Author Archive: andy

How to anchor

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There’s a technique that I share with some reiki clients called ‘anchoring’ that I think is a good idea to share with you here too!

It comes from Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, and a proper explanation can be found here in this article:

NLP Techniques: Basic Anchoring in 5 Simple Steps

But here’s my summary:

Anchoring is a technique to ‘anchor’ a feeling to a physical gesture. I propose either pressing your hand on your chest or squeezing a finger with your hand.

Do this and close your eyes and take in a deep breath. Then feel a positive state of being.

Sometimes, after a treatment, I’ll ask clients to really feel the positive feelings of the treatment, say, of relaxation and calm, or feeling light.

Just really sit in that feeling. Feel it.

And then, at another time, you do the gesture, close your eyes, take in a deep breath, and bring back this feeling that you anchored.

So, it could be particularly useful if you’re in a period of stress or anxiety. Or if you’re thinking negative thoughts or worrying about something that has happened or what will happen.

You can anchor any positive feeling, not just from a reiki treatment, so the feeling after a nice walk or after a good meditation.

The idea here is that you are shifting your energy from a negative (or neutral) one to a positive energy, one that is inside of you. It’s not someone else that has brought you this calm and it’s not beyond your ability, because it’s inside of you.

Try it out if you think it might help you!

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given over 3,400 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

Reiki or something else

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I am guessing that most of the readers of this blog are interested in having a reiki treatment in Sydney, and found me through a search engine like Google. Some readers will find this through my newsletter, which I send out a few times a year. A few might come from me posting a link to this blog post on Facebook. And some will be generally interested in reiki, rather than in coming for a reiki treatment.

It might surprise you that with this post, I’m not going to try to sell you on the benefits of reiki and convince you to come in for a treatment. My marketing philosophy is to remind people I’m here and be visible (and I’ve heard that writing blog posts occasionally, which marks my website as being active, helps my website come up in search engines). And I will basically trust that if my clients want to have a reiki treatment and can find me that they’ll come for a treatment.

What I am happy to promote though, to anyone, is that we should regularly, continously and actively be taking care of ourselves. Our bodies won’t be able to be healthy unless we take care of them with healthy eating and drinking and exercise. Similarly, our minds and energy are likely not able to naturally be in a positive place unless we put our intentions there.

So, it may be reiki that you find is a practice that helps you feel good or feel better and it may be something else! It could be yoga, meditation, chanting, acupuncture, counselling, therapy, long walks, exercise or time to yourself. It could be reading, getting massages, a flotation tank, making something with your hands, spending time in nature or spending time with friends and family. It won’t be any single thing.

I advise clients not to view a reiki treatment as a one-time cure for your problems. It should be just one of the tools that you use on a regular basis for your well-being, and you may not use the same tools in the same combination forever. Find what works for you and use the tools regularly and an ongoing basis, instead of waiting until you’re in crisis to act. I hope you can take care of yourself and encourage others to do the same.

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given over 3,400 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

Backs to Basics: The Reiki Precepts

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A client just told me that he felt so amazing after the last treatment, and it was so good that he wondered why he hadn’t explored this practice before, so he wanted to know more about reiki.

This makes me realise that I usually do blog posts about specific issues or topics, and I haven’t been explaining reiki more broadly. To do so, it’s really important to just go back to the basics.

Reiki is a spiritual practice developed by Mikao Usui in the early 1900s in Japan, which has since spread around the world, starting through Hawaii and the West Coast of North America, and it’s now practised all around the world, though is more popular in some places than others.

Usui established foundational precepts for reiki. The dictionary defines a ‘precept’ as ‘a general rule intended to regulate behaviour or thought’. The five precepts of reiki are:

For today only:

Do not anger.
Do not worry.
Be humble.
Be honest in your work.
Be compassionate to yourself and others.

Because they were in Japanese, they are sometimes worded in slightly different way. For example, instead of ‘be honest in your work’, some say ‘be true to your way and being’.

The hands-on healing practice that most people around the world know as reiki is only a part of the overall spiritual practice of reiki, which is founded on the precepts, and includes practices like meditation and chanting.

For me, a reiki treatment is facilitating a client to be in a healing space where they can be in touch with their true, higher self and their light. In this state of presence, you are naturally following the precepts: not angry, not fearful, humble, honest and compassionate. And if clients can touch that, or be in that space, they feel good.

For me, reiki is not that about something being wrong with you, or energy blockages or imbalances, or something wrong with your chakras. It basically all goes back to the precepts!

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given over 3,400 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

Do you need therapy or counselling?

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Clients often come to me with stress and anxiety, either generally, or in response to a particular situation. So, I often ask if they are seeing a counsellor or therapist. It’s part of my general philosophy about reiki, that a reiki treatment may be a tool that will help you in some way but that you will need a number of tools in your toolbox. One treatment is not going to magically solve a problem or issue. And furthermore, if the issue is primarily one of the mind or emotions, then I think the first place to start with is someone who specialises in these, just like if you are physically injured or sick, a medical doctor would be my first port of call.

I just came across this article in the Washington Post, ‘Not everyone needs therapy‘, by Emily Edlin, and it nudged me to think about how I word my question. As the article says:

‘People need therapy when their mental health symptoms are causing serious impairments in their daily functioning — in close relationships, work performance, sleep or social activities. For instance, if a person’s work stress overwhelms them to the point that they miss work and are subsequently at risk of losing their job.

They don’t need therapy when they are able to manage their symptoms well — if they feel stressed about their work but continue to perform well, have a supportive network of family and friends, engage in meaningful activities outside work and do not have significant levels of depression and anxiety.’

I think this is a good framework and that it is true that sometimes stress and anxiety don’t require therapy, but are a signal that you need to reflect and change the situation. And many of my clients already do some form of therapy, and are coming for a reiki treatment as an alternative way to support what they are already doing.

I’d also add that there are different kinds of therapy and counselling. A number of clients who have had prolonged terrible periods at work could benefit from, I believe, workplace counselling or coaching, as the problems really are specific to work. People who can’t get over a relationship break-up or are suffering from the loss of a loved one could benefit from counsellors that specialise in these areas – relationships, grief – to help them get through this time.

I can sense that sometimes clients just need to be able to talk about how they feel, and I think being able to pay someone, a professional, to listen to you and provide objective guidance, is a wonderful thing. Very occasionally, a client will want to tell me all about the problems they are facing and this tells me that a professional listener would be good for them, rather than telling their problems to friends or family … or a reiki practitioner.

Finally, a number of clients have said that they tried counselling but that it didn’t work. There are many types of counselling available, and it’s not a given that you’ll find the right therapist right away (just as I know that some clients will ‘click’ with other reiki practitioners better than with me). So, if it didn’t work once, it may mean that counselling is not for you, but it may also mean that it wasn’t the right counsellor or type of counselling.

In any case, the important thing is recognising that you want to feel better and that you are doing something about it. If this includes reiki, I’ll see you at your next treatment!

P.S. Some time after I wrote this blog post in March 2024, a client told me about what seems like a terrific service in Australia. It’s an Australian online-based program, so would be particularly useful for you if you’re comfortable with doing counselling online or can’t get to someone in person. Looking through their website, it looks like it has a lot to offer, no matter what your situation, and is inexpensive OR, with a doctor’s prescription, free. Check it out at www.thiswayup.org.au.

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given nearly 3,500 reiki treatments.
Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

Extra benefits of a reiki treatment

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While the practice of reiki and reiki treatments may have a specific shape and form, I’ve been thinking this week about the extra benefits from coming to a reiki treatment, which aren’t about reiki itself.

While it’s hard to generalise about my reiki clients, I can say that everyone comes to support their well-being. So, a first benefit is about a positive mindset. The action of coming to a reiki treatment means that you have decided that you want to take care of yourself. You want to see what reiki will do for you in a positive way or you may hope that it will address a negative situation in your life, such as stress or anxiety, or even a physical issue.

I also think it’s very important to be able to identify how we are feeling and then to say how we want to feel. We’ve all heard stories about how some people won’t admit to themselves how they’re feeling and then that sadness or anger or stress erupts or turns into a bad situation. Moreover, if we’re not feeling at our best, it’s useful to think about how we are feeling when we are good in ourselves. How do you want to feel?

So, some reflection is accomplished, which I think is very positive. Then, reiki clients turn intentions into action by booking and coming in for an appointment. I think this is also a positive gesture. A main challenge for some of my clients is that they know what they need to do (e.g. make time for themselves, work less or think about work less) but they don’t do it. By deciding you want a treatment and coming in for one (and making the time), you are breaking indecision, inertia or a lack of motivation to doing something you want to do.

Basically what I’m saying is that before the reiki treatment has started, you’ve put yourself on a positive course to feeling better. There are other benefits, which could be said to be part of the treatment, but I think of as extra benefits. Being welcomed into a peaceful, quiet and non-judgemental space. Being invited to say your intentions for how you’d like to feel. Being listened to and seen. Listening to music, which I hope you find beautiful. A cup of tea, if you’d like one, and perhaps a different sort than you’re used to.

One of the biggest benefits, I think, is being able to be quiet, in a space all to yourself, with time for yourself, free of obligations of work and family and the need to think about problems and other people, time to not receive phone calls and not be connected to our smartphones. Some clients tell me they never take or get this quiet time for themselves.

So when I say that I think that a reiki treatment is beneficial for almost all of my clients, it is not just the reiki treatment itself, but also the extra benefits!

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given over 3,400 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

A reiki fan

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(Originally published 11 December 2018, updated 23 February 2025)

Are you a fan of reiki? Well, this post might not be for you, as it’s actually about the fan in my reiki room? Why?

Well, it’s never failed to surprise me how many clients comment on the fan. After the lanterns in the hallway (which I should write about sometime too), clients always make mention of it.

I have a good story about it though. We knew we needed some fans for the apartment: Sydney gets so hot! The lower level of our apartment doesn’t have a lot of cross-ventilation either. I did a bit of online research and found the fan of my dreams. By the colourfully named company Big Ass Fans, I find the Haiku fans really, really beautiful (as shown here below). But the first price tag I saw on their website said, ‘starting at $2,000’, which is a lot of reiki treatments.

What we did instead was go to a local lighting and fan store, Beacon Lights, and looked up and managed to find one fan which looks pretty much like the Haiku. Not exactly the same, but pretty nice, as evidenced by all the praise I get from clients.

The designer, George Kovacs, called it the Artemis. He opened up a small store in Manhattan, focused on lights, and passed away in 2007. He mostly designed lights, but the design for the Artemis was recognised as significant enough to earn a place in the Chicago Museum of Architecture and Design.

As of April 2019, it was on sale for $620 … which is a lot cheaper than ‘starting at $2000’. It keeps us nice and cool during a treatment, and I believe that the more a client feels comfortable in a space, and happy to be there, because of the comfort, feeling or beauty of the space, the better the healing will be.

While I used to direct people to Beacon Lighting, they’ve stopped selling them! But you can find them here, through Designer Fans (as of February 2024, they’re $775). Two of my reiki clients have bought them in the last period!

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment.
Clients come from all over Sydney to see me, and I’ve also had clients who are visiting Sydney from Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast come and see me while they’re here for business, conferences or meeting families. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

Come for a treatment

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A night blooming cereus.

I invite you to come for a reiki treatment. If you’d had a treatment before and found it useful or that it felt good, I invite you to consider how often you might want to come. You see, whether it’s meditation, yoga, exercise, eating well or reiki, when you find something that is good for you, I think that you should make it a regular practice. This is much preferable to waiting until a situation is so bad that you feel you need an emergency treatment!

I had a revelation about my practice only recently (and after so many years!). I think that I may have not been as encouraging as I could have been when people asked how often they should come for a treatment. The reason for this is twofold. When I started learning about reiki, it was a widespread practice among some reiki practitioners to tell clients that they needed to have three treatments in order for reiki to work at its best. But when I started giving treatments, it felt to me (and still does) that this was just a way to try to get clients to come more often. I think you should know after ONE treatment whether reiki works for you or not, and it’s no use coming again if it didn’t bring you any benefits. Reiki works for the vast majority of my clients, but not everyone.

And while I think and hope that a reiki treatment will be beneficial each time, it is NOT true that you MUST come more than once. So, I really didn’t want to come across as one of THOSE practitioners. Similarly, during a long period when I had problems with my lower back, it took me a long time to find the right physiotherapist who told me that his goal was NOT to see me again and that he’d do all he could to fix the issue in one session and then give me home exercises to do to support this. This was after I’d had a number of physios and chiros who gave me mediocre (or bad) care and told me that I had to come in again a week after. So, I think quite subconsciously, I have over many years been reticent to tell clients to come on a regular basis though I do tell them that they should come back if it the treatment worked for them and that some of my clients do come on a regular basis.

So, I should make it clear: I think that regular reiki is very beneficial to some clients, and I think that it would benefit quite a few clients (those who felt good effects) if they came more regularly, than say, the night blooming cereus, photo above, that recently bloomed, at night, as it does ONCE A YEAR. 😆

Food for thought, I hope, and I’ll see you when I see you! Hope you’re well.

Andy

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given nearly 3,300 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

Latest reviews for Reiki Surry Hills on Fresha

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Here are my latest reviews from Fresha. My reviews appear on both Google Listings and on my booking website, Fresha, with a review seldomly on my Facebook page! I think it’s a good idea to repost them, just in case it’s easier for potential clients to find them here on my website, rather than through Fresha or Google.

On Fresha, I currently have 75 reviews with an average 5-star rating.

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given more than 3,000 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

What might I feel from a reiki treatment?

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I think that one of my most common questions that a reiki client will have for me is: ‘What will I feel?’ Lately, this question comes out in a funny way, when clients ask, ‘Is it normal to feel this way?’ You know, I’ve always hated that idea of ‘normal’ being something that we should aim for. But that’s besides the point. I think in general and specifically related to reiki, we are all very individual. There is no normal. So, while I can tell you that some clients feel the energy in different ways in their body, some clients do not feel it. Some people feel heat and a few people cool, and others experience the energy as like electricity or magnets, sparkling or like it is a pulling sensation.

Some clients go into a place very similar to meditation, and others cannot stop their minds from racing. Many have both happening during a treatment: relaxation AND busy thoughts. A few people see colours. Some people have very interesting images and visuals of things they’ve never seen before, while others have memories which may be significant and may not be! Some clients describe the thoughts and memories as ‘really random’. Occasionally, clients have images of relatives, loved ones and friends, sometimes those who have passed. And others don’t feel anything or think anything special at all, though hopefully they feel relaxed. Rarely, clients feel unpleasant sensations: pain, perhaps in a place where they have had an injury, anxiety (sometimes because it is a new experience) and one client even reported a prolonged feeling of fear and darkness.

There is also a difference between clients who have reiki regularly with some who say that treatments are nearly always the same (with some variation) and others who report that the treatment are different every time!

A similar variation would apply to how clients feel afterwards and for how long. Very occasionally, clients say they feel the effects for a long time! More often, it’s just the day or two afterwards, or maybe a day or two after that. And others say they don’t feel much different right afterwards. I also try to warn clients that they might feel worse before they feel better, as some clients feel really tired, or even like they are catching a flu. A recent client told me they broke out in some acne on their face, which doesn’t happen to them.

I wanted to share a few recent reports with you. One client who was suffering from depression reported after the treatment:

‘I took some time over the past week to pay attention to the way I was feeling and I have to say I am amazed … Right off the bat right after I left the session I felt as if my senses were renewed, my senses felt sharper and much clearer. Admittedly I was a bit skeptical that the deep pain I’d been experiencing in my chest would go away with one session so I gave it some time. I’m happy to say that that pain has been lifted significantly. I still can feel upset, but that aching physical sensation is nearly gone – which is just incredible because previously it held me down so much ..
I’m thinking to come in again in a few weeks – I’m not sure how long this lifted effect will last, but for now it feels great.’

On the other hand, a client who came because they feel they cannot be focused and are always daydreaming and distracted reported:

‘No, I did notice any difference in me. My mind is always distracted.’

If there are messages from this, for me, it is that it’s worthwhile to try out reiki and see what it does for you. Then, it’s useful to not have any expectations but to simply be open to what happens (or what does not happen). If you are hoping to feel like someone else has felt, or are expecting to feel a certain way, you may be disappointed and you may not notice what is actually happening, with your expectations in the way. And finally: nothing is normal! You will feel how you feel and that is all good. Comparing ourselves to other people is usually not very useful.

Good wishes to all!

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given more than 3,000 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

Another eight reviews for Reiki Surry Hills on Google Listings

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I’m so grateful to my clients who take the time to leave reviews, and I think it’s important to share them so potential clients can get a sense and feel of what they may experience, and whether I might be right for them. On Google Listings, I currently have 96 reviews with an average of a 5-star rating.

🌟 Amreeta Bhatti said:
I loved my treatment with Andy and highly recommend him to anyone feeling energetically out of alignment. He has a beautiful grounding energy and is a healing gem in the heart of Surry Hills!

🌟 Tennille Lung said:
My first time Reiki session was a wonderful experience. Andy was incredibly welcoming, professional and had a warm and calming energy. I appreciated him taking the time to understand my needs and ensure I felt comfortable throughout. I left feeling very relaxed and calm, like I had just completed a deeply rejuvenating meditation session. Highly recommend for anyone seeking a holistic approach to relaxation and well-being.

🌟 May Z said:
It was my first reiki experience and I was quite skeptical going in but I was willing to give it a go as I have been feeling very tensed and anxious lately. Andy welcomed me and explained how the session will go. After my reiki session, I felt very calm, relaxed, and super energised. Thank you, Andy for your amazing work. 🙏🏼 Will definitely be going back.

🌟 Liwei Yang said:
I was feeling tense and clenched before my session with Andy. I wanted to open up to Reiki and see if I wanted to pickup my Reiki practice again since it had been years since I last practiced. After the session, I felt the clenched parts of me release and my energy channels open up to flow. I felt serenity, ease, happiness, and spaciousness during my session. And moved about my day at a slower pace afterward. I will be picking up my Reiki practice now that I’ve had a lovely session. I love that Andy summarized the session through a reflection email — it was helpful for me! The reiki room, music, and tea were also great!

🌟 Sara Kootbaully said:
I recently had the pleasure of experiencing a reiki session with Andy. His beautiful home felt like an oasis of calm in my busy week with soft lighting, soothing music, and warm, aromatic tea! The whole ambiance really helped me to relax and be fully immersed in the healing experience. It’s clear that Andy really takes pride in the work he does, and he took the time to understand my needs and what I was hoping to achieve from the experience. His attentiveness and genuine care were really appreciated and the treatment itself left me feeling very relaxed, calm and balanced. If you’re looking for a great reiki practitioner, I highly recommend booking a session with Andy.

🌟 Gregg Grim said:
I understand why he only has 5 star reviews. If you are someone who tries so many things to heal yourself and improve your health. Just try 1 session. Nothing will prepare you for it.

🌟 Temi Ol said:
This is literally – *by far* – the *best* reiki practitioner in the country and for sure one of the best in the western world. Absolutely astonishingly powerful practitioner. His demeanor is pragmatic, calm, emphathetic. Space amazing and safe. Book for absolute transformative healing!!!!

🌟 Kaidi Ojaste gave me five stars.

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given more than 3,000 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.