Nurse and holistic healer Helen Rankmore explains how reiki can help us access deeper levels of healing that are missing from Western medicine
Cardiff-born Helen Rankmore didn’t always want to be a reiki healer. In fact, she didn’t always want to be a nurse. Yet, this healthcare-professional-turned-holistic-business-owner has made a life out of caring for others.
Prompted by a desire to try something new, Rankmore was introduced to reiki while living and working as a nurse in Jersey.
She discovered an aptitude for the 100-year-old energy healing practice and, after completing three levels of training, made the decision to return to Cardiff to pursue reiki full-time.
Now, age 58 and living by herself, Rankmore has spent the past 10 years building Helen’s Healing Space, a female-only holistic healing service which she runs from her Tremorfa home.
The place is somewhat of a sanctuary, with dusk-pink walls, emerald furnishings, and thoughtfully-placed ornaments that are telling of travels throughout Asia and beyond.
“With reiki, you take the emotional as well as the physical and mental – all levels of physiology” she explains, “in the West we’ve gone more scientific and we’ve lost touch with that spirituality part of healing.”
In the UK, attitudes to energy healing vary, with a recent report from the TaxPayers Alliance slamming NHS expenditure on “quack” therapies such as reiki.
However, holistic treatments are slowly becoming more commonplace in medical settings, says Rankmore, and there’s a growing body of scientific literature acknowledging the value of energy healing.
She said: “In America, reiki is used quite a lot in the hospital system for stress reduction prior to procedures. Like if people are claustrophobic and they’re having an MRI scan, they have some reiki and they can cope a lot better with the treatment,” Rankmore said.
With reiki, you take the emotional as well as the physical and mental
The power of attitude
Across her 10 years of practice, in which she’s conducted upwards of 1000 treatments, Rankmore’s seen reiki bring immediate relief to clients in crisis.
However, she’s keen to clarify that energy healing is not a “one time fix all” and, when it comes to healing, both emotional and physical, a person’s attitude can make all the difference.
“I’ve seen in my nursing and in life as well, people can have exactly the same illnesses, but their attitude – a positive or resilient mindset – towards the illness can mean a completely different outcome,” she said.
Taking on challenge
Despite Rankmore’s evident passion for reiki, building Helen’s Healing Space has not been without challenge.
The Covid-19 pandemic brought her practice to a halt in 2020, just as the business was gaining traction, and since then, practicing energy healing full-time hasn’t been feasible.
“I think a lot of things have happened culturally and financially to people since the pandemic. Although a lot of people want to come and they love it when they have reiki, it’s a cost that a lot of people can’t afford unfortunately.”
Alongside running her business, Rankmore continues to work a 30-hours-a-week nursing job in a home for patients with brain injuries. However, it’s a passion for reiki, and a desire to share this mode of healing with others, that keeps her pushing forward.
Rankmore said: “I like that it’s not my full-time occupation so I don’t have to charge too much, because I feel that reiki should be available to everyone.”