March 26, 2011

The energy work non-profit SPARK® recently held a twelve-hour instructional workshop in beginner-level reiki energy therapy in Chinatown from February 11 to March 4, 2011. Reiki is a form of energy work that helps balance body, mind and spirit, and is increasingly being used for relaxation and by cancer patients to alleviate the fatigue, anxiety, nausea and pain related to treatment. Twenty-four people attended the workshop, which was conducted in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. Each participant learned reiki history and how to conduct a full-body treatment on a table or in a chair. Each also began sensing the human energy field.

The donation-only workshop was SPARK’s first of that size in Chinatown and included three, and at times four, instructors. As part of SPARK’s mission to create healing communities within New York City neighborhoods, SPARK now provides instruction for local communities so they may become self-sufficient and not reliant upon outside teachers. In Chinatown, SPARK plans to offer further reiki workshops up to and including the instructor level.

The beginner-level workshop received very positive feedback from its participants, and their comments included: “I can actually feel my classmate’s energy field.”, “It helps me to relax from my life.”, “Makes me practice more on myself and release my pain.”, “It’s a wonderful experience in my life.”, and “I feel the chi flowing over my whole body.”

SPARK will offer additional beginner-level workshops to all members of the Chinatown community interested in learning. An intermediate-level reiki workshop in Chinatown, scheduled to begin in late April, is already fully booked. For more information or to register for upcoming workshops, please e-mail the SPARK team at info@sparkenergy.org.


Dave Gorczynski is president of SPARK, a non-profit organization that has provided free energy work sessions and workshops across New York City since 2002. He writes a regular column about energy work and meditation for the Compact News in New York City's Chinatown. E-mail him at dave@sparkenergy.org.