I found Reiki in December of 2016.
Actually...
Reiki found me in December of 2016.
JJ and I had been staying in the town of Rishikesh, India, for about a week. You may have heard me express my love for Rishikesh before... nestled up in the foothills of the Himalayas on the banks of the Ganges River, this town is absolutely magical.
Do you know the feeling when you make it to the top of a mountain summit and see what's on the other side? And you wish everyone you loved was there to experience it with you? That's how I feel about Rishikesh. It's one of the cities I know I will return to someday, hopefully with everyone I love.
Every morning during our 20 days in Rishikesh, we walked down the hill from our guesthouse to get coffee and breakfast at the German Bakery. I'm still confused as to how the concept of a German Bakery made it’s way to small town India... but it's not uncommon to find them sprinkled throughout the country. What I do know is that the veggie scramble was delicious, the cashew crumbles were unavoidable and the coffee was strong. So I’m not going to question it.
One morning, as we were enjoying coffee before yoga, I looked up and saw a poster for “Smile Big Reiki + Yoga.” It was a simple poster. No name. No photos. No intricate design. Just a phone number. I instantly connected with the simple word “smile” and was immediately curious to learn more about this practice that sounded vaguely familiar to me.
Ten years ago, I was on a vacation in Colorado with my family at a dude ranch (photo evidence below). This was my first time in Colorado, and my first time sleeping in the backcountry after riding a horse for what seemed like 100 miles. But that's a story for another time. The altitude was causing me to suffer from debilitating migraines to the point where I couldn’t turn the lights on, or even think about leaving our cabin for dinner.
Dinner at the ranch was family style, and that evening a woman overheard my parents talking about my migraines. She leaned over and said that she was a Reiki master and offered to give me a healing. As lifelong believers of holistic medicine, my parents said yes and brought her up to my room. I can’t say I remember much from the healing, besides sitting in a chair in a dark room while she lightly touched my head. I fell asleep almost immediately after she was done and woke up the next morning to zero pain in my head, and a renewed sense of energy for the rest of our trip.
Fast forward 10 years to a German Bakery in northern India and a poster that read, “Smile Big Reiki + Yoga.” The universe works in weird and wonderful ways when you pay attention to it.
I reached out to this mysterious Reiki master the moment I connected to wifi and scheduled a healing. This is what traveling does for you. It opens you up to new experiences. It gives you time and space to say YES to things I would normally contemplate for weeks. After traveling for several months with JJ, I didn't realize how much I needed something to call my own until this moment.
I had no idea who this human was, but I agreed to meet her on a rooftop across the bridge the very next day. I recognized the nervous excitement I felt as a sign that I should follow my intuition and not back out of this.
The next morning, I crossed over the Lakshman Jhula bridge, walked by another German Bakery (someone please figure this out for me), and into a dilapidated temple. Not a soul in sight, I took a moment to breath in this beautifully decrepit space. As with many structures in India and southeast Asia, the temple was without a rooftop. Elements exposed, trees older than my country welcomed me with open arms. Stone crumbled around me. The energy in this space was full of history.
It was pure.
Peaceful.
Mystical.
I made my way to the second floor rooftop where Rossalyn (the amazing woman behind Smile Big Yoga + Reiki) was waiting for me. Below us, the bustling energy of Rishikesh roared with honking, barking, and shouting. I wondered if this would be a distraction. Quite the contrary though, as I continue to call upon the energy of that rooftop and the streets of Rishikesh every single time I practice Reiki today.
More to come...
Camryn
PS: If this is your first time ever hearing about Reiki... thank you for reading! I'm working on a post that describes the practice in much more detail. For now, go here to learn more, and reach out with any questions you have.