Geneva Robins and Angela Hoogeveen are talking about the weird nature of Reiki in this podcast episode! We love Reiki, and Reiki is so delightfully weird. It brings us to the edge of our knowledge and into the unknown mysteries of the Universe itself. We discuss why we think that Reiki is so wild, weird and wonderful.
Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!
Listen on YouTube or YouTube Music.
Angela shares what brought her to this wild Reiki thing. Something just felt right about Reiki. She leapt into the course with no intention at first of doing it as a job. She really followed her heart and trusted it.
Trusting the decisions that come from the heart, while at times confusing to the mind, very often leads to the best places. Sometimes the best decisions in life are ones where the brain does not get a vote!
The heart calling us to our purpose creates a wave of energy that gives the mind a vacation. For Geneva, she finds that the mind doesn’t know what to do; it just tries to keep her out of trouble. The ego mind keeps her on the ‘safest route,’ but that is never where the juiciest and most satisfying soulful choices live.
It can be very vulnerable to lead from the heart, but it is absolutely the best decision, at least for Angela and Geneva! When you follow those heart decisions, there’s a deep feeling of ‘rightness.’ It’s vulnerable but so worthwhile.
Vulnerability comes up when you follow your heart, but there is a space inside that is certain. We call that wise and quiet space inside your soul. The soul is eternal and isn’t afraid of anything. It has so many energy resources; it’s calm, certain, and grounded.
Courage is living from the heart space.
The ego is fearful, but it doesn’t have all the information. The ego will keep us stuck in discomfort and find better ways of managing it instead of following the wise guidance of the soul. Angela and Geneva are well-practiced at living in this soul space, and the choices from that energy have always been the best.
Practise following your heart with the little tiny choices in your day from the feeling of the fulfillment of your wishes. It creates a wave of potential energy in front of you and brings you your manifestation faster. Highly recommended!
Why is Reiki so Weird?
We love it so much, but it is truly weird. Reiki is all unseen, so sometimes, it’s difficult for the mind to grasp. Even though we have practiced Reiki for several years, we are still in awe of the process.
The word ‘weird‘ means supernatural or uncanny and comes from an Old Scottish term that means “a person’s destiny.” We think this fits perfectly as a description of Reiki!
Reiki takes you into the unknown and into the spiritual dimension. Reiki is universal life force energy from a quantum mechanical space beyond matter to the field that unites everything.
It’s weirder than you can think!
If quantum physics is new to you, a fantastic movie exploring the connection between the subatomic realm and our larger world is “What the Bleep do we Know.” Quantum physics is weird. The nature of reality is strange and difficult to understand, even from a scientific or spiritual view.
If you study the nature of the Universe, you eventually bump up against the edge of our knowledge and worldview. So, with Reiki, we dabble right up to the edge of the unknown, and that makes it weird to us.
How is it even possible to release a massive lifelong trauma and pain in a 5-minute Reiki session? We don’t know! But we’ve experienced it ourselves and have helped others do the same.
In the post, Quantum Leaps: How Reiki Works, Geneva explores this connection of Reiki to the weird mysteries of the Universe.
Reiki is the definition of weird.
It doesn’t make sense to the material-focused mind. In Reiki, we are directly interacting with the quantum nature of the Universe. As practitioners, we have a method to bring in this universal life force energy and direct it to a positive intention.
We practice getting the ego out of the way in Reiki sessions so the energy can flow smoothly. But honestly, it is not likely that the ego can understand it. Simply the intangible nature of Reiki causes the ego confusion. It pushes on the boundary between what is known and unknown.
For us, Reiki is like peering into the mystery of the Universe, which is wild and weird. Yet, we continue to see major changes in ourselves and in our clients, even if the mechanism is still being understood from a pure science point of view.
Reiki can help to shift the energy around you.
Reiki is inherently non-judgemental. It simply meets you wherever you are with grace, love, and unconditional support. We love that Reiki creates a space for all of the feelings and helps to transform and heal at a deep level. It helps to process the feelings and the energy residue in your body and mind.
We open up the energy in the room and create a space where people can connect to that universal life force, and it soothes and lifts the heaviness. As a transformative practice, Reiki has helped us move through so many things. Reiki helps with your spiritual well-being and fits very nicely with other forms of therapy.
How do you Stay Clear as a Reiki Practitioner?
We are protected and safe as practitioners because the Usui Shiki Ryoho System of Natural Healing gives us a very safe method to be in a very clear field of energy. It’s like standing in a waterfall of light, like being in a very special place of being a witness to someone’s miracle process.
Even when people are in a state of suffering, the Reiki energy answers it with an even more powerful flow of love, hope, and healing. We’re honoured and grateful to facilitate those big sessions for others. We get to witness other people’s growth and transformation; it is humbling and a huge honour.
When we are in the presence of a miracle, we know it because there is a win-win-win effect for all involved.
A Course in Miracles says, “Miracles are a kind of exchange. Like all expressions of love, which are always miraculous in the true sense, the exchange reverses the physical laws. They bring more love to both the give and the receiver.” Miracles are weird because we don’t understand how they work. But we experience them, and experience is always the best teacher!
Reiki helps us participate in the miracle process of another’s healing. And for that, we are extremely grateful!
Like this one? Catch the next – Episode 04 – Embracing Change with the Apple Tree Cycle
We have a new podcast episode every month! Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
You can send us your question in the comments below or record your question here: https://www.lunaholistic.com/podcast/
We are also very happy to share the gift of Reiki through our Giving Back Program! Every month, we give away free Reiki sessions to exceptional people.
Learn more here: https://www.lunaholistic.com/giving-back-program/
Book a Session
LunaHolistic Podcast Transcript
Why is Reiki So Weird?
Hosted by: Geneva Robins – LunaHolistic
Facilitated by: Angela Hoogeveen
Podcast Air Date: Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022
Episode: LHP03
0:05 Welcome to the show
GENEVA ROBINS: Welcome to the LunaHolistic podcast! I’m your host, Geneva Robins, and every month on this podcast, we’ll talk about Reiki, as well as answering your questions on all things spiritual. We are gratefully located in Calgary in Treaty 7 Territory. Thank you all, and welcome to the show!
Welcome, everyone; this is the LunaHolistic podcast. My name’s Geneva Robins, and I’m here today with Angela Hoogeveen, who is also a Reiki Master here at LunaHolistic. Hi, Angela!
ANGELA HOOGEVEEN: Hi Geneva!
GR: Thank you for being here with me today.
AH: Thank you!
GR: We’re gonna have a good time talking about all things Reiki, and I’m so glad that you could join me today. We’ll start, as we tend to do, with a collective breath of gratitude, just a little mini-meditation. So, for those of you listening, if you happen to be driving or operating machinery of any kind, don’t close your eyes right now. But everyone else, if you’re safe, and still, and you have 30 seconds to a minute where you can comfortably close your eyes, we invite you to close your eyes so you can go into a deeper world.
And just take a big sigh of relief. [sighs] That’s the stuff. And just let all of the energy travel all the way down to the bottoms of your feet, noticing the land below you, the Earth below your feet, and that comfortable tug of gravity holding you close. Feeling that settled, nurturing energy just below you.
Maybe take another big sigh of relief. And just feel a deep sense of gratitude for the land and all of its inhabitants, wherever you happen to be sitting, noticing the people around you, maybe sending a deep sense of gratitude to any Indigenous people in the land that you’re in.
Feeling a sense of warmth, and thanks to the plant life all around you, to the water, to the air and wind, to the animal life, wherever it happens to be. Just noticing all of the great benefits that come from having solid earth below your feet and sunshine over your head every day. Every day we get this.
And take another breath and expand yourself up big and tall, taking up all the space that belongs to you, your personal bubble. And when you’re ready, you can open your eyes.
Ah, thank you! Thank you, Angela.
AH: That was great.
GR: That was great.
Ah, so good. I love that stuff. Yeah, thank you for being here with me today. I love all of these Reiki things. And I’m so excited to talk to you today. Maybe before we hop into our questions today, you can fill us in about some of your Reiki backstory – so, how did you get to be here talking with us today? What drew you to this Reiki thing? [laughs]
AH: [laughs] This crazy Reiki thing!
GR: Yeah!
4:08 Angela’s background with Reiki:
AH: I was thinking about it. It’s actually been just over three years since I had my first session with you. I had known about Reiki for many, many years. Didn’t give it a lot of thought. A friend of mine, a number of times over the years, asked if I wanted to join him and take a Reiki course and, “yeah, no,” I wasn’t really that interested. And then I don’t even really remember what my motivation was to finally say, Okay, I need to have a session with the intent of hopefully then signing up for the course. I don’t know if you remember, but we hadn’t even had the session. And I said okay, I’m signing up for Level I. Sign me up! [laughs]
GR: Yeah. [laughs]
AH: It just felt right. It all felt right. And that first day, it was like, “Yep, okay. I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna be a Reiki Master.” Again, with no intention of doing it as a job. It was just to hopefully meet like-minded people, to go deeper into my own spirituality. And then, of course, the pandemic happened, I quit my extremely stressful job, and ended up becoming a practitioner at LunaHolistic. And it’s awesome.
GR: Yeah. It is awesome, it is awesome! [laughs]
AH: Yeah! [laughs]
5:39 Why you have to trust your heart to make the decisions:
GR: Yeah. It’s so wild, I think probably you more than any of the people that I have taught, you were one of the few where you just leapt in with your whole heart. I always trust those decisions that come from, like, deep inside. Like, it’s not even, like your brain doesn’t even get a vote. It’s not consulted in the process. There’s just something in you that says move forward, move forward this direction and do it now.
AH: Yeah, and that’s exactly how you phrased it, which I’m still sort of trying to reconcile. Like, my brain did not have a vote in it, so it all happened just, almost with my brain going, “Okay, yeah, I guess we’re doing this now. Oh, okay! Here we are.”
GR: Yeah, yeah. I think that’s like the definition of, like, a calling. Right, like that, like people talk about that often, of being called into it. And it’s something that’s hard to explain, because we have to use the mind to explain it. The mind wasn’t ever a part of the decision. [laughs] It was not consulted.
AH: Totally, that’s been my experience, yup.
GR: So, which I think is just wild. Every time that happens to me, that I get, like, a feeling inside and it moves me, that decision comes not from the logical mind, focus-centred, like, “Hmm, I’m going to plan this out. And I’m going to take this step and that step.” But it’s like, “No, this is the way to go. Just flow with it.”
Every single time I follow that calling of my heart, it always works out. It always works out. And I’ve learned to lean into it and trust it so much – so much so that all of the major decisions in my life all come from that heart-soul-deep energy.
And one of the experiments I started September of last year, I was like, “If I trust the Universe with all of my major decisions, maybe I can trust it with my task list.” Like, the little, tiny, day-to-day tasks. Like, if I trust the calling deep inside of my heart to decide, “Oh, you have to move your business to a new location,” – and I used my heart to decide which one to go to, you know? [laughs]
But I trust it with that, then maybe it can help me, it’s like, “Oh, okay, Wednesday at noon, you’re going to be, this is what you need to do now,” you know. So, I started doing that, and it is magic. I highly recommend just giving your brain a giant vacation.
The more I play around with that, the more I realize that the mind is just making stuff up. It actually doesn’t know what to do. It only knows how to keep us out of trouble. And it’s constantly scanning – or at least my brain, I can’t speak for other people’s minds – but my brain is always trying to minimise getting in trouble with other people and making other people angry by making the wrong choice, and never knowing exactly what choice other people want me to make. So, my mind just, oh, it takes me on little rabbit hole, squirrels, squirrelly – he gets squirrely.
8:49 Follow your heart with the little tiny choices because they add up:
And so, if I listen to my mind for my little tiny choices, it ends up taking me on the safest route, but not the best route. Safest to my ego route, safest for keeping me out of the unknown, and in its view, out of trouble, or decisions that will manage or minimise other people’s ego responses. So, my ego is busy trying to manage other people’s egos and make choices that will ruffle the fewest feathers, including my own, but it’s never the thing that is most satisfying.
And it’s never where the juiciest, most creative work is, but it’s also kind of terrifying because you get led into all these vulnerable places. And then you look back and be like, “Oh, I’m doing all this new stuff!” Like, but it feels right, so it’s like, it’s vulnerable, it’s nervy, taking those steps into the unknown territory, but everything in you says, “Go.” Like, “This is the way, this is – this is the path. This is where you’ll be free.” It’s not easy, but it’s entirely worth it.
So, if anybody out there is maybe stuck in a job that isn’t so nurturing, or in any kind of situation, you can follow your heart with the big moves, but I also think follow your heart with the little tiny choices, because I think they add up, every tiny step. If you make every choice and a point of joy, or when everything is resolved in your outer life, how will you feel? And you’re making the choice that matches that feeling.
So, maybe, in your perfect life, you’ll feel a sense of contentment and ease and relaxation. So, then you just choose things that bring that feeling, not what you think will bring you that feeling, but which one actually – you know, you’re given two routes home, like, really tiny choices, like I can take Crowchild or I can take Deerfoot. [laughs] We’re in Calgary, so people who live here know that both are terrible options!
AH: Awful! [laughs]
GR: [laughs] And so you can just feel into it, it probably doesn’t make a giant difference in terms of your day, but one will feel a little more open than the other. And I did that for years and it led me here, so I can only speak from my own experience – here is pretty great! It’s not without its challenges, but it is the most purposeful, soulful time in my life where I know every single day I am helping somebody, which is incredibly satisfying. That’s my little thing. How does that all sit with you, Angela?
AH: I totally agree with what you said. It’s definitely a challenge, especially for people like me who are very, like, list-driven, and I have to think everything through and weigh the pros and cons and be very practical. And so, doing this was absolutely not practical and didn’t seem like maybe the smartest decision at the time, but absolutely, it was the best decision.
I did the same thing when I moved out here, where I didn’t think it through – I just said, “You know what, forget it. I’m moving. I’m moving to Calgary from Toronto.” Actually, sorry, to Canmore. I moved to Canmore first.
But I had been at my job for 10 years, I sold my house, I left my family. People were shocked. I was kind of shocked, again, because I didn’t think it through – it was very much a heart decision. And now, gosh, I think I’ve been here for, like, 16 years. So, even though sometimes it can be very scary, like you said, you’re vulnerable, but definitely, it’s worthwhile. It is, for sure.
GR: Yeah. That’s where all the juiciest stuff lies, is like, at the end of the branch. [laughs] You’re quivering and quaking every single moment. But then, one part of you is, that’s one thing that I’ve been really exploring, because, FYI, this podcast makes me feel incredibly vulnerable. So, if you’re thinking about doing a podcast yourself, do it.
13:22 When you’re doing something that your heart says yes, it’s not all parts of you that are vulnerable:
And it might have your knees knocking, but I’ve been really exploring vulnerability, and when you’re doing something that your heart says, “Yes, do this.” And one of the things that I’ve noticed is that it’s not all parts of me that are vulnerable. There’s a space inside me that is completely comfortable. It knows that this is the path and there’s a solid, steady, warm, comforting feeling inside.
And then there’s another part of me that is freaking out because it’s all new. It’s what Brene Brown calls the FFT – the effing first time. [laughs] So, when you do something new, it creates a big wave of vulnerability, but vulnerability is just the feeling you have before courage kicks in. And I think courage, that living-from-that-heart-space, is underneath it all.
And so, it’s all about finding a practice that can get you connected into that heart space, that soulful space, the space that is eternal and isn’t afraid of anything because it’s lived forever and will live forever and is connected to all of the Universe and all of the Universe’s wisdom.
And that space inside you, you know, some people might call it the soul with a spirit, that space inside you has so much, so much resources of wisdom and energy and it’s calm, it doesn’t get ruffled by things. And when we can tap into that space then it can lead us through a whole bunch of turmoil that our mind gives us. [laughs]
AH: Yeah, but it’s, you know, the ego with all the fears that you have to wade through and get through to get to that space, that’s the challenge is not listening to that voice in your head that is fearful and telling you, “No, this is dumb, this isn’t gonna work. No, no, no. Stay where you are, stay safe.”
GR: Have the illusion of safety, even though where you are is incredibly uncomfortable. And so, our ego will keep us stuck, even though we’re literally dying. You know, we just can’t break out of the space we’re in, and feel like, kind of, underneath all of life, and it’s piling up, piling up, piling up. And ego will be like, “Well, that’s comfortable, so just stay there. We’ll just find better ways of managing the discomfort instead of moving into something that is unknown, because everything unknown is scary.” So, it’s just been my experience. I can only speak for myself. [laughs]
AH: Yep, nope, I’m there with you. [laughs]
GR: Angela, one of the questions that I get, and I know we’ve been talking about – we, you and I – have been talking about this for a while, which I always think is so funny, is, “Why is Reiki so weird?” [laughs]
AH: It’s so weird! [laughs]
GR: It’s so weird! And I, we both love it so much.
AH: A hundred percent, absolutely.
GR: So much. But yeah, it is kind of weird. And maybe someone is listening and they haven’t really explored Reiki, haven’t had a Reiki session. They don’t know much about it. Maybe they’ve listened to a couple of podcasts here or saw the word in different places, but it is kind of weird and it is kind of new. And [I’ll] let you answer this question. Why is Reiki so weird? Why is it so good and weird?
AH: Very, yeah, it’s awesome, but so weird, and, but I think it is weird, like, not in a derogatory way – obviously, I do it, I love it, it’s amazing and awesome – but it’s just so strange. And I think for me, because – again, I like lists and I’m practical, I like to see things – and this is all unseen.
And so, it’s hard for me to sometimes, I don’t even know, like fully grasp it because I don’t understand it. I know it works, and I mean, I myself have had huge, huge sessions. I’ve facilitated huge sessions. I have all the proof I need. I know it works. But it’s just how exactly does this work? [laughs]
GR: Yeah, yeah.
AH: So, yeah. So, it’s weird. It’s weird and wonderful.
GR: Yeah. And we Googled it, the definition of the word “weird”.
AH: Oh yeah.
18:12 The problem with googling things:
GR: And it actually truly is weird. I don’t have it in front of me so I have to use my brain. That’s the problem with Googling things – you have to load into your brain! So, “weird” means supernatural, the word weird. This definition is “supernatural or uncanny”. And it has an old Scottish definition, which means “a person’s destiny”, which I think is like, yeah, it is completely in alignment, and I love that we kind of had that talk about following your heart and following your destiny.
And it is truly weird, because it takes you into the unknown and it takes you into the sometimes unexplainable spiritual dimension, which is, by its definition, is “entering the mystery”. It’s going into the wilderness or going into, dropping into the Universe. Reiki’s definition is “universal life force energy”. So, it’s energy that comes from a plane of beyond matter.
So, in the subatomic realms, for a long time, they thought atoms are the smallest particle that made up matter, and atoms make up molecules, which makes up everything in our world. As they kept on doing these physics explanations, they found out that atoms weren’t the smallest thing – they found protons, neutrons and electrons. And then as they kept on drilling down into smaller and smaller and smaller particles, they discovered that it’s not really stuff anymore.
So, when you go way deep inside the centre of an atom or even the centre of an electron, it’s more like a wave of possibilities. It’s a whole pile of energy that’s superimposed upon all other forms of energy, and it’s all entangled. And it gets very, very weird down there.
And one of my favourite movies is What the Bleep Do You Know? Fantastic, if you haven’t seen it, it’s very, very much worth a Google and a watch. And one of the quantum physicists in there says that, “quantum physics isn’t just weird, it’s weirder than you can think.”
Like, it’s hard for us to even grasp, even from a strictly science nature, what matter is, what the stuff that makes up all the stuff, like the tables and the chairs and the notepads and the pens and our bodies and the planets and everything, the sun, this stuff of matter, it’s hard for us to understand what is happening there, because it’s sort of all happening at once. And it’s not like a solid thing anymore, it gets influenced by our thoughts.
And so, that’s sort of the weird basis for Reiki. Anybody who studies the nature of matter and the Universe from any angle, the deeper and deeper you go into it, whether it’s from a science point of view, or a spiritual point of view, you get to a point where you kind of shrug and go, “Well, I don’t really know what’s happening. It’s kind of weird,” which is sort of the edge of the barrel of our knowledge, but also maybe the edge of our worldview or the edge of our understanding, and we’re dabbling in it past to things that seem improbable or implausible.
So, how is it even possible that in a five-minute Reiki session, you can release a massive trauma that you’ve held your whole life and, or pain, and it’s just gone! You get, you leap from one state to another state. And I’ve been doing this since 2005. I know, many years. And when I’m present or participate or experience that big shift occurring for people, I can’t explain it either, which is I think what you say of, like, this stuff is so weird, because it doesn’t make sense to our linear, logical, material-focused minds.
22:42 What is Reiki and how does it work?
And honestly, there aren’t many things that we do where we’re directly interacting with the quantum nature of the Universe. So, the way that Reiki is described is, you know, it’s universal life force energy that underlies all matter, and it’s like a field of energy that exists everywhere in everything. And as Reiki practitioners, we learn meditation tools to connect to this universal energy, direct it through our body.
You know, that energy is called “ki”, there’s a “Rei-ki”. So, “Rei” means “divinely guided”, and “ki” means “energy”. And if you’ve done martial arts, then that will be a familiar word, is, it’s connected to “Qi”. So, it’s the energy that’s alive within you, it’s alive within everything around you. And in martial arts, we use Qi, or Ki is the Japanese version, to kick and punch. In Reiki, we use Ki to heal. It all gets directed with your intention.
So, as practitioners, we’ve learned ways of connecting with this energy, allowing it to flow through us like a wire and directing it to a positive intention. So, we chat with the person when they come in, [and] get their intention. And then we have a method, because Reiki also describes the method that we use.
So, there’s a series of steps that you get trained to do as a practitioner, to bring in this energy and to move it through safely. And then you focus on that positive intention. You see the person in that highest light, and basically help harmonize where the person is, where they’re vibrating right now, which we can learn to see, feel, and sense, with the energy of their intention.
So, basically matching up or bridging those two frequencies so that the person can feel and experience that connected and whole state. And then we surrender, which is also a big part of Reiki is getting the ego out of the way, the part that doesn’t know, isn’t capable of understanding – I don’t think our ego can understand it because it’s so far outside of its experience.
So, when we set that ego mind aside and just let the energy flow and also get out of the way of the outcome. It’s like, just let the outcome be the outcome, let the person take that energy wherever they go. Because a fundamental tenet of Reiki is that all healing is self-healing, that as practitioners, all we’re doing is helping that person connect to the energy that’s all around them, because sometimes that’s hard to do on your own.
It can be very, very hard when you’re in a place of suffering to connect to that universal well of goodness. So, we’re basically just the human in the room helping the person connect to their own flow. I love it so much, because when are you ever going to be done peering into the mystery of the Universe? For me? Never. But yeah, how does that sit with you, Angela?
AH: Yes! [laughs] But that’s totally it, the ego. Like, again, with me being, you know, so practical, and things have to make sense. And it doesn’t make sense, but it’s so transformative. You know, my past trauma definitely has been, maybe not healed 100%, but definitely, has helped me move through a lot of trauma. Yeah, it’s really been life-changing for me. Yeah. [laughs]
GR: Yeah. Yeah, it has, yeah, it’s such a good complement to other forms of therapy. So, it works so great with traditional talk therapy and EMDR, and other forms of, you know, cognitive behavioural therapy. It works great with physical therapies, and acupuncture, and all kinds of things. And Western medicine is a beautiful complement to that, is each thing that you do to support your health and wellbeing is like a wedge on the wheel, it’s a little piece of the pie.
And I feel like Reiki really helps with that sort of spiritual and emotional and energetic wellbeing piece, it’s really, really great. And because it’s at the centre, you know, if it’s a wheel and the middle of the wheel is your total perfect wellbeing, you know, we still, Reiki is amazing, but we still need to drink water, you know? We still need to have good connections with our loved ones. We still need to get outside and enjoy nature. We need all of those pieces of our wellbeing working together and the whole team working together.
And Reiki is so nice, because it fits very nicely in there. And I find it’s awesome for moving us to the next level. So, particularly when you sort of have done a course of treatment, there’s been an improvement, but now you’re ready for the next bit, it can kind of help you over that threshold into the new phase, so.
28:19 How Reiki can help you move to the next phase of your healing:
AH: Absolutely. I mean, just the other day when I had a session with you, and I was feeling so down, and just so crappy for quite a while. And then I had a session, and sort of all of that energy was cleared off of me so that then I was in a space where, then, yes, I could take it to the next level and do the other work that I needed to do to feel better. Yeah, definitely helps along the way. Absolutely.
Well, for me in that session, it cleared that black cloud that was around me. You know, when you have that black cloud, you don’t want to, or for me, anyway, I don’t want to do anything. I wasn’t doing my self-care, and my spiritual practice. But once that black cloud, that energy was cleared off of me, then I had the energy to, as I say, do everything else that I need to do to stay in a good headspace and a good frame of mind and to feel good and to be happy.
GR: Yeah, yeah. Where we are fluctuates from moment to moment, day-to-day, we’re dealing with different things, we’re still living in the world. And that’s also one of the things that I love about Reiki is that it takes you where you are, respects where you are. It’s fundamentally non-judgmental. It’s inclusive. It works with every faith background. It works with you and works with your energy. So, wherever you are, just, you’re just met with grace and love and unconditional support, and then it just moves you to, you know, often a better feeling space.
And that’s one of the things that I’ve really loved about Reiki as, for me, as my self-care practice, my main self-care practice, is that I’ve become less fearful of my, in quotes, “negative emotions”, or the uncomfortable ones, and have really opened up a more loving, gentle, and unconditional space inside me for all of my feelings. And as soon as I do that, those feelings, they have the space to move, and I don’t have to be in them as long, but I’m not trying to shoo them away.
The other amazing thing with Reiki is it’s actually transformational. So, we’re not putting, like, a happy face sticker on it, we’re not putting a Band-Aid on top of a gaping wound. It’s actually healing from the inside. And that’s, the thing is that sometimes there’s a lot of feelings in there. And so, you get help moving through those deep and sometimes painful feelings, but it’s actually like processing them, and clearing them out of your system, whatever doesn’t need to be there anymore, whatever energy you’ve already taken the learning and lessons from, you know, you’ve already talked it out with your therapist.
So, now you can come into the Reiki session, and you can clear it out of your body, you can clear it out of your energy, you know, body, and it has a way of, sort of, leapfrogging you from state to state to state. And, which makes it seem very weird and remarkable, like, how is that even a possible thing? But it is.
And it’s just, it’s just wild. And I just, I think some of the biggest sessions, I feel like I’m just standing there, you know, I’ve just opened up the energy in the space and brought the Reiki energy into the room and created the environment where a person can connect and breathe, and get that connection to that universal energy, clear off any of that heavy stuff, let it all go, and that kind of leads me to a question that you get asked a lot.
32:10 What happens when the negative energy gets displaced from the intention of light?
AH: As practitioners, how do we protect ourselves from taking on that energy? That other person’s energy that we’re trying to clear?
GR: Yeah, yeah, because a lot of that energy gets displaced, right? Because the negative stuff can’t, or – I don’t like using the word ‘negative’, but the uncomfortable stuff, the black cloud, you know, shall we say – can’t coexist in the same frequency as the intention of light and feeling good and feeling happy and feeling peaceful, which is usually where most of the intentions are headed. And so, as all that nice-feeling, comfortable-feeling energies are going in, it displaces the opposite.
And so, when that happens, as practitioners, that’s the beauty of the Usui Reiki system. So, we’re trained in Usui Shiki Ryoho System of Natural Healing. So, that’s its full name. There’s many, many, many different styles of Reiki; that’s our primary, that is our one at LunaHolistic, and so we are used to be Reiki practitioners. Master Usui was the founder of Reiki, and we can get into a little bit about Mastery Usui and his life, maybe in future podcasts.
But in the System, this Usui Reiki System, we learn a method to basically keep our energy completely separate from the other person’s energy. So, for me, it feels like standing in a waterfall of light. So, it’s all around me, it’s flowing through me, filling me up, and it’s all around my aura, my protective shield or bubble. And because I’m filling up with the flow of light, I get invigorated – I actually feel amazing. I get whatever that positive energy, that intention, energy, and frequency has been called in, that’s all flowing through me.
And so, I often feel really blessed to be a part of a session. So, even the big, heavy stuff, if people are moving through massive trauma, deep grief, just all kinds of things, like, whatever horrible thing you can think of, I’ve probably had a client who has experienced that or a part of it or has witnessed it.
And all I can say is in those sessions, it is amazing, because whatever the suffering is, and this is also a big piece of how I stay clear, is the nature of this loving Universe that we live in, that’s my belief, is that the fabric of the Universe is woven with love.
And that is what we are connecting with, is that whatever the suffering is, the love is about a million-billion times greater. It’s so much bigger than we can even fathom. We can’t even understand how much we are held in this unconditional web of love and grace. So, when somebody comes in with a huge amount of suffering, I feel the answer to it, which is amazing. It’s like having an angel step into, around you, over your body, flow through you. And you’re just the person holding the space. And it’s wild. It’s amazing.
AH: Weird. It’s weird! [laughs]
GR: It’s weird! Thank you, my favourite word is weird. How about you? How do you feel when you do Reiki sessions that are big and heavy for people?
36:02 Angela’s favourite part of being an empath is that she gets to be a witness to others’ transformation.
AH: When I facilitate a big session for someone, it is – it’s sort of, you can’t really describe how it feels. Like, I’m honoured to, you know, I really am honoured to do that. Even though the person might be in a lot of pain, like you said, it’s dealing with just a lot of hard, hard things and big feelings. And absolutely, I have empathy for them. But then, you know, after the session, for them to say, “Wow, like, I feel better. I physically don’t have that pain, and I feel lighter, and I feel relaxed,” and that things have shifted and changed.
And it’s, yeah, it really is an honour. I’m so grateful that I do this. And you know, and I think we’ve talked about before that being an empath has always been a negative for me, you know, when you have those big, big feelings and you take on energy, it was just, it wasn’t fun. But now, I am so grateful that I am an empath, because that allows me to feel all these things and to connect and to be able to do Reiki, I think, better …
GR: Yeah.
AH: … as an empath.
GR: Yeah.
AH: So, it’s hard to explain how satisfying it is, but it really is very, very satisfying and humbling that you’re able to help someone. Like, it’s actually the best feeling, really.
GR: Yeah, yeah, it is. It’s absolutely amazing. And when we step out of the way, it’s, I think, the best job because we get to be a witness to other people’s transformation. And that just blows my mind.
AH: I know in my own life, how much Reiki has helped and absolutely transformed my life. And yeah, and when people leave the Centre and they’re happy and they’re grateful and they’re excited, it makes my heart happy.
GR: Yeah, same, same.
AH: Yeah. [laughs]
GR: It is very, very nice to do this work. And it’s amazing. That also is a weird part of it, is that, you know, what other job do you get to go in and help people and the helping of them makes you feel good, it makes them feel good, and it creates a positive ripple throughout their whole – everybody that is connected with them.
It’s a win-win-win-win-win, which the Course of Miracles says that when you have, you’re in the presence of everybody winning, and everybody improves, there’s net benefit all the way around, that you’re in the presence of the miracle. And miracles are weird, because we don’t understand how they work! But we experience them. Yeah, amazing.
You, dear listener, if you’re interested in learning more about Reiki and how it works, we teach this stuff at LunaHolistic! You can check out the website. And you can also look for a – and [we’ll] put the link in the show notes – an article called, “Quantum Leaps: How Reiki Works,” where I go into a little bit more about how Reiki works, or how I feel it works, and a little bit about distance Reiki and all that amazing stuff. But thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Angela, for chatting with me today. It’s been a delight.
AH: Thank you, Geneva! Yes, yes!
GR: As always, our favourite subject! Thank you, Angela, and we’ll catch you next time.
GR: Thank you for joining us on the LunaHolistic Podcast. We’re so grateful that you are here. If you’ve got a question, we’d love to hear from you. Go to LunaHolistic.com/podcast and we’ll answer you in an upcoming episode. Be sure to subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And also, please rate, because you never know where your little five stars will go to shine light into somebody’s heart today. So, thank you very much and we’ll see you next time.
Leave A Comment