In the carefree spirit of a weekend away, Lauren Deknis Bortolami got careless.
She forgot to take with her the prescription drug cocktail doctors had given her to treat her endometriosis, a uterine disease.
Bortolami started hemorrhaging. The bleeding continued for days, even after she left the hospital. There were more pills, more pain.
But it all stopped in 1993, when a desperate Bortolami found herbal medicine and Reiki, an alternative medicine based on healing energy, and with that, finally found relief.
As the first anniversary nears for her modest, part-time practice in the center of town, The Reiki Shoppe, Bortolami says she has helped many others with her gifts.
Now, she wants to help more of them, especially those Bortolami says are in great need.
Police officers, firefighters and returning soldiers have traumatic experiences on the job they leave unchecked, Bortolami said.
“They have to realize if they don’t take care of themselves emotionally, then physically they could hurt themselves,” she said.
Although she declined to name a price, Bortolami said she hopes to work directly in the firehouses and police stations with local public safety personnel at a “very reduced” rate.
“I really would like to be able to help the community,” she said, hoping to dispel “the huge misconception” that Reiki is synonymous with voodoo.
“I grew up here. I love this town, and we have all these cutbacks now,” Bortolami said.
During a Reiki session, practitioners place their hands on or near the person to transmit “ki,” believed to be a life-force energy, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
“It’s an energy all around us,” Bortolami said. “That energy is used to heal us. We just don’t know how to tap into it.”
The federal agency cautions users not to substitute Reiki for medical care and notes that “accepting its teachings ... is a matter of faith.”
Kenny Pruyn, 48, of Middleboro has been receiving Reiki from Bortolami for a year for stress-related neck and back pain.
“I can feel the heat coming through her hands,” said Pruyn, a Bridgewater native.
“The pains that I came in there with are gone,” he added.
Rent for Bortolami’s small, second-floor space at 50 Central Square costs her $200 a month, plus liability insurance.
She makes appointments when life as a single working mom allows it, finding time for six or eight clients each month (she charges $60 an hour) and turning little profit.
Bortolami says the only thing her Reiki practice is enriching is her spirit.
“It’d be lovely if I were making $3,000 a month, but it’s not going to happen,” she said. “I’m doing this to help people.”
On the Web: visit www.thereikishoppe.com.
Jessica Scarpati can be reached at jscarpati@enterprisenews.com.
