03/02/2022
Reiki and SAD – How Reiki Can Help You Beat the Winter Blues
The days are shorter, nights are longer, and the holiday fanfare has come and gone, sometimes leaving you with loads of bills to pay. It’s no wonder that the winter blues are a regular visitor for many. Whether northern or southern hemisphere, winter happens everywhere at some point during the year. But just because the blues may come knocking at your door, doesn’t mean you have to let them in and invite them to hang around. Reiki can be one of the most effective ways to shuttle the blues on their way.
Winter Blues Explained
The winter blues can hit with varying levels of intensity. Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is the most intense level that actually qualifies as a form of clinical depression. A SAD diagnosis typically comes from a pattern of recurring depression throughout the winter season.
The winter blues are a milder version of SAD, with milder versions of the same symptoms that can include:
• Notably gloomier mood you just can’t shake
• Overall apathy
• Irritability, boredom, fatigue
• Excess sleeping, difficulty waking up or staying awake
• Decreased interest in being around others or engaging in activities you used to enjoy
• Cravings for carbohydrates, overeating, and weight gain
SAD may hit about 5 percent of the population, with between 10 and 20 percent suffering from the winter blues, according to Villanova University.
Reiki to the Rescue!
Reiki can be a highly effective tool for beating the winter blues, particularly for its ability to restore balance, improve your mood and reduce stress.
Restoring Balance
Winter’s shorter daylight hours and overall lack of sunlight can result in a biochemical imbalance in the body. This imbalance, in turn, can contribute to the onset of symptoms. Reiki is well-known for restoring physical, mental, and emotional balance, using healing energy to reestablish healthy homeostasis.
Boosting Mood
Reiki can significantly improve your mood, breaking you out of a negative funk. An improved mood can have a domino effect on issues linked to a negative mood, such as anxiety, anger, confusion, hopelessness, and depression. You may find a notable increase in your positive energy, along with renewed vigor and enthusiasm.
A positive mood also works to help clear out the negative thoughts and feelings that were bogging you down and disrupting the flow of your life force. Once the negative blocks are removed, your life force can once again flow freely and happily throughout your system, further strengthening that all-important balance.
Reducing Stress
Reiki’s ability to reduce stress adds one more layer of relief, especially since chronic stress – and ineffective coping methods – can contribute to depression during any season. Reiki is actually designed to trigger your body’s relaxation response, which can bring on immediate as well as lasting relief from stress on the physical, emotional, and mental levels.
Although SAD and the winter blues tend to lift when spring and summer come rolling around, there’s no reason to wallow in misery while you’re waiting. Reiki is at your service all season long to help melt those winter blues away.
