Reiki for Athletes

Being married to a Master athlete, I can not help but be an informed soul when it comes to Reiki for athletes. ‘It’s all about recovery, baby!’ I have heard it on a daily basis for decades.

So, within this context have I observed the special needs & pressures that serious college athletes, Masters, professional & Olympic athletes all share.

And, I learned the way Reiki can support them specifically. For those of you who are not familiar with Reiki: it is an ancient alternative healing therapy that brings alignment, balance, health and well-being to the recipient’s body.

How Reiki Works

The way Reiki works is that it brings the athlete’s natural healing ability to fruition. It boosts the overall positive wellness of body & mind restoring and rebalancing the person’s energy.

Case study New Zealand Cyclist Hayden Roulston turned his life around with Reiki: In 2006 Roulston was diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart disease. After 2 months of reluctant retirement, Roulston came upon Reiki, which he explained as a Japanese healing method which gave him the peace of mind to get back in the saddle. Since coming back in late 2006, Roulston has made almost every domestic post a winner and in the Beijing Olympics he won silver in the men’s individual pursuit and a bronze in the team event. It was the first time that a New Zealand track cyclist won two medals. (reference: http://www.3news.co.nz/Cyclist-Roulston-on-how-he-turned-his-life-around/tabid/415/articleID/133260/Default.aspx#ixzz20XjBbExM)

Reiki as a Training Aid Reiki can help prevent severe injuries. Reiki boosts memory. Reiki improves concentration & focus, creating a centered mind. Reiki relieves muscle soreness & stiffness. Reiki helps debilitating allergies. Reiki improves post-workout recovery, speeding up the healing of old & new injuries.

Rather than tackling symptoms of pain, injury, etc, Reiki addresses their root causes. Once the root cause of the issue is resolved, the body eliminates the effects of the imbalance and thus heals the body and mind naturally. Reiki is completely safe and has no known negative side-effects. Reiki complements medical treatment and medication and may reduce negative side-effects.

Reiki practice releases energetic blockages, tension and toxins from the body, and is deeply restorative. It is a ‘laying on hands’ technique that brings in the universal life force.

Reiki looks like massage but is not. Instead of manipulating the muscles, it encourages the healing of ‘all of the recipient’, not just the muscles.

Some highlights…

Post-Workout Recovery

And ‘all of the recipient’ includes a physical level. Reiki offers a preventative and preparatory therapy in relation to the physical stress of training and building one’s endurance, skill, and strength ~ the obvious core aspects to any athlete’s workout program.

Reiki can help athletes’ bodies heal and recover faster post-performance. Imagine that?! A drugs-free recovery booster! But there is more to superior athletic performance than having a body that heals fast.

Reiki & Recovery from Sports Injury

Besides helping an athlete heal from athletic performance, workouts, old injuries and other unaligned aspects in his/her life, Reiki is also an excellent healing therapy for on-the-spot treatment of new sports injuries. It can be used anywhere, in an instant. Reiki is simple to administer: all a Reiki practitioner needs are his hands and his mind. This practical nature of Reiki makes it versatile indeed.

Being attuned to Reiki is like having a ‘first aid kit’ in one’s hand. It can be applied to help minimize swellings and small bleeding; to relief head-aches & other pain immediately (if useful); to help heal tissues, burns, sprains and wounds. Can also be applied to breaks, after the bones have been set. Reiki can reduce the healing time of injury and makes the healing process more comfortable.

All that means for athletes is being back faster on the track or field. Sports teams and individual athletes are sure to love Reiki once they start using it.

Reiki for a Confident & Focused Mind
in a Calm & Centered Body

Calm and Together
Reiki supports athletes to be calm, secure & focused in the face of their unusually high stress load. At competition times, there is the emotional issue of wanting to set a personal best and winning, plus the fear of losing. Then, there is the staying on target with one’s own season’s training plan. In team sports, another layer of stress results from working with others: the team, multiple coaches and sponsors. At unlucky times, extra stress comes from having to recover from sports injuries while catering to all the above parties and plans.

Reiki can help athletes handle all these stresses and realize a sense of physical and mental calm, and inner-harmony.

A Winning Mind

Attitude matters. Sports performance is not only based on right training; it requires right thinking.

Tiger Woods once said: “No matter how good you get, you can always get better, and that’s the exciting part.” Without a winners mentality of excitement to improve and confidence that one can do it, there will be no gold metal. Not even bronze.

Reiki also helps athletes on the emotional level. It usually brings out a stronger and more positive outlook to life. By helping a person to reduce negative emotions like worry, anger and fear, Reiki allows confidence to surface. With Reiki, athletes become better prepared for competition and athletic performance.

When to Give Reiki to Athletes

As I noticed that athletes tend to be busy people, who are keen on deep tissue massage, Reiki is best administered in the following ways:
* in a series of treatments when athletes are at rest, either by in-person or distant treatment to boost the overall wellness and ability of the athlete;
* as ‘on the spot’-treatment when needed such as in case of an injury;
* alongside massage treatments they are already getting.

It makes sense for athletes to receive a series of treatments addressing specific health and performance issues and realizing overall wellness from a dedicated Reiki practitioner.

For on the spot, topical and targeted treatment as required pre- & post game, it is useful if either the coach, the assistant coach, the trainer or even the athlete him- or herself is attuned to Reiki. Of course, once a relationship with a dedicated Reiki master has been built, he/she may be available for ad hoc distant healing sessions organized by a simple phone call.

Winners Never Quit – Football

Conclusion

We learned that the alternative therapy of Reiki works on all levels: the mental, emotional and the physical. This allows Reiki to help athletes in many ways.

So, with Reiki, athletes tend to feel better, compete better, and are therefore more likely to improve records and win.

Whether you are an athlete or a coach/trainer: Reiki could give you a competitive edge for sport performance & success.

© Copyright, Astrid Lee, Reiki Master Teacher – all rights reserved

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