Reiki and End of Life Care

Did you know before I started Aligned Transformations I worked in end-of-life care for nearly a decade? I had the great privilege to be a part of several aspects of the business from office administration to working with families as they joined hospice to training and working alongside incredible volunteers and, as a Reiki Practitioner. What an honor, really. I left my salaried position nearly a year ago to pursue this dream. I can hardly believe that not only do I get to work for myself, but I also get to continue my work in end-of-life care as a Reiki Practitioner. 

What is end-of-life support from a Reiki Practitioner, how does it look and why is it so important to lean into this kind of support? As an end-of-life support person, I use my expertise as a trained Reiki Practitioner to provide emotional, physical, energetic, and informational support to an individual at the end of their life as well as to those persons’ caregiving and supporting the patient. I use reiki and several other holistic modalities when working with my clients. 

Being present with someone as they prepare to leave this world, is an honor. You see, we birth into this world, and we birth out. There is a laboring process to enter the world and there is also a laboring that occurs when one is in their journey of dying and ultimately death. Of course, it is a sad and emotional time, but it is also a time to be understanding, present, and honoring this sacred process, the end-of-life journey. 

For some, the dying process can be painful, depending on the disease that is moving through the body. Energy gets stuck with emotional responses to dying such as fear, physical pain, and regrets of things done and undone. Reiki plays a very important part for one moving through the phases of dying. As I use the principles of reiki to move energy along its way, relaxation and comfort soothe my client who may be suffering, mind, body, and spirit. 

A dying person uses Reiki energy in ways that a reasonably healthy person does not. This energy can be more spiritual in nature and feels very gentle. It might be very intense when it is being used to relieve pain. It can be unbelievably strong as the individual’s will to live drinks it in with the great thirst of a person in the desert. It may change from one kind of energy to another from day to day or during the same session. It’s an amazing modality and it is effective. No two sessions are the same, and I meet the patient where they are at that moment – they guide the session – awake or not!

Never has the power of Reiki been more apparent than when I have used it in situations of dire need as in the end-of-life.

I work both privately for families, and as a contracted practitioner with local hospice agencies. Bringing me to the bedside for yourself or a loved one at the end-of-life journey is a gift that you give to the one who is dying as well as to yourself as a family member and support person for the dying.

Visit the “Reiki for End of Life” page on my website to read about a few of the incredible journeys I have shared with my patients and their families. 

I am forever grateful to be doing this work!

xo, Sonya