Good Neighbor Podcast: Orange County

Certified Reiki Master And Organic Esthetician Blends Energy Work, Facials, And Intuitive Coaching For Whole-Person Wellness

• Rachel Fyffe & Kerry Walker-Collins

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Searching for care that treats more than symptoms? We sit down with Kerry Walker-Collins, the certified Reiki Master and organic esthetician  and Intuitive Coach behind Mystic Reiki and Wellness in Laguna Beach, to unpack how energy work, mindful touch, and clean skincare create lasting change. Kerry shares the near-death experience that reset her life in 2007, the early days working in a physician’s office, and the surprising moment patients sensed Reiki before she even trained in it. From there, the story moves into integrative medicine, where surgeons observed calmer patients and smoother pre and post-op experiences when Reiki entered the care plan.

We explore why pairing Reiki with organic facials can reduce inflammation, soften stress responses, and improve sleep—benefits that show up on the face and in daily life. Kerry breaks down intuitive coaching as the third pillar, explaining how separate phone or Zoom sessions help clients process patterns, make clear choices, and carry transformation past the treatment room. Along the way, we tackle the biggest myth about Reiki—that it’s “new age” or tied to a belief system—by clarifying its non-dogmatic nature and growing acceptance in hospitals and integrative clinics.

If you’re navigating burnout, sensitive skin, surgery recovery, or just craving a calmer baseline, this conversation offers practical insight and reassurance. You’ll hear how environment matters—a slow, welcoming studio where clients aren’t rushed—and why word of mouth fuels sustainable growth better than hype. Ready to rethink what whole-person wellness can look like? Follow Kerry on Instagram at @mysticreiki, explore services and events at https://www.mysticreiki.com/, and share this episode with someone who could use a gentler path to healing. If this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and tell us what you’re most curious to try next.

SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Rachel Five.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Now, are you looking for a certified Reiki master master or an organic esthetician or even an intuitive coach? Well, that person and individual is closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Carrie Walker Collins, with Mystic Reiki and Wellness. Now, Carrie, how is it going?

SPEAKER_02:

Great. How are you?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm good. I'm good. Now I'd love to hear about your business. So tell us about Reiki Mystic Mystic Reiki and Wellness.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Mystic Reiki and Wellness is in downtown Laguna Beach. Been there for many years. And actually, it's it's always been in Laguna Beach. I started doing this in 2007 in South Laguna at the hospital.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. And can you uh kind of expand a little bit about the services and stuff you offer?

SPEAKER_02:

Sure. Um I let's see, I started in um medical skincare. So that's where the organic facials and the organic aesthetician comes from. I quickly then learned Reiki once I got hands-on and um realized that a little bit more was going on in my sessions than I had anticipated when I became an aesthetician. And uh Reiki is a beautiful healing uh modality that is um can't is is great for everything. I can't even list out all the things that we've worked on over the years with Reiki, but it is uh immensely important, especially in this day and age, with the amount of stress and um outside influence that we have to really do the inside healing portion of it. So when I combine the two modalities and do skincare and Reiki together, it really sets the um service apart as far as um being able to work with the skin and the energy that's going on inside of your body. So people really enjoy that. Um, and then the intuitive coaching piece that that occurred uh because my Reiki session started needing to be longer and longer because I was finding that people wanted to come in and um really talk about what was going on in their lives, and there's a lot of intuitive influence and kind of messaging that I am able to receive uh through that. And so I realized that um separating out those sessions and having them over phone or Zoom, kind of like what we're doing right now, is really beneficial. Um, so that's where the three main services um were kind of born.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. Now I maybe expand like how did you get into this kind of business and brought you onto this path?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, well, originally, originally, originally, how far back should I go? Look at our watches. Um originally I had a career change essentially that was not planned either in that 2007 because I had an entire um life change. I had a near-death experience, and um that pivoted my entire world. So I, in order to kind of shift everything that was going on, I went back to school and became an aesthetician. It wasn't supposed to be my stop. That wasn't where I was ending, it was just what I was doing for the time being. Um, became an aesthetician and got my first job uh working for a physician. And um, it was there that somebody was asking me if I was doing Reiki on them before I was. So I had a pretty heavy meditation practice. I was doing a lot of uh yoga and spiritual work at that time, and I was starting to realize that the patients I was working on of his were not necessarily protocol. So I was already having to kind of separate out and using a lot of intuition on what was going to be best for them. Um, so it was a really short amount of time. It was about six months before I ended up taking Reiki classes myself, never having had a session. Um, now I've had thousands, of course, but I didn't know what it was at all when I was starting off. I just, it really, really resonated with me and I was led to that. Um, and then that ended up kind of taking over the medical practice. So I was doing a lot of Reiki on all the doctors. He was actually a surgeon that trained physicians from all over the world. So we were showing him everything we were doing. So he ended up becoming very integrative as far as we were doing Reiki pre or post op on his um patients, and and it just took over. And it's I mean, it's great for so many things, which I'm sure I'll be able to talk about today when these questions. But um, so that's that's essentially what happened. And um, I think it was about five years later that I ended up having my son and um went out branched after that went branched out on my own, and that's when mystic reiki and wellness happened.

SPEAKER_01:

Wonderful. Well, what do you think are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, I think mostly that it's new age um or kind of lumped in with a new age development. I think that can hold some people back from from doing it. Um, I think people just automatically assume that it has some type of spiritual practice attached to it, and it doesn't. Um, Reiki has no dogma attached to it, meaning that it's just um completely neutral in that aspect. So we should be working with anyone of any religion. Um, it shouldn't be brief doing any of that for them. And I feel like that's the biggest misconception is that it kind of gets lumped into that other section. Um, but it's it's really not, it's it's more independent than that. In fact, it's it's widely recognized now in the medical field. So um it's becoming more and more mainstream, which I'm very happy about. But it's uh I think that's the biggest part.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. Well, now we know marketing is is you know at the heart of every business. So how are you finding your patients?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I so I have never really marketed a whole lot in the 20 years. Um grateful for Google. That's definitely I seem to come up pretty quickly when you're Googling Reiki in Orange County and definitely Reiki and Laguna Beach. Um, and other than that, it's really word of mouth. So I depend on those um testimonials and people talking about what they what their um outcomes have been in the sessions and their experiences. And that's what seems to have worked the best for me.

SPEAKER_01:

Wonderful. Now, have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?

SPEAKER_02:

I have not. I have not. Um, I've been on a lot of podcasts over the years, but I have not thought about doing my own.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, now outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I have a 13-year-old, almost 14-year-old eighth grader that I am homeschooling. He's in a hybrid homeschool situation, so that's not a lot, but it does take up a lot of time these days. And that started about five years ago. But other than that, we live in um San Juan Capistrano, which is beautiful, and we walk the trails and we're out in nature and walking my two beautiful German shepherds is pretty much what we've been doing a lot of lately.

SPEAKER_01:

I love it. Well, Carrie, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Mystic Reiki and wellness.

SPEAKER_02:

I think to remember about Mystic Reiki and wellness is that it's not just um the average wellness center, that's for sure. When you come in, my clients want to stay. There's a beautiful waiting room that's a couch, and it just sort of you just want to live in there in that space, and you're welcome to. We don't rush our clients in and out. We take our time with um everything that's going on. We're really working with the whole person um inside and out. And we really truly, I really we really care. All of the girls that work with me and myself, um, we really, really pride on uh how we can be of the best service to each individual client that's coming in.

SPEAKER_01:

That's wonderful. Well, how can our listeners learn more about Mystic Reiki and wellness?

SPEAKER_02:

You can follow me on Instagram and it's at Mystic Reiki, or you can go to mysticre.com and all of our events, we have a couple great events coming up before the end of the year, and services are all listed out. Um, all of our amazing skincare products, everything that we use, we we have up there available for all of our clients to also see and purchase.

SPEAKER_01:

Wonderful. Well, Carrie, I really appreciate you being on the show, and I we wish you and your business the really very very best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you so much, Rachel. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpoorgecounty.com. That's gnporangecounty.com or call 714 941 862.