I'm not going to lie, it still feels weird to me when someone asks what I do for a living to tell them that I'm a Reiki Master and Energy Healer, rather than give the standard corporate title and explanation I'm used to. It was so easy to give my boring little elevator spiel of "I'm a corporate concierge. I help employees with travel, tickets, dining; basically help plan their personal lives for them so they aren't doing it on company time *insert fake laugh*". It rarely led to further conversation and eventually became an automatic response without any real enthusiasm.
Now when I respond by saying "Oh, I have my own energy healing practice and help people feel better", I'll sometimes get a weird look and sometimes the person has a more enthusiastic response, but 9 times out of 10 it will start a real conversation. And that real interest and connection is so much more fun.
I tried getting reiki on a whim almost 5 years ago. My hairstylist had started going to see a reiki practitioner and suggested that I give it a shot as something equivalent to a massage or a spa treatment. I had no idea what I was getting into, but it sounded just weird enough to be right up my alley. So I texted the number and scheduled a session. After that, I was hooked. The reiki practitioner I had gone to see, Julie, has turned into a great friend/mentor/advocate and I am so grateful for the circumstances in my life that have brought me to where I am now.
I started by going to one-off Lunch 'n Learn classes on topics like the Chinese Element Theory and Vision Board manifesting. Then I found out that Julie was offering a Reiki 1 class and I jumped on the chance to learn more. It's been a rabbit hole from there, and I've discovered my love for energy work. I've been a Reiki Master since 2018 and have started picking up different techniques to broaden my range since then.
I've felt such a positive change in my life since I began receiving energy healing and the idea of being qualified to help others in that way, is honestly something I had never considered being possible.
When I was laid off from my corporate job in 2019, I didn't know what to do. I struggled to even get interviews and none of them made offers for a job. So in January 2020, I decided to start my own travel and event planning business. I registered an LLC, got a business license, set up insurance and signed up under a Travel Host Agency. The whole nine yards. In March, I decided to book a trip to Mexico for myself as a soft opening, trial run sort of deal. My vendor refused to give me a quote. This was a woman I had worked with for 7 years previously, and always came through for me. She said "something weird is going on, give it a week and watch the news. Then we can make a decision about booking." A week later, COVID was a thing and we were preparing to go into lockdown. All of my travel agent colleagues and vendors were scrambling to get clients home so they wouldn't be trapped anywhere, and there were massive backlogs for refunds.
At first, all I could focus on was the fact that I had put in all this work, and a week away from launching my new business the world shut down. But now, I am beyond relieved to have barely missed that nightmare by just a week!
Julie had been suggesting that I start seeing clients for a couple years, and I always brushed it off as something that other people do. So the Universe took away all my excuses. I no longer had a corporate job taking up all my time. I no longer had travel and event planning as a viable option. But I DID have a fully set up business structure ready to go and I was surrounded by people in need of self-care and healing.
So now here I am. I am a Reiki Master and Intuitive Healer. I am a small business owner. And I think I'm finally on the right path.