Episode #147 From Burnout to Healing: Mary Riposo's 20-Year Reiki Journey

Mary Riposo"s
journey into Reiki begins with childhood illness and a grandmother who taught her about Christian mysticism—experiences that cultivated both a rich inner world and sensitivity to energies beyond the physical. Working as a psychologist with a crushing caseload, Mary found herself at a breaking point when building renovations exposed her to toxins, triggering mysterious symptoms conventional medicine couldn't resolve.

A chance encounter with Reiki at a wellness fair changed everything. After just ten minutes in a chair session, Mary felt an energy surge that set her on a path of discovery. What began as self-healing evolved organically into a profession as clients witnessed her transformation and sought her guidance. Twenty years later, Mary has built a thriving practice, co-owns a wellness center with her yoga-teacher husband, and mentors practitioners worldwide.

Mary dismantles common misconceptions about Reiki, particularly the idea that practitioners "give" energy to clients. Instead, she explains, Reiki awakens what's already within us—a perspective that empowers both practitioner and recipient. She shares candidly about business challenges, from overcoming introversion to learning money management, emphasizing that failures became stepping stones to her success.

For practitioners, Mary's experience founding the CNY Reiki Association highlights the profound importance of community. Her advice to those starting out is refreshingly practical: don't compare your beginning to someone else's established practice, expect and learn from setbacks, and focus on finding the system that resonates with you rather than collecting multiple certificates. If you're curious about energy healing or building a spiritual business, Mary's blend of wisdom, humility, and practical experience provides a roadmap for the journey ahead. Ready to awaken what's already within you?

Mary Riposo is the co-owner of Infinite Light Center and the founder of the CNY Reiki Association. A Reiki practitioner for over 20 years, Mary teaches and shares the healing benefits of Reiki for both people and animals. 

Mary has completed training in Usui/Holy Fire Reiki, Holy Fire Karuna Reiki, Gendai Reiki, as well as both the Japanese and Western (Takata) Reiki lineages of Usui Reiki. She is also an ICRT Animal Reiki Master.

Before she began practicing the system of Reiki, Mary was a psychotherapist in private practice. Her own wellness journey led her to Reiki, and since then she has made it her mission to teach and share the system of Reiki with others. 

Mary is dedicated to making the practice and teaching of Reiki more professional and accessible. To that end, she has authored a number of books, including Reiki manuals and Reiki Journals, Workbooks and Practice Trackers for students and other Reiki Master Teachers. 

Mary believes that everyone should have access to the wellness benefits that the system of Reiki provides, and feels that practitioners do their best within a supportive community. 

Mary's wise and gentle manner, coupled with her keen intuitive abilities cause her to be sought after as a teacher, healer and mentor to clients worldwide. Mary resides in Central New York with her husband, Tony, founder of Infinite Light Yoga. 

For more information about Mary Riposo's Reiki classes, sessions and products, please visit www.InfiniteLightCenter.com and www.MaryRiposo.com. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hello my beautiful friends, tracy Seawright here
for Ready Set Reiki.
So today I would like tointroduce you to a really
wonderful guest.
I was fortunate enough to findher on Facebook and she is
graciously willing to come onReady Set Reiki to share her
journey.

(00:41):
Her name is Mary Raposio andshe is a co-owner of Infinite
Light Center and the founder ofthe CNY Reiki Association.
As a Reiki practitioner forover 20 years, mary has taught
and shared the healing benefitsof Reiki for both people and
animals.
Welcome, mary, to Ready SetReiki.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Thank you, tracy, it's great to be here.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Wonderful, so let's begin our journey together.
So I only gave our listeners alittle bit about you, but there
is so much more amazing journeythat you have been on, so tell
us a little bit about yourself.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Well, I live in central New York and I live with
my husband who is a yogateacher, so we're kind of like
an energy family.
And I grew up in this area,about an hour away from where I
live now, and most of my familyis still in this area.
So we're in the Northeast and Iworked as a psychologist before

(01:39):
I started practicing Reiki.
So that's kind of my background.
I spent a lot of years morethan 20 years helping people
heal from the you know, thepsychological part of it, from
the emotional part of it, and Iworked in schools, hospitals,
clinic settings, all of thosekinds of things within mental

(02:00):
health and I was pretty sick asa child so I spent a lot of time
in bed.
I had like lots of respiratoryissues, bronchitis, pneumonias,
recurring things like that so Iwas kind of sick as a child
quite a bit, and I, you know,I'm definitely more of an

(02:22):
introvert anyway, so I enjoyspending quiet time alone and I
developed more of like thisinternal world that kept me
occupied, get me through my daysand things like that.
So I've always been interestedin what's kind of like beyond
the physical, and my father diedwhen I was very young and I

(02:45):
spent most of the time with mygrandmother.
She kind of raised me.
My mother was working and allthat kind of thing, but my
grandmother was a reallyinteresting person.
She taught me a lot aboutChristian mysticism.
She was kind of this type ofwoman who was.
She had a deep connection withthe Christian saints, almost as
if like they were her friendsand she would talk about them

(03:07):
and that type of thing is if,like, I started to feel like I
knew them.
So that was something that Iwas kind of immersed in as a
child.
It was kind of a magical thing.
And you know, I also lovednature and animals.
I had dogs, cats, I had a horsewhen I was growing up and I
rode in horse shows.
So there was also thatconnection with the animals and

(03:28):
a feeling like I could reallycommunicate with them.
So those are kind of some oflike the little bit of the
backstory about where I comefrom.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
And I'm sorry for the loss of your father.
I recently lost my dad, a fewyears ago, so I'm sorry for that
.
Well, how wonderful of yourjourney of you know it's part of
your journey to take you wherewe're going to.
Next question is is when didthe Reiki come into your life?

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Oh wow.
Well, I like to say that Reikikind of found me when I needed
it right, which I think I'vetalked to a lot of people in our
field and how that kind ofseems to happen.
It's like this trend that I'veseen with people.
But I was, like I said, I hadbeen sick when I was a child.
I was recovering from thisillness that kind of really

(04:20):
knocked me out when I was anadult and nobody could figure
out what was going on.
I was working in mental health,like I said, and I was in a
hospital setting, a clinicsetting, and I had this really
massive caseload of clients whowere released from inpatient and

(04:40):
they were coming to me foroutpatient therapy and really
like heavy caseload of difficultclients that had a lot of
challenging issues and I wouldsay I was booked out for
evaluations and clients for morethan a year out.
It was just this heaviness that, like I couldn't take any time

(05:02):
off.
There was no way of likegetting a week of vacation off.
I think I hadn't taken a dayoff.
There was no way of getting aweek of vacation off.
I think I hadn't taken a dayoff in more than three years.
I was super close to burnout andat that time I remember they
started to do a renovation ofour building and we had to work
through it and, like I said, Ialways had this respiratory

(05:23):
issues and you know weakness inthat area, and so I was
breathing in particles from dustand demolition stuff and they
were putting in carpeting withthat toxic fumes and all of that
type of thing.
And I remember just sitting inthat office day after day and
feeling like my chest wasfeeling heavier, I was feeling

(05:43):
sick, I was feeling tired and Ijust kept working through it
until I couldn't work through itat all and I just ended up
going out on sick leave and Iwould go from doctor to doctor
and they couldn't figure outwhat was going on.
It was like the respiratorything, but then I had rashes and
I had joint pain and I hadfatigue and I couldn't get out

(06:05):
of bed and I was dizzy and Icouldn't see very well and all
of this weird stuff.
It was kind of a mystery andsome of the treatments, I have
to say, actually made me feelsicker.
So I started to think like Idon't really know what I'm doing
here.
I ended up having to move outof my apartment because it was

(06:26):
mold growing there and I didn'trealize that.
So I move away and during thisrecovery period I started to,
like you know, even more want tobe seeking something else, you
know, a different way of life, adifferent way of being right.
I just, you know, needed tolike heal from this burnout.

(06:49):
So I ended up going to thiswellness fair locally and I had
a short Reiki session.
I was walking around kind oflooking at the booths and what
people were doing and I wasdrawn to this one woman who had
purple tie, dye shirt on andthings, and she had this purple
sign that said Reiki and I hadno idea what it was and I was

(07:11):
like I'll try that.
What the heck right, and I had,I would say looking back, it
may have been like a 10 minutesession.
I mean really one of thoselittle mini sessions, not on a
table like we do often now,sitting in a chair, sitting in
like a banquet chair, straightback chair.
And I remember for the firsttime, feeling like I had energy

(07:34):
and I thought, in my you knowway of thinking at the time, she
is giving me something, she islike pouring something into me.
She is, she has something thatI don't have and she's giving it
to me.
But I didn't care.
I was like I need more of thisstuff.
I just I was like, what is it?

(07:54):
Where do I get more?
How do I do this?
How do I feel like this all thetime?
And so I started to get Reikisessions after that.
So I started to get Reikisessions after that and, um,
pretty soon, my um Reikitherapist I'll call her she said
you know, you could take somebeginning Reiki training and you

(08:15):
could start practicing Reiki onyourself in between our
sessions.
And I was like, uh, yeah, Idon't think so.
Like, for one thing, I feellike I have no energy, I feel
weak, I feel tired.
You know I'm feeling betterfrom the sessions, but I don't
think I could ever do that.
So I was again putting you knowsomething on her that she had,
something that I would neverhave.

(08:37):
Right, I've changed my mindabout that pretty quickly.
But I ended up doing it.
I learned Reiki for myself.
I took level one and my goalwas to come back into balance,
right to relieve my physicalsymptoms, come back into balance
and that type of thing.
And it definitely wasn't toopen a Reiki business at all and

(08:59):
I realized through practicing,and especially through the self
Reiki.
And I realized throughpracticing and especially
through the self Reiki, that Ibecame aware of where things
were out of balance in my lifeand what choices I was making
that were not really supportingmy wellness and all of those
types of things.
And it also gave me, um, theclarity about what I needed to

(09:22):
do, about making changes aroundthose things.
So it wasn't that somebody washealing me from the outside,
giving me energy, pouringsomething in like a gas tank or
anything like that.
But I started to feel betteronce I started to make those
changes and listen and Iactually lost weight.
I felt more positive about lifeand remember I said I was a

(09:46):
real introvert.
I was able to start talking topeople more.
I was interested, like curious,about, you know, interacting
with people more, which wasunusual for me, and at first I
had no idea that that was partof the healing because I only
thought of it as physical,because I was feeling out of

(10:06):
balance physically at the timeand that's why I was going for
it and I think a lot of peopledo think Reiki is, you know,
physical healing.
Maybe A lot of times peoplecome to me for a session and
that's kind of what they theytalk about too, like what can,
what can it help me with?
And they think about physical.
But when people started to askme, what are you doing?

(10:27):
You seem like you're feelingbetter, you seem like you're
happier, and things like that,and I told them about Reiki.
And then that's when, um, itstarted to happen, people were
like you need to show that to me, I need to do it, and I don't.
And I'd say like, oh, go to myReiki person.
No, I want you to do it.
So they were asking me forsessions and then it turned into

(10:52):
they wanted to learn how to doit themselves.
So I ended up completing mytraining and it was the impetus
to teach other people.
But it was really organic.
It was like I was not thinking,oh, I'm going to have this you
know this business and open awellness center and do this for
the rest of my life.

(11:12):
So you know, I eventually didquit my job, opened a full time
Reiki practice and then myhusband and I opened a wellness
center and we ran that for morethan 10 years.
And we ran that for more than10 years.
And you know, then it's kind oflike that's been going on for
more than 20 years for me.
So I exclusively practice andteach Reiki and it's just my

(11:39):
life at this point.
So that's kind of the way thatit found me.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
That's kind of like that long story short, but that
was it.
Yeah, long story short, butthat was it.
Yeah, uh, many people don'tunderstand that there's multiple
systems of Reiki.
What are the systems of Reikithat you've studied?

Speaker 3 (11:54):
Well, oh my gosh, I have, uh, I have done a lot of
different, uh, reiki styles.
So at first I learned UsuiShiki Ryoho.
That was my first instance,right when I said I, you know,
went to Reiki training and Ididn't even know at the time

(12:19):
that there was any difference,that there were different
systems of Reiki.
So that was the beginning, and Itook that training and then I
took Usui Reiki, ryoho, and thenI took Gendai Reiki, no, then I
took Shambhala Reiki, then Itook Gendai Reiki, and then I
took Usui Holy Fire Reiki, holyFire, kuruna Reiki, and I think

(12:46):
there were a couple other onestoo that I can't not like
bringing up on top of mine, butit was one of those people that
was a seeker for a while.
I was, like you know, gainingone certificate after another.
I need to learn a differentstyle Now.
I need to learn this otherstyle, right, right.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah, I did the same thing.
I kind of similar journey asyou as well, where you were
seeking that more, you know,until you find that just right
or that just right for theclient that's with you.
So, yes, the Goldilocks Reiki.
Yeah, the Goldilocks Reiki,there we go.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
The just right one.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, the just right.
So you've been doing this forquite some time now.
You've been out teaching,supporting others.
You were an author.
You've done some amazing things.
What are some of themisconceptions that you find
that people tell you or questionyou about Reiki?

Speaker 3 (13:42):
You know, this is a really good question for me,
because I spend a lot of time asI'm teaching and as I'm
coaching people and mentoring,really kind of helping people
demystify and bring ininformation.
That kind of blasts throughthose misconceptions, because we

(14:04):
all have these blind spots andbecause Reiki isn't standardized
or anything like that, there'sjust like we kind of fill in the
blanks sometimes in between.
So there are lots of them and Ithink that in a way it's hard
to pick just one.
But I think the one I wastalking about, that I was kind

(14:24):
of alluding to before, was likeI felt when I first had a Reiki
session, the energy was beingpoured into me from the outside
and I kind of jumped to theconclusion in my own mind that
the practitioner was giving meenergy, that it was, you know,
and I felt sick and weak.
So it was kind of a logicalconclusion like, oh, all of a

(14:46):
sudden I don't have any of thiswithin me.
I didn't realize that.
You know, it was something thatcan be awakened within us, that
we already have that like as areally empowering kind of
understanding and belief, and Ithought that Reiki was something
that was channeled from oneperson to another.
So it was kind of like beingsent through the hands or sent

(15:10):
from one person to the other,like this person, you know,
reiki master, had all thiswonderful powerful energy that
she was, you know, kind ofgiving me a little bit of Um.
But I really I try to helppeople understand from a
different point of view that asa practitioner we create the

(15:30):
space for that healing responseand it happens within every one
of us.
We all have a healing response,we all have Reiki within us.
It's just kind of activatedwithin a session and so it
really starts to bloom andactivate within us.
And I think that's kind of moreof an Asian way of

(15:52):
understanding how energy healingworks, rather than like that
Western way of like you gettransactional and like you give
it to me and then I give yousome money or something like
that at the end.
Right, and I think it's such abig deal because when we think a
practitioner is doing somethingto us, giving something to us

(16:13):
for one, we can becomedisempowered, like it's not us,
it's someone else doing thehealing to us and we think that
we need something outside of usto make us whole and we also can
put that person on a pedestal,create this imbalanced
relationship, and then we mayalso think that you need to have
physical touch in order forhealing to happen, because the

(16:34):
person is, you know, touchingyou and you know, making you
healthy again, or something likethat.
So that's one of the big onesthat I talk about all the time.
Wonderful.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
And even do you find, when even people see the word
Reiki, there's that trigger thatcomes up.
I was at an event and a womancame up and she said, hmm, reiki
, yeah, that's not for me, andwalks off and it's like that's
okay.
You know, but even the wordseems to bother people.
And you know, your husband is ayogi and I'm a yogi as well.

(17:07):
He probably experiences that aswell in the yoga community.
When people see yoga, like, oh,I don't do that.
So many misconceptions outthere.
So 100%.
Yeah.
So it's wonderful that you'reout there and you're helping
individuals and educating them.
You know, to make it moreprofessional, more accessible to

(17:27):
all Wonderful.
So you are a mentor, you are acoach.
You have helped so many peopleon their journey to wellness.
Well, what has been one of thebiggest struggles or challenges
you faced in your own healingjourney?

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Well, there have been a lot, for sure, question about
that, um, but I think that,like, when I first opened my
reiki practice, I thought thisis like the best thing in the
world.
I was so passionate about reikiand I thought people are just
gonna be flocked to this.

(18:04):
Oh my gosh.
It didn't have anything to dowith me, but but I thought Reiki
is so wonderful, it's helped meso much.
Of course, people are going tosee that and, like you said,
they kind of were like give methe side eye about, like what?
I don't even know what thatword means, but I don't think
it's for me, right?
I just was very naive about itand, um, you know, I had no idea

(18:28):
, like I had no businessexperience from the start, right
.
So it was just, like you know,a mental health therapist, right
, psychologist, and I knew howto work with people one-on-one,
and I just had this reallystrong calling to share Reiki
with others.
Like I said, it was sopassionate and I didn't really
realize that my intentionwouldn't be enough to create

(18:50):
this successful business.
I had to learn a lot ofbusiness stuff.
I had to learn how to createsystems, how to manage money,
because I was always working forsomeone else, so I never asked
for money.
I had to get over a lot ofblocks about being shy about
asking for money.
You know, dealing with how tomanage money, how to do

(19:12):
marketing, you know, being anintrovert, it was super hard to
promote.
And so I.
The thing that really got methrough that was that I believe
so much in the power of Reiki tohelp people that I was like you
have to get over yourself.
You know, you just have to.
I kind of like coached myselfthrough it.
I was like you need to just getover yourself.

(19:33):
I just kept sticking with thedeeper why and what Reiki had
done for me and it was almostlike it was a calling that had
to be fulfilled, like, I thinkone time I went to a psychic
that said, oh, you are living aserver suffer lifetime, and I
was like, what does that mean?
And she was like, unless you doservice, you are going to

(19:55):
suffer your way through this.
And I was like, oh, you'reright, I feel like I just need
to give back.
You know I really do and Idon't feel like I'm, you know,
somebody that's just going tolike go into, like business for
business or anything.
So you know, I would say if Ihad it to do over with I
wouldn't do anything differently.
But because each challenge wasa lot, there were a lot of

(20:19):
challenges, but each one of themhelped me to learn something
like super important.
And now, when I help peoplestart the Reiki business, grow
their Reiki business, you know,learn all those types of things,
I do it from experience andfrom, like all of the hard stuff
that I was like oh, I rememberthat really well, I can help you

(20:40):
figure that out, you know, notfrom like, oh, I'm a business
coach, you know, and I just Ican just tell you, because you
know I'm a small business person, I figured it out from like, oh
, I'm a business coach, you know, and I just I can just tell you
, because you know I'm a smallbusiness person, I figured it
out from like all of thefailures and yeah, I think you
just have to fail in order tolearn and to be successful in
the end.
Sure, sure.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
I mean you've walked the journey here right and being
of service and helping othersalong the way.
I don't know if you have seenthe pattern, but in 2020, it
seems that there have been manyto have come forward to the call
of this service and going outand having and it's.
I would say it would beuncommon for you know me, to

(21:21):
find someone who just has onemodality.
They have multiple things thatthey're pursuing or passionate
about and when they receive thatcall, they're so either
enthusiastic or maybe theyquestion themselves can I do
this?
And then they take that stepforward and then, as they're
navigating, they're like oh mygoodness, now there's social
media, now I got to do invoices,now I have to do this, and it

(21:44):
gets kind of overwhelming andcertain things Should I make it
an LLC, you know?
Should I trademark this?
Just things they never wouldhave thought about, just simply
because they had connected withthis energy and they want to
share it.
You know they want to do this.
They feel the call to be ofservice.
So it's wonderful that you wereable to go through your journey
and put these tools together,everything from books to your

(22:07):
journals.
I mean amazing.
So thank you for doing that andtaking those as you would make,
color them failures and turnthem into kind of a map for
people to show them how to go.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
Thank you so much.
Yeah, it really is like thatyou said it exactly is like that
you said it exactly.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
So you had shared your story from your childhood
about the loss of your father,illnesses.
Looking back, what do you wishyour younger self knew about
Reiki.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
Well, I mean maybe my younger self, in terms of like
when I was first learning Reiki,which was about maybe 25 years
ago, I think.
I remember saying to you alittle while ago that I was like
I didn't even know that about,maybe the origins of Reiki, the
traditional Japanese practices,like where it came from, even

(23:14):
that it was a system, like Idefinitely did not know what the
you know the backstory of Reikiwas, or that it was a system.
I thought it was simplyhands-on healing.
Right, I was one of thosepeople Again, that's a
misconception that I try to helppeople with all the time.
But you know, I didn't realize,I mean, I didn't realize any of

(23:39):
that, and I had this kind ofthis blind spot because, like I
had said too that I was growingup in this Christian
metaphysical kind of you knowworld.
So, you know, when I wasintroduced to Reiki, there were

(23:59):
all of these overlays of youknow angels and spirit guides
and all of this kind of thing,like so this overlay of
Christianity, of shamanism, ofAyurveda, and I took all of
those in to think that thosewere all part of the system of
Reiki and where it came from.
And so I ended up kind of takinga step back and saying I really

(24:24):
want to learn more about whatthe truth of all of this is.
So I went to, you know, justalmost become like a
self-proclaimed Reiki scholar ina way.
I wanted to just deconstructall those things and bring it
down to where did it come from?
So I was viewing Reiki from theeyes of somebody who had, you
know, grown up in where I hadgrown up.

(24:46):
So I was seeing it in that way.
But I think that it's important.
I would have liked to haveknown a little bit more about
the styles so that maybe I couldhave chosen one that really
would have worked for me fromthe start, or that was more
traditional, because I reallylove the traditional part of it.
I don't necessarily like asmuch, but all the stuff that I

(25:09):
had kind of done myself, likeusing crystals and pendulums and
all of those types of things,they're all kind of more of a
Western way of practicing Reikiand they're fine.
But as I've learned from them,I also then bring it down to the
very basic, simplest of the youknow Japanese perspective that

(25:34):
you don't need all of thoseeither, you know.
So I kind of wish I had knownmore of like what the history of
what the whole thing was allabout before I jumped into it.
But you know, even with the hat, it's okay because you, you
learn and you evolve andeverything is exactly the way it
should be.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
Very good.
I feel the same way too.
I started with the Azui and themanual that I received.
It was passed down from teacherto teacher and so when I got
mine I would read through it andI still had a lot of questions
and it seemed like there wassome missing pieces in the
lineage that I came from and allI had known at the time I had

(26:18):
lost my sister and I was goingthrough all the modalities and
things and I had a steadypractice of yoga and it was my
friend that would circle backand say you got to try Reiki,
you got to try Reiki, and Ithought that was the only one.
And then I found out about HolyFire and then I got a hold of
the Healing Touch and I'm likewhoa, like here's everything

(26:38):
together like a whole story, and, oh my goodness, like it really
put it all together for me withthat.
So I had wished I had knownabout Holy Fire first, or at
least the Healing Touch Manual,and then finding out you know
other books and things and othersystems, and it's like a whole
other world out there.
So, yeah, same.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
I didn't even have a manual for my first class or my
second class.
Yes, to think of it, yes, yeah,so it's really interesting how
that goes Like at first.
You know, maybe you don'treally need a lot, but I was
really like thirsty for theinformation about you know who
are these people and where didthey come from, and what was the
timeline and what was going onat the time and what did they

(27:23):
believe and how did it developand all of that kind of thing.
I had a lot of questions, likeyou.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Right.
And when I wrote my manualbecause in the lineage I was
from, like I would take themanual and then I would write it
and do it for my students.
And when I came to El Paso andI was training some individuals
here who had different systemsthat they studied, and they were
like, oh my goodness, like wehad just like PDFs, like we
didn't even have a manual.
And you have a whole manual andyou recently shared on Facebook

(27:52):
recently about an article aboutAzui and about someone else who
might have really had thecredit for it, and that was an
interesting read too.
So know that it's a constantlearning and things do change,
as you know.
They find, you know, papers ornotes you know from students of

(28:14):
Azui or something wasmistranslated and we're trying
to decode all of this.
So it's good to stay relevanton this information.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Oh, 100%, and if anybody listening is really
interested in that.
Justin Stein is a greatresource.
He has books.
His most recent book isAlternate Currents about Takata,
but just look him up and thatarticle was written by him.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, yeah.
So that's was fascinatingbecause I remember I was
listening to William Rand, uh, alecture he was doing and he was
saying that you know, hey,there's some information that's
coming out that may changehistory a little bit, and so be
on the look for that.
And then, even when I'm out andsharing it with practitioners
who've been doing this for 10,15 years, I'll say, hey, did you

(29:05):
know this information?
And they're like no, no, andthey've been teaching it a
certain way.
And even when that informationcame out, I go back to my
students and say, hey, I justwant to let you know this is
what's happening, this is theinformation you know.
You might want to bring thatinto your teaching as well, to
stay relevant.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah, and don't you think like that's one of the
downfalls of not havingstandardized, anything like no
overarching, you know, I don'twant to say governmental agency,
but no, you know, associationor something like that that
would distribute thatinformation to everybody that is
practicing and teaching?
It would be kind of great.

(29:45):
I mean, there's positives andnegatives, but we're the ones
that have to end up kind ofgreat, I mean, there's positives
and negatives, but we're theones that have to end up, kind
of like, trying to share to asmany people as we can when new
information comes out.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
Right.
And I remember when I firsttaught and I know my teachers
were I had two teachers thattaught the class and they're
very dedicated, very intelligentwomen.
But I was pretty sure in thelecture I heard that you know,
Azui and Hitoshi did not havemanuals, and then.
So I taught my first class andI said that.

(30:15):
And then when I went to do theHoly Fire I thought no, it was
Madam Takada that didn't havethis.
Oh my goodness, and here's theHitoshi healing guide.
And I had not seen that until Igot my healing touch book Right
.
And then I'm like, my goodness,I've been teaching people and my
background is an elementaryschool teacher, so that's really
important to me.
I mean, I know, once upon atime I taught that Pluto was a

(30:38):
planet.
Right, that's taught about theBerlin Wall, the USSR, things
that aren't relevant, you know.
And I'm like going back andtelling the students no, this is
it, make sure you know this.
And you feel horrible, butthat's what I learned at the
time.
But it's also the courage tosay, hey, you know what I
learned, and now I know, andthen I'm going to fix it yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
When you know better, you do better yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yeah, but it would have been nice to have that one
type of here.
It is all the information, andso that's why, when I went from
a zooey to a zooey holy fire, itwas like, ah, this is making
sense, I have a timeline here,you know, I know where it was,
where it's continuing, so, yeah,so when it's time for you to

(31:26):
get an energetic tune up, whatqualities do you look for in a
Reiki practitioner?

Speaker 3 (31:33):
Well, I do check people out before I decide to go
to somebody, and I recommendthat for anybody that that is
going to see a practitioner.
I like to get a referral, likea reference from somebody.
I like a word of mouth like, oh, you know, I've been to that
person before and I really likethem because of whatever it is.

(31:56):
So I usually look them uponline, whether they have a
website or a Facebook page orsomething.
What I'm looking for isinformation about their
perspective, maybe theirbackground in terms of like you
know what their training is.
You know, like we were talkingabout, because Reiki isn't
regulated, you don't know whatyou're getting.

(32:16):
You know, so it's good to doyour research.
I think, like someone who'scompleted their Reiki training
is good.
Typically, I like to know whatstyle of Reiki they practice,
whether they combine differentmodalities and you know if I'm

(32:37):
looking at their website or youknow their social page.
I like to see transparency,like, especially on their
website, like if they actuallyput what their offers are like,
describe them and put theirprices up, because we were in
the roundtable yesterday.
We're talking about pricing andhow people, when you see on

(33:00):
somebody's website, like whatthis offer is, but then you have
to like get in touch with themto find out how much it costs
offer is, but then you have tolike get in touch with them to
find out how much it costs.
It's like just that next stepis just like you know you, just
it stops you in your track.
So I like to see, like this ismy price, I'm comfortable with
it, so just state it right outthere.
I love to see that and like thisis one of my really big pet

(33:22):
peeves.
I like to see a photo, apicture of what that person,
just a headshot.
I don't care what it looks likeif it's outside, if it's with
your kids, I don't care, youknow.
But just to like get in it.
You get an energetic impressionof like who that person is Like
.
I remember you know picking whenI was doing my PhD, picking

(33:43):
professors based on you havethis little like manual type
thing to see like who's who andwhere they you know what classes
they teach.
I'd look and I'd be like nope,and I'd be like, oh, that person
I can learn from Right, why?
Just an energetic, intuitive,hit Right, right.
I like to see a photo of thepractitioner, a photo of their

(34:05):
place, if I'm going to in person, like you know, so many times,
people will say like oh, theyhad this great business name.
It was like center forsomething.
And then it was someone's house, in the side door of their
house, and I was like I don'tthink I'm in the right place,
right?
So it's okay, it doesn't matterwhat the place is, as long as

(34:26):
you kind of know like I'm goingto be going into and it's going
to be on a city street or it'sgoing to be in a plaza, you kind
of just want to know, um, andthen I think the more important
thing is, like, within a withinthe session, um, I love a
practitioner that's on time,that doesn't make me wait like
super long, um, and that keepsto the time of our session that

(34:47):
we book, like if it's an hoursession, you know I usually have
to do something after, like seea client or something like that
.
So I love it if you know theykeep to the timing.
Even though so many of myclients and colleagues say, well
, I give people more way moretime than than I, you know, than
we book, like I get it's anhour session, but we usually

(35:10):
spend two hours, and I'd be likeI my heart will be palpitating
if it got to be an hour and ahalf, cause I know I have to be
somewhere.
So that was not going to helpme.
I kind of really need to knowand plan and be able to be
feeling safe and secure withinthat timeframe that everything
is going to happen that needs toduring that timeframe, and then
I'm going to be able to get tomy next thing without feeling

(35:32):
like I have to speed across townor something.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
Right, right, it's interesting.
You said about the price,because there's a place here in
El Paso it's like a bike shopand it's also a restaurant, very
nice, and my husband had gonein to look at the bikes and I
said what did you think about it?
And what he didn't like aboutit is none of the bikes had the
prices on it.
And he said, if it doesn't havea price on it, it's too

(35:56):
expensive for me.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
I like it.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
We had.
I had an opportunity to haveChristian Stone on and we did
like a group where we did a redflag, green flag about
practitioners, and it was theidea that what if the
practitioner let's say they'reold school and they don't have a
website?
They don't, maybe they have anoutdated photo, right, I mean,

(36:22):
they have that one picture from20 years ago that looks perfect.
Do you think that's a red flagfor someone who you know?
I don't have a booking system.
You can text me or call me.
I don't have a website.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
I don't.
I actually don't.
I kind of feel like I get it ifsomebody is like maybe old
school or older or non-techie orsomething like that, because a
lot of people in our field are,they don't like tech.
But even if I see like I liketo see a current picture, but
even if I see like a picturethat's like pixelated or a

(36:59):
little bit older and you cantell like maybe it was a
20-year-old picture, I still gettheir energy, I still get it.
I don't care if they don't havelike I like it if they have a
booking system.
That's easy, that I could justclick on and put my you know
credit card information in makesit so much easier and I
recommend that to my clients andeverything.
But you know, I still might doit.

(37:21):
I still might be like well, youknow what, I'm going to try it.
And if everything seems clunkylike, if everything seems clunky
like they're just they're notthere on time or they're, you
know, then I'd be like all right, it wasn't for me, but may not
be a red flag for me.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Okay, this might really age me, but I remember
when I needed a doctor I'd movesomewhere and I was trying to
find a doctor, and remember thetelephone books.
Right, we didn't open up thetelephone book, I'm old enough
for sure.
And so, you know, I look at thedoctors, you know, and I'm like,

(37:58):
okay, and I looked down andthere was the name Dr Mary Baker
.
I'm like that's my doctor.
I could just feel and this wasway before I mean, I was like 23
years old and I felt that likeyeah, that's, that's my doctor.
And she was a fantastic doctor,helped me deliver four of my
children, you know, and that wasmy doctor.

(38:19):
So just just the energy fromthat name.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
So yeah, somebody could be mentioning a name to
you and you're like, oh, there'ssomething in there, there's
something to that.
I have to remember that personand I have to go see them?

Speaker 2 (38:32):
Yes, very good, very good.
So, as a mentor, as a coach, asa teacher, you've been in this
business for so many years.
You've got beautiful books andjournals.
What advice do you give someonewho's just entering the
spiritual work?

Speaker 3 (38:48):
Well, I think that we need more and more people doing
spiritual work right now.
I think it's like crucial rightnow.
So I would really encourageanyone who feels that calling
that kind of has even has adoubt or is not sure to consider
doing it.
And you know, I know there'simposter syndrome, there's fear,

(39:11):
there's all the things that canpop up to stop us.
But there's also a lot of helpout there.
Now there's so many morementors and coaches and, you
know, so many more supportpeople that can help you do it.
You don't have to do it alonelike I did.
I had to figure out everylittle step, you know, on my own
, and I remember, you know, kindof reaching out to people.

(39:35):
There were a few Reiki peoplein my area reaching out to them
and they were like, oh, like, Ihave this thing that is new and
people are coming to me.
So I'm not going to share thatwith you, but I think now
there's so much more where Imean the people I know, like you
and all the people on ourFacebook groups and all of that
they seem to be so supportiveand so willing to share

(40:00):
strategies and things like that.
So I think that justencouragement of you know to do
it and to know that there aregoing to be challenges.
You will fail and it's justpart of it.
So don't let that stop youeither, because you know,
embrace that when you fail, thatmeans you're learning something

(40:21):
.
You can continue to bepersistent, pick yourself up,
continue to work, to learn.
Maybe what you know, what wasit that you didn't do right?
You can learn how to do it.
And then the other thing is Ialways say don't compare your
beginning to someone else'smiddle or end, because we always
see all these people that lookvery glossy and beautiful on,

(40:42):
you know, facebook and Instagramand everything, and they look
like their business is thrivingright.
They look great.
All of their you know graphicsare beautiful.
But they may be at the middle,they may be at that you know
that pinnacle of their businessand they may have a team working
with them.
They may have so much help andsupport and we're doing it like

(41:05):
all on our own and we're at thebeginning.
So it can feel really hard Like, oh, I'll never get there.
I just think, you know, stickto it, know that you're in the
beginning and you're notsomebody that you should be
comparing yourself to, likeOprah or something like that.
You just it's not a fair thing.
So just know that you can do itand you can get help for it and

(41:30):
don't, you know, fear reachingout to others for support.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
Right, and I'll give the listeners an example.
So you know, and you have.
You know you're trainingstudents.
Right, as I train students,they go out and you see our
students success and that'sfantastic and we want them to go
out and share the gift of Reiki.
And it kept being this ideathat you need to get a space.
You need to get a space.
You know, because I was eithergoing to people and this is for

(41:56):
the yoga as well and it got tothe point that I couldn't find a
space that I turned my littleJeep into beep beep, the yoga
Jeep.
I would go to them.
So I would go and I would dothese things.
I'd have people come here.
I did the 70, 30% at differentstudios where I taught the Reiki
and everything.
But I think the collective wasyou need a space, you need a
space, you need a space.

(42:17):
And here the commercialproperty in El Paso is quite
expensive.
I mean, first you wouldn'tthink so.
You would think this is likeNew York, the way they price the
property here.
So I found something that Iwould say, looking back, wasn't
right but was just right at thatmoment.
So I got this little smallspace, I decorated it

(42:40):
beautifully and I was workingout of it and it was doing quite
well.
But here we go, parking becamean issue.
You know, here there's not thatmuch regulation.
It wasn't even paved, it waslike sand here, because it's in
El Paso, a restaurant next door,super popular, had a drive
through in the back.
People would park behind myclients.

(43:01):
It was becoming a point wherethe clients didn't want to come
because they were nervous theycouldn't get this parking spot,
and so it was a situation whereI actually didn't sign a lease
and I was about five months inand I thought, you know what,
after a situation where thestudents were feeling like
there's nowhere to park, Ithought I don't think this is

(43:22):
working.
But it was this idea that ifpeople think I pack up and leave
after six months, that I'm afailure and that I'm not making
money, which was the opposite.
This space could fit like fiveyoga students.
It can fit, you know, reikistudent or practitioner or a
client in the back.
But it was like you know what, Ihave to do what's best for me.

(43:42):
This doesn't feel right now andI decided you know what, can
you find somebody else to takemy spot?
And the owner did and I movedout after six months and it was
the idea that you know what I'msupposed to be going out to
other people in other places andI had to be okay with that,
that, saying you know what itmay look like on the outside.

(44:03):
I might have failed, but I wasdoing well and I thought this
just isn't for me.
It didn't feel right, it wasn'tflowing, the clients and
students were having a difficulttime and I said you know what,
I'm going to let it go.
And then, by letting it go, thevery next day, I got a big job
opportunity right and thingskept coming.
So have faith that your, yourpath may not be as someone

(44:26):
else's, and that's okay.
You give it a try and if itdoesn't feel good, have the
courage to say you know what,this isn't for me and just say
you know what, I'm moving on tosomething else.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
So I love that and I call that following the energy,
like kind of following yourintuition and what's kind of
opening up for you.
That's like the opposite offailure, Because internally
you're listening to what'sreally working.
And then it just gave me chillsto hear like you got that job
opportunity as soon as you letgo what wasn't serving you.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I got two big opportunities, butI mean I have.
And the other thing I had is Ihad contracts multiple.
Yeah, I've where I teach at thecollege and I teach for the
veterans and I teach at theborder control, so I had other
things going on that was helpingsupplement the space as well.
Again, it wasn't like a hugeamount of money a month.
I was paying on it.

(45:17):
But I went to another spacehere and I thought, okay, I will
just do the 7030 contract withthem.
I walked in with my mat, mylittle Bluetooth, I did an hour
session with students and then Iwalked out and I thought, yeah,
this is what I'm supposed to do, just go to other places and
get out of there instead ofhaving my own.
And it just felt right in mybody.

(45:38):
So you know, listeners, listento yourself, because it may be a
different journey for you,because I would do the same
thing.
I would look at me like, oh mygoodness, I'm working so hard
and here I'm doing a yoga classand I have five people and I'm
looking on Instagram and thisperson is 25.
What's wrong with me?
Am I a terrible teacher?
Like, why isn't this happening?
So it's that vanity matrixwhere they're going to put the

(46:01):
great classes on there.
You know like, oh, they're notthere when it's just one or no
one shows up, right?
That's like the day in, day out.
So give yourself a little graceon that, and that's exactly
right.
All right, so the next one here.
What books do you recommend?
Gosh, well, I'm a book nerd forsure.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
I love books, oh my gosh.
Well, I'm a book nerd for sure.
I love books and I like towrite books too.
So I kind of have to say, Igrow your Reiki business book,
and it's a Kindle book, whichdoes not mean that you have to

(46:40):
have a Kindle, but it'savailable on Amazon and if you
get it, you can read it on anydevice.
It gives a lot of strategiesfor how to get clients and how
to keep clients for Reiki.
I also have the Reiki journalsand practice trackers.
They're kind of not a journalin terms of, like you know,
writing down your feelings andthings like that, but it's a
journal, like you know, keepingtrack of how you practice and

(47:02):
cheat sheets in there aboutdifferent practices.
And you know there's a lot ofgreat, just ways of when my
students fill those up.
They're like look at what I'vedone over time.
I've been doing self Reiki forlike all these weeks or all of
these months and now I'mbringing in, you know, imbuing

(47:23):
things and imbuing spaces, andhere are the Reiki sessions that
I've given and they'vedocumented all of those.
But some other ones are ReikiBusiness Ready by Christian
Stone.
We talked about him, right,he's one of our friends and he
has a great book on Amazon aswell.
And then I just want to mentionirradiating our Reiki light.

(47:44):
It's by Ricky Friedman and it'sa compilation book.
I put a little chapter in thereabout animal Reiki and it's
this really big book and it's abook that you can you know,
physical printed book and it hasso many.
She brought together so manyReiki practitioners who all have

(48:07):
experience in different ways,and we all wrote these chapters
and it just is this wonderfulbook to just look, read, as you
know, anytime you get open to apage and you'll get inspiration
about how wonderful Reiki is andhow it works.
So I love those.
And there's a million morebooks, but just to start with
those, let's start with thoseVery good.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
So what services do you offer?
Do you offer classes, eventsand trainings?

Speaker 3 (48:35):
Yeah, so I offer Usui Holy Fire Reiki sessions and
classes and I do teach all ofthe levels of Usui Holy Fire
Reiki, but I also teach ICRT,animal Reiki.
So there's a level one and twoand a master level for that.
But a lot of what I do iscoaching Reiki clients, like

(48:56):
coaching and mentoring, and Ihelp people with starting you
know a professional practice,growing their practices and
getting more clients and get youknow kind of creating a real
business, like you know how westart, like see how it goes.
And then you're like, oh, Ineed this and I don't really
have a policy, I don't have ayou know a system for this or

(49:18):
whatever.
And I also I'm kind of one ofthose people that I like to
create things and so I have allof these printable resources
that are called like done foryou Reiki printables.
Um, I, you know I needed thingslike class certificates and I
needed um forms for clients,gift certificates and all of

(49:39):
these things like aftercarerecommendations and things like
that, and so I thought I'mcreating these for myself and my
students are asking me where doyou get your certificates and
how do I get make a giftcertificate?
I don't know how to do it.
So I just started making thoseand I create them so that
they're done for you.
So they're all you know.

(50:00):
They look beautiful, but thenthey're also in for many of them
.
They they're, you know, pdfs ina, but then they're also in for
many of them.
They they're, you know, pdfs ina way that you can write in
your own information, then printthem so you can write your
contact information or you knowanything about you, or the class
certificate.
You can put, of course, thestudents names in there and all
of that.
So I have a whole bunch ofthose.

(50:21):
I have a whole bunch of those.
And then you know, I do thingslike a lot of free things, like
I have an online Reiki circleonce a month and I have my Reiki
coach on call podcast, myYouTube channel and new.
I just started writing onSubstack.
So that's kind of fun because Ilove writing.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
Beautiful.
So where can we find you so?

Speaker 3 (50:42):
where can we find you ?
So mainly atInfiniteLightCentercom.
That's my website, but you canlook for me on Facebook under my
name, my YouTube channel isunder my name and then my
podcast is called Reiki Coach onCall, and so is my sub stack.
So yeah, All right.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Well, that ends the first part of our journey.
I'm going to guide you into thesecond part, which is social
media questions and questionsfrom Reiki students.
So here we go.
Number one what inspired you tocreate the Central New York
Reiki Association?

Speaker 3 (51:18):
Well, I created the CMY Reiki Association a while
back, like about 15 years ago,the NY Reiki Association a while
back, like about 15 years ago.
I had been teaching for a fewyears and I started to get a
bunch of students that wantedmore opportunities to practice,
to learn, to share that kind ofthing, and so then I started
offering like Reiki shares.

(51:38):
I did an annual Reiki retreatand then people wanted more,
they wanted to be like together,they wanted community, and I
thought this is great because Inever had community when I first
started out.
So I, you know it wasorganically kind of driven in
that way and I created.
It was local, so we called itCentral New York Reiki

(51:59):
Association and it was for alllevels of Reiki people.
You didn't have to be a Reikimaster, which was different at
that time because many of theorganizations needed you to be a
Reiki master in order to andthe biggest thing that people
got out of that, of course it'sstill in existence.
But over time people have saidto me the best thing about this

(52:24):
is that we get to come togetherwith like-minded people, other
Reiki people that get us that wecan share with, that we can
kind of, you know, talk aboutlife in terms of, you know,
through a Reiki lens, kind offiguring out what to do about
certain things and all that.
You know.

(52:45):
It really is wonderful.
We, especially during the timethat we were able to get
together in person.
We do it online now, but wewould get together in person and
we would sit around an actualtable and we would have a Reiki
chat.
We would just talk about peoplewould bring up topics and we
would talk about those thingsand everyone absolutely loved

(53:10):
that.
And then we would kind of breakout and we would go to the
Reiki tables and we would do,you know, share Reiki with each
other.
It was a beautiful communityidea to start with and of course
, I have have.
Now.
I have bigger communitiesbecause, you know, everything's
online now and I love the access.
I still love that group oflocal people that still are

(53:34):
there and we still theyvolunteer in the community.
They do, you know, workshopsand trainings in the community.
They do fairs and stuff likethat and just get create access.
I mean.
One other thing we did too waswe had a Reiki clinic for a long
time, so it was an in-personReiki clinic.
We just opened it up to thepublic and people would come in

(53:57):
and just either observe if theyweren't ready to even receive a
session, or they would have amini session like a 20 minute
session.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
Beautiful.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
It was really, really nice.

Speaker 2 (54:07):
Do you recommend someone you know just starting
out in this journey of Reiki tojoin some type of association
you know, like Reiki Association, Reiki Alliance, reikiorg, or
like one of like yours?

Speaker 3 (54:23):
I mean, I don't think people have to for sure, but
there are some things that aregood about them.
I don't think you should spenda whole bunch of money on
organizations because it isn'tthe type of thing that you need
to, like some other, some othercareer, that you kind of do need

(54:43):
to in order to be feeling likeyou're legit.
It's not there yet with Reiki,but I do think that there are
benefits, like, for example,some places have a listing that
you, of course, they're going toput you on an online listing.
People find you like I don'tknow how many times, cause I'm

(55:04):
on a, I'm in a few organizationslike that and so many times
people will contact me throughmy listing for a session, for a
class or something like that.
So giving you just marketingvisibility, I think is super
important and, depending onwhether they have like what
you're looking for, are youlooking for connection?
And depending on whether theyhave like what you're looking

(55:25):
for, are you looking forconnection?
If you are joining anorganization where people get
together, that would be great.
If you're looking forvisibility, that's good too.
And sometimes people giveresources.
Like for mine, I have a wholelike online platform that has
resources like trainings and theprintables and certificates and

(55:47):
all kinds of little things thatyou just click on and you get
access to.
So if you're kind of lookingfor, I'd like to have more
information and more of all ofthat.
I mean, I would say, just kindof look at what they have to
offer first before you decide topay for one.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
Right, very good.
Number two Now we have.
One of the silver linings forthe pandemic is the
accessibility.
You know being able to connectwith people from all over the
world.
We have TikTok out there, thatyou know.
My children know what Reiki isbecause of TikTok, because
they've seen somebody on there.

(56:24):
How do you explain to peoplethat do not believe that you can
do a Reiki session or a Reikitraining online that they're
insistent that this is only doneone way and in person?

Speaker 3 (56:38):
Oh yeah, I think that comes up a lot, actually, like
for people that are new to Reiki.
Even from Reiki trained peopleI get that and I kind of think,
in a way, the confusion or themistaken belief comes from the
idea that Reiki is hands-onhealing, that you need to be
physically in the same room andtouch someone in order for it to

(57:00):
work.
And maybe that's because youknow when you observe a Reiki
session, that's what you seetypically is someone doing
hands-on.
So if you don't fullyunderstand it, you might think
that distant Reiki or remoteReiki, whatever you want to call
it, can't work.
But some people are actuallytaught that in their training

(57:22):
that you know that's just theway it is.
That's the way it should be.
You have to do it with touch,but Reiki is energy, it's
spiritually directed life forceenergy.
So it is non-physical to startwith.
Right, it doesn't requirephysical touch.
I mean, the physical touch isgreat and it's supportive in
many ways, but you don't evenneed to be in the same room, you

(57:45):
don't even need to be alive.
Actually.
Right, we can practice Reikiwith people who have passed on,
people that have not yet comeinto this world, but it's so
easy to work with Reiki in anon-linear way or non-physical
way.
It transcends space and time.
When we use the distant Reikisymbol that we get in level two,

(58:09):
it's also called the onenesssymbol.
So in that way, and it's notlike we are starting up or
activating Reiki where we areand then sending it like a
bullet train to another personand then they take a little time
and then they receive it.

(58:29):
It's nothing like that.
It's more that we understandthrough Reiki and we experience
through Reiki that we alreadyhave a connection, that we're
already interconnected and so wedon't need to touch them
physically in order for them toexperience the connection, in
order for us to experience thatdeeper truth.

(58:49):
Yeah, it's just part of thesystem of Reiki and from you
know, level two, hopefully,people are starting to learn
that and really deepen theirunderstanding of it and their
experience of it as they go intothe master training and beyond,
because it's a lifelong thing.

(59:10):
Yeah, and you know, all of mysessions and all of my classes
are distant.
They typically are on Zoom.
I can, you know, sometimes Iget on FaceTime or on the phone
or off technology altogether todo a session, but it all works
and so many of my clients saythat they have an even more

(59:33):
profound experience withdistance sessions.
Like they'll get into.
They'll be like laying in theirbed, all curled up, with the
covers on and everything elseduring the session, and they can
keep their camera off.
I don't need to see them duringthat session, I don't need to
hear them during the session,but a lot of times it's really

(59:54):
nice to just do that in realtime so that we can talk to each
other and, you know, talk likewe would before a session and
after a session, and then theycan hear me.
Some of my clients, who werealways in person, were skeptical
when I went to online startingin March of 2020.

(01:00:15):
But most of them came around.
There were a few that were like, yeah, I just can't go there,
but most of them did and most ofthem are still my clients and
love, love it because they don'thave to travel.
They don't have to.
You know, you live in a warmplace, but I live in a pretty
cold place typically and it wasalways hard, like for people.

(01:00:36):
They're like, oh, I don't wantto come out Cause it's icy, the
roads are icy or it's too dark,or or you know it's, you know
it's expensive to travel.
Like a lot of times I'd havepeople coming from like an hour
or more away to come and see mefor a session or for a class.
So there's no commute time.
It's convenient.

(01:00:56):
You're in your own space, youknow, you can have all the
comforts that you need.
You don't have to get up off ofa table and go out into the
cold and drive or anything likethat.
But yes, for sure it can bedone and it's for somebody
that's good, that kind of isquestioning it.
Try it.
Yeah, right, just yeah, it'samazing.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
Yeah, every day, every morning, I get up and I
send Reiki to my sister and mydad and I tell them may all of
their heavenly lessons be donewith grace and ease and harm to
none.
So I do that every day.

Speaker 3 (01:01:33):
I love that.
Yeah, I practice distant Reikievery day too, and I can send
distant Reiki to my day right asit's unfolding, for myself as
well for anybody else.
Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Okay, number three.
Now, this came from a Reikistudent who studied Azui and was
just questioning you know,there's many different systems
Amaria, money Reiki, crystalReiki, kid Reiki and so she said
you know, seeing that you'vehad different systems as well as

(01:02:07):
a practitioner herself, do youthink it's beneficial for
someone to have multiple systemsor styles of Reiki?

Speaker 3 (01:02:17):
Like I said, I have been trained in several
different styles of Reiki and Ionly practice one.
I only practice Usui, holy FireReiki.
Um, hmm, I don't necessarilythink that it's a great.
You know that it's somethingthat you really need to have or
that it's beneficial really, um,I think I was looking for the

(01:02:41):
Goldilocks Reiki that worked forme perfectly and I found it for
sure.
So it was an evolution, I wouldjust say to start somewhere.
But there can't be any mistakes.
So you start somewhere andyou're like oh, maybe this, you
know, like your space that youwere renting, maybe it works for

(01:03:01):
a time, and then you go to thenext thing as you evolve.
So I don't think that I wouldlike quote unquote recommend it.
Like I think you really need tohave several styles of Reiki at
your disposal, like so thatwhen you're in a session you can
use this one and then in thenext session you might use a
different one.
I don't necessarily think that'sthe reason that you might do it

(01:03:22):
.
I think it's just kind of likewhat works for you in terms of
the practices?
Does it suit you at your levelof evolution, at your level of
practice right now?
Does it suit you for yourlifestyle and what you believe
and how you want to work?
I think that's maybe thequestion that you would ask

(01:03:44):
yourself is more like let mejust kind of see what the and I
know it can be confusing becausepeople ask me this all the time
Do you know about this?
Do you know about dragon Reiki?
Do you about know about moneyReiki?
Oh, you know angel Reiki orwhatever, and they're like I
want to know all of it, right,cause they think they're missing
something.
But you're really not missinganything.

(01:04:05):
I mean, as long as you have abasic Reiki course that really
has like the basic stuff in it,you can go in any direction you
want to.
After, so, I think that, likemaybe not, I wouldn't start with
one of the fringier more newones.
I might have.
Just look for one that has likecovers the basic stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
And then kind of see where you want to go from there.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
Right and I kind of looked at it.
I guide people in a way to sayyour first one get a good
teacher, solid foundation.
Once you go through that,you're at your master's.
You can go take those onlinecourses that you pay like $14 or
$9 to learn Celtic Reiki inthree hours.
Right, absolutely.

(01:04:48):
But have that strong foundation, all right.
Well, that was our lastquestion and, as we were talking
, is there anything you mighthave forgotten, anything you'd
like to share, any message thatyou would like to give to the
listeners?

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
The floor is yours to give to the listeners.
The floor is yours.
Well, one thing I'm thinkingabout is that I'm happy to say
is that I'm going to beparticipating in the Reiki
Business Summit that's coming upin September and that's hosted
by Christian Stone, and this isthe second one we're doing.

(01:05:21):
second, year of it and I'm goingto be talking about different
Reiki business paths that youcan take.
So we've been talking todayabout you know, different ways
of working, and so I'm going tokind of just be going over like
maybe, all the different waysthat Reiki can be expressed in
terms of like bringing it outinto the world.
So I'm really excited andlooking forward to that and if

(01:05:45):
anybody listening is interestedin that, you can go check it out
at reikibusinesssummitcom.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
Beautiful, beautiful, well, thank you, mary, so much
for taking time out of your verybusy schedule to join me on
this journey.
It's been wonderful.
I really appreciate your wisdomand knowledge and hopefully the
listeners are taking notes andlistening again and I'm sure
they will be checking out you inthat summit.
That's a great summit and whata blessing to have Christian to

(01:06:12):
put that together.
As you said in the interviewthat when you started you didn't
have these guides, and herethey are.
Here they are so many resourcesto help guide.
It doesn't have to be a lonelyjourney.
It doesn't have these guides,and here they are.
Here they are so many resourcesto help guide.
It doesn't have to be a lonelyjourney, it doesn't have to be
difficult.
You have the helpers out there.
Remember what Fred Rogers saidlook for the helpers, they're

(01:06:33):
out there.

Speaker 3 (01:06:35):
That's exactly right.
Thank you so much, Tracy.
It's been so much fun talkingto you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
Wonderful.
All right, my wonderfullisteners, if you would like
your question featured on ReadySet Reiki, reach out
wwwreadysetreikicom.
I'm Tracy Seawright and thishas been Ready Set Reiki.
© transcript Emily Beynon.