Why mothers book a Reiki session when the mind gets too loud
November 2026 · 4 min read · By Vanessa Chugani
A mind that is too noisy is a perfectly good reason to want an hour where it stops.
That is a clear reason, and I think it deserves a clear answer. It is not a craving for something soft and pretty. It is a nervous system that has been switched on for a very long time.
Noise is the real reason
A mother's day is made of interruptions. A name called from another room, a mental list that never closes, a phone that carries the school, the family and the work all at once. Even in the rare quiet moment, the list keeps running.
After months or years of that, the quiet stops feeling safe. For many people, lying down is exactly when the mind speeds up instead of slowing down. They rehearse tomorrow. They replay a sentence they said at lunch. It tends to arrive at the hour when everyone else is asleep.
This is why the usual advice rarely lands. A bath, a candle or a long weekend assumes the mind will follow the body into rest. For a lot of mothers it does not follow.
What I watch for in an overstimulated nervous system
These are the signs I pay attention to. You do not need all of them, and having them does not mean anything is wrong with you.
- Tired but wired. The body is exhausted, the mind is alert, and sleep stays just out of reach.
- Crying that arrives from nowhere. A song in a shop, a kind question from a stranger, a spilled drink. The tears seem far bigger than the moment.
I also notice a jaw that will not unclench and shoulders sitting close to the ears. A stomach that grips. A chest that feels too tight to take a full breath. Many people do not realise they are holding all of this until someone asks them to put it down.
Then there is the startle. A dropped spoon makes the whole body jump. Ordinary noise becomes irritating, then unbearable, and the irritation brings guilt with it.
Most of this physical tension sits on top of stress, exhaustion and overwhelm. That is the kind of load many people bring to a Reiki session. If the problem is a pulled muscle or an injury, a massage is the better first call, and I am happy to say so.
What people report afterwards
I am careful here, because I will not promise an outcome. I can tell you what people describe.
They describe sleep that comes more easily. A body that feels further from the edge. Appetite returning, and a tiredness that lifts a little. Some say they feel steadier in themselves, and less alone with whatever they walked in carrying. Some feel nothing much during the hour and notice the change that evening.
The research is modest and I would rather you hear it accurately. A 2022 review in Frontiers in Psychology looked at 14 randomised placebo-controlled trials. It rated the evidence high for clinically relevant stress and moderate to high for clinically relevant anxiety, with the effects appearing in people who were genuinely struggling. The authors still describe their own findings as inconclusive.
A 2019 study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine looked at 1,411 sessions with 99 practitioners. Participants reported improvements in tiredness, mood, appetite and pain. There was no control group, so it shows what people reported, not what Reiki causes.
That is the honest picture. Reiki here is rest and support. It is not a treatment for any medical condition, and if the crying comes with a low mood that will not lift, please talk to your doctor as well.
What the hour is like
You lie down, fully clothed, and I place my hands lightly on or just above the body. You do not have to talk, explain your week or believe anything. You can speak if you want to. Many people do not.
Nobody is asked to perform being calm. If your mind keeps running for the first twenty minutes, that is allowed, and it is useful information about how much you have been carrying.
A single session is EUR 188 in person in Canggu, or EUR 138 as a distance session. If the noise has been loud for a long time, some people prefer a package of sessions. A 2025 review in Systematic Reviews (Liu et al.) pooled 11 randomised trials with 661 participants and found a significant improvement in quality of life, with sessions of an hour or more, and eight or more of them, doing best. Three sessions are EUR 388 and five are EUR 588, and either format works.
If this sounds like you
You can read more about when people tend to come, or about meditation when the mind will not settle, which is a different tool for the same noise. The details of the hour itself are on the sessions page.
If you are pregnant, the pregnancy Reiki page explains how a session is adapted for each trimester. And if you are unsure which option fits, write to me and ask. You do not need a tidy reason to book. A mind that is too noisy is reason enough.