Karen: Can Reiki get mad at you? Like if you don’t make the underlying change that keeps coming to the surface, will it stop helping you until you make the change? For example – I keep using Reiki to help heal the blisters I get from wearing a particular pair of shoes. I love these shoes even though they destroy my feet and keep wearing them because the Reiki helps to keep the pain at bay. It’s like that friend who refuses to break up with her jerky boyfriend and keeps wanting to talk about what an jerk he is. Would the Reiki ever just get fed up and be like “STOP WEARING THE SHOES OR I’LL STOP WORKING!” ?

Pamela: What an intriguing question! I appreciate the specificity of your example as it really helps illustrate the point I’d like to make. Reiki is completely non-judgemental. It is simply an energetic gift from the Universe (insert your word here for that which is greater than we mere humans). I find it to be much more generous than I am! While I have a tipping point for listening to a friend complain endlessly about a jerky boyfriend, Reiki will continue to show up and offer support.

I’ve never heard of Reiki not working for a willing recipient. I have some issues that I personally have been working on for ages that come around in cycles. Reiki continues to show up and provide healing for me even when I’m stuck in a rut and repeating harmful behavior. It never demands fealty or obedience. It doesn’t threaten to abandon me should I not comply with its demands.

What I suspect will happen as you and I both continue to fill ourselves with this healing energy is that one day we will value ourselves so much that we’ll simply no longer wish to harm ourselves or our precious feet. The change will come from the inside rather than being imposed from the outside.

Rather than struggling to fix ourselves, we’ll simply remember that we’re perfect, whole, and complete. And then those shoes, and those distractions or chocolate chip cookies, will no longer appeal. In the meantime, Reiki for blisters is a perfectly valid approach.