Energy Therapies Offer Support in Healing for Cancer Survivors

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Reiki and Healing Touch are two energy therapies designed to support and nurture your body, mind, spirit and emotions. For cancer survivors, energy therapies work in harmony with your standard medical care and treatment.

Reiki is a touch therapy that promotes relaxation and enhances healing within the body. Reiki therapy is done in a relaxed setting (seated or lying) by gentle touch on specific areas of the body.

Reiki assists in balancing your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. The practitioner works with your body’s energy field to bring the energy into balance and create a sense of calm and peace.

Healing Touch uses the same principles with the goal of balancing the energy in and around your body. With Healing Touch, the practitioner also uses hand movements on or slightly above the body to clear and balance the energy fields around the person.

For people living with cancer, the healing energy of Reiki and Health Touch can be used to provide relief from conditions such as fatigue, stress, pain, anxiety and side effects of cancer treatments.

Reiki and Healing Touch sessions usually take 30-60 minutes. The goal is to enhance relaxation and promote the body’s ability to heal. Reiki and Healing Touch shouldn’t replace your medical treatment, but instead be integrated into it.

If you’d like to explore energy therapies, ask your health care provider to suggest a certified practitioner in your community. Many cancer centers now offer energy therapies as part of their Complimentary and Integrative Medicine (CIM) programs.

Sheryl M. Ness, RN, is a nurse educator for the Cancer Education Program with the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn. Reprinted with permission from mayoclinic.org. Follow Sheryl on Twitter @SherylNess1.