• Can you share a transformative experience you've had while practicing Reiki and crystal healing, and how it has influenced your journey as a practitioner?

One of my first professional clients had an amazing healing journey. She injured her knee badly enough to warrant surgery, but she wanted to avoid anything invasive because she also had sarcoidosis, which would make for a much longer recovery process. She had a severe limp, swelling, stiffness and a lot of pain. But she noticed improvement in her range of motion and knee stability from our first reiki treatment. We continued meeting once a week for full-body reiki sessions, and she continued with her physical therapy exercises and healthy lifestyle. Her physical therapist noticed improvements, and as we continued reiki over four months, my client ended up making a full recovery without surgery.

I’m sure that our regular reiki treatments helped my client make her full recovery. Clients can certainly feel improvements after their first session, but true healing takes time for chronic and severe injury or illness. I try to make this clear with new clients because many people want a quick fix. Oftentimes, it takes months for improvement to occur with reiki treatment, and it’s really a commitment on the client’s part. 

Full-body reiki treatments as opposed to spot treatments are also really important. While helpful in emergency situations, giving spot treatments doesn’t solve the problem. I always give my clients full-body treatments, even if they only experience pain in one area. Providing full-body reiki treatments allows me to clear out any energy blockages or imbalances (and avoid creating new ones by spot treating), and heal the cause of the client’s symptoms.

• How do you approach creating a personalized healing session for clients integrating Reiki and crystal healing techniques?

My clients and I always start with an intake discussion. We talk about past and present injuries, surgeries, pains, emotional turbulence, their goals and expectations. This is when we establish a “game plan” for the course of our reiki treatment. I ask what they’ve tried so far in terms of Western medicine, various therapies, and alternative medicines, and how effective those treatments were. I also ask the client to rate their symptoms on a scale of 1-10, which serves as a good indication of any improvement after the reiki session has ended. We can track our progress by rating the severity of their symptoms before and after reiki treatment. Based on our discussion, I consider which areas of the body I might spend more time on and any extra positions I might need to use. I also make sure to ask whether the client prefers me to work with my hands directly on their body over their clothes, or if I should hover my hands a few inches away from them. 

If a client is pregnant, has cancer, or epilepsy, I do not use crystals during their reiki treatments and stick to Level II Advanced practices. This means I avoid adding any other external energy (crystals can be too powerful), move the clients’ energy around with the hose technique or any Astral Matrix repairs, or linking pairs just to be safe. 

I then scan their vitality, aura, and chakras to get a quick outline of how their energy is at that moment. The state of their chakras is a great indication of which areas of the body need the most reiki. This scanning is also when I fix any tears in the front of their Astral Matrix.

As I move to each different hand position, I ask the Master reiki energy to guide my hands to where it’s most needed.Once I’ve gotten myself “out of the way,” the reiki energy will move my hands just a tad within that position. It also shows me any extra positions the client might need. I again scan their Astral Matrix and fix any tears after we’ve transitioned to work on the client’s back.

If my client requests crystals to be added to their healing, we take some time after our intake discussion to have their higher self show us which crystals would be most beneficial for them at the moment. I have a decent collection of crystals with a variety that correlate to each chakra. My client and I use the Body Pendulum technique when choosing their crystals, which I discuss in more detail below. Once we’ve chosen a crystal for all their major chakras, I place the crystals on the client’s body over their chakras and begin a full-body reiki treatment.

• What type of services do you offer?

Currently, I offer in-person and distant reiki healing in 45 minute and 60 minute sessions. I also offer reiki with crystal healing which lasts about 45 minutes. If the client requests distant healing, I have them on the phone or Zoom throughout the treatment so we can communicate as necessary. 

I’m also happy to treat animals with reiki. I’ve treated dogs and cats so far, but reiki is beneficial to all animals and even plants. 

My next venture after I finish my Reiki Master program is sound healing so I can provide private and group meditations with singing bowls. Also on my to-do list is earning a Certificate in Herbalism. 

• What methods do you use to assess a client's energy field and choose the appropriate crystals for their healing session?

Before we can choose crystals, I need to make sure my client’s energy field is polarized correctly. Energy in your aura travels down from the transpersonal point above the Crown chakra and down to your feet, then back up through your foot sub-chakras. Think of that flow like the water in a fountain coming up out the top and returning to the bottom to be recycled. There are pressure points we use to quickly polarize the clients’ energy this way. To check polarization, we take the energy dominant hand and place it palm-down over the Crown chakra. When the palm is facing down towards the Crown chakra, we should lean slightly forward. When the palm is up, facing away from the Crown chakra, we should lean slightly backwards when correctly polarized. Now can use the Body Pendulum to choose crystals.

The Body Pendulum is a great way to communicate with your higher self. When polarized, we can ask questions like which crystals will benefit our highest, greatest good. Starting with the Crown chakra and working our way down one at a time, I choose a crystal and hold it near the chakra and have my client ask their higher self if that crystal is the best choice to balance that chakra. If they lean slightly forward, that means yes, and if they clean backwards, that means no. We try a few different crystals per chakra to see which crystal gets the strongest “yes,” and I set aside the chosen crystals in order of the chakras. Once we have a crystal chosen for each chakra, we ask their higher self if this crystal combination is indeed the best combination for that given moment for the client’s highest, greatest good. Depending on which way their Body Pendulum leans, we either move forward with the reiki crystal healing, or make some changes to the crystals to get the best combination to balance their chakras.

Lastly while choosing crystals, I consider the client’s desired focus for their reiki healing and their symptoms. I like to suggest crystals not only based on their chakra correspondences, but also their specific metaphysical properties as well. For example, if a client is working on their anxiety and stress, I might test apophyllite, howlite, or desert rose selenite. For someone trying to manifest success, I might test tiger’s eye, unakite, or pyrite. 

• How do you approach integrating Reiki and crystal healing with other complementary therapies or modalities to enhance the overall healing experience for your clients?

At this time, I’m not certified in any other healing modalities. I also plan to earn my Master Teacher certification so I can provide the same in-depth reiki education to students.

• In what ways do you continue to expand your knowledge and stay updated with advancements in Reiki and crystal healing practices, and how do you incorporate these insights into your work with clients?

All the reiki classes and degrees I’ve taken are from the John Harvey Gray Center for Reiki Healing in New Hampshire. It’s the most comprehensive program I could find, and it has the shortest lineage back to Takata. I continue to take other classes such as Past Life Regressions and “Walking the Dead,” which teaches how to help people transition peacefully into death. 

I also stay involved in the online community. We have monthly Master student meet-ups where we practice the attunement process, meditations, protection practices, and review various lessons of the Master Program. At this time, I’m still in the Master program and expect to finish in the Spring. 

Otherwise, I’m constantly reading books on reiki, crystals, and everything metaphysical. Some favorites are The Art of Psychic Reiki by Lisa Campion, The Complete Book of Traditional Reiki by Amy Z. Rowland, Chakra Healing Therapy by Glen Park, The Pocket Book of Stones by Robert Simmons, and The Green Witch by Arin Hiscock-Murphy. I also love the podcast Psychic Teachers, which I recommend for anyone on the healing or spiritual path.