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Speaker 1: Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebine, a space where no question is off limits and storylines become lifelines. The views shared by our guests are meant to inform, entertain and empower. From the laughs to the lessons. Just remember tough times don't last, but professional home girls do enjoy the show.
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Speaker 2: What's up y'all? Ishagara Ebine here and I hope all is cute. Welcome back to Pretty Private with Ebina, where storylines become lifelines. Today's conversation is all about healing, self discovery, and what happens when we finally take the time to reconnect with ourselves. My guest today is Reiki Master teacher Giselle Ravello, who turned her own experiences with depression, anxiety, and emotional challenges into a journey of helping others heal. In this conversation, we're talking about growing up in a Dominican household, navigating mental health, and communities where those conversations weren't always easy to have her introduction to reiki, where reky actually is and so much more so. Whether you're someone who's curious about reiki, someone on your own healing journey, or someone who has ever felt disconnected from yourself. This conversation is for you and it is such a treat. So get ready because this week's conversation starts now. Oh my god, y'all. I am super excited to have my guests on the show. I was just cracking jokes with her earlier off the air, saying that it's been a thousand years in the making, because I know I always tell the story when we have a conversation when we talk to other people. But I was trying to get her on the show, y'all, maybe, like was it like three five years ago? I sent her an email and I was like, hey, I'd love to have you on the show. And she never got the email. And here I am thinking, like, damn, she dubbed me. But Gazelle, thank you so much. How are you doing, how are you feeling.
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Speaker 3: I'm brave you have any Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here with you and this relationship that we've been cultivating was going to leave us thing.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you got me feeling like a little stock of boyfriend child. Well, we did an event together. I remember if y'all remember, I did a little ad for our event.
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Speaker 3: Uh.
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Speaker 2: She is the owner and found it up so center and it is so nice in there, y'all. Like as soon as I got in there, I felt like I was so relaxed, I wanted to take a nap. Like it was just so serene. Like do people tell you that all the time.
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Speaker 3: All the time, that that's the intention as soon as people walking with door, just to calm that nervous system and relax. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. So for people who are me and you for the first time, can you introduce yourself and share a little bit about your background.
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Speaker 3: Absolutely, so, let's see how far back do the wrong?
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Speaker 2: Well, I got some questions. I did my research on you, so give ussis.
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Speaker 3: Okay, Well, I'm I'm a Native worker.
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Speaker 4: Come on, I got the Nicks jersey and I ward just for you.
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Speaker 3: Five maxim five baby. So yeah, I was born and raising brons and had a you know, the difficult upbringing like many first generation folks, you know, getting to a whole other culture and you know, I'm Caribbean from the Negro Republic, and so all of that was in my body in terms of stress and tension and all types of mental health issues that developed along the way. And so that inspired me to start my own own healing injury. And from there I learned so much and I and I healed so much that I wanted to share what I what I learned about the mind, the body, and the soul working together. Uh. And I became a practier and so I do energy healing, life coaching. I'm a meditation teacher. And as things progressed and I worked with one more people, I wanted to have my own home, and so I wanted that right in the center of the city where I can access all the beautiful people. And that came together, and that became Upsole and so you know, been since since like the end of the pandemic, we opened up and placed such an incaribortrary. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: No, it's really nice there, y'all. We're gonna I'm gonna share the address and the location and stuff. But it's a really beautiful place. But when I was doing my researcher and you you shared that you grew up experiencing chronic depression. So at what age did you remember first realizing that something you were feeling wasn't just a bad day, but something deeper.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, pretty early on, I remember, as far back as about eight nine years old going through these chronic states of sadness and losing my motivation and struggling to well get out of bed. So that that started pretty early, how would you say, Yeah, about eight or nine years old. Oh, it's pretty early on.
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Speaker 2: Do you remember what was causing it?
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Speaker 3: Well, you know, it's a combination of things. You know, my environment for sure, the stress as being first generation and be the eldest daughter joke, you know, and that you know, coming from an immigrant family where they were like trying to figure out how to exist, you know, in this part of the world, not knowing the language, and so all this pressure around having to figure it out for the family.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and.
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Speaker 3: You know the environment as well. You know, the time that I grew up, the Bronx was really really rough. There was a lot going on in terms of you know, the disparity of all the things and so a lot of devastation in the Bronx. And I was I recognized that I was a very sensitive person. It was very sensitive child, and so I was picking up all the energy around me, all of that, you know, angst and anger and sadness, and you know where people were at at that time, you know, they was struggling. Everybody around it was.
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Speaker 2: Struggling facts facts.
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Speaker 1: You know.
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Speaker 2: We spoke about that briefly, about like you being able to like feel certain things and you seeing things when you was a kid. And I'm just curious, you know, coming from a Dominican background, like did they did your family ever talk about mental health or like, like what was the conversation around there or was it just it is what it is, keep it moving.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, not at all, Like that was when taboo growing up. Yeah, you know, people, if you if you were going through a depressive state, that's something you kept to yourself. And you know, I think like many of us, you know, people of color, like, you know, you shake it off, keep it going, caving, you know, there was no time for that. We were in a survival moment. Yeah, and so that was not a conversation whatsoever.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we really went through it, like because anyone up here, you you talking. I was born in New York but raised in Memphis, so I had the best of both worlds. But even as a kid, like I was just taught how to show face. Like we really wasn't encouraged to like express our feelings. Like I didn't even know what my feeling was if I wasn't happy or sad, like there was no in between world.
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Speaker 3: It took me a long time when I started therapy. Yeah, best, when I started to like identify different emotions, I couldn't tell you where I was at and what I was feeling. Yeah, I had two molds. Either I was okay or I was not right. And even that way, you know, you couldn't have really expressed air like that, and so it like I literally had to go through and study on an emotional chart to understand the different emotions were and talk back to me within my therapist.
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Speaker 2: Yes, and I did that when I was growing up exactly.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Wow, So at what point did your depression began to develop into anxiety and how did that impact your everyday life? And how old were you?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, the anxiety started to show up in my teenage years, so I couldn't I didn't identify it right away. I just thought, well, I have these episodes and I can't really explain why. And so what how that was showing up was with panic attacks. I would just spontaneously have these padic attacks that were both physical, like all these physical symptoms and I would just like shut down and what I what I know of it now is that my nervous system was so dysregulated that my body was going to complete overwhelm and felt like I was dying. That's the best way I could explain it. It felt that, you know, my heart was going to come out of my chest. I couldn't breathe, and I started to go to you know, the doctor sometimes sort of end up in the emergency room, and no one could really explain what was going on inside of me. Then I started to get terrible migraines. And so throughout my teenage read these episod episodes would come, come and go, and then I started to have anxiety about having anxiety because I would anticipate that that this these episodes would come on, and it took a long time to get diagnosed.
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Speaker 2: What was your family saying?
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Speaker 3: You know, I think my mother she suffered in silence. She didn't you know, she didn't know how to talk about it with me. She didn't know what to say about it. She didn't understand what was happening. Yeah, doctor was at the time, we're giving us answers, and so she prayed on it. That that's the way that she coked, is that she prayed and prayed over me, and she would just kind of wish it away and wasn't really like dealt with hands on. She didn't she didn't know how to deal with it.
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Speaker 2: So, and I'm not even trying to be funny when I asked this question, but did anybody if I think he was possessed? Because I know I was speaking to somebody else from a any and background and they were saying how like their grandma used to think they was possessed. She used to pray the spirit out of them and stuff. And I know we spoke briefly about that in person at our event. So did anybody think that about you?
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Speaker 3: No? Not, not with what I was going through. But there were other incidents and where like things were strange in terms of like me being an EmPATH and needing intuitive Yeah, that I would pick up on certain energies as a kid, and I would describe these things to my mother and she was like, girl, there was a found for sure. I think a lot of people, all these Caribbean folks, like you know, we talk about dreams, we talk about spirits, we talk about bad juju and that sort of thing. But you know, when you get too descriptive that's when people kind of shut down. Okay, we will talk.
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Speaker 2: Just pray somewhere right, Yeah, wait a much your grandma, but your grandma around, Yes, and no.
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Speaker 3: I do have I do have a grandmother who was my mother's step mom, but she's most of my family is the Dominican Republic. Okay, And so unfortunately I didn't grow up with with my you know, my my family and my extended family that my mother's family with me. Yeah, but we traveled back and forth a lot in my childhood. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: So, how did your journey with depression and anxiety leads you towards like spirituality, stuff, discovery and healing? Like, what was a turning point? Well, I think that Listen, I did waited five years do this interview.
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Speaker 3: It it begins, I would say, it begins with my mother because my mother is a very spiritual person. Now, we grew up in a you know, the Catholic religion. My family's Christian. However, my mother always, since early early on, she encouraged me to have a relationship with the Creator and that meant for us praying, lighting candles, always seeking that guidance, going within to have that conversation. She always encouraged me to like talk and have that relationship and listen internally. And so I grew up with that foundation. But as a child that was always curious about all the existential questions, it's just within me. So I ended up studying different religions because I within my own religion at the time, I wasn't satisfied with the answers I was getting. And so I think that's one of the advantages of living and growing up in New York City where you have so much cultures, different peoples and people and cultures, right, And so I had friends that were different backgrounds and I would literally ask them like, Hey, could I go with you to your thing? And what over that? And then you know, And so I did have exposure to all these different paths and I got highly interested. So no one really taught me to go that way. It was just like an aid in me and I became this whole discovery. The other thing that was really interesting that when when I do I wasn't getting answers in that in the healthcare environment, I had this intuition. I kept praying on it and asking for guidance and asking for help. What can I do to help myself because I wasn't getting the help that I needed. And I got this one clear answer was a voice that I heard in my head say go back to your roots, go back to the earth. That was the answer to start really healing. And I took that as let me go back to my culture, and let me go back to the natural medicine of my culture and start to work with that. And so the first thing that I did was started to work with the RBS and started to make and my mother was very big on that. She like the medicine cabinet is in the kitchen. She always made her own her own medicine, and that's what she learned from her grandmother. And so we started to talk about that. We started to put these teas together in tinctures and all these things, and even even solves, and started to make our own medicine and more focused on the symptoms that I had. That led me to the next part of it was starting to meditate, because I started I think I picked up book somewhere along the line that said and meditation was really good for depression. And so I started to study. I started taking classes, and back then it was like really underground.
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Speaker 2: It's like you really have to sit down, where to go, what to do, because it was very hush hush, hush hush.
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Speaker 3: You know, it's like you need somebody to put you onto something. And it gradually kind of unfooled, and one thing would lead me to the next, and whether I was talking to you to someone who was going through similar things, or how some kind of knowledge picking up the books and reading doing my own research, and this form natural medicine path for me really started to come together of looking at things holistically, how everything is connected, and that, you know, just kept unfolding.
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Speaker 2: What's up, y'all. It's Shagar eb and A here, and be sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Pretty Private podcast and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel at the Professional Homegirl. Now let's get back to the show. When you talk about the voice you heard, do you believe it was God?
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Speaker 3: I believe?
00:16:06
Speaker 2: So yeah. What did it sound like to you? Because I heard Guy's voice before once too, and for me, it's kind of so calm. He was very like it was soft, but it was clear.
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Speaker 3: Yes, And that's usually how it comes to me for people. Whether you know people have different language to describe that, but for me, I call it creator. It was. It wasn't a male voice. It was soft. It felt like Louise kind of feels like it's back here.
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Speaker 2: Soon, yeah, like right here.
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Speaker 3: Coming from like from this way. Yeah. And it's a soft, calming, grounding voice. And it felt very soothing. It felt very loving, almost almost like a what I would imagine like a really sweet grandfather with fear, Like, yeah, my grandfather wasn't sweet. I mean he was amaze.
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Speaker 2: I ain't gonna lie. I feel like when I did hear the voice, like it was calm, but I feel like he was also like low key ignored with me because I've been praying for something. Well, I shared this story I was praying for to get with on my network for Black Effects, and I was praying this prayer every day. I was like, please, God, Please, I know I can get on him, and he already showed me that it was gonna happen, but I'm like, when is it going to happen? And so how I got on the network. They posted something on Instagram saying, hey, looking for our next podcast who should be? And that was the first thing I opened up. When I opened up the app That's the first thing I saw. I really heard.
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Speaker 4: God said here, girl, here, child, like huh, this is your time. Like if you miss this, this is it.
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Speaker 2: And you know the way I responded and I moved so quickly, and then it's like everything else was history.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, and see that was a safe in this city, the fact that you had this intuition to open up the apps right at that tide and the first thing that you see is what you meant to see. Yeah, and that's what happens.
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Speaker 2: So what was your first moment or experience that introduced you to riky Mmm.
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Speaker 3: So, as I was taking those meditation classes, I came across a healer who was visiting from Japan. So reiki healing has its origins in Japan, That's where it comes from. And so up and nice to me. I was taking this six week course with her, and this type of meditation that she was offering was really different from anything else I had done, and she was calling it a healing meditation. I didn't know what, you know, I didn't even know what that meant. And just called to me. And I was sitting in that class and just following her along. And girl, I was breaking down in a way that I never had anywhere else, especially in public, because you know, we're taught to hold.
00:18:53
Speaker 4: It back, right, like don't right.
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Speaker 3: I mean, I'm probably sobbing in these classes and the whole what is going on?
00:19:03
Speaker 2: I couldn't know what she's saying, like, like, what trigger you to to respond that way?
00:19:08
Speaker 3: You know, it wasn't It wasn't even the language. It was. It was the energy she was it was a waky meditation, but she never said reiki. She just said healing meditation. And so the energy itself, as it was working through me, it was helping me clear out. That's part of the function of reiki healing, and so I'm clearing out. But I didn't know what was happening. So I just kept crying. And about three weeks in or so, I kept that. I was, you know, I just couldn't stop crying. So she came close to me at one point, and she's a girl. She said, you you really suffering. She said, I really want to talk to you. After pause, stay blind, and so I did, and the conversation was very simple. She said, you know I can I can help you. I can feel what you're going through when I can help you, would you want to meet with me privately? And didn't explain anything at all. It just felt right, another thing for nicity. It was like my heart just kind of warmed up and I got a good feeling about it. I said yes. I just said yes. I didn't know what I was signing up for, and we, you know, schedule the appointment and I show up a few days later, and all she said was we walked. I walked into a room that had a massage table, a chair, and a little desk and she said, okay, you know, remove your jacket and pitch your back down. You don't have to take your clothes off. She said, lie down on the tape. I said, okay. It was so mysterious and so interesting. No, it felt it just felt right. Her presence was very calming to me.
00:21:03
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
00:21:04
Speaker 3: So I lead I laid out on the table and she said, take a few deep breaths, and she puts her hands on my head. Girl. I don't know what happened where I went to. I was in another universe. I just I closed my eyes. I took those brass and it was like going going through anesthesia. I don't remember what happened. Wow, But I know I woke up and I felt different and she and she's like she's woke. She kind of tapped my shirs and she said she's home. I'm telling and I look up at her. She was like an angel to me.
00:21:45
Speaker 4: Wow.
00:21:47
Speaker 3: I just glow about her and I was like, what happened? What? What am I? I was a little disoriented, so I had to take one time coming back up, which is how are you feeling? I said, I don't know, it's just and she gave me some instructures. She said, Okay, you're gonna be healing for the next couple of days, drink a lot of water, and I'll see you next week same time. So what I was girl, it was the most just mysterious, Like I can't even put it into work. It was just incredible. I walked outside and I swear that you ever made the world look different to me and look alive in a way that I hadn't felt. I felt lighter. It was like the trees were talking to me, the sky was talking to me. Everything felt like harmonious, and everything was brighter and colors were popping out. I felt a little trippy, to be honest, what is this? You know? And that and that kind of feeling wears off and you start to brown in and you but I just knew that something had change and I couldn't explain what, but it felt I felt different. Yeah, yes, that that was the answer to that. I worked with her. She was here for the summer, so I worked with her throughout and every session I felt lighter and lighter. At that point, I was experiencing anxiety, anxiety attacks and paddic attacks, uh, pretty much on a daily basis. Like it was debilitating. Bro. I could not functioning though I was very high functioning and people couldn't tell. But that meant like me breaking down, like I was at work and I'm starting my career and I love that, bro, like crying in the bathroom.
00:23:53
Speaker 2: Or did you want to.
00:23:56
Speaker 3: Yeah? I did take you know, I you know once uh, once I did get diagnosed, which by the way, it took a woman to do so. And then I learned that election are not heard by healthcare providers, right, and what that means for us also is winmen of color. Yeah, facts, And so it took another woman finally to say, hey, you know, this is what's going on with you? You have chronic anxiety, and I want you to work with psychiatrists to get this properly diagnosed and get you on medication to give you relief. And that was also another woman who really sat with me and took her time to understand what I was going through and what my background was. And so yeah, I worked with Raiki healer for that time, and it gave me the belief that the medication did not, that talk therapy did not in terms of all the physical sense domis that I was feeling, Wow.
00:25:04
Speaker 4: That what a story. You got my mind like racing right now.
00:25:11
Speaker 2: Okay, so when did you realize that you wanted to do this? That's something as a full time your career.
00:25:18
Speaker 3: So after going through that summer and I pretty much healed the anxiety. So what reiki also helps people do is to regulate their nervous system. And I spend so much time educating folks on that is, you know, if you're experiencing anxiety at any level, we need to work on your nervous system. Now we have all this language for it, yeah, and understanding. And so that gave me, you know, I was able to establish a baseline for functioning as a person and so that inspired me because I was feeling so much better because we try to unpack the depression start working on life trauma, and that's like a combination of things. Wicky was one of them. I started to work with a different therapist that was more focused on what I needed in terms of trauma. I started to do research like my own kind of other energy healing techniques. It was a combination of many events, lacky. Because of the experience, it always stayed with me. Yeah, and it took it took a few years for me to build up the courage to want to study it because I didn't. Honestly, at the time, I didn't think myself worthy. I was like, you know, who am I to take this class? Who am I to like? You know what? What would I do with this? But I had such curiosity about how energy healing worked. It kept nagging at me. It kept coming back up and prayer as well meditation, it kept coming back around. I would hear the word of Aki, I would get this feeling of this is something that I really need to do. And so it's like it found you. In fact, it was. It's a call it for sure to call it because it's not it's still not that. Even though it's a lot more people know about it, it's not yet fully mainstream where we're getting there. And so but at the time that I studied, it was not a thing, and so I really had to do a lot of research in terms of what it meant to train and boots train with, what the origins of it, and and I and I gig out when I really like something, I really will.
00:27:45
Speaker 4: Deep Yeah me too, I can't.
00:27:47
Speaker 3: That's that's the well my cancer vertical makes.
00:27:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you got that?
00:27:53
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah right, so oh go ahead, no, so yeah, So that it took a while, but it unfolded and I finally got to it.
00:28:04
Speaker 3: And when I and when I took that trading, I felt I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Yeah, oh, absolutely right.
00:28:13
Speaker 2: You know, when you share your story, like, I definitely believe you, but like you said, you know, reiki is not mainstream yet. So when you share your story with others, like, do you still come across people who are kind of like skeptical of it?
00:28:23
Speaker 3: Yes, all the time. Yeah, And I love having those conversations. That doesn't bother me at all because I think it's I think a healthy amount of stopticism is good, especially nowadays where we're bombarded by so much information. I think it's good. It's a great thing to question things. But it open minded skepticism, you know. And so but I find those closed minded as well. People that's near what I do or are. It brings up fear in them, Yeah, because of you know, other things that they've experienced or heard about. And so you know, like when when people say spiritual healing, yes, that's like kind of right.
00:29:05
Speaker 4: No, they don't like that, Chad, right right, they think it's a devil Chad, So you gotta.
00:29:10
Speaker 3: Be Ki exactly. It's like, I don't know what this is and I want a part of it, you know. So absolutely got still out there.
00:29:17
Speaker 2: Yeah. So for someone who was hearing with Rake for to hear about Reki for the first time, how would you explain it?
00:29:24
Speaker 3: Yeah? I approach it from a wellness standpoint. It is really as it's a spirit sorry, the origin of it is spiritual healing. But what we say spiritual, we also mean energetic, and so I approach it from this holistic standpoint. It's it's a holistic practice to help your mind, body, and soul heal. And so it can be used in several you know, for pretty much any condition. And so the idea is that receiving this type of healing, you can clear, heel and restore yourself. And so we're helping you and your body restore itself. When we have stress, stress creates tension in the body. Fact I do think is really really tight, and stress energetically is ecstatic in your body. So you have all this kind of staticky energy. Your everything is tight. That's starts to create pain, also aches, and all sorts of disruptions in the body. And so when you receive this through touch, and we also can work at a distance, but when we set that intention for a healing environment, you start to receive this touch, which is already healing to us as human beings. When we touch, we start to feel calmer. Yeah, And with the healing energy, your body starts to absorb that and so select go of the stress. It starts to melt that away and the tension and the seks and your body also continues to absorb it all the way down into the cellary level, so that you are literally refreshing and re energizing your entire body. That starts to create just all the wonderful things that we're looking for. And I say, like, you know, we we wait until we go on vacation to feel like we're restored and be charged. Right, we've been taking it. We're so overwhelmed and so overworked that taking a day off doesn't feel like enough for people.
00:31:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I've been overstimulating since Nick's wanted.
00:31:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's been you know a lot of joy and excitement, and everyone's been talking about that, how the city feels so alive right now. Fact, we've been so kind to each other, and you know.
00:31:57
Speaker 4: It's been a beautiful thing to witness. I'm not gonna lie, sure, Yeah.
00:32:02
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm I'm what they call a bandwagon fan. I'll be honest, Like, I don't follow sports and I don't followday. You know, I hear about you in New Yorker, but I'm in New Yorker.
00:32:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, same, But I feel like, you know, energy is real. Like so I even went to the parade, and then right after the parade, I went to work, and then I had to record and then you know, we were trying to record this for a while, but the schedules were in like alignment and I'm just like, who like I am on ten, Like I go to sleep on ten, I wake up on ten. I said, I gotta get off this high because I feel it like it's a lot.
00:32:40
Speaker 3: Well, you gotta you gotta get to some taple girl. We got to schedule of the session.
00:32:44
Speaker 2: You know what's so crazy? I am going to schedule a session with you because I've been wanting to doriky with someone for so long. But I'm also really big on who I allow in my space, especially when there's something intimate like that. And obviously me and you have been in each other's spaces before and it's been a very like common experience between us two. But I'm also curious, like how do you protect yourself because I feel like, is it at times? Does again depleting for you?
00:33:10
Speaker 3: You know, that's a question people ask, especially when they when they're they themselves are sensitive, They're like, are you okay? Are you gonna be okay? Yeah? Absolutely, That's what that's what the training is for. So we are not using our own energy as healers, we learn to channel energy, and so that's where it's just to get really really interesting in terms of the esoteric part of it. The metaphysical part. But we're trying to ling the energy and that's what we're sharing with other people. So my energy does not get depleted. In fact, I'm also receiving healing as I'm as I'm conducting a healing for someone else. Yes, think about reiki. It's there's that reciprocity to it. And also, but you know, like anything else, you get physically tired short. So I do have a limit in terms of how many people I can work with and you know, in a day for example. Yeah, but yeah, but I I'm just as peaceful and feeling wonderful as as my client's ale when they're on the table.
00:34:21
Speaker 2: And what's your routine, like, like do you do? I'm pretty sure you prepare before you have someone come into your space and you start the session, right.
00:34:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, be a healer full time also requires you know, a lot of self care. Yeah, so you know, I've had to create a routine for myself that works for my body and you know what it needs. And so I wake up in the morning, I mean I you know, I exercise, I meditate, I journal, I have support, you know, I have my mentors that I work with on a consistent basis, you know, make sure I'm eating right, I have enough rest. Yeah. But when I start my day, you know, I'm in prayer, I'm in a meditative space. I work with the energy of the space I'm working with, and you know, there's other things along the way to make sure that I'm clear and I'm centered and I'm grounded. Yeah.
00:35:27
Speaker 2: Out, and then when someone comes into your space, like what walk us through a session?
00:35:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, So my sessions are seventy five minutes long and the reason why. Typically a Riaky session is about an hour long. So we sit and we talk about what their intention is and making to support and so most of the people have been to see me are dealing with mental health concerns and so they're anxious, they're depressed, they have trauma much like what I experienced. Also other things like relational stuff, whether you know they're going through a breakup, having issues in their family life, having issues with their with their partner. People are you know, going through different stages in their relationships, having issues with their boss or their coworkers. Money that is money, Yeah, you know, that's not a common one for me, but it does come up. And where people are stressed about their finances, trying to moves, and it's really more about like the transition of things. Even people who are setting out with you know that have big goals and ambitions, they're like stressed about making those those changes in their life or going for that thing or you know. So I would say I've work more with transitional you know stages, people who you know, letting go of one thing, grieving that, moving into something new, working with uncertainty. Yeah. I work with a lot of high performing people for the most part, and so these are people who are on their a game and also the people that support those people. So that's kind of the range for me where and also like parents, like you know, I work with single parents. I work with parents who are trying to downce loll out. Yeah, charge everything to everyone. You know.
00:37:46
Speaker 2: What I like about riki and what you explain it. I feel like you can also use this along with talk therapy, along with meditation, along with other wellness and mindfulness things. But I also feel like one of the biggest misconceptions that people feel like you can't combine reiki with other things.
00:38:02
Speaker 3: I think that's the perfect combination. And so my superpower is really helping people understand their emotion because that's a lot of the work that I had to do. Yeah, a deeply sensitive emotional person. And what people find, at least my clients that as they're going from talk therapy in that journey, they don't really have the space to process their emotion. They tend to be very heady people as it is. Yeah, so they're talking things through and that is so helpful, and that's one part of it. Of the healing process is definitely acknowledging and becoming aware of your thoughts and your beliefs and breaking that down and learning new skills like how you communicating and setting boundaries and those types of things. But they don't they still feel all of that in their body. I can't shake the feeling that I have, the heaviness that.
00:39:03
Speaker 4: I have, and it can feel it.
00:39:05
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:39:07
Speaker 3: You know a lot of people point here, like my chest or oh my gut, it's tight. It's like whenever I talk about this, it's like, you got this heavy feeling. And that's when they start to understand, Oh, I need to get in my body. I need to fly into practice. That helps when you get into my body. Yeah, and that's where reiki comes in. And so the combination of talk therapy and doing reiki is the perfect parent because as you're processing mentally, you also get into the body, they also start to access those emotions.
00:39:42
Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, another misconception that we spoke about earlier is that people feel like, you know, this is like woo woo, like this is like a part of like, you know, dark forces and stuff. So what do you say to people who grew up or who were taught that spiritual press outside of religion was something to fear.
00:40:04
Speaker 3: Depending on who I'm talking to, But for us, I like to point out that none of this is new. Yeah, we have all this wonderful ancestral medicine that we have lost access to, which line to regain? And so you know, even though Riki's origins are in Japan, the idea of energy healing is as old as people. Yeah, so in so many traditions. When you start to look at you know, indigenous people, you know, in their indigenous environment, they all had a version of energy healing. And so for us looking at the practices from Africa, right and for us specifically like West Afla though, and so when I started to really look at that and go, wait a minute, it was all it's all there, like, this is how our ancestors healed, energy, healing, working with plants, you know, meditating, what your nature, working with water, like all the elements. Right, it's all there. But that was information that I didn't have. We have, we have little pieces of it that have been preserved that you hear about, like just like a fraction of it within our cultures, and so that becomes really empowering for us. Like it was, all of this was demonized, and we know the reasons why they wanted to take us away from our own nature. They wanted to take us away from our truth, from our lineage, from you know, all the things that that make you know, that that make us who we are, and so all of that was demonized so that we can feel disempowered, so that we can be controlled.
00:42:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, control, you.
00:42:04
Speaker 3: Know, And that's that's what we're going on generationally. So all of this for me has been a reclamation of who I am and where I come from. And I think that that is something that we all need to do when we're ready for it, when we get there, of reclaiming who we are, that is to me a birthright facts.
00:42:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ja, I think you're so dope. You know, as I'm getting to know more about you and here it listen to your story. I really do feel like what you went through as a child and until your teenager years really help prepare you to who you are today. Like, do you ever look back and just become appreciative and thankful for all those hard times?
00:42:48
Speaker 3: But we know we've talked about gratitude, Yeah, gratitude just everything. I mean. Of course, while you're going through life, you don't necessarily see how the peace is connected, yeah, and where it's all leading you to facts. Now, Look, you know, when I do look back, I realize that everything absolutely happened for a reason, and it was shaping me to become the person that I was meant to be, to be on my path. There was a time where I didn't feel that I was on my path. I was more in my ego and my wounded ego and my wounded ego believing in a version of myself that I thought I needed to be. And when I started to really listen to myself and listen to that guidance, that's where I feel I course corrected and got on the path that was set out for me. That I think by fate or by destiny, however you want to say it. Yeah, I don't believe we'll all come in with a plan on a soul level, become with a mission and we're meant to understand and that and allow that to unphone and show ups and so Yeah, when I look back and go, yeah, every stop, even to that point where my life was, it could have gone a different way. Yeah, I was like fons roads it worked out. I make the right choice. I believe, Yes, where I am today?
00:44:22
Speaker 2: And how does it feel for you? Like how do you know you're on the right path? Because I always say like even though I get frustrated at times because I know what's to come, but I think it's more so like I'm questioning, like when it's going to happen. But I do know for a fact, Like I know I'm on the right path because it feels good, Like this doesn't feel like I'm working, you know what I'm saying, Like this is my passion. I love talking to people. So for you, what does it feel like for you? And do you ever get frustrated with this? Like where are your goals for the next couple of years?
00:44:50
Speaker 3: I think it's very human of us to get frustrated even though we're on our right path. But exactly what you said, when you're on your your right path, it feels easier in terms of the decision is clear, things align facts, you know, where there's there's little to no resistance, or you don't feel like you're forcing anything, opportunities show up. I think where we start to get frustrated is in the timing of it all. Fact, we think we're on our timing, but we're really on the divine's time, like work out, you know, like the stages of processes, and we're like hurry up, like I already know the answer and I'm trying to.
00:45:39
Speaker 2: Get there right right, right right.
00:45:41
Speaker 3: But it's we have to we have to learn patience and and have toe that. I think that that's part of our of our evolution personal development of like continuously understanding what patients is. Yeah. Yeah, So of course I get frustrated. I'm you know, I get I gets stressed. I go through all the human the range of human emotion and experiences, both professionally and personally. But what makes it different now with my life is that I have so many tools and tools that I put into practice to help me along. Yeah, that's the major difference. For a while, I was I consider myself pretty like resourceful, but I didn't always put those resources to use. Once I did and I became consistent with it, that's when things change and I'm like, oh, this stuff really works.
00:46:43
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, can you do on yourself?
00:46:47
Speaker 1: Yes?
00:46:48
Speaker 3: Nice part of my practice. Absolutely.
00:46:52
Speaker 2: Do you still keep in contact with the woman who did it on you your first time?
00:46:56
Speaker 3: No? She she came and went, she served her propose. Wow, but now I'm connected to Uh. The organization that I'm with is an international organization because Lineage for Reiki works that way, and where you you connect with the lineage and those people become your teachers and maventuriers, and so I have all this wonderful support in my life.
00:47:22
Speaker 2: Dang, I wanted I want you to see each other. I can only imagine her reaction.
00:47:28
Speaker 3: Well, I did write to her at one point. I think. I think it was around the time that that I studied, that I began to study, and I wrote her this beautiful letter letting her know my my gratitude and appreciation for help helping me to connect with this practice and also everything that hasn't folded since I last saw her, so I know she did receive it, but we lost touch.
00:47:54
Speaker 2: So what would you say to someone who is struggling silently with depression, anxiety, or feeling disconnected from themselves.
00:48:03
Speaker 3: I would say, begin with support. It's important to get out of your own head and so whatever that looks like. And I know people have different means and different resources, but I know I carried a lot of shame around what I was struggling with. And when I finally got around to speaking to someone about it who was willing to listen and care for me, yeah, that's when everything changed and I started to make better choices for myself. I think that's the first step. Is anyone around you that you trust, that you care, that you know cares for you, that is willing to sit and listen without judgment. Tell that person how you're feeling, and also view people worry about, like being overwhelming to other people. Yeah, not being a burden and and again carrying that shame or that guilt. But you have to get out of your own head. Begin with that conversation. If you're able to seek out therapy, talk, therapy, psychotherapy, whatever, whatever. So many different modalities in that practice. Start there, Start there, And of course I would say, you know, getting in your body is equally important as talking about it. So once once you give yourself permission to start to to speak out loud the things that you're you're thinking and feeling. After after getting comfortable there, then start to find a practice where you can get in your body. So yiki is a wonderful way to do that, like I said, and it's and it's very beginner friendly. Who want to say it that way because it doesn't require you to do anything except show up. Yeah, Like you make an appointment and we allow the healer to guide you, and all you have to do is lie down on the table, Yeah, and breathe. That's it. You know, it doesn't require anything else, and you're going to feel so so much better. The third thing what I just had is breathing. Learning how to breathe intentionally, mindfully. Deep breathing helps you to start to clear out energy facts. And I realized that when I started to vanitate that I didn't know how to breathe. I was breathing from my chest. It was very shallow because I was so tight and I was holding on to everything with my body. When I learned that correct breathing actually it comes from the diaphect mm, I was like, wait a minute, I don't know. I don't I don't know what it's like to take a deep breath and bring it all the way down to my belly. Had no idea what that felt like. And so I started to practice now bringing my breath all the way down and it and it felt literally like I was like working through mud and you know, getting deeper and deeper and sifting through the mud. And I finally when I took that first belly breath, girl, it was it was like I saw have it. Wow, it was my body. I had this really interesting sensation of my body feeling like like like a like a like a damn that had opened up. I felt this rush of energy and it was so euphoric that I again it's hard to put into words these these uh experiences, but I literally felt like I was in heaven.
00:52:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm so I got to come get a session, man, I am so. I am ready to release and cry. Ys we need a long Yeah, yes, you know, I got one more question. And I'm just curious because I wonder how becoming a reiki master improve your relationship with your mom. And the reason why I ask is because you know, I feel like a lot of times when we go through so much stuff and we don't feel like we have anybody to talk to this because we don't have trust with it with our parents. So like, how did that improve your relationship with her? Because I can only imagine her being proud of you and all things that you accomplish.
00:52:46
Speaker 6: And everything changed, yeah, of our time going on, especially my teenage years, and so my ability to heal and soften.
00:53:01
Speaker 3: Because I was really hard in terms of, you know, holding on to everything and also protecting myself from pretty much to every relationship I was I was in so being able to be more vulnerable, learning to communicate better, feeling safer in my body, feeling safer in life extended the bridge for me to be able to start to heal with my mother and other relationships in my life that included my father because I didn't grow up with my father, and so New York he was for a time and then he moved to Florida, HM and so we had a very very strange, tumultuous relationship where I only met my father a handful of times, and every time it felt really it was really painful. Yeah, And so I was able to start healing those relationships with my parents. I really focused on that because those are your primary relationships.
00:54:10
Speaker 2: And those are you know then yeah, every relationships you have a life.
00:54:16
Speaker 3: And so I really started to unpackt that. And so now we're in a my mother not in a great place. We are a wonderful, wonderful place, and in fact the places and didn't think we could ever get to when I was going on. And then my father's gone now, but I feel, yeah, we made peace. We made peace. I forgave him, forgiving him square many things, and we got to have some some good conversations, some adult conversations before his passing. Yeah, so I'm much more focus. Yeah.
00:54:51
Speaker 2: One of my favorite quotes is from Oprah War for You on forgiveness, and she said, you don't forgive people for for them, you forgive people for yourself. And then forgiveness is also letting go of what you thought the future, what the future would have been. I agree, and that has helped me so much for like, girl, just let it go.
00:55:15
Speaker 3: I mean, we have a whole the podcasts on that.
00:55:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh my gosh. I'm so happy that we were able to do this, y'all. I'm telling y'all, like, and how we reconnected was because I was at last year. We both were at Charlamagne's Mental Wealth Expo and I'm over here bending and stuff, and then she come over. I think he purchased a color book or we was talking about the color and books. And I never forget a name. I may forget a face, but I don't.
00:55:41
Speaker 3: Forget a name.
00:55:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I was like, wait, I know you. She was like what you mean? And I was like, I think I tried to get you in the show.
00:55:49
Speaker 2: And I went through the email.
00:55:50
Speaker 4: I showed her the email, y'all, and I was like, girl, now now we're here, you gotta come on the show.
00:55:56
Speaker 3: You plan to the seat all the all that time ago.
00:55:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, here we are in the making.
00:56:03
Speaker 2: So please thank you no saying this has been a beautiful conversation. I'm definitely gonna schedule my appointment. I'm gonna share my experience. Can I record my experience or is that too intrusive? I think it's intimated maybe parts of it, yeah, parts of it because I don't need knowing things.
00:56:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, but yeah, yeah for you. I want you to be totally relaxed and yeah, but not working.
00:56:25
Speaker 2: Not working, but I do believe that it is. Reiki is still taboo, so I definitely want to give glimpses. I ain't gonna give too much because y'as be nosy, but justlla, let everybody know where we can support you, where we can follow you, at your location.
00:56:40
Speaker 4: Everything.
00:56:41
Speaker 3: Thank you So up. Soul Center for Holistic Health and Wellness is located and Chelsea. It's on West twenty eighth Street.
00:56:52
Speaker 4: It's so y'all.
00:56:53
Speaker 3: Oh, I can't wait for y'all to come see it and experience it. There's so much peace and calm and love that's in this space. I'm offering reiki there. And also we have all these other amazing holistic practitioners from acupuncture, chiropractic work and solid therapy. We all have us on the sticker perch. That is really substant a part. But of course you guys can visit our website which is also sempster.
00:57:21
Speaker 2: Dot Yeah, and to the listeners if you have any questions, comments of concerns, so you want to say hey girl, hey, please email me at hello at the pshgpodcast dot com I know y'all really luck when we really love when we get in our woo woo bag. So I really enjoyed this conversation. And until next time. Everyone, Later you're gonna say, by yourself, hire y'all Pretty Private. It's a production of the Black Effect podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show, and you can connect with me on social media at Pretty Private Podcasts
Speaker 1: Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebine, a space where no question is off limits and storylines become lifelines. The views shared by our guests are meant to inform, entertain and empower. From the laughs to the lessons. Just remember tough times don't last, but professional home girls do enjoy the show.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: What's up y'all? Ishagara Ebine here and I hope all is cute. Welcome back to Pretty Private with Ebina, where storylines become lifelines. Today's conversation is all about healing, self discovery, and what happens when we finally take the time to reconnect with ourselves. My guest today is Reiki Master teacher Giselle Ravello, who turned her own experiences with depression, anxiety, and emotional challenges into a journey of helping others heal. In this conversation, we're talking about growing up in a Dominican household, navigating mental health, and communities where those conversations weren't always easy to have her introduction to reiki, where reky actually is and so much more so. Whether you're someone who's curious about reiki, someone on your own healing journey, or someone who has ever felt disconnected from yourself. This conversation is for you and it is such a treat. So get ready because this week's conversation starts now. Oh my god, y'all. I am super excited to have my guests on the show. I was just cracking jokes with her earlier off the air, saying that it's been a thousand years in the making, because I know I always tell the story when we have a conversation when we talk to other people. But I was trying to get her on the show, y'all, maybe, like was it like three five years ago? I sent her an email and I was like, hey, I'd love to have you on the show. And she never got the email. And here I am thinking, like, damn, she dubbed me. But Gazelle, thank you so much. How are you doing, how are you feeling.
00:01:54
Speaker 3: I'm brave you have any Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here with you and this relationship that we've been cultivating was going to leave us thing.
00:02:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got me feeling like a little stock of boyfriend child. Well, we did an event together. I remember if y'all remember, I did a little ad for our event.
00:02:14
Speaker 3: Uh.
00:02:15
Speaker 2: She is the owner and found it up so center and it is so nice in there, y'all. Like as soon as I got in there, I felt like I was so relaxed, I wanted to take a nap. Like it was just so serene. Like do people tell you that all the time.
00:02:27
Speaker 3: All the time, that that's the intention as soon as people walking with door, just to calm that nervous system and relax. Yeah.
00:02:34
Speaker 2: Yeah. So for people who are me and you for the first time, can you introduce yourself and share a little bit about your background.
00:02:41
Speaker 3: Absolutely, so, let's see how far back do the wrong?
00:02:45
Speaker 2: Well, I got some questions. I did my research on you, so give ussis.
00:02:51
Speaker 3: Okay, Well, I'm I'm a Native worker.
00:02:54
Speaker 4: Come on, I got the Nicks jersey and I ward just for you.
00:02:58
Speaker 3: Five maxim five baby. So yeah, I was born and raising brons and had a you know, the difficult upbringing like many first generation folks, you know, getting to a whole other culture and you know, I'm Caribbean from the Negro Republic, and so all of that was in my body in terms of stress and tension and all types of mental health issues that developed along the way. And so that inspired me to start my own own healing injury. And from there I learned so much and I and I healed so much that I wanted to share what I what I learned about the mind, the body, and the soul working together. Uh. And I became a practier and so I do energy healing, life coaching. I'm a meditation teacher. And as things progressed and I worked with one more people, I wanted to have my own home, and so I wanted that right in the center of the city where I can access all the beautiful people. And that came together, and that became Upsole and so you know, been since since like the end of the pandemic, we opened up and placed such an incaribortrary. Yeah.
00:04:18
Speaker 2: No, it's really nice there, y'all. We're gonna I'm gonna share the address and the location and stuff. But it's a really beautiful place. But when I was doing my researcher and you you shared that you grew up experiencing chronic depression. So at what age did you remember first realizing that something you were feeling wasn't just a bad day, but something deeper.
00:04:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, pretty early on, I remember, as far back as about eight nine years old going through these chronic states of sadness and losing my motivation and struggling to well get out of bed. So that that started pretty early, how would you say, Yeah, about eight or nine years old. Oh, it's pretty early on.
00:05:00
Speaker 2: Do you remember what was causing it?
00:05:03
Speaker 3: Well, you know, it's a combination of things. You know, my environment for sure, the stress as being first generation and be the eldest daughter joke, you know, and that you know, coming from an immigrant family where they were like trying to figure out how to exist, you know, in this part of the world, not knowing the language, and so all this pressure around having to figure it out for the family.
00:05:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, and.
00:05:35
Speaker 3: You know the environment as well. You know, the time that I grew up, the Bronx was really really rough. There was a lot going on in terms of you know, the disparity of all the things and so a lot of devastation in the Bronx. And I was I recognized that I was a very sensitive person. It was very sensitive child, and so I was picking up all the energy around me, all of that, you know, angst and anger and sadness, and you know where people were at at that time, you know, they was struggling. Everybody around it was.
00:06:09
Speaker 2: Struggling facts facts.
00:06:12
Speaker 1: You know.
00:06:12
Speaker 2: We spoke about that briefly, about like you being able to like feel certain things and you seeing things when you was a kid. And I'm just curious, you know, coming from a Dominican background, like did they did your family ever talk about mental health or like, like what was the conversation around there or was it just it is what it is, keep it moving.
00:06:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, not at all, Like that was when taboo growing up. Yeah, you know, people, if you if you were going through a depressive state, that's something you kept to yourself. And you know, I think like many of us, you know, people of color, like, you know, you shake it off, keep it going, caving, you know, there was no time for that. We were in a survival moment. Yeah, and so that was not a conversation whatsoever.
00:06:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, we really went through it, like because anyone up here, you you talking. I was born in New York but raised in Memphis, so I had the best of both worlds. But even as a kid, like I was just taught how to show face. Like we really wasn't encouraged to like express our feelings. Like I didn't even know what my feeling was if I wasn't happy or sad, like there was no in between world.
00:07:14
Speaker 3: It took me a long time when I started therapy. Yeah, best, when I started to like identify different emotions, I couldn't tell you where I was at and what I was feeling. Yeah, I had two molds. Either I was okay or I was not right. And even that way, you know, you couldn't have really expressed air like that, and so it like I literally had to go through and study on an emotional chart to understand the different emotions were and talk back to me within my therapist.
00:07:47
Speaker 2: Yes, and I did that when I was growing up exactly.
00:07:53
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:07:54
Speaker 2: Wow, So at what point did your depression began to develop into anxiety and how did that impact your everyday life? And how old were you?
00:08:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, the anxiety started to show up in my teenage years, so I couldn't I didn't identify it right away. I just thought, well, I have these episodes and I can't really explain why. And so what how that was showing up was with panic attacks. I would just spontaneously have these padic attacks that were both physical, like all these physical symptoms and I would just like shut down and what I what I know of it now is that my nervous system was so dysregulated that my body was going to complete overwhelm and felt like I was dying. That's the best way I could explain it. It felt that, you know, my heart was going to come out of my chest. I couldn't breathe, and I started to go to you know, the doctor sometimes sort of end up in the emergency room, and no one could really explain what was going on inside of me. Then I started to get terrible migraines. And so throughout my teenage read these episod episodes would come, come and go, and then I started to have anxiety about having anxiety because I would anticipate that that this these episodes would come on, and it took a long time to get diagnosed.
00:09:15
Speaker 2: What was your family saying?
00:09:21
Speaker 3: You know, I think my mother she suffered in silence. She didn't you know, she didn't know how to talk about it with me. She didn't know what to say about it. She didn't understand what was happening. Yeah, doctor was at the time, we're giving us answers, and so she prayed on it. That that's the way that she coked, is that she prayed and prayed over me, and she would just kind of wish it away and wasn't really like dealt with hands on. She didn't she didn't know how to deal with it.
00:09:52
Speaker 2: So, and I'm not even trying to be funny when I asked this question, but did anybody if I think he was possessed? Because I know I was speaking to somebody else from a any and background and they were saying how like their grandma used to think they was possessed. She used to pray the spirit out of them and stuff. And I know we spoke briefly about that in person at our event. So did anybody think that about you?
00:10:12
Speaker 3: No? Not, not with what I was going through. But there were other incidents and where like things were strange in terms of like me being an EmPATH and needing intuitive Yeah, that I would pick up on certain energies as a kid, and I would describe these things to my mother and she was like, girl, there was a found for sure. I think a lot of people, all these Caribbean folks, like you know, we talk about dreams, we talk about spirits, we talk about bad juju and that sort of thing. But you know, when you get too descriptive that's when people kind of shut down. Okay, we will talk.
00:10:53
Speaker 2: Just pray somewhere right, Yeah, wait a much your grandma, but your grandma around, Yes, and no.
00:11:03
Speaker 3: I do have I do have a grandmother who was my mother's step mom, but she's most of my family is the Dominican Republic. Okay, And so unfortunately I didn't grow up with with my you know, my my family and my extended family that my mother's family with me. Yeah, but we traveled back and forth a lot in my childhood. Yeah.
00:11:25
Speaker 2: So, how did your journey with depression and anxiety leads you towards like spirituality, stuff, discovery and healing? Like, what was a turning point? Well, I think that Listen, I did waited five years do this interview.
00:11:41
Speaker 3: It it begins, I would say, it begins with my mother because my mother is a very spiritual person. Now, we grew up in a you know, the Catholic religion. My family's Christian. However, my mother always, since early early on, she encouraged me to have a relationship with the Creator and that meant for us praying, lighting candles, always seeking that guidance, going within to have that conversation. She always encouraged me to like talk and have that relationship and listen internally. And so I grew up with that foundation. But as a child that was always curious about all the existential questions, it's just within me. So I ended up studying different religions because I within my own religion at the time, I wasn't satisfied with the answers I was getting. And so I think that's one of the advantages of living and growing up in New York City where you have so much cultures, different peoples and people and cultures, right, And so I had friends that were different backgrounds and I would literally ask them like, Hey, could I go with you to your thing? And what over that? And then you know, And so I did have exposure to all these different paths and I got highly interested. So no one really taught me to go that way. It was just like an aid in me and I became this whole discovery. The other thing that was really interesting that when when I do I wasn't getting answers in that in the healthcare environment, I had this intuition. I kept praying on it and asking for guidance and asking for help. What can I do to help myself because I wasn't getting the help that I needed. And I got this one clear answer was a voice that I heard in my head say go back to your roots, go back to the earth. That was the answer to start really healing. And I took that as let me go back to my culture, and let me go back to the natural medicine of my culture and start to work with that. And so the first thing that I did was started to work with the RBS and started to make and my mother was very big on that. She like the medicine cabinet is in the kitchen. She always made her own her own medicine, and that's what she learned from her grandmother. And so we started to talk about that. We started to put these teas together in tinctures and all these things, and even even solves, and started to make our own medicine and more focused on the symptoms that I had. That led me to the next part of it was starting to meditate, because I started I think I picked up book somewhere along the line that said and meditation was really good for depression. And so I started to study. I started taking classes, and back then it was like really underground.
00:15:02
Speaker 2: It's like you really have to sit down, where to go, what to do, because it was very hush hush, hush hush.
00:15:08
Speaker 3: You know, it's like you need somebody to put you onto something. And it gradually kind of unfooled, and one thing would lead me to the next, and whether I was talking to you to someone who was going through similar things, or how some kind of knowledge picking up the books and reading doing my own research, and this form natural medicine path for me really started to come together of looking at things holistically, how everything is connected, and that, you know, just kept unfolding.
00:15:47
Speaker 2: What's up, y'all. It's Shagar eb and A here, and be sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Pretty Private podcast and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel at the Professional Homegirl. Now let's get back to the show. When you talk about the voice you heard, do you believe it was God?
00:16:05
Speaker 3: I believe?
00:16:06
Speaker 2: So yeah. What did it sound like to you? Because I heard Guy's voice before once too, and for me, it's kind of so calm. He was very like it was soft, but it was clear.
00:16:18
Speaker 3: Yes, And that's usually how it comes to me for people. Whether you know people have different language to describe that, but for me, I call it creator. It was. It wasn't a male voice. It was soft. It felt like Louise kind of feels like it's back here.
00:16:36
Speaker 2: Soon, yeah, like right here.
00:16:38
Speaker 3: Coming from like from this way. Yeah. And it's a soft, calming, grounding voice. And it felt very soothing. It felt very loving, almost almost like a what I would imagine like a really sweet grandfather with fear, Like, yeah, my grandfather wasn't sweet. I mean he was amaze.
00:17:02
Speaker 2: I ain't gonna lie. I feel like when I did hear the voice, like it was calm, but I feel like he was also like low key ignored with me because I've been praying for something. Well, I shared this story I was praying for to get with on my network for Black Effects, and I was praying this prayer every day. I was like, please, God, Please, I know I can get on him, and he already showed me that it was gonna happen, but I'm like, when is it going to happen? And so how I got on the network. They posted something on Instagram saying, hey, looking for our next podcast who should be? And that was the first thing I opened up. When I opened up the app That's the first thing I saw. I really heard.
00:17:34
Speaker 4: God said here, girl, here, child, like huh, this is your time. Like if you miss this, this is it.
00:17:39
Speaker 2: And you know the way I responded and I moved so quickly, and then it's like everything else was history.
00:17:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, and see that was a safe in this city, the fact that you had this intuition to open up the apps right at that tide and the first thing that you see is what you meant to see. Yeah, and that's what happens.
00:18:00
Speaker 2: So what was your first moment or experience that introduced you to riky Mmm.
00:18:06
Speaker 3: So, as I was taking those meditation classes, I came across a healer who was visiting from Japan. So reiki healing has its origins in Japan, That's where it comes from. And so up and nice to me. I was taking this six week course with her, and this type of meditation that she was offering was really different from anything else I had done, and she was calling it a healing meditation. I didn't know what, you know, I didn't even know what that meant. And just called to me. And I was sitting in that class and just following her along. And girl, I was breaking down in a way that I never had anywhere else, especially in public, because you know, we're taught to hold.
00:18:53
Speaker 4: It back, right, like don't right.
00:18:59
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm probably sobbing in these classes and the whole what is going on?
00:19:03
Speaker 2: I couldn't know what she's saying, like, like, what trigger you to to respond that way?
00:19:08
Speaker 3: You know, it wasn't It wasn't even the language. It was. It was the energy she was it was a waky meditation, but she never said reiki. She just said healing meditation. And so the energy itself, as it was working through me, it was helping me clear out. That's part of the function of reiki healing, and so I'm clearing out. But I didn't know what was happening. So I just kept crying. And about three weeks in or so, I kept that. I was, you know, I just couldn't stop crying. So she came close to me at one point, and she's a girl. She said, you you really suffering. She said, I really want to talk to you. After pause, stay blind, and so I did, and the conversation was very simple. She said, you know I can I can help you. I can feel what you're going through when I can help you, would you want to meet with me privately? And didn't explain anything at all. It just felt right, another thing for nicity. It was like my heart just kind of warmed up and I got a good feeling about it. I said yes. I just said yes. I didn't know what I was signing up for, and we, you know, schedule the appointment and I show up a few days later, and all she said was we walked. I walked into a room that had a massage table, a chair, and a little desk and she said, okay, you know, remove your jacket and pitch your back down. You don't have to take your clothes off. She said, lie down on the tape. I said, okay. It was so mysterious and so interesting. No, it felt it just felt right. Her presence was very calming to me.
00:21:03
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
00:21:04
Speaker 3: So I lead I laid out on the table and she said, take a few deep breaths, and she puts her hands on my head. Girl. I don't know what happened where I went to. I was in another universe. I just I closed my eyes. I took those brass and it was like going going through anesthesia. I don't remember what happened. Wow, But I know I woke up and I felt different and she and she's like she's woke. She kind of tapped my shirs and she said she's home. I'm telling and I look up at her. She was like an angel to me.
00:21:45
Speaker 4: Wow.
00:21:47
Speaker 3: I just glow about her and I was like, what happened? What? What am I? I was a little disoriented, so I had to take one time coming back up, which is how are you feeling? I said, I don't know, it's just and she gave me some instructures. She said, Okay, you're gonna be healing for the next couple of days, drink a lot of water, and I'll see you next week same time. So what I was girl, it was the most just mysterious, Like I can't even put it into work. It was just incredible. I walked outside and I swear that you ever made the world look different to me and look alive in a way that I hadn't felt. I felt lighter. It was like the trees were talking to me, the sky was talking to me. Everything felt like harmonious, and everything was brighter and colors were popping out. I felt a little trippy, to be honest, what is this? You know? And that and that kind of feeling wears off and you start to brown in and you but I just knew that something had change and I couldn't explain what, but it felt I felt different. Yeah, yes, that that was the answer to that. I worked with her. She was here for the summer, so I worked with her throughout and every session I felt lighter and lighter. At that point, I was experiencing anxiety, anxiety attacks and paddic attacks, uh, pretty much on a daily basis. Like it was debilitating. Bro. I could not functioning though I was very high functioning and people couldn't tell. But that meant like me breaking down, like I was at work and I'm starting my career and I love that, bro, like crying in the bathroom.
00:23:53
Speaker 2: Or did you want to.
00:23:56
Speaker 3: Yeah? I did take you know, I you know once uh, once I did get diagnosed, which by the way, it took a woman to do so. And then I learned that election are not heard by healthcare providers, right, and what that means for us also is winmen of color. Yeah, facts, And so it took another woman finally to say, hey, you know, this is what's going on with you? You have chronic anxiety, and I want you to work with psychiatrists to get this properly diagnosed and get you on medication to give you relief. And that was also another woman who really sat with me and took her time to understand what I was going through and what my background was. And so yeah, I worked with Raiki healer for that time, and it gave me the belief that the medication did not, that talk therapy did not in terms of all the physical sense domis that I was feeling, Wow.
00:25:04
Speaker 4: That what a story. You got my mind like racing right now.
00:25:11
Speaker 2: Okay, so when did you realize that you wanted to do this? That's something as a full time your career.
00:25:18
Speaker 3: So after going through that summer and I pretty much healed the anxiety. So what reiki also helps people do is to regulate their nervous system. And I spend so much time educating folks on that is, you know, if you're experiencing anxiety at any level, we need to work on your nervous system. Now we have all this language for it, yeah, and understanding. And so that gave me, you know, I was able to establish a baseline for functioning as a person and so that inspired me because I was feeling so much better because we try to unpack the depression start working on life trauma, and that's like a combination of things. Wicky was one of them. I started to work with a different therapist that was more focused on what I needed in terms of trauma. I started to do research like my own kind of other energy healing techniques. It was a combination of many events, lacky. Because of the experience, it always stayed with me. Yeah, and it took it took a few years for me to build up the courage to want to study it because I didn't. Honestly, at the time, I didn't think myself worthy. I was like, you know, who am I to take this class? Who am I to like? You know what? What would I do with this? But I had such curiosity about how energy healing worked. It kept nagging at me. It kept coming back up and prayer as well meditation, it kept coming back around. I would hear the word of Aki, I would get this feeling of this is something that I really need to do. And so it's like it found you. In fact, it was. It's a call it for sure to call it because it's not it's still not that. Even though it's a lot more people know about it, it's not yet fully mainstream where we're getting there. And so but at the time that I studied, it was not a thing, and so I really had to do a lot of research in terms of what it meant to train and boots train with, what the origins of it, and and I and I gig out when I really like something, I really will.
00:27:45
Speaker 4: Deep Yeah me too, I can't.
00:27:47
Speaker 3: That's that's the well my cancer vertical makes.
00:27:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you got that?
00:27:53
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah right, so oh go ahead, no, so yeah, So that it took a while, but it unfolded and I finally got to it.
00:28:04
Speaker 3: And when I and when I took that trading, I felt I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Yeah, oh, absolutely right.
00:28:13
Speaker 2: You know, when you share your story, like, I definitely believe you, but like you said, you know, reiki is not mainstream yet. So when you share your story with others, like, do you still come across people who are kind of like skeptical of it?
00:28:23
Speaker 3: Yes, all the time. Yeah, And I love having those conversations. That doesn't bother me at all because I think it's I think a healthy amount of stopticism is good, especially nowadays where we're bombarded by so much information. I think it's good. It's a great thing to question things. But it open minded skepticism, you know. And so but I find those closed minded as well. People that's near what I do or are. It brings up fear in them, Yeah, because of you know, other things that they've experienced or heard about. And so you know, like when when people say spiritual healing, yes, that's like kind of right.
00:29:05
Speaker 4: No, they don't like that, Chad, right right, they think it's a devil Chad, So you gotta.
00:29:10
Speaker 3: Be Ki exactly. It's like, I don't know what this is and I want a part of it, you know. So absolutely got still out there.
00:29:17
Speaker 2: Yeah. So for someone who was hearing with Rake for to hear about Reki for the first time, how would you explain it?
00:29:24
Speaker 3: Yeah? I approach it from a wellness standpoint. It is really as it's a spirit sorry, the origin of it is spiritual healing. But what we say spiritual, we also mean energetic, and so I approach it from this holistic standpoint. It's it's a holistic practice to help your mind, body, and soul heal. And so it can be used in several you know, for pretty much any condition. And so the idea is that receiving this type of healing, you can clear, heel and restore yourself. And so we're helping you and your body restore itself. When we have stress, stress creates tension in the body. Fact I do think is really really tight, and stress energetically is ecstatic in your body. So you have all this kind of staticky energy. Your everything is tight. That's starts to create pain, also aches, and all sorts of disruptions in the body. And so when you receive this through touch, and we also can work at a distance, but when we set that intention for a healing environment, you start to receive this touch, which is already healing to us as human beings. When we touch, we start to feel calmer. Yeah, And with the healing energy, your body starts to absorb that and so select go of the stress. It starts to melt that away and the tension and the seks and your body also continues to absorb it all the way down into the cellary level, so that you are literally refreshing and re energizing your entire body. That starts to create just all the wonderful things that we're looking for. And I say, like, you know, we we wait until we go on vacation to feel like we're restored and be charged. Right, we've been taking it. We're so overwhelmed and so overworked that taking a day off doesn't feel like enough for people.
00:31:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I've been overstimulating since Nick's wanted.
00:31:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's been you know a lot of joy and excitement, and everyone's been talking about that, how the city feels so alive right now. Fact, we've been so kind to each other, and you know.
00:31:57
Speaker 4: It's been a beautiful thing to witness. I'm not gonna lie, sure, Yeah.
00:32:02
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm I'm what they call a bandwagon fan. I'll be honest, Like, I don't follow sports and I don't followday. You know, I hear about you in New Yorker, but I'm in New Yorker.
00:32:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, same, But I feel like, you know, energy is real. Like so I even went to the parade, and then right after the parade, I went to work, and then I had to record and then you know, we were trying to record this for a while, but the schedules were in like alignment and I'm just like, who like I am on ten, Like I go to sleep on ten, I wake up on ten. I said, I gotta get off this high because I feel it like it's a lot.
00:32:40
Speaker 3: Well, you gotta you gotta get to some taple girl. We got to schedule of the session.
00:32:44
Speaker 2: You know what's so crazy? I am going to schedule a session with you because I've been wanting to doriky with someone for so long. But I'm also really big on who I allow in my space, especially when there's something intimate like that. And obviously me and you have been in each other's spaces before and it's been a very like common experience between us two. But I'm also curious, like how do you protect yourself because I feel like, is it at times? Does again depleting for you?
00:33:10
Speaker 3: You know, that's a question people ask, especially when they when they're they themselves are sensitive, They're like, are you okay? Are you gonna be okay? Yeah? Absolutely, That's what that's what the training is for. So we are not using our own energy as healers, we learn to channel energy, and so that's where it's just to get really really interesting in terms of the esoteric part of it. The metaphysical part. But we're trying to ling the energy and that's what we're sharing with other people. So my energy does not get depleted. In fact, I'm also receiving healing as I'm as I'm conducting a healing for someone else. Yes, think about reiki. It's there's that reciprocity to it. And also, but you know, like anything else, you get physically tired short. So I do have a limit in terms of how many people I can work with and you know, in a day for example. Yeah, but yeah, but I I'm just as peaceful and feeling wonderful as as my client's ale when they're on the table.
00:34:21
Speaker 2: And what's your routine, like, like do you do? I'm pretty sure you prepare before you have someone come into your space and you start the session, right.
00:34:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, be a healer full time also requires you know, a lot of self care. Yeah, so you know, I've had to create a routine for myself that works for my body and you know what it needs. And so I wake up in the morning, I mean I you know, I exercise, I meditate, I journal, I have support, you know, I have my mentors that I work with on a consistent basis, you know, make sure I'm eating right, I have enough rest. Yeah. But when I start my day, you know, I'm in prayer, I'm in a meditative space. I work with the energy of the space I'm working with, and you know, there's other things along the way to make sure that I'm clear and I'm centered and I'm grounded. Yeah.
00:35:27
Speaker 2: Out, and then when someone comes into your space, like what walk us through a session?
00:35:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, So my sessions are seventy five minutes long and the reason why. Typically a Riaky session is about an hour long. So we sit and we talk about what their intention is and making to support and so most of the people have been to see me are dealing with mental health concerns and so they're anxious, they're depressed, they have trauma much like what I experienced. Also other things like relational stuff, whether you know they're going through a breakup, having issues in their family life, having issues with their with their partner. People are you know, going through different stages in their relationships, having issues with their boss or their coworkers. Money that is money, Yeah, you know, that's not a common one for me, but it does come up. And where people are stressed about their finances, trying to moves, and it's really more about like the transition of things. Even people who are setting out with you know that have big goals and ambitions, they're like stressed about making those those changes in their life or going for that thing or you know. So I would say I've work more with transitional you know stages, people who you know, letting go of one thing, grieving that, moving into something new, working with uncertainty. Yeah. I work with a lot of high performing people for the most part, and so these are people who are on their a game and also the people that support those people. So that's kind of the range for me where and also like parents, like you know, I work with single parents. I work with parents who are trying to downce loll out. Yeah, charge everything to everyone. You know.
00:37:46
Speaker 2: What I like about riki and what you explain it. I feel like you can also use this along with talk therapy, along with meditation, along with other wellness and mindfulness things. But I also feel like one of the biggest misconceptions that people feel like you can't combine reiki with other things.
00:38:02
Speaker 3: I think that's the perfect combination. And so my superpower is really helping people understand their emotion because that's a lot of the work that I had to do. Yeah, a deeply sensitive emotional person. And what people find, at least my clients that as they're going from talk therapy in that journey, they don't really have the space to process their emotion. They tend to be very heady people as it is. Yeah, so they're talking things through and that is so helpful, and that's one part of it. Of the healing process is definitely acknowledging and becoming aware of your thoughts and your beliefs and breaking that down and learning new skills like how you communicating and setting boundaries and those types of things. But they don't they still feel all of that in their body. I can't shake the feeling that I have, the heaviness that.
00:39:03
Speaker 4: I have, and it can feel it.
00:39:05
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:39:07
Speaker 3: You know a lot of people point here, like my chest or oh my gut, it's tight. It's like whenever I talk about this, it's like, you got this heavy feeling. And that's when they start to understand, Oh, I need to get in my body. I need to fly into practice. That helps when you get into my body. Yeah, and that's where reiki comes in. And so the combination of talk therapy and doing reiki is the perfect parent because as you're processing mentally, you also get into the body, they also start to access those emotions.
00:39:42
Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, another misconception that we spoke about earlier is that people feel like, you know, this is like woo woo, like this is like a part of like, you know, dark forces and stuff. So what do you say to people who grew up or who were taught that spiritual press outside of religion was something to fear.
00:40:04
Speaker 3: Depending on who I'm talking to, But for us, I like to point out that none of this is new. Yeah, we have all this wonderful ancestral medicine that we have lost access to, which line to regain? And so you know, even though Riki's origins are in Japan, the idea of energy healing is as old as people. Yeah, so in so many traditions. When you start to look at you know, indigenous people, you know, in their indigenous environment, they all had a version of energy healing. And so for us looking at the practices from Africa, right and for us specifically like West Afla though, and so when I started to really look at that and go, wait a minute, it was all it's all there, like, this is how our ancestors healed, energy, healing, working with plants, you know, meditating, what your nature, working with water, like all the elements. Right, it's all there. But that was information that I didn't have. We have, we have little pieces of it that have been preserved that you hear about, like just like a fraction of it within our cultures, and so that becomes really empowering for us. Like it was, all of this was demonized, and we know the reasons why they wanted to take us away from our own nature. They wanted to take us away from our truth, from our lineage, from you know, all the things that that make you know, that that make us who we are, and so all of that was demonized so that we can feel disempowered, so that we can be controlled.
00:42:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, control, you.
00:42:04
Speaker 3: Know, And that's that's what we're going on generationally. So all of this for me has been a reclamation of who I am and where I come from. And I think that that is something that we all need to do when we're ready for it, when we get there, of reclaiming who we are, that is to me a birthright facts.
00:42:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ja, I think you're so dope. You know, as I'm getting to know more about you and here it listen to your story. I really do feel like what you went through as a child and until your teenager years really help prepare you to who you are today. Like, do you ever look back and just become appreciative and thankful for all those hard times?
00:42:48
Speaker 3: But we know we've talked about gratitude, Yeah, gratitude just everything. I mean. Of course, while you're going through life, you don't necessarily see how the peace is connected, yeah, and where it's all leading you to facts. Now, Look, you know, when I do look back, I realize that everything absolutely happened for a reason, and it was shaping me to become the person that I was meant to be, to be on my path. There was a time where I didn't feel that I was on my path. I was more in my ego and my wounded ego and my wounded ego believing in a version of myself that I thought I needed to be. And when I started to really listen to myself and listen to that guidance, that's where I feel I course corrected and got on the path that was set out for me. That I think by fate or by destiny, however you want to say it. Yeah, I don't believe we'll all come in with a plan on a soul level, become with a mission and we're meant to understand and that and allow that to unphone and show ups and so Yeah, when I look back and go, yeah, every stop, even to that point where my life was, it could have gone a different way. Yeah, I was like fons roads it worked out. I make the right choice. I believe, Yes, where I am today?
00:44:22
Speaker 2: And how does it feel for you? Like how do you know you're on the right path? Because I always say like even though I get frustrated at times because I know what's to come, but I think it's more so like I'm questioning, like when it's going to happen. But I do know for a fact, Like I know I'm on the right path because it feels good, Like this doesn't feel like I'm working, you know what I'm saying, Like this is my passion. I love talking to people. So for you, what does it feel like for you? And do you ever get frustrated with this? Like where are your goals for the next couple of years?
00:44:50
Speaker 3: I think it's very human of us to get frustrated even though we're on our right path. But exactly what you said, when you're on your your right path, it feels easier in terms of the decision is clear, things align facts, you know, where there's there's little to no resistance, or you don't feel like you're forcing anything, opportunities show up. I think where we start to get frustrated is in the timing of it all. Fact, we think we're on our timing, but we're really on the divine's time, like work out, you know, like the stages of processes, and we're like hurry up, like I already know the answer and I'm trying to.
00:45:39
Speaker 2: Get there right right, right right.
00:45:41
Speaker 3: But it's we have to we have to learn patience and and have toe that. I think that that's part of our of our evolution personal development of like continuously understanding what patients is. Yeah. Yeah, So of course I get frustrated. I'm you know, I get I gets stressed. I go through all the human the range of human emotion and experiences, both professionally and personally. But what makes it different now with my life is that I have so many tools and tools that I put into practice to help me along. Yeah, that's the major difference. For a while, I was I consider myself pretty like resourceful, but I didn't always put those resources to use. Once I did and I became consistent with it, that's when things change and I'm like, oh, this stuff really works.
00:46:43
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, can you do on yourself?
00:46:47
Speaker 1: Yes?
00:46:48
Speaker 3: Nice part of my practice. Absolutely.
00:46:52
Speaker 2: Do you still keep in contact with the woman who did it on you your first time?
00:46:56
Speaker 3: No? She she came and went, she served her propose. Wow, but now I'm connected to Uh. The organization that I'm with is an international organization because Lineage for Reiki works that way, and where you you connect with the lineage and those people become your teachers and maventuriers, and so I have all this wonderful support in my life.
00:47:22
Speaker 2: Dang, I wanted I want you to see each other. I can only imagine her reaction.
00:47:28
Speaker 3: Well, I did write to her at one point. I think. I think it was around the time that that I studied, that I began to study, and I wrote her this beautiful letter letting her know my my gratitude and appreciation for help helping me to connect with this practice and also everything that hasn't folded since I last saw her, so I know she did receive it, but we lost touch.
00:47:54
Speaker 2: So what would you say to someone who is struggling silently with depression, anxiety, or feeling disconnected from themselves.
00:48:03
Speaker 3: I would say, begin with support. It's important to get out of your own head and so whatever that looks like. And I know people have different means and different resources, but I know I carried a lot of shame around what I was struggling with. And when I finally got around to speaking to someone about it who was willing to listen and care for me, yeah, that's when everything changed and I started to make better choices for myself. I think that's the first step. Is anyone around you that you trust, that you care, that you know cares for you, that is willing to sit and listen without judgment. Tell that person how you're feeling, and also view people worry about, like being overwhelming to other people. Yeah, not being a burden and and again carrying that shame or that guilt. But you have to get out of your own head. Begin with that conversation. If you're able to seek out therapy, talk, therapy, psychotherapy, whatever, whatever. So many different modalities in that practice. Start there, Start there, And of course I would say, you know, getting in your body is equally important as talking about it. So once once you give yourself permission to start to to speak out loud the things that you're you're thinking and feeling. After after getting comfortable there, then start to find a practice where you can get in your body. So yiki is a wonderful way to do that, like I said, and it's and it's very beginner friendly. Who want to say it that way because it doesn't require you to do anything except show up. Yeah, Like you make an appointment and we allow the healer to guide you, and all you have to do is lie down on the table, Yeah, and breathe. That's it. You know, it doesn't require anything else, and you're going to feel so so much better. The third thing what I just had is breathing. Learning how to breathe intentionally, mindfully. Deep breathing helps you to start to clear out energy facts. And I realized that when I started to vanitate that I didn't know how to breathe. I was breathing from my chest. It was very shallow because I was so tight and I was holding on to everything with my body. When I learned that correct breathing actually it comes from the diaphect mm, I was like, wait a minute, I don't know. I don't I don't know what it's like to take a deep breath and bring it all the way down to my belly. Had no idea what that felt like. And so I started to practice now bringing my breath all the way down and it and it felt literally like I was like working through mud and you know, getting deeper and deeper and sifting through the mud. And I finally when I took that first belly breath, girl, it was it was like I saw have it. Wow, it was my body. I had this really interesting sensation of my body feeling like like like a like a like a damn that had opened up. I felt this rush of energy and it was so euphoric that I again it's hard to put into words these these uh experiences, but I literally felt like I was in heaven.
00:52:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm so I got to come get a session, man, I am so. I am ready to release and cry. Ys we need a long Yeah, yes, you know, I got one more question. And I'm just curious because I wonder how becoming a reiki master improve your relationship with your mom. And the reason why I ask is because you know, I feel like a lot of times when we go through so much stuff and we don't feel like we have anybody to talk to this because we don't have trust with it with our parents. So like, how did that improve your relationship with her? Because I can only imagine her being proud of you and all things that you accomplish.
00:52:46
Speaker 6: And everything changed, yeah, of our time going on, especially my teenage years, and so my ability to heal and soften.
00:53:01
Speaker 3: Because I was really hard in terms of, you know, holding on to everything and also protecting myself from pretty much to every relationship I was I was in so being able to be more vulnerable, learning to communicate better, feeling safer in my body, feeling safer in life extended the bridge for me to be able to start to heal with my mother and other relationships in my life that included my father because I didn't grow up with my father, and so New York he was for a time and then he moved to Florida, HM and so we had a very very strange, tumultuous relationship where I only met my father a handful of times, and every time it felt really it was really painful. Yeah, And so I was able to start healing those relationships with my parents. I really focused on that because those are your primary relationships.
00:54:10
Speaker 2: And those are you know then yeah, every relationships you have a life.
00:54:16
Speaker 3: And so I really started to unpackt that. And so now we're in a my mother not in a great place. We are a wonderful, wonderful place, and in fact the places and didn't think we could ever get to when I was going on. And then my father's gone now, but I feel, yeah, we made peace. We made peace. I forgave him, forgiving him square many things, and we got to have some some good conversations, some adult conversations before his passing. Yeah, so I'm much more focus. Yeah.
00:54:51
Speaker 2: One of my favorite quotes is from Oprah War for You on forgiveness, and she said, you don't forgive people for for them, you forgive people for yourself. And then forgiveness is also letting go of what you thought the future, what the future would have been. I agree, and that has helped me so much for like, girl, just let it go.
00:55:15
Speaker 3: I mean, we have a whole the podcasts on that.
00:55:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh my gosh. I'm so happy that we were able to do this, y'all. I'm telling y'all, like, and how we reconnected was because I was at last year. We both were at Charlamagne's Mental Wealth Expo and I'm over here bending and stuff, and then she come over. I think he purchased a color book or we was talking about the color and books. And I never forget a name. I may forget a face, but I don't.
00:55:41
Speaker 3: Forget a name.
00:55:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I was like, wait, I know you. She was like what you mean? And I was like, I think I tried to get you in the show.
00:55:49
Speaker 2: And I went through the email.
00:55:50
Speaker 4: I showed her the email, y'all, and I was like, girl, now now we're here, you gotta come on the show.
00:55:56
Speaker 3: You plan to the seat all the all that time ago.
00:55:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, here we are in the making.
00:56:03
Speaker 2: So please thank you no saying this has been a beautiful conversation. I'm definitely gonna schedule my appointment. I'm gonna share my experience. Can I record my experience or is that too intrusive? I think it's intimated maybe parts of it, yeah, parts of it because I don't need knowing things.
00:56:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, but yeah, yeah for you. I want you to be totally relaxed and yeah, but not working.
00:56:25
Speaker 2: Not working, but I do believe that it is. Reiki is still taboo, so I definitely want to give glimpses. I ain't gonna give too much because y'as be nosy, but justlla, let everybody know where we can support you, where we can follow you, at your location.
00:56:40
Speaker 4: Everything.
00:56:41
Speaker 3: Thank you So up. Soul Center for Holistic Health and Wellness is located and Chelsea. It's on West twenty eighth Street.
00:56:52
Speaker 4: It's so y'all.
00:56:53
Speaker 3: Oh, I can't wait for y'all to come see it and experience it. There's so much peace and calm and love that's in this space. I'm offering reiki there. And also we have all these other amazing holistic practitioners from acupuncture, chiropractic work and solid therapy. We all have us on the sticker perch. That is really substant a part. But of course you guys can visit our website which is also sempster.
00:57:21
Speaker 2: Dot Yeah, and to the listeners if you have any questions, comments of concerns, so you want to say hey girl, hey, please email me at hello at the pshgpodcast dot com I know y'all really luck when we really love when we get in our woo woo bag. So I really enjoyed this conversation. And until next time. Everyone, Later you're gonna say, by yourself, hire y'all Pretty Private. It's a production of the Black Effect podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show, and you can connect with me on social media at Pretty Private Podcasts
