Healing Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Kate Milliken is a video producer in NYC who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in December 2006, at 34. Although there can be ups and downs as this disease progresses, conventional medicine sees MS as incurable.

So it was a bit surprising when a year after her diagnosis, Milliken’s next MRI came back clean.

Not only were there no new lesions, meaning the disease had not progressed, but also, the lesion seen on her first MRI had faded significantly. Her March 2009 MRI was the same.

Healing beyond the limits of conventional treatment

Like most people facing a devastating diagnosis, Milliken’s first response was to receive conventional medical treatment. Several months later that she reached for yoga to help her cope, inadvertently embarking on a healing journey that took her far beyond coping.

Milliken started looking at her life, and herself, differently. She slowed down, exercised less, went to sleep earlier, became more present. She continued yoga, followed a complicated regime under the guidance of an osteopath, and received Reiki.

This is not a case of Reiki curing anything. Reiki is one of many healing practices and treatments in this story.

This is an encouraging picture of how one woman took an integrative approach to a debilitating illness with stunningly positive results. Milliken’s story is an example that can inspire people addressing MS, or any serious disease, to courageously engage in maintaining their wellness and their well-being in ways that are meaningful to them and that don’t stop at what conventional medicine has to offer.

Milliken details her treatment choices in an article published in Marie-Claire magazine.

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11 thoughts on “Healing Multiple Sclerosis (MS)”

  1. I too have MS and started learning Reiki in 2003.I was first diagnosed in1984 and since there was no treatment then I started to go to an MD who practices integrative medicine. I became a Reiki Master in 2006. At my last MRI there were no active lesions in my brain. The lesions are still visible but they are silent. Extreme stress will cause an exacerbation lasting only for the duration of the stress. For example, when I attended my father’s burial which was on hilly ground, I needed someone to just hold my hand since my balance was slightly off. The problem resolved itself as soon as the funeral was over. I have also been doing Pilates since 2009 and have recently found my legs are able to dance for the first time since 1984!

  2. I am a second level Reiki practioner and was recently asked by a client with very advanced MS ( she is bedridden in a nursing home ) ” Can Reiki help me walk again?” What kind of results might I expect once I start Reiki sessions on her? Can MS be too advanced to get benefits from Reiki? I am willing to give it my all, but I don’t want to give her or myself false hopes. Thanks.

    1. Jane,

      Thank you so much for your question, which brings up several important points about Reiki practice:

      1. We can never promise specific results. NEVER.

      2. MS (or other medical conditions or symptoms) doesn’t benefit from Reiki practice, the person does.

      3. It’s not up to the practitioner.

      Please examine what you mean by “give it your all” as this can incline a practitioner to step outside the discipline of practice with its natural protective boundaries, and put oneself at risk.

      Communicate to your prospective client clearly that Reiki practice is balancing to the individual and that there is no way to predict an individual’s response to anything.

      Doctors, for example, cannot predict how an individual will respond to even a low-risk medication or procedure — which is not to equate Reiki practice with medications or procedures, but simply to emphasize that even when there is a lot of research data (which there is not for Reiki practice), we cannot predict an individual’s response. We each are, after all, individuals. :-)

      Suggest that a series of four or so sessions is needed to give someone a sense of how Reiki practice can be of benefit, and that the sessions are cumulative, meaning the benefit increases as the person’s system becomes more balanced.

      Then be content to practice and observe. If you would like more support in client communication, click here for the TALKING REIKI: Communication recordings.

  3. Hello,

    I have been giving Reiki energy to a person who has recently been diagnosed with MS at 40 years old. Her initial symptoms were relatively mild but typical… loss of feeling in the limbs, unable to walk properly, intense tiredness, depression, heavy feet, pain in the neck and other articulations etc. etc.

    She has not had her diagnosis totally confirmed as she is waiting the results from her LP but her doctors have said that there is a 96% chance that it is in fact MS. Until the results come back they are not going to start any treatment.

    I have been giving her reiki treatments now for 3 weeks. They have been intense 2 hour sessions about 3 times a week. After each session she has seen a notable improvement in her condition. At the beginning she was scheduled to have a large dose of corticoids injected but the doctors saw her improvement and decided better.

    She has now regained sensibility in nearly all of her limbs. Her gait is perfect after her sessions but after a few days without treatment her walking is once again somewhat strange. She still gets very tired but is now able to walk the mile to her daughter’s school and back without having to stop. She can also shop without too many problems… things that were unthinkable for her 3 weeks ago.

    Her doctor’s are not discouraging her Reiki treatments but on seeing an improvement keep reminding her that this disease come in bouts and that it is totally possible that she is now simply entering a good phase.

  4. Judith, Patty, and Lindsay, thank you so much for sharing your stories. I am sure they will inspire others to learn more about how Reiki, yoga and meditation can support healing beyond the expectations of conventional health care.

  5. I have been living with the Diagnosis of “Probable” MS for over 13 years now, the diagnosis came after several clinical episodes including some loss of the use of my right leg, and inablity to walk correctly with out a severe limp or dragging it behind me because I couldn’t lift it up. Unfortunately this came even after I had been a Reiki Practitioner and even earned my Master Teacher credations. So Reiki was a part of my life already, however I had gone through some challenges in my Relationship that had led me to Stop my Spiritual Practices including listening to my many intuitive gifts, in fact I fought them, and tried my hardest to ignore them. Silly me!

    After some time of trying it “the experts way” short of taking the interferon drugs, because I couldn’t afford them, things were still getting worse. I was now walking with a cane and deemed Permanently Handicaped by my Doctor at the time because I couldn’t walk more than 75 yards with out getting so tired I would literally fall down, fortunately I learned to sit, often in the middle of the parking lot or store. So in my meditation practices I started asking my body what it needed to heal, because listening to conventional medicine I was given the prognosis of “The good news is you won’t likey die from this, the bad news is it will only continue to get worse. I received intuitive guidance to begin practicing these movements that were very gentle and strengthening, of which I didn’t know what I was doing at the time, I was simply listening to my inner wisdom. I started to get better, it had been 2 years that I had been very ill, and on lot’s of medication to help with the pain, and I had lost all my once stellar muscle mass and gained 60 pounds.

    I used my Reiki Practice, Meditation with detailed visualization and Yoga to rebuild my body, about 3 months in to what I had just called my Intuitive excersise program I learned I had been doing Yoga! Funny how that works, Yoga is the union with source, and Reiki Practice was my spiritual path also unifying me with source. So I had tapped into some powerful healing guides who were teaching me Yoga.

    When I had another MRI the lesions that were there were not there at all, they had completely disapeared, to which my Doctor couldn’t believe, my other Doctor explained that people who have a Meditation practice like I did (at least an hour a day if not more in deep meditation) had shown to have results like mine where lesions faded, but he hadn’t seen them disapear. It took me 18 months of this dillegent daily work to rebuild my body and loose all 60 pounds, but I did it.

    I would still have exacerbations, and have problems with my leg and vision, as well as my neck, and various other parts of my body, as long as I stayed true to my practices they didn’t last long and the effects other than the weak leg didn’t last long either.

    I went to a Doctors appointment to get somethings checked out and she, a new Doc whom I’d been seeing for about a year, said “What are you doing to get better? None of my other Patients are getting better!” I asked what I was paying her for! I then said I will gladly tell you everything I am doing to take care of my body if you will take notes and pass this information along to people this will be my last visit.

    To this day I still have exacerbations, I don’t feel as though I have cured it completely, however they come when I am over stressed, over tired and not following my Source given program to heal my body. I no longer walk with a cane, I have kept the weight off for over 7 years now, and when these episodes do come, they don’t last long, and they serve as reminders to take better care of myself. I have made a direct connection to the times I am failing to honor my intuitive gifts, things get alot worse and I will become physically ill, and one of these episodes will happen. Body parts will stop working properly, or go numb and I will feel as though I have been pluged into an electrical socket. So this was a big lesson for me, and due to my sheer stubborness I have to relearn it from time to time.

    I am so very Greatful for Yoga, Meditation and my Reiki Practice, it saved my life from becoming very miserable! I recently had to have a minor surgery on my heart, and when they did this surgery they discovered I had developed 3/4 of an additional nervous system, as well as additional veins all throught my arms and trunk. Facinating and I have only one explination for it, being willing to surrender to the unlimited knowlege of the Universal Life Force and follow the guidance I was given.
    I realize this is a bit long, I felt compeled to tell the short version of this long 13 year journey I have been on.

    Love N’ Light
    Lindsay

  6. Patty Servidio

    I am amazed at these stories. I was diagnosed three years ago with MS, at the age of 45. I had been a runner prior to an accident that caused me not to be able to run (had no idea this was an MS exacerbation.) For the first year after diagnosis, I kept running into things that mentioned yoga, and I had ignored them. I began doing yoga about six months ago, and have noticed a huge improvement in my overall health. I had a very bad exacerbation in February, which landed me in a neuro ICU for ten days, but about a month ago, I began meditating and yoga practice again. I have noticed a huge difference in my symptoms; my gait has improved significantly. I’m almost a little nervous to start on Tysabri this Monday; I have been doing well since beginning yoga again. I guess I was being divinely guided to begin a formal yoga practice; I notice that the following day, I have an easier time getting out of bed. Yoga has helped me get back some of what I have lost with MS. I highly recommend it! :)

  7. There’s some significant information to add to my post about MS. I forgot to mention that I’d previously used three of the injectible medications for MS, with very few positive results. I had been on Imuran (to suppress my immune system) for the past seven years. Last year I stopped taking it, and didn’t substitute another drug for it. So there’s no chance that conventional medicine was responsible for the improvement in my condition. It had to be Yoga and Reiki!

  8. I agree with Kate! I, too, have MS. I was diagnosed more than thirty years ago. I’ve been through almost all of the conventional treatments, have had times of remission and times of very sudden disease progression. I’ve gone through paralysis from the waist down, near-complete blindness, loss of bladder and bowel control, you name it.

    I started my Yoga practice about nine years ago. I knew I was on the right track when, about a year into my practice, my legs were paralyzed. I couldn’t get into any of the asanas I’d been using. Sam Dworkis (a yoga teacher who also has MS) was my mentor at the time. He advised me to just sit and envision my legs moving into the poses. I did that. After a few weeks, my legs started to move of their own accord during my visualization. I recovered almost completely from that bout with MS, and am now able to carry on with a fulfilling Yoga practice that helps me beat any lingering effects of MS.

    Then Reiki came into the picture. I’ve been a practitioner for two years. During my daily self-healing session, I could actually feel the layers of dis-ease being stripped away. When I went for my annual neurological exam a few weeks ago, all of my tests were improved over the past year except for the function of my left hand. No surprise there — my left hand was not very useful even before MS.

    I wanted my neurologist to order an MRI; I was eager to see if the lesions had disappeared. He didn’t want to order it, though. He suggested that the results would likely be disappointing, that the MRI would show my condition as worse than my symptoms warrant. Now, though, I wish I hadn’t given in to his suggestion. I know in my heart that Yoga and Reiki have teamed up to overcome the effects of MS in my life.

    May I mention the findings of your MRI when I next approach him about ordering one for me? Your story is inspiring, and a great source of hope for fellow MS patients. Most importantly, it might be just the nudge that conventional doctors, beginning with my neurologist, need to investigate Reiki’s effect on diseases such as MS.

    Thank you for your story!

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