I was born at the meshing of two generations, in that weird debatable space between the maturing of the GenXer and the birth of the Millennial. The Golden Age. A time, in this country at least, where affordable education, housing and worldwide travel were all within in our reach. A time of massive technological advancement, plenty of jobs to go around and for the most part pretty good healthcare. A time when the internet was just a fledgling, early enough not to have our teenage years splashed all over the omnipresent web but also late enough to truly reap the benefits of Facebook Marketplace and Uber Eats.
And yet for so many of us born in this Golden Age, life has been anything but golden. In 2023 research from the University of Sydney suggested that people born in the 1990’s in Australia suffered from poorer mental health than any generation before. On top of this, their mental health did not appear to improve as they aged as was seen in those born in the decades before them. Born in the Golden Age but sadder than ever before… how can this be?
There is an over whelming amount of information out there about what causes poor mental health and how we might fix it. The causes of our mental health struggles are as varied as we are, and I think that makes our recoveries naturally varied too. For me, it was Reiki. Reiki was my way back to myself, my way into myself. Reiki was my safe place, a place where I could take the time to face what ailed me and seek to heal it.
Over a decade ago I went to my first ever guided meditation session facilitated by a Reiki Master. I had suffered with poor mental health, especially depression and anxiety, well into my twenties. I had seen many councillors and psychologists and had some success with an amazing therapist who taught me ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) but for the most part I muddled on alone and then, in my early thirties, I told myself I was cured. Nothing had really changed I just needed to be cured, I didn’t have the time to be down and it was only natural to be a bit anxious, or at least that is what I told myself. I was a first time mum in a brand new marriage faced with all the mundane, middleclass expectations of those around me. I was adrift but I could not, would not, admit it. I had so much to be grateful for, who was I to be sad… still. I went to that first guided meditation session because one of my closest friends asked me to not because I was working on myself, and to be honest, I had no idea what Reiki even was. I had just wanted a few hours out with an old friend.
What I got that night was so much more than just a few hours out with an old friend. I got so much more than I bargained for! What happened for me in that meditation was something akin to cracking an egg, there was an opening. Like peeling back a bandage from an untreated wound, I saw layers of myself that I had left to fester. Things I had glossed over, covered up, tried to bury and forget. It was painful, I’m pretty sure I cried the entire time, but I also came away feeling more hopeful than I had in a long time, maybe ever.
I booked in for a Reiki treatment and attended the weekly meditations. I loved it, Reiki was a gateway back to myself. In my sessions I felt physical release, aches and pains started to melt away, but more than that I found a way to listen to myself. I stopped hiding bits of myself away. On that table, with my eyes closed and a Reiki practitioner above me I was able to relax and let go. All the energy I had pent up, all the ways I tried to protect myself and just solider on came loose, I received healing after healing, and some arse kicking, that I didn’t even know I needed.
Over the course of a few months I completed my Reiki one and two and begun working with a Reiki Master offering treatments at festivals and markets. Being able to offer Reiki was such a gift, I loved being able to share it with others however I found the pace of festival and market place treatments to be pretty intense and after a time decided to step away from the practitioner role for a while. I found a Reiki circle closer to my then home and with it my current teacher, Helen O’Connor of the Reiki Cottage in Preston. Helen gave me the wonderful gift of slowing down! She is one of the most inspirational women I know and through her tutelage I was able to cultivate the art of a mindful, daily Reiki practice. I retook my Okuden (the second degree in the Usui System of natural healing) and focused on my own healing. In circle and private sessions I sought out a slower paced, gentler form of Reiki and self-healing. There was much laughter and lightness in the Reiki circles at the cottage, I was surrounded by (mostly) older women, and some lovely men, who saw the beauty in the world despite the horrors that are out there. People whose attitudes were ones of acceptance, kindness and hope. People who helped me see these things in myself too.
As the seasons continued to change and I welcomed another child into this world I suddenly noticed I was smiling more, I was relaxed at home, I found myself present in the moment more and more often. The intense highs and crushing lows of my late teens, twenties and early thirties morphed into more manageable, graceful waves. I felt then, as I continue to feel today, as though I can face whatever comes next, both the unbearable joy and the ultimate suffering that comes with being human and I know I have Reiki to thank for that.
Is Reiki the answer to our mental health struggles? I don't think it's quite that simple. I do not think there is a single, universal cure for what ails us and I do not think that what works for some will work for all. Reiki is one way that we might look to heal ourselves, it is one of many ways, another tool in your belt if you like. A beautiful, gentle tool that I continue to reach for in my own journey every day.
Much love,
always
Tallaya.
I was born at the meshing of two generations, in that weird debatable space between the maturing of the GenXer and the birth of the Millennial. The Golden Age. A time, in this country at least, where affordable education, housing and worldwide travel were all within in our reach. A time of massive technological advancement, plenty of jobs to go around and for the most part pretty good healthcare. A time when the internet was just a fledgling, early enough not to have our teenage years splashed all over the omnipresent web but also late enough to truly reap the benefits of Facebook Marketplace and Uber Eats.
And yet for so many of us born in this Golden Age, life has been anything but golden. In 2023 research from the University of Sydney suggested that people born in the 1990’s in Australia suffered from poorer mental health than any generation before. On top of this, their mental health did not appear to improve as they aged as was seen in those born in the decades before them. Born in the Golden Age but sadder than ever before… how can this be?
There is an over whelming amount of information out there about what causes poor mental health and how we might fix it. The causes of our mental health struggles are as varied as we are, and I think that makes our recoveries naturally varied too. For me, it was Reiki. Reiki was my way back to myself, my way into myself. Reiki was my safe place, a place where I could take the time to face what ailed me and seek to heal it.
Over a decade ago I went to my first ever guided meditation session facilitated by a Reiki Master. I had suffered with poor mental health, especially depression and anxiety, well into my twenties. I had seen many councillors and psychologists and had some success with an amazing therapist who taught me ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) but for the most part I muddled on alone and then, in my early thirties, I told myself I was cured. Nothing had really changed I just needed to be cured, I didn’t have the time to be down and it was only natural to be a bit anxious, or at least that is what I told myself. I was a first time mum in a brand new marriage faced with all the mundane, middleclass expectations of those around me. I was adrift but I could not, would not, admit it. I had so much to be grateful for, who was I to be sad… still. I went to that first guided meditation session because one of my closest friends asked me to not because I was working on myself, and to be honest, I had no idea what Reiki even was. I had just wanted a few hours out with an old friend.
What I got that night was so much more than just a few hours out with an old friend. I got so much more than I bargained for! What happened for me in that meditation was something akin to cracking an egg, there was an opening. Like peeling back a bandage from an untreated wound, I saw layers of myself that I had left to fester. Things I had glossed over, covered up, tried to bury and forget. It was painful, I’m pretty sure I cried the entire time, but I also came away feeling more hopeful than I had in a long time, maybe ever.
I booked in for a Reiki treatment and attended the weekly meditations. I loved it, Reiki was a gateway back to myself. In my sessions I felt physical release, aches and pains started to melt away, but more than that I found a way to listen to myself. I stopped hiding bits of myself away. On that table, with my eyes closed and a Reiki practitioner above me I was able to relax and let go. All the energy I had pent up, all the ways I tried to protect myself and just solider on came loose, I received healing after healing, and some arse kicking, that I didn’t even know I needed.
Over the course of a few months I completed my Reiki one and two and begun working with a Reiki Master offering treatments at festivals and markets. Being able to offer Reiki was such a gift, I loved being able to share it with others however I found the pace of festival and market place treatments to be pretty intense and after a time decided to step away from the practitioner role for a while. I found a Reiki circle closer to my then home and with it my current teacher, Helen O’Connor of the Reiki Cottage in Preston. Helen gave me the wonderful gift of slowing down! She is one of the most inspirational women I know and through her tutelage I was able to cultivate the art of a mindful, daily Reiki practice. I retook my Okuden (the second degree in the Usui System of natural healing) and focused on my own healing. In circle and private sessions I sought out a slower paced, gentler form of Reiki and self-healing. There was much laughter and lightness in the Reiki circles at the cottage, I was surrounded by (mostly) older women, and some lovely men, who saw the beauty in the world despite the horrors that are out there. People whose attitudes were ones of acceptance, kindness and hope. People who helped me see these things in myself too.
As the seasons continued to change and I welcomed another child into this world I suddenly noticed I was smiling more, I was relaxed at home, I found myself present in the moment more and more often. The intense highs and crushing lows of my late teens, twenties and early thirties morphed into more manageable, graceful waves. I felt then, as I continue to feel today, as though I can face whatever comes next, both the unbearable joy and the ultimate suffering that comes with being human and I know I have Reiki to thank for that.
Is Reiki the answer to our mental health struggles? I don't think it's quite that simple. I do not think there is a single, universal cure for what ails us and I do not think that what works for some will work for all. Reiki is one way that we might look to heal ourselves, it is one of many ways, another tool in your belt if you like. A beautiful, gentle tool that I continue to reach for in my own journey every day.
Much love,
always
Tallaya.
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