How Reiki Found Me

I did not grow up knowing what Reiki was. What I did know was that I had always been extremely sensitive to other people. I could pick up on moods quickly, sometimes before someone said anything. I could walk into a room and immediately know when something felt off. I would feel other people’s emotions, and at times even physical discomfort, as though it were my own. I have always been able to read people very well.

My mom has always said, “You always just knew things. I would ask you how, and you would just say, ‘I do not know. I just do.’” Looking back, I realize how often that happened. I did not have an explanation for what I was picking up on, and I certainly did not have the language for it.

Over time, I came to understand that I experience that sensitivity in a lot of different ways. I am a clairsentient and clairempath, and I also experience claircognizance, clairgustance, and clairalience. I also consider myself a seer. I did not have all of those words for it when I was younger. I simply knew that I picked up on a lot, and for a long time I did not really know what to do with it.

When you are someone who naturally picks up on other people’s emotions, problems, and energy, it can be difficult to know where other people end and you begin. I cared about people and wanted to help, but there is a difference between being there for someone and carrying everything they are carrying. Over time, I became completely burnt out. I was tired of managing everyone else’s problems and absorbing things that were not mine. I reached a point where I knew that something needed to change, but I did not know what that change was supposed to look like.

So I prayed. I did not have a complicated prayer. I simply asked to be guided. I asked for some direction because I knew I could not keep going the way I had been.

Not long after that, I happened to come across a Reiki teacher who was offering classes locally. I had heard the word Reiki before, but I honestly knew very little about it. Still, something about finding that class when I was in that particular place in my life made me pay attention. I decided to go, and that decision ended up changing a great deal for me.

Finding Reiki

Learning Reiki gave me a completely different way of understanding the sensitivity I had always experienced. It gave me somewhere to put it. More importantly, it taught me that being sensitive to other people did not mean that I had to absorb everything they were experiencing.

That was a major realization for me.

Reiki became something I could use for myself, not just something I could eventually offer to other people. I learned how to slow down, become more aware of what I was carrying, and create some separation between what belonged to me and what did not. I learned how to create some space instead of constantly taking everything in.

Before Reiki, I thought being sensitive meant learning how to handle everything I picked up from other people. Reiki helped me understand that I also needed to learn how to come back to myself.

The more I practiced, the more I understood why Reiki had found me when it did. I was not looking for Reiki. I was looking for a way forward, and Reiki happened to be one of the things that found me along the way.

Reiki and Being an Empath

I have been told many times that people feel better simply by being around me. I have always appreciated hearing that, but for a long time I did not really understand what it meant.

I think part of it comes from simply being someone who notices things. I notice changes in people’s moods. I notice when someone is not saying what they are actually feeling. I notice tension, discomfort, and the little things people sometimes do not realize they are showing. I can also feel emotions and physical sensations that I believe belong to other people, which is something I have had to learn how to manage over the years.

Being sensitive to those things can be a gift, but it can also be exhausting. I understand that personally.

I believe Reiki became another way for me to work with that sensitivity. It gave me a practice that was not just about noticing what someone else was carrying. It gave me a way to sit with someone, create a calm space, and work with energy intentionally.

That is very different from trying to fix someone. I do not believe it is my job to fix people, and I do not believe people need to be fixed. Sometimes someone simply needs a safe place to slow down, breathe, and be for a while.

The Intuitive Side of My Practice

My intuitive abilities are a big part of who I am, but I do not expect everyone to understand them in the same way I do. For me, intuition is not always dramatic or obvious. Sometimes it is a feeling. Sometimes I simply know something without knowing how I know it. Sometimes I pick up on an emotion that is not mine. Sometimes I get a smell, a taste, an image, or a strong sense about something.

I also want to be honest about the fact that being intuitive does not mean being infallible. I can be wrong. I do not believe having intuitive abilities makes someone all-knowing, and I certainly do not think it gives me the right to tell another person what they should do with their life.

My role is to listen, pay attention, and share what I notice. What someone does with that information is ultimately up to them.

Still Learning

Becoming a Reiki Master Teacher is something I am deeply grateful for, and it is a role I carry with a great deal of honor. To me, it is not simply a title or a badge that says I have reached the end of my training. If anything, it feels like the beginning of a deeper responsibility.

Being a Reiki Master Teacher means continuing to learn, continuing to practice, and continuing to work toward embodying the principles of Reiki in my own life. It means stepping into a lineage and having a responsibility to respect the teachings that were passed down to me while also sharing them with others in a thoughtful and genuine way.

It also means showing up. For my students, for the people I work with, and for my community. I do not believe that being a teacher means having all of the answers. I believe it means being willing to keep learning, to keep growing, and to be honest about what you know and what you are still figuring out.

I am always going to be learning about Reiki, intuition, myself, and the people who trust me enough to share their experiences with me. That is something I want to hold onto.

I am a practitioner, a teacher, and a student, and I will probably always be all three.

Why I Practice Reiki

I found Reiki at a point in my life when I was exhausted and needed direction. I did not go looking for it. I did not really know what it was. I simply happened to find a class at a time when I had asked to be guided, and I decided to follow that nudge.

I am very glad I did.

I believe Reiki has become an important part of how I take care of myself and how I work with others. I also believe that if you are someone who feels everything around you, absorbs other people’s emotions, or has always felt a little more sensitive than the people around you, learning Reiki for yourself can be incredibly valuable.

You do not have to become a practitioner, and you do not have to make Reiki your spiritual path. But I do believe every empath should at least have the opportunity to learn Reiki and experience what it can be like to have a practice that is just for them.

That is ultimately what Reiki gave me: a way to come back to myself.