But by the time I first received Reiki in Los Angeles, I had massive anxiety. I was constantly worrying, doubting, stressing, and feeling nervous and agitated. There was a lot going on in my life, and it weighed on me in the form of immense physical back pain. The kind that makes you question how long you can keep living life. When a friend recommended Reiki, I was hesitant, but I knew I needed a major change. Desperate for anything that might help relieve the physical and emotional pain, I went in for my first session. While I can’t even tell you how I felt that first time, I do know that I felt better by the end. My anxiety seemed to subside temporarily—which was practically a miracle—and my back felt better. I didn’t get it. How could I feel so much lighter when the practitioner wasn’t even touching me for most of the session? After several months of going in for regular Reiki, I decided to go ahead and learn how to practice it at home whenever I felt my stress levels rising. In many ways, Reiki is like an active meditation. You are consciously connecting and releasing that which no longer serves you in order to allow the body, mind, and spirit to receive the energy it needs for balance. If you can imagine and remember that we are all made up of energy (thanks, Einstein!), then you can begin to believe that you hold the ability shift your energy any time. Give this five-minute exercise a try to do so right now: Patel’s work has been featured in dozens of print, online and social publications such as US Weekly, Harper’s Bazaar, GOOP, Bravo TV, The New York Times, Page Six, Reader’s Digest, Well Good, MindBodyGreen, Angeleno Magazine and more.
