Grace Ball – Reiki Master Student

I first heard about Reiki when I started working for Yvonne on work experience, which was about 19 months ago.  During the winter of that year I developed a really bad cough and nothing the doctor gave me or my inhalers were touching it.  Yvonne gave me some Homeopathic remedies, which helped and her ironing lady suggested I get some Reiki for it.   At first I refused, thinking “What’s the point of that?” and also believing that this was going against my Christian beliefs. 

Around this time the work experience finished, but something made me want to keep in contact with Pennie and Yvonne.  When I look back on it now, I know that it was the radiance that shone out from Yvonne and Pennie that made me want to go to their Reiki shares.  After I had been going to the Reiki shares for about a month, I felt that I needed to take this further.  However I was out of work and thought that I could not afford the cost of courses with Acorn to Oak.  I asked people about Reiki courses and was told to try SCOLA (Sutton College of Adult Education).  I was very disappointed to find I could not enrol on a course with them until September.  Even though I had finished my work experience with Yvonne I was still doing some voluntary work for her.  One day she asked me if I had considered doing a Reiki course, I told her about SCOLA.  Yvonne sensed how disappointed I was and suggested that I could do the Reiki I course with them in exchange for the work I had been doing.  So began my real life with Reiki.

In April last year I did the Reiki I course.  Just before this course my Mum was taken into hospital and during the weekend, I found out that my Mum had to have a brain scan.  She had the scan on the Thursday following the course and then the following Monday we were called to her bedside. The night before I had gone to visit my Mum with my Dad, and had not been able to stay by her bed. I knew that she was on her way out, the nurses told me that she did not have long and I told them I knew. The next morning I woke up feeling very distressed and phoned Margaret, who recommended a Homeopathic remedy to me, as soon as I put the phone down my brother phoned to say we had been called to my Mum’s bedside. I phoned Margaret and she said she would send some Reiki to me. I was quite distressed going up to the hospital, but when I reached her bedside and took hold of her hand I had this overwhelming sense of peace come over me, to this day I believe it was the Reiki that Margaret sent to me.

At the time of doing Reiki I, I told Yvonne that was all I wanted to do.  However, things changed after losing my Mum and realising how supported I was with the Reiki I, I decided to do Reiki II.   This had to wait until I could afford it, though.  Then things got better as I got a full time job just after losing my Mum!  So, in September I was able to afford to do Reiki II.  Even then I was still fighting with myself as to whether this was the right thing to be doing, as I was still not sure whether this was going against my Christian beliefs, but my experiences during my Reiki II attunements confirmed to me that I was doing the right thing.

During my first attunement I saw three persons/bodies around me forming a triangle and now looking back on it I believe it was the three persons of God, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  During my second attunement I clearly saw Christ standing behind me and he put his arms around me, I needed no further confirmation that I was doing the right thing.  Further to that, in November I went to a healing conference at Southwark Cathedral and found out that it was used within the church, something I wasn’t aware of previously. All this was confirmation enough for me to decide that I wanted to go on and do my Reiki Mastership.

Another experience I had during the Reiki II Course was when we had sent Reiki to different situations.  I had sent Reiki to my Dad, asking that he would move from where he was into a flat that was self contained and that had nice gardens that he could walk in or sit in if he wanted. In February of this year my Dad moved into his new home where he is very happy, and it was just as I had visualised it for him, with lovely gardens that he can sit out in!  Another thing, within two months of the Reiki II Course, my asthma had 99% disappeared and I found that things I was not able to eat before like breakfast, I was now able to eat.

Now I’m on the Reiki Master Pathway and my experiences are continuing.  After the Psychic Development course I found I was more self-confident, was more aware of where the energy was needed and was able to stay where I was and direct it to where it is needed.  After the Spiritual Development Course I became so much more aware of nature and the colours of nature are more vibrant to me.  I also found it a lot easier to meditate and have had some great meditations.  After the Advanced Healing Course I have been more aware of other people’s energy and was surprised that I am able to see their hara lines – this has really increased my confidence with my own Reiki practice. 

What I really notice, more than anything, since I’ve been doing Reiki, is how people respond to me so positively – especially when they haven’t seen me for a while.  They sense a huge change in me – I know it is within my own energy.  I feel more alive, more confident and more positive.  Even difficult things that happen in my life I find so much easier to cope with. 

Grace Ball