Clients, This is What I See

Photo by Dawid Zawila on Unsplash

"I want you to know that I see you.”

This is what a friend said to me the other day when I was telling her about a stressful situation I was dealing with and struggling to find support for. Her message was that even if she couldn’t 100% feel all the things I was going through, even if she couldn’t say the exact right thing to make it easier, or completely relieve my burden for me, she could see what I was experiencing and acknowledge its weight.

It was a hugely helpful thing to hear, and one that I often want to say to my clients, as well.

There are a lot of individual reasons that clients come to reiki healing - stress relief, physical ailments, trauma, transition, or even just a desire to treat themselves and enjoy an hour of relaxation. Most of the time, though, the people who come to me are usually going through big things and need a lot of support for it. In addition to the energy work we do to boost their levels of chi and remove energetic blocks, it’s not uncommon for insights or messages about a client’s pain or experience to bubble up, either in the consciousness of the client or the practitioner. Often, clients report that these insights - this “being seen” element of the session - is a valuable part of the healing, in addition to the physical and energetic things they experience on the table.

Since I can’t be there to bear witness to every experience and transition that clients go through, I thought today I’d make an attempt at addressing you en masse. Whether you and I have had a session together or not, if you’re reading this, it must mean that some part of it, if not all of it, applies to you.

Clients, you’re awesome people, and I see how hard you’re working! In that vein, here are three of the things I see that I want you to know:

#1: You are stressed (or depressed, or anxious, or overwhelmed, or whatever it is you’re feeling) not because you aren’t good enough or strong enough or loving enough, but because you have a lot going on.

Holy cow, do my clients encounter and take on a lot. Even when they think they’re not. Demanding careers, parenthood, health issues, dating, relationships, divorce, death, money issues, grief, racism, sexism, structural injustice, sexual trauma, workplace politics, emotional and physical abuse . . . the list goes on.

Just reading the newspaper headlines these days can be a terrifying event. The act of living a human life is incredibly challenging for every soul. The first thing I want to say to my clients is: No wonder you’re feeling what you’re feeling. You’ve been through a lot just by existing, and the things most of us are figuring out and carrying around are not minor, even if they’re common.

#2: You’re doing the best you can, even if it doesn’t feel like enough.

Whatever you’re doing, it’s the best you can do, I am certain of it. Even if it’s not working. Even if you feel like a failure. Even if the people around you seem critical or unhappy with what you’re doing or how you’re acting. Even if you know you need to make a change. You wouldn’t feel stressed or depressed if you didn’t care and make your best effort every day. You wouldn’t feel that way if you didn’t love your kids, want to bring the best to your job, or have goals and aspirations that deserve to be realized.

I have no doubt that you’re doing the best you can with the knowledge and resources you have. If it’s not working or if you feel like you’re off course, though, it’s probably not because you need to do more, necessarily, but because you need to change your approach. Which brings me to #3 . . .

#3: Healing is a necessity - and an act of generosity, too.

Lately, a word that’s been coming up a lot in conversations with clients is “luxury.” They view something like taking the time and spending the money on energy healing as something luxurious. On the one hand, this is good. It should be enjoyable to come in for a healing session. You totally deserve to have a luxurious experience, not just once in a while, but all of the time. Because, see #1!

At the same time, I wish more people could see that healing and investing in that “luxurious” experience aren’t just nice things to do; they’re necessities. How you choose to rest and heal is up to you. Exercise, a good meal, a night off. It doesn’t all have to be an hour-long healing session.

One of the great things about choosing energy healing, though, is that it gives you an hour during which you don’t have to do anything. That is an extreme rarity. Getting reiki and other types of energy healing is usually relaxing, helps clients clear their minds, and can be a meditative experience - something that’s especially valuable to anxious, over-worked clients who may not have the time, energy or physical ability to try and achieve that mind state on their own through daily meditation or yoga.

It’s also an act of kindness and generosity to invest in healing oneself. It’s beneficial to you, your partner, your friends, your children, everyone in your life. One of the reasons I first became interested in reiki a few years ago was because a close friend, who was often stressed and overwhelmed, started to become noticeably different during our conversations once she began getting weekly reiki. Just talking to her on the phone became a more pleasant experience (no offense, friend, if you know who you are; I liked talking to you before that too).

Giving yourself permission to make inner changes can have a profound effect on how life goes on the outside, and it definitely changes how you are able to handle it. Inner change doesn’t have to be all work and “self improvement.” Sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself and everyone around you is to show up and let someone else do the work for a while.

This list of things I see could go on and on, but I’ll leave you with that Top 3 for now.

However you choose to heal and integrate this information, I wish you much success! If a healing session is something you’re considering or would like to try, the New Year’s 30% discount is still in effect until January 30th, 2018. It applies to both in-person sessions at Be Well Natural Medicine in St. Paul, or to distance sessions if you’re outside the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro.

To book at Be Well, visit bewellnaturalmedicine.com. (Note: The prices on the online scheduler do not reflect the discount, which will be applied when you pay at the time of your session.) You can schedule yourself online or call Be Well at (612) 440-7710.

To book a distance session, email me now at soulsmissionhealing@gmail.com.

And in case I haven’t said it to you yet, Happy 2018!