January often arrives carrying a quiet question beneath the noise of resolutions and fresh starts: How do I want to be this year? Rather than focusing on goals or outcomes, let's choose one quality of being we’d like to practice and embody. 

Unresolved anger doesn't stay still or disappear, it simply changes shape. It can appear as tiny frustrations that feel bigger than they should, perhaps expressed as a sharp tone we didn’t mean to use or a tightness in our chest over something that someone else would barely react to.

Whenever we experience loss, we naturally find ourselves contemplating our own impact on this world. If this were our last day, month or year on this earth, what would we be wishing we had done, seen, said or accomplished? What would we regret not trying?

As a bit of a workaholic, I’m noticing that when we pour ourselves into our work, even work we adore, it becomes incredibly easy to slip into a pattern where our presence at home turns into something passive rather than intentional.

One of the things I hear all the time is, “Gwen, I just can’t meditate… my mind goes off in a hundred directions,”.  I always smile because this is exactly what the mind is designed to do. The mind wanders, comments, spirals and makes noise. This is the nature of the mind but it’s often taken as a personal failure.

I’ve always been fascinated by the Chinese energy practice of Qigong and its similarity to Reiki. I’m not trained in Qigong but I sometimes share some Qigong-based grounding and healing techniques with students. I also own several books by Master Lin of Spring Forest Qigong, which I find really insightful.

One of my favourite things to teach students on the Reiki Level 2 course, apart from the 3 Reiki symbols, is how to perform Distance Reiki healing (Enkaku Chiryo Ho).

Understanding the various ways we can send Reiki remotely means we can offer Reiki healing to anyone, no matter where they are in the world and regardless of their condition.

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.

During my Reiki 2 class, when explaining that Mikao Usui intended to help his students reach enlightenment, one of my students asked, ‘What is enlightenment?’.  

It’s a profound question that can have several, mostly subjective answers depending on which spiritual teacher you listen to. However, they all share a common thread; enlightenment is an illumination of a Universal truth about our true nature.

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.

Over the past few months, several of my students have asked me about trauma-informed training so they can deepen their understanding of trauma, not to fix it but to hold space with more sensitivity, compassion, connection and awareness.

It’s a powerful question, and it shows how much we’re all recognising the importance of meeting others with compassion, patience and safety.

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.

Now and again, someone will tell me about their current hardship and reminisce about a time when they were meditating or practising Reiki every day. During this time, life was good, they felt happier as a result and things were generally going well for them. Then gradually, their daily practice faded to once a week and eventually disappeared altogether.

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’ve had some really uplifting conversations this week with women seeking clarity about what’s calling them. Many reminded me of how many of can be, wearing a very strong, confident external persona - the ‘go to’ person for everyone else, but inside there’s a yearning to feel the safety of being supported too, to feel the freedom that comes from allowing vulnerability, a desire to find space to finally tend to their own needs. READ MORE…

As women we can spend so many years giving to others and sacrificing our own dreams. As we get older and our responsibilities lighten we’ll notice our inner calling getting louder. I believe it’s our birth right to be doing what brings us joy… doing what’s in our heart and following our purpose. READ MORE…