Japanese healing helps to destress Bolivia's coronavirus workers
On Bolivia's frontline against the coronavirus, Marcia Calderon is helping medical personnel unwind with energy healing technique Reiki, but without the most common laying on of hands to protect against infection.
Calderon, who started out studying the practice 2 decades ago to work with patients, now does in-person and distance sessions for health personnel at a hospital clinic in La Paz.
Reiki, which originated in Japan, is targeted at stimulating someone's natural healing capabilities by channeling "life force energy" through the body. Practitioners place their hands directly on or just above a person to relieve stress and support recovery from illness.
"The context obviously changed in regards to a month ago. We saw the necessity for doctors to be balanced to be able to attend to patients who might come to the hospital," Calderon said in an interview.
"If their emotions are out of place, everything that creates tension and disharmony with them can also be passed on to the individual."
Combining Reiki with western medicine can be an proven fact that Calderon considered with her father, a health care provider, 15 years ago.
"We discussed the value of addressing all elements of being - of the body, mind and soul, and he said that Reiki is complementary to allopathic health," said Calderon, who's also teaching hospital personnel to meditate.
In the clinic where she works, two COVID-19 patients died, leaving doctors and nurses depressed and fearful of contracting the infection themselves, she said.
Patricia Callispieris, a director at the clinic, said Reiki has helped to relieve the tensions.
"I feel better. Stronger, with greater understanding," she said. "It's as though some weight has been lifted just a little and I could walk just a little lighter and understand that this is something that we have to get accustomed to."
