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Reiki: Ashley Shaw
27 Plays2 years ago
Season 2, Episode 13: Ashley Shaw is a reiki practitioner in Pitman, NJ. Listen to Ashley talk about the fundamentals of reiki, the relationship between meditation and reiki, and how reiki can complement mainstream healthcare.
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Transcript
Introduction to Podcast and Host
00:00:09
Speaker
You're listening to The Wound Dresser, a podcast that uncovers the human side of healthcare. I'm your host, John Neery.
Ashley Shaw's Reiki Journey
00:00:21
Speaker
Today, my guest is Ashley Shaw. Ashley is a Reiki Master Teacher of Usui Reiki Riojo. Ashley started the Reiki certification process during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and has since opened a practice called the Rooted Cardinal, where she serves patients in the Pittman, New Jersey area. Ashley, welcome to the show. Hi, I'm so glad to be here.
00:00:47
Speaker
So I was taking a look on your really cool website and you describe a wellness journey as a ride with ups and downs to discovering what you need in order to be your best. Can you kind of explain why you define a wellness journey that way and perhaps what a wellness journey looks like for you or for your patients?
Personal Wellness and Client Experiences
00:01:09
Speaker
Oh my gosh, absolutely. So the reason I describe it as having ups and downs is because I don't think anything in our lives is straightforward and linear. As humans, we're going to have experiences either through the people that we meet or just on a daily basis that's going to change maybe how we see the world or how we interact with people around us.
00:01:35
Speaker
And we're going to have experiences that maybe change what we want to work on inside of ourselves. So for me, a wellness journey has been up and down. I will say I'm constantly working on who I am. And I think that's the same for any clients that I'm working with as well. A client could be coming to see me for something like
00:01:59
Speaker
just relaxation and time to get away from maybe their family or the responsibilities that they have. And instead, what we wind up doing is working on some things that they were unaware of. Maybe they've been dealing with some trapped emotions or some trauma that they've dealt with in the past. And those things can sometimes bubble up in a Reiki session. And that can maybe send them on a different wellness course than they were anticipating.
Understanding Reiki and Its Origins
00:02:30
Speaker
So just back to the basics, can you kind of outline what Reiki is and what you kind of do as a practitioner when you are doing that healing technique? Absolutely. So Reiki is magical. I will say that. So it is a Japanese energy healing technique.
00:02:52
Speaker
It can be done in person or at a distance, which I think makes it super accessible to people. You don't necessarily need to see someone in person in order to be able to have a session with someone. So I could be doing Reiki for you right now, even though we are not in the same space. I could be doing Reiki for someone that is across the world, which I think is fascinating and also amazing.
00:03:14
Speaker
So Reiki started in Japan, but there is actually a lot of cultures around the world who talk about this life force energy or this healing energy that exists. It's not just in Japan or here in the US. It's called different things in all of those places. But Reiki, as we know it, is made up of two words.
00:03:38
Speaker
Re meaning universal life and Ki meaning energy. So this universal life energy provides healing and support to those who require it. It's not a religion, but it is a subtle and effective form of energy work using spiritually guided life force energy. So Reiki essentially comes from what we know as Reiki,
00:04:06
Speaker
comes from Japan. There is a gentleman called Dr. Usui, that's who is essentially my Reiki master. My Reiki lineage can be traced all the way back to his initial training. Lots of Reiki masters, we are able to talk about that and cite who our Reiki comes through. So he basically started the first Reiki clinic that we know of in 1922.
00:04:34
Speaker
Japan that's when he founded it and he had an awakening to Reiki discovered that he could harness this universal life energy to support himself and others and basically he What he described is that there is disease that enters into your spiritual body that then manifests in the physical body in illness or disease as he calls it and so he was able to use Reiki and
00:05:02
Speaker
to support fixing that and aligning clients and patients and getting rid of that disease. So as a practitioner, that's essentially what I do. I utilize Reiki to support myself or clients, and it is essentially aligning someone's energy.
00:05:24
Speaker
in a variety of ways. It could be supporting them through physical things that they might be experiencing. It could be mental or it could also be emotional.
00:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, I liked how you were talking about, it sounds like there's a lot of overlap with some other healing techniques, healing practices that exist around the world. Like right off the bat, I was thinking of, you know, I have a little experience, you know, as doing acupuncture and sort of like chi, like the energy that kind of is involved with that kind of sounds kind of like what you're talking about.
00:05:57
Speaker
But also, for those listening at home, I guess Ashley was just nice enough to, I was part of a workshop that she did a couple weeks ago. And you talked a lot about, there was a lot of mindfulness. There was a lot of kind of like almost visualization in terms of like the energy that was kind of like in the room and in our bodies. So could you kind of like talk about how Reiki and meditation are like related? Are they similar? Are they different?
00:06:26
Speaker
Absolutely. So I have been super blessed. The person who trained me in Reiki has trained me in all three levels. So to get to a master level, I've gone through three levels of certification. One, two, and three is master. And the person who's trained me has an amazing way with meditation.
00:06:47
Speaker
It is something that she has brought into her own practice and has utilized a lot in our trainings. So I have gotten better at utilizing meditation to do a lot in support of my own physical wellness. Um, and so I do think it kind of goes hand in hand with Reiki. So during meditation, a lot of people find themselves being able to relax more. And that's a goal of doing Reiki is being able to help someone find relaxation. Um, but also,
00:07:15
Speaker
meditation has been shown and used for centuries to be able to Bring things down like your blood pressure to help with anxiety. It helps you feel back into your physical body And if you're doing meditation and Reiki together that relaxation can be even more powerful and one of the things that I described in the group that we did is that if I am going to lie down for 20 minutes and
00:07:42
Speaker
and I'm supposed to be focused on what it is that I'm doing, a visual meditation and a guided meditation is something really helpful for me, which is why I also do it, especially in a group situation. Because if I just lay there with my eyes closed expecting something to happen during a Reiki session, my mind starts wandering.
00:08:01
Speaker
And I'm not necessarily maybe focusing on the things that I could be or should be, which is maybe how I'm feeling in my body. What are my emotions doing at that time? And so I also think by bringing the Reiki into with the meditation, it also helps you focus on your individual pieces of your body as Reiki is also happening.
00:08:23
Speaker
the session that I did for you that you referenced, during the meditation that was happening, I was walking you through different parts of your body and kind of like feeling into those to see how they felt. I was also sending Reiki to each of those parts of each of your bodies while we were in that space together. So I think it does absolutely enhance something like meditation as well.
00:08:47
Speaker
Yeah, it kind of seems like they really complement each
Client Needs and Ashley's Reiki Approach
00:08:50
Speaker
other. Like meditation can kind of sort of set the stage for the Reiki to kind of, or like the energy flow to work as you were kind of saying. I want to ask more about how like what your patient encounters look like. Like what do clients generally come to you for? You know, what do you feel that Reiki is effective for in terms of, you know, healing? I love that. So I see
00:09:18
Speaker
clients for a variety of different things. I think most people come to me because they are excited about a new way of healing. Again, it's super accessible. There doesn't need to necessarily be anything involved to do Reiki. I need my hands, right? So there doesn't need to be a special place for us. And again, the fact that it can be done
00:09:39
Speaker
You could be in your own home in the safety of your bed or wherever you want to be. I think that that is a really nice thing for a client to be able to do.
00:09:49
Speaker
Most of the clients that I work with during a conversation that we have before we even start a Reiki session is when we can usually kind of delve into what are you actually looking for? And again, sometimes it's not something that they might know right off the bat. Maybe they're just looking for some relaxation. Maybe they're dealing with anxiety. I would say more often it's like stress is how people would put it.
00:10:12
Speaker
And so during some of those conversations, we're able to maybe kind of like open up a package and see what else is going on in there.
00:10:21
Speaker
So for myself, and I can only say this about me, I feel like every Reiki practitioner approaches a Reiki session differently because we're all different people and we've all had different experiences. But having a master's degree in counseling, I think really helps me guide that conversation. In that conversation with someone, I might be able to point out some of the maybe juxtapositions that they're saying, or maybe there is language that they're using
00:10:51
Speaker
that may not mean what they're trying to say. So I think sometimes I can help guide that conversation to discover what it is that they're actually trying to communicate. And I also think that it helps me ask some hard questions or mirror back some of the things that they might be putting out there so that they can start to question maybe some of the things that are going on for them. So for example, let's say a client comes to me and they say that they're very stressed out and work is just too much for them.
00:11:21
Speaker
But maybe in our conversation, we actually explore that it's not work that's stressing them out, but what they've been kind of like shielding themselves from is that there's some other external factor that's actually weighing on them and they haven't been able to talk about it or they haven't been able to maybe say to themselves like this is a problem that I need to attend to. And usually during that conversation is when we can begin kind of uncovering those things. And then during the Reiki session itself,
00:11:51
Speaker
I'm focusing on holding space for them with whatever that topic might be, but also whatever else I might be guided to support them with during that session.
00:12:02
Speaker
And obviously my end goal for someone to leave is for them to be relaxed, to hopefully feel less stressed, less anxiety, also less physical pain, because as I mentioned, a lot of times what Dr. Usui was talking about is that sometimes we're feeling things that is then getting trapped in our physical body and giving us a physical symptom.
00:12:25
Speaker
Um, someone that I know who I'm very close to, we work together and we both deal with a very stressful job during particular times of the year. And I've had multiple conversations with him that it starts to physically manifest in our bodies, the both of us. And I can recognize that for the both of us.
00:12:44
Speaker
Um, for this individual, it's lower back pain and like significant lower back pain. And we know that he's started to hit a critical stress point when he gets to that. Um, and for myself, I know my stress is at a high level when my right eye starts twitching, which I think I mentioned in our group session, which actually happened to me earlier this week. And that's when I know that, um, at that point I need some different support or maybe I haven't been doing the things that I need to.
00:13:14
Speaker
in order to explore like what is causing this and what am I going to do about it and so it's the same thing for me as it would be for a client is let's talk about what those things are and then let's use Reiki to help support that and kind of clear all that trapped stuff out of our bodies. Okay so do you feel like people
00:13:34
Speaker
Do people generally more come in with physical concerns, like my back hurts, my head hurts, something like that? Or is it always kind of on that psychosocial, emotional spectrum where it's like something's going on and then they don't know maybe it's connected to physical symptoms? How do they, I guess, present? Sure. For me, I would say most people that I personally see right now, it's more so it's less of the physical. And in some cases,
00:14:04
Speaker
they may have physical things that they aren't attributing to some of that stuff that might come up during a Reiki session until afterward. And so that's actually one of my favorite parts of a Reiki session is the conversation when one has ended. So after I've actually done Reiki on a client, I'm in my brain giving myself little like postcards of like, where did I stop? What was happening in that location?
00:14:31
Speaker
And what do I think that this is leading to or what are we gonna need to talk about afterward? And so sometimes it helps afterward to be able to connect a feeling that they've been having. And I'll say like, hey, have you been having chest pain or something going on with your shoulder area, your collarbone? And they'll say, I have been feeling this pain or whatever's going on. And it wasn't something that they were thinking about or something that they mentioned and were able to connect it back to something that's going on in their life.
00:15:00
Speaker
And it's almost like we've made a discovery, which is actually one of the coolest parts, I think. Where does where does Reiki fit currently into our health care system? And like where? I guess on top of that, what role do you think it would play in the future?
00:15:19
Speaker
So, I mean, I did a little bit of research. When I started Reiki, I did a little bit of research and I've done even more since about kind of like where it's coming up in healthcare. So for me, I was first introduced to Reiki when my mother was doing some radiation for metastatic melanoma years ago. She unfortunately passed away five months after she was diagnosed, but she had had some Reiki sessions done while she was going through those treatments.
00:15:49
Speaker
And she had come home and talked about how much better she felt afterward, both physically, but also I feel like she had more hope, if that makes sense.
00:16:01
Speaker
And so at that time I even considered like, could this be something that I could do for her that I might be able to explore? And then unfortunately I just didn't have the time with her to be able to do that. So when Reiki popped back up for me, it wasn't a time where I necessarily was like thinking about Reiki. It just walked into my life and I had the chance to become a Reiki practitioner and do level one. And it turned out to be the most amazing thing in the world because it pulled me right back into that time.
00:16:30
Speaker
to be able to think about how can I support other people around me. So there are over 60 hospitals in the United States that offer Reiki as a service to both their patients and also their family members. So I think that in and of itself speaks volumes because it's not only supporting the individual who might be experiencing this really traumatic event, trying to heal from something physical that's going on with them,
00:16:58
Speaker
but also the understanding that their family members and their loved ones are also experiencing that with them. Maybe not the physical part, but they are experiencing the emotional pieces of having to support and also go through some healing for themselves.
00:17:15
Speaker
There's also like 800, I think, hospitals worldwide that utilize Reiki, so I think that is amazing. And I think where most people basically see it is in support, I think, of cancer patients. That seems to be where it is most often and readily available. I have a friend who went through chemo, and I remember I was with one of her appointments with her, and she did have someone come in who was doing Reiki for her, and it was amazing to be able to see that.
00:17:45
Speaker
Um, I think if you consider when you lay your hands on someone and you have that connection to somebody, it is ultimately very caring and it's comforting.
Reiki in Healthcare Settings
00:17:58
Speaker
And so Reiki, as a practitioner, you're channeling Reiki through your hands. And I think helping someone feel cared for and valued while they're also dealing with such a tremendous thing that's going on in their life in healthcare.
00:18:14
Speaker
I think that's huge. And the fact that Reiki could work hand in hand with Western medicine, I think is such a beautiful marriage of ways that we can support all patients. For myself, one of my goals with every client that I see, regardless of what it is that they're experiencing, is I want someone to leave feeling seen, heard, and valued.
00:18:42
Speaker
And I think that's really hard sometimes for people who are going through medical treatments, is that sometimes maybe they're not feeling those things. They're not feeling seen and heard. And so sometimes taking a minute to actually sit with someone, provide them that life force energy, helping them feel hopefully settled and peaceful, I think is a really beautiful outcome.
00:19:10
Speaker
That's also one of the reasons why I am doing some exploration right now in end of life doula care. I really think that my experience as a Reiki master and then also being able to support individuals who are on hospice as well as their families is an area of healthcare that I don't know is getting the attention that it necessarily should. And so end of life doula care, death doula care, whatever you want to call it,
00:19:38
Speaker
I think is becoming more, I don't want to say mainstream, but that's kind of what it is. More people I think have heard of it. And I think that that's a really amazing thing that's happening because we're all going to get to that point at some point. We will all pass on from this life. And I think the ability to support people in that way and hopefully make them feel safe as they're headed towards that is a passionate area of mine and something I'm
00:20:07
Speaker
excited to be able to start looking into more.
00:20:11
Speaker
Yeah, I think I think you made a lot of great points there. You know, one being like, like if somebody comes in and you want to make them feel seen, heard and valued, that's I mean, that's huge. And like, I feel like a lot of times I can get overlooked how powerful that is just in our in our health care system and hoping that people can kind of take on that mentality more that that just kind of being like that can be really
00:20:38
Speaker
Really therapeutic for both the patient and the provider, I think, actually. End of life doula. That's funny that you mentioned that, because I've been hearing a little more about that recently, but haven't totally... Could you talk about what an end of life doula does and what's involved in that process?
00:20:58
Speaker
Absolutely. So I'm not an expert on it, obviously. I am not one, not trained yet. However, an end of life doula basically assists someone who is actively dying, as well as their family, and they can assist in a variety of ways. So I would say that I think a lot of them are Reiki practitioners, knowing the support that Reiki can provide to a lot of people.
00:21:24
Speaker
I also consider, I also call Reiki like, it's like the gateway drug of the spiritual world. It's like a lot of people start as a Reiki practitioner and then it kind of like opens them up to many other things. This happens to be one avenue that just has kind of like presented itself to me. So as someone who is a doula, you wouldn't do anything medical with someone
00:21:44
Speaker
But you would do a lot of things like Reiki. You could be sitting vigil with someone who maybe needs like an overnight shift at a bedside. A lot of doulas do like light housework and they could be doing things like sitting with loved ones while they are either with that individual who is dying or sitting with them to just talk and kind of like be there for them. A lot of different doulas do different services depending on like their level of
00:22:12
Speaker
I guess, activity with the families. But I think the fact that that care exists is so important and kind of something that maybe is missing in a lot of ways. In hospice centers, not all of them, but in some of them, people consider them just a place that someone goes to die.
00:22:34
Speaker
And it doesn't have to be looked at as maybe this horrible thing. I think that an end of life doula can also help to assist the client decide what they want their end of life to look like. So doula can also assist with creating a plan for services. How does that person want to be honored at the end? And they can help the family set up all of those avenues.
00:23:02
Speaker
and connect them with professionals within end-of-life care.
00:23:07
Speaker
Yeah, I actually just recently did some hospice volunteering. And I know what you were saying about how you can kind of wear a lot of different hats, right? Like a family might need you to go pick up some groceries or just to sit with them. A lot of times you just sort of have to read the room and see what people need at a given moment. So that's really cool. That is also kind of in the doula space as well.
00:23:40
Speaker
I guess I wanna bring it back to Reiki a little bit and think of it in terms of how it interacts with the Western healthcare system, right? That Western medicine is, I think, for good reasons, like based on just like evidence-based care. And I think that sometimes with,
00:24:04
Speaker
that there is a growing amount of research about Reiki and how it can be effective, but I feel like there are, there's challenges when you're doing research on something like
Challenges Integrating Reiki with Western Medicine
00:24:13
Speaker
Reiki, right? Like how do you measure the therapeutic effect of Reiki? Like kind of measuring those things, that's like a hard thing to do and a hard thing to quantify and put that in a research manuscript.
00:24:26
Speaker
And at the same time, it's like, I think if you, and this counts for like really any other therapeutic modality, but if you kind of like are researching something and kind of have this mindset of like, is it working? Is it working? Is it working? That can kind of, you know,
00:24:46
Speaker
have an effect on that, the therapeutic effect of what you're doing. So that being said though, I think in bringing more Reiki or integrated practices to our mainstream healthcare system that you just need that research foundation. It's part of what you need. So if you were doing, say, research on Reiki, what do you think they should keep in mind when they're doing research on Reiki, basically?
00:25:14
Speaker
Yeah, so I was smiling when you were saying those things about like, how do you know it's working? How do you know it's working? So you just basically described my entire two years of training. And I say that because it's an intangible thing.
00:25:31
Speaker
I can't show you Reiki, right? There's nothing that is physically that manifests in front of us to show us that this thing exists. And that's why I tell people it's a really hard thing to explain. And so it's kind of like you have to experience it to know what it feels like and what that's like.
00:25:52
Speaker
I think if you talk to individuals who have experienced Reiki, especially if they have been going through a difficult or significant level of healing.
00:26:08
Speaker
I think that is where you find the people who can really talk about what it has done for them, both taking away physical pain, but also easing and relaxing them when they're like dealing with that kind of thing. So there's actually a woman, I read her book about a year ago. Her name is Raven Keys, and she has a book called Medical Reiki, and she actually trains Reiki masters
00:26:36
Speaker
to go into surgical rooms and do Reiki on patients who are actively undergoing surgery. Now granted, I am again not an expert in what she does. I've never taken her certification course. Her book was fascinating. Her website talks all about what that looks like. She's got doctors who also have talked about the significant healing that they've been able to see their patients go through having that support.
00:27:04
Speaker
They talk about the quicker recovery that their patients are able to experience after having Reiki done both during and then after a surgery or something like that. So again, I have not experienced that myself, but I think that that's a really fascinating thing to explore. If you're hearing from patients and clients that this is helping them, I think, again, because it's so intangible, you kind of have to take that at face value, hopefully.
00:27:34
Speaker
And the more I think it's also utilized, I'm hoping that those studies are able to be done more effectively. There was also, I've read a bunch of different studies about how they did like three control groups where they had somebody, you know, group did not have anything, a group that had like placebo Reiki and then a group that did receive Reiki. And even in the placebo group,
00:28:00
Speaker
There were people who said that they had a wonderful experience. I don't know any other details than that. And again, I do think that that comes from a number of different factors. So Reiki in and of itself is not the only piece that I think leads to someone's wellness journey or their healing. I think a lot of that also comes from within and comes from being seen.
00:28:25
Speaker
So when you feel comforted and cared for, and you do feel supported, that in and of itself kind of gives you a little bit of a boost. Reiki, on top of that, I think it zaps it all into place.
00:28:40
Speaker
and makes it even more powerful for that healing to actually happen. So I think that's why when they have like that placebo group, those individuals who kind of went through that were also feeling seen because they had someone who was caring for them in that manner. I can't say whether or not it actually attributed to any particular like speedy healing that they went through, but they did report I think like feeling better after that session that they had with someone.
00:29:07
Speaker
So I think it's kind of like a combination of different things. I also know that obviously for a lot of patients, going through medical treatments is scary.
00:29:21
Speaker
And so I think also having someone there who's going to listen to you and then also provide that support for you is also just another thing to kind of like have in your back pocket that helps you feel bolstered to maybe handle some of the things that are being thrown at you, especially if you don't understand them.
00:29:40
Speaker
I want to take a step back and maybe just look like a few bigger picture things. I know the first thing you said in our workshop or one of the first things you said was that, you know, we're all energy. That's a fact. We're made of energy. How is that kind of, you know, mantra almost like how has that affected your life? Kind of just realizing that you're just energy?
00:30:06
Speaker
Well, it kind of blows your mind when you initially start to kind of think about it, because again, it's how do you wrap your rational mind around the fact that you are energy, all of this around you is energy, and then you have the ability to support yourself with this universal energy. Like that is just, that's a lot. That's amazing though. I think for me too,
00:30:34
Speaker
I think because I've been able to utilize it to work on myself in so many ways, I think... So I'll give you some examples of ways that I've used it and I think has actually changed my own energy and what I portray maybe or how I utilize it on a daily basis.
00:30:55
Speaker
So one of the things that has been amazing is that it's, I read this book called The Reiki Way and the author describes that when a Reiki healer gets attuned, which is a whole process during your certifications, you basically, this alignment kind of creates this opportunity for this awakening to happen within yourself and you start learning
00:31:24
Speaker
how to work on your own healing and your own self. So some of the things that I knew about myself but have come even more to the forefront in my Reiki journey is that I am a longtime people pleaser. And I've always been someone who's been afraid to disappoint other people. So saying no has always been very difficult for me. Setting boundaries was not a thing that I was ever very comfortable with.
00:31:53
Speaker
And interestingly, my energy towards all of those things has absolutely changed in the last couple of years. And through that journey, I've been able to understand that I don't have to say yes to everything and that it's okay to say no. I've learned how to do that in appropriate ways. And I've also learned how to set some boundaries with
00:32:15
Speaker
my work, which I didn't have necessarily before, but also with clients. Sometimes there's clients that are not, we're not a good fit. I am not the person for them. Maybe they're looking for something different. And I recently had to set a boundary with a client and say, I'm not the right person who can provide for you. Let me pass you on to some other people who I think
00:32:39
Speaker
I could connect you with who I think would be better for whatever it is that you're looking for. And that was one of the most difficult things I think I've ever done because I went through this whole thing of, well, what if they say terrible things about me as a practitioner? What if they, you know, rake me over the coals and write all these reviews? But then I got down to it and I thought, but if I'm not the right person for them, I'm doing them a disservice by continuing to work with them.
00:33:07
Speaker
if I don't feel like I'm the person who can provide them whatever support it is that they're looking for. So to protect myself and also them, I'm going to say this is not the right plan for the both of us. That is not something I would have ever considered doing two years ago. And
00:33:27
Speaker
I also, I think I talked about this in our group. I live my life in a ball of anxiety. It's just a thing. It's something I'm very aware of. But I have also been able to work on staying more grounded and dealing with some of that anxiety and stress, especially around things that would normally very much upset me, like having to tell a client something like that, or when kind of like my work gets out of control.
00:33:52
Speaker
my own personal energy in those spaces has completely changed. And I'm not saying I don't get anxious and I don't get stressed and I don't get upset when I have to tell someone that's unpleasing, but I deal with it a little bit differently. And I would say that it doesn't impact me in the way that it used to.
00:34:16
Speaker
Another big question that I like asking people on this podcast, I've done it a number of times now. It's always just a fun one for me. We've sort of thrown around the word healing. Both of us have. We both use the word healing during this podcast, right?
00:34:36
Speaker
I think it means, you know, different things to different people. You know, if you, if you talk to, it really just, whether it's within healthcare or outside of healthcare, like what is, what is healing? Right. And so I post to you that question, like in your own words, what is healing?
Concept of Healing and Patient Empowerment
00:34:55
Speaker
Okay. So for me, I would say, I think healing is unburying some of those things that we bury.
00:35:06
Speaker
taking a look at those things and doing something about them, actively working towards resolving whatever those things are. So that could be a trauma, that could be a physical ailment, that could be an emotional response that we have to particular situations. I think unless we actually start bringing those things to the surface and putting some sort of action plan into place, we get stuck.
00:35:35
Speaker
And that, I think, is where we can't heal because we are in this one spot and we're sometimes unwilling, I would say, to bring that to the forefront. So I think until we're able to actually open that up and expose it, we can't actually deal with whatever is the cause of that issue. It's kind of like they say the body keeps the score. We hold those things inside of ourselves. And so I think until we actually
00:36:06
Speaker
open those up. Um, they're with us for a long time. Okay. So yeah, there's just things that are kind of inside us that we need to kind of, yeah. I like the word you said, you said like unburied, right? What is the word you use? Yeah. That, um, seems like a challenge. I'm sure you find it's challenging for yourself and your clients, right? Oh, most definitely. Yeah.
00:36:31
Speaker
With that, you know, you have another quote on your website that I'll read. It's, a healer does not heal you. A healer is somebody who holds space for you while you awaken your inner healer so that you may heal yourself. How do you feel like you bring this to life in your Reiki practice? And then I'll ask you a follow up question after that. Sure. So I think a Reiki relationship is a partnership.
00:36:55
Speaker
And I've described this to a number of clients, but also a lot more in like group workshops is that You know, I'm not a future teller like I can't see the future and I'm I'm not psychic Which would be pretty cool, but I'm not so I can't do anything necessarily with things that you don't tell me as a client or a patient So there's this like give-and-take Of you telling me what's going on with you
00:37:25
Speaker
me sometimes maybe pointing some things out to you as the person who's providing the support to you. During a Reiki session, things happen and then we talk about it afterward and that's where the unburying and hopefully the opening that box up to see what's going on in there for us to start figuring out.
00:37:44
Speaker
And so that's why I think the healer is not necessarily always me. A lot of times it's also my client. They're part of that relationship. I can only interpret so much. They're the person who's actually experiencing those things. And I might say, do you think it could be this? And they have to say yes or no.
00:38:03
Speaker
If it's not, I don't want to assume and be wrong because then we're going down the wrong path and we're not actually working on the thing that we need to work on. So that's why there's that give and take relationship between practitioner and client is that you have to tell me what it is that you also are experiencing. And my job is to help interpret those things, but you also have to tell me if that's right or wrong. So if I say, you know, I think your physical pain is related to grief and you're like, I'm not grieving anything.
00:38:33
Speaker
Okay then, let's talk about some other options. Because again, if I just did this in a vacuum, we really wouldn't get anywhere. And I would essentially be going down the absolute wrong path. And I think also on the other part is that the client really does have to be willing. If you don't want to talk about something that has happened to you, that's also something that I would need to know about.
00:39:02
Speaker
If you don't want to share something that would maybe be manifesting and that's not an area that you're comfortable discussing, it's not an area you want support in, that's also important for a practitioner to know.
00:39:18
Speaker
So my follow-up was that in 2023 in our modern healthcare system, can you reflect on how perhaps we can maybe the words empower or enable a patient to be more of a healer for themselves? Do you see that there's sort of maybe a missed opportunity?
00:39:46
Speaker
Maybe that, like how would this approach be more helpful in our mainstream care? Yeah, absolutely. So this is not anything against medical doctors.
00:40:00
Speaker
But they have a lot on their plates, right? If you are someone who has a huge client roster and you are seeing hundreds of patients a day, again, I don't know how that works because I don't work in healthcare. But if you're seeing that many patients in a day, you don't have maybe necessarily all the time to spend to delve into all of the things that might be going on.
00:40:22
Speaker
in a patient's life that could be leading up to some of the things that are happening to them. Also, if they're coming to you for something physical or mental, those things could be manifesting in other ways. And I don't know that everyone, you know, that every physician is trained in how to figure out how all those puzzle pieces might fit together, how your physical issue that you're experiencing might also be related to
00:40:50
Speaker
emotional trauma that you might have experienced, just for example. So I think having Reiki or some other complementary medicine or other support systems available that are maybe fall under holistic medicine, like you talked about acupuncture, to have those things available alongside of Western medicine, I think can be really helpful so that we can support a patient
00:41:20
Speaker
Literally holistically in all parts of their life and all parts of their healing because I think the physical piece is just one Being able to say we've got this other way that we can support you and it may not take away your physical pain But it could support you in the other things that you are experiencing in whirlwinds of appointments and treatments and all that kind of thing Cheers to that
00:41:47
Speaker
All right, it's time for a lightning round. It's a series of fast paced questions that tell us more about you. So who's your I'm sure you've encountered a lot of healers or teacher like who's your favorite like healer?
Quick Q&A with Ashley Shaw
00:42:02
Speaker
I'm gonna go with my own Reiki master. Her name is Renee Russell. She is life changing. Besides Reiki, what is your go to self care technique?
00:42:16
Speaker
So for me, I love to read. So if I can carve out some time to read a book, I think I'm at like 72 for the year, 72 books this year. So I'm trying to go even higher. And I love just getting out in nature. My husband and I love to go like exploring. I don't know if I've read 72 books in the last like decade. Well, you're a student, you can't help that. Most used app on your phone.
00:42:45
Speaker
TikTok. I learned so much from there. What's your favorite place to hang out in South Jersey or Philadelphia? So in Pittman, we have an amazing ice cream shop called Allura's Ice Cream. They are amazing and we go there a lot. And lastly, what's the what's the biggest change you'd like to see in healthcare? The biggest change I would think is the ability for
00:43:14
Speaker
patients to be able to slow down and have someone listen to them. All right, with that, Ashley Shaw, thanks so much for joining the show. Thank you. Thanks for listening to The Wound Dresser. Until next time, I'm your host, John Neary. Be well.