What is Reiki?
Reiki is a hands-on therapy that helps the body settle, reset, and come back into balance. Most people come to me feeling overwhelmed, wired, exhausted, or like they’ve been “coping” for far too long. Reiki works by helping the nervous system switch out of stress mode, so the body can finally rest and repair. You don’t have to believe in anything for it to work. You don’t need to talk if you don’t want to. Your body already knows what to do, Reiki simply supports that process.
How Reiki works
We now understand far more about the nervous system, fascia and the body’s stress response than we did years ago and Reiki supports:
parasympathetic nervous system activation (the “rest and digest” state)
deep muscular and fascial release
emotional regulation
improved body awareness and safety
When the body feels safe, it starts to let go. That’s when change happens. This is why people often say things like “I didn’t realise how tense I was until I wasn’t anymore.”
What a Reiki session feels like.
Every session is different, but most people describe feeling:
deeply relaxed
heavy or warm
gently emotional (in a safe way)
grounded and steady afterwards
Some feel immediate relief. Others notice changes over the following days like better sleep, clearer thinking, feeling less reactive. There’s no pushing, no forcing or no performance. Just grounded steady work that meets your body where it’s at.
Reiki with me at Holistic Care Durham
I’ve been working with people for years in healthcare, in therapy and in teaching. I’m a Reiki Master Teacher, a former NHS nurse and a member of the UK Reiki Federation. My approach is grounded, practical and human.