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 #153 May Dong From Med School Dreams to Reiki Reality: May Dong's Journey
May Dong never imagined herself where she is today. Growing up in a Vietnamese-Filipino household with expectations of becoming a doctor, she followed the prescribed path until age 19 when something shifted. That first moment of following her intuition—dropping her studies to travel to Vietnam—sparked a transformation that would eventually lead her from corporate wellness to becoming a Reiki practitioner and holistic health coach.
Working at prestigious companies like B Half Moon, Lululemon, and Herbaland, May found herself falling into a familiar pattern. Just as pre-med had once become her entire identity, her corporate role was now consuming her personality. There was no space to simply be. When a wellness studio opened near her downtown Vancouver apartment, curiosity drew her in despite initial skepticism about anything "too woo-woo." What she discovered there changed everything.
Reiki connected May with her body in ways she'd never experienced. Combined with her plant medicine journey, it created awareness of emotions and sensations long ignored in the corporate rush. Yet the transition wasn't immediate or easy. The universe had to practically force her hand through burnout, illness, relationship challenges, and rescinded job offers before she finally stopped resisting her true calling. "Once I stopped resisting," she reflects, "things started to bloom."
Today, May offers Reiki, sound healing, and aromatherapy in Montreal, where she's building a new community from scratch. She envisions creating corporate wellness programs that bring holistic practices into high-stress environments where they're desperately needed. Her story reminds us that sometimes our most authentic path emerges not from careful planning but from finally surrendering to the direction life is already taking us.
Ready to explore Reiki for yourself? Whether you're curious, skeptical, or somewhere in between, May encourages you to reach out to practitioners, attend local circles (many are free!), or simply start asking questions. Connect with May on Instagram @maydong to learn more about her sessions and upcoming events.
May is a Reiki Healer Level 2, intuitive guide, and sound healer based in Montreal. She discovered Reiki in 2018 while working in the corporate world at top wellness companies such as Herbaland, B Halfmoon, and Lululemon, which set her on a transformative journey. After leaving behind her pre-med studies and a fast-paced career in sales and e-commerce, she embraced her calling as a holistic health coach.
Passionate about corporate wellness, Mayenvisions building a comprehensive wellness company that brings holistic well-being into the workplace while empowering and supporting fellow wellness professionals. For now, she offers Reiki and intuitive guidance at Vivewell Loft through sound and aromatherapy circles, as well as virtual sessions - taking it one step at a time.
Connect with May on Instagram or LinkedIn: @maydong.
Ready Set Reiki is a journey
From the curious beginner to the Season Master Teacher
All Energy workers of all systems and all levels.
this is ready set reiki a podcast about Reiki and all energy work, 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. So I'm Tracy Seawright and this is Ready Set Reiki. Hello, my beautiful listeners, welcome Ready Set Reiki. So today on my journey, I have Mei Dong.
Speaker 2:Now she is a Reiki healer, level two, intuitive guide, sound healer and she's based in Montreal. Now she discovered Reiki in 2018 while working in the corporate world at very top wellness companies. Now this set her on a transformational journey. Now, after leaving behind her pre-med studies and a fast-paced career in sales and e-commerce, she embraced her calling as a holistic health coach. Now she is passionate about corporate health and she envisions building a comprehensive wellness company that brings holistic well-being into the workplace while empowering and supporting fellow wellness professionals. For now, she offers Reiki and intuitive guidance at Vivuel Loft through sound and aromatherapy circles, as well as virtual sessions, taking it one step at a time. May, welcome to Ready Set Reiki.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, I wish there was like clapping sound effects, like the way you presented my story and what I do is like, wow, I think you're reaching my hand out here. My kitten's just beside me, so I'm just petting him.
Speaker 2:Very good, Very good. Well, welcome to Ready Set Reiki and animals really many of them love Reiki. So, of course, when we have the podcast, certainly mine are in attendance, so let's begin our journey together. So what a fascinating journey that you've had from corporate world to becoming a holistic coach. So tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, although I'm currently living in Montreal, I moved out here almost two years ago. I'm originally from Vancouver, bc, which is West Coast Canada, and I never thought I'd be where I am today. Clearly, you can see, I come from an Asian background. I am half Vietnamese, half Filipino, and from a young age I was just always on the set path, like, yes, I am going to be this perfect daughter that goes to med school and just fulfills my parents' wishes for me, and up until the age of 19, that was exactly what I was doing, until I sort of felt like, hmm, I started gaining awareness of like hey, I don't think this path is exactly for me, but I didn't know anything else.
Speaker 1:But it was like the first time in my life in university where I followed my intuition. I'm like, okay, I'm going to drop my studies. I went to Vietnam to travel for a few months and when I came back it was somewhat of like a rebirth Because growing up, I was again bringing up the Asian upbringing. I was extremely shy and quiet, like even the way I talk now I'm like sometimes I'm like who dis?
Speaker 2:Wow, amazing, amazing. So we're here talking about Reiki. So when did Reiki come into your life? Did you find Reiki or did it find you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, to kind of continue my story post-trip from Vietnam I came back to Vancouver and I just dived straight into corporate sales. I was working at top wellness companies at the time B Half Moon, lululemon, herbaland and I just felt very kind of how pre-med became my personality. But working in corporate at these top companies became my personality and I didn't. I never felt like I had space to just be, to just chill out. Um, even at that time I kind of like I wouldn't say completely isolated myself from friends. But it was just like the circle of friends I had at a time. It's just those catch-up friends like we're not really living together, like doing life together. So I lived in downtown Vancouver at the time and this wellness and meditation studio opened up. I was like cool, that sounds like yogi, that sounds chill, all right, let's try it out. And at the studio they happened to do reiki and I'm like what is this? Like I? Um, so it's kind of funny.
Speaker 1:Before I worked in corporate in these wellness companies I always thought like yoga or anything to do with like, uh, meditation, like yo, that's so woo, woo, that's not for me, like I grew up buddhist, buddhist and catholic, but lean, uh, more towards the buddhism side, but anything beyond buddhism, like meditation, and no, that's not for me, but I think it was just an, it's my intuition. It's like yo, this is good for you, just like just relax into it and see what it can do. And yeah, I don't even know how to describe it For people that haven't experienced Reiki. It just helped me become aware of my body for the first time in my life Beautiful, and it was kind of synonymous with my plant medicine journey. I started around like my very I think I was like 19 or 20, like super young at that time and it just aided my journey to being more my body and feeling my emotions more and kind of not turning my job into my personality, if that makes sense it does it does.
Speaker 2:Well. You've been doing Reiki for a few years now. So, as you're out navigating through this wonderful relaxing modality, what are some of the? So, as you're out navigating through this wonderful relaxing modality, what are some of the misconceptions that you're finding about Reiki?
Speaker 1:Not necessarily misconceptions, but they don't necessarily know what it is, or probably like like I meet people that remind me of my younger self. It just seems too woo-woo. But on the flip side I'm surprised. With clients I meet, they know exactly what Reiki is. They've gone to sessions before, they've had a Reiki healer before, and I'm not sure about other locations in North America and here in Montreal. We can technically provide insurance receipts for Reiki, but you have to be a naturopath. I too am more curious about, like how Reiki can be to kind of become on an equal playing level as like massage, chiropractic.
Speaker 2:Right, right, here in the United States you know it's not regulated, so anybody, anybody can do it and we're not able to bill the insurance companies with that. But, like as a master teacher, I'm able to give someone CE credits, you know, unit credits for schooling. So in Texas, here with the TDLR as a continuing education provider, so energy work counts as that if someone is doing massage therapy and they would like more credits, so yeah, so we don't have that ability to bill. I have a very good friend who's a massage therapist and she's connected now with the VA and she's able to, you know, get work from the VA and they're able to come and the insurance covers it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so cool. I've met a few massage therapists here in Montreal. They're like they do Reiki and massage, but Reiki would just fall under the massage. Beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 2:So, as a holistic health coach, you've been out helping others, helping your clients, being of service with their challenges and struggles. But what has been the biggest challenge or struggle you have faced in your own healing journey?
Speaker 1:the biggest challenge or struggle you have faced in your own healing journey? I think it's more like the lack of community I had mentioned. I had I just I pretty much restarted my whole social circle here in Montreal about two years ago and I literally didn't know anyone.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I guess it's. It's always been a calling to me like, yes, to move away from my hometown and start fresh. But now that I'm actually here, I'm like, oh, everything. I guess the first year I was here, everything wasn't clicking as easy as I thought and I got a bit discouraged, and especially with our really harsh winters here I'm like, oh man, can I even, can I even stay here, can I even keep doing this?
Speaker 1:Um, but some ways I've tried to build community is um, before I was just doing Reiki at my home studio, but I was like you know what? I want to get out in the community more, I want to meet faces in person and just like coming on to this podcast, I'm like you know what people should know what I'm doing, what's up? Very good, and I guess, like even the class that I currently teach at the studio and at vibe, well, it's something that I wish existed. Like a year ago when I was here, yeah, like for me, like, um, even like I was, I took a trip to New York for for new years and my way of like, even though it was a short trip, my way of building community, was like, oh, I'm going to keep going to these yoga and meditation classes, because that's that's what I love.
Speaker 2:Beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 1:So what do you wish your younger self knew about Reiki the thing is I don't think I would tell her any to do anything different or tell her any advice. It's more so. I'm very. If I was talking to my younger self, I'd be. I tell her like I'm really proud that you really got out of your comfort zone, thinking that spirituality, anything to do with it beyond Buddhism, was like woo-woo and not logical. She took a leap and, yeah, it led me here. Beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 2:So you have said that you've gone out and tried to explore in different communities. You've been working with the energy for a few years now. So as you're out, as you're working and cultivating this relationship with the energy, when you're meeting other practitioners or master teachers, what are some qualities? When it's maybe time for you to get that energetic tune up or when it's time for you to seek out a teacher, what are some qualities that you look for in either a Reiki practitioner or a Reiki master teacher?
Speaker 1:A lot of the time it's more like your intuition and like trusting your gut, like, how do you feel even like um as an intuitive guide? Feel even like um as an intuitive guide. I uh, when I meet people, um, I'm very conscious and very aware like how they make me feel um. But beside that, I love, I love practitioners that like, love what they're doing and they're so passionate, like they're reiki nerds. I'm like, oh my goodness, like you're my type of people yeah, yeah, beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and sometimes the word nerd has a negative thing, but it's a good thing.
Speaker 2:That just means that you're passionate about what you do and constantly learning and evolving and changing and keeping contemporary. You know many people get the attunement and then they think that's it, but you know reaching out to wonderful resources that are out there. There's you, there's podcasts like this and magazines and books to stay relevant on things as well. So what advice would you give someone who is just entering the spiritual work? I mean, you came from corporate and you walked away and you're doing this wonderful and amazing work, so what advice would you give someone?
Speaker 1:Again, not trying to be like self-promoting, but it's like if you have a local studio near you that offers meditation or even if it's just like a Reiki circle I have seen a lot in my community that are free Like, don't be shy to attend it. Even like if you there are Reiki practitioners on social media, like DM us, like we're happy to answer your question, don't be shy.
Speaker 2:And you know, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, this was still a real, very taboo topic. And, you know, thanks to social media, it really has spread the word about this so that it is quite relevant and thinking, okay, you know, yeah, I heard about that. They may not know in depths of it, but they're definitely. People are definitely aware of the word of it. So it's not so much in secrecy with it, like oh, what's that? Or so you know out there, so you're coming in, if those of you that feel the calling or the inspiration to move forward with Reiki. Now it's a very different atmosphere out here. You know, when Madam Takata you know she was doing this in the 40s and she had to really shift and change it to Americanize it. But now there's this freedom, glorious freedom, that you can be that individual and, you know, do what you feel called to do if it's in service of of your clients and students. So what books do you recommend?
Speaker 1:I'm actually rereading it right now the Power of Now. That was actually the first spirituality book I ever read. It was more a suggestion from my brother. He noticed when I was younger. He was like hey, you kind of interrupt me when when he's speaking. I was like yeah, but I had no idea how to stop it and again, kind of, I had mentioned when I got, when I started doing reiki, I started to be more in my body and even rereading it. Now I'm like wow, wow, I can't. For me, I have to read books in very small increments. So I'm like wow, each of these reading sessions kind of feel like a micro dose of like coming back to the present Right.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. So what other services do you offer? Do you offer classes, events, trainings?
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, so right now I've just started with my Reiki and enrollment therapy circle here in Montreal. I've started to do some online meditation classes. Like I'm very like I'm very early in my in my Reiki career and I and for me it's like I'm actually I'm looking for mentors to like, oh, what direction should I, uh should I go to? Because, uh, before the podcast started, tracy and I were discussing, um, what she was doing, uh with her podcast and what other practitioners in the field are doing. I'm like, whoa, there's like so many directions I can go into and the fact that I have my corporate background corporate wellness has been calling out to me, um, what, like the one of the companies I worked at, they we would have weekly yoga practice for free and like that's amazing. Like, imagine, like, um, a reiki practitioner comes every week. Or just like these corporations, like I know, especially like finance, or like these high stress industries, like they need Reiki.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's beautiful. I mean, you're doing you're being a holistic health coach the aromatherapies. You're also doing virtual sessions as well. So, even though you're beginning your journey, you have a whole road ahead of you of opportunities and it's wonderful, as you navigate through it, that there's so many resources out there and and and I'll. I'll connect you with a couple other communities that you can connect with with Reiki. So, yeah, beautiful. And so where can we find you if someone's listening and they're interested in a session from you or in holistic coaching?
Speaker 1:Yeah, right now I'm like, I'm always on Instagram. It's just my name, May Dong, M-A-Y-D-O-N-G. Beautiful beautiful.
Speaker 2:Are they able to email you? Are they able to do online sessions as well?
Speaker 1:I am building up my website as we speak. Excellent, excellent.
Speaker 2:And that's what you know. So many that get the calling to move forward into this gift that they have had to share with the world, that they have had to share with the world. Many do have a struggle with the business aspect of it, but with being in corporate world and having that experience. This will help you navigate a little bit more through all of the things that many like. They're like oh my goodness, I feel this calling.
Speaker 2:Now, what do I do next? You know they are connected with working with as many people as they can, but then they forget oh, social media, oh, I have to do this, I have to do promotion, I have to make flyers, I have to do all this. So there's a whole other layer to this that the experiences that you worked for in corporate will be able to help you, you know, move a little faster in your journey. So that is the first part of our journey and I will continue to be your guide through the next part, which are questions from social media and Reiki students. So here we go. Number one how did you know you were ready to leave a fast paced career in sales to embrace your calling?
Speaker 1:That's a really good question. I actually didn't know, or I didn't want to. I actually kind of resisted the direction that the universe was pushing me into. This was around like post-COVID. I had already been starting to feel the effects Like, huh, I am going so fast in my career. Like I had this mindset like I need to climb to the top, whether it's like work long hours or like switch, uh positions. Like I remember being I was just 23 and I was already a sales manager at this yoga company. I'm like, um, at the time that's what I thought I wanted, but my body and just like my spirit was like no, slow down. Just, you don't know what you want. You don't like I felt intuitively I didn't experience enough in life. Um, it kind of like I had like, if you're into tarot, I had like a tower moment where like everything was falling apart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I felt. So I actually got sick, like nothing crazy, but just like physically due to burnout, like I couldn't work. It was funny. I went through like this, like heart-wrenching breakup at the time, but now it's just like, oh, um, I remember that time, but it feels so distant and just like all these other challenges I was dealing with, and at the time I I had never worked in retail before, so I took a break from corporate. I worked at a pet store. That was really cute. I really miss seeing the dogs every day and like we would feed them treats.
Speaker 1:And okay, let me get to the point of this. I'm like my mind has like gone on a spiel. Why did you do? Ah, okay, so in that time I was also trying to get into tech sales, because something, um health tech has always called out to me too. Like I'm like, okay, I have a sales background in the wellness industry, maybe I can jump into health tech, but my job offers kept getting rescinded. I'm like, what is this universe? Oh, yeah, so anyways, this kind of all aligns with me moving out here to Montreal and my career.
Speaker 2:Just like, once I stopped resisting, it's things started to bloom wonderful yeah, I know, when the calling came, it started slow, like I used to work 10 hours a day, and I was like, okay, I don't think I can do this. Then it got shortened to like eight hours and then I was like, yeah, I'm getting, I don't even want to be here in eight hours. And then I took a job where it was like 4.75 hours a day and when I couldn't like it was a struggle just to make it through that I was like maybe it's time for me to find something else, you know. So it can be a slow progress, but many you know they're unable to because of financial. You know they need that income coming in.
Speaker 2:So to take that leap from that consistent job, jumping into, say, reiki, where you're not, and even yoga, because I'm a yoga teacher as well, it's not consistent. You know you may not have that class of 12 students every week, right, you might fluctuate from two or to five or some months. You might have a great month and then the next month you might not have so much. So, but it's just interesting, you get signs from the universe, but you know your point of is, you know you let go. You stop resisting with that. Yeah. So number two why do you believe that wellness and holistic care is important in the corporate world?
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, I can talk like all day about this. Um, I think, like I, I was at an advantage in a sense, like I worked in the wellness industry and like the reason why I know about yoga and I got into yoga is because I started working at a yoga company. Of course, beyond that, I feel like even working in the wellness industry, like companies only have so much capacity to teach their employees skills. And I guess, for me in corporate, and even now, like doing this interview, it's like I could never imagine myself talking for this amount of time unless I was in this very like masculine, corporate-y voice, like talking about the deal and closing the deal. I felt inauthentic because a lot of that was just me constricting to my masculine, because I was so anxious all the time, sure, sure sure.
Speaker 2:So, number three, what inspired you to blend your practice, your sessions, with Reiki, sound and aromatherapy?
Speaker 1:I think when I first started out doing private sessions and at first I had like this set kind of recipe. I'm like, yes, it's going to be Reiki and then I'm going to put a little bit of sound. It's going to be reiki and then I'm going to put a little bit of sound. But it kind I I'm also a musician. I write music, I play guitar, uh, I sing. So that kind of felt boring just doing like this linear atz plan I I set out for my classes. So I'm like you know what? I'm just gonna play, I'm gonna beautiful, I'm gonna use the tools that I have and I'm excited to invest more in more sound healing instruments. I would love to have a gong, I'd love to get more crystal sound bowls.
Speaker 2:Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. So that was our last question and, as we've been talking, is there anything that you have forgotten or something that you would like to share with the listeners?
Speaker 1:The floor is yours curious and listening to this podcast, like I, I was there, like I knew nothing about reiki. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna search every podcast about what this, what this thing is. So yeah, to anyone that's like, gone out of their comfort zone to try reiki or to learn, be open to learning more about it, I'm super proud of you beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 2:And here's the thing listeners, you know, if you have this calling, this calling within you and it may not make sense to you, or you're maybe questioning versus why, you have every reason to move forward with that. So don't doubt yourself. And even ones that we would color as master teachers or experiences, they all have doubts in their journey as well. So thank you so much, may, for joining me on this Ready Set Reiki journey. I appreciate you taking time out of your very busy schedule to join me.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, tracy. This conversation was so fun, wonderful.
Speaker 2:All right, my wonderful listeners, if you would like your question featured on the podcast, reach out wwwreadysetreikicom. I'm Tracy Seawright and this has been Ready Set.
Speaker 1:Reiki © transcript Emily Beynon.
