When I started my spiritual journey in earnest over 10 years ago, I enjoyed listening to motivational and spiritual teachers from Vishen Lakhiani’s MindVallley. Being able to see some of these incredible teachers live in Amsterdam this Summer was a long-awaited experience for me.

One of the teachings I found particularly impactful was Vishen’s talk on ‘The 3 Most Important Questions’, so I wanted to share it with you.

Most of us are familiar with the concept of “fight or flight,” which is the body’s automatic response when we feel threatened, but there are two other fear responses that are just as important to understand - Freeze and fawn.

Unlike fight or flight, they often go unnoticed, even though they quietly shape how we respond to stress, relationships and even our sense of purpose.

After my previous relationship ended, I spent several years healing, discovering myself and following my passions. It was during this period that I dove deeper into my spirituality with the introduction of practices like reiki and meditation. Although I still experienced the occasional challenges of life, I had created a world that was generally peaceful and filled with things I loved… a world that felt very, very safe.

One of the things I find myself saying to my Reiki students and coaching clients whenever they’re suffering (and they’re probably sick of hearing it😅) is ‘Please have compassion for yourself.’ but I’ve come to realise that many of us understand self-compassion conceptually but we don’t actually know how to put it into practice.

Have you ever been made to feel like you’re too much or too extra? Not just once, but consistently.  Perhaps in the subtle ways people looked at you when you shared something from the heart, or the way someone changed the subject when your energy rose with passion.

Perhaps it was when your joy, depth, intuition, spirituality or even tears made your family members or friends feel uncomfortable, laugh at you and then label you as ‘dramatic’, ‘extra’ or ‘woo-woo’ when really, you were simply being fully alive.

A powerful reflection emerged for one of my beautiful students during our Reiki Master Retreat this week and it’s stayed with me since. It touched on something many of us carry quietly in our hearts:

What happens when someone who we think should love us, just isn’t capable of loving us in the way that we need?

Over the past week, I’ve heard from quite a few women who’ve said the same thing:

“I’ve just been too busy or too stressed to meditate… to do my self-Reiki… to check in with myself.”

I completely empathise because, up until a week ago, I was there too.

Since returning from my Japan trip, things have been pretty full-on with a back log of things to do. My diary was overflowing, with little time for admin tasks, let alone time for me.  So I know first hand that life can feel like a constant juggle of work, family and endless to-dos but here's the quiet truth:

I was revisiting a talk by the late Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, who left us many valuable teachings about suffering, each wanting to help us move through suffering in a way that leads to inner growth and enlightenment, when I came across this quote…READ MORE

I’m sure we’ve all had one of those days where we technically didn’t do very much, yet by the end of the day we feel completely drained. We look back and think, Why am I so tired? I barely ran any errands, I didn’t workout and my to-do list still has a ton of unchecked boxes… but now I just want to collapse into my cosy bed and sleep. What I’ve come to realise is that exhaustion isn’t always about what we’re physically doing, it’s also about what we’re energetically holding. READ MORE

No matter what we've been through, what others have said, or what we believe about ourselves - we are and always have been, worthy. Yet, somewhere along the way, we started to believe otherwise. In this article we explore the truth behind your feelings of unworthiness.

Our deep rooted beliefs can consistently sabotage a specific area of our lives such as money, relationships or career, making us feel like we have no control over that particular area even though all other aspects of our lives are working fine.

When starting as a Reiki Practitioner almost 10 years ago, I was adamant that I only wanted to work with women. Seeing clients at my home brought up concerns of safety so at the time this felt like the best option for me. Then one day, during my morning reiki meditation, I heard 'Men need healing too'. I remember feeling a strong sense of compassion for men and could see how much they needed a way to heal for the benefit of all humanity.

Although most of us understand that self-love is one of the major components of any healing journey, self love can be the hardest thing to begin to contemplate for many of my clients. It's a challenge I can emphasise with, as it took me decades to finally feel that unconditional love for myself.

In a world that often glorifies hustle culture and celebrates constant productivity, it's easy to lose sight of the importance of living softly but what exactly does it mean to live a 'soft life'? Is it about lounging around, doing nothing with no real purpose, or is there something deeper to it?