“Fashion Twins,” 1991
MY REIKI STORY
This cutie pie is 4-year old me and my mom, dressed as “fashion twins” at the the Milwaukee Zoo. Despite looking like a copy-cat, my path to Reiki was one part accidental osmosis and one part cosmic assignment.
accidental osmosis
When I was around 12-years old, my mom became a Reiki practitioner — way before it was mainstream.
She volunteered in a cancer ward and gave mini-sessions to patients as they received chemo and to their family members (if requested). Many volunteers were peeved that this was only a volunteer service and that practitioners weren’t getting paid (rightly so). Ahead of her time, my mom always calmly said, “one day Reiki will be covered by insurance.” She had the foresight to know this practice would one day be more more widely understood. I think about how brave she was to follow her curiosity at a time when people really didn’t understand the validity of this modality.
My brother would request Reiki to soothe his headaches. I, on the other hand, resisted it. My mom would offer Reiki whenever I was stressed out with school work, but I wasn’t ready for it. Even as a young kid, I sensed the power of this practice but I didn’t want to mess with it yet. And, sometimes you just want to discover things for yourself. But Reiki and the idea of energy healing was always causally in the house.
Fast forward to my Reiki Level 1 training and I realized I had been quietly weaving Reiki into my yoga teaching practice all along. Whenever students were in Savasana or Relaxation, I’d imagine a bubble of golden light surround their individual bodies or as a group. My mom always said she’d imagine herself a straw and the energy moving through her. Her internal mantra was “let the energy go where it needs to go” and this has become part of my anchoring internal dialogue when I hold sessions.
Cosmic assignment
Getting my Reiki Level 1 certification became a persistent thought. I usually try to follow those (even if I’m not sure where it will lead.) I was surprised how familiar the content felt during the training. It was so lovely to interact with a modality that’s not attached to a rigid pedagogy but rather encourages and validates the process of following your intuition.
I didn’t really have it on my radar to rush through the levels of Reiki certifications. However, the Universe swiftly re-routed me. In 2021, I arrived in Amsterdam fully intending to stay two weeks but was stopped at the border and literally deported (it’s a long story). With an unexpectedly wide open schedule, a new persistent thought entered: Reiki Level 2. It just so happened a training was taking place that week I returned home. I treated my originally scheduled trip-time like a stay-cation and dove into new learning. Fast forward to 2023, I finally made it to Amsterdam (without a hitch) to visit a friend and giving Reiki became a very crucial part of my visit. There are of course more nuances to this story, but this experience reminds me of two things.
Trust the niggle. If you have a persistent thought about pursuing something (anything), trust your curiosity even if it doesn’t seem logically. You never know who you’ll meet in the process of learning the thing or who you might help with what you’ve just learned.
Surrender to the re-route. When there is resistance, trust it. Just because there’s resistance now, doesn’t mean it won’t happen ever (it just might not happen now). In the meantime, trust the timing of your life. When there is momentum behind something, trust it.
My zig-zaggy path to Reiki (like many others) is filled with deliciously serendipitous coincidences, trust in inklings and intuition, and a little surrender to the mystery of things —- much like a Reiki session itself.
In My Experience …
Reiki amplifies your other healing modalities as a practitioner.
You don’t have to attach a story to every sensation in a session.
It’s okay not understanding the “why” or the “how” and just enjoy the feeling of a session as a recipient.
I’m endlessly curious about the ways this energy likes to communicate in different bodies and different situations.
The mystery of it doesn’t cancel out its validity.
The practitioner isn’t doing the healing, the energy is. We’re both just witnessing the “sand re-settle,” or the body regulate itself.
More Reiki Stories
There are a million little discoveries about the way energy communicates during sessions, but one thing I believe to be true is that Reiki amplifies your other healing modalities as a practitioner.
My aunt was having lower back problems. Both my mom and I administered a little Reiki zap at the same time — and we felt different things. As a former Occupational Therapist, my mom has a greater understanding of the human body. It’s like she can see through people. She was drawn to put her hands directly on my aunt and was able to articulate exactly where the physical pain was stemming from in the body (and able to name the muscle/ligament that was inflamed).
As a Kundalini Yoga teacher, I feel more connected to the Subtle/Energetic body. My hands wanted to hover over my aunt’s body and I was tapping more into her emotions (feeling them peak in my body and then dissolve). I often have mantras or meditations come to mind that I later find out has a connection to what the person is striving to regulate. It’s the most curious practice and endlessly fascinating to see how energy will communicate with you and through you.
The Usui Reiki lineage
I am certified in Usui Reiki and have been attuned by Sarah Palmer (Levels 1 & 2) and Cat Fritz (Levels 3 & 4). Here’s our “Reiki Family Tree” and you can trace the line of Reiki Masters to Mikao Usui, himself. In addition to seeing Reiki clients virtually and in-person, I currently lead Reiki (Level 1 & 2) trainings in the Milwaukee Area. Check the schedule for the next Reiki Certification Training.
Have You Experienced Reiki?
Are you new to this modality and have questions? Ask away. Do you have a remarkable Reiki story? Tell me all about it. Feel free to leave a message here or email me at eb.heartwork@gmail.com.