Simplicity Studio An Esoteric Wellness Collective, brings Reiki to downtown Polson.

Reiki practitioner Ciella Starkel’s studio is a light-filled space with plants and small luxuries, such as eye pillows filled with organic flax and local lavender.

“I believe every single person could benefit from Reiki,” Starkel says.

As explained by Starkel, “Reiki is a widely practiced healing modality in which the practitioner channels energy into the patient to promote healing, relaxation and reduced stress.”

A Reiki practitioner uses gentle touch – or places their hands just above the patient’s body – to help induce “a deeply relaxed state that tends to the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well being of the patient.”

The Japanese word Reiki is derived from “rei,” meaning universal, and “ki,” meaning life-force energy.

According to Starkel’s training manuals, it was developed in the 1920s by a Japanese Buddhist monk named Misao Usui. After the Kanto earthquake in 1923, Usui’s staff at his clinic in Tokyo worked night and day to treat the people affected, which popularized Reiki in Japan.

Starkel describes the Reiki practitioner as a conduit of energy and healing.

“A lot of energy is exchanged all day long,” she says.

“We get out of balance just with things we encounter, not being aware of it. We encounter things that throw us off, but we don’t really pay attention to non-physical things,” such as

“joy or sadness,” she says. “We carry that through our day.”

Starkel became interested in Reiki following a serious health issue in her family.

“I needed to get myself together. I needed to get my face on,” she recalls, in order to project a calm, assured and confident presence to her family.

While she was “trying to hurry up and do that,” a friend mentioned a beginning Reiki class and suggested Starkel take it. Since she was looking for something to keep her busy, she signed up.

“It (Reiki) was so familiar,” Starkel says. “It resonated.”

She believes that people such as estheticians, massage therapists and nail techs already subconsciously transfer energy.

She loved the class so much she took the basic session again and then decided to work through the courses, which took about two years.

“It was so beneficial and helpful to me,” Starkel remembers. “We acknowledge our physical bodies without a thought. If something is wrong, we make an appointment. But there’s more to us than just the physical – there’s the mental, emotional, and spiritual.”

“Treating the whole being is so essential ... realizing they are all one and work in such unison with each other,” she says.

When Starkel treats someone with Reiki, she makes the fully dressed client comfortable on her padded table, closes the curtains, turns down the lights, and plays soothing water sounds.

“It’s very relaxing, very calming, replenishing,” she says.

Clients say after they walk out into the world following a Reiki treatment, they’re “kind of unaffected” by their surroundings so “not everything is coming in and smacking us right in the face. We’ve got a little bit of a barrier protecting ourselves.”

Starkel believes humans “are all energy,” and that Reiki “works to replenish, restore balance, and smooth out energy.”

The studio is located at 11 3rd Ave. E. Appointments are available Monday-Friday and usually last for an hour, although Starkel offers some 30-minute sessions for adults and kids.

Call 406-319-2259 or email simplicitystudiosmt@gmail.com.