an unexpected gift: my reiki story

My personal story with reiki began when I lived in Los Angeles and was facing a spiritual crisis. My intuition was telling me that there were some hard decisions that I needed to make, but I just didn’t feel strong enough to take the leap. 

→ I wanted to connect more deeply with my spiritual side because I wanted to feel confident and clear in my decisions.
→ I wanted to trust that I was being guided.
→ And I wanted to clear out any blocks I had to standing in my power. 

A trusted friend (who also happened to be my yoga teacher, Niki Marre) introduced me to reiki, and I started receiving monthly reiki treatments on the full moon.

Physically, I always felt more balanced, relaxed, and peaceful after a reiki session. It was like any anxiety or spinning thoughts melted out of my body.

Sometimes I saw colors or visions during these sessions. Other times I felt like I had taken a really good nap. I know this sounds bananas, but during one session I actually felt the energy flowing through me so powerfully that it felt like I was levitating off the table! (Niki confirmed she felt this too.)

Receiving reiki regularly at this point in my career where I was working with people mainly around mindset (coaching) and somatic release (breathwork) was powerful because it clued me into another layer at play beyond these two elements (and our spirituality). I started experiencing the energetic field, taking classes on the chakras, and learning as much as I could about energy, how it interacts with our physical bodies, and how it shapes our experiences.

It was in these sessions that I also learned about intuitive gifts that we all have where we receive information through our senses, particularly the gifts of clairvoyance (seeing), clairaudience (hearing), claircognizance (knowing), and clairsentience (feeling).

Because Niki had worked on developing these gifts in herself, she was able to give me intuitive insights about my healing.

She could sense where I had unhealed trauma, where a lack of self-worth was showing up, and even why I didn’t trust myself or feel resourced enough to make the big decisions that I knew I needed to make.

She relayed the intuitive information to me and we worked together to come up with healing strategies to help me integrate and manage these challenges. (this is the blueprint for how I now work with clients myself.)

Finally after COVID hit I took the big leap of faith that I had known I needed to for so long: I broke up with my boyfriend of 7 years and was left without a home for 6 months and unsure of what my next steps were. 

During this time I left all my belongings– including my kitties!-- behind in LA and moved into the family beach house in North Carolina during off season. I was isolated, alone, and really leaned on my spiritual connection to help me with my healing process and figuring out my next steps.

I decided to study reiki and become “attuned” in order to deepen my spiritual connection and receive more guidance and support during this time.

(In reiki, instead of certifications they call it “attunement.” While you are studying and learning information about the history, the how and the why of energy work, the reiki master also opens your energy field to be able to access and channel more universal life force energy.)

Studying and practicing reiki on myself helped me build confidence and connection with the unseen world around me. But it wasn’t until my sister came to visit in February 2021 that I had my first client.

She had been struggling with knee pain for a while, and the 3 flights of stairs in the beach house were just exacerbating the problem. One night after doing a little yoga together on the bottom floor, she encouraged me to try some reiki on her. So I did. At the end I said, “It may hurt a little bit more tonight but tomorrow morning it should feel much better.”

Why did I say that?! Haha I had no idea why, the words just flowed through me.
(my first experience with claircognizance)

I had to help her up the stairs to bed that night because the pain was so intense.

And the next morning, it was gone.

We were both believers.

Even still I had no intention of offering reiki as a service… I intended to keep this practice just for me.

After becoming attuned in reiki levels 1, 2, and 3 and subsequently moving to Miami Beach and starting my life over, I was sitting in meditation one day and very clearly received the message that I was meant to start offering reiki sessions as a service.

I didn’t know how it would look, and I had a lottttt of resistance but I followed the guidance and it has completely transformed everything for me AND my clients.

Through this practice I have honed my claircognizant abilities, meaning that I can also sense things intuitively that helps inform the recommendations I give for your healing. 

It is one of my favorite practices to start any new client relationship with because reiki not only allows you to just rest and receive beautiful, balancing energy, but it gives me some insight into what your energetic blockages and challenges are to guide our healing work together.

And because energy is not ruled by the traditional laws of physics, time and geography do not contain it. We can tap into anyone’s energy field from anywhere in the world (with their permission, of course). I actually prefer to perform distance reiki because it allows me to connect more deeply with your energy without distraction.

It is truly such a special, connective experience and I am so honored to share it with you.

If you would like to book a virtual session and experience it for yourself, you can do that here.