The Return: Navigating Real Life After Spiritual Expansion

You leave a Reiki class or spiritual retreat feeling open, clear, and deeply yourself and then you get home and it’s like the volume of life jumps to 999. If you’ve felt the emotional dip, the exhaustion, the fog, or the sudden “I don’t fit the way I used to” discomfort, we’re putting words to it and taking the shame out of it. I’m Justina, and I walk through what’s happening when your nervous system comes down from a sacred, regulated container back into daily demands, family dynamics, work pressure, and old roles that no longer feel aligned. 

We talk about the real difference between activation and integration and why healing isn’t meant to live in a bubble. When your awareness expands, you’re not losing the magic, you’re learning how to hold it. That can look like sensitivity, irritability, and the urge to withdraw, not because you’re broken, but because your system is recalibrating and your energy is asking for a new way of living. You’ll get practical integration tools you can use right away, including rest without guilt, slower re-entry, self-Reiki, breathwork, stillness, gentle rituals you can bring home, and clear boundaries that protect your energy while everything still feels amplified. 

To help you embody what you’ve awakened, I also guide you through a short meditation you can replay anytime you need to come back to yourself. If you’re ready to bridge the sacred space and everyday life with softness and grace, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so this healing ripple reaches more souls.

Transcript

Season Two Welcome And Intentions

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello, welcome to season two of the Sacred Soul Sisters Podcast. Oh my goodness, we are in 2026, and I have never been more ready for this year. Oh my gosh, the year of the fire horse. Well, welcome before we get too far ahead. Welcome to the Sacred Soul Sisters Podcast, a sacred space created for awesome souls who have spent years caring, giving, leading, and holding it all together, and are now feeling the quiet call to return to themselves. However, that call may be just getting a little louder this year. I'm Justina. I'm a Reiki master teacher, healer, nurse for over 20 years, transformational speaker, retreat leader, uh workshop leader, and this podcast is an invitation to you to allow your inner soul to slow down, soften, receive, and remember who you are beneath those roles and responsibilities and expectations that you've been carrying, but also to ignite the fire within you, to remind you how awesome you are. I'm so happy you're here. So here we talk about real healing, not the bypassing kind, but the kind that meets you exactly where you are. We explore energy, spirituality, emotional release, nervous system regulation, divine support, and what it truly means to live in alignment with your soul while navigating this crazy real life, right? So you'll hear heartfelt conversations, intuitive teachings, gentle practices, and soul-led interviews. They're all designed to help you clear energetic blocks, reconnect with your inner wisdom, and reclaim your vitality without guilt or burnout, right? Like we are done. We are done messing around. I am so fired up about this year of 2026, and I cannot wait to hang with you this year. So thank you so much for being here. This is the place where you don't have to have it all figured out, but it is the place where your strength is remembered, your light is reawakened. And if this resonates with you, I would love for you to follow the show. Please leave a review. It helps the message reach so many more individuals that need it at this time. You can also visit my website at angelrekyjourney.com, scroll to the bottom, sign up for the newsletter to receive soulful updates, upcoming offers, gentle reminders that you are never alone in this path. Come connect with me on Instagram at Angel Reiki Journey and join the conversation, or you can find me on LinkedIn where I share reflections, teachings, and ways to bring this work into your life and leadership. You are never meant to lose this alone. You belong here. And I'm so glad you are here. So take a breath and welcome to the Sacred Soul Sisters podcast. Disclaimer, you should always check in with your physician, your psychiatrist, your counselor, or anyone else assisting in your care prior to deciding that you would like to take any of the recommendations, the suggestions, and our thoughts on any of the subjects that we discuss in the podcast. Thank you so much.

The Post-Retreat Emotional Drop

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Hello, friends. Welcome back to the Sacred Soul Sisters podcast. Okay, this conversation today is one that I feel very deeply in my heart because if you've ever experienced the beauty, the expansion, the deep healing of a Reiki class, a retreat, or even a powerful healing session, you know how magical those spaces can feel. You feel lighter, clearer, more connected, sometimes more connected than you've ever felt, and you feel more you. And then you come home and you're back to responsibilities, back to the noise, back to the roles you hold for everyone else. And sometimes it can feel like everything you just experienced starts to fade, or like you don't quite fit the same you did before. If you've ever felt that disconnect, that emotional drop, or even question why is this so hard after something so beautiful? This episode is for you. Today we're talking about the very real challenge of returning to everyday life after spiritual expansion and how to gently lovingly integrate what you've experienced. So it becomes part of who you are, not just something you visit or you get to have once in a while. There really is, um, I don't know, for me personally, there's always been this part that I've struggled with after attending a spiritual retreat, whether it was one I led or one that I was at, uh as also with any type of my energy healing classes, whether I've taught them or I have been a student in them, this part of going back home, right? And oh this is so dedicated to everyone that's ever been um in that position. And I feel it's very timely for my Reiki students as as well. So, you know, try to normalize the experience. Like give yourself some grace, grace that you're not alone, that this is something that people really do experience. It's not just you, there's nothing wrong with you, you're not doing anything wrong.

Spiritual High Versus Real Life

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Because what's happening is the spiritual high versus real life energy. Um, you know, it's so different, right? It's such a different energy. And it doesn't mean that it's good or bad. It just means that is what's happening is you were in this sacred container. Okay. And while you're in this sacred container, and what I mean by that is usually when you come to a class like that or you're at a spiritual retreat like that, your nervous system starts to be calm and regulated. You're surrounded by like-minded souls. There's very little external demand on you, right? So all of your regular stuff at home, uh, there's not, you know, I gotta go do the laundry, I gotta grab the kids from school, I need to make dinner, I need to get ready for my other job, I need to feed the dogs, I need to uh talk to my husband about an upcoming uh business deal. Like there's so many different things that we don't experience during that time. And you're receiving, which, if you're a woman, a lot of times that's not the role you're typically in in your day-to-day life. And then you return to real life and your system goes, Hold up. What the hell just happened? Like, where are we at? There's almost a disent disorientation that takes place, right? Because you were in such an elevated energetic state. And like I said, coming home doesn't mean you lost it, it just means you're recalibrating. And sometimes it can feel super heavy or draining, right? Because your body's recalibrating, you know, your body's processing releases, it's processing upgrades, it's processing emotional clearing. That can feel like fatigue or fog or even sadness. And when I talk about that slight disorientation feel, like, what? Like, you want me to do what? Like it takes a minute for our bodies to adapt, right? So we had all these beautiful things take place in such a great way. And our day-to-day life, which we were used to right before we left, we have returned to. That likely has not changed. House may be a little messier now that you've been gone for a couple days. But besides that, that hasn't changed a lot. So they're still in their norm of what their day-to-day looks like, and they're looking at you like, what in the hell is wrong with you? Why are you so tired? Like you just went to this retreat, and like you should be totally rested and ready to jump in. But your nervous system needs an adjustment. You know, you you expanded beyond your usual capacity in a spiritual sense, in an energetic sense, and now your system is integrating that expansion. Okay, so your system's just learning how to adapt and hold more light. The problem is uh it's powerful. Uh you know, the shift feels so intense when it's happening and it feels so magnified because when you get in those higher vibrations, meaning you are more of your authentic self because you don't have the excess demands of everything else, you can focus on those things that bring you so much joy, that raise your frequency, that raise your energy level, that raise your vibrations.

Common Aftereffects And Mood Swings

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Hey guys, I wanted to jump on real quick and tell you about something. So, Spirit has been gently and consistently guiding uh myself and my friend Norma to share the importance of developing a backup way of communicating for what's ahead. So there's been an energetic transmission coming through for a little while now that suggests that forms of communication we are used to, such as the phone, email, internet, all of those things, um may experience some interruptions. So, because of this, we are being invited to dive in a little deeper to the understanding of telepathy, what that truly is, and whether it's real, why it matters, how it can support you and navigating a world that can sometimes feel overwhelming and unpredictable. Uh, kind of like now. Yeah. So this is about, you know, kind of peeling back the layers and connecting into that innate ability that all of us have. One that may become not just helpful, but maybe essential for a little while. So join my friend Norma and I for this incredible remembering workshop. It's May 14th, 2026. It is free, it's 90 minutes, it is on Zoom at 6 p.m. Central Time, 4 p.m. Pacific. The link to this will be in the show notes, but it's also on my website. If you scroll down under services, you will see the telepathy workshop. Again, it's free. We just need you to sign up in order for you to get the Zoom link. Looking forward to seeing guys there. Talk to you soon. And you were held in that high frequency container. Everything in those moments was intentional. The energy, the people, the space. You were so fully present and seen. Because you weren't multitasking, you weren't rushing, you weren't constantly giving. And you return to this environment and it's not matching that frequency, right? Our jobs, our family dynamics, our responsibilities. So they feel way heavier now. Because since your awareness has expanded so much, you it's almost like every single thing around you's volume has been turned up. And all the old roles come back on, right? Oh crap, I gotta get back into the caregiver, the fixer, the overgiver. But now they feel very misaligned. They they don't feel right. But this discomfort, it's not, it's not that you're failing or doing anything wrong. It's remind I'm reminding you that it's your just it's just your awareness is so much bigger right now. That's why everything just sounds and feels like it's on a million decibels. I know my youngest daughter, I came back. I love her so much. And a lot of times she'll repeat things if I if I don't do them right away, then she'll like say it like 18 times in a row, like, I need to do this, mom, I need to do this, I need you to do this, I need to do this. And it it sounded like she was on, I don't know, uh level 999 on the volume control. I would like almost to the point my ears were burning, I was like, okay, okay, give mom a minute. Now, was she really talking that loud? Probably not. But I was so sensitive to everything because my awareness had expanded so much, and my aura, my energetic field, along with that awareness and the frequency going up and the vibration had just magnified, right? Like I was my aura was out to every field, just shining, beaming, feeling amazing. But I needed a minute to remind myself, okay, you're gonna go back home. It's gonna feel a little bit different. People aren't gonna understand maybe what's going on. Uh, so common post-retreat or Reiki classes or anything like that, common feelings you can go through. And I really want to start, I'm gonna have to start sending this podcast out to my Reiki students and my retreat participants, like on the last day or something, and just saying, hey, maybe tune into this for your ride home, and then maybe again in like 48 hours once you get home, just to remind you that you're not batshit crazy, uh, that um your family is not batshit crazy, that you know, everything's okay. It's just an adjustment period. So common, you know, feelings that you might come across after following a retreat coming home or after a Reiki class coming home is you might notice quite a bit more emotional sensitivity. Like you may cry easier or feel way more open. Your heart is expanded. You might feel extremely tired, completely overstimulated, right? Like all the volumes have been told turned up, like we talked about. Your system is processing a lot. Rest is required, and it is okay, but you need to be graceful with yourself to allow yourself to get the rest, and you need to try your best to remember again that the people around you, nothing has changed for them. So they're not quite understanding how I'm not trying to give them an excuse to be ignorant. I'm just trying to help you with your understanding so you don't want to, you know, perhaps knock out the people you live with because they may see very irritated that you're tired, very irritated because they're like, man, you just came back with this retreat, or you just like sat in Reiki class and you just hung out with like-minded people. You should be like just bouncing off walls. Um, and maybe don't quite get all of the energetic things that take place. You might have more irritability or frustration. Things you used to tolerate uh can feel a lot more draining or misaligned. You may feel the urge to withdraw or uh, you know, get in solitude for a minute. I often have to uh take myself outside a little bit more often, um, maybe volunteer to take the dog for a walk more than I normally would just to kind of debrief and let my nervous system recalibrate. What also happens though, because there's like this misalignment that feels like is taking place, right? Because you're feeling this super high vibe, and it's almost like you have this huge just thump with reality that hits you when you get home. Uh, and then you have these uh these people at home that are feeling very irritated by, you know, either they're irritated by you seem totally peaceful and super relaxed, and that's not what they're used to, or you seem so tired that they can't wrap their head around, like we've been like, you know, working at home and doing all of our normal stuff and going to work and cleaning the house and that that and you were off relaxing. Why aren't you just in perfect uh shape coming home? There's so many different things going on. I know I'm repeating myself, I apologize. But when this stuff happens, it becomes very easy to start questioning everything, to start questioning your path, uh, your relationships, your lifestyle, uh uh like what's going on? Like, uh uh, am I in the right place? Uh uh uh do I need to live in a different place? Uh uh Am I doing things wrong? Am I doing things right? But this is all part of more and more awakening. Every time you do something that feeds your soul, uh you start to awaken more, which is a good thing. It's wonderful. You're not going backwards, I promise you, you're just becoming more aware of things. So be gentle with yourself, okay? You know, it's easy uh for your fur your first thought to be, oh my gosh, I want to go back to the retreat, or oh my gosh, I want to go back to the Reiki class, or I want to go back to the energy healing class, or I want to go back to the the group that I met with, and um, we had such a great time. We hung out for five hours, and everything was just perfect and calm and relaxed, and we could all be ourselves and we didn't have to worry about anything else going on. But healing isn't meant to live in a bubble, right? And the purpose is embodiment, not just temporary relief or escaping. So what happens at a retreat or a Reiki class or an energy class or another type of event uh that allows your awareness to grow, what happens there is an activation. Then

Embodiment Over Escaping

SPEAKER_00 19:10

when we get back to our real life, what happens is an integration. So once we are able to withhold ourselves, to be present, to be patient and graceful with ourselves, and allow that integration to take place, what result is transformation? Because what happened was the retreat or the class showed you who you are, and now life is asking you to be her. You hear me? So being surrounded by like-minded people, people that make your heart feel like it expands, allowed you the space to show you who you are, and now life in the universe is asking you to be her. Okay

Simple Integration Practices At Home

SPEAKER_00 20:13

So I'm gonna encourage you to maybe not jump right back in if at all possible to working 980 hours a week as soon as you come back, to somehow incorporate a little bit more space to reflect, rest, and process. And what that may look like is taking the dog for more walks, right? Uh just to allow yourself an extra 20 minutes here and there to reflect, rest, and process. Even if you can just have one morning that you take extra slow will help. You don't have to jump back into doing everything at 90 miles an hour. You really don't, and it's okay, and the people around you will be okay. Okay. You know, allowing yourself these moments of anchoring, especially if you just had a Reiki class, I would highly recommend doing your Reiki self-treatment, right? So doing the self-Rakey, um oh my gosh, if even if it's for five minutes a day will be so helpful for you. If this is your first time taking Reiki, probably should be doing that for the first 21 days anyway. But uh also if you are into breath work, that's a great way to get yourself anchored. But stillness too, you know, those walks in nature, placing your hand on your heart for just a couple of minutes a day and just reconnecting to yourself. Even if you only have five minutes, that is that's enough. If that's all you got, that's enough. Because consistency matters more than the length of time. If you can make a promise to yourself to take five minutes in quietness with your hands on your heart, and be mindful of your conversations and your environments, right? So be a little bit more protective of your energy. Limit your exposure to negativity. Honestly, I know you can't help that sometimes when your negativity is living in your house. But when your negativity is, say, a certain friend group that you usually hang out with, um, highly recommend holding off on that for a bit if you have to go back to that. Because, like I said, every everywhere the volume has been turned up so loud, your awareness is still uh so amplified. So that negativity is just gonna seem that much worse. And give yourself permission to say no. Give yourself permission to say no. I I can't meet you for dinner this week. No, I'm sorry. I can't do a play date with the kids this week. Uh, your energy is more sensitive right now, and that's okay. And you're allowed to honor it. Period. And bring, you know, bring some of the rituals. Maybe you did a ritual during the retreat, and maybe it was you sat with a candle lit and you journaled for a little bit. Maybe it is a couple songs that the retreat leader or facilitator recommended, or the the Reiki master that taught your class was like, hey, this is a great meditation to do. It's only eight minutes or so. Maybe take your time to do that. And you can talk about your experience too. Maybe reach out to somebody that you were in the class with or you were in the retreat with and be like, hey, how you doing? Share with safe people. And by safe people, I mean someone that can understand, right? That is probably going through the same thing you are right now is best, really, just to kind of know that you're not alone in this. Again, that you haven't lost it, like you're just, you know, things are shifting for you. And integration starts to deepen even more when you're able to articulate what's going on inside of you. You know, when you can talk to somebody else about, like, hey, I came home, I felt like this, it felt like my family felt like this, I'm not sure what's going on, feels like a lot's happening, that kind of thing. Not everybody's gonna understand your experience, obviously. And you don't need validation for your growth. The journey is yours. I understand. And I want you to know that. But being able to reach out with somebody that was perhaps there with you and maybe going through the same thing can be very beneficial and helpful for you. You know, another thing that comes up, especially, you know, there are a lot of retreats and a lot of classes that contain healing

Identity Shifts And Stronger Boundaries

SPEAKER_00 25:15

experiences. Every Reiki class I teach, there's so much healing that goes on. Not just that I teach, it probably anybody teaches, okay? There is healing that goes on when you are learning Reiki. You're not just learning the process of how to be a vessel for energy, there is so much more to it. You are also doing healing work. And a lot of times when you go through a training like that, or you go to a retreat where there are meditations and breath work and empowering moments and growing, expanding your heart, stepping into your authentic self, all these kinds of things. Uh, you know, a lot of times there's an identity shift. You're not the same person when you first got there. This is where things get really real. You expanded energetically and emotionally. Old ways of being may start to feel uncomfortable now. You may not fit into the same patterns anymore, right? So let yourself evolve. Try new ways of responding. Maybe this is an invitation to look at how you're setting your boundaries, or if you've been setting any at all. The biggest thing you need to know is you don't need to shrink to fit who you used to be, or to fit who somebody says you need to be. You also don't have to lower your vibration to match that of someone else's. There'll come a point in your healing journey where it will become almost impossible for you to lower it to a certain level, so much so that it will cause an undeniable dissonance between you and that person and will likely change that relationship altogether, may eliminate that relationship. I'm not saying that as a scare tactic or anything, I'm just letting you know that when we do the work on ourselves and we grow and we invest in growing as a person and in healing so many things, then we can't help but expand and raise our vibration. But if the people around us uh don't do anything to help themselves and they don't allow themselves to grow, there's they're not really changing. They're usually just kind of staying at the same level, and that makes it hard to communicate. You know? So what if this is the real work? What if your life is the place your healing is meant to live? What if you trusted yourself to carry this forward? Because you're the bridge between the sacred space and your everyday life. You hear me? You are the bridge between the sacred space and your everyday life.

Guided Meditation For Integration

SPEAKER_00 28:34

So we're gonna do a little meditation to help with some of this integration. Not very long, but I do want to do it to make sure that you have this to turn to when you need it. And I don't care if you have to listen to it 80 times, then do that. Anything if it'll help some. And I really do hope it helps. I really wish that there was something that was given to me a long time ago because that's been one of the hardest things for me over the years is integrating when I get back home. There's so many emotional roller coasters that start to take place and so much confusion. And I have to make a conscious effort to remind myself that nothing has changed for those people that are at my house, those people that I love so, so much and was so looking forward to. They haven't had that expansion. They were doing the same things that I was doing before I left on their day-to-day, like everything was going the same. And honestly, if I was at home and they had been at a retreat, I may start being like, dude, you just like totally relaxed and chilled, and now you come home and are tired. Like, what? The human in me would probably be irritated, like, hey man, I've been carrying this load this whole time and figured you'd be jumping in to help me. I don't know. I hope I'd be more patient, especially with being on the other side of it, but I don't know for sure that I would. So it just helps knowing the whole picture of things sometimes. All right, so if you can uh pull over for a minute, put the car in park if you're driving, or go sit in a recliner or lay on your bed for a few minutes so we can walk through this meditation. That would be great, or pause and come back to later. But we're just gonna take a minute here, and you're just gonna have you close your eyes. Close your eyes, and I'm just gonna have you take a deep breath in through your nose. And a long exhale out of your mouth. Go ahead and gently close your eyes. Again, take a deep breath in through your nose. Slowly exhale out of your mouth. Again, breathing in and releasing. Allow your body to soften, your shoulders to drop, your jaw to unclench. Now bring your awareness to your heart space. And just notice how you feel right now. No judgment, no need to change anything, just awareness. Now imagine yourself back in that space. Whether it was the retreat, whether it was a Reiki class, that moment where you felt deeply connected, where you felt so much of yourself. See it, feel it. Remember who you were in that space, the peace, the openness, the clarity, the softness. Now gently place one hand over your heart and begin to realize that version of you is not somewhere you left behind. She's still here. She is you. With each breath in, you are calling her forward. With each breath out, you are releasing anything that says you have to go back to who you were before. Imagine that energy, that light beginning to expand in your heart. That light, that energy is now flowing through your body, into your shoulders, into your stomach, into your legs, into your entire being. You are not separate from that version of you. You are integrating her, becoming her, living as her. Now gently say, either out loud or in your mind, I carry this energy with me. I trust my integration. I allow myself to move forward with softness and grace. I am safe to be who I am becoming. Take one more deep breath in, and as you exhale, feel yourself grounded, present, supported. And when you are ready, very gently bring yourself back. Wiggle your fingers and toes, bring your awareness back into the room that you're in. Take a deep breath into your nose, and a long exhale. One more there you are. There you are, all of you. Returning back. Welcome back.

Final Reminders And Ways To Connect

SPEAKER_00 36:27

As we close today's episode, I just want to remind you of something really important. If you've ever left a retreat, a Reiki class, or a healing session and felt that emotional dip, that disconnect, or that longing to go back, it doesn't mean the magic is gone. It means something within you has awakened. And now you're being invited to live it, to bring that softer version of you, the more connected version of you, the open-hearted, aligned, radiant version of you into your everyday life. Not perfectly, not all at once, but gently, moment by moment. You don't have to leave your life to feel that way again. You just have to remember it was never outside of you to begin with. Thank you for being here. Thank you for doing this work, and thank you for choosing yourself again and again. And as always, I'm sending you so much love, so much light, and so much healing. Until next time, Sacred Soul Sisters. Take care. Hi, before you go, hey, I just want to say thank you again. I'm so grateful you're here. Thank you for sharing this space with me today. And I hope that you can feel the sense of community. Every time you listen to one of these episodes, you're in community with not only me, but everybody else that's listening to you. And in that beautiful frequency that's created, we get to have our hearts infused with the love and peace and the hope that we have for each other. So thank you so much for that. So as you move back into your day, I invite you to take a moment to soften your shoulders, breathe into your heart, and notice what shifted for you in this conversation. How do you feel? I hope amazing. And if this episode resonated, please follow the Sacred Soul Sisters podcast. Take a minute to leave a review. Your words help this healing ripple reach other beautiful souls who are quietly longing for support, remembrance, and community. And stay connected. You can visit my website, angelreikijourney.com. You can book an Angel Reiki session there. You can see some of the other events that we have going on. And if you scroll to the bottom, sign up for the newsletter where I share soulful reflections, upcoming offers, and gentle invitations to reconnect with yourself. You can also find me on Instagram at AngelReikiJourney for inspiration. Connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm over there too. And remember, you don't have to have it all figured out. You don't have to carry all this alone. You are deeply supported, you are divinely guided, and you are worthy of ease and joy and magnetizing moments in your life. And I'm so excited for that. Until we meet again, take care of your beautiful heart and know that it's okay to choose yourself. It's okay to offer self love to yourself, and it's okay to receive the love and abundance this universe wants to give you. So I will see you next week. Take care, bye bye.