Episode #75 Jay Jackson: From Crystal Healing Passion to Reiki Mastery – Exploring Energy Work, Authenticity, and Universal Compassion

What if you could harness the energy of the universe to bring peace, healing, and transformation into your life? Join us as we welcome the esteemed Reiki Master Teacher and healer, JV Jackson. Jay's journey is nothing short of awe-inspiring, spanning from his early passion for crystal healing and gem faceting to his profound experiences as a nurse and healer. Relocating to the tranquil Andes Mountains in Ecuador, Jay continues to practice and teach Reiki, drawing deeper connections with natural health and tranquility.

Jay takes us through his journey, shedding light on common misconceptions about Reiki and emphasizing the importance of authenticity and shining bright, even through dark times. We explore the qualities that make a great Reiki practitioner, such as intuition and flexibility, and offer practical advice for newcomers on self-practice and recognizing their unique contributions. Jay's insights are a treasure trove for anyone looking to grow personally and professionally within the Reiki community.

The conversation becomes even more fascinating as Jay delves into the intersection of Reiki and crystal healing. Hear about his studies with Laurel Shanti Gaia and the transformative energy of Vogel crystals. From remote sessions via Zoom to in-person trainings in Ecuador, Jay's experiences highlight the universal love and compassion that Reiki practitioners extend. We also navigate the delicate balance between expanding one's reach and maintaining the integrity of a spiritual mission, particularly in financially constrained regions. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the profound impact of Reiki on both personal well-being and professional growth.

Reiki Master Teacher, Holy Fire® III
Teaches Holy Fire® III Reiki
Current Classes

Website: www.Reiki-Healing-Arts.com
Phone: (801) 633-3545

Facilitating classes internationally virtually online.

Hi There! My name is Jay V. Jackson. I would like to welcome you on your Reiki journey. Reiki has been such an incredible and pivotal experience in my life. I love sharing Reiki with others and assisting people to find a loving and peaceful path that will enrich their lives.

I grew up in the remote Blue Mountains of East Central Oregon. As a child I loved to play with stones and would study them and meditate with them. In my teen years my parents started a gem faceting business, cutting precious gemstones. By my late teens, I became a Master Facetor. I found that if I would study a gemstone carefully and “listen” to the stone I would come up with a design that ended up becoming an incredible work of art. These stones became my teachers in learning about the metaphysical aspects to our life experience.

In the 1990’s I saw an ad for a Reiki Class. Immediately something in me clicked and I started to study everything I could about Reiki. In 2004 I became a Reiki Master/Teacher. The call of healing modalities kept calling me and in August of 2004 I completed the massage program at the Utah College of Massage Therapy.

As I continued to study Reiki, I was drawn to the International Center for Reiki Teaching. I was impressed with how the classes were organized, and with great resources being made available. As I studied I had the privilege of learning from incredible teachers such as Lisa StarAhna, Laurelle

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:22

This is Ready Set Reiki a podcast about Reiki, the universal energy life force, from the curious beginner to the seasoned master teacher, welcoming all systems, all lineages and all levels. Reiki is a journey and not a destination, and on this Ready Set Reiki journey, we refer to ourselves as guides rather than hosts, as we too are traveling, supporting each other and learning on this Reiki journey as well. And with that said, I am your first guide, tracy Seawright.

Speaker 3: 0:49

I am your second guide, Kim Cardiel-Early.

Speaker 2: 0:53

And today joining us on our journey is JV Jackson, so I have a lot of information here to share with you about J. So he has a passion for healing arts of Reiki. He loves sharing these beautiful energies with everyone he meets, especially his clients and students. As a licensed teacher at the International Center of Reiki Training, he has demonstrated his commitment to his Reiki journey and fostering the Reiki paths of others as well. In 2004, he became a Reiki Master Teacher. The call of healing modalities kept calling him and he completed a massage therapy program. Also, he became a registered nurse in 2011.

Speaker 2: 1:34

He is an Azui Holy Fire III Reiki Master Teacher and Corona Reiki Master Teacher. He continues to study Reiki, crystal healing, sound healing and sacred geometry. He loves facilitating class on these subjects whenever he can, and he has had the privilege of studying crystal healing with Laurel Gaia in Sedona, arizona, to further his studies in Vogel Crystal Healing. He currently lives in the beautiful Andes Mountains of Ecuador where he teaches Reiki classes remotely and offers Reiki crystal healing classes and offers remote Reiki session too. He loves to be a facilitator of healing and enjoys seeing enlightenment spark through others as he also gains forever new sights. Jay, welcome to Ready Set Reiki.

Speaker 4: 2:25

Thank you so much, both of you. It's wonderful to be here.

Speaker 2: 2:28

Wonderful. So we're going to start off with our first question. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Speaker 4: 2:35

Your introduction gave a lot of information, but I just have to say that you know, reiki has been such an important component in my life and it has helped me evolve as a person and transform me in many ways that I never ever expected. When I first was interested in learning about Reiki, I wanted to help other people and I didn't realize how much it was going to change me and help me because that was not not in my interest. But I also found that I had to change and transform in order to help other people. Um, so the journey has been absolutely beautiful and wonderful for me. It's not always easy because sometimes during that transformation process there comes some pain with it, but I have so much gratitude for the journey that I've been on Using it as Reiki as a nurse, I would use that.

Speaker 4: 3:36

I was an ICU nurse and I'm not your typical ICU nurse. Most ICU nurses are very a personality. They're task oriented, oriented. They're watching your thing. I'm much more more of a flower child, you might say, because you know I would spread love and sunshine, give reiki to everyone on my co-workers and my patients and being very empathic. That helped me to be able to be in that environment without just being crushed because of the some of the, you know, traumas and stuff that are involved in such a difficult healthcare setting, um.

Speaker 4: 4:15

So I've been, you know, working with reiki and teaching reiki, um, for many years, and so I finally got to a place where you know here just this you know that I decided it was time for me to do this more full time, and so that's what propelled me into moving to Ecuador, because I could afford to live there, was able to build a beautiful house, I was able to send lots of distance Reiki to my office there, and it's just, it's been a wonderful experience because it's able to be very tranquil, I live much more naturally healthier, the food's healthier, and so people kept saying oh Jay, you're so brave, you know how are you doing this, and, honestly, I was being propelled by Reiki. I was just being propelled by that journey, and so, like I said, I have lots of gratitude for the journey that I've been on.

Speaker 2: 5:18

Beautiful. So when did you would say, reiki come into your life? Did you find Reiki or did Reiki find you?

Speaker 4: 5:27

So that's a great question. I tell people that it was crystals that brought me to Reiki. So I grew up in Eastern Oregon, up in the middle of the Blue Mountains and so a very little remote place my dad had a great big, huge, giant rock saw and we would cut geodes open with the rock saw and so we had lots of rocks and we had, you know, riverbanks and things like that. You know, we collected rocks all over the place and then later as a teenager you know what? Come back as a young teenager I can't remember I was playing down in this ditch bank and I had this little piece of metal structure and I made this what I recognize now. It was an altar, I didn't even have a name for it then but and I had all these rocks and crystals all over this and I was doing this shamanic healing and I could feel the energy of it. It's kind of scared me because all of a sudden my culturally created self was going. Oh no, you know you're not supposed to be doing doing that because I could feel the energy coming from that. Um, but then later as a teenager, we started a gym faceting business. It was cutting precious gemstones, and so that's kind of where the sacred geometry interest comes into play is that you're having to work with these exact angles and creating designs. Now, I failed geometry in high school but yet I could cut a gemstone perfectly, go figure. But I can remember one day that this one specific crystal I was looking at that crystal and one of the important facts when you're cutting, you want to make sure you're hitting all the pure material, cutting away any of the fractures or impurities, but you're also wanting to cut for the highest weight as well, the size, and so I had studied this gemstone and basically meditating with this gemstone for some time, coming up with the design, and I found it going to all my pages of different designs. I found a design that I thought was going to work, perfect for the stone. And then I hear this little voice that says, oh, that's wonderful, but what if we do this on the pavilion, which means the bottom cuts of the stone? I said, oh, that's a great idea, and I'm kind of looking around, we're like, no, I was home by myself, and then I realized that it was coming from the stone, and so then I realized that there was that connection, there's that energy.

Speaker 4: 8:13

These stones have energy and there were stones that did not want to be cut. They were angry. They would do anything they could not to be cut. They were trying to cut them and pass it and they would do anything they could not to be cut. They would you're trying to cut him and pass it and they'd pop off the dot it, just just amazingly. So I knew esoterically there was a lot more to energy than what I was aware of and what I was being taught. But yeah, I'm still still feeling it. So it was in probably the really early 1990s.

Speaker 4: 8:47

Um, I saw an advertisement in a newspaper, so it was before the web. Um, I saw an advertisement for a reiki healing class. It was actually within walking distance of my house. It was, um, I just, I didn't even tell me much about it, but I just knew, just that voice inside, just knew.

Speaker 4: 9:12

Unfortunately, I was still lost. I was still lost in a culturally created self that would not allow me to embrace my authentic self. Allow me to embrace my authentic self. So I was, like I was, you know, very much involved in my church community. And how would I explain to my church community why I wasn't there on one Sunday If I had to miss one Sunday to attend a Rick Hillencross? I could not fathom that as a possibility. How would I explain the expense of taking this class?

Speaker 4: 9:47

But it struck accordingly and, um, I can remember going to a, going to the bookstore and I found this book on reiki. Again, it didn't teach me anything about reiki, it was just this um, I think it's this woman in Wales. It was her healing journey using Reiki. So I just grabbed on to all those little pieces. So I was finally starting to painfully become more authentic. And that's when I started studying massage therapy and going to massage therapy school and one of my instructors was a Reiki master and so we connected and she was going to give me the attunements. She didn't teach me anything about Reiki, she just gave me the attunements and I actually became a Reiki master through her and through my own study. By that time I was able to get more materials and study more materials, created my own manuals and started teaching. So that's kind of how I found Reiki and then it just evolved from there.

Speaker 2: 11:00

Beautiful, what a beautiful journey that you've gone on. I love it, I love it. And then you were led to the International Center of Reiki, where you're now an ICRT teacher. That's wonderful, wonderful.

Speaker 4: 11:11

That was so much fun because I went to a. I knew about William Rand and I was receiving his email newsletter and had not really connected with anybody. I knew of his, you know his basic manual, the one we still teach with. And I went to a massage therapy convention, a state convention for massage therapists, and there was this beautiful woman, just beautiful, goddess. Blonde hair, just beautiful, beautiful energetically, just gorgeous. And she was. She had the purple book. She had the purple book on her desk and I recognized it immediately and she had also been a massage therapist but was now teaching Reiki and at that particular time she was in the licensing program to be a licensed teacher and that was Lisa Starana. And oh my gosh, so she taught me so much and she was.

Speaker 4: 12:16

What was really beautiful is beautiful about Lisa is that she was in a very conservative state, in a very conservative county, and she shines brightly. And so just having that example that she was unashamed to shine, and that was something I needed to learn my culturally creative self, I was so withdrawn. I mean, my goal was to become invisible and as reiki practitioners you can't be invisible because the reiki is going to shine, shine bright, and uh, so I had to become more comfortable in shining. So, yeah, so that was how I first found, and then that's what led me to L'Oreal Chanté Gaia, because L'Oreal was the. Even though William Rand is the founder of the International Center for Reiki Training, L'Oreal Chanté Gaia was the person who developed the licensing program for the International Center for Reiki Training civic reiki training. Um, I was able to take um all of her crystal healing classes from her and she was just an amazing, amazing person and a wonderful mentor. Um, my, my first set of classes that I took from her was nothing more than um, I just wanted to say it was almost like hallucinating the entire time. It was just that, just amazing. So we were able to bond because we had similar visions and energetic experiences in working with the crystals.

Speaker 4: 14:00

So with crystals I'll just go on here just for a second there's crystals. I'll just go on here just a second. There's crystals. The energy from the crystals are more than just a color affecting a chakra or that. This property has this properties. There is spiritual consciousness within the crystals and she could identify that and would teach from that perspective and it's from that perspective that I mean, I knew that and I'd never all the books I'd read on crystals, that was the only. She was the only person that was really ever talking about the spiritual nature of the crystal itself, and the crystals had their personalities. You could have two different aquamarines and they're going to have very, very different personalities, and so I just was able to learn so much from her and kind of gave me permission to discover and learn more on my own as well.

Speaker 2: 14:53

Right, right. What a wonderful blessing to have her as your guide through this experience.

Speaker 4: 14:58

Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:59

Wonderful, wonderful. So our next question is you've been out there as a master teacher since 2004. So what are some of the misperceptions about your profession?

Speaker 4: 15:14

Oh my gosh. You know I don't misperception, I don't dwell on that too much, unless it's within the community, within the Reiki community itself. So you know, some of the misperceptions that I've experienced in the past is like you know I had originally. I had people say, oh, be careful. You know, some of that could be kind of evil, that could kind of go dark. And if anyone knew much about Reiki, if you're truly using Reiki, it's going to be totally bright, it's going to be totally light, it's only light energy. So that was one of the misconceptions that I faced.

Speaker 4: 15:57

I think currently one of the biggest misconceptions that I think people have is um, in practicing Reiki, there's so many people I hear use the word they need to protect their energy, and I have a completely different viewpoint. Um, I believe that if I'm using Reiki and I'm shining bright with Reiki, I have no need to protect. And if I'm saying I'm, if I'm drawing symbols to protect my space, I'm inviting that very thing that I'm thinking I'm trying to protect myself from. And I see people getting stuck in some of the darkness because they're, they're, they're, you know, they're inviting it in unintentionally, they don't want that, but they're inviting it in and so that's one of the biggest things I try to teach my students is that you know, one of the precepts of Reiki is just for the day do not worry. Don't worry, if I'm protecting, I'm worrying. So I say don't worry. If I'm protecting, I'm worrying. So I say don't worry, shine bright, it is good and that's going to prevent anything from ever wanting to invade your space.

Speaker 2: 17:14

That's one of it very good advice, very good. So what is something that you wish your younger self knew about your current profession?

Speaker 4: 17:34

Oh, that's a. I guess I have so much gratitude for the journey and I know all the struggles and everything I have. I see it's perfectly aligned where it needed to be. I just wish that I would have known in many, many dark times that there would be light at the end of the tunnel. But I think, at the same time, though it was going through that darkness, that made me appreciate the light when I finally did experience it. But I mean, there were, there were. I mean I tell people, um, I would not be alive today if it wasn't for reiki and um, and I truly believe that it's with reiki that was able to keep me from um, from dying, literally dying, and um, and so there was times that you know that that became pretty close.

Speaker 2: 18:26

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 18:27

And it was like a lifeline right, really. Yeah. So, but yeah, I just um, I wish I would have taken, I wish I would have been brave enough to take that Reiki class, the first class I saw. I mean that's, I really do wish that.

Speaker 2: 18:41

Right, Very good. So, when it is time for you to get your energetic tune up, or even to refer you know people to another Reiki practitioner or teacher, what are some of the qualities that you look for in a Reiki practitioner, energy worker or healer or Reiki teacher?

Speaker 4: 19:00

So for me, I like the intuitive style of people being able to be intuitive when giving a session. I know my students often having standard hand placements can be really valuable in learning Reiki and getting the feel of Reiki. But for, as a practitioner, having that intuitive style helps me as a as a, if I'm getting a session from somebody who can work with the energy and and and let the energy flow and the sessions can be so much more beautiful. And I I have been through some phenomenal teachers and some teachers that I've experienced, even the ones that I don't resonate with completely Sometimes, I've learned some of the most things from. So, but I use the guidance of Reiki to tell me who I need to take a class from.

Speaker 4: 20:07

And as teachers, we need to continue taking classes, we need to continue to study, working with other teachers and working with the energies. But so people who are authentic, some people who um, what one of the thing that so zarell shantigaya and her husband, michael baird, co-talked together. One of the rules they had was reiki without rules. So reiki without rules. So people who are not afraid to explore the energies, or that's who I look for. But there are people with different eight you know more eight personality times. They need a little bit more structure and they're going to find a teacher that has more of that structure. I'm more energetic, I'm a little bit more free from, and they're going to be people who are going to be attracted to that. So it's important that we have many different personalities as teachers.

Speaker 2: 21:08

Beautiful, beautiful. Some very wise advice on that is looking at when you're out there.

Speaker 4: 21:14

That's the Reiki talking. It's not me.

Speaker 2: 21:16

That's the Reiki very good, led by Reiki Right. So, as a licensed teacher at the International Center of Reiki, what is some advice that you would give someone who's just entering this profession?

Speaker 4: 21:36

Well, congratulations. First of all, Make sure that Reiki is your friend and making sure that you practice Reiki for yourself. That's going to be my biggest, biggest advice Realize early on that you're not going to be a Reiki practitioner or Reiki teacher for everybody, even though we want to heal and help everybody, that's truly our desire. They're going to be people that you, specifically, are going to be able to affect. I'm not going to be able to affect their healing, but you can affect their healing and and feel strong in that, be patient with yourself. Um, and I can remember at a point where I mean, I was at that point I knew I wanted to become a licensed teacher and at that point I didn't even meet the requirements to apply. But I still knew and I had just moved and so I had very few connections in the community. I was in, moved, and so I had very few connections in the community. I was in. So I thought, and I was discouraged I had 10 people that I could connect with. 10 people, that's not very many, I thought.

Speaker 4: 23:01

So Reiki led me to do something. It changed my perception. I made a crystal grid. I made 10 crystal grids, little teeny crystal grids. So I put a three by five card with all 10 names of those people that I could think of, and then I put 10 crystals. I put a the on the thing indicating the person I was thinking of and then I put 10 crystals around that person, knowing that they may know 10 people that I don't know. So I created these, these, this crystal, 10 crystal grids, which meant now there was 110 people, which meant now there was 110 people, energetically there was 110 people. So that shifted my mindset, that I was so limited. And so try to think big, dream big and then just allow wakey to flow. Sometimes the journey takes us in ways that we never thought possible.

Speaker 2: 24:09

Oh wonderful, I just love how you did that, with the grid I mean, and you expanded that territory energetically Beautiful.

Speaker 4: 24:17

Even because it changed my mindset, is really what it did. It changed my mindset.

Speaker 2: 24:22

Yeah, yeah. And then we get so caught up in the mind that it puts us in a standstill on our journey. Right yeah, change the mind. So what books do you recommend?

Speaker 4: 24:36

Books. You know here's. Here is a book that I really, really enjoyed. It's called the Re reiki man. Have you heard of that one?

Speaker 2: 24:52

I have it's.

Speaker 4: 24:54

It's. It's a fictional book, it's actually a trilogy, and so it's a complete fictional version and it pretty far out there version and it's pretty far out there, and what I like about it is it is in an adventure, it's like a spy novel and involving Reiki and some of the powers of Reiki, and it fanciful, allows you to think what Reiki could be, and so there that's, I think. And fanciful, allows you to think what Reiki could be, and so that's, I think. Increasing our imaginations to Reiki and what we think about it is more important, because when I'm teaching classes, here's the manual. You can read this manual from cover to cover and intellectually you're going to know everything there is to know about reiki, but it won't teach you reiki, because reiki can teach you reiki, not the book, um. So even though we have there's a lot of good books, um, uh, I've I read um diane stein's where some of some of her early books. I disagree with a lot of the stuff that she teaches, but I appreciate her efforts and what she was trying to do and her passion. So I'm not afraid to read something that's not in complete alignment, because there are things I'm going to learn from it. So even teachers from other types of lineages. Yes, I'm going to study them, I'm going to read them, I'm going to find things there that are important for my growth and I'm not afraid of that.

Speaker 4: 26:46

I think, when we get locked into one linear path, that this is the only way we're limiting ourselves energetically, we're limiting our reiki and um. So I would say pick any book, let your let's spirit guide you to whatever book it is, and maybe it's a book that you pick up and you're guided, or to go like no, this isn't for me, but then you would know. So what? Me picking up the book that taught me nothing about Reiki, but it was explaining this woman's healing journey. That was a little book. I don't even remember the name. I can't even find it anymore. I gave the book away and I I just wish I had it as part of my library, just because it was that important for me right, right, beautiful, beautiful.

Speaker 2: 27:38

So what other modalities do you offer?

Speaker 4: 27:42

so I have, um, so I have. So I teach the standard, you know, reiki one and two classes. The indigenous people in that area, mother Earth is so important to them. They celebrate the solstices and all in alignment with animal Reiki and animal. Even if you do not ever want to practice in giving reiki to animals, there's so much value in animal reiki courses because they teach us about energy and very, very important energy. And then I teach the um crystal reiki, healing classes, um, so these are the classes that are based on the rails classes, so I still use her manuals and her materials. We have a I call it a fundamentals Reiki fundamentals class, which is a two-day class, and then there's an intermediate class, which is a two-day class, and then there's an advanced teacher class, teacher class.

Speaker 4: 29:09

Some of the energies in the Reiki classes and the crystal classes connect with some beautiful ancient Lemurian energies. Now I know what Lemuria is for me. I haven't really studied the energies of Lemuria from other perspectives so I can't speak to it, but I know it was. It was the same as what L'Oreal was experiencing, and so sometimes it's just a name for the energy that we're, that we're working with, but some of the ancient guides, energies that are there are just absolutely incredible. And then making those connections with the crystals and then how they can help us in the energy work that we're doing, um, it's just amazing to have friends to help us and and the crystal crystals can be our friends.

Speaker 4: 30:08

I, in my personal reiki sessions that I offer, I don't do a lot of crystal healing in in them. When I would do in-person sessions, occasionally crystals would be added into a reiki session. Um, but I do a lot of crystal grids and I do, uh, healing work that way and I also have specific crystals that I used to meditate with for my own, my own personal self. There's nothing more wonderful than being able to give a session to a client and then realize, oh, I've got some palm stones that would be just perfect for this person to calm, calm them and to add comfort or whatever the situation is, to. Just having an element of your tool to kit is would be wonderful.

Speaker 4: 31:01

I do do some drumming, so in some of my sessions I will do some drumming. So in some of my sessions I will do some drumming, and I'm still sometimes a little bit shy about the drumming in there. But so, lisa Starana she was really my first Reiki teacher who taught me anything. Going and having a session from her is's just magical, and she would. She loves using the drum and, energetically, I can receive it, oh my gosh, I absolutely love it. So other things that I teach I also like working with my students so that they can be prepared for whatever they're going to be doing in their future, whether it's going to be a reiki practitioner um I uh or or to teach. I feel that too often as reiki teachers, we teach a reiki one in two class, we teach your master class or whatever. We teach a Ricky one and two class, we teach her master class or whatever, and we send. We do our two day class, we do our three day class and we send them off. Good luck.

Speaker 4: 32:21

It takes more than just two days. It takes a lot more than two days, and so mentoring is important. Mentoring students is very, very important, so that they can they go. Hey, I experienced this today. What is going on? You know? What is this normal? Well, that's not normal, but that's Reiki, you know. So that's one thing I really think is important is to be able to take our students and help them beyond just our class. It's one of the things I'm passionate about.

Speaker 2: 32:57

Wonderful. So where can we find you? If we would like to book a session, take a training, how can we get in touch with you?

Speaker 4: 33:06

Come to Ecuador. So I have. My current website is reiki-healing-arts artscom, and that would take you to my website so that you can sign up for any of the Reiki classes that I teach. I do now offer the the crystal classes remotely through Zoom, as well as my other classes, and I also do sessions via Zoom. I love doing sessions in person, but I've been amazed at how impactful sessions even over Zoom can be. The interviews are just so transformative. So then, if you just want to email me, I'm jay at illuminewellnesscom, and illuminewellness is the over business name of my organization, and then Reiki hyphen healing hyphen arts dot com is just basically where my Reiki classes that are there.

Speaker 2: 34:17

but yeah, come to Ecuador come to Ecuador, and also on Reiki dot org on Reiki dot org too.

Speaker 4: 34:24

Yeah, you can find me on Reiki dot org and I would catch my links and it would. All of the ICRT classes I teach are listed there as well.

Speaker 2: 34:35

All right, perfect. Well, thank you, Jay, so much for going on this journey with me. This ends our part of the journey together and I'm going to pass you over to my co-guide, Kim, who has three social media questions just for you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 4: 34:51

So, Kim, are you going to guide me too?

Speaker 3: 34:57

Wow, jay. So first of all, I was cracking up when you were talking about that crystal. I was like, wow, that's a bougie little crystal. And as I was thinking that you're like, yeah, and some of them don't even like to be cut, I'm like, oh, they're getting even bougier. I was like, okay, I love that you started with Reiki, then went into nursing, because most of the nurses that I know started out as nurses. Then Reiki came to them. So you're the first one I've met which was the opposite way. And gosh, it's so fascinating. And, yes, I will tell my husband that I have to go to Ecuador to take a class with you. I've like I gotta go to.

Speaker 3: 35:33

Ecuador. My guide said I just I have to do that. So so the first question we have tell me a little bit more about your work with crystal healing and your experience with Laurel Shanti Gaia and the work that you've done with her so there, well, there's a couple of different elements, because there's there's more than one element that we're working with than crystals.

Speaker 4: 35:58

Um, so we have the natural form of crystals, which I absolutely love, and then, in like in the intermediate class, we introduced the topic of a Vogel crystal. And a Vogel crystal is that Marcel Vogel was an IBM scientist who worked with quartz crystals and he cut them at very specific angles. Now you see people imitations of his work everywhere. People have no idea that this I did not yeah, the little.

Speaker 4: 36:35

That was his design. And energetically, um, he was able to use crystals as a means of healing, using that, and he was able to, you know, expand the energy out greatly because the crystals work as resonators. So he came from a scientific mindset and an energy working with energy, and what was really interesting for him is that he, his family, did not like the work he was doing. They did, I mean, he was very religious, he came from a very religious community. His wife, his children were, you know, very religious, and so was he, but he allowed his mind to expand into other realms and he was doing some phenomenal healing. So we're using some of these vocal crystals, but instead of using our own energy we're using Reiki, which is so much more powerful and much more clear than using our own energy, to resonate the healing energies through the vocal crystal. So on that very first trip that I made with Laurel, I connected with Laurel before and had been trying to make plans to take classes from her for a couple of years. I just knew I had to go down there and take classes and I was studying some of the vocal crystal healing and so I started cutting a vocal crystal in my lapidary equipment and, as I was doing so, so I would send that crystal Reiki and so day after day after day of cutting and polishing, I was meditating and sending that crystal energy. So there was this huge vibrational change that was taking place is preparing me for that class. So by the time I was actually able to go, I was elated. I was just absolutely enthralled and I took a long drive from the back roads of Utah all the way down into Arizona, going through in in between um science national park and um bryce's national park. And it was in the spring, so it was 15 years ago last month, and it had snowed up on the tops of the mountains. The air was clear, so we had all these beautiful red rocks and you had snow on the mountains and the energy was. I mean, I was having this huge experience just driving to Sedona and I can remember then, after getting there, just being a buzz and I was looking around their little, their beautiful, beautiful store. They have a beautiful center that's still there, called peace place in Sedona. They had a beautiful store and then have a classroom all in this little complex and I was looking in the store and Laurel comes out and she introduces you. Oh hello, my name is Laurel and I can remember such a joy when she said that to me, when she introduced herself, because I felt the love. I felt the love that she had. So I got to know Laurel fairly well over the years and I found out she's not perfect none of us are perfect, um but she was able to do incredible things. Despite not being perfect she's a lot more perfect than you know I would ever probably hope to be in many different ways. But, um, so I just really created a beautiful bond with her.

Speaker 4: 40:27

So I was taking, you know, the introduction class and the intermediate classroom. So it's two days of class, one day off and two days in class. So the first two days of class, I mean I was, I was seeing crystal mountains holographic around me. It was just, you know, just surreal. And in that day between I went hiking and it didn't go to a vortex area, I just went to an area that Reiki guided me to. It was absolutely beautiful, with juniper trees all around me and there were these beautiful plants and I could tell these plants were singing to me. They were so excited for me to be there. They were actually singing to me, so I don't know if you've ever had a plant sing to you. That's awesome.

Speaker 3: 41:24

Yes, I've had all kinds of yes, I'm loving all your energy and all of this. Yeah, that's awesome. So, and then later wait, was it? Was it hip-hop or more classical?

Speaker 4: 41:36

oh, okay, just I had to say vibrationals. Maybe it depended on the plant. Yeah, it was beautiful, I can tell you it was beautiful.

Speaker 4: 41:56

But, I also was able to have a session with Laurel. Now, financially things were not great for me at that time, and so for me to be able to afford a session with l'oreal was really out of my comfort zone, but I'm so glad I did because it was. It was such a beautiful, beautiful experience for me. Um and I was able to connect with the energies that we were talking about learning in class even deeper. Um, and so that, just um, we just developed a good friendship and a bond and appreciation because we could see each other energetically the same. So, um, and then you know, and I also have to say, michael, her husband, was a huge part of it.

Speaker 4: 42:44

He still teaches there. And now her stepson, arthur, you know and I also have to say Michael, her husband, was a huge part of it he still teaches there. And now her stepson, arthur, you know, still teaches in that classroom space. Now and then, a couple of different times, I've been able to teach her Reiki crystal classes in her classroom space. Oh. Yeah, it was just to me. It was such an honor.

Speaker 3: 43:03

That's awesome. Yeah, I wrote that down. So when I make it to Sedona, the peace place, I'm going to going to be on my list of places to see. Yeah, for sure. So, going back to your nursing days, in your experience with nursing and Reiki, how does Reiki assist in helping your like authentic journey to help like to health?

Speaker 4: 43:28

assist in helping your like authentic journey to help, like to health. Um, I think what happened, what really helped me, was I was able to see the authentic patient. Um. So there were so many different times when because what reiki does is that it helps us to see the true nature of the person. And so, instead of seeing this patient who's throwing things, that like, if I was a clinic supervisor and I mean there were times I saw these patients who had maybe some dementia all the time, or maybe they were just cranky old men or women, you know throwing things at my nurses and screaming and yelling at them. I would go in to that and I would get so frustrated, I'd get so mad I'm gonna go chew them out. But then, as soon as I walked into their presence, then I would see the divine light in that patient and I would see them in a completely different way. I would see their frustration, the situation, the limitations that they had, and I would also find the absolute beautiful love that the divine had for that great patient, even as a despicable person that we may judge, the mass. And I would see that divine person and and I would see that their authentic self. Um, so I had one of my favorite experiences.

Speaker 4: 44:46

I was relatively new to Reiki at that particular time and I had a much more experienced nurse and I was a newer nurse and she said, jay, this patient is driving me crazy. She said the family in there, they're just sucking all the energy out of me. She said I need to go hang this antibiotic and I just don't want to go in there. She goes can you in there? They're just sucking all the energy out of me. She goes I need to go hang this antibiotic and I just don't want to go in there. She goes can you give me some Reiki? I'm just depleted, so sure. So I, you know, I've never been shy about I tell everyone I'm Reiki. I don't you know, I'm proud of being a Reiki master, being a Reiki teacher and giving Reiki. So I gave her Reiki and she visibly took a deep breath. Oh, thank you. And she could tell she goes now would you go hang this antibiotic? And I said no. I said you go hang it. I just gave you Reiki. You got the power. You can go in there and do it. No, I don't want to. I said okay, come, come on, let's go do it together. That's hilarious.

Speaker 4: 45:46

Go into the room and we explained to him what we're doing. We, you know, scan the medicine, scan the patient, hang the antibiotic and just chit chat real quick. And I was going what the heck's going on? I don't see anything. They're just normal patient to me. We walk out of the room and she turned and she's going what did you do? They're so. They're completely different now. So you know what? There's nothing mean, yeah, probably anything else.

Speaker 4: 46:13

It was her and you know she may have had, for whatever reason, frustration with something and the was probably fine. She was just frustrated and, uh, like reiki changed and she was able to see that man, that change of state was just boom, just like that. Um so, but when I could be authentic to my patients and I could sit down and I could work with the energy, and energy would say talk to this patient's daughter and I could say to them okay, you know I'm looking at your mom and I know you know she's sick. This is the situation. What, what do you think we should do at this point? What would your mom want?

Speaker 4: 46:58

I could have the conversations in the life that the doctors wouldn't have, that the other person wouldn't have, in the life, that the doctors wouldn't have, that the other person wouldn't have, and Reiki helped bridge that gap for me many, many different times. That was appropriate for the family and I was able to help facilitate literally hundreds of patients as they passed away, and I learned what a beautiful experience that was, and when I'd see the tears of the family members, I would tell them. I said your tears are absolutely beautiful, you know, it shows that you love, you have such great love for this person. You know, thank you for allowing me to be in your presence for this. And I could feel the realms of the other side, coming into that patient and seeing that patient.

Speaker 4: 47:50

I even had one time a patient who had committed a really horrible crime I don't know the extent of other crimes, younger person, I don't understand.

Speaker 4: 48:06

I was only um next door to this patient, so it wasn't my patient, but I didn't understand, uh, why he was medically so bad.

Speaker 4: 48:14

But but still, even though he's intubated, in a coma, basically he was still shackled to the bed, guards in the room. You know what? I could still feel the divine love for that person, despite the crimes that they may have committed, and so that kind of really helped transform me that I might be lovable too. The divine must love me, but loves everyone and wants the best for everybody. So in my healing work, especially when we're looking at people who have been abused and traumatized, I will send Reiki and love to the perpetrators, because I know the divine loves them and there must've been something in their past that have caused them to act the way they do. So it's giving me a lot more compassion that would. I still don't excuse the event of what took place, but if I am angry it's not going to help heal anything um, and sometimes still there are times I don't understand, but it allows me to send Reiki to the source of the situation.

Speaker 4: 49:32

I can learn from lots of tangents Kim.

Speaker 3: 49:35

No amen to that. That well, that's one thing I learned in my grand Reiki master certification with Kundalini was to always extend love, you know. Extend your thoughts should always be thoughts of love, you know. Don't extend pity and sorrow. Don't extend that to them, you know. So I love it. I love all of that, yes, and I'm the queen of tangents. So, yes, we could do this all day. We don't have another question, though, um, and this is one, I know that a lot of spiritual people who do spiritual work, I know this is something that I've always kind of been like, but how do you balance growth and profit with maintaining the integrity of your spiritual mission?

Speaker 4: 50:16

so you have to look at what is your true purpose. There are there people. Their true purpose is to use Reiki as a volunteer. Profit is not an element for them, and that's nothing wrong with that Absolutely, it's beautiful Also.

Speaker 4: 50:41

I've come to terms with that. In order for me to expand my reach in helping other people, I also need to have some kind of sustainable life, and so that's been hard for me to learn, because I have value. I do have value and I do have a lot more to accomplish in this world. I have many in my mind now. I have many different things that I'd like to accomplish that require funds from other places, because where I I would like to teach, there are no funds. I would love to be able to teach more in central and south america, where the cost of a reiki one and two class is like an entire month's salary for an entire family. There's no way they can afford to pay that. Um, so that's kind of how I look at it. Um, what do I do with the money that I earn from my teaching?

Speaker 4: 51:52

At the same time, we know that many different types of lineages say that you have to charge, and I can remember there was a friend, of a friend, I mean. So I knew this person and they were having a big struggle and I offered to give a reiki reiki session for that person and it came back they said no, they don't want it. They don't want a reiki session for me because they can't afford it and they know that you do reiki and that you would have to charge for reiki. As I have no intention of charging that person, I get a lot of benefit from that person in the community and this person was a phenomenal photographer and seeing the beautiful work that published his work was incredible and it made me feel so bad that he was that other people had planted that or that we couldn't just offer reiki.

Speaker 4: 52:53

So have I offered reiki no charge? Absolutely. Have I discounted in the past classes? Yes, do I do as much of that now? No, but I, I understand and see both balances that that needs to be there. Um, you know, you sui, he tried to help people learn reiki so that he could, they could, use that as a profession, but he was also very generous in doing it. So it really takes a good balance. Am I creating a $50 billion mega church where I have multiple multiple, you know?

Speaker 3: 53:39

Private jets.

Speaker 4: 53:41

Private jets no, yeah, and that's never. And that's my wildest dreams. That would be never something I personally would want Same.

Speaker 3: 53:52

And no judgment on them. For you know, and that's the part too, like no judgment on them If that's what they want. Amen, hallelujah, just not my, not my water goal.

Speaker 4: 54:01

Yeah. So, for me being authentic, I want your gold. So, for me being authentic, I want to be able to create more with Reiki and that's kind of how I balance it.

Speaker 3: 54:14

Yes, I love that you Go ahead Going down further south, you know, and spreading. I like that kind of missionary work, going down there spreading. That it is missionary work, yes, it is, and we're not and we don't force it, we're just like, hey, we'd love to share this energy, you know, I think that's amazing, amazing.

Speaker 4: 54:39

There's a connection in some of those areas where it where it's needed, I see I see people who need it and um, so it's just really, really been amazing. There are some people who've had a taste of it, yeah, and they're hungry for more. My spanish isn't where it needs to be, where I could do it on my own, so I've been working on.

Speaker 3: 55:04

I'm half Mexican, I'll go with you. I'll tell my husband See, that's my excuse, I'm going on a mission, okay, you cannot say no to that.

Speaker 4: 55:17

So I I mean I have actually drawn up plans for, like I'm identified major cities in Central and South America. I have that as a vision board and I'll do that in my meditation. I'll actually go in, I'll plan flights, you know, I mean just thinking about it and just sending energy, and I've done this for a number of years. I would just pick a map of an area like Afghanistan or something, and that's how I send peace to the world. I'll imagine Reiki being taught in different places. I had this interesting um experience here this um late last year yeah, late last year, I think it was November and so one of the countries I kind of missed was Dominican Republic. Oh, they're Spanish-speaking country. Okay're a Spanish-speaking country. Okay, they're a Spanish-speaking country. So I was Haiti too, Dominican Republic.

Speaker 4: 56:12

Yeah, my next class. I had two students in that class. Guess what? They were both from the Dominican Republic. They didn't know each other and they just happened to be from the Dominican Republic. It was just like, okay, you know energy, you're just kind of snapping through there. But yeah, it's just amazing when we're, when we're working with the flow of energy.

Speaker 3: 56:37

Yes, it's just really really a huge blessing. I love that. I love what you said about I have value and I think that's what a lot of people will take, cause you know they expect it to be free or whatever. But you know, energy work, like the classes that we take and the steady and what we did to keep ourselves aligned to be able to, you know, share that Reiki energy. So I love that. You said that, um. Is there anything else that you'd like to share that we may have missed that? You said that, um. Is there anything else that you'd like to share that we may have missed that? You feel that people need to know about Reiki, or especially Reiki practitioners? Um, you feel that they might need to know? Um.

Speaker 4: 57:18

I think we always need, as Reiki practitioners reiki practitioners we always need to um look at our own healing journey. Some I mean I'm and I'm speaking from my own experience um, sometimes we need to stop and get a reiki session, and not just as a practice for our student to give us, but to be authentic, saying I deserve, I need this Reiki session and I know a few people who do do that and it's a way of honoring the Reiki we can say I can submit to receiving Reiki from somebody else, not just from my own session. So sometimes having that as a means of I'm worth it and I'm worthy of being able to receive Reiki from somebody else, and it also puts us in a point where humility we are. We need to be a little bit more humble with what, the work that we're doing. So that's my advice Get reiki.

Speaker 3: 58:33

Yes, I was going to say to you, I have. I have not sensed like not even a drop of ego from you. I'm like, oh, your energy is just you. You know, and I'm moving through. I have young kids so moving through like some bullying issues right now. So what you were saying about sending love and seeing you know them from that higher perspective, so, thank you, everything you have said is just so what's?

Speaker 4: 58:58

interesting because I think ego is a huge part and, yes, ego does come in a little bit. We always have. Yeah, we have to be aware that I had when one of my meditations I'd love to share this for a moment is that I went up into the divine. This was in a, in a reiki class, and I went up into the heavens in my meditation and all of a sudden I realized I was in this divine place and I saw Christ and I saw Buddha standing side by side and there were other enlightened beings from other religious identified and it was beautiful.

Speaker 4: 59:41

They didn't have ego. Christ and Buddha, they don't have ego. And what they told me was go higher, go higher than what you're at, oh my gosh. And we go, yeah, go higher, go learn more and then come back and work with us. And when I you know realizing it, they didn't see themselves any more important than they saw me. Oh my gosh, the realization of that. They don't, they don't, they don't, they don't have the ego and I, just to be able to be able to experience that, that they didn't have ego. They thought me is just as important as them. This was really mind blowing, yeah. So I tried to try to remember that, and I try to remember that with my students too, you know.

Speaker 3: 1:00:33

Jesus has a great sense of humor too. You're going to teach me.

Speaker 4: 1:00:37

You're going to teach me. You're going to raise up. I'm going to take a class from you.

Speaker 3: 1:00:41

Yeah, I love it, yes, and honestly. To take a class from you? Yeah, I love it, yes, and honestly, don't be surprised if you do see me in Ecuador one day.

Speaker 4: 1:00:54

I'll be like knock, knock remember me, jay, but you'll have to let me know beforehand, because we don't have addresses and so it might be a little bit hard to find me.

Speaker 3: 1:01:02

Oh my gosh, I'll just use my intuition. I'll be like take me back. I'll be like Reiki energy, take me to. Jay, thank you so much. You've been so awesome. This is going to conclude our journey together. I'm going to go ahead and pass it back to Tracy.

Speaker 4: 1:01:24

Thank you so much, Jay. Thank you, Tracy.

Speaker 2: 1:01:26

All right. Thank you so much, Jay, for taking time out of your busy schedule to go on this journey with us.

Speaker 4: 1:01:33

I appreciate it so much. I always love being on this journey. It gives me so much vibrant energy because the energy that talking through us and all of us together collectively listening.

Speaker 2: 1:01:51

So I appreciate everyone who spends the time and energy to listen to these podcasts to improve their lives. Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you. So, my friends, if you are interested in having your questions or question featured on the show, reach out wwwreadysetreikicom or check us out on social media. Also, check out the Feather Sister platform, where there is yoga, reiki and Reiki trainings. And I'm going to leave you with what Jay said during our journey together is Reiki will teach you Reiki. So let that be kind of your guide as you're on this Reiki journey. So, thank you so much. My name is Tracy Seawright and this has been Ready Set Reiki you.