I became an energy therapist accidentally! Let me tell you a little about me, about my journey into energy therapy and why I fell in love with it. Hopefully, sharing this journey together will allow you to see the benefits of this wonderful therapy too.

I am a firm believer in "fate", about certain synchronicities that lead you onto your path of destiny. Yes, I believe that you are in control of your own destiny, and you have the ability to take control, but sometimes, little coincidences sign post you to where you need to be. I married young, I was 21 and believed in the fairy-tale that was unravelling around me, sadly, I also divorced fairly young. At age 30, I was happily and amicably divorced, and was finding my feet as a single mum. Whilst my ex and I were (and still are) co-parenting well, I found that I had a chance to work out who I was. What I wanted to be. I had worked in travel as a travel agent, I had worked in government as an interviewing officer for the Department for Work and Pensions and I had worked as a customer adviser for a high street bank. Whilst I enjoyed different aspects of each role, I didn't feel that I'd found the job I wanted to do forever. In order to fit work around the demands of single mum life, I trained as a beauty therapist so that I could work from home. I had previously done some party plan make up sales, which I loved, and so decided to build on my training from there. It was at a ladies' event at a local cafe, that I met my Reiki master. Nikki was the owner of the cafe and a driving force of positivity in the local community, and she invited me to train as a Reiki practitioner with her. I had never experienced Reiki before, but I knew that it was a treatment that could complement my existing beauty business. I wasn't interested in the massage aspect of beauty, but I was keen to explore a holistic approach to well-being.

I turned up to my first training session with Nikki and one other lady. I was so nervous! I didn't know what to expect. Had I made a big mistake, handing over a load of cash to some-one who was going to talk a load of nonsense? I'd never even experienced a Reiki session! I didn't know what the training would consist of, what would I have to do? Would I be able to do Reiki?

My fears were soon washed away with the soothing words of my Reiki master. Nikki made me and the other lady feel completely at ease. We learned how to practise Reiki on ourselves and were attuned as Reiki level 1 students. My Reiki 2 course was magical, the three of us met again and my attunement to Reiki 2 turned off the white noise in my head, I felt calm, serene and at peace. The two of us students took turns to treat each-other and I left that room as though I were floating on a cloud.

I've never looked back. My Reiki journey has allowed me to help clients and friends. I have helped them to feel well after surgery, feel confident for a job interview, feel at peace with loss and find hope from desperation. Reiki translates to universal life energy. Reiki is all around and within us all. As a reiki practitioner (you'll notice I do not call myself a healer), I am a channel for this energy, I can help guide the energy to you so that your body can use it to help you. It may be that you need more energy to help your physical symptoms of discomfort, it may be that you need more energy to help your emotional symptoms of unbalance in your life.

As a practitioner of the traditional Usui method of Reiki, I love the gentle, calming and healing nature of this therapy. I love that the treatment feels luxurious, a real treat. That for an hour you can feel relaxed, re-energised and completely indulge in the gift of time for yourself. But that's not always the best treatment, sometimes you need something that's a little quicker which is why I have explored Quantum Reiki. Quantum Reiki is a modern take on the traditional Usui Reiki and is a way that I often treat myself. I don't think one replaces the other, but complements the different requirements of life's schedule.

I love the diversity of energy therapy and although my journey began with Reiki, a practise that uses intuition and belief that the Reiki will go where it needs to, I am fascinated with the psychology aspect of EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique, also known as tapping or Energy Psychology. EFT uses the balance of ancient learnings about the body's energy system and modern learnings of psychology. By focusing on the issues we are facing and tapping on energy points in the body we can shift any blocks in the energy and ease the related concerns. This works well with simple headaches, through to insomnia and fears.

My favourite discovery in my energy healing journey has been Hypnotic Reiki, after I became a hypnotherapist (which is a story for another blog article) I was drawn to combining the two disciplines of hypnotherapy and Reiki. The wonderfully calming effects of both complement each other beautifully, to allow for a really beneficial treatment session, allowing both body and mind to feel relaxed and balanced.

I'm looking forward to sharing these treatments with you, here in my cosy Cotswolds cabin,

Until then, with warmth and light,

Jodie

Cotswold Healing Therapies

email: [email protected]