We have been working to establish an ongoing relationship with the YWCA, which has been tough because they are very busy easing the suffering of those impacted by sexual trauma—and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The stars finally aligned, and Greg and I had a fantastic experience working with this receptive and compassionate group last Friday.

I was invited to give a brief talk to about 40 YWCA staff a few months back, after which they all wanted to try a 10-minute demo. Unfortunately, I was there solo that day! As reiki would have it, Cheryl here, a YWCA staff member, is trained in Reiki Level 2, and jumped in to help out. Greg and I were so happy to be able to offer her some reiki on this, our second visit. Thanks for your help, Cheryl!

The success of all of our outreach events are dependent on finding enthusiastic partners inside organizations. We can’t do it alone! Kelsey has been such a pleasure to work with, orchestrating advance signup for sessions, emailing around our promotional materials to generate awareness and curiosity about the reiki, and being on-hand day-of to handle any last details to make sure both we and the YWCA staff get the most out of our time there. We wish more organizations had Kelseys.

Here’s the sign Kelsey made up all on her own initiative for the hallway outside the room we were in. We dimmed the lights, played some soft music, and used some essential oils to create a multi-sensory environment for staff to enjoy their brief break from their work.

Our hope is that these seeds we’re planting will result in reiki being offered by the YWCA staff to their clients, the assault survivors. See, we store trauma in our bodies energetically, and reiki helps move it out.

A stretch goal would be to be able to work with the perpetrators of these assaults. People don’t attack people unless they themselves are hanging on to a lot of pain.

As we were leaving, after working with roughly 15 YWCA staff and receiving lots of positive feedback about reiki, Kelsey had more good news. She has just been promoted to oversee all nine Chicagoland YWCA locations, and would like us to introduce the staff at each of these locations to reiki as well. Yes, please! And congrats to Kelsey! We can see why she’s being recognized for her leadership!

Some of the feedback we received at the YWCA event:

“Wow. Just wow.”

“I think I fell asleep there for a minute.”

“That’s just what I needed.”

Here’s to more healing, and less traumatizing going forward.

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Here's to raising awareness and availability of the benefits of reiki!
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