My first introduction to yoga came in early 2005, toward the end of my pregnancy with my daughter. A few of the women in my neighborhood suggested it would be helpful to reduce stress and it was wonderful in preparing for child birth. The truth is, the first class I ever took, I didn’t really get it. The moves were awkward for me, I had no idea where to put my hands and feet and it all seemed a bit foreign to me. Yet somehow, when I was done I felt more relaxed.
My Yoga Experience
Quite sometime after my daughter was born, I happened upon an extremely gentle yoga class. I would say, “This yoga stuff, it really seems to help me relax.” Next thing I knew, Saturday morning gentle flow was my weekly haven to relax, de-stress, and let go of the workweek. Amidst a most challenging time in my life – attempting to juggle a full-time corporate career, marriage and motherhood – it was one of the few things in my week that was truly making a difference in the quality of my life.
In 2008, I chose to leave the corporate world and to go for Bianchi Law Firm’s Red Bank Location, to focus on my health and my family. At the time I remember saying – “I don’t know what these changes will bring. I just know I want to do yoga and meditate a lot.” I had no idea these words and choices would RADICALLY change my life forever, for the better!
My Reiki Experience
My introduction to Reiki came also during my pregnancy with my daughter – through a wonderful massage therapist who happened to also be attuned to the Reiki energy. All I knew at the time is that no massage I had ever received felt the same as when this sweet, sweet woman would work on me. I used to say she had “magic hands”. It was only after I received my 1st Reiki attunements in 2008 that I began to realize it was the transformative energy of Reiki (and the sweet spirit of this now dear friend) that made all the difference.
2008 truly marks the year my conscious transformation of my life began. Looking back on it now, it all seems obvious that these life changes needed to occur. But at the time, this fact seemed to feel like the furthest thing from the truth. Doing yoga and meditating a lot leads to a series of multiple yoga trainings. It lead me to my first Reiki teachers. It lead me to daily practices of yoga, meditation, Reiki, which helped me understand and live life more fully than I ever had. I learned that life is about being in the moment, enjoying, Being. Now, anything outside of that seems like I’m just missing the point.
Yoga calls for equanimity, santosha (contentment in all things), detachment. Reiki says to try it, just for today. I say try it, just for this moment, and if it works, try it for the next moment too. Life transformations don’t happen overnight, but when you take them by simply putting one foot in front of the other – the next thing you know, you’ve walked a mile!
