By Melissa Eisler
Active.com

After several months of antibiotics, the doctors told her, “Well, that’s about all we can do. We can’t give you any more antibiotics.”

“I actually felt worse than when I started with the doctors,” Huszka said. “I was 24 years old and couldn’t even walk up the stairs without taking a break. I slept 16-20 hours a day and had to drop out of classes because I couldn’t function properly.”

Fed up with doctors and traditional medicine, Huszka decided to call her massage therapist, who she hadn’t seen in a few months. “I didn’t know what else to do or if she could even help, but I was in so much pain I could barely stand someone touching me.”

The therapist recommended doing three reiki sessions not more than one week apart.

“After my first session, I went right to sleep…for 16 hours. Then I woke up, used the bathroom, ate something, and went right back to bed for another eight hours,” Huszka said. “When I woke up, it was the first time since I had been diagnosed with Lyme disease that I could move around, and my whole body wasn’t aching. I felt awake. I was so happy.”

“It was crazy to think that I was in and out of the hospital, talked to so many doctors and people to help me with the disease, and no one really had answers. Reiki was the most abstract thing I tried--and it actually worked. After the first session, I felt like a completely different person.”

Reiki helped Huszka so much, she decided to learn how to practice the healing art. She took the first-, second- and mastery-level classes and moved to San Diego in 2002 to start her own practice.

Her first year in California, Huszka got her massage therapy license from the Professional School of Bodywork so she could start integrating the therapies. Massage and reiki work so well when done together. They’ve shown Huszka the importance of trying something new.

“Before my first reiki session, I didn’t have a lot of expectation and it all just seemed too hoovey groovey for me,” said Huszka. “But I had faith in the person working on me, so that was enough for me to be open. And I think that’s all you need for it to work–-is to be open. If you are open to the idea that something new could help, you may be pleasantly surprised to find out what works for you.”