I learned yoga meditation, and also Zen meditation, and I practiced daily meditation for many years. That gave me a quieting of mental chatter (under most circumstances) and a restful place inside myself - a sense of refreshment once or twice a day (or whenever I practiced it).

But, at the same time I had continued to deal with the aftermath of problems in my childhood and adolescence, what some might interpret as an outgrowth of a tension-filled family. These things in early life - plus the disasterous outcome of a collapsed relationship with a woman, in my 20s - started me putting up emotional walls to defend myself. Suffice to say, I boxed myself in much more than I realized. I went on various long meditation retreats, took some courses in communication, and a lot of things.

Eight years ago I broke my leg while in a steep area of the forest, and (while mending) I decided to take a course and an "attunement" in "Reiki". As you may know, it's a spiritual path and a method for developing one's healing abilities. I thought I was doing this for my leg, but it resulted in several other benefits: The attunement itself immediately and unexpectedly acted to clear away many of those emotional traces that had remained since childhood and adolescence - a muddy, lingering shame, sadness, and fear - the emotional stuff I referred to before that I had never been able to completely shake off.

In reaction to emotional pain, I had put up walls. But after my attunement, both the pain/fear and the walls I had made just dissolved - possibly not totally, but very much so. My overall mood improved and I felt more stable and more able during the day under all circumstances. My sense of intimacy with nature (birds, dogs, horses, wild mammals) markedly increased - and, also, about twice as many people as before acted like they really liked me! (And this has continued.) Song birds began to perch on my head when I meditated outdoors - which I enjoyed. Generally I used to meditate in order to quiet my mind, but I now start from a quiet inner state.

Obviously, I've felt less absorbed by personal problems and any tendency to obsession with them. Among other odd things, my "sending" telepathy increased.

On the physical level (and due to the use of the Reiki self-healing techniques I learned), my daily energy level rose by maybe 20 percent, and a skin irritation symptom I'd had since I was less than seven years old disappeared, permanently. Instead of getting maybe three colds or flu per year, I've had five in seven years.

For me, Reiki attunement may have just been the right ingredient in my life at the right time. But I have been involved quite a bit in Reiki circles (which are loose associations of people, rather than any sort of real organization), and a number of other people have said similar things about the effects they have noticed in their lives.

I still meditate and attempt to live an ethical life and compassionate life. I do not think Reiki is a substitute for these things. But I do think it works along with them nicely.