Reiki-assisted psychotherapy: a somatic approach to healing betrayal trauma

​Betrayal trauma occurs when someone (or something - such as an institution) we trust hurts us in some way.  Betrayals can be big and obvious such as infidelity or being blind-sided and they can also be subtle such as someone being consistently unreliable or failing to meet our needs.  Betrayal trauma  can deeply impact both the mind and body, leaving emotional imprints that disrupt a person’s sense of safety, trust, and self-worth.  These imprints may happen slowly over time and we may not even consciously know that they are there.  While traditional western psychotherapy helps clients understand their experiences, deep healing often requires bottom-up processing—engaging the body, nervous system, and energy field.

Somatic therapy approaches, such as Focusing (Eugene Gendlin) and Somatic Experiencing (Peter Levine), offer powerful ways to process trauma by tuning into the felt sense of the body.  The felt sense is our sixth sense, also known as Interoception, which is the ability to listen to both obvious (hunger, needing to urinate) and subtle (emotions) cues from our body. Reiki, when integrated into these approaches, serves as a regulating force, helping clients safely access these cues and release stored imprints while remaining within their window of tolerance.

Developed by Eugene Gendlin, Focusing helps clients attune to their inner bodily sensations (the "felt sense") to access deeper emotional truth. Instead of analyzing emotions cognitively, Focusing guides the client to sit with their physical sensations, listen to them, and allow them to shift naturally.

🔹 How Reiki Enhances Somatic Approaches:

• Reiki helps create a safe and regulated space for clients to access their felt sense without overwhelm.
• If a client struggles to identify their body’s sensations, Reiki can gently activate awareness by guiding energy to areas where trauma is stored.
• Clients who experience emotional numbness or dissociation can use Reiki to reconnect with their bodies in a non-threatening way.
• Reiki serves as a co-regulating tool, helping clients stay grounded while engaging with distressing sensations.
• Clients who feel stuck in freeze mode may benefit from Reiki’s gentle energetic movement, which encourages the nervous system to shift out of immobility.
• Reiki can be applied to specific areas of the body that hold tension or trauma, supporting the body’s natural capacity to release stored stress.

🔹 Examples in Therapy:

A client, feeling numb after betrayal, struggles to "find" their emotions. Instead of talking about the pain, which has the potential to reinforce the imprint, the therapist invites them to place a hand on their heart or stomach and notice any sensations. The therapist may use Reiki to lightly place hands near these areas, or if virtual the therapist may direct Reiki to those areas using intention, allowing the body's subtle messages to emerge. As warmth or tingling arises, the client begins to feel a soft sadness, making space for emotional processing.

A client recalling betrayal feels tension in their throat and chest but struggles to release it. Instead of pushing them into catharsis, the therapist helps them track the sensation and notice small shifts. Reiki is applied near the throat (or directed if virtual) as the client takes slow breaths, gradually feeling the constriction soften. As their body relaxes, emotions move through them, rather than staying stuck.

One of the biggest challenges in trauma healing is dysregulation. Clients often either:
Become overwhelmed (hyperarousal/Sympathetic Activation) → racing thoughts, panic, emotional flooding.
Shut down completely (hypoarousal/Dorsal Vagal Collapse) → numbness, disconnection, emotional paralysis.

Reiki helps clients stay within their Window of Tolerance while doing the work by:
✅ Acting as a gentle stabilizer during intense emotional work.
✅ Keeping clients connected to safety even when exploring difficult feelings.
✅ Helping clients return to regulation if they become overwhelmed or dissociated.

Example in Therapy:
A client processing a painful memory starts to feel panicked. Instead of pushing through, the therapist uses Reiki to lightly place hands near their feet, helping them ground and return to the present moment. The client sighs, their body naturally self-regulating, allowing the session to continue without shutdown.

When integrated with somatic approaches to therapy, Reiki helps clients:

✅ Feel safe enough to explore trauma without overwhelm.
✅ Reconnect with their felt sense and release stored emotions.
✅ Discharge trapped survival energy without reliving distress.
✅ Repair their energetic and emotional boundaries after betrayal.
​
Healing betrayal trauma is not just about understanding what happened—it’s about feeling safe in your body again. By integrating Reiki into somatic therapy, clients can experience healing in a way that respects both the mind and the body's natural wisdom.  Reiki does not replace psychotherapy—it enhances it by offering a gentle, embodied, and deeply regulating approach to trauma healing.

Would you like to explore Reiki-assisted psychotherapy for trauma healing? Whether you’re a practitioner or a client, this integrative approach provides a deeply supportive path toward emotional safety, self-trust, and resilience.

​

---