There's very little light in the room -- a lamp tucked in a corner, votive candles hanging on a wall, a small lighted fountain. Synthesized sounds of nature and crashing waves pour from a CD player. You are on a table with pillows tucked behind your head and under your knees, shoes set aside.
Let thoughts take you to a place where you're relaxed, Louise Motzenbecker says. She comes around the head of the table and places her hands gently over your eyes. She's barely even touching you, but warmth radiates from her palms. After five minutes, she moves her hands from your eyes to your head, then the neck. At each place there's warmth, like the low setting on a heating pad.
Instead of finding a place to relax, thoughts of work erupt. Imagine a beach or the woods by a babbling creek. No good. Back to work thoughts. You see flashes of red. Motzenbecker rubs your arm softly. You roll over. She moves her hands down your back. Lastly, the feet. You're heavy, sinking into the bed.
Not really sure what to make of all this, you can't help but laugh when the hour session ends. Soooo relaxed -- a sponge soaking up energy, Motzenbecker says, laughing with you.
This is Reiki.
"When things are right and they connect, the path is always an easy one to follow," said Motzenbecker, a Reiki practioner with A Place to Renew in Dothan.
Motzenbecker likes to refer to Reiki (pronounced ray-kee) as a complementary therapy. Originating in Japan, Reiki is based on the transference of energy between the Reiki practioner and the client through gentle therapeutic touch. The idea is to reduce stress and create balance in the individual, healing the spirit and thus the body.
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