Free ‘energy healing’ offered for local cancer patients
MENDOCINO » Though never suggested as a replacement for standard medical diagnosis, care or treatments — Reiki proponents cite the use of energy healing in treating everything from anxiety to cancer. It’s the latter that intrigued long time coast resident, and Reiki Master, Peggy Phillips to offer her talents to the Mendocino Cancer Resource Center.
“Energy healing” has been around for centuries; Reiki emerged in Japan in the late 1800s and came to the US via Hawaii in the 1940s.
As with acupuncture, Reiki works in helping the flow of energy and removing blocks. Recipients of this practice often describe the feeling after an attunement as intensely relaxin. Clients often lay down, fully-clothed, as the Reiki practitioner begins to tune into their energies with their hands held above the person’s body. When one area feels cleared, they move to the next. Practitioners will at times feel their hands become very warm, others feel colder. All the client feels is deep, safe relaxation.
With a background in special needs education, Phillips said she felt a need to give back. And so, the Reiki Project was born in Elk in 2009. Now boasting seven local practitioners, the Reiki Project has, in the past 11 years, graciously provided a free service to more than 50 cancer patients within the community. Space is generously provided by Sweetwater Inn, in Mendocino. Many of their original clients still come
and are now considered family, and several have even become practitioners.
Joelle Signorelli is one such client-turned-practitioner. A self proclaimed, “non-woo-woo” type of person, she was suffering from chronic shoulder pain several years ago. At the time, she had no idea what Reiki was, but agreed to a session with Phillips. Signorelli said she felt pain-free for thefirst time in years.
Nowa practitioner, Signorelli feels that in either giving or receiving Reiki, it is an “equal gift” she gives herself. She said the full force of the benefits of Reiki hit when she faced a personal tragedy, and soon after was diagnosed with cancer.
Signorelli strongly believes that the love and compassion she has received through this practice affected her on a cellular level and that is a large part what has kept her alive. She said its like “doors opening” to a centering and calming place of pure love. Signorelli said she is very proud to be able to give this gift for others.
Phillips had perfected her practice while in Hawaii in a “Reiki-ville” community, she said, and refers to Reiki as her passion. Reiki practitioners act as a conduit for a universal life force, Phillips said. By placing her hands on people, she believes she is passing on this energy to be used by the receiver however they need to use it. Personal thoughts and projections are set aside, allowing the energy to flowthrough.
While COVID-19 has stopped in-person Reiki sessions, the sessions are still continuing remotely, on the second Wednesday of every month. Clients are assigned a time and a practitioner. How people receive this energy is as individual as they are: Some meditate, some continue on with their days.
“While I’ve seen it help many people, it has also helped me,” Phillips said. “It is my spiritual base. To be able to turn people on to this energy and to themselves is truly a blessing for me.”
“While I’ve seen it help many people, ithas also helped me. It ismy spiritual base. To be able to turn people on to this energy and to themselves is truly a blessing for me.”
— Peggy Phillips