Manifesting the Spirit of Your Reiki Business - with Colleen Benelli

Join us in this enlightening conversation with Colleen Benelli as we delve deep into the spiritual realms involved in establishing a Reiki business.

Learn how Reiki, far more than just a healing technique, can be your partner in manifesting your entrepreneurial dreams.

As you connect with the very spirit of your Reiki business, watch as the ethereal takes form in the physical realm. Be inspired, be empowered, and embrace the divine guidance that Reiki brings to your professional journey.

Colleen Benelli is a Senior Professional Licensed Reiki Master Teacher for the International Center for Reiki Training and a contributing author for Reiki News Magazine since 2005. Colleen is also an Associate Teacher for the LightSong School of Shamanic Studies and has created the Reiki program for the school. She is excited to share her years of experience and knowledge of Reiki and to create a supportive Reiki community. Colleen is also a full time Reiki practitioner and blends her Reiki and shamanic healing techniques in her Reiki sessions.

Colleen's Information:
Website:  www.Reikilifestyle.com
Email: colleen@reikilifestyle.com

Pam Allen-LeBlanc is a scientist, businesswoman, and Licensed Reiki Master Teacher (LRMT) with the International Center for Reiki Training.  She is the author of "The Reiki Business Book" and a co-author of ICRT Animal Reiki training.  Pam teaches Reiki, Animal Reiki, and Animal Communication online and in person in Canada, the US, and Australia.

Get in Touch with Pam:
Email: pam@reikifromthefarm.com

Pam's ICRT Classes:
https://www.reiki.org/users/pamela-allen-leblanc#classes

Book a Reiki, Animal Reiki, or Animal Communication session:
https://squareup.com/appointments/book/7dvtqlfp939e8g/LPSC51C92BN20/services

A special thanks goes out to Music from Pixabay for the intro music and to Nate Miller for the meditation music.

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pam@reikifromthefarm.com

Transcript

Pam: 0:01

On this week's podcast, I am speaking with my mentor, Executive Director of the ICRT, and Senior Licensed Teacher with the ICRT,

Colleen: 0:11

Colleen Benally. Welcome, Colleen. Hi, thanks for having me.

Pam: 0:17

I'm so glad to have you here. We're talking today about something that kind of blew my mind when I found it on your website. It's a rather older article that you wrote about manifesting the spirit of your Reiki business and the concept that if you are in the process of creating a Reiki business on earth, the business already exists in the formless realm. And so

Colleen: 0:44

you talk about a

Pam: 0:45

way to connect with it. And I was so blown away by that concept. I, I. I had read your article. I did the meditation. I included it as a resource in my book with your permission. Thank you. But I really wanted to explore that a little bit

Colleen: 1:05

more with you today. Great. And I'm with you in that it was surprising to me. Okay. It was shown to me in a Reiki journey, during a Reiki journey, and so it wasn't something that I knew intellectually, it was something that I learned spiritually. The other thing that I would add to it today, from what I talked about last time, was the awareness that we can have a Reiki practice and not have a Reiki business. And so the spirit of your Reiki practice is as applicable as your Reiki business. If you have a Reiki business, you will have a spirit of a Reiki practice as well. But we can have a Reiki practice and Reiki practices that is not a business. So this can apply to both. So let me say that up front, just for the sake of not repeating that over and over again. We'll go ahead and talk about it as the spirit of your Reiki business. So I would say for me that in the journey that I was doing, it was surprising that it existed that way. And also the results of the information. That it gave me was different than I knew logically. And what we would

2:44

expect.

Pam: 2:45

I love that. And we're going to explore that. Before we go too much further, though, I just want to let people know what's going on at the farm. Speaking of a Reiki business, my daughter and I have been guided to expand on our Reiki business courses that you have asked for. You've asked if I would. Mentor you if I could show you some of what I've learned or gained from working with my younger daughter. And so we've got a course September 11th on manifesting prosperity in order to empower you if prosperity or finances have, or money have ever been an issue for you, which it is for so many of us. We also, my daughter said, Mom, you're so fantastic at setting goals and achieving them. How do you do that? And why don't you teach people how? So September 18th, we will be having a course on that. And then we've got a three week business course for people with new Reiki businesses, and that begins October 2nd and goes every Monday evening for

Colleen: 3:58

three weeks.

Pam: 4:00

And we also in June, we offered. a Reiki marketing course, how to market yourselves, because that can be tricky for some of us to navigate. And we'll be re offering that in November. We also have some classes, some animal Reiki level one and two and masters coming up on Campobello. The whales sometimes join us in that class through the window if you want to come and experience that. I also have a Karuna Reiki

Colleen: 4:32

class in the

Pam: 4:33

evenings at the end of October and beginning of November and October 16th to 22nd. Reiki level one and two, a Reiki master

Colleen: 4:42

class and an animal

Pam: 4:43

Reiki class. Colleen, what do you and Robin

Colleen: 4:47

have coming up? Oh gosh I think we also have some animal Reiki classes. Those are online one and two and master coming up in September and then I, I lose track of my dates, so Reiki 1 and 2, Master, and Kaurna Reiki sometime before, sometime at least in October, November. I'm traveling to Egypt soon I'm excited. I think the other thing I'd always like to mention is that Robin and I have a free online distance Reiki share every Tuesday morning, and that is open to all lineages, all people, and it's a great community of people. Let's see, one other announcement I would like to make is that William Rand and I are teaching a seven day. Kaurna Reiki class in Hana, Hawaii in November and you can go to Reiki. org to find out information about that and register and we spend the seven days in the Kaurna Reiki energy training class and then also exploring Hana, Hawaii and hiking and things, etc. Oh, and then we have our Next Step Reiki classes and our Explore the Twelve Heavens of Consciousness and Meet Your Spirit guides starting in January. Those are one year courses that are taught once a month, and they're both live online and then also recorded for the people who need to be self study with those as well. And I hope to join you,

Pam: 6:34

For the 12 Heaven Class. It's intrigued me for a while, so yeah, thank you.

Colleen: 6:41

I'm

Pam: 6:41

also going to invite our listeners to just bring your hands in Gassho today and close your eyes and activate your Reiki energy and your symbols. We're just going to ask the energy today to guide me and heal me so that I may be of greater service to myself and to others. Whether your interest in this podcast is around your business or your potential business or around your Reiki

Colleen: 7:14

practice, we invite the Reiki

Pam: 7:20

energy to flow through you and around you and to help you really deeply hear

Colleen: 7:26

and deeply listen to the

Pam: 7:29

aspects of our conversation and of our meditation and experience that

Colleen: 7:35

will be pertinent and

Pam: 7:37

important to you. We take a moment to thank you for being the beautiful light that you are in the world and for always striving

Colleen: 7:49

to deepen

Pam: 7:53

your experience with Reiki. Thank you for being here today. Aho

Colleen: 8:00

Mitakuye Oyasin and Namaste. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Pam: 8:12

I'm just wondering if you can share a little bit more about

Colleen: 8:18

when

Pam: 8:18

you realized a Reiki business is first birthed in the spiritual realms before it takes a physical form because this is an entirely new concept that really, again, it profoundly impacted me and how I manage my own Reiki business. So when did that happen

Colleen: 8:38

and how? It happened A very long time ago and, I've been teaching and practicing Reiki professionally and developed a business really as early as the two, early 2000s. So before even social media, internet was pretty new and like you, we had a farm and so we were on AOL dial up for a very long time. That ages me and how long I've been in my Reiki practice. But I remember that I was, really working on a website, things like marketing, how do I share who I am? How do I even know who I am? Like, what am what? Why am I doing this? What is it for? What is the meaning, the deeper meaning the surface meaning, all of the above. So I was doing a lot of reflection and using Reiki journey techniques to just go deeper and listen more deeply to determine, what did I want to say? and what was in my heart and what was my heart intention. Yeah. So as I was asking those questions that's when it became apparent that there was actually a spirit I was working with unbeknownst to me to begin with that was invested in helping me manifest And now what I know that I didn't know then is that back then I was so surprised to hear the depth of my heart intention through the same processes of journeying that my heart intention for starting a Reiki practice and business was to help Reiki become so mainstream that children would grow up with it as a health care method, a be a method of well being for them that parents would know they could take their children to a Reiki practitioner to reduce their stress and help them and then also help it to become so mainstream that children could grow up considering having Reiki as a business that financially supported their family. So You know, I, I thought what an amazing idea that is, because back then, Reiki wasn't really new, of course, but there still just, there was so much that was unknown about Reiki. Because I received Reiki to help, heal my horse who had gone lame and said he went lame to deliver me to my power to heal, I always thought that I would be working with animals. So that heart intention was surprising to me and I began to realize how much I was being called as well as I was calling Reiki. So it was calling me It was guiding me as much as I had my own ideas about my reasoning for wanting to have a Reiki business because truthfully, I had a very successful business already and was not looking for something new. So when this spirit of the Reiki business came through, there were a couple of things that it showed me. First of all, that it actually existed and that it had support to help me understand my path, because as I say, I didn't expect it to go the direction it did. And luckily I was willing. To listen to the guidance and to follow it. Also, because I was in very extensive shamanic training, it all went together. So it was all working together and The spirit of my Reiki business was showing me the emphasis that I would have with Reiki. In other words, it showed me that I would be a Reiki practitioner who used shamanic techniques, where many of my colleagues, my teacher, are, they are and were shamanic practitioners who used Reiki techniques. So it showed me that Reiki was going to be my emphasis and that it was the calling that I was so compelled by. So the concept of it became something that I could utilize. And now I would say that at the time I didn't know about the beings called the brothers and sisters in the light. And I would say that. They're very, also very associated with things like the spirit of your Reiki business because they're very aware of kind of earth things, things we need to know on earth. And so I would look back at it now and think that there's some of that mix in the middle and so there were practicalities. that I needed to understand. For instance, my original business name was The Color of Reiki, and that had so much meaning to me in my heart, but it was always under a little bit difficult to understand for people that I shared it with. There's always a little bit of a question like, What does that mean? They're just somehow it just didn't flow. And then that's when it actually was another person, but I felt like it was all guided all the way and through him too, said actually your business name needs to be Reiki Lifestyle. So it wasn't just told to me, it was told to somebody else to tell to me as well. And it's been a process of discovery of what that actually means to have an external source of guidance that actually has its own intention for me to help me develop this business that helps others and to understand some of the healing issues that I needed to manage. You talked about, your class on manifesting with prosperity, finances, money. I struggled with that

Pam: 15:47

for a long time, Colleen.

Colleen: 15:49

That's why. Me too. Yeah. And I see it all the time. People, but the bottom line for me was That if I could not support myself financially with my Reiki business, I had to have a different job or another business because it really needed to financially support me. And so that was one of the big guidances to you have to get comfortable with this. You have to heal that part of you that is uncomfortable. And what was interesting with the outcome of that is that actually once I got comfortable, with charging money, with creating a financial stability with my business and even calling it a Reiki business instead of, oh, I'm practicing Reiki. Calling it a business is that's when my clients and students actually got more comfortable. It's funny because, yeah Reiki, a Reiki business is the same as any other small business in the 21st century. You're still going to be self employed, you will financially support yourself. I know you're in Canada, but here in the States, we have to buy our own health care insurance and, all the things like. Marketing, as you said, you're having a marketing class, like those are all real parts of a reiki business. So I had to adapt to some of that because originally it was about the healing arts of it, but it was also guiding me into my own personal spiritual practice and my my inner learning of who I am in my. The at a time that, that self discovery is what I was focused on. And it just all was together. How the Reiki practices, the Reiki business, the personal healing, the empowerment that it brought is what brought it all together to help me actually establish a Reiki business that was successful. Move into success consciousness, business comprehension and consciousness, personal, oh maybe a little bit of self worth and deserving. I had a lot of problem with that too. And deserving it and one of the big ones is that it was easier Than I thought Act and you that you thought it should be It should be. But I had such a belief that everything had to be hard work. Me too. That I complicated things by making it harder work than it actually was. So that's also another area that I would say the spirit of my. Reiki business was helping me. So I would think of it as something that is going to be unique and individual to each person according to what they need. For those of us years ago, we were some of the new ones. doing this work, developing the languaging around it. What is, I remember back then, there was so much talk about, we need to make sure that we are only speaking in mainstream languaging. And there was another area that, working with the spirit of my Reiki business what does that mean? And who is the mainstream. And then I looked around and I thought, we're the mainstream. I don't live a different life than everybody else. I live in a home and have, everything that people do. I pay bills. I have to grocery shop and take care of parents and in laws and kids and, animals and the whole thing. So it's not a different life than other people that are mainstream. So that was a really interesting one for me. And realizing that the way that I do talk is more mainstream than what we thought back then. So things like talking about spirit guides. And I have to admit, some of these early articles that I wrote Reiki and nature spirits, and that one, how to talk to a tree, and way back then, it was like this is definitely not the mainstream.

Pam: 20:42

It was, there were new concepts. And I read in my first article about how to attune animals. That was a brand new concept at the time. And so we were, it's true. We were bringing new concepts forward.

Colleen: 20:56

And old concepts. making the move, and and it was pretty uncomfortable sometimes. I was like, oh, I am saying this out loud. I'd get that nudge, say it, write it. You need to write this. You need to write this. And, of course, now today, I'm pretty comfortable and used to myself and the things that

Pam: 21:18

we say. I just have to share with you that my poor mother, the first time I advertised my animal communication class, which has become really popular, and I'm working on a book on that subject right now and expanding the class, she said, Pam, You can't advertise that. You can't put that out there. They're going to lock you up. And it was a very real fear of hers. She wasn't trying to be mean. She was frightened that, this was just too not mainstream, yeah.

Colleen: 21:51

I know what you mean. It's so true and actually that's one of the things I talk about pretty often that I think has suppressed so many of our abilities is that it actually was important for, in your mother's case, to teach a child Don't say these things out loud. I don't know how many

Pam: 22:12

times when I share my intuition as a child, she'd say, Pam, you can't tell people that.

Colleen: 22:18

That was, we think of it as, oh man, they shouldn't have done that. But actually that was practical in those days. It was practical. It was practical. And back even those generations before them, it's don't go around telling people you talk to God. I've talked to God since I was a child. Talked to animals. Yeah.

Pam: 22:40

And she would just say Pam, just, she never said that, that I made it up or it was wrong. She just said, you can't tell people that. Yeah.

Colleen: 22:49

Yeah. Seriously, that's fair enough. And so in a lot of ways, one of the things I think that we are doing in this, kind of generation, and those of us working in these fields right now, is we are normalizing it, and we are making it, We are the mainstream. We are the, mainstream professions of people that are not working full time with Reiki businesses. People are working with Reiki in every walk of life. And and it is normalizing. So that was another piece that was really helpful with, I think, this spirit of my Reiki business would push me, it'd be like that little nudge inside, do it. Do that ceremony. Write that article. Teach that class. Communicate with the animals and talk about it. And, so interesting, and I'm sure you're the same way. I didn't know people didn't talk to animals until I saw that there was an animal communication class. It was like I better take that and find out. And then it was, I thought, I've always talked to animals and I just thought everybody did until I was an adult and found out that no, not everybody does. And not even all animal people talk to animals. No, it's just surprising, which actually I think as we teach animal Reiki, we discover they do. They just don't know the method in which they are. communicating with their animals. And once it clicks in, then they become fluent. And, they really do realize, how they've been doing it a lifetime.

Pam: 24:38

Just looks or sounds different than they thought.

Colleen: 24:41

Exactly. Exactly. So anyway, so it's been a journey with it. And that spirit of my Reiki business is still always there, helping me guiding me. I connect in with it, I listen with it. The mental emotional symbol is really helpful. Okay, we're working with it. to because I think of the mental emotional SHK that symbol as all things communication. And so as it is assisting us with communications, it's really communication with anything. And so we can communicate with spirit guides, we can communicate, with this one happens to have a specific purpose and working with me with my Reiki business. We can communicate with animals, with trees, with the water, we can communicate and we have so many skills. So that symbol, the distance symbol, of course, moves us into heart to heart, and so that can really help us with the connection. At the same time, I want everybody to feel free to use any of your symbols you feel guided to use, and also, if you are Reiki 1, and you're not working with symbols at all, The energy will absolutely guide you and, you don't have to remember, Oh, work with this symbol or that symbol. Just invite Reiki to come in and help. I like identifying the different symbols that I'm working with because for me, they have specific energies. At the same time, I call them all in. Me too, for everything. Yeah, I just was like, okay, everybody here. Sometimes I say all their names. Sometimes I just am like Reiki on Mrs. Takato. Okay, Reiki on. But. I, at the same time Nosa in Kaurna Reiki, another great one, because Nosa, to me, activates your authentic intellect. And so that part of you that has innovation and creativity and curiosity, and that's where that The spirit guide can really help you because it's tapping into, that passion that you have. It's tapping into then the practicalities of how do you apply it all in today's world. Yeah. And

Pam: 27:23

that was my next question, Colleen, is if you can expand on the practicality. So once you connect with the spirit of your Reiki business, like we're then. Trying to bring form to the formless, and I often tell people to be patient with themselves, that this can take time I think about us with Animal Reiki bringing form to the formless, and it had its own timeline, and it didn't really care what our timeline

Colleen: 27:51

was. Yeah, it definitely did not. And,

Pam: 27:55

so you know, there, there can be divine timing. Can you talk about some of the practicalities, like once you do connect with that spirit of your business, like then how does it come to be present on the earth in

Colleen: 28:10

this moment in time? I think, again, that will be individual for each person. For me there's both the nebulous part of it. I do a lot of wandering and wondering, so sometimes I'm receiving insight just through thinking about a business subject, doing other things I'm doing and just, receiving the insights. I do think there's a level of receiving involved with it. So that's another piece of it that I ask to receive and specifically guidance with my business. And I listen to the energy of the business as much as the what has to happen on a practical level. At the same time, business is material. It's manifesting, it's physical, it's focus, it's also study. For me, I have always loved business practices, so I'm lucky that way, not everybody does, but they are necessary. And Again, today, what we can do back then, I, did a lot with community colleges and taking courses not necessarily to get degrees, but just courses, some of them were even night school and just practical courses. Today, I do a lot of research on YouTube. I spent a good amount of time on YouTube and investigating things. And so I might be thinking about what do I need to do for marketing? And marketing for me took me a while to really I've always had a natural ability for marketing, but Took me a while to understand what that really was about and how it was about sharing my message, sharing who I am, sharing what my services are, sharing how those help people is the big thing is why does this matter to somebody? How can it help them? How can it solve their problems? How can it help them create and thrive in their life? And it helped me in a very practical way with marketing. And, in fact, I'm doing that right now. Robin and I are redoing our website. And, we're getting back to languaging again. What do we want to say? Branding. What is branding? What does it all look like? How is it aesthetically pleasant or pleasing? Just if you have a brick and mortar store, what are you going to do for decor? Your website's the same thing. What colors do you use? Those practicalities. Some of those things are, of course, personal decisions that I like. So I'm not thinking, Oh, every time I'm waiting for my spirit guide to tell me, Oh, you like these colors or use these colors. But there's a collaboration. There's a listening. There's a you know, listening together. And now, of course, Robin is part of Reiki Lifestyle 2 and an equal partner with me. And she has her own spirit of her Reiki business because she has her part and the meaning of it for her. And how does she express herself? So the practicalities of things like charging money and getting comfortable with that and healing the parts of me that are uncomfortable or that as we were dancing around the subject a minute ago, that willingness to put myself out there. Oh, that was

Pam: 32:11

that was like, I was coming out of the Reiki closet.

Colleen: 32:15

Exactly. Avatar. Yeah. And, at the time I was also involved as a lobbyist in the Oregon Legislature. Some of that I was politically involved. My son was in college with political science and here I am talking about meeting fairies and trees and, so how do I, How does that reconcile? I said that might be a rough one for you in politics. And he was like Bill Clinton's mother is pretty off the wall. I was like, no, but she drinks and gambles, that people get. That's a little bit different. Anyway, that, that, That willingness to put myself out there to, to manage some of the criticism because I definitely dealt with it within my own family even to the level of pretty close to estrangement, not complete. But, long distances of time between seeing each other or talking to each other. And definitely some really big religious differences that were hard to manage. And my own religious upbringing, I was raised Catholic and how does this fit? And interestingly enough, back then it was really the Catholic nuns. who were practicing Reiki very active in Catholic healing circles. And that didn't change until 2008. So at that time, it was actually a little bit more comfortable through Catholicism and that childhood upbringing, which I had left the church way before that. Once I started questioning authority and there was another piece of it was that inner authority and that my truth is equal to anyone else's truth, right? That took a long time to believe and to. Like really earn and earn, I say that see there's that earn word, Reiki is like you don't have to earn it, it just is. But to really move through that belief in earning it or deserving it or working hard enough for it, all of those. and have no innate beliefs Wallace so on a practical level I believe that guest I Andy Byrn and Meented and wellness. is also the understanding that we have a small business in the 21st century. And so many changes. I was back in the day when we were, so excited to have, I used to have to go to the printing Store, they didn't have personal printers, and I'd print things, cut and paste, and, stick it on a document, and then scan it, and things like that, so going from there, and then suddenly there was, getting used to social media, Facebook, and that one was a big one because I really resisted it until I had a client who was from a very, she lived here, but her whole family was in a very war torn country and active war at the time in Syria. And and it was, just a terrible time for that country and for those people and asking her how she connected with her family. And she said, Oh, Facebook. That's when it clicked. It's Okay, so how am I going to contribute wellness into this space? Again, there's that connection with the spirit of the Reiki business, because it's going to be engaged in the higher frequencies of those thoughts. It's going to engage in the higher frequencies of possibilities. and engage in the awareness that at the time not really knowing what we know now that we are moving into global communication and how do I contribute wellness to that instead of adding challenge or, or being challenged and healing myself and my, any dislike of the whole thing and. Exposure again, social media, boy you're putting yourself out there. So I

Pam: 37:18

resisted all technology and you've really helped me overcome that. But I guess as I listened to you, I'm realizing, yeah, my business wanted me to overcome all of that technological resistance. We couldn't be doing this podcast without technology. We couldn't be, like you said, putting that higher. frequency of energy, that higher vibration into social media. You've told me before how important that is. And I agree with you. My, my feed is beautiful.

Colleen: 37:51

And you know what? It's happening, whether we go along for the ride or not. The train's going by and you and I have talked a lot about AI and chat GPT and all of those things. I know there's a controversy around it, but it's happening whether we're controversial or not. So for me, it's okay, I have this kind of a brain that is fairly good with technology, but I'm still my age. with these brain synapses that are not like the kids who grew up, natively with technology. So it's a lot more effort for me, but I recognize where it's going in, again, if you really look at the higher frequencies of it, which is what, when you're working with spirit guides, it helps you do. Reiki helps you entrain to the higher frequencies of every situation and every thought and imagination that then you want to practically manifest. It's brought me to an awareness that I even want to keep up. I like the ideas. I do too now and I don't know why

Pam: 39:12

I resisted it so hard for so long. I'm grateful to you for, getting me over some of that resistance and Reiki, of course, got me over the resistance just in time, just before COVID.

Colleen: 39:28

And now there's a really good example of the spirit of my Reiki business. Robin was already working with me at that time. And I think I said Robin's my daughter. So just in case I keep mentioning her. And I've

Pam: 39:44

mentioned her without saying that she's your daughter and your business

Colleen: 39:48

partner, but. But she's also, an extraordinary Reiki master, Reiki practitioner, teacher, developer in her own right. And so anyway, she was already working with me when we were so compelled. This had to be 2016. I can't remember the exact dates, but we were so compelled to learn. How to teach Reiki classes online and not the attunement classes because that at that time we weren't doing weren't able to wasn't done. No but we were teaching our next step and At that time, we didn't have the Twelve Heavens class, but we were teaching our Next Step Reiki classes, which are an advanced level of Reiki training. And after, after you've received Reiki One and Two, a lot of times people are like now what? So we were developing those classes. And we were so compelled to learn how to teach Reiki online, even traveling to study with online teachers. Like really we dove deep into it. So we learned how to use Zoom. And at the time, we just thought this reaches more people in the world. People can study with us because and study these topics, not so much just with us, but these topics and they don't have to travel for it. So that's what we thought it was about. Then when COVID hit and we all went into lockdown and William Rand was guided that he had received another evolution of the Reiki energy or us evolving to the Reiki energy. that would help us teach and practice online, align with technology, and align with the energy of teaching online and teaching Reiki energy online. And when he called, it was a Thursday night. And he called and said, what do you think about this? And let's do some work with it. And we were doing the work with it immediately. Robin and I were, we met with him the next day. We knew how to teach people how to use Zoom. And We were able to help him develop a webinar with both receiving so people could receive the, this additional energy, but also we were able to write a whole supplement. on how to to teach Reiki online, how to practice Reiki online. That's when we started our distance Reiki share was an online Reiki share. They had always been in person here in Portland. And at the time we just thought we will teach this. online, the distance Reiki share, so that we could teach people how to do it too, for their communities. And so there would be this ripple of an outreach for everybody. And we knew, oh, that's why we've been so compelled. We love our Next Step classes. And now that's evolved into the 12 Heavens class. And, we teach all of our other classes online too. But now we know. Oh, that's where that compelling guidance came from, is that we were able to write that supplement, produce that webinar with William, with the office, and also Danny and our Reiki Lifestyle team within two weeks. within two weeks

Pam: 43:40

of the pandemic. It was really, and I'm so grateful that you were because I had, I still was overcoming some of my fear of technology. And, after attending that webinar, I knew exactly how to teach online and I taught online immediately. And was so grateful for the ability to do that, to, to be able to help people. I, when I got stuck at Heathrow Airport during the I really got a serious nudge get over your fear of technology. You need technology right now in order to help people. People need help.

Colleen: 44:16

Exactly. So that's what I mean by sometimes I don't know why and one of the things I have to say that both Robin and I are really good with is just listening, as you know with the Animal Reiki, there's another good example. I thought my whole career that I would be teaching Animal Reiki. That's

Pam: 44:40

all I wanted to teach.

Colleen: 44:42

And it's all. Yes, exactly.

Pam: 44:44

It's such a surprise to me to have. for Reiki to reveal that wait the human is an animal and I love animals therefore I must love humans and that just blew the doors open. I had no intention of teaching humans.

Colleen: 44:59

Exactly right. You too. Yeah I just thought and actually though I have to admit I've always loved people. So I'm really blessed with that, that I've always liked people because I know that's not true for everybody. And even people thinking they wanted to teach animal Reiki or practice animal Reiki and it's like one of the main things we teach is you will be. Animals have caretakers. They have caregivers. You will be working with people, but I've always liked people, so that part of it I was good with. I just was perplexed because it also told me I was, I thought I'd be teaching children. I also had very early success with autism, and so I thought, oh, it's going to take me that way, and It wasn't until we finished the Animal Reiki Manual 2019, started teaching it online because we had online Reiki in 2020, and it's a full circle that we now have the Animal Reiki Master Manual, and the One and Two Manuals are in the complete edited form. So it's full circle from way back when my horse showed me that I needed to receive Reiki and that he had gone lame to deliver me to my power to heal, which is a quote. That's what he said at the time was, I went lame to deliver you to your power to heal. And then that brought it all the way through all of this. After I received Reiki and that spirit of my Reiki business and, it's funny because until this conversation, I don't think I've really talked at this length about how much guidance. And how much reliance I have on that connection and the listening and setting aside that ego part of me, not that I don't have a drive I am driven I am naturally ambitious and I've tried to not be, but it really is. I'm

Pam: 47:27

the same way, and it just, it doesn't seem to work.

Colleen: 47:30

No, it's I tried for a while to okay, I'm just not going to but now what? Yeah, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. So that's just a personality part. And probably also part of my mother's, training get up, get to work, get things done. Have a business. She was a serial entrepreneur. So I learned a lot of business from her growing up. So anyway, now I can reflect as you're bringing all these questions in to all of the ways. that I have just a natural connection with that spirit of Reiki lifestyle and all that it brings to me. And if I just stay in a state of receiving, it's like I know what's next. Yeah. At the same time, sometimes people will say just let Reiki guide you. you still need to be guided to business practices in the 21st century. So I want to be really clear with that because the practicality is that you still have to do things like marketing, social media, websites, scheduling, money, taxes, health care, all of the things that go with any other small business practice. applies to a Reiki practice, even though it's a spiritual practice and, has a, but, and I say that, but that's not true for everybody either. You can practice Reiki from a non spiritual perspective and it is as powerful of a, an energy for people from all of their way of thinking about it. Many people are not spiritual practitioners with Reiki. So it doesn't have to be. And they can perceive the spirit of their Reiki business however it makes sense to them. It doesn't have to be like for me there's a beingness to it. And again, a lot of it is because I like it like that, I like that reference. I like that way of thinking about it, but anybody can think about it however they do. It could be I'm tapping into my levels of consciousness, of business consciousness, of success consciousness. And, honing in to that part within that also has external higher frequencies of knowledge and wisdom and all of those things. That's one nugget I would like to leave with everybody. One of the primary things that we teach is Reiki your way. And that you get to perceive all of this your way. Use Reiki the way that it makes sense to you. You can. go into long journeys with and meditations with these ideas. You can think it on the fly. You can ask for insights. You can study and research. There is plenty of this. that I research online, as well as the metaphysical research, the spiritual research, but I also practice ordinary reality research as well. There's study like your business book, which by the way, I have to give you a plug for anybody listening. It is an excellent book and I love the way you marry the energy with those business practices, those ideas of going within to discover what these practices are for you in this moment. And yeah, in fact, I was just showing people today, so I have it right here because I'm always talking about it because there aren't really a lot of really good resources out there for building Reiki business. William has his with creating a thriving Reiki business. Karen Harrison and I definitely have articles, but a really good book like yours, it's a very valuable resource. Thank you.

Pam: 52:08

I did link your articles and William's articles with your permission into my book because I found them so valuable as well. The funny thing is I forgot to put, link my own articles to the book.

Colleen: 52:23

Always right. There's another area. Self promotion. Oh no, right? My bio? Yikes. Self promotion.

Pam: 52:33

Well, Colleen, just before we go into a meditation with with this so that people can find this, meet this Spirit of their reiki business or their practice. One of the things that you talked about was listening and being open to receive. How would somebody go about that if that's not part of their regular

Colleen: 52:53

practice? It in itself is a practice. And for me, developing listening skills and receiving skills has been really a since I started with Reiki, it has been one of the great teachers or teachings of Reiki for me on a personal level. I was always an over giver. I love giving. It's part of my love language. It's who I am. But I also did it at the expense of never receiving. And I had to learn, I had to actually teach myself how to receive. And I will tell you, that information came in from Kuan Yin, who if anybody isn't familiar with her, she is an Eastern goddess of mercy and compassion. And so she's in the Divine Mother realms, like Mother Mary, maybe not exactly that same, same thing, but in those frequencies, and she's the one who came in and explained to me that receiving is half of the creation force with the divine feminine that the divine feminine creates. through receiving. Divine masculine creates through giving. And this isn't gender based, this is archetypal. So she was showing me that if I am only giving, I am missing half of the creation life force energy. And that I had to learn to heal my resistance to receiving, my misunderstanding as to what that actually meant. And I actually started working with the languaging around it. So I actively practiced using the word I receive or receiving in my everyday language so that I could teach myself. I asked Reiki to teach me how to receive when we do. work. I see that a lot with, I'm working with the sisters in the light, and they will bring in that ability to receive blessings for people. And, the blessing of receiving. And again, that isn't gender based that is for men and women equally. And, all the different binaries and non binaries and, so none of it is about that. gender base. It's about the archetypal energy of the divine feminine coming onto the planet to teach us how to receive at this most pivotal point in human history, because we need to receive our solutions. We need to receive our resources. We need to receive new possibilities and innovations and receiving them from these higher frequencies so that they hold that higher frequency in our the innovations in the ideas. And one of the things that you mentioned in your Reiki business book was how you added the links to my articles, William's articles. One of the things that we really promote is sharing resources. Yeah. That, they are it's here. I hope that what I've learned can help another person. And if another person can use that information I want them to. And the sharing of information, the sharing of ideas and then also letting go of any attachment to the outcome of that sharing, whether people follow it, don't follow it. That openness of providing resources that I know about that hopefully people don't have to start over from the very beginning. So I know you mentioned your beginning marketing course that's coming up. It's so helpful for people to share things. That, hey, try this. Here are the resources for it. Here's what I know. Here's what other people know that I can share with you. It's so important in today's world that we receive and then we also give. Because I'm still a giver. Yeah. But now I also receive. I struggle. That's a huge difference. It

Pam: 57:48

is. I struggle. Reiki showed me I had to be open to receive as well, a little bit differently, but similarly to, to you. And that's. That's that sharing that you're talking about, that's what we tried to do with the business courses. It's it took me nine years to learn this, but I think I can teach it to you in a half an hour. And I can save you a lot of time and effort and money because, don't waste your money where I wasted it or the time where I wasted it. And yeah you're absolutely right, Colleen.

Colleen: 58:23

We need it. We do. We need to share. It's one of the things I love about Reiki energy and I really believe this is because of Yosui. There's no competition. And Yosui, the very first decision Yosui Sensei made was to share Reiki and spread it in the world. He came off of Mount Kurama with that purpose of spiritual peace and purpose of sharing Reiki, teaching it in the world. He attuned over 2, 000 people in four years. He helped the people in the earthquake. He taught other Reiki masters that could teach that could, then they could spread it. And, then leading to Dr. Hayashi and Mrs. Takada and making its way through the West, all of that goes back to his original intention of sharing it with the world, spread it in the world. And you

Pam: 59:25

know, Colleen, I keep coming back to the fact that he chose to share it through a Reiki

Colleen: 59:30

business. Through a Reiki business. That is such an important point, Pam, because we'll see a lot of divisiveness about that, that Reiki shouldn't be a business or that we shouldn't be financially supported or make money through Reiki. We're always doing plenty of free work, so there's no concern that there is no giving, there's plenty of that, but if you really go back to the history, Yosui absolutely immediately established a Reiki business. He charged money and he didn't charge money. So as Mrs. Takata taught that we always had to charge money, what we know now is that it's okay to do either. You can share it. For free. You can also give it for bartering exchanges and you can also, there's absolutely a historic basis for creating a Reiki business and speaking of mainstream. That is what also helps it to be more mainstream.

Pam: 1:00:42

It helps people to understand the parameters around it and it helps them to participate in the exchange. It's I struggled so much with charging money. I would give it away for free and I actually, my discomfort would make my clients uncomfortable. They never came back until I started charging a fair exchange. Same thing. Then they did start coming back, when they came and I'd say, no, that's all right. It's, I was glad to do it. You thought you were being generous, but once again, the energy was showing me I wasn't open to receiving.

Colleen: 1:01:17

There it is, right? And it made them uncomfortable. And what I realized is I'm imposing my discomfort on them. And yeah, because it was. It was really also about discomfort. At first, it wasn't. At first, it was like, I just want to give Reiki to as many people as I can. And as often as I can, I had nothing to do with starting a Reiki business. I definitely had no idea that I was going to. I just loved it. But then it got to where I couldn't do as much Reiki as I wanted to do unless I had a business with it. Because I also my husband has, his own construction company and he's successful in his own right. But we definitely are a two income household. And it's I wasn't born wealthy. And even if I was, I'm certain I was still going to be really compelled. Like it just has to, it just absolutely that spirit of my Reiki business is like, Get up, go do it for today,

Pam: 1:02:26

Sometimes it wakes me up at 4am and I'm like, seriously?

Colleen: 1:02:30

I'll wake up and I think, oh, what should I write today? Yeah. Almost like first thoughts wait, I just, can I just like. Chill out for a minute, get up.

Pam: 1:02:43

I usually am like, Hey, what is it I get to do today? And exactly go through the list is, Oh yeah, I get to record podcast today. And then LRMT meeting. And this is great.

Colleen: 1:02:57

I absolutely, I have to say last week we taught, I had a Reiki one and two. Animal Reiki one and two and Animal Reiki master back to back. So Monday through Sunday. I, yesterday Robin and I were talking and I was like, I just loved it so much. Every day I was just so happy with it. And it's like you wake up enthused and the other thing I would say for those of you considering a Reiki business is the community. of Reiki people is just, they are just wonderful people. And speaking of receiving, we receive just the nicest emails, cards in the mail, things like that. Yeah. Presents. Just small things, but just like really nice. And the community, like our distance Reiki share typically we have about 100 people a week that come from all over the world. And the community is just there supporting one another. And, we're all on our own journey. We're all at different places in our life. Some are in, very deep difficulty and crisis. Other are in, fantastic thriving and creation and things and everything in between and we're all there just supportive. Yeah. Again, I think it goes back to Yusui Sensei's first decision to share it with the world. And, because it would have been more normal for him to keep it for his own family as a kind of secret method that they knew that they could keep, for just their family's prosperity. He absolutely, immediately made the decision to open a clinic and spread it to others, teach others as quickly as he could. And that's why, I think speaking of spirit of the Reiki business, he was guided to add the attunements a year later, after he received the energy on Mount Karama. A year later is when he realized if I add attunements to this, that's and it was a just a huge game changer for everybody so you know, it allowed it to be connected easily and efficiently and always so that Reiki energy is what we're always working with. So Anyway, you and I could talk forever, so we'd better, and I know it's much more late, or much later where you are. It is later,

Pam: 1:06:00

but, Colleen, would you lead us in just a short guided meditation, so that we could connect with the spirit of our own Reiki business or practice? Whatever that might be. And one of the things, one of the concepts in the Reiki business book that I want to bring forward here is the whole time I was creating that, the energy kept saying that Not everybody is meant to have the type of business that Colleen and I have. Some people are meant to be artists that bring Reiki into their art. So it could be that the spirit of your Reiki business is actually going to integrate into perhaps what you already do, like a lawyer or a doctor or a hairdresser or It may be that the spirit of your Reiki business is meant to come into the career that you're already,

Colleen: 1:06:58

Active in. And, just your job. I know that was one of the things Danny talked about. Danny works with Reiki Lifestyle. And when she was working with us, maybe for the first six or seven years and she talked about how You know, it just wasn't her timing to start a Reiki business, right? And so she realized that how the spirit of her Reiki practice was working for her was through her work with us doing all the admin things. Now she's been guided to start her practice. So she actually provides sessions now on a pretty continual basis and full time, and it integrates, she's part of the Reiki Lifestyle team and we refer people to her for sessions all the time because she's an excellent practitioner. And so sometimes the timing just isn't there yet. And... It may come later, but it may show up in a completely different way, as you're saying, for anything that anybody's doing. There's, and being, there's no, no requirements around it. That's why I differentiate the awareness of having a Reiki practice. You can have Reiki, a Reiki practice and not have a Reiki business. If you have a Reiki business, you will still have a Reiki practice. Some people may want to connect with

Pam: 1:08:31

their Reiki practice today if they're not interested in a business.

Colleen: 1:08:36

Yeah, so that's what we'll do in this this journey that we're going to do, the guided journey, and it's a Reiki journey, and we'll meet the spirit of your Reiki practice. So that be a business, and that may be your own personal Reiki practice. So however that works for you. Again, we talked about it today with business, but I mean it absolutely as much for your Reiki practices. And your Reiki practice may be for you only. There's a lot about that you have to share it with others about being here for you. And that makes a difference that it's we all make a difference just by adding to our own well being. Thank you, Colleen. Yeah. Okay, let's go ahead and just take a minute and go into this meditation. I am going to start it with activating Reiki within each person so that you're fully engaged with the Reiki energy as well. Okay, so go ahead and there will probably be a short period of silence so that you can be in that meeting without me talking. Go ahead and get comfortable and you can close your eyes. Take some deep breaths and just begin letting go of the busyness of your day and all the things that we've just talked about and all the things there are to think about. Give yourself this time to be about you. and for you. Place your hands in Gassho, your two hands coming together at your heart. Breathe deeply. Open your heart and receive. Receive the gift of love. Receive the light of your authentic self. Place your hands comfortably on your body. Continue to receive. As the light of Reiki fills your breath, your hands. The power of love flows in on your breath and awakens. The power of love right here at the core of your being. Revealing the power of love. is who you are. And as you breathe in the light and the power of the divine mind, the pure mind. And the light of the divine mind travels in on your breath, flowing into your body, awakening and revealing your divine mind, your higher consciousness and higher thought, and opening the field of possibilities. And as you breathe in the light of the divine mind, your authentic intuition, Imagination and instincts are revealed and awake. Your inner truth is revealed, your inner authority, and your inner awareness is revealed. And as you breathe in the light of the divine heart, it fills your heart, and your heart light shines in front of you, and behind you, and above you, below you, within you. The light of the earth rises through you as the divine earth fills your body and your breath. The creation essence of the earth, life force and light force. The elements of the earth The strength of the earth and the colors of the earth all fill your body and your breath. And when you listen, you can hear the heartbeat of the earth, beating in the same rhythm as your own heart. And as you breathe in the light of creation. The light of God, the light of resources, the light from creation and of the universe and the four winds, and the light fills your breath and flows through your body and is unified right here within you like the tree of life. As your spirit ignites within, Your roots grow around you in a great circle, stable and strong and receiving the nourishment of the earth, your branches reaching to the heavens and receiving from the light of the infinite realms The creation realm, the realms of your spirit flowing into your body and the stability of the earth, the beauty of the heavens revealed right here in your heart, the light of divine compassion awakens within you, Zonar, Halu, Hearth, Rama, Nosa, activating your authentic intellect, Yaba, your authentic power, Shanti, your authentic peace, Kriya, your authentic knowing and priorities awakening within you as your perceptions expand around you to the beautiful beings of the light that are here. the spirit of the earth, divine animal kingdom, the angels and the archangels, our brothers and sisters in the light, the ascended masters, and those you are in relationship with, your spiritual guides and teachers, the spirit of your Reiki practice. Spirit of your Reiki business. It's all right here as your perceptions expand and you notice that out in front of you is a bridge of light and that you are here at this moment in time and you listen within. For as you go across the bridge of light there are questions that you have, goals that you have, things that you decide you would like to be. And so you step onto the bridge of light and you step through the colors on the bridge, walking through the red and the orange and the yellow, walking through the green and blue and indigo and violet. the bridge of light to the third heaven and the place of pure consciousness where all there is love. The river of life flows underneath the bridge and there's a pathway leading along the river and you decide to follow the path and the path leads you to a place where you can go to the river and you walk to the river's edge and you look around you and you realize You belong here. Everything drinks of the river of life. The living waters are the primordial waters of creation. The trees and the animals, the water dwellers. The air and the flowers, the little insects of the world, all are here at the river of life. And you realize you are a part of the circle of life with everything else that is here. The light from the highest heavens is shining on the waters. Sparkling light fills your breath, flowing into your eyes and all the way to your soul. Prisms of color and sparkling light fill the sparkling light within you, colors within you. And here at the river's edge, in these crystal clear, pure waters, you cup your hands into the water. Bring it to your mouth and take a long drink as the living waters flow through you. You stand here by the river's edge and the light of Reiki fills your breath and washes over you. You can hear the song of the river, the song of the angels, and the song of the tree. Awakening your soul. And as you breathe in the light. And the light fills your breath and flows into your body. And sometimes there can be layers that hide it all from your own view, making it difficult for you to see you, to hear you, to know you. And so here, at the river's edge, the envelops those layers. Any of the cords and connectors that attach those layers and burdens to you and for any reason they're there through all of the ways and worries of the world from other lifetimes, this lifetime, your soul's history, ancestral histories, The light travels in on your breath and releases and dissolves those cords and connectors that hold those layers and burdens and attachments with you. Many old vows or oaths, promises, maybe even curses or vows. spoken or spells in other lifetimes, perhaps even a vow of poverty to know God or a vow of poverty or a life. And so the river and this light travels in on your breath and it just simply envelops you through this power and authority of love. and divine compassion and releases these burdens from you for you and all that you let go of is carried into the light where it also is healed and so you are free to let go of those burdens to let those burdens be healed outside of you from any time for any reason that they are there and opening the freedom within you to be in your authentic self, your sovereign self, to be in your wholeness, to thrive and be well. And so you receive the light of Reiki as it fills your breath and you'd cup your hands in the river again, those crystal clear waters, the purity of the waters, and take another long drink and they flow through your body, the living waters. Filling you with color and light and the strength and the power of the earth and the creation life force within you and all around you. And that there's a pathway, and the Enlightened Ones are here, are guiding you. And you decide to follow the path, and after a while, you come to another pathway, and there's a celebration here. There's excitement that you're here, and you see this pathway opening to a beautiful field, and the field is a meadow filled with flowers. and soft grass and butterflies and as you walk through this field the butterflies lift into the air and each one is a new possibility for you and you find the most beautiful place to sit and reflect with the brilliant blue sky and puffy white clouds and the songs of the birds the rustle of the tree and you begin gazing up into the heavens and the light shines directly on you through you and you open your heart and receive As you receive, the light guides you and a beautiful being of the light from all the ones gathered here comes to you and it meets with you and sits down next to you so that you can meet this beautiful being and it says that it is here to help you with your Reiki practice and business, if you like. And it has the wisdom of the ages and the knowledge and it knows you well and what it is that you ask. And so here in this place, in this field of possibilities, the light and the blessings abundant and all around you, you take this time now to meet the spirit of your Reiki practice. to ask them who they are. Do they have a name? What do they want you to know? What are the gifts they share with you? What are the gifts you share with them? How can they help you overcome your obstacles or resistances? And so you invite them to show you your inner truth to guide you through the resourcefulness. that you are needing and looking for and wanting and discovering. So take this time now and spend this time with the spirit of your Reiki business, the spirit of your Reiki practice. Follow the light. And now, invite the spirit of your Reiki practice to join you, to guide you. even when you forget to ask. And just know that you can come back here to the field of possibilities anytime. You can also meet it in your way anytime. And there's a celebration here that you have found your way here. And so you decide now to follow the pathway. Leading back along the path with the river of life, beauty and love and joy fill your heart. Gratitude and your spiritual teachers and guides are here with you as you follow the path back towards the bridge of life. Stopping along the way at the river of life to take another long drink as the living waters flow through you, filling you with such joy and truth and beauty. Ideas and Innovation, Pathways, Openheartedness, Receiving. And now you walk back across the bridge, through the violet, the indigo, and the blue, the green and the yellow, the orange and the red, bringing your awareness back to this moment, and you go within and listen for today. What is one piece of advice? or a gift that the spirit of your Reiki practice is giving you here right now. As you receive this gift, what is your next step? Now you can take as long as you like. When you're ready, bring your awareness to your eyes and your breath. Perhaps you would like to write about your experience. Let yourself free write the gifts that you've received and your next step. Look inside and say thank you to you. We say thank you to each other. Thank you to the enlightened ones and to Reiki that has joined us. The spirit of your Reiki practices for those of you with businesses. And we say thank you to the teachers who came before us, the descendants who come after. We are so very honored to be here in the middle of the light beings, light bringers, this moment in time. Thank you. And so it is. Thank you.

Pam: 1:34:04

Thank you, Colleen. That was just beautiful.

Colleen: 1:34:09

Ah,

Pam: 1:34:10

I appreciate everyone who showed up here with us today as well. However you do it, just know that you are spreading light and love in the world, and we appreciate you.

Colleen: 1:34:24

Namaste. Love it. It's so great. That's what when it said, what is my next step? Yeah. It's like appreciation. Appreciation. That was so great, that's

Pam: 1:34:37

what you said. And then that's the word that comes to me.

Colleen: 1:34:40

Huh, it was like appreciation. That's my next step. I'm like, okay, I like that. I do too. Yeah.

Pam: 1:34:51

Colleen, thanks so much for being with us here today and exploring this concept. I think it's going to help a lot of people.

Colleen: 1:35:01

Thank you and thank everyone else here, too.

Pam: 1:35:04

All right. Goodbye,

Colleen: 1:35:06

everyone. Bye, everyone.