What an investment in yourself can do

In the very near future, my Reiki Master students will be graduating from the 5 month intensive training program with their Reiki Master certification. You might think that a Reiki Master program is all about learning the Reiki System of Natural Healing techniques and how to use them on others. That doesn't really cover it though. Reiki Master training is so much more - it's an investment in yourself. Working with energy is working with emotions, mental habits and behavioral patterns, especially your own. If you aren't clear about your own inner stuff, you're not going to be able to facilitate healing on a Reiki Master level for someone else.

Reiki Master training is truly mastery of yourself. (If you're interested in studying with me, look here.)

It's been amazing to watch these perservering students focus on self-care in the face of much homework practicing techniques on volunteers over the last five months. It's been empowering to witness them discover inside themselves the capacity to do things they had never considered before. Even more powerful than their courageous acts of facing their doubts and fears has been hearing them begin to share the dreams they've held quietly in their hearts for a long while.

I remember back to when I first graduated with my Masters Degree in Natural Health and then later with my Reiki Master certification. I was burning with passion and ready to launch myself out into the world as a wellness practitioner to help others on their healing journeys. This was years ago before the wellness industry became a hot topic, and I had no idea how to start a practice. It was many years of attempts with other jobs to pay the bills in between before I finally figured out what it takes to be a successful self-employed service professional.

It's not what you might think.

It's not being the best in your field or even knowing all the special business systems that self-employed entrepreneurs use! It's really all about your inner stuff.

Where you are emotionally, psychologically and spiritually and your clarity of outer vision - how you want to be of service in the world - and clarity of inner vision - knowing and trusting yourself and being open to inspiration - is what it takes to succeed as a service professional with dreams to change the world.

Without this clarity of vision, your inner fears, doubts and subconcious patterns are going to put up roadblocks and hold you back from moving forward.

And there is nothing better for getting really deep perspective on yourself than working with a group of like-minded individuals. The energy of a group of motivated, passionate, compassionate individuals who are ready to clear away the blocks in their path to success can create powerful healing and bigger dreams. This type of a group is called a mastermind, and it can be intense but very rewarding. (Read about whether a mastermind is for you in Christine Kane's blog.)

As a gift to my graduating students, I am pulling together a mastermind of service minded professionals who are passionate, determined, positive, and ready to dig deep to uncover road blocks to their success. These individuals are ready to move forward with their dreams to be of service and change the world from a place of clarity and confidence. I want my students to have what I missed out on when I graduated so they can move forward supported, encouraged and focused.

I'm also offering a program this summer for Reiki practitioners who are ready to invest in themselves. It's called Change Your Life with Reiki, and it's similar to a mastermind - we'll be using the energy of group Reiki when we're together and self-Reiki and self exploration at home to change your life in a positive way.

As I've mentioned before my practice is shifting to serve those who are innovating to heal themselves and the world, so stay tuned for new programs via teleclass and internet for those of you who live in other parts of the country (or the world) and need support, motivation and affirmation to move your dreams forward! Private one-on-one programs are coming up too.

Do you believe it?

One of my intentions at the New Year was to overcome the limitations of my particular chronic pain and get back to the gym and doing yoga. I've accomplished my goal, and I am looking forward to yoga classes and workouts for the rest of the year!

For a while though, it was really a struggle to believe it could happen for me - that I could get over the mental blocks and fears that come with chronic pain and get myself into the gym. My limiting thoughts were something like this: "It's just going to hurt more if I exercise." "I'll be too exhausted to do anything else." "What if I injure myself?"

Isn't it frustrating how how we sometimes get in our own way while we are trying to achieve our goals? You can set intentions and goals, be as positive as a cheerleader about them, doing affirmations and visualizations, but if deep down you don't believe that they can become reality for you - they won't, will they?

For example: you set a goal to go to the gym 3 times a week after work, or an intention to attract new clients to fill out the empty spots in your schedule or dream of taking your practice to the next level, and within a couple of weeks you stop working towards it because deep down you don't really believe you can achieve it anyways.

How many times has this happened to you? It sure has happened to me more times than I'd like to admit to myself. This is a pretty frustrating phenomenon.

How do you prevent it from happening?

I believe the key to working through these deep seated beliefs is to face them head on. Spend some time trying to understand them. Do you believe you can't succeed with your intention because deep down you know it's not realistic? (such as wanting to lose 50 lbs in just a few weeks). Or maybe you believe you can't achieve your goals because you don't believe you deserve to achieve them or you're afraid of what it means to your life and relationships if you are successful?

Whatever the reason, with knowledge of the limiting beliefs holding you back, you become empowered to work with yourself instead of against yourself.

It might mean giving yourself a realistic timeline to achieve your long-term goals, and setting bite-sized milestones to celebrate along the way. It might mean confronting some fears about yourself and deciding you deserve success and moving forward anyways. Or, it might mean taking a closer look at your life and relationships and rallying the people around you to become your cheerleading team.

You might also realize, as a result of your time reflecting, that the goal you didn't believe in wasn't something YOU really wanted to do for yourself anyways. It might have been motivated by cultural or peer pressure or be something someone else encouraged you to do.

With this new knowledge of yourself, you can set goals that feel right deep down and know that you can and will succeed.

Of course, it can be really hard to identify limiting beliefs - I mean if you knew what they were you'd have changed them by now, right?

That's where having an unbiased supporter comes in. Someone who can see and hear you from an objective, impartial perspective to help you get to the root of what's holding you back from the success, abundance, health, and happiness that you desire.

If you are a wellness professional having trouble maintaining a healthy balance between life and work and bringing in the clients you want - stay tuned for a new program I'm designing with exactly you in mind. It will help you move past the blocks holding you back so you can shift into abundance and balance.