A SPECIALIST THERAPY

I'm a great lover of Reiki, but it often seems to me that it's sometimes seen as 'fluffy' or 'mystical' and dismissed as just another form of massage (which anyone who knows anything about Reiki will tell you is not remotely accurate)

Duncan James (from Blue) has recently waxed lyrical about the power of Reiki, which he uses to bond with his baby girl Tianie. The therapy is becoming more mainstream, and with celebs extolling its virtues, it's only a matter of time befor it becomes as normal to have a Reiki session as it is a massage.

So I was pleased to find out about a real hands-on, no nonsense Reiki practitioner, Steve Scales. Steve and his partner Patricia Lemus practice in the Peterborough area, and both specialise in different ways of bringing the benefits of Reiki to the masses.

Steve's personal speciality is sports injuries, and he also works with cancer patients to help ease their pain. He got into healing sports injuries because, in his own words;

"Most of the first ‘willing victims’ I practiced on were friends I trained with in martial arts who (usefully) had some sort of injury at the time. I found that Reiki was incredibly good for speeding up recovery time in soft tissue damage such as ligament, muscle and joint damage. I also used to use it a lot on myself because I seemed to be permanently carrying some sort of injury!"

Helping hand

Reiki is not a cure for cancer or substitute for chemotherapy or radiotherapy but Steve has also found that when he gives regular treatments alongside a chemotherapy program it seems to help counteract a great deal of the side affects that the drugs produce. He goes on to explain,

"This is probably closest to my heart after watching the terrible time my father went through while having chemotherapy and feeling so bad as I want able to do anything to help him."

Working with animals

Patricia, by contrast prefers working with animals to humans. Animals respond well to Reiki, and just as with humans, Reiki can be used for all types of pet illnesses, injuries and behavioural problems. Treating a pet with Reiki is completely compatible with traditional veterinary care, and sessions can promote speedier healing, relieve pain and stress.

Using Reiki with a sick pet can help to improve their quality of life.  Reiki is often used to energise and revitalise an older animal as well as soothe and calm highly-strung, hyperactive or stressed animals.

Patricia first became interested in Reiki in 2006 after meeting Steve (and no doubt being on the recieving end of some of his treatments) . One of her main loves in life is animals and their welfare - and this is why she prefers to help animals with Reiki.

Steve had his first Reiki session in 2001, and it was when I was training in Aikido.

" My father had recently died from lung cancer so I was trying to deal with that and a full time job, doing my degree part time and trying to help my mum get through everything...so I wasn’t having a lot of fun. I felt a lot better after the session so I naturally had more. In 2002 I decided that I wanted to take the step of getting attuned myself - because I knew it was the path I wanted to follow. If I could help some one else at the same time, perfect."

He is now a Level III 'Master' in Reiki, having taken Level II in 2002 and achieving Level III in 2006. He manages to fit training others into his busy schedule, and runs regular Reiki courses at all levels for anyone who wants to learn how to be 'tuned in' to Reiki themslves. I've had the training (although before I heard from Steve) and it's brilliant - being able to self treat on its own is so empowering.

Patricia is a Level II Practitioner.