By Patricia Sheehan
In 2002, I had been working in the Pharmaceutical Industry for twenty years. I loved my job – great working hours: 7:30am to 1:30pm, allowing me time with my husband and three boys – then aged 5, 7 and 10. Also, I loved the people I worked with. So, why resign?
From as far back as I can remember, I have always been interested and intrigued with the vastness of our universe, and with how we can extend our minds beyond what we normally comprehend. At age fourteen, my Dad brought me to Transcendental Meditation. It was very different at that time, but I loved it and meditated daily from the age of 14 to about 20. I then came across Silva Mind Development in 1984. I found it great for expanding my mind, to be more effective. Around this time, I had also taken up Skydiving and found the Silva Mind Development techniques great in this regard. I represented Ireland over 7 years on the National Irish Skydiving team and have a couple of world record achievements to my name and over 1,800 skydives.
Still, I was looking for something!
In 1998, I came across Reiki. Reiki is a simple, hands-on, energy healing technique. It relaxes both the mind and body, releasing physical tension and allowing balance back into mind, body and spirit. One of the best things about Reiki is that it works beyond your mind. So even in those moments when you don’t feel like doing anything, Reiki will bring this powerful divine energy or universal conscious energy through you and alter your state to a happier, more peaceful one. As you clear your energy system, you automatically have more healing energy coming through your hands to provide healing for yourself and others.
After my Reiki Level 1 workshop, I knew this was it, this was a new beginning. I knew I had been looking for something beyond the confines of my mind and, at the same time, I wanted to connect to something greater than myself, but which is also a part of myself. Reiki goes beyond the mind to connect with universal consciousness, all-knowing self and spirit.
At that time, I was juggling a full-time job and looking after our three boys: Tadhg, age 6, Myles, age 3 and Ruairi, age 1. So, life, you could say, was hectic. But even the night routine for the boys was teeth, story and Reiki. Minor ailments like coughs and colds, stomach pains, headaches, etc., were all managed through Reiki. Reiki automatically boosts your immune system. I could see that the boys were not succumbing to normal childhood ailments, or if they did, I would Reiki them for whatever time was needed until they got over the issues, generally with their own energy. I was always healthy, luckily, so I didn’t see any physical changes for myself. I was becoming happier, peaceful and more relaxed.
After Reiki Level 2, in January 1998, I knew I wanted to share my Reiki more and work with other people. Then, in September 2000, I did my Reiki Advanced Practitioner Level. My yearning was to start working at Reiki, but in my mind the question was, “How?” We had 3 young children, a mortgage, and I was well paid, with a pensionable, professional job. It didn’t seem possible. Then, I came across a course called “The Landmark Forum” in February 2002. In this weekend course, I got to understand that anything is possible. I altered my view of life to “anything is possible”. Within 4 months, I had resigned from twenty years in the Pharmaceutical Industry and set up my own Reiki Practice as a Reiki Teacher and Practitioner.
It all happened in 2002. By then, a group of eighty Reiki people from around Ireland met to start up a Professional Reiki Body in Ireland. I joined and, with others, we worked together to establish Reiki Federation Ireland. I became their first PRO. Reiki Federation Ireland is voluntarily run by enthusiastic Reiki Practitioners and Teachers who have an interest in promoting Reiki in Ireland and having Reiki Healing available in mainstream health care. Reiki is finding its place and is being integrated into mainstream health, so people can use Reiki for health maintenance for themselves and their families. Follow your heart, listen to your spirit and your body will be at home.
Reiki Practitioners and Teachers can be found on our Website www.reikifederationireland.com or by phoning 0879819366
