June 25, 2011

Reiki is an energy therapy that promotes harmony among body, mind and spirit, and is now provided to contestants of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” television show. Biggest Loser follows contestants as they lose hundreds of pounds of body weight through intense training, dietary changes and mental-emotional healing.

Reiki has been shown to relieve stress and improve feelings of well-being. According to a May 18 release on PR Newswire issued by STARK Training, the Orange County, California weight loss and training facility used by The Biggest Loser, reiki serves as one of the recovery techniques used, along with massage and yoga, to help contestants recuperate during their grueling fitness regimens.

In New York City, the cost of a one-hour reiki session can range anywhere from $40 to $300, however free reiki sessions will be provided to the public this weekend in Chinatown and Spanish Harlem.

SPirited Action, Release and Kindness, Inc. (SPARK) will be offering free reiki outside in Manhattan’s Chinatown on Sunday, June 26 as part of the Fukien Benevolent Association’s Annual Fukienese-American Family Day on Market Street between Henry and Madison Streets. The twenty-minute sessions begin at 11:00am and will finish before 4:00pm, and visitors will be treated on a first-come, first-served basis.

For arrival by subway, the closest station is the F Train at East Broadway. By bus, take the M15 to Madison Street, or the M22 bus to Madison Street or East Broadway.

On Saturday, June 25, free reiki sessions will be provided during Settlement Health’s El Barrio Prevention Festival. This outdoor event will take place on East 106th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues from 11:00am to 4:00pm. This will be SPARK’s sixth year providing free services at the event. Also available will be blood pressure screenings, breast exams, diabetes screenings. For more information, contact Settlement Health at (212)360-2600.

To reach the El Barrio Festival by subway, take the #6 to 103rd Street Station, and by bus take the M1 or M3 to 106th Street & 5th Avenue, M102 to 106th Street & Lexington Avenue, M106 to 106th Street & 3rd Avenue.

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.