About Me
My Reiki Lineage (pdf)

I began inching my way closer to the realm of the healing arts starting around 1999, when I realized that my corporate-style finance/budget/administration/grant management 60 hour a week job was not for me. So, I had what I call an early mid-life crisis (although my father says "there is no such thing as a Mid Life Crisis, just many crises along the way!"). I actually stopped and took the time to write myself a 5-year plan that included finding a fulfilling job, making stronger connections with friends and family, having a healthier body and discovering my spirituality. Then I quit my job in the hopes of finding the balance and fulfillment in my life.

Even before I quit, the seeds for this new path were planted. My job anxiety got me into studying meditation, which started to open me up to listening to the universe. That brought me to volunteer service teaching nature awareness skills, to learning basketry and to begin to learn about my own spirituality. I have a very lighthearted and playful approach to spirituality and have found insight from many diverse sources such as friends, meditation, books, classes, movies, sweat lodge, lectures, nature, yoga, etc.

At the end of 2004 I attended a lecture by Mathew Fox. In it he talked about being a wounded warrior. It didn't matter that we had been injured, and shouldn't stop us from getting out there, making a difference in the world and doing our healing work. That got me excited about the idea of being a healer. I think I heard the message about being a healer many, many, many times in my life, but for some reason, this time it stuck. I told a friend about the lecture and how excited I was and she said "That's interesting, I've been talking to my sister about this thing called Reiki, maybe we should take a class together." And so we did. And here I am.

Before taking a class, I went to a Reiki Circle, where people get together and practice on each other. I was very skeptical. There was another woman there that night who was so uncomfortable, she sat in the other room away from everything that was going on. I remember, even as I was on the table, thinking that I was energetically sitting over there in the other room with her, scoffing at these crazy people. I remember thinking how strange it was to have a group of people resting their hands on me (I'm not used to being the center of focused attention like that). Over and over again in my head was "This is silly. I don't feel anything. I'm uncomfortable. How can this possibly be doing anything? I wish I was over in the other room."

After about 10 minutes of this, Colleen Benelli, the leader of the Reiki Circle (and also now my Reiki Master Teacher), said to me: "That was a pretty big adjustment, you might want to be careful getting up." Again, the skeptic in my head saying to myself "What does she mean a big adjustment? I asked for healing of my lower back... pain that I've been having for years and years... I didn't feel anything. Nothing happened." But sure enough, as I got up off that table, my back didn't hurt. I was amazed. The pain was gone. I might not have felt the process of the healing (something I'm learning is often a true blessing), but the healing happened nonetheless! My belief structure took quite a blow that night as I discovered there is much more to life than I ever thought possible.

I immediatly signed up for Level I & II and then took the ART/Master levels as soon as I could. Then I took Karuna Reiki as soon as the prerequisite time had passed. Some people wait years between level I & II and even as long as 10 years before taking the Master level. My quick trip through the training was in part sheer enthusiasm. What else have I been telling myself isn't real that might in fact exist? There is more to life than meets the eye! What else is possible? And, what other tools can I get to help me more efficiently facilitate the healing of others and of the earth?

The other driving force in going through the training quickly for me is that I am one of those people that after the level I attunement didn't really feel anything. It wasn't until level II that I actually began to physically feel the energy and even then it was pretty faint. Others could definitely feel the energy moving through me into them, but I wanted to feel it for myself. So, I keep showing up. I regularly repeat the Reiki training so that I am both a better practitioner and a better teacher. I have also begun to study other healing modalities including shamanism and sound healing. And of course, I keep inviting Reiki further into my life and what joyous journey it is!

My Reiki Master Lineage