24. Degree Awards Ceremony

On Saturday 9th October 2010 my fellow students and myself attended The Great Hall at the University of Leeds to receive our Foundation Degree awards. This emotional occasion was the culmination of our previous two year's of study and a particular highlight for me was to receive my award from the broadcaster Harry Gration.

25. Student of the Year 2010

I was delighted and honoured to win a Student Award at Leeds City College's awards ceremony in June 2010. This was the Overall Student of the Year for the Beauty & Complementary Therapies Department at Thomas Danby Campus. This was in recognition of my outstanding achievement on the Foundation Degree in Complementary Therapies programme. The event took place at Leeds Town Hall on 24th June 2010 and was hosted by writer, poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan.

24. Sharing the Success

Follow this link to the Sharing the Success website for more info about the ABDN awards where I was recently a winner. http://www.sharingthesuccess.co.uk/page.aspx?id=1092



I'm also on A4E's website, here's the link

http://mya4e.com/About-A4e/Success-Stories/Anna-s-Story.aspx



And today I'm attending a meeting with Leeds Wellbeing Centre about the opportunity of working with their vulnerable client group as a self employed complementary therapist, offering reiki, massage, indian head massage etc.

More news on that soon.

Blessings from

Anna
)o(

23. Anna wins Female Entrepreneur of 2009

I was delighted to be presented with the ABDN Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 award at the Asian Business Network's 11th Annual Award dinner at the Royal Armouries last week. Averil Frederick of the Milun Centre nominated me for the award and Simon Brereton of the Sharing the Success (LEGI) team, who presented me with the award on the night, spoke of my drive and determination and the challenges I had overcome to achieve my success. The evening was hosted by Kulvinder Ghir of Goodness Gracious Me and the Kumars at No 42 who kept us all entertained as you can imagine!



Back in January I was invited to attend the LEGI dinner at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Leeds where Carl Hopkins, the Secret Millionaire, both inspired and entertained us in equal measure. Myself and three other local female entrepreneurs, Lyndsay Din and Siobhan Thomas have all utilised the service of the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative and we were invited along as three of the organisations success stories of the past year.


In October last year I embarked on my studies for the Foundation Degree in Complementary Therapies with Teesside University. Although this has not been easy so far it has made my practice much more diverse as I am now able to offer an even higher standard of service to my clients along with a wider range of bodywork techniques. These include acupressure and meridian techniques, ayurvedic techniques, no hands massage and hot stone therapy. Visit my website at http://www.rayoflight.me.uk/ to find out more.

I am now also offering on site therapies for the corporate sector as well as events and parties. I can also deliver workshops or presentations to your company or organisation on any aspect of complementary therapies that might interest you such as a reiki healing workshop, a talk on crystals or some simple massage techniques. Check out the website for more details.


Blessings from

Anna
)O(

22. Festival of Fun!

Here's some images from the recent Health and Healing Festival at Bodington Hall. The event was a great success and lots of fun. I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable it was and pleased by the great response we got. The reasonably priced taster treatments were very popular and it was a joy chatting to all the visitors.

My partner, Rob, supported me at the festival and was also amazed by how much he enjoyed it; having thought beforehand that he would probably get bored. Nothing could be further from the truth as I pitched him straight in by asking him to do reiki on clients with me so they got a double whammy of healing! He was a huge help chatting to people and taking their details whilst I did treatments and he also got a lot of names for the tai chi and meditation sessions he hopes to start in Leeds in the near future.

I shall definitely exhibit at similar events in the future but probably not till next year now, perhaps I'll give the Ilkley Complementary Festival in spring a try next.

As regards how business is progressing, I am pleased to be slowly building a client base and am finding that Indian Head Massage is proving particularly popular. Lots of clients are going for two treatments per booking, usually having a massage and a session of reiki too. They are taking advantage of the special offers and discounts to save themselves money and the number of repeat bookings is increasing.

More events in the future include the Leeds Mela on the 3rd August and a staff day for Yorkshire Forward in September where I shall be offering taster treatments and Rob will be doing a tai chi workshop.

Blessings from

Anna

)O(

21. News, news, news

Here's a link to an article from the Yorkshire Evening Post all about the Pathways Action for Employment Offical Opening that I attended in my capacity as one of their success stories!

Unfortunately they didn't put any of my contact information on or even the name of my business - but all publicity is good publicity as they say.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/business-news/Minister-launches-the-pathway-back.4192386.jp

Plus there's more news from Ray of Light, I have now added Indian Head Massage and Ear Candling to the range of therapies that I can offer, if you would like to know more about the benefits of these treatments then visit my website at http://www.rayoflight.me.uk/.

Blessings from Anna

)O(

20. Out and About

There's two exciting events for Ray of Light in the pipeline. Firstly, I might be having a stall at the next Artsmix market on Sunday 8th June offering mini treatments in the midst of this exciting alternative arts and crafts market which has music, food and lots of interesting stalls with handmade and fair trade goods on offer. It's open from 11 am till 4pm so come along and have a look - it's in Chancellors Court just off Assembly Street at the back of the Corn Exchange. Visit http://www.mosaic-arts-market.org/ for more details. You can have a hand or foot massage for £8, a shoulder neck and upper arm massage (over clothes) for £5, a sample reiki healing for £5 or a full reiki healing for £15. There's also the opportunity to have a free crystal diagnosis which will also find out how in touch with your higher self you are!

I am also exhibiting at the Health and Healing Festival at Bodington Hall in Leeds on the weekend of 12th and 13th July . Visit http://www.healthhealingfestivals.co.uk/ for more info. I shall be doing sample treatments as above plus Indian Head Massage for £10. There'll be lots of other Mind, Body, Spirit themed stalls, workshops and activities available all weekend so I hope you'll come and say hello.

Hope to see some of you at either or both of these events.

Blessings from

Anna

)O(

19. Progress

Here's a pic of me at the Open Day at Milun Women's Centre, which was a brilliant day, lots of fun and generated lots of interest in the therapies I'm offering. I did a variety of sample treatments for people attending the open day, several foot massages; a number of back, shoulder, neck and arm massages and even a couple of reiki healings. I am starting officially at the centre on the 6th May and already have a couple of bookings. I shall be there every tuesday afternoon, at Centrica on Thursdays from 10am till 3pm and at North Leeds Therapy Centre the rest of the time.

Check out my website for prices and special offers, plus there's 10% off everything throughout April, May and June.

Earlier this month I was delighted to pass my Crystal Healing exam with flying colours, gaining an A grade! I'm offering a free 30 minute crystal healing treatment with any other therapy booked during April, May and June.

So if you'd like to make an appointment give me a ring on 0780 6774068 or 0113 2161615, alternatively email on rayoflightanna@gmail.com.

Blessings from

Anna

)O(

18. And so it begins

Well, it had to happen. I am officially freaking out because I shall have to commit to actually starting my own business now. I have decided to offer reiki, crystal healing and massage as a therapist from the 1st May. I have two therapy spaces on offer - the Milun Women's Centre in Harehills and the North Leeds Therapy Centre in Oakwood. I plan to work from these two locations one day a week each. I also have the opportunity of working with Centrica (the umbrella company of British Gas) on a regular basis, offering therapies in the workplace to their call centre staff. Now all I have to do is get customers. Simple as that, or not as the case may be. But, I have done my market research; I have all my information in place; I have my promotional material printed. All that remains is to get out there and deliver the possibility to the public. Surely, not such an onerous task with my organisational and interpersonal skills? I hope not. Wish me luck!

17. The End is Nigh

The end of my Anatomy Physiology and Swedish Massage course I mean! (Well, there's six more classes to go). I've drawn up a revision plan for A&P for the next month as the exam is on the 3rd February. Our practical exam for massage is the week before. I can't wait to get my Mondays back again, hurray!

I have now completed all the lessons for my crystal healing course and am also revising for that exam. In the meantime I am attending a short course in Crystal Therapy at the Crossgates Learning Centre on Wednesday evenings as a supplement to my studies. A couple of weeks ago I tried out crystal healing layouts on a friend for the first time and was blown away by the energy both of us could feel. I've been adding to my crystal collection too and now also have moldavite, serpentine, watermelon tourmaline and peridot to name but a few!

I have been offered a place on the Indian Head Massage VTCT Diploma Level 3 course at Thomas Danby which starts on 21st February. This sounds like it will be a bit more laid back than the A&P/Body Massage course as there is no reading list as yet and it looks as if we don't have to wear uniforms. I guess I shall just have to wait and see. Plus, it's a much shorter course, 16 weeks as opposed to 24. Also, its just for 2 and a half hours each Thursday evening rather than all day on Monday, phew.

Back in November I attended a seminar at West Yorkshire Business Link entitled "Is Self-Employment Right for You" which was interesting and a bit alarming but its just an introduction to a series of 6 further in depth seminars on different aspects of starting up and running a business. I am booked on the first of these "Business Planning" in March. Prior to that on the 22nd February I am also attending a women's event at Business Link called "What's Holding you Back?" which looks at business start up and the support available. There's also a buffet, yay!

My reiki at the Robert Ogden centre is going well and I feel that my regular working with the reiki energies has made me more confident about my insights whilst doing a treatment and better able to tune into my intuition.

Over the summer I hope to get started on my colour healing course and then I intend to enrol on the VTCT Reflexology course at Thomas Danby in the autumn.

All exciting stuff if a little scary at times. So much has changed since this time last year, all of it good though. I have much to be proud of : )

With love and blessings from

Anna

)O(

15. Progressing Nicely

Well, I'm gradually getting the hang of being back in education again. It's now 8 weeks into the Anatomy Physiology and Massage course and am learning lots. Had a few wobbly moments cos it all seemed a bit overpowering and hard but in fact I was over complicating things - I'm now beginning to find the A&P really interesting and less scary, this week we learnt about blood and circulation and all I could think was "Wow! this is soooo clever, the body is amazing". It's all starting to fit together in my head now and tying in nicely with some of my healing that I'm doing too. Next week is going to be about the lymphatic system which will be especially relevant for me in connection with the work I do with cancer patients as of course this often affects the lymph glands.

I am nearing the end of my crystal healing course, I'm on the 6th lesson now with only another two to go. This afternoon I did a crystal meditation which was really fantastic, I used an internal landscape I had previously created to meet with the deva of a rhodochrosite, one of my favourite stones as it engenders unconditional love both to others and for yourself. I entered a crystal cave and with the encouragement of my higher self connected with the crystal on a heart level. It was amazing!

I am finding all the practice I have had with reiki is really paying off now - probably as much because I am more comfortable with it and less doubting now because of all the feedback I've received. It's inevitable to sometimes wonder "Well, is this really working?", but of course it does work no matter whether we think so or not. I am getting so much out of the healing myself too, it is a really spiritual experience and a great honour to give it - I'm also meeting lots of really smashing people who all have a tale to tell. It's very levelling to hear what distress and illness people have suffered, really makes me count my blessings.

I am booked to attend my first business related workshop later in November - courtesy of Business Link, whose free course "Is Self Employment Right for You" is the first of several I hope to attend.

Am looking forward to my teacher Bryan's latest Reiki share evening tonight - am taking some reiki virgins with me!

Blessings from

Anna

)O(

14. Back to School

Yesterday I attended my first day at Thomas Danby to begin the VTCT Anatomy and Physiology with Swedish Body Massage course. Although I was somewhat nervous beforehand it all went really well. Our tutor is great and the other students are a very lively, chatty bunch.

I feel as a big step has been taken and although it was scary these are changes that have to be gone through in order for me to progress on my path. I was soooo tired afterwards though and spent most of the early evening yawning my head off and the rest of it fast asleep!

I'm really getting into my reiki healing sessions at the Robert Ogden Centre, learning lots by my experiences with patients there and honing my skills.

Love and blessings

Anna
)O(

13. Equine Reiki

I was lucky enough this week to have the opportunity of giving a reiki treatment to a horse. I have wanted to work on animals as well as humans right from the start so you can imagine how thrilled I was.

Solo is a beautiful black 16 year old female horse who suffered some mistreatment up until the age of five with her first owner. Her present owner has had her since then and though she is a very calm, well behaved horse now this is only due to the patient loving care that she has received since her bad start in life.

Having never treated a horse before and not knowing much about them I did a little research first and discovered that a horse's chakras are in the same place as human's - except that it is easiest to work along the spine of course from above rather than as one would on a human with them lying down.

Having introduced myself to Solo and asked her permission to give her healing I set about checking her chakras for imbalances with my pendulum. I worked on opening her heart and sacral chakras as these were a bit closed.

Next I worked from Solo's head right down her body in much the same way as with a human except of course it took a little longer as she is much bigger! She has a right foreleg injury due to a fall which was the only problem I knew about prior to the session, I had purposely asked her owner not to tell me what other complaints she had so I could see if I could spot anything else. Working down her neck I was aware she had problems there also and it transpired that since the fall which injured her foreleg she has suffered spasms right down her neck as this was also injured.

It was fascinating to see how Solo communicated things to me via her movements and via signals that her owner understood - for example, when I asked her permission to do some healing on her she straightaway nibbled twice very deliberately at her leg where it is giving her pain and causing her to limp; which I took as an indication that she consented to the treatment along with the fact that she didn't object to me touching her in any way. I mostly worked in Solo's etheric body and when I got to other areas that were causing her pain she communicated this to her owner by half closing her eyes and moving her lips and mouth in a particular way - these are established signals that Solo already uses to indicate pain. I located trouble she has with her pelvis and also with arthritis in her left back leg and worked on all these areas for some time. I also worked on her heart and sacral chakras as I think the imbalances she has there are probably due to emotional problems she still has because of being mistreated as a young horse. I got the number 9 very clearly in my head at one point and we worked out that when Solo was 9 years old her owner had moved her to her present stabling and paddock and since then no-one but her owner had worked with her. Prior to this other people had occasionally ridden her and taken care of her as well as her owner but this had not suited Solo at all - since the change she had been much happier and more settled and her behaviour had vastly improved.

I also gave Solo a lot of reiki through her crown chakra because she had suffered in the past with obsessional behaviour and also as a way of treating her whole body and aura at once.

It was a very great honour to work on this wonderful horse and I hope to have the chance to work on more of these beautiful creatures in the future.

Love and blessings from

Anna

)O(

12. Time Flies

Well, I can't think where the last month has gone! I've been so busy with volunteering, studying for my crystal therapy course, getting ready to start my Anatomy and Physiology and Massage course at Thomas Danby in September that I haven't had chance to update my blog for a while. I'm regularly donating reiki treatments to cancer patients at the Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre which has been very rewarding so far and I have had marvellous feedback and repeat appointments made. I'm knuckling down to my crystal course now too which is proving really fascinating and is beginning to make clear why crystals work as a healing tool. It's all about light and energy. Without light (i.e. the Sun) there would be no life so harnessing the powers of different colours in the light spectrum through crystals (whose colour is dictated by what colours they reflect) we can direct the particular properties of that light for relevant purposes. The life-giving energy of white light is recognised in many healing systems (e.g. as Chi, Ki, Prana etc). It connects us to the universal life force that keeps us alive and in perfect health.

I am very excited about attending enrolment for my first VTCT (Anatomy & Physiology with Swedish Body Massage) course this Thursday. I'm really looking forward to cracking on with this course and can't wait to get my uniform (which includes clogs!) and text book.

I'm fully insured as a Reiki Practitioner now with full Professional Indemnity Insurance and am a member of two professional bodies now: The National College of Holistic Medicine as a full member and the Federation of Holistic Therapists as a Student Member.

I've also made a start on some advertising - I've been using Google Adwords for a while now but I have recently invested in a basic Search Engine Submission package which I hope will pay off. In addition I'll be in the latest Yellow Pages which comes out in September. I'm also on Yell.com, Gumtree and in Friday Ads.

So, I'm feeling very positive and pleased about my progress so far.

Love and blessings

Anna
)O(

11. Volunteering is good for the soul!

I'll shall soon be starting volunteering my services as a Reiki Healer at the Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre based at St James Hospital in Leeds. The Centre is a purpose built cancer information and support Centre. It supports cancer patients and their families. No clinical work is carried out in the building, but there is a wide variety of support services. These include:

Complementary therapies (currently Reiki, Colour Analysis, Reflexology, Spiritual Healing, Crano-Sacral Therapy, Hand and Foot Massage, Aromatherapy, Body Massage and Indian Head Massage), Counselling , Art Therapy, Beauty makeovers and Support groups

The therapies offered are available for both patients and their carers.

The information service is centered around the comprehensive information library in the Centre. There is also an information outreach service to the oncology wards and departments.

I'm already involved with the information outreach service but the Centre had no-one offering reiki treatments at present so I was happy to step into the breach! It's a great opportunity for me to meet other therapists too.

If you or someone you know has been affected by cancer and feel that what the centre has to offer could be beneficial it is open 10am - 4pm as a drop in service. It is located adjacent to the Cancer Research Building, directly behind the Thackray Museum.
Tel: 0113 2066498 or 2066499, Email: romc@leedsth.nhs.uk.

Love and blessings from

Anna

)O(

9. Challenges and Discoveries

Last weekend I attained the Reiki level 2 qualification which means I am now an advanced Reiki practitioner. It was a really wonderful day, receiving the attunements was very powerful and once again Bryan (my Reiki master) made everything so easy and enjoyable. It was also a pleasure to meet Mark my fellow student for the day who had done his level 1 the day before.

The challenges started almost straightaway as last week I worked on a client with a spirit attachment, which I would imagine is a fairly rare occurence! I have also begun a lot of distant healing for a variety of complaints including broken bones, cancer, grief, anxiety and even sent healing to a theatrical performance!

An important part of Reiki is self healing which I work on every day. I have also been sending healing to myself in the past to times when I was troubled, anguished and upset. This doesn't make the situations that caused these feelings to no longer have taken place but it does mean that the negative impact they might still have on me has been eased.

By the same token it is possible to send healing into the future. That is what I did with the theatrical performance I sent reiki to as I wouldn't have been able to send it at the actual time it was needed due to prior commitments. This could be done for any potentially stressful or worrying future event so that when the actual time came pre-programmed reiki would go to work on whatever part of that event needed it - we may not know exactly where it was needed ourselves but we can trust the healing to direct itself as it always works for the highest good.

Feel free to contact me via email in the first instance if you would like some distant healing set up for you or indeed hands on healing in my new healing room in Leeds (see previous post).

Love and blessings

Anna

)O(

8. Changing Rooms

I have now (in an astonishingly short space of time) converted my home office into a healing room! And wondrous it is to behold. I started re-decorating it on Monday afternoon and had finished by Wednesday morning, that included: emptying the room, preparing the walls, 2 coats of emulsion, 2 coats of satinwood in two different colours, doing a paint effect on the desk, cabinet and shelves and the wooden floor (including varnish) and the fiddly bits too like doorknobs and light switches etc. As the satinwood takes 16 hours to dry and it needed two coats then I appear to have discovered a rip in the time space continuum in order to have been able to achieve this mind boggling feat - perhaps some physicists and mathemeticians could look into it for me?

Anyway, it really is a joy to behold and I spent several happy hours yesterday afternoon in it arranging my towels, blankets, certificates, books and crystals etc. In fact, I had to drag myself away or I would never have got to bed! Can't wait for my first victim, errrr I mean recipient of treatment (which I already have booked in - reflexology next Tuesday).

Let me know if you would like to come and have a therapy session in my sparkly new room (see profile for my email).

Have also done some further fine tuning to the Ray of Light website, change of colour scheme, more images etc - have a look and see what you think by following the link in the list opposite.

Love and blessings

Anna

)O(

7. Web of Light

I have designed my own proper Ray of Light website! It took me all afternoon and most of the evening- phew. It's a bit basic as yet but I'm still very pleased. Please, please, please come and have a look at my new pride and joy at:

www.rayoflight.me.uk

And let me know what you think by posting a comment here.

Love and blessings from

Anna

)O(

6. Shiny Happy Crystals and the Couch of Joy

I'm just loving learning lots more about how to use crystals. Sometimes, all the different properties of different crystals makes me feel a bit overwhelmed but when I just relax and trust which crystal is right for what purpose then the answer seems to come. I've been using my chakra crystals for a bit now and also crystal grids to energise or relax and to concentrate healing on particular areas. I've also been learning today about cleaning the aura with a quartz crystal point and also cleaning the chakras with it too, which is very effective indeed. Having just tried this on myself I feel all sparkly and bright and full of light! If anyone would like to know how to do this themselves post a message in the comments at the end or email me and I'll explain. You'll need a clear quartz crystal point ideally (any size) but it can be done with any crystal you might have lying around.

On Monday my beautiful new massage couch arrived, which is a sheer joy to behold, heavenly to lie on and even better to use during healing as I can adjust it to the most comfortable height for me to work at. When I had to work on the floor my back and arms often got tired or my feet went to sleep which is hardly conducive to a good healing session! The kitty cats are also rather keen on the new bed and seem to want to join in with the healing, furry pest therapists indeed! I now also have some gorgeous caramel coloured towels to cover the couch with and a butter coloured soft fleece blanket to keep clients warm with whilst they are being treated, all courtesy of Primark the temple of retail therapy where I worship at regular intervals.

Love and blessings from

Anna

)O(

5. Tree Hugging

I admit it, I confess, yes - I am a tree hugger! In fact, I embraced several of my bark-attired friends yesterday evening. It's not just a whimsical fancy though as you will discover if you ever try it yourself. Putting your arms round one of these wise and beautiful denizens of the forest is a really wonderful grounding and energising exercise. Get right up close to the tree and rest your body on it with your arms circling the trunk and your face resting against the bark. Then look up into it's branches and prepare to be overwhelmed, especially if it's quite a big tree. Actually, I am saying "it" when in fact they are definitely he or she. You will be able to tell what kind of tree spirit you are hugging from the general "male" or "female" ambience it gives. There are two lovely big sycamores in my local graveyard who I visited last night and they are undoubtedly a couple, the female tree is very warm and fragrant and giving whereas her husband though still wonderful to embrace is slightly more aloof but very enigmatic.

The trees seem to love it when we step under their branches, they welcome us and seem delighted that we haven't just walked on by. Trees are very healing and giving, as well as being good for the environment of course, if we want to we can draw up healing energy through them from the earth. This is an excellent habit to get into for anyone who does energy work as we need to revitalise ourselves in order to be able to be a good channel for energy for others. Getting some wonderful green tree energy is a great way to clear any bits of debris that we may have hanging around our auras. Try it, its free and its fun! Who knows, the tree spirit may even tell you some of its secrets : )

As well as regular tree hugging you can also use the symbolism of the tree, its branches and its roots as a good grounding and centering meditation, as follows:

Ideally, sit under a favourite tree or if this is not possible simply visualise yourself sat with your back resting on its trunk. Now, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths in and out until you are calm and you are breathing slowly and evenly. Then imagine that on each out breath you are pushing strong roots through the base of your spinal column deep into the earth so that they entwine with the roots of the tree, let them carry on down, down, down right to the earth's core and when you feel you are so strongly rooted that not even a hurricane could dislodge you start to draw up on each in breath the earth's energy, just like the tree does through it's roots. Draw this healing energy up through your body up your spine and out through the top of the head where it merges with the trees branches and comes flowing down through them to fall back down to ground again where it returns to its source. Continue with this until you have a complete cycle of energy being drawn up and returned and enjoy this for as long as you wish. When you are ready, gradually retract your roots back up through the earth and into the base of your spine again and then open your eyes.

Try this meditation and visualisation to literally root yourself if you are feeling a bit "spacey" or that your head has too many thoughts in it battling for space, it's an excellent exercise to do if your root chakra is a bit closed.

In any event, get in a clinch with a leafy friend at the earliest opportunity!

Love and blessings

Anna

)O(