Reiki River is a wonderfully relaxing album especially designed to complement a Reiki healing session. The British composer and recording artist, Niall, looks like being a real up and coming talent to watch in the New Age music world.

Niall is a Celtic name, pronounced Nee- al, meaning ‘Champion’. I heard about Niall’s work through my cousin, a professional musician herself; I’m glad she tipped me off! Reiki River is Niall’s second album released on the Paradise Music label and was co-produced with popular New Age musician Llewellyn.

Reiki River is gentle, yet varied enough to keep the listener’s interest. Niall plays the instruments himself and records sounds from Nature. The result is a skilful blend, including birdsong and flowing water, overlaid with melodic flute music and angelic sounding female vocals. The flutes themselves are fantastic hand made instruments created by Erik the Flute Maker in the US. The overall effect is harmonious and slightly oriental, which is most appropriate given Reiki’s roots in the East.

I’ve tried and tested the album out both as healer and ‘client’. As the healer I found the music was a guide to the length of the treatment as well as helping to set the healing environment. Like many therapists I work to healing sessions of approximately an hour and the album is a thoughtful 60 minutes long. Many albums designed for healing fall short of this & I find I have to choose between leaving the client to restart the CD- not always convenient- or just letting the session continue on without music.

The twelve tracks on Reiki River are each five minutes long and a singing bowl is gently struck to divide them. This makes it very easy to time the different hand positions for a traditional Reiki treatment.

The overall effect is very easy to relax into for the client. I quickly got into a 'healing space' lying on my treatment couch and I felt wonderfully ‘floaty’ as I received a beautiful healing from my friend. I’ve found my clients have all relaxed and found the music an enjoyable part of the therapeutic experience.

The composition becomes more gently ambient as the album progresses encouraging a fuller, deeper relaxation as the treatment goes on. Niall has used slightly more stirring tracks towards the end of the album to help bring the client back into the here and now.

You can listen to MP3 samples of the whole album on Niall Music and the album is available from Paradise Music where you’ll also find Niall’s first album ‘Spirit of the Shaman’ released in 2007.