5 Signs You Are Being Called To Reiki

Growing up I wasn’t surrounded by Spirituality. I believed in the law of Karma - what goes around, comes around, but only to the extent that it served as a punishment. It hadn’t dawned on me yet that the goodwill in Karma was just as strong a force as the ill will. I knew somewhere inside me though, that there was more. 

My dad would tell me that I already knew the answer to things that stumped me. I guess it’s probably that statement that began my quest inward towards the ultimate knower that exists within me, that is me. 

I buried a lot of the softer sides of myself through anger and control, then one day I realized that I was causing my own suffering. This did not undo itself in one night, one healing session or one training, but it did begin to change my life one day at a time. I listened to the deeper knowing that there was more that I was to do and know. 

My first time hearing the words chakras was from a friend who called them checkers. She was letting me know that our art teacher was getting her checkers balanced and couldn’t make it to our class that evening. We were amused as most people are who are not called to know energy yet. I don’t blame people for finding it funny, it is completely out there from everything we have been taught since we were children and our parents were children. We grew up priding ourselves on what we believe we knew for fact. The more knowledge you could acquire the more esteemed you became. But, a lot of those people didn’t seem very happy. 

Feeding the mind is only part of the human life we’re meant to live. There is a whole other world that exists only through the inner senses and disidentifying with who we think we are. Your personality and the world around you exist through your lens of perception. Your version of reality. My path into Spirituality began with my first Reiki training. From there, I began to grow as an adult. I was no longer growing up, but in. I became more aware of my inner world - calming anxiety, lessening control and slowly finding my way toward feeling safe with being myself. 

How did I know it was for me? Here are 5 ways I knew I was ready to welcome Reiki into my life:

1. First, my life was a mess. My inner world of chaos was now existing outside of myself. The world imploded and, as much as I tried to “appear” I had it all together, the seams were falling apart. There were aspects of my life that changed that were entirely worth the fallout and I believe they were necessary for my life course. It took time to be able to look back on myself with compassion and release the part of me that feels ashamed for not being perfect. Being able to do this, I needed Reiki. I needed it to remind me to listen to myself, to trust myself and go gently. No one changes for the better through shame and guilt. No one. Reiki is a system that reminds you that you matter and the inner world that you are carrying around with you, matters the most. Whatever we are shoving in and stuffing down is coming out of us in unconscious ways that bring the pain back to us over and over again. We become magnets for the exact thing we don’t want. 

2. I became a crybaby. I was a young mother, and through their eyes I was able to see that the world was filled with more love than I had previously thought. My heart broke easily (even though I would hide this). I began to cry during the national anthem - the overwhelming unity and energy burst my heart into a million pieces. I felt a strong sense of urgency to help. I wanted to help everyone. I still hadn’t tackled my inner pain and didn’t realize that all of these big emotions were coming up for other people because I needed to feel them for me. It was safer to think about someone else needing help, love or support, but not me. I was still oblivious to this blind spot that practicing Reiki on others highlighted so well. As a Reiki practitioner, the energy that you receive and wisdom that is given during a session is filtered through your life experiences and health of your nervous system. Your clients will reflect where you still need to be healed. When you are in resistance, your clients will seem to challenge you. When you have a repeat pattern you need to break, the same problem will show up in all your clients. Reiki sessions are often referred to as “healing sessions”. These healing sessions are not one-sided, the Reiki practitioner is also receiving and transmitting the flow of life force and presence. It is a communion of the hearts. 

3. I wasn’t ready. Even though I wanted to pursue something with energy and I craved to understand it, I almost chickened out. I do this with every important thing. My nervous system could feel that I was about to do something outside of my comfort zone and it was doing its best to keep me safe. An onslaught of beliefs unleashed inside my head: everyone will think you’re a freak, this stuff is fake anyways, what are YOU going to do with this? Oh, so YOU’RE a healer now - hilarious. I didn’t have to have anyone say those things to me, I was thinking them for everyone. This work is easy to make fun of, so are most jobs. If you focus on where you feel insecure about something, it will grow. Focus on what is incredible about whatever you’re doing and you’ll see that grow too. I guess, looking back, this was the first initiation I had into energy work. I had to grow up and not care what others thought, and most importantly, I had to tell myself to be quiet - that’s the hard one. 

4. I couldn’t escape it. The things that were coming into my awareness were more of the same - meditation, manifestation, energy, healing. It seemed like it was everywhere. I would learn that women I thought I knew had a side business in energy, or were practicing mediums and tarot readers. I can only equate this to coming into the field of energy. It was everywhere. Books that I had never seen in my life came into my life and I gobbled them up with a desire to learn more. I became enamored with women who were open about their Spirituality, they looked more powerful, radiant and seemed like magnets we all wanted to be around. 

5. If it was something I was thinking about, why wasn’t I doing anything about it? Fear. I was scared of it. I rationalized that it was only a weekend and the course was inexpensive enough that it was worth a shot. I never planned to tell anyone that I took the course. But, once I was done the weekend, I was over the moon to share it with everyone. I immediately wanted to cut corners and start working on others and do my self healing treatments at night. I really think I missed an opportunity here. If I had been where I am now, I would see that my desire to practice on others was a symptom of me not feeling like I was enough. I overlooked myself completely and projected my own healing time onto others. Doing things to grow yourself and help yourself is not selfish. When used to grow and know yourself, time spent alone is our best medicine. Recognizing bypassing, projection and coping habits is a whole vibe. You won’t catch them all but you will catch a few. 

I found Reiki when I was ready to see myself. It didn’t happen overnight, I’m still revealing more of who I am everyday. Do I like all aspects, versions and parts of my personality - no. Do I love myself because of them - yes. From everything I’ve learned in my life, dark moments are what create texture to people. They are the cracks in which we allow others to enter. The parts of ourselves that require us to be fully present and compassionate with. You can’t change the past, but you can change the future. I guess you can probably say I found Reiki through hanging onto shame. Identifying with shame so much that it impacted my relationships and my health. I still cringe, of course, but now that cringe signals to me that I still haven’t fully let that aspect of myself be loved. And, in doing that, I am still that. You can only be free to evolve when the charge is released.

Whatever your reason is for looking this up or finding me to talk about Reiki, I think we must share similarities. The people we draw in are the people we need. I think back to my teacher, and she couldn’t be further from me in personality. But, I needed her. I needed her grounding presence. She had come from a family, and a part of the world, where energy teachings were normal conversation. Her family was all involved in some form of Spirituality, something I would never see in my normal, everyday world. Did I want to be like that? No. And, that’s the beauty of having a fabulous teacher - they give you the space to learn but not have to mimic. Your knowledge is already there, you already know.

Reiki is something you’re coming home to. It’s not something outside of you. With or without the training, it is still within you and you are connected to it. Taking a training verbalizes and reinforces what is already true. It’s not an exam to pass or study for, you’d be surprised at how hard “knowing everything” makes doing energy work. It’s easiest when you surrender needing to know from your mind and listen to your heart. 

Teaching energy work is where I am right now. I would have never guessed in 2011 that I would be here. I thought this was something I was going to start and not finish, like all the other things I tried to do for myself. This was the one thing that stuck and started it all. Reiki led me to yoga, which led me to Yoga Nidra and now I teach trainings to incredibly humble and gifted people. It’s almost like a life path was laid out before me. I had the courage to say yes to the ideas that landed in my heart (not my head, that’s a different story), and those have opened a million doors. 

If part of your heart has been looking for the right sign, be the version of you that opens the door.