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(