Reiki Practioner Uses Gift to Heal the Sick
By Shawn R. Dagle
Glastonbury resident Barbara Saccardo has an unusual gift.
She is a healer.
“She definitely has the touch”, Senior Center Assistant Program Coordinator, Norma Carey said after a recent visit by the Reiki healer.
Saccardo visited the Senior Center in July and August to perform Reiki healing sessions on seniors in the center’s health room.
According to Carey, seniors were initially apprehensive about the unusual technique in which the healer places his or her hands over certain regions of the body in order to remove blockages of vital “life force energy.”
Their apprehensions soon disappeared.
“The seniors all had terrific reactions,” Saccardo recalled one of her visits to the Senior Center. “One woman even asked me how she could learn Reiki.”
According to Carey, some of the seniors could actually feel the healing working. “People would be touched by her and they would say, 'Your hands are hot,’’’ she remarked.
Though Saccardo decided to become a recognized Reiki healer last spring, she says she always knew she had the power – the gift—to heal others. “I knew it was for me,” Saccardo remarked. “I decided to learn how.”
Through the power of her hands and her own energy she is able to bring comfort to seniors suffering from the pain of old age, relief to cancer sufferers struggling for their lives and aid to patients enduring all sorts of maladies.
In July 2008 Saccardo started volunteering at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford performing complimentary Reiki healings.
Saccardo recalled one recent session she had with a patient who had broken his back. After an operation to repair the damage, the young man had returned home. Then he started to suffer from terrible headaches. He was subsequently readmitted to the hospital.
“That particular evening I focused on his head, his neck and shoulders and he told me he was experiencing a spasm, but realized he never felt the pain,” recalled Saccardo. After the session the young man’s head was no longer pounding.
During a healing Saccardo uses her own intuition and focuses her attention on what she senses in the body, including areas where a person’s “life energy force” can be low, causing a person to become stressed, depressed and down. This energy force travels through pathways in the body, including “chakras”, she explained.
According to the International Center for Reiki Training, Reiki is effective for most any ailment, illness or malady – anything from cancer and multiple sclerosis to headaches, colds and even sore throat. It also can be used to complement other forms of treatment or medicine.
“Reiki works with your energy through my hands,” explained Saccardo. “When you have imbalances in your system – stress, tension, and pain – I move your energy to remove any imbalances.”
Patients often feel a variety of sensations including tingling and heat. “Sometimes they will feel a cold sensation because they have released it. They feel energized. They feel really relaxed. Later they feel lighter in spirit,” she said.
A member of the International Association of Reiki Practioners, she owns her own business, Universal Life Energy, with an office in East Hartford. Presently, she practices Reiki part-time, but hopes her practice will grow. “At some point it is my goal to (heal) full-time,” said Saccardo.