I arrived at Awakenings Wellness Center for my appointment on time at 5:30pm.  I waited in the lobby, and Deborah came and got me and took me to her room.  I filled out my personal info, and we talked about my expectations.  I didn’t mention I was exploring Reiki as my own path, as I wanted to interact with her as a client.

She said the first part of the session would be intuitive counseling and the rest would consist of Reiki energy work.  She explained that she would open herself to receive messages from my guides, but she wouldn’t know how to interpret them without my help, so I would need to acknowledge what was being received as true for me or not.

I got on the table and relaxed.  Deborah “tuned in” and began passing on what she was receiving.  It didn’t make sense to me.  She repeated what she was getting, and I couldn’t relate to it.  She said, “Well, they’re not letting this go, so we need to figure it out before we move on.”  Somehow – she must have said it enough times in enough different ways – a light bulb went on, and I got it, and BOOM, the rest of the information flowed with ease.  What came through is too personal to write here, but suffice it to say the truth of it had me in tears, and I was blown away at the detail and accuracy.

She gave me an opportunity to ask questions, and I said that I’d been feeling stuck for a long time, like I’ve been on the wrong path with regard to what I do for a living, but I’d lately found something I want to do, and could that be the right path?  Her response, from the guides, was, “Do you love it?”, and I thought, “I don’t know yet!”  But as she continued, I realized it was a rhetorical question.  Because unless I love it, it’s just work.  If it love it, or at least the idea of it for now, then it’s the right path.

From there, Deborah began the Reiki half of the session.  I relaxed completely, drifting in and out of sleep.  Occasionally, the part of my body she was working on would twitch, and I would later learn that involuntary muscle movements are extremely common when receiving Reiki.

Other than that, however, like my previous limited experience with Reiki, I got off the table feeling like I couldn’t tell anyone why they would want to get a Reiki session.  The intuitive counseling was another story altogether – I feel like I can wholeheartedly recommend that experience to anyone, believer or not.  But I was there to experience Reiki, and for now, I just have to trust that, as practitioners often say, the energy went where it needed to go.

I told Deborah that the new career path I had referred to during the session was Reiki.  We talked a bit about that, and at some point, she said not to quit my job any time soon because the recession had hurt her business, for sure.  I have no plans to quit my job any time soon, and it was discouraging to hear from yet another source that it is difficult to make a living as a Reiki practitioner.  In one ear and out the other…

I thanked Deborah and paid her hourly rate.  I didn’t know what the tipping etiquette was, and she said they’re welcomed by Reiki practitioners, who are providing a service like massage therapists and hairdressers do.

I walked outside to my car and saw this tile mural in front of the building: