I came to Reiki wanting to be a hero — eager to heal others, to fix, to serve. What I didn't yet see was that I was the one who needed healing most.

For a time, my focus remained outward, my energy directed toward others while something quieter within me waited patiently to be seen. It wasn't until an awakening found me that everything shifted. I turned inward. I set down my ego and the need to be someone's savior, and I discovered something far more profound — the extraordinary power of healing yourself, of not waiting for someone else to do it for you.

That surrender was not weakness. It was the bravest thing I ever did.

It also made me a better practitioner. Today, as a Reiki Master Teacher and Certified Natural Healer, I carry that lived experience into everything I teach. When I ask my students to focus on themselves first, I'm not simply giving instruction. I'm sharing the hardest and most beautiful lesson of my own path.

And it brought me here — to this work, to these women, to this purpose. My journey didn't just shape me as a practitioner. It became the very foundation of how I teach.

We cannot pour from an empty cup. But a cup that has been through the fire, cracked open and made whole again — that is the one with the most to offer.