Ready Set Reiki
Welcome to ReadySetReiki®
A podcast about Reiki and Energy work. From the curious beginning to the seasoned Master Teacher. Welcoming all those who work with energy.
Join Reiki Master Tracy Searight as she guides you on a journey through this landscape of energy work. Each guest offers an in-depth unique perspective sharing their journey, which had 'a profound effect on their healing and development as a person. Come along on this journey and explore all the possibilities of working with energy.
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Tracy Searight is an Educator, Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master, Grandmaster, Sound Practitioner, Author, and Podcaster.
Find her on Feather Sister with Wellness living
offering training in 10 different systems of Reiki
Training in Chair Yoga, Yin Yoga, and Restorative
Ready Set Reiki
Episode #128 Jill Thiel's Healing Journey: From Childhood Curiosity to Reiki Master Teacher – Embracing Empathic Sensitivity, Spiritual Growth, and Transformative Healing Practices
After years of battling with crippling anxiety, Jill Thiel stumbled upon a life-changing coping strategy: Reiki. Her journey from a child fascinated by metaphysical subjects to a renowned Reiki master teacher is an inspiring tale of personal growth and transformation. Join us as Jill, owner of the Minnesota Reiki Center for Healing and Training, shares her unique path and the pivotal role Reiki played in her life. Despite growing up in a family unfamiliar with Reiki, Jill's innate empathic sensitivity led her to discover its profound healing potential. Her story is not just about mastering a craft but about finding balance between sustainability, spirituality, and the joys of living, working, and exploring the world.
Ever wondered about the initial hurdles in practicing Reiki? We delve into the common doubts that early practitioners face, exploring the anxiety around feeling energy and the misconceptions that often accompany the first steps in Reiki training. Jill provides valuable insights into how these doubts can be transformed into empowerment, with a focus on the subtle experiences unique to empaths. Learn about the significance of the Reiki Rahiho lineage and the 21-day waiting period post-training. Whether you're a curious novice or a seasoned practitioner, Jill's experiences and wisdom offer reassurance and guidance on the transformative journey of Reiki.
Jill Thiel, is a Usui Holy Fire Reiki Master Teacher and owner of the Minnesota Reiki Center for Healing and Training. Certified in Reiki since 2004 and teaching since 2007, Jill specializes in helping individuals heal and promotes overall wellness and self-care through Reiki and sound healing.
Additionally, Jill has trained with honorable Reiki teachers like William Lee Rand, Colleen Benelli, Pam Allen LaBlanc, and Patricia Naffky. As a Licensed Reiki Master Teacher with The International Center for Reiki Training (ICRT), she has completed over 1000 hours of advanced Reiki teacher training. Impressively, Jill is one of only 40 licensed Reiki teachers worldwide.
Also, Jill’s certifications include Usui Reiki Ryoho, Usui Holy Fire III, Holy Fire III Karuna Reiki, and ICRT Animal Reiki. She also serves as the director of social media and the assistant director of the Licensed Reiki Master Teacher training program for the ICRT. Furthermore, Jill is a published author in the Reiki News Magazine.
Plus, Jill’s dedication to spiritual growth and compassion spans her entire adult life. As a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, she studies under Lama Tsering, Chagdud Khadro, and Lama Padma from Chagdud Gongpa. She has received numerous empowerments, including Red Tara, Avalokiteśvara, and Medicine Buddha, from the Dalai Lama. Additionally, Jill worked as a massage educator at The Aveda Institute (2011-2017), gaining expertise in chakras, aromatherapy, reflexology, energy work, sound healing, meridians, massage, and Ayurveda.
Reiki Blessings,
Jill Thiel
ICRT Licensed Reiki Master Teacher
ICRT Director of Social Media
Assistant Director of the LRMT Training Program
mnreikicenter.com
Ready Set Reiki is a journey
From the curious beginner to the Season Master Teacher
All Energy workers of all systems and all levels.
Thank you.
Speaker 2:This is Ready Set Reiki, a podcast about Reiki, the universal energy life force, From the curious beginner to the seasoned master teacher, welcoming all systems, all lineages and all levels. Reiki is a journey and not a destination, and on this Ready Set Reiki journey, I refer to myself as a guide rather than host, because I too am traveling, supporting others and learning on this Reiki journey as well. And with that said, I am your guide, tracy C Wright. And today, what a privilege it is to have Jill Thiel. Now she is a Reiki master teacher and owner of the Minnesota Reiki Center for Healing and Training. Now she has been certified in Reiki since 2004 and teaching since 2007.
Speaker 2:She specializes in helping individuals heal and promote overall wellness and self-care through Reiki and sound healing. Now she is a licensed Reiki master teacher with the International Center of Reiki Training Her. Now she is a licensed Reiki master teacher with the International Center of Reiki Training. Her certifications include Azui Reiki, Rahiho Azui, holy Fire 3, holy Fire 3, corona Reiki and the ICRT Animal Reiki. Now she also serves as the director of social media and the assistant director of the licensed Reiki master teacher training program for the ICRT. Furthermore, she is a published author in the Reiki News Magazine. She is dedicated to spiritual growth and compassion spans her entire life as she is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. Additionally, she worked as a massage educator at the Aveda Institute, gaining experience in chakra, aromatherapy, reflexology, energy work, sound healing, meridians, massage and art of Aveda, and she owns the Minnesota Sound Healing with her husband, david. They teach healing classes, offer group sound healing sessions and sell crystal tones, singing bowls, jill. Welcome to Ready Set Reiki.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 2:I know it is. I'm so excited that you're here on this journey, so let's begin together. So tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3:Well, I live in Minnesota, Minnesota Reiki Center for Healing and Training. I've lived in Minnesota my whole life. I like to travel. I'm married and have a dog, no kids, so it's just us, and so we get to travel a good amount, my husband and I and my dog. So we've got a little Australian shepherd toy little dog that she's easy to bring everywhere, so she travels with us. We like to go to beaches, and when we're relaxing I tend to work a lot. So, having your own business, you're kind of always working. So we try to get some good downtime going to places like Utah and Sedona, but also just going away to a beach somewhere just to relax. Other than that, I'm a gardener and I'm into sustainability and spirituality, buddhism, but I also just like to relax and take it easy and just. You know, sometimes just do nothing.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. Just, you know, sometimes just do nothing Beautiful. So we're on this journey today about something that's called Reiki. So tell me about Reiki. When did it come into your life? Did you find it or did it find you?
Speaker 3:Well, I would say maybe a little of both. When I grew up, there wasn't?
Speaker 3:I didn't know anything about it growing up, so I didn't grow up in a family that did Reiki or was part of anything metaphysical. It was something, though, that I was always interested in as a kid, so I, you know, was always drawn to like astrology and dreams and palmistry. You know various different things, telepathy I mean. I would, you know, find myself in the library at the time, in that section of the books way in the back where it's all together, and you know you're looking at clairvoyance, and you know these various different things, and I was always just so fascinated by all of that stuff. But, you know, we didn't have social media and everything you got was at the library, and so I didn't know about.
Speaker 3:Reiki. But that kind of stuff always influenced me and I tend to have friends who were also interested in that. I had a variety of friends growing up but you know, I would have those friends and we would talk about that kind of stuff and crystals and and I originally worked as an artist and a designer and a singer and so that's my background and I, when I was in my twenties, I started noticing that I was having like anxiety and I didn't really understand that I was having like anxiety and I didn't really understand that I was an empath, that maybe I was taking on people's stuff. I knew things. You know I had all of these. You know I know things. Things are happening. You know phenomenon, paranoia, all that not paranoia, but paranormal stuff was happening and so I was really kind of I mean, it was showing up all around me but I didn't have any tools or know how to manage it.
Speaker 3:And you as a teacher know, like you know, people come into Reiki classes and it's kind of their first introduction to a lot of things. They've been reading about various different things but it's not the same as some of the other modalities out there. So actually a friend had recommended that I try it. She said you know you should try this. I didn't know what it was but I thought I'll try it. So I really liked it. I had a Reiki session and then I had got a few more Reiki sessions over time. Then I realized you could learn Reiki. So I didn't know that at first, I guess I just kind of thought, if you were a healer, you were ever. You're special, you know, you're born with these things. And then at one point in my life I was in a crossroads, and that was, you know, back then in 2004. And then I was guided to take a Reiki class. So originally my first Reiki class wasn't thinking that I was going to be even doing Reiki professionally.
Speaker 2:It was like I'm just going to take Reiki for me.
Speaker 3:And I like this and I can learn it and it seems really cool and I'm starting to, I'm feeling better, I'm noticing these changes and stuff. So that is how I took my first Reiki class and it was a Reiki one and two class. Um, it was just through somebody local. Uh, there were, you know, there were maybe one or two people offering Reiki then, and so it was um and it was a good experience and that um led to many changes over the next couple of years around me and I started to notice the benefits of Reiki from that. So that's how I got into it.
Speaker 3:So I think a little bit. I feel kind of like it found me, but I also feel like I found it and, thinking back, it's just amazing how far and what has happened from from finding Reiki or finding me Right, and I mean just to think, as you stand here on this journey, looking back at 2004, that you were going to eventually have the Minnesota Reiki Center in healing and training.
Speaker 2:I mean, how amazing is that where this took you?
Speaker 3:It's, you know, better than I could have expected. I never saw myself. I mean, I pretty much saw myself probably doing art for the rest of my life and I love art and it's interesting because I don't do art anymore. I mean I do like take photos and I like nice things and you know, I design social media. I mean I'm still designing, I'm still you know, just in a different way, but I'm not like selling art anymore.
Speaker 3:And I kind of at that time. It was like you know, since I was a kid, I'm like I'm an artist. And then, boy, did my beliefs and identity change when.
Speaker 2:I realized wait a minute.
Speaker 3:I think I want to help people, yeah, yeah, and so it's one thing I always tell people is that when you find Reiki, your life, you know, will turn out better than you could have even expected, Because a lot of a lot of our life we limit our abilities and what we can do based on all of our cultural programming and conditioning, growing up and build our lives around other people's expectations and and even though I love doing that and and you know, and, and you know, I mean I could do it.
Speaker 3:Obviously it was what I was doing, but in my heart it really wasn't like what I was meant to be doing, Sure, and so it's kind of hard when you feel stuck in a lot of people coming into Reiki feel stuck and Reiki, kind of you know, helps you to in a lot of ways to well, especially with the holy fire that you know, even revealing the authentic self, and sure I was, I was clearing and healing, you know, before holy fire, but obviously the benefits, as you know and I do, of holy fire and higher levels of consciousness and it's, it's a beautiful energy and so healing and powerful. Um, but reiki in general is just like the journey of Reiki is just amazing in so many ways.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I began my journey as you did, studying the Azui Reiki Rahiho, which is wonderful, but then you know that holy fire took you in a whole other direction.
Speaker 3:you in a whole other direction you know that culturally created self, you know. So, yeah, and before I was working, you know, as a massage therapist and as well, and I think we're going to talk about that. But I mean, I even branded under a different name and so, like my first Reiki business to the Minnesota Reiki Center and Healing and Training was kind of came with that holy fire energy. There was some empowerment that came in. That was like, hey, it might be time to, you know, have a different brand now and and and. So the growth with Reiki it continues, yeah, right, and as you study, study, corona, and then the same thing.
Speaker 2:So we seem to have similar paths. That we did. You know, I did the Corona, then I did the animal, and the animal was just abundance. I kept getting animals, they kept arriving. Oh nice, I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, right, so it kept showing up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. Yeah right, so it kept showing up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that. So you have been certified since 2004, teaching since 2007. You have your Minnesota Reiki Center for Healing and Training and you went through the ICRT program and now you are assisting, you know, an assistant director of the Licensed Reiki Master Teacher Training Program. So, with all of these things that you have experienced over the years, what is a common misconception that you find about Reiki?
Speaker 3:Well, that it's religious or that there you know that there's a lot of projection of you know that, you know that there's religious things going on with it.
Speaker 3:Um, also, maybe that you need to be special or have gifts or abilities are a couple um that come in that, and most people, once they get to the point where they're ready to sign up, they they've been guided enough to know, but they still might have that belief or that insecurity that they need to heal around that.
Speaker 3:There are other ones, but I feel like religious trauma and self-doubt come up the most in the early Reiki classes for people, and so those, I think, for me, are my top two. I'm sure other people have different ones, but I feel like I'm helping people, um, through some of those those uh things, uh a lot, and maybe it's just kind of cause, you know, maybe I can help people in those. So that kind of you know, um, either way, um, it's, it's, I like to help people through that. So that's, that's great and so that's. You know, a couple of main things and I know, you know, the Holy Fire energy does heal religious trauma, and so we know that. But a lot of times in those earlier Reiki one and two classes, just a lot of the doubt around there.
Speaker 3:You know, am I any good at this? You know, am I getting validation around this?
Speaker 2:Some of those things, oh yeah. And then they panic because you know they've heard somewhere along the lines that if you don't feel it in your palms, it's not working and they'll get nervous and they're like it's not working and it's like well're like it's not working and it's like, well, if you're an empath, you're gonna feel it everywhere.
Speaker 3:so yeah, exactly be open to the little things that come up you know, on the journey and and um, and then you see it, and then you see him shift in like six months to a year, and then it's like oh yeah, now here, let me help, I can help you now you know, and it's yeah, it's fun to see those changes yeah, the uh lineage of uh Reiki Rahiho that I went through you would take, you would finish your training and then you would wait 21 days and we did we
Speaker 2:would do the Reiki principles on ourselves, self Reiki, for 21 days. After 21 days we would go back to our teacher to get our certificate and she could see the difference from like that first time I stepped in, you know we all stepped in that day to those 21 days is the shift. So that was quite an interesting journey there. You know, uh, whereas holy fire, you know you do the training one day and then the training the next. But it's interesting to have those 21 days to see the progress after, yeah, and what a difference it could make, yeah, yeah. So you uh worked in massage educator uh, chakras, aromatherapy, reflexology, uh, healing meridians and sound healing, all of these things, and also taking time with yourself to have spiritual growth and compassion that spans over your whole adult life, helping those with their challenges or struggles. But what's something that you faced in your own healing journey?
Speaker 3:Lots of different things have come up. One of the main things that I had was some health issues come up. I had developed some autoimmune conditions. A lot of folks have gone through these. You know the heavy metals and you know parasites and chemicals and mold and developing into various different viruses and autoimmune conditions that you can get diagnosed for but you don't get diagnosed for and you go through this whole little loop of not trusting the medical system but then learning how to trust the medical system again and um, but at one point I thought I was going to die I got so sick and that was a big um shift in my mindset where I had to like I really, really learned about setting boundaries. Yeah, I was doing a lot of different things. You know I was running my own Reiki business. I was running a gardening business.
Speaker 3:I was growing food for chefs and you know CSAs and you know setting up other people's gardens doing my garden, teaching at the Aveda Institute, and as I was trying to get my business going, I had all of these other gigs that were, you know, which were all great, but in my heart it was like what do you really want to be?
Speaker 2:doing this is great.
Speaker 3:You're good Again you're good at all. You know you're good at these things, but what do you really want to do?
Speaker 3:And and um, you know, and I was sick and it's like, well, you know, I kind of remember thinking like, if you know, really like in part of Buddhism, you know, you contemplate things like impermanence and it helps you cultivate more gratitude by recognizing the limited time, and and so there's, there's things there that we do, and so this heaviness of that kind of came up, like if I wasn't here, like if I died tomorrow, what, what do I want to be doing today? And and because I was so sick and just like you know, I mean, my days were spent going to treatment, after treatment, for treatment, and that went on for like five years and it was, and I had Reiki guiding me through it and you know the, but it was still like it didn't necessarily like cure me from it, right, and so I wasn't expecting that to happen, but it was amazing how it provided resources, I mean I could think about something like oh, it'd be really great to find this type of person, and that person might show up as my clients, like that week.
Speaker 2:And you're like.
Speaker 3:OK, or they know somebody, or you go somewhere and you have a feeling about this doesn't seem right. So you don't waste your time going down various opportunities, or you you find these sort of interesting things that maybe you never thought that would work, or you have empowerment and guidance of other things that you can do, and so this whole thing around you know, and working in my health and detoxing for years and years and all of these things getting trying to get better it was also when I developed the Minnesota Reiki.
Speaker 3:Center, so it was sort of like you know, I've got this huge health challenge going on now and if it doesn't, if I make it through this like.
Speaker 2:This is what I'm going to do, so.
Speaker 3:I did, I sort of cleared all of these other things off and got serious about it, but I had to like really dial back because my energy was really low and you know I couldn't move for times and things. It was. It was not not fun time, but I got through it and I still deal with some autoimmune conditions and things like that. But I've obviously made it through the worst of it and now have other people that again find me and so forth, because a lot of people go through that and through that too. There's also a lot of people go through that and and through that too there's also a lot of trauma that I realized that had come out. So it's kind of like there was a health thing but it was directly related to emotional stuff, um, so kind of in going back to something really big, that Reiki helped me with, um, clearing a lot that, but then helping me really to kind of step into, you know, like where I really wanted to be with Reiki and and I also noticed my Reiki got a lot stronger after.
Speaker 3:So, as I was clearing that, like just moving some of this stuff through my connection and my trust and all of these things, so it's kind of like everything came up to purify and heal and it was really intense for many years but then got through it and and here I am and so so I still, you know, I'm trying to take really good care of myself and I'm still growing and healing, but I feel like the energy has helped me.
Speaker 3:I've had major clearings just in general, on the physical, on the emotional and on the spiritual levels.
Speaker 3:And I would say the physical level was probably the hardest during the physical body and doing that because it was painful. Yeah, yeah, it was painful, like the stuff that you know kind of had gotten binded, I would say, in there and kind of all stuck. But once that stuff kind of got moved out and started flowing, it rippled into everything else around me, so it affected everything and my business and everything all also grew along with. As I was healing and clearing, I was able to reach more people. And so yeah, so that's.
Speaker 2:that's probably one of the major ones, because health is very important and a lot of people find Reiki because of health-related reasons, Right, and sometimes when you're in this, many think because I had like a little glitch with blood pressure and someone had mentioned to me but you do so much Reiki that shouldn't happen. Well, it's like we're human, you know things happen, but we have things in our energetic toolbox to help us through this.
Speaker 3:You know Absolutely, and yeah, and I tell people like it's not going to prevent life from happening, but it can help you manage the stress and we still have, like we have karma because we have bodies. And so we will get sick, we will get old and we will die, and that is the life cycle. And but we will not be as happy and as healthy by if we don't have Reiki, that process, could you know? It could always be so much worse. And so.
Speaker 3:Reiki can always make it better. Yeah, but we're going, we're going. We do have to navigate through and it's not easy living in the world.
Speaker 2:I even mentioned that to my doctor about what my friend said. He said, yeah, and he said exactly what you said. It could have been a lot worse if you didn't do the Reiki and the yoga and all the other things that. Imagine that wasn't a part of your life. How would it have been for you?
Speaker 3:So yeah, yeah, I think sometimes people feel like, if you're in work like this, you know like they will project that like, oh, you got sick or something happened, and it's just like people get sick and you know we're not immune to, you know, and those sorts of things, on a lot of sense are are kind of karmic things that come up as part of our life and and so we're not going to, you know, be able to run away from that. But, yeah, definitely, managing it and making it easier, um, is one of the main benefits, because we can't always cure everything, um, and you know, yet you can still, you know, be healed or have had healing happen, but it may not cure you know something, because we're going to, our human lives are going to run their course. Wonderful, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, when it is time for you to get an energetic tune-up, what are some qualities that you look for in a Reiki practitioner?
Speaker 3:Well, transparency. I like that people that I can see the information, that it's not hard to see. You know what you know about them. Where they've received training from, I don't care. I guess, like how long people have been doing Reiki, it's more about the feeling of their energy and just like presenting themselves in an honest way so I can really understand what way, so I can really understand what you know. So I guess, like in reading or seeing what they're doing, like I want to be able to get a good impression.
Speaker 3:I don't want it, I don't, you know years ago, I mean, I used to maybe go for people that have like really long lists of different things that they would do and you would like show up and they're like oh well, I just like, you know, read about that. And you're like okay, what? So you know, I realized that sometimes having more isn't always better, yeah, and so that's where it's like I don't really care how long you've been doing it, but I just like it. I want it to feel like this. Is that you know?
Speaker 2:what you're doing, right, right, right. When I started my journey, it was like, okay, because I came from an educational background, I have to have that certificate to mean something. And then it was, almost you know, I felt called and pulled to different systems, going to these different systems, and then, before you know it, it's quite a long list of like oh my goodness, it was overwhelming what it was and I in the beginning used to list everything and I think it was Colleen. I got her certificate and I'm like, wait, she just has Reiki master teacher in here. She doesn't have all the many, many things that she, you know, is qualified to do.
Speaker 2:And then something shifted in me and I said, okay, I'm just gonna put Reiki master teacher. And that shifted and changed it as well. Because the people that come to me, it's always like I felt called to you, I had a dream about you or I felt your energy and it didn't matter what the list of credentials that I had, they felt the energy. It's like, wow, this is powerful, I can feel it from you. So I stopped listing, like all those things.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah exactly, yeah, yeah, so I get that and I it's more powerful, like the energy people feeling like you know like having that transparency and just it's okay, Like. I mean. I have knowledge in a lot of other things too, but I'm just, they play a little part, but I don't really like consider myself an expert in those things.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and there's no expert, because someone had said that you're the master and I'm like but am I? I mean, there's no, there, it's keeping going. And I said I learn as you do as well. You learn from every student, right?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, yeah, yeah, so those are. I mean, that's kind of I would say, I guess maybe kind of just like a feeling of you know very same, like with you, like you just kind of know when it's somebody that's good for you, there's an energy, and that's that is kind of one of the important things about having a business that it is more than like a website.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a bunch of credentials, like there is an energy and in Reiki you know, there's the business part, which is like your marketing, and all of that, and then there's the inner work, and the inner work needs to match the, the marketing. Sure, you can have really good marketing, but if it isn't there, it's different than you know selling like a product, it's a very personal product.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then with you know COVID coming. One of the silver linings of COVID is there was so much more accessible online right that you add a little bit of that time to. Ooh, I always wanted to do that, I've been waiting to do that, and so you could pick and choose. So I think many of us in this field we do have a few more. It's not just one thing, we have many others, which is all part of who we are.
Speaker 3:So yeah, and I think definitely having um doing other things is part of the um path and that's great and it's helpful. And it's definitely helpful in having a business, because it might be difficult in doing just one thing, Um, but then it's kind of honing in on what, what would go really well with you in doing that. So the combination works really well together and it's the most beneficial because you know the because, yeah, there's just so many different directions that Reiki practitioners go with their practices like medical kind of of more woo-woo, you know.
Speaker 3:And then there's kind of more bodywork style and you know, and they're all effective, but they all work like differently.
Speaker 2:They just have to be energy.
Speaker 3:But my, you know, coming with a bodywork background, is a lot different than you know, like a medium background or something like that Sure sure, the session is going to be a little different and, depending on what you need, I just want to be able to connect with that person before and feel that energy to know this is what's going to help me Very good, yeah, so you have your own training center.
Speaker 2:You are the assistant director of the licensed Reiki master teaching program, so you are around a lot of people who are leveling up. And what advice do you give someone who's just beginning to enter this beautiful modality known as Reiki?
Speaker 3:Well, that I think that practice is really important and also working on yourself is really important. But follow your inner guidance with Reiki. I think that a lot of us, in where we are and we're living in the Western world, we have more analytical, logical thinking with Reiki. So we tend to. Some people want to come in and like how do I do Reiki? How do I do it? And you know, and I'm always like, well, it's more like being than doing. You know you're, you're not really doing it, but yes, you're there and so you know to to just kind of start to work on using the Reiki ideals and the Gassho meditation and the practice to start calming the mind and to start shifting away from the logical, analytical thinking and start to listen deep within. Um part of my journey, when I kind of realized that I want to do Reiki full time, I found myself at a crossroads and then going to Mexico and basically like living on a beach for winter, and this was we had cell phones, but we didn't have iPhones yet at this time.
Speaker 3:But, there was still a lot of people were using cell phones and computers and you know there was social media and things. So I mean it was getting, you know, like people were getting sucked into that world. But like when I just went in that had that time to calm my mind and to kind of shut things off, and how I could now listen, oh, this is what it sounds like my intuition sounds like, and so I really started to feel the calling in my next steps and what I needed to do. And it takes a little time, so one I mean I would kind of suggest to people don't try to rush it, just like take this time to focus on you. You know, use these tools that you have to sort of start to heal things.
Speaker 3:And not everybody might not be able to go to a beach in Mexico. I mean, that's just kind of where my life took me. But the important thing to take away was that I had to get away from all of this outer influence that was keeping me in my head. That was like making me sort of think maybe I can't do Reiki. And then when I realized like now I'm not thinking about these things anymore, like I really can do Reiki, so being patient and giving yourself time.
Speaker 3:But also I encourage people to move on in Reiki taking Reiki one, taking the masterclass, taking the Karuna class, taking animal Reiki, retaking classes as another perspective, because you always keep healing If you keep taking the classes working with the energy so you can keep healing. Because you don't realize that if you keep working with Reiki, how you do keep healing and how, like, part of the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing is because I kept going on my Reiki path. In the beginning I didn't know that I could do it at all. As I mentioned, it was like I didn't even think that. You know, I thought you had to be special to heal.
Speaker 3:Um. So I mean, if I would have stopped at Reiki one and two, though I had had healing happen, um, I wouldn't probably have my own business. Um, because more healing happened as I went on and as I walked into it. I wasn't planning on teaching, and I meet so many people that are like I'm not going to teach, and then they go guess what I'm being guided to teach.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know this right.
Speaker 3:I mean there's.
Speaker 3:It's fun to like have Reiki stories because you realize like, oh yeah, other people have these stories too and it's and, and you realize there's, there's the you know the Reiki journey and and the realize there's the Reiki journey and it's all a little different for each person, but there are some common things that come up with people and so I encourage people to just keep going on, because you never know where it is going to lead you and you don't have to teach or have a practice or a business to be successful, and just the spiritual, the physical and all of the emotional benefits that Reiki and the stress relieving benefits is amazing.
Speaker 3:So you know, I'm not trying to get people to be practitioners unless they want to be a practitioner but just have access to the energy and the healing and then to focus on them and and allowing the energy to clear and to encourage them, if they're feeling guided to do other things and work with other people, to go on that journey and to continue healing. And then when they, you know, kind of get out on the other side, they're going to look back and see that their life has completely changed and it's even better. And even if they have a good life, they're still better having Reiki in it, because there are other barriers and things that that shift away as we change our inner energy and then how it affects the outer energy around us. So, yeah, I really want to empower people with the energy and, to you know, really want them to go as far as they can so they can heal the things.
Speaker 3:And it's also, I feel like it's really amazing for people to be in there this life and to recognize and to find that and then have energy to do the healing work because, as we know, it's really hard to do it and it can be very hard to like face that um, when it's so much easier to just be distracted and get sucked into the fear, um, and, and you know the, the negativity and the fear um, and the competition and everything around you, um, and it's a lot harder to like Um, and it's a lot harder to like whoa making boundaries, you know, like, you know becoming empowered, um, and so some of that as it rises up from us, it's like whoa.
Speaker 3:You know, reiki can be very surprising because we don't often know oh, I didn't, I didn't know that that was there, I, you know. But then we go, oh my gosh, and I mean I see people like I mean physically change, like, like, like. They literally like become completely different people, right, right, and so that is like one of the really beautiful parts and I've seen it in my own work, and so it's like I can share this. But then they experience it and and I and I love that, and so I, you know, I really just tell people just keep going, keep going on. Your healing journey is really.
Speaker 3:I feel like, once it comes in and you have this option and it's like you know, keep going on it, However fast or slow you want to take it, but keep working with it, because this is how you'll really you know, you'll improve your life if you do that.
Speaker 2:Very good. So what books do you recommend? What?
Speaker 3:books. Well, I read a lot of well, you know what? I actually read a lot of more types of books, not on like that kind of stuff. I do a lot of like more Buddhist training type things. Some of the books and things that I would be reading are not necessarily books that are accessible. I guess I don't really pick up kind of the normal books like hey, you know, get these books, get these books. I also you know that are like on the bestsellers. I'm reading more books.
Speaker 2:That would be very confusing, that's okay, it's part of the Minnesota Reiki Center for Healing and Training Library.
Speaker 3:So on that sense, like you know, I mean, in recommending some of those, those are difficult to say. But I am also like reading a lot of different things in sound healing and you know I tend to. I have dyslexia, so my, my reading books is different. It's like I need these tools and techniques, these spiritual tools. So it's always one of those sort of interesting things where I'm like my brain kind of works in a different way.
Speaker 3:So I read books, but I read books differently for different things. I absorb a lot of my information, like through talking and training and listening, and then I will use books and manuals and various things that maybe people would be like. I love doing that, you know. But as far as like reading this, you know there are so many amazing books out there and people have really amazing recommendations about that.
Speaker 3:Like I don't typically go into those books, um, and I think that they're wonderful, but it's just not really what I'm drawn to, um, but some of the training through like the Buddhism and reading some of the books through like Tibetan authors and things like that, and reading some of the books through like Tibetan authors and things like that, those are very powerful for me, but they would be like, okay that I don't think I can read that book. That one might be a little bit over my head.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, Translated and well, and you're getting it through. Like you know, paid my publishing and these kind of obscure texts and various things tend to be where I go.
Speaker 3:So, yeah so, but a really nice sound healing book that I was reading was by a Shana, and she put out a really good book. This last year. Geraldine Glass put out a really nice book. Um, as well, I'm kind of like, you know, kind of getting into um, some of those um in some of the crystal alchemy and the alchemy bowls and things which are sort of a newer technology you're seeing a lot more of that showing up.
Speaker 3:so those sorts of books have been um drawing my attention um john boulet Tuning Forks so my brain is kind of down the technical side Sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wonderful, wonderful. So what other services do you offer? Do you offer classes, events, trainings, and where can we find you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I teach Reiki, of course, and I teach a lot of Reiki classes and I also teach sound healing, and so those are the main courses. Actually, we just launched Minnesota Sound Healing, like a couple of weeks ago. I've been doing that for a while. I have a background in music. I'm a classically trained singer and piano player and flute and my husband's part of that business and he also plays instruments, and so when I was in massage at some point, I kind of got burnt out because I'd been doing it for like 15 years and you get kind of worn out doing that.
Speaker 3:So I was called back into sound healing, back in like 2018, and then I eventually kind of moved out of massage and then into the sound healing and then now that's a full thing and I incorporate that like into my sessions and my classes and my reiki classes and that I've had enough people over the years be like are you going to teach us this? And so for like the last five years, I've been listening around Reiki and working to write a course and how will this work? And it's kind of like gone back and forth Is it a Reiki, sound healing course? Is it? What? Is it? What is it. Actually Is it, what is it? What is it?
Speaker 3:Actually not long ago. Then I was teaching a Reiki class and I had a download of information on kind of how it would all happen and then I was like, oh OK, so part of it was that I would sell bowls. So you can see, behind me I've got some bowls here that I didn't really think that I was going to sell. I never really have sold products before, or you know that just hasn't been on my journey. But it kind of came to me like well, if you're going to teach classes, you know people are going to ask you where they can buy them and of course there's a lot of resources out there, but it is helpful to maybe, you know, have what you're teaching.
Speaker 3:Right, right, right, so it kind of you know, something that I had thought of, but then it just kind of became known that it would happen and so everything just like moved forward from there and then that business, within a couple of months, everything just kind of all came together. So we did write a manual speaking of things.
Speaker 3:Another thing, another book that I'm working working on writing a book don't have time to read any right now, but writing this manual and putting that all together, and so I have that written and then my husband's really good at editing and stuff, so we're cleaning that up and so we'll, we'll, we will be releasing a book. Sound healing level one course, and so that that's exciting because that is I just launched that and all three classes like sold out in a couple of days. So it was like OK, I think that you know people are feeling it and wanting it and people have been asking. So that is that's, that's really what I do. I really focus on, just like the Reiki classes and then now the sound healing.
Speaker 3:My Reiki classes have been pretty busy. I mean, I typically teach two to three Reiki classes a month, icrt, various things with them, and then just you know, all the logistics and running the business. So now adding another business on means I have to cut out some of the Reiki classes in order to accommodate some of the sound healing courses that are coming in and that new part of the business.
Speaker 3:But that is a lot of fun because it has been something that I've been kind of manifesting for about five years now and um, and it's exciting to bring that in and to bring something that I really enjoy doing which is working with sound and Reiki and frequency and intention um and the amplification of sound Um, so that that keeps me very busy, just kind of just doing those things Um. Over the years I have, you know, worked in a lot of other avenues um and other types of things, and then now it's very focused on this and then I'm hoping to bring more sound healing classes um, a level two and even some courses around like working with the voice um tuning forks and some other specialized courses to go a little deeper in the sound healing Um. But we just got this launch, so we're going to get the level one out there and then work on the level two and yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 3:So kind of going back to the books again a lot of researching, writing like, yeah, I mean it's all very cool stuff though, because it's like really, you know too, like in looking into sound, and yeah, you know like there's like science behind a lot of that. Yeah, you know like there's like science behind a lot of that. So, a lot of that kind of information and the stories and it's just it's a beautiful thing and how it all works. And then, with the healing and how more of it is coming into the world and the mainstream and I think I read somewhere we're entering into the age of frequency or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So where can we find you to book? Are you website, oh?
Speaker 3:yeah, website is. Well, you can go through Minnesota Reiki Center dot com. Mn is in. Minnesota Reiki Center dot com. Also, minnesota Reiki should get you there. I have a couple URLs, that point. But um, minnesota Reiki center um should find, should find me. That's where you can book sessions and classes. Um, also, minnesota sound healing Um, that is a separate website and that is where the sound healing classes, that's where we sell bowls and that is where the sound healing classes, that's where we sell bowls and then also do more group sessions for people, where we kind of both my husband and I, we like take you on like a little experience with multiple instruments, Since we're both musicians. We kind of take the sound healing and turn it into like a destination, um, a destination like a little uh, it's like it's like music.
Speaker 3:You know there are other um, it's not that sound healing is a music. There's just different approaches on kind of how people may approach it. So our style is like more kind of like mute, like music, um that we've put together, working with different frequencies and instruments. Um, so we do that and that's through Minnesota. Sound Healing is that website. Yeah, and I'm in Minneapolis.
Speaker 2:And since you are an ICRT teacher, you can find your classes as well on Reikiorg.
Speaker 3:Yeah, reikiorg has my classes as well. Yes, Wonderful.
Speaker 2:All right, that ends the first part of our journey, so I'm going to continue to guide you through the next part, which is questions from social media and Reiki students. So here we go. Number one I am just starting my Reiki business while keeping my full-time job. How long did it take you to transition to a full-time Reiki practitioner? A full-time Reiki?
Speaker 3:practitioner? Yeah, that's a great question I think a lot of us would love. For me it took me longer and that's okay. Everybody's different and that's the cool thing about the Reiki is, you know, I see students, you know, taking Reiki one and two and going out and starting businesses and being very successful.
Speaker 2:That was not me.
Speaker 3:Okay, it took me a long time and I remember when, you know, I was in Mexico and I had kind of like I said, all of a sudden things could quiet. And then I had this time where I could sort of hear, I heard a voice tell me to get into massage therapy, where I would get hands-on practice and that would give me experience, and in 10 years from now you'll have a full time Reiki business. And at that time, you know, I didn't really think, wow, that's a long time. I just thought, you know, oh, that seems right. I came back from that trip. I signed up for massage therapy. It was about 10 years before I was full time Now.
Speaker 3:Granted, remember, I started back in 2004. So there's a lot more awareness with social media. A lot more people know about this now. So typically, I don't think it takes people that long, but I do think it took me a little longer and I think that that's okay, because at the end it's better than what I could have imagined and it took exactly as long as it needed to happen for me. But maybe it can encourage people that they feel like that it's not going fast enough for them If you're in a position where you're like. Well, why isn't it happening for me?
Speaker 3:now in a position where you're like, well, why isn't it happening for me now? Um, that, uh, you know, it happens in exactly the way that it's supposed to happen for you. So it can happen. Um, you know, and some people, maybe after 10 years, would have stopped, uh, you know, but I, I just kept noticing that.
Speaker 3:You know, really, what drew me there was that I just really wanted to do it Right, like my intention wasn't like, oh, I can make money doing this. My intention was, like, I like helping people. So if I could have a part time job while doing it and I could do it, that's why I did it. But I knew I had to build my business and, as I noticed that people were coming back to me, having returned clientele, that's a good indicator. You're helping people, they're coming back to you. But some of those things you might have to kind of get better at, like listening skills or practitioner skills or marketing, it's all like this bigger piece self-healing. So so it. Yeah, so it did. It took me a little longer, but I the journey along the way, I got so much experience and so many different things. It's helpful being a teacher now because I really have a variety of different settings that I've worked in Beautiful.
Speaker 2:Number two can you tell me about the ICRT program and how the program helped you in your Reiki journey?
Speaker 3:Yeah well, it helped me in a lot of ways and I did not expect it to help me as much as it did. Not that I didn't think that it would, but like, when you get into it, you're like, whoa, this is, this is intense, and intense in a really good way. Um, you know, because in going in to that, like I had already taken all of my Reiki classes, then I had retake. I had to retake my Reiki classes because I wasn't a professional member. You know, then you're like taking all of your classes again. So, like you know, and every time you take Reiki classes there's healing. That happens Even if you've already taken Reiki one and two and you're taking it for the fifth time stuff is gonna come up you're in it, you know so.
Speaker 3:So you know, now you're going through these and you're going through them again and again and it's just like you know this. All this stuff is like coming up. But you know, the program is an advanced teacher training program and you get like 1000 hours of, you know, of work. So you're already on your journey and meeting these certain credentials, which means you know you've healed some of these fears and these doubts along the way. Some of these early things you know you're doing good because you have a business and you're feeling guided to move on to that next level.
Speaker 3:So then, by doing this, some of these things you heal in other ways, like one of the things for me was you had to write an article, and so there's all these little components of the licensed teacher training program. You have to teach these classes, you have to do these sessions, you have to write an article, you have to. You know all these, all these things you know and everyone kind of coming in. There's probably going to be one thing where they're like so for me, I have dyslexia, so it's like you know, like the article was like oh, I can't write articles like this is hard, like I'm dyslexic, you know, I mean this is scary for me.
Speaker 3:Um, so, like you know, the teaching, the classes and having the clients, like I already had been doing it, and at that point, like that wasn't where my struggle was, like my struggle was having huge blocks, emotional blocks around writing, yeah, and so when it went in and I finally like it, I think it took me, you know, like that whole time, like I started working on that article, like it probably took me almost a year to write that first article.
Speaker 3:So I wrote this first article and it was about Reiki and gardening and, um, because it's something that I've used with Reiki and and and I mentioned that I'm a gardener, and so I and wrote this article and it comes back and it was like whoa, whoa, this is amazing and we're going to make it the cover of the Reiki News magazine and you're a fantastic writer. And I remember, like this, this, this healing, happening around that, like, oh my God, that was so scary for me and now I heal this big, huge part and I, you know, and I am a good writer, right, and a lot of times if you were dyslexic, you know you're, you're well, and when I grew up, too, you didn't, you weren't identified like as you know, it was harder. Like I was good enough that you could slip under, I got good enough grades that you can slip under.
Speaker 3:But as you get older you realize like, yeah, you know well, I mean even the type of books that I like to read and stuff, and going back to that is like, is I'm drawn to way different things because of how my brain processes.
Speaker 3:Like I'm like I want to read manuals and these scriptures and things like that, you know, like that's what I can focus on, you know, and different types of dyslexia and and and such, so, um and so. Then now I've gone on and written several articles and, um, you know, like that empowering my voice, and I think in doing that it also helped me to get really back in touch, because there was a time there where I kind of even though I I, you know, maybe in the arts mine was more like, you know, painting and drawing and singing, you know, like I wasn't like a writer, but I mean, even over time I really wasn't even empowering my voice and anything, and sort of by getting through that it shifted me and helped me to even get more in connection with other artistic qualities that had sort of gone away, that over time I just wasn't even really utilizing anymore.
Speaker 3:So I remember being that one was a big thing, but on other levels, just the confidence of building your business and improving your business. And you know you have a. You're connected to all these other teachers that also have resources and businesses, and so you have the community of all of the different teachers that you can reach out to that are all different, that all have different little specialties and they're in different areas and they work with Reiki in different ways. And some of us have similar things, of course, but you know, like everybody's a little different. So you're in this community of people who all just love Reiki and want to help teach Reiki and, um, so it was a tremendous decision or like a really tremendous opportunity and amazing decision that I did it and I'm so glad that I did it. Um, you know, because I just it was something that I knew, that I always wanted to do, but for a long time also probably had doubts in my Reiki ability, that I was good enough, all of that. But by working with Reiki it healed various different beliefs that I didn't even know, that you know were there. And you know, going back to when I first started Reiki, I wasn't expecting to be teaching and having a Reiki business and then it's like oh, now I'm going to go through this. You know advanced teacher training program. You know three to four year training program for you know and teach massive amounts of Reiki classes. To you know doing full time Reiki. To you know doing full-time Reiki, teaching and working. You know full-time, which I never saw myself doing that in the past. Right, so I do think the growth is tremendous and it's a really amazing opportunity to go through it.
Speaker 3:If a person feels guided and wants to, you'll, you know, boost your Reiki practice and experience and just healing, I mean, in so many different ways by going through that program. But each person is going to be a little different in in how you know where they might, I guess, kind of see some shadow work where, oh, here's where you need to heal, here's, here's where you know because you go through it and you're already at this level of healing. And then you go in and you go, oh, whoa, I, I've got more to do, and that's that's the thing you do. You see more coming up in it and then you level up in your life. You know, because you go through this and it's it can be. It's not easy. I mean for some people it's really easy to go through it, but it's also not easy to do Because it requires you know like working and doing a lot of Reiki.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Number three I noticed that as a Reiki master teacher, you offer CE credits. As a Reiki master teacher, are there any benefits in offering CE credits to students who are massage therapists?
Speaker 3:Yes, there are, you know people well, students and things like that need CEs and so for some of their other work and it can also be for, you know, licensed in marriage and family counselors and psychologists and nurses, and that kind of depends from state to state. Specifically, the massage one is through the NCTNB national certification and board. So massage therapists in most states are required to be nationally certified and be part of an organization where they have to take classes to keep up their national certification, to keep up their national certification. So Reiki becomes a really nice addition to that, because massage and Reiki go really well together and the benefits for the massage therapists are fantastic because it can help the massage therapist to not burn out. One of the main reasons that massage therapists leave is because of burnout, and so the average massage therapist lasts about five years, whether it's burnout or injury, and most of the time when they get in they get really excited.
Speaker 3:So they're just doing massage after massage after massage and they, you know, and when we think about doing massage you're, you're really using your own energy in doing that. Plus it's physical Um, and you know kind of like Reiki too. I mean people. You know massage therapists, reiki therapists, like people come in to kind of like here, take away all of my stuff.
Speaker 2:So it is an opportunity for you to sort of absorb mentally, emotionally and physically.
Speaker 3:And if you are a sensitive person or an empath, you may or may not know that you're taking it on. So there are a lot of different benefits for massage therapists specifically in getting that so it can like meet those requirements for them, but also self-care, and it can provide them with other opportunities. Like myself, when I worked as a massage therapist, I was also a Reiki practitioner, so it helped me to build my business by offering Reiki sessions, because Reiki sessions went really well with massage. So people could book massage, people could book Reiki, people could book a massage Reiki session like a combined session. Then, you know, I would offer things like foot reflexology and other types of modalities that were complementary within that. That kept me busy. So it was one of the things that helped me to stay busy in doing that. So as I became a teacher and I realized that I could offer continuing education credits to other people, um, I found that to be a benefit to the Reiki training. Uh, because then you're drawing in other people and again it could be like nurses, um, social workers, but people who need to receive professional credits, and the same thing would be like with a social worker or something like that. It helps them to not be using their own energy and so a lot of people in fields they get burnt out, they get compassion fatigue and so by having Reiki, even if they don't want to become Reiki practitioners, the benefits are unlimited. Just like what I would say for the early Reiki practitioners. I said just like, keep going because it will help you. I mean it's the same thing, like if you're in one of these professional fields, you might you might not leave your career, but if you take the Reiki classes and keep working, you're going to be a lot happier in your field because you have that Reiki to help provide a protective layer or make it easier on you, the self-Reiki at the end of the day.
Speaker 3:So in your business, if you're providing professional credits and classes, it helps your business on a lot of level to look more professional. Oh, you offer these credits to professional people and one thing people might say is like you know, is it real? Is this quackery? I mean I don't get that a lot because I mean I do it on a professional level but like if you're new, or you're like trying to convince, like your friends and family, like what do you do? Like it's new to them but, like you know. So you're trying to help them to accept this new thing that you're now doing. So so having the ways of, like you know, reiki's in hospitals, you can provide professional continuing education courses these you know. Joining the's in hospitals you can provide professional continuing education courses these you know. Joining the Reiki membership association, becoming licensed teacher all of these things help you in your business to add more credentials to your practice.
Speaker 3:And and then draw, draw in other people. Oh great, I needed to get CEs so that now they're going to come to you because you know you can offer them that and they get to learn Reiki. So you're going to help them. And those clients are usually pretty serious because you know if they're in another practice and they're finding Reiki, once they get it and they receive it, they're likely going to come back or want to keep working with you because they do see how much it benefits and helps their practice. So they're good candidates and they go well together.
Speaker 3:So I don't have like lines of people you know, but I do get them. I do get people who come in. I actually just had a couple just recently that I filled out the paperwork for to offer them credits. These were in social work and so I did the NCTNB certification years ago, but then they moved away from offering credits for a while and then now they brought them back. So now I brought that back again and I have had definitely a few people reaching out to get signed up, knowing that that is something that I can give them.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. Well, that was our last question, and, as we were talking, is there something you may have forgotten or something that you want to share with our listeners? If so, the floor is yours. Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:I don't know. I mean, we did cover a lot of information.
Speaker 2:We did cover, I know we did.
Speaker 3:We did. I can't think of anything else that kind of that's come up. That at least I'm better, that at least I'm better. Like if people ask me questions, but yeah, nothing sort of popped in. I know sometimes it does too, but I yeah, it's all good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right. Well, thank you, jill, so much for taking time out of your very busy schedule to join me on this Ready Set Reiki journey. Thank you for having me. All right, my wonderful listeners. If you would like your question featured on Ready Set Reiki, reach out wwwreadysetreikicom. Also, check out Feather Sister Wellness that offers online yoga and Reiki and Reiki trainings and in person in the El Paso area. I'm Tracy Seawright and this has been Ready Set Reiki. Thank you.
