Reiki Master Gamini Gunaratne and I are sitting across from each other at his newly opened wellness centre ‘Nature’s Grace’. Despite my best efforts, I am a bit hazy on what Reiki is and the exact nature of its holistic healing powers so I have plenty of questions for him.

“Reiki means ‘universal energy’,” begins Gamini, “Your life force draws its energy from the universe but naturally it gets interrupted depending on the kind of food you eat, the way you think, the places you go and the people you surround yourself with and this, in turn, translates into various ailments. Reiki is the technique that is used to remove these blocks and interruptions so your energy can flow freely through you. So, it’s the technique of healing the energy behind your mind, body and spirit and the act of cleansing your aura.”

Reiki has its origins back in the early 1920s with Dr Mikao Usui who introduced the practice of Reiki healing to Japan and gradually the West. Despite its beginnings in Japan, Reiki today is more popular in the Western world where spiritual healing is often widely accepted as a form of alternative treatment.

“Reiki is of course not really an alternative; we advise people not to move away from conventional medicine but I think Reiki is something that can be added to your treatments because healing your energy boosts your immune system. For example, we find that people who do Reiki healing after an operation tend to recover faster,” explains Gamini. In fact, new clinical studies support the idea of Reiki as a complementary therapy to allopathic medicine and find that it provides more than just a placebo effect.

Gamini has been learning, teaching and practising Reiki for nearly 15 years. “How I become a Reiki master is an interesting story” he recalls. Until 2004, Gamini was a successful business owner running his own enterprise until a few bad decisions forced him to close down. With 5 children in school to support and no income, it was beginning to feel like the end of the road for Gamini until a friend offered to pay for him to accompany him on a hypnotherapy course. Fascinated by what he learned, Gamini continued to expand his knowledge by attending an acupuncture course at the Open International University for Complementary Medicine.  It was there that he first heard of ‘Reiki’ as a term often used in conversation by his fellow classmates.

“I was very curious about it and when I did my research on it, I immediately wanted to find a Reiki Master to teach me. Unfortunately, there were none here and the closest ones were in India.”  But unemployed with barely any money to support his family – there was no way Gamini could afford the trip to India. “It’s interesting how life works out. Soon after I found out about Reiki, a friend of mine working in Thailand asked me if I could go to India on his behalf to sort out some documents. Before returning, I went and learned from a Reiki Master in Delhi and completed Reiki Level 1.”

Over time, Gamini completed all 4 Reiki Levels under 4 different masters from 3 different countries in order to become a Reiki Master and practised his healing techniques on friends and family then venturing into the mainstream by offering sessions at the House of Siris and Prana Lounge before opening his own wellness centre Nature's Grace. He also teaches all levels of Reiki to interested students and has produced many of the Reiki practitioners in the country.

Today, Gamini is an internationally qualified holistic health professional and is a Reiki Master and Practitioner offering intuitive guidance and healing to people. He offers his clients both in-person Reiki healing as well as distance healing with the use of various crystals and essential oils. He is also qualified in hypnotherapy, crystal healing and numerology and is also a tarot consultant.

“Nearly 95% of my clients have all fallen into a deep sleep during their sessions and all have given me good feedback about how relaxed and revitalized they felt afterwards. Many experience a tingling sensation or see different colours representing their 7 chakras. At the end of the day, Reiki is a practice based on love and compassion and it’s proven to bring a healing and calming energy to everyone.” Gamini uses a special technique to channel the spiritual power he believes is inherent within all individuals. By placing his hand on specific areas, he draws on his intuitive skills as a Reiki Master to resolve physical, mental and emotional imbalance and blockages. Nature's Grace Wellness Centre currently offers Reiki sessions (1 hour) and tarot consultations (30 minutes) by appointment at reasonable rates. In the future, they hope to introduce hypnotherapy. counselling and other spiritual treatments.

Address: No. 73/7,  Main St, Battaramulla. 

Email: [email protected]