NIKI is well-known in Merkinch as a qualified beauty specialist. A Merkincher “and proud of it” she has been involved in the beauty business for some 17 years.
Whether it's a facial or a pedicure, colour analysis or electrolysis that is wanted, Niki has acquired an ever-growing clientele of customers who appreciate her skills and visit her regularly in the premises in Queensgate (next to the Lavender Box) where she moved this summer.
Now she has added to the skills of a beautician with the practice of Reiki.

Reiki – pronounced “ray-key” – is an ancient healing art said to have come down to us from the ancient monks of Tibet. The word is actually Japanese and means Universal Life-force Energy.
Nowadays it is valued all around the world as a healing technique that puts the body in tune with itself and helps it solve its own problems of stress and tension.

Niki has studied for some time with Clare Winchester in Dingwall and is now able to offer the practice to her clients.
Reiki involves the laying on of hands on various parts of the body. When a person's life-force is low or a person is stressed there is a greater susceptibility to illness. A Reiki practitioner channels the energy through his/her hands to the recipient, thus increasing the body's own ability to heal itself.
The practitioner is simply an open channel through whom the energy flows.
The only sensations that are felt during the hour that a Reiki treatment takes are slight warmth, relaxation to a point of serenity and now and again a slight tingling. However, there is no doubt of the beneficial effects which are experienced following the session.

No two people experience the same sensations or the same degree of benefit from Reiki. But Niki says that she first tried it in a blind testing on a number of friends to whom she was giving facials without fully explaining what it was about, and all of them found it produced a feeling of well-being in both body and mind.
Says Niki, “Reiki creates beneficial changes, dispelling negative thoughts and attitudes.
“If you can imagine a river, the water flows more easily if the dead leaves are swept away.
“It helps to increasingly take responsibility for one's own life and promotes well-being and confidence.”

In some people Reiki can relieve acute symptoms of pain quite rapidly, though chronic cases usually require more intensive treatment.