At Pike Creek Reiki Healing & Arts Center, founder and reiki master Tammy Petruccelli employs sound therapy with brass Tibetan bowls./Photo by Ashley Shuey
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Inside the therapy room at Pike Creek Reiki & Healing Arts Center, bronze Tibetan bowls, colorful crystals and a wall collage of diplomas confirm that my chakras are in good hands with reiki master Tammy Petruccelli, the center’s founder.
As she draws the sheer voile window curtain to dim the sun, a wave of calm sweeps over me before I even reach the treatment table. Petruccelli hands me a consent form that includes a sketch of the front and back of the human body.
“Put an X on the areas where you need healing,” she says.
“I’m just going to draw a giant X through both pictures,” I tell her, as I hand the paper back with my signature and a smile that says, “Can you fix all that in an hour?”
I’ve had reiki before, but restlessness, vertigo and head-to-hip pain tell me I’ve thrown all my parts wildly out of whack since my last session a few years ago. (In that time, I’ve also had a child, ended a relationship, left a job and moved across the country.)
Petruccelli has been practicing multiple healing modalities for over a decade, so I’m confident her combination of reiki, stones and sound vibrations will help me regain balance. She’s a medically certified reiki practitioner and is also a teacher of this ancient Japanese art. Petruccelli treats myriad ailments, though most clients see her for digestive upset, stress or anxiety.
On the table, belly up, I stare into space as she begins feeling my auric field and reading my seven chakras, or energy centers, with a pendulum.
Translated to “universal life force energy,” reiki promotes physical and emotional well-being by transferring energy that balances these chakras. The practitioner breathes energy in, then releases it into the receiver through a series of hand positions either on or over the body.
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Restore balance to the chakras with Aura Cacia Chakra Balancing roll-on oil ($16, at Avenue Apothecary & Spa, Rehoboth) and Kailo Body Butter ($48, at kailo-wellness.com). |
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A chakra that is too open or closed is said to cause physical or mental “dis-ease,” while a balanced chakra brings harmony, Petruccelli explains.
“You weren’t kidding,” she exclaims, her pendulum swinging in a back-and-forth motion that indicates all but my crown and throat chakras are blocked. My murky auric field also tells Petruccelli my energy is low. “Oh, yeah, you’re going to need crystals.”
My third chakra, or solar plexus, will prove especially troublesome.
“When our personal power is taken away, we lack energy in our third chakra,” Petruccelli says. Her clairvoyance (she also offers readings) enables her to read my frustration from circumstances beyond my control. “I see issues related to home,” she says. Check, check.
She moves her hands in a circular motion, intermittently pushing and pulling at the air. Occasionally, she rests her hands over a chakra, her warmth comforting me from root to crown.
Petruccelli dangles her pendulum a second time. “Your solar plexus didn’t open,” she says, before pulling out a sachet and handful of citrine crystals. “Keep this in your pocket for 30 days.”
Harnessing the power of the sun, citrine is believed to improve energy, restore personal power and cleanse the aura of anger. Petruccelli “prescribes” the color yellow—foods, clothing (“If you don’t like yellow, wear yellow underwear”) and essential oil—and suggests I add a rose-quartz crystal to my pocket, to open my heart. I happen to already have one, but it’s crystal-clear that I haven’t been carrying it.
Petruccelli’s effervescence alone puts me at ease, but it takes her orchestra of Tibetan bowls and a little massaging, literally, to loosen my jaw and get that pendulum rotating in small circles (a sign of balance).
“How do you feel?” she asks, drawing the light back in from outside and handing me a glass of purified water.
I feel like a mountain pack mule who’s been set free.
“When will I need a tune-up?” I ask.
“You’ll feel it,” Petruccelli says.
I leave, already looking forward to the next session. In the meantime, I fill both pockets with a rainbow of crystals to stone all my chakras, drizzle lemon on everything and hope for the best.
Petruccelli also works with medical patients and pets. For a complete list of treatments and more information about Pike Creek Reiki & Healing Arts Center, visit pikecreekreiki.com.
