'Magic Hands', or my Jedi mind trick
‘Magic Hands’, or my Jedi mind trick
If you have known me the the last 7 years, you might be aware of a peculiar talent I seem to have. By placing my hands on a person who is having a migraine headache, or arthritis pain, or several other things that I have found some traction, and breathing in a particular way, I seem to be able to remove pain and discomfort.
This started out, as far as I know, as a hypnotic experiment. There is a hypnotic trick where by having someone who is having a headache imagine it as having a color, or a shape and size that can be moved about, you can make some changes to the experience of the headache. Most sufferers tend to have headahces which are dull brown, red or orange. Just asking them to change the headache to a different color often produced a distinct reduction in their pain.
Another trick is to imagine the headache as something that is rotating in a particular direction. By directing the subject to reverse that direction, one can cause this “machine” (as NLP founder Richard Bandler called it) from something that produces pain to something that produces pleasure.
So I used to use these techniques to try to help friends who were having headaches, usually with good results, even over the telephone. As an aid to the effect, I started putting my hands on the person’s head. I started to breathe in a particular way, and imagine that i was pulling the headache out of the subject. It worked brilliantly.
One day I forgot to do the hypnosis part, and just did the hands part. It worked. What caused this? Did I make a hypnotic suggestion that was anchored to my hands on the head? I started to use these techniques on other things like arthritic joint pain in knees, or elbows. It worked there, as well, and sometimes the results lasted for weeks.
I have had some training in Reiki, level 1 (twice) and Level 2 (once). I haven’t particularly practiced the method. People who are familiar with Reiki say that the effect I produce is not Reiki, but something else. I do not necessarily follow any kind or ritual preparation I just put my hands on the person in various ways, breathe somewhat consciously, and pull my hands back while inhaling. I imagine that I am pulling something out of the person.
I have done this with many different people, some I have explained what I am doing, sometimes I just have done it, even once on someone who didn’t even speak English: a man who worked at a middle eastern restaurant where I was picking up carry out .