Episode #209 Wesley Elliott: What If Your Body Already Knows The Way

Your body is not ignoring your affirmations, it’s protecting you. When your nervous system is stuck in fight or flight, “trying harder” with your mind can feel like using the wrong tool for the job, and that’s where Reiki and somatic healing can finally click together in a grounded way.

We’re joined by Wesley Elliott, founder of Ahó Healing Arts in Plano, Texas, to talk about what changed when Reiki found him during a personal turning point and why he now blends energy work with bodywork and nervous system awareness. Wesley breaks down the biggest misconceptions he hears about Reiki and energy healing, including the idea that the mind and body are separate or that Reiki is only relaxation. We explore what it looks like when healing becomes participatory, where the client’s own awareness and readiness matter as much as the practitioner’s skill.

Then we dig into transpersonal somatic therapy, the modality Wesley co-created, combining physical touch, somatic awareness, intuitive guidance, and energetic awareness in one consent-based, trauma-aware approach. We also cover practical guidance for choosing a Reiki practitioner or Reiki master teacher, why presence and humility are non-negotiable, and what to expect when you’re building confidence and trying to turn Reiki into a real profession. Along the way, we touch on lineage-based patterns, community healing spaces, and accessible resources like free classes and self-guided tools.

Wesley Elliott is a visionary healer, teacher, and space holder devoted to guiding individuals and communities through deep, embodied transformation. As Co-Founder of Ahó Healing Arts and Co-Creator of Transpersonal Somatic Therapy®, Wesley weaves together somatic intelligence, energetic awareness, and transpersonal insight to support healing at the level of mind, body, and spirit.

With extensive training and lived experience, Wesley’s work focuses on helping clients recognize and unwind inherited patterns, release stored emotional and energetic imprints, and reconnect with their innate capacity for self-healing. As an Epigenetic Pattern Specialist, he supports clients in bringing awareness to subconscious and lineage-based patterns, facilitating integration through grounded, trauma-aware, and consent-based practices.

A Reiki Master and Teacher, Wesley has guided countless individuals through energetic attunement, nervous system regulation, and embodied presence. His sessions and teachings are known for their depth, clarity, and ability to create lasting shifts without bypassing the human experience.

In addition to his clinical and ceremonial work, Wesley is a keynote speaker and mentor for practitioners and leaders called to serve others. Through mentorship, education, and lived example, he supports the next generation of healers in building ethical, sustainable, and soul-aligned practices.

Wesley’s work is rooted in integrity, embodiment, and remembrance—honoring ancient wisdom while remaining grounded in the realities of modern life.

If you’ve been curious about Reiki in the context of trauma, stress, anxiety, and nervous system regulation, this conversation gives you language, perspective, and next steps. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

Welcome And Community Invites

SPEAKER_00 0:21

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, 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, as I too am traveling, learning, and supporting others on this Reiki journey as well. And with that said, I am your guide, Tracy C. Wright, and this is Ready Set Reiki. Hello, Reiki family. Reiki blessings to you one and all. Another amazing and wonderful journey ahead. But before we begin, I invite you to check out a certain special place on Facebook. And this is the Reiki Business Collective. Here is a place to share, support, and serve. Connecting with your Reiki business community. Now don't let that business word fool you. No matter where you are in your journey, maybe you're thinking about it, maybe you're nervous about it, maybe you don't feel you have the confidence to even start something up. But this is the place to go where we support and rise you up and show you a way to go. So I don't want you to ever, ever feel alone on your energy work or spiritual journey. Know that there are individuals along the way, such as myself and Christian Stone, that are here to help guide you and support you. Learn from our experiences and how we came about to energy work. So great place costs zero dollars to be a part of this community. So there it is. Check it out. I also like to invite you and tell you about the opportunity of the ICRT International Reiki Retreat. Now, ICRT is the International Center of Reiki training. They're having their 31st annual Reiki retreat in Sedona, September 4th to the 7th. This is a place where if you are interested in Reiki wherever you are in that journey, that you can spend a weekend, right? Learning, growing, having experiences, and meeting like-minded people. So this is a great place to go. If you sign up now, you're able to get a singing bowl. Yes, they send you a singing bowl in the mail. Beautiful crystal singing bowl. Uh, I've already signed up. I'll be there. So have any questions, reach out to me. Now, back to our journey.

Meet Wesley Elliott And Ahu

SPEAKER_00 2:31

I'd like to tell you about an individual, Wesley Elliott. Now he is the founder of Ahu Healing Arts. He is the LLC co-creator of the Transpersonal Somatic Therapy, Transpersonal Somatic Therapist, Reiki Master Teacher, and you know, LMT and a keynote speaker. Now he is a visionary healer, teacher, spaceholder, devoted to guiding individuals and community through deep healing and body transformation and beautiful things of bringing and weaving together somatic intelligence, energetic awareness, and transpersonal insight to support healing on a level of body, mind, and spirit. Now he has extensive training and lived experiences, and his work focuses on helping clients recognize and unwind inherited patterns, release storage, emotional, and energetic imprints, and reconnect with their innate capability and capacity of self-healing. And here he supports clients in bringing awareness to the subconscious and lineage-based patterns, facilitating integration through grounded, trauma-aware, and consent-based practices. So I'd like to give a ready set Reiki welcome to Wesley. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Hello, hello. Good afternoon. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Wonderful. So let's begin our journey together. So I told our listeners just a little bit about you, but I know I can feel it. There is so much more that you have to offer. And please take a moment to share it with the world.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Yeah, yeah. So I'm based in Texas, DFW area, Plano to be specific. My wife and I, we co-founded uh Ho Healing Arts, and it's a wellness space where we blend body work, energy work, and somatic practices into one place. We have a little store uh that we clear out. We do a lot of community events like drum circles, guided meditation, sound baths. And um before I got into this work, I actually spent 17 years in the financial industry coaching and guiding people. Uh, worked a lot in leadership development, and I noticed what was holding a lot of people back um in their journey. Um, really liked helping them, wanted a bigger platform. And so now my focus is helping people reconnect with themselves through the body, through the nervous system, and through their own awareness.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Beautiful, beautiful. Well, I'm here in Texas also in El Paso, Texas, and probably many people don't realize how big Texas is. So I haven't checked on the map how far we are, but I know from Houston it's about 14 hours from where I am to Houston. So, you know, you're part of a really big place here, and thank you for bringing and offering your services to Texas.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Beautiful. So

How Reiki First Found Him

SPEAKER_00 5:20

we're here talking about the Reiki Energy, energy work. So, when did this come into your life? Would you say that you found Reiki or Reiki found you?

SPEAKER_01 5:28

I would say Reiki found me. I was um I was actually it was probably like 2015, 2016 when I first got introduced to Reiki, and I was going through some personal stuff, uh, working through stuff on my own. And um, you know, I was referred to a to a lady, and at the time I had no idea what Reiki was. I didn't know she was even doing Reiki on me, but um, I really enjoyed, you know, getting to go, tap into her wisdom, um, get on her table. She she put me in such peace and relaxation. Um, and I started feeling shifts, you know, happen and started going, okay, what is this? And what do you what are you doing? And then she started explaining uh Reiki to me a little bit. But that's really what opened the door to me um into Reiki. And from there, you know, I began awakening um a lot of it through my own body and and nervous system, and that led me into you know going to study it uh from there. But yeah, so almost 10 years now since since it first entered my life.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Beautiful. And uh you shared a little bit earlier about um you're using your own system that you have. Would you like to tell us a little bit about that?

Transpersonal Somatic Therapy Explained

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah, so we created a new modality called transpersonal somatic therapy, where we work with the nervous system, uh, the body, somatic practices, and energy awareness at the same time. Um, a big misconception people have is that energy work is separate from the from the body. The mind and body are separate. And the truth is the body stores all that information. Um, and so you can't really just typically unwork something from the mind or energy alone, you know, it's you have to move it through the body as well. So uh we found that when we combine, you know, all those into one session, I mean, we we're we're achieving something like 85% breakthroughs in a single session, um, which is unheard of for most you know, most modalities out there. So uh we're really proud of that work we're doing and you know, hoping to get the word out there and and and spread it to others.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Beautiful. I also uh teach yoga as well, and it's so important with somatic work with the body because the body really does keep score, it's just so important. I had listened, uh, my husband's been listening to uh this um recording at night, and uh I had overheard uh it speak about how you know to try to calm the body using the mind is like using a hammer to paint. You have to get the body right, relax, and use the right tools, exactly. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Like makes and the interesting thing is is people you know people come from different backgrounds, different family environments, um carry different traumas and experiences in their life, but um with the body, it's interesting because you know, body to body, person to person, uh energetically, um, you know, there's there's an emotional map in within the body itself, and the same the same parts of the body carry the same um stuff energetically, person to person in the same areas. So um that's one thing we're working on is trying to create a more intensive emotional map as well within the body because yeah, that that really helps people tune into what's going on, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

And you've been in uh you know, in this work for a while, and especially during COVID, I have found that people since COVID have just been so tense and they can't relax and they don't know what to do with themselves and living in that fight or flight. I mean, we had this global pandemic, and then one day it's like, okay, we're good, now we're fine, and no one's really kind of dug deep into what are the lasting effects on this, especially like our children and us as adults that we were so fearful. I mean, my daughter, who's an adult now, she's like, Mom, I was so scared because we had a few deaths during that year, and she was so afraid that I was going to pass, and and from that, and so that carries it with you, that trauma and that experience. And so to shake that and then to have it like six years later, oh my goodness, you're still carrying it, it's still coming out. So people are looking for these other uh things that were at one time, you know, acceptable and then for a while it wasn't. Now we're circling back around and being open to other modalities.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Exactly, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah. So been in the uh experience with the Reiki since 2015, it opened that door as you've been going through this beautiful landscape of a stress-reducing

Misconceptions And Body Intelligence

SPEAKER_00 10:30

modality. What are some common misperceptions that you hear about Reiki and energy work?

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Well, a big one is that the mind and body are separate. Um, you know, or that Reiki is just uh, you know, for relaxation, um, and that it's very passive. And you know, the truth is it does take um it takes that work from the the person needing the healing, you know, they got to do a little bit of work on their own um as well. And it's it's really you know supposed to point inward on somebody.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Right, right, beautiful, beautiful. So as you are working and cultivating a relationship with energy with Reiki, what has surprised you about Reiki?

SPEAKER_01 11:17

How intelligent the body really is. Um, when you create the right environment, the body will start to process things on its own. And that's a beautiful process. And you don't have to force anything, um, you don't have to fix somebody. Um and it's very consistent, like I was saying, different people, different backgrounds, same patterns show up in the body over and over in the same places. And once you start to see that, your work really begins to tune into listening to the body and what it's telling you.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Beautiful. So we're finding a time where there seems to be a large variety of practitioners, lots of different systems. Every time I turn around, I see a new one popping up. And so, you know, as someone's navigating through this, trying to figure out where do I begin? Uh, who should I pick? What system? Where do I start? But for you, what are some qualities that you look for in either a Reiki practitioner or master teacher?

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Presence is number one. And I look for someone who has, you know, gone through the work on their own. Um that's the biggest thing. Don't don't take advice or get work done from somebody who isn't applying it themselves. Um in humility. The practitioner needs to understand, you know, that they're they're holding space uh for someone to choose to rise up and heal themselves. Um self-awareness, you know, is a big one. Yeah, any anyone really, you know, at least willing to look in the mirror, do the inner work themselves is is gonna be um a big head start.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Beautiful, beautiful. So you have built a really beautiful and wonderful community, running a business, all the opportunities that you have had since connecting with the energy in 2015.

Choosing Practitioners And Going Pro

SPEAKER_00 13:22

So, as you stand here and you look back, what advice could you give someone who wants to enter this as a profession?

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Oh, that's a great question. It's not easy, I'll tell you that. Um I think God gives everybody a purpose, and you know, you find that purpose within your heart. And that purpose, when it's a God-given purpose, it's always going to um come back to helping humanity, helping earth in some way. So um if you found that and that is your calling, and that's why you're doing it, you're not doing it for you know other reasons that that are more self-service, then follow your path and the way will be paved for you. Um, and another thing is I always tell people that are kind of nervous about getting out there and holding space for others, you know, God or the universe is not going to send you somebody that you're not able to help. You know, it just the mirrors in life happen that way. And um, so if if if someone's put in front of you, it's for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

And just just get yourself out of the way and let your vessel be used, and you know, the the magic and validation will will present itself and come come afterwards, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

And it seems as people begin that journey and they discover Reiki or you know, different modality of the healing arts or the mystic arts, they're often fearful and they feel that they just don't have the confidence. And I had an opportunity to speak at the Reiki Summit uh about networking, and I had a kind of a idea of what I wanted to speak, and there were questions, and then I really felt called for some reason to share my experience of how I was someone who should not have confidence. I was put down. I remember when I was five years old, I got in trouble. I got put in what would be called today time out. And, you know, as I'm watching all of my other classmates, I decided, and I remember very clearly at five years old saying, I'm gonna grow up and I'm going to be a teacher, and my class is gonna be fun, and my students are gonna want to come to my class. And, you know, I had every reason not to be confident because I was told no, you can't do that. I was always reminded of the failures. And, you know, I afterwards people had said, I'm so glad you share that. I had that happen, or I had my mother that spoke over me very negatively, and it really gave them a sense of like, I think maybe I can do this. And I said, you know, it took me six years with the Reiki energy to feel comfortable to speak, you know, like this. So give it time, give it patience. So you're exactly right with it, you know, if you feel that calling and you have that purpose, that right person will come to you and you just need to trust the process with it.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Absolutely. And you brought up something important there. Um, you know, get away from your your friends and family when you're when you're out there because you know, they're not the ones that are gonna, you know, give you the validation you need whenever you're getting out there.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

So and what I said is like I have strangers who support me more than family and friends, and you know, God your family doesn't support you, then God's going to bring you a stranger to help you. And it's been those strangers who have become dear friends who support me. What can I do to help you? And then you have family members that won't even, you know, share or like your posts. So exactly blows me away sometimes.

Confidence, Support, And Recommended Books

SPEAKER_00 17:00

So, what books do you recommend?

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Oh, books. Uh, the body keeps the score, obviously, is a good one. Um, another great one I actually have right here metaphysical anatomy.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Okay, all right, beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Um that's more of a guide to figuring out certain patterns, but yeah, the truth of it is is that every single thing that goes wrong in the body, cancer, disease, you know, um any sickness, illness, it begins with an energetic blockage, and energetic blockages are emotional. So emotional blockages are the root cause of everything that goes wrong in the body. They're then accelerated by worldly environments and poisons and chemicals and things like that. But um if you address the root cause, you know, you can you can heal yourself from literally just about anything.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Beautiful, beautiful. So, what other modalities or services do you offer?

Services, Free Reiki Class, How To Find Him

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Classes, events, trainings?

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Absolutely. We do we have a full suite of holistic modalities here. We do, I'm a massage therapist, we have other therapists here as well doing various types of massage therapy. We do craniosacral therapy, obviously Reiki. I love combining Reiki with massage therapy as well.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

And then the transpersonal somatic therapy is a is our signature modality. That's what the majority of um what our clients know us for as well. Um, we do a ton of classes and events, like I said, we do a lot of guided meditations and sound baths, um, helping people access other layers of consciousness within themselves, um, new parts of their mind they maybe haven't explored before. Um, we create a big community. We love we have a monthly community drum circle and cacao ceremony uh that's just wonderful, high energy. Uh, we do a lot of classes. I do have I do a actually I do a free um monthly Reiki one class open to the community. I do it free, anyone's able to come. It's an in-person event, anyone's able to come, you know, receive the knowledge for free. And I go beyond the traditional, you know, knowledge of Reiki in that, but um, it's a wonderful class. Um, small charge if someone wants a certificate or something, but I'm really proud of that offering. Um, it's really hard to find you know free resources and free classes these days.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Yeah. Well, without a catch to it.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

There's always exactly, exactly. Yeah, and so that's been that's been really popular, and it's it's one of my favorite things to do. Uh, I look forward to it every single month. And um, I'm actually gonna take that online this month as well.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

And stream it at the at the same time that class is going on, and then we're also um enrolling for cohorts. I'm looking for you know, additional practitioners that feel called to do deeper work that I can train in the transpersonal somatic therapy.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

So beautiful. Is uh what is the system of Reiki for the class that you're offering?

SPEAKER_01 20:19

I do the traditional usui.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Okay, as we reiki help.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

Yeah, and so and then I always separate it though. Say, okay, so here's the traditional, and then here's you know, I give my additional insights and and knowledge that go a little bit beyond or if it contradicts anything in there a little bit, but all right, beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Sounds like a wonderful opportunity, and it'll be lovely to see you bloom and blossom into hybrid classes. How about that?

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Oh, absolutely, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Where can someone find you, whether online in person, if they're interested in a session or a service that you provide?

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Absolutely. We're right here in Plano, Texas, next to Central Market, um in the big corridor of everything. Um, you can find us online at ahoehealingarts.com. Um, all of our socials are also Aho Healing Arts. Um, and all of our online stuff is posted there as well.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Beautiful.

Listener Questions On Lineage Patterns

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Well, that ends the first part of our journey, and I'm going to guide you into the second part, which are questions from listeners, social media, and Ricky students. Number one, how can epigenic pattern specialists support clients in bringing awareness to subconscious and lineage-based patterns?

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Yeah, so by helping bring awareness to patterns that didn't start with the individual, a lot of behaviors, um, emotional responses, and even stress patterns are inherited and learned through family systems. And when someone can see that clearly, it creates the space to heal it. Um, instead of identifying with the pattern, they can observe it. And once There's awareness, the body has a chance to respond differently to it.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Beautiful, beautiful. I love that. Number two, you are the co-creator of transpersonal somatic therapy. Tell us about your work and the benefits of being a co-creator of this transpersonal somatic therapy.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah, so transpersonal somatic therapy is something my wife and I, we co-created it together through years of working with people. It's built on the understanding that healing doesn't just happen through talking or just through energy work. It happens when the body and the nervous system and awareness are all involved together. In a session, we combine physical touch, somatic awareness, intuitive guidance, and energy work all at all at the same time. What makes it unique is that we follow the body rather than applying a fixed technique. Every session is quite different. And the benefit that people are able to access and process things that they haven't been able to reach before, often without having to relive or analyze everything mentally.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Beautiful. Number three, why do you believe working with somatic intelligence and energetic awareness is beneficial in helping to assist and heal the mind, body, and spirit?

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Yeah, because uh what most people are dealing with, it isn't just in their mind, it's also in the body. And the nervous system holds these patterns of safety, stress, and response. And if that doesn't shift, the same thoughts and behaviors are going to repeat themselves. And so when you work with the body and energy together, you're working with a level where those patterns actually live. And that's where real change starts to happen naturally without forcing it.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Beautiful.

Inner Power, Free Resources, Closing

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Well, that was our last question. As we've been talking, is there anything else that you might have forgotten or something you'd like to share? The floor is yours.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

I would just say that uh the knowledge and power is within you. Um within your DNA, you have access to all of the information. And so if you know, if you need tools, it's okay to look outside, but you're gonna find the answers to everything within. And so that's uh one thing we uh pride ourselves on here is we when we do sessions, we don't, you know, we don't like to see ourselves as as above anyone else. We we love to share the tools and practices that um have awakened that knowledge within us uh to others so that you know you can continue the journey and the work on your own at home. Um I do also have a free school platform access through our website where I've uploaded a ton of um you know self books I've written on this kind of work uh with those tools, integration guides um and practices to you know to awaken that that within us all.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

So beautiful. And where can they connect with you again?

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Uh hohealingarts.com.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for all of the work that you're doing and your generosity uh within the community to share and level up Texas here. So well done. And and hopefully with the world, right? By going hybrid with that. So very well done. And so thank you.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

All right, beautiful listeners. If you are interested in having your question featured on Ready Set Reiki, reach out www dot ready setreeky.com. I'm Teresa Seawright, and this has been Ready Set Reiki.