative energetic fallout. Gradually body systems begin to be clogged with this debris, and some kind of chronic illness emerges. Quite frequently the area of the body that is affected is directly related to the source of the stressor.
For example, someone who has suffered from a broken heart through divorce or widowhood might suffer a heart attack or breast cancer. Or people who feel they cannot speak out might come down with throat cancer or frequent sore throats.

Working with health issues from this point of view, we would be interested in removing the debris of past stressors in order to prevent or ameliorate illness. This settles first into the energetic field around the body, often called the Aura. Then it begins to clutter up the energy running through the body along the lines of energy called the meridians. Finally it becomes stuck into various parts of the body and eventually illness emerges.

Various kinds of energy healers use their skills to ameliorate or arrest this process. Acupressure, Jin Shin or Acupuncture are methods in which the meridians, themselves, are stimulated in order to remove blockages to the flow. Therapeutic touch and Healing Touch are mainly hands off techniques of removing negative energy from the Aura ,and balancing the energy fields to promote a more healthy communication of energy in and out of the body.

Reiki is usually a hands on method of both connecting the energy along the main meridian lines, and encouraging the release of negative energy stored in the body. Many energy healers use a combination of these techniques to promote health.

Since the beginning of the last century with the amazing discoveries in medicine, civilized countries have come to rely heavily on what is now called Traditional Medicine. This involves the use of medical doctors of every specialty whose general weapons against disease have been drugs or the knife. Enormous industries have flourished around the production of pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and the financing of health care. Recent changes have made this system more difficult to access and rely on. When we are faced with the discomfort and anxiety of the disease process itself, we are additionally burdened with such questions as "Will my insurance pay for this?" and "Is the choice of therapy dictated by cost or medical judgment?"

Many Americans, over a third according to surveys, have turned to complementary methods of healing. Frequently these are people suffering from diseases that are complex and do not conform to diagnoses that are known at present. Chronic medical conditions which have exhausted psychological reserves and medical options often motivate patients to look into other avenues of healing. As I have described in earlier articles, the benefits of such methods can be the relief of stress, the reduction of pain and the promotion of hope and strength to go forward. All these factors can renew the person's ability to live a fruitful life, and allow the body to begin to heal itself.

Another great influence on how we approach illness is the unrelenting medical propaganda from all sides informing us of ways to improve our chances for a healthy life. As you sit waiting to see your doctor you are forced to watch educational television programs about smoking cessation, low fat eating and breast examination. Pamphlets are everywhere with the same messages. Guilt enfolds you as you stumble through the weighing in ordeal, to the blood pressure measurement, and finally to actually talking with your doctor.

If you have been using any complementary healing methods, it becomes obvious that they are not an acceptable part of the medical regime. In fact they are often blamed for your problem. Even talking to the doctor is difficult. Try telling your doctor that you realize the problem is in the gallbladder meridian, because the various pains are along its path. I have, and received a puzzled look and a vehement denial of any gallbladder disease.

Your friends and relatives are also subject to the barrage of information on how to stay healthy, and patients find themselves in the same situation outside the physician's office. In the end, it is the traditional medical route that becomes the measuring stick for your actions. Did you take the pills, have the tests and ask the doctor?

I do not condemn in any way a reliance and use of traditional medicine. I believe that medical discoveries were inspired in just the same way as any complementary methods of healing. My dream is that we learn to use them together, so that people receive any method that gives them hope, increases their ability to heal and augments the medical treatment. It is beginning in some areas, but only our continued requests for complementary methods will force insurance companies to pay for them, and hospitals to offer them. It is up to us in the end!

Recognizing that this energetic debris is the result of some difficult event, it is quite common for individuals to experience the emotions again as they are released. They may feel a deep sorrow or anger, and quite frequently weep. Clients emerge lighter and clearer and more positive.

Therefore, one of the components of a session with an energy healer, is time to process or speak about the revelations and experiences during the session. Sometimes clients have visions, see colors or hear music. The energy healer provides a safe and private environment in which to experience and integrate these healing events.

My dream is that we learn to use them together, so that people receive any method that gives them hope, increases their ability to heal and augments the medical treatment. It is beginning in some areas, but only our continued requests for complementary methods will force insurance companies to pay for them, and hospitals to offer them. It is up to us in the end!