Namaste Pam,
Sometimes (well, very often, in my experience!) negative energies are shifted outward from the physical body into the bioelectric field (aura, if you will). By "sweeping the aura", you can move the energies out of the personal energy field.
Specifics of the "sweeping":
~ When I treat the feet, I use a guided visualization that I modified from the Reiki I meditation from "Reiki: A Torch in Daylight" by Karyn Mitchell to encourage the client to become "grounded". By treating the chakras at the sole first, it helps the client become grounded and provides a downward conduit for negative energies. When finished, I "sweep" the feet (light, downward stroking motions an inch or so above the body).
~ Then I move up to the knees, which I treat either individually or the tops of both and then the bottoms of both (whatever feels right to me). Again, I "sweep" downward from the knees to the feet (each leg separately)
~ Up I go, through each chakra, repeating the same process with each one.
~ If they are a healer, I make sure to include the hand chakras, too.
~ Depending on if the "spirit moves", I may also do a reverse sweep (always toward the heart, like massage strokes, only in the energy field) with the intent of sweep "in" to the energy field positive energies. Sometimes the client intuitively starts this process during the healing without my conscious movements...sort of an "out with the old, in with the new" action.
~ I do a lot of work with angels & guides, so each treatment is unique, but these are the basics. So much of what I do anymore is intuitive.
~ I always make sure to smudge the room with sage afterward and I do a periodic room clearing as well to completely clear out any negative energy that might be floating around. Most of the time it just dissipates on its own once it's release from the person's aura.
~ The important thing to remember is that "dislodging" the negative energy is more the work of the person receiving reiki than it is any one technique. You can move it out all you want, but if the person is really "attached" to it, it will only come back later. I attribute most of the successes I have seen to my clients' willingness to look at all aspects of their dis-ease and take responsibility for their own health. The techniques I use only facilitate what is naturally occuring on a physical level to occur at the spiritual level.
No amount of reiki (or anything else, for that matter) can replace a person's willpower--conscious or otherwise. Some people just need their dis-ease more than others.
Go with God on angel's wings!
Herbmom
