Reiki was an interesting experience. After one session I came out in hives presumably because everything I’d been holding in since childhood was being released. Now, I’m a good cryer but it was never enough to ease the deep seated tension. After a couple more sessions the heaviness between my chest and belly disappeared. It was strange to feel such space to the point that I was scared I was going to fill it back up with dread. Since then emotions have zoomed by but the lightness remains. I also tried hypnotherapy but the practitioner said I thought too much for it to work, which kind of made me want my money back. She taught me how to self hypnotise, focusing on the silence between the noise, eyes going cross-eyed. I cant say whether it’s worked for me but relaxation is always beneficial at least. Then I thought if I can’t go under why not try subliminals. Again, can’t say it works for me but at least I tried. Don’t know if I trust free online subliminals anyway, I try to have faith in humanity but you never know what’s being whispered in your ear.
Another experiment was acupuncture (the practitioner had to dodge my lesions of course). I liked the draining feeling afterwards like I had a calming waterfall within me. The jelly legs didn’t help cycling home though. I wouldn’t be able to afford ongoing sessions so thankfully there’s free alternatives like meditation and trauma release techniques like EMDR. I used to avoid such techniques because I thought they were only for people who had been through huge traumas but they do wonders for us chronic stress folk too. As long as it’s safe and as long as you budget, whatever works for you works for you even if it’s just a placebo effect, which is a magical thing in itself.