Can You Have a Painless Birth with Reiki? What? Yes, it can happen!
Every woman that I know that has ever birthed a baby would love to have felt less pain during the labor and birth process! I know when I had my 3 sons, I would have loved to feel less pain and been able to relax more; Reiki can help you with that. Used throughout the world by people of all creeds and belief systems, Reiki is something that can benefit everyone.
How do I know this? I’m a Reiki Master/Practitioner that has taken extensive training and used Reiki in several different situations, with both people and animals. Using Reiki made a big difference. I’m convinced that Reiki can and will help you have a painless, amazing birth.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Reiki.
What is Reiki?
Rei means “spirit” and ki means “energy,” so literally, the word “Reiki” translates as “spiritual energy.” Spirit can have many individual meanings. Energy is in everything we see, touch, smell and taste. Reiki is a manipulation of energy that is a gentle and safe healing practice (therapy) that can be done hands-on in person, or from a distance to help alleviate physical, emotional and spiritual stress. It can provide pain relief and relaxation during labor, birth and beyond. Reiki can do no harm to you or your baby and can be a welcome addition to your current medical care.
Reiki therapy is 100% safe and non-invasive. It is used to facilitate relaxation and recovery, decrease anxiety and treat pain. Reiki can be used to help improve the whole family’s experience through pregnancy, delivery and the post-partum period.
Still not convinced? Let’s walk through a typical Reiki treatment.
What is a Reiki Session Like?
Let’s say I come to your house and your pregnancy is making you uncomfortable; your whole body just seems to hurt. You are also feeling a lot of anxiety regarding your labor and birth (as a Reiki practitioner and doula I have tools to help you with this). I have you get into a comfortable position and close your eyes. We may do some breathing exercises and you begin to relax. We may do a guided meditation to put you at ease before the treatment. Right after the meditation I put my hands gently on your head. You may start to feel warmth or tingling throughout your body as the Reiki energy begins to work. I begin to move my hands up and down your body. I will either use my hands directly on, or hover my hands a little above your body. As my hands move down you may feel some tightening, perhaps around your heart, in your throat or other parts of your body. This is absolutely normal and not harmful to you or your baby in any way. I may hover my hands in a specific spot for a few minutes so you can heal tension in that area. After that, I will continue working my hands down your body stopping to give some gentle energy to baby, concentrating on the areas of your body that may feel uneasy, uncomfortable or stressed. After your healing is over, your treatment will then be over. You will feel relaxed and possibly sleepy.
During treatments I’ve had clients actually fall asleep and when they wake they feel really good and relaxed with less or no anxiety. These treatments typically take 30 minutes or so.
How can Reiki help me during labor and birth?
Can you imagine if I or another Reiki practitioner was at your birth and helped you to relax, relieve your anxiety and be so comfortable that you could fall asleep during labor and wake up just in time to birth your baby? It can happen. I’ve seen it!
Reiki is useful in dealing with all kinds of pain, including labor pains. It can also reduce stress and anxiety post-partum. Reiki treatments can be provided by a Reiki practitioner like me, mom herself and her partner or by health care professionals. If your question is, “How can I give Reiki to myself?” I can teach you. We all have the ability to do Reiki.
Let’s take a look at some examples of Reiki being used during labor and birth by Dr. Mills, an Obstetrician that uses Reiki.
I came onto the labor wing one morning and assumed the care of sixteen-year-old Maria who been laboring all night with her first baby. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she frantically gripped her mother’s hand. When I examined Maria, her cervix was no farther dilated than it had been on admission, six hours earlier. If that wasn’t bad enough, her baby was so large that its head had never even come to rest in her pelvis. I feared this young woman would require a Cesarean section to deliver her child. Hoping that it might simply be a case of the contractions not being strong enough to deliver the baby, I spoke to Maria and her mother about giving her an epidural for pain and then starting a drip with Pitocin, a drug that would make her contractions stronger and closer together. Tired as she was, she was adamant in her refusal. She had been through Lamaze and was determined to have natural childbirth. Feeling that a natural delivery was impossible without some kind of intervention, and being unable to use any of the tools Western medicine had to offer, there was only one other thing I could do to try to help this young woman. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the fear of being ridiculed or even losing my job out of my mind and said, “Well, I recently learned to do this thing called Reiki. It’s an ancient hands-on healing art. The only thing I can guarantee is that it will cause no harm, but it may take some of the pain away and help you to relax so you can deliver your baby. Her face lit up. “Oh yes! My Abuelita always used her hands to take away the pain when I was little. Please do this Reiki for me.” She lay back. Standing behind the head of the bed, I lifted my hands to her temples. I could feel the energy pour through my hands like a thick fluid. Within moments, her shoulders relaxed back into the mattress, her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep. A short time later, Maria was fully dilated and started to push. Normally it takes about two hours for a woman to push out her first baby, but after only 45 minutes, Maria pushed out her ten-pound-twelve-once son. From that day on, I offered Reiki to all my labor and surgery patients. Amazing things started to happen. Women slept through the first half of labor, a time when there is a lot of pain but we can’t offer pain medicine for fear it will stop the labor. Some women slept through their entire labor with only Reiki for pain control. Women who had previous ceserean sections for seven pound babies deemed too large to fit though their pelvis were having vaginal deliveries of nine and ten pound babies.
Reiki can also be used with guided meditation during labor to help you with any anxiety you may have and shorten your labor:
When she arrived at the hospital, I introduced myself to the patient and admitted her. Once she had been hooked up to a fetal monitor so we would know immediately if the baby got into trouble, we stared a Pitocin drip. The patient slept for several hours, then woke, four centimeters dilated, in early labor, and in considerable pain. She asked for an epidural. I couldn’t give her one because, with her low platelet count, the needle could cause bleeding into her spine. At only four centimeters, I was hesitant to give her very much IV pain medication because it might stop her labor. I finally decided to give her five milligrams of Nubian, a dose that would help her to relax, but was unlikely to stop her labor, and, in all honesty, was also not likely to do a whole lot to relieve her pain. And then I offered her a Reiki treatment.
Standing behind the head of the bed, I raised my hands to her temples and Reiki began to flow. In a soft voice, I started to lead her through a guided meditation. “Imagine your baby moving through a dark tunnel. The walls of the tunnel are gradually melting away as the baby slowly moves toward the light at the end of the tunnel. Now visualize the baby snuggled safely in your arms. Let the baby see that she is safe. Tell her that you love her and ask her to come out and meet you.” Within moments, my patient was sound asleep. Darn, I thought. I must have given her too much medication and stopped her labor. …
About twenty minutes later, as I reached the patient’s feet, I noticed that she had begun to breathe hard and fast with the last contraction. The thought crossed my mind that she might be ready to deliver, but the logical part of my brain reminded me that twenty minute labors are incredibly intense and women just don’t sleep through something like that with only five milligrams of Nubian for pain relief. When she breathed heavily with the next contraction, I ignored my logical mind and quietly asked my patient if she thought she might be ready to push. The nurse looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Ignoring her, I put on a glove and lifted the blankets from my patient’s legs. Looking down, I saw a four-inch circle of baby’s head protruding from the mother’s vulva. “’Your baby is ready to be born. Do you think you can hold on for a minute while we open some instruments.’” “’Oh sure,’” she answered in a sleepy voice. I quickly pulled on a pair of gloves while the nurse ripped open an emergency birthing kit. With one push, a beautiful little girl was delivered into my hands. After clamping the cord, I placed the newborn on her mother’s belly. The infant began to wriggle and, to my astonishment, seemed to crawl up to her mother’s chest “Well, you did tell her to come out and meet her mother,” the nurse reminded me.
Reiki in OB-GYN, How I Introduced Reiki In My Ob-Gyn Practice, By Jeri Mills, M.D
When I read these accounts of Reiki working for women in labor, it gave me chills as a Reiki Practitioner and a Doula. Just imagine, falling asleep during labor because you are so relaxed and getting woken up just in time to birth your baby. That sounds like a dream to me!
Maybe you are thinking that these are special cases and it doesn’t sound real. I hear you, but what about having just a little faith in this tried and true modality that’s helped so many women who are pregnant or in labor? Having faith in something that you can feel and not see can be difficult. It’s not impossible. Right? It could happen. Right? Since Reiki can do no harm, what is the harm in trying it out?
I believe that women are incredibly strong, and with some help from Reiki, they can have the kind of birth they desire with significantly less pain.
Post-Partum and Reiki!
Post-partum depression, pain from engorgement, healing from a cesearean or a tear, and painful nipples from nursing can all be helped with Reiki treatments. As we have already learned, having a Reiki treatment can help you to relax and relieve your anxiety. Not only you, but baby, your partners, other children and even your pets will benefit from a Reiki healing. It’s a wonderful way to heal and feel better about yourself, your family, your pregnancy and birth experience.
Give Reiki a try. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!
The Reiki Project!
I am currently looking for couples who are pregnant and would like Reiki and doula services during their pregnancy, birth, labor and postpartum (even if you’re scheduled for a cesarean) for an article I am writing on the wonders of Reiki during pregnancy, birth, labor and the postpartum period. Where ever you decide to birth your baby, either at home, birth center or in a hospital makes no difference to me. I will give you Reiki and doula services for a reduced amount for your testimonial for my article and for allowing me to tell your story. If you are interested in participating, you must reside in Northern California and within 100 miles of Sacramento. If you would like additional information and to sign up, just click on "Free consultation" above or call or email me directly. Phone (925) 895-4948; email yogidoula@yahoo.com. You won't regret it. Thank you.
