I cannot help but feel I was divinely guided towards Reiki in the wake of my beloved grandmother‘s passing. I was grappling with immense sorrow and a sense of loss. Reiki provided an anchor and spiritual practice to embrace during those dark moments. It facilitated an inner healing journey, allowing me to process the natural emotions of mourning while awakening me to perspectives beyond the physical plane.

In the month following my grandmother‘s passing, I found myself in the depths of grief while still tempting to work a full-time job, raised two children and work towards my college degree. Twice a week, at minimum, I would feel overwhelmed by debilitating migraine headaches, which I now recognize were a physical manifestation of the emotional turmoil that gripped me. Yet no amount of professional treatment seems capable of providing relief from those griping headaches. I went to neurologists, underwent MIR scans, and tried various medications, but only found temporary relief with no actual answers for my headaches.

Then one day, in a search for relief from the physical tensions because of my mourning and busy life, I attended a yoga class. While I arrived, I noticed the class was a restorative yoga session incorporating Reiki, a modality I knew little about. However, I felt unmistakable excitement at experiencing this mysterious practice. In my need, the universe had conspire to guide me toward the healing balm my soul yarned for. Though I didn’t understand the full scope of Reiki powers at the moment, I could sense it would be a pivotal encounter, a bridge carry me from the depths of sorrow and physical pain towards new realms of light, growth, and peace I so desperately needed.

As I surrendered to the savanna pose for relaxation at the end of that fateful yoga class, the instructor blessed me with my first taste of Reiki’s sublime energies. In the stillness, a sacred vision appeared in my mind’s eye. I saw myself lying peacefully in the grass, gazing up at a breathtaking canopy of trees, swinging in the gentle breeze with sunlight filtering through the dancing leaves and branches, bathing me in a warm, radiant glow. Then I heard my grandmother‘s voice, resonating not just as sound but as a feeling that enveloped my entire being in profound comfort and reassurance. Her essence told me she was at peace, happy and whole in the realm she now inhabited.

I’m utterly convinced that the extraordinary vibrational frequencies activated within me by the Reiki I had received opened the doorway to this extraordinary experience. The healing balm of those energies briefly eased the anguish and grief that had weighed so oppressively upon my heart. An abiding sense of peace and release flowed through me, allowing pent-up emotions and tensions to be released finally. I think of myself in that moment as a balloon that was about to burst, and Reiki slowly let the air out. The grief was not gone with that one encounter, but it made my grief feel a little more tolerable, and I feel a little lighter.

By integrating this pivotal encounter and the Reiki sessions that followed, the migraines that had tormented me steadily dissolved into a distance memory. This opening was a spiritual initiation guiding me into a new phase of expanded awareness and communion with the unseen realms. I had a glimpse and felt that we never truly lose our loved ones. They merely inhabit different vibrational frequencies, which we shall one day merge again in the unfolding cosmic journey. This transcendental experience was my first true awakening to the reality existing beyond the view of our ordinary perceptions. It was more than just an “aha” moment. It was a “of course” moment. An instinctual recognition of underlying truth my soul has always known.

The feeling of being intimately connected with a greater cosmic consciousness that Reiki unveiled was so stirring that I could not turn away from it. I immediately immersed myself in the Reiki training classes offered the following weekend. And I did not stop there. I continue to deepen my studies and practice until receiving the sacred Reiki Master teacher training and attunement. As I began consistently applying this healing modality, I felt like ancient fountain of innate knowledge within me awakened. It was as if I was remembering long-forgotten wisdom and elemental truth that were dormant in my energy field and deep in my subconscious memory. 

A few years after receiving my Reiki Master teacher training, I was diagnosed with a small cancerous melanoma on my lip that required immediately surgery. Within a week I under-went two extensive procedures – one to remove the mail melanoma itself and another to reconstruct my bottom lip. Though the prognosis was severe, the medical team was successful in eradicating the cancerous growth, and found no further spreading.  Another wave of clarity hit me as I started practicing Reiki again during my recovery.

Over many years, I had sacrificed speaking my truth in a well meaning but ill-fated effort to “keep the peace” with my family dynamics. I had systematically suppressed my emotions, perspectives and natural ways of expression. I realized then that this physical manifestation of disease expressed the feelings I had suppressed for far too long. In that moment of realization, I made an unwavering commitment to embrace radical authenticity. And I vowed to give full embodied expression to my emotions, beliefs, and perspectives without apology.

Reiki became a steady companion through the trials and tribulations that life would bring. This age-old practice would shine as a beacon of hope whenever I found myself stranded in emotional anguish or turmoil. It revealed the temporary nature of my suffering and opened pathways to inner peace. Through its teachings, I came to trust in an underlying harmonic order, orchestrating every transition and circumstance I’ve encountered on this life journey.

Reiki started a deep transformation in my life, shaking the foundations of my believes and the worldviews. Yet this power extended beyond my inner landscape of consciousness. Reiki was also an agent for shedding lifestyles, relationships, and circumstances that no longer supported my revolutionary growth and alignment. It was like how dog instinctively shakes off water after a bath, an instinctually rejection and release of what no longer served me.

Through my Reiki journey, I gradually lost interest in nightly socializing with friends who enjoyed the party scene. I now understood why I would experience undeniable dread washing over me in the lead up to these outings as I would physically sense that these environments of sensory stimulation no longer resonate with me, and I no longer enjoyed them. So I began turning down invitations and disassociating from these old friendships and their party lifestyle. I didn’t become a homebody. I preferred attending events to meet and connect with like-minded souls who had also awakened to a deeper calling of consciousness expansion. In these elevated circles, I have found nourishment, reflection and empowering mirror for the metamorphosis I was undergoing. Another epiphany emerged. Evolution signaled it was time to prune the deadwood of inharmonious attachments and loyally follow the thread of guidance pointing to my highest potential.

Immersed in the Reiki path, I began contemplating the depths of insight and holistic health benefits it offered. I shared these experiences more widely and began offering professional Reiki sessions to the public. I felt immensely fulfilled collaborating with clients who initially came seeking only relaxation, yet through our sessions, discovered the underlying roots of their every day health challenges. Most arrived with physical elements as their chief complaint would inevitably find the apparent connections between their physical symptoms and unresolved emotions or psychic distress. As in the saying, “ like attracts like”, we inevitably draw toward reflections of our vibrational state. The currents of synchronicity guided me toward those who resonated with and mirrored back my journey of integrating mind-body- spirit wellness in my clients. Just as Reiki had clarified the subconscious influence affecting my own experiences of unease, this sacred practice was unveiling comparable clarity for my clients. This is the profound depth of awareness and expanded consciousness to which I have never referring.

Humans are more than merely physical “meat and bones” beings. We have layers, like the layers of onion. We are multidimensional beings with complex layers of existence intertwined with each other. Reiki presents us with unparalleled clarity to recognize and navigate the mixed landscapes of our being – the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – illuminating how they connect as an integrated, holistic system animated by consciousness itself and our connection to the cosmos.