Category Archives: Reiki Surry Hills

Before your reiki treatment

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A lot more than you might think goes into preparing for your reiki treatment.

When I first get an enquiry, I’ll work out with a client what’s the best time for them to come. Or if they book online through Bookwell, then I need to check my calendar to make sure that time is free and confirm the appointment through Bookwell.

Then, for all clients who are coming, I send an SMS with some instructions about how to find me (as it’s a bit tricky to find the entrance in the small alley in Surry Hills) which also reminds them of the time of their appointment and the cost. It also means they have my phone number in case they get lost, want to ask further questions or need to cancel or rebook.

I’ve also learned that if someone doesn’t respond to that SMS, there’s a chance that they didn’t receive the message, and I should SMS again closer to the time and date of the appointment. Also, if someone books over a week in advance, it’s useful for me to try to remember to send a reminder, as clients do sometimes forget about a treatment if they book too far in advance (and don’t put it in their calendar).

Before the treatment, I need to make sure that the room is ready. Is the speaker charged so I can play music during the treatment? Is my Square charged for taking credit card payments? Do I also have change for those who pay in cash? Is the room tidy, and have I set up the reiki table with towels and pillows?

Twenty minutes before a treatment is when I’ve learned to be ready. Usually new clients are between 5 and 10 minutes early. Repeat clients, because they know the location, usually time their visit more closely to the appointment time, but often, understandably, clients give themselves a good amount of time to find the place, or they leave work early (who doesn’t want to do that?). If a client is five minutes late, I’ll send an SMS to ask if they need help finding me!

Being ready for the treatment means that I’ve made tea to offer when the client comes and sits down. Even if someone doesn’t want tea, I think it’s a nice thing to offer, and a nice way to sit down and feel like they’ve arrived somewhere. I also light the five tea light candles that I have in the room. Whether it’s sunny or dark, I’ve always liked candles, and the feeling of warmth they bring to a space. One of the candles is in my tea warmer, which I’ve discovered can keep the tea warm for the whole treatment!

To make sure we’re not disturbed during the treatment, I switch my fitness device to silent (if I don’t do this, it will buzz and tell me to “MOVE” during the treatment) but I don’t turn my phone to airplane mode until I’m sure the client has arrived. I also turn on my speaker, open the Spotify app on my iPhone and connect them, to play music during the treatment which I hope is relaxing and gentle and can also help block out any background noise from the street and neighbourhood.

When a client arrives, I buzz them in, greet them at the door, and welcome them to the apartment. I’ll ask them to remove their shoes at the door and offer them the use of the bathroom before we start (when I started proactively offering this, I was surprised how many clients took me up on the offer, which makes me wonder how many clients before that were uncomfortably realising during a treatment that they needed to go to the bathroom!). Then, I’ll ask the client to take a seat, introduce them to Thor, the reiki cat, if he’s decided to grace us with his presence, offer tea, and ask a client what brings them to reiki that day.

And finally, we’re ready to begin!

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.

Note to self: keep doing your thing.

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My teacher, Frans Stiene, from the International House of Reiki, posted this on Facebook a while ago, and it struck me how perfect it was for what I was feeling at the time.

It seems to be attributed on Pinterest and elsewhere to Nanea Hoffman who has a website called Sweatpants and Coffee (though I can’t find this post on her website).

There are many components that make a good reiki practitioner. Studying with a good teacher will help. A regular practice of meditation and reiki is essential. And I also think that we need to learn to have the right attitude and philosophy.

Even if I have good intentions, and want something specific for a person (say, to heal their broken heart when they’ve told me their heart is broken), me trying to control the energy and treatment gets in the way of the healing.

Similarly, if someone has specific expectations for a treatment, that they will feel a certain way, or that it will be exactly the same as a previous treatment, then that gets in the way of a treatment too. What if you are expecting a treatment to feel hot or for you to cry, and think that the treatment is only effective that way? Perhaps you would miss a different kind of healing that happens, that might be more subtle, or might feel different than what you expected.

For me, as a note to self, I can’t control what a client feels, and taking on disappointment if someone doesn’t get what they expect, or even have what they think is a bad experience, well, that’s not so helpful to me. It is something to be learned though, and a lesson that I think is a pretty good one for everyone, not only reiki practitioners.

The people around us are going through their own stuff, with their own reactions and expectations. We can’t control it. Just keeping on doing what we are doing, with as much love as we can do it with… that seems like a pretty good path forward.

The International House of Reiki’s Facebook page is here.

And if you haven’t visited lately, my Facebook page is here.

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.

The most treatments EVER

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I’m not sure whether it was because of the article in the Mail Online, or the universe, or the weather, but last month, October, I gave the most reiki treatments that I’ve ever given: 51!

That’s almost two a day, every day, including the weekends. In reality, I had quite a few days where I gave three treatments, and a few days where I did none.

None of my clients mentioned the article itself, but I do think that it would have boosted my Google listing and just made it easier on the internet to find me. I also wondered, with all the rain (it was a really unusually rainy month in Sydney), whether clients were thinking of things they could do inside… and if the rain didn’t make some people a bit more melancholy or stressed out than usual.

It was a happy month for me! I kept to my limit of three treatments a day, and I found that I was able to balance the treatments with my other work as a freelance editor. Sometimes it did feel a little busy, getting bookings and enquiries throughout a day, and then making sure I’d put them into my calendar and my online booking calendar. I had two no-shows, which is unusual, and a few last minute cancellations.

My regular clients didn’t mind that this was the month I put my rates up from $75 to $80, and as usual, I met lots of nice and interesting people. Even though sometimes clients come in a bit of a state of distress or anxiety, I often get the sense of what nice people they are regardless. And I feel grateful for the opportunity to have a practice where I can bring people relief from some suffering and give them a helping hand, and I get the chance to meditate, and be still during the treatment. How lucky I am!

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.

Reiki Surry Hills in the news!

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I’m very happy that Reiki Surry Hills has been featured in an article in the Femail section of the Australian edition of the MailOnline. The MailOnline is the online version of Britain’s Daily Mail, and is the most visited English-language newspaper website in the world! It has homepages for the UK, USA, India and Australia. Check out the article here:

Is natural energy healing the secret to relieving stress for good? I tried Reiki for the first time – with surprising results

It came about when a wonderful Irish journalist named Alice Murphy put out a request to come for three reiki treatments and then write about it. While originally the article was meant to be matched with another story about another form of energy healing, that one got delayed, so I get a whole feature article myself!

I think it’s great, clearly written and features Reiki Surry Hills nicely. I like that the article is just a straightforward look at her experiences. She sets out the possible problem, and how she felt before, and then, along with a useful overall explanation of reiki, she talks about how she felt after the treatment. Some of my reviews are included from the website, a photo of me, and my husband even sneaks into the article (posing as a client).

I’m curious how many more treatments this will translate into, though this week (the article was first posted in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday), I have had a lot of bookings and as of the Friday, the page says there have been 1,200 shares!

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.

Reiki tea

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I like serving tea as a part of my reiki treatments. It’s a nice way to welcome a client to the reiki room, to settle into the space, and to have a sip of something that is hopefully enjoyable. If I don’t manage to serve you tea, it’s likely that I’ve been a bit too busy to get organised (because of my other work, or perhaps two reiki treatments back to back) or you’ve arrived a bit earlier than I expected. I try to be ready for clients twenty minutes before the scheduled time, as that’s when the early birds come, but I don’t always make it!

My most commonly served tea is Genmaicha. This is a Japanese roasted rice tea, that has a mix of green tea and popped roasted rice. It has an interesting savoury flavour with even a hint of oil that you can sometimes see on the surface of the tea. Many of my clients tell me they love it and so I’ve written the name out for them! It’s easy enough to find in Asian grocery stores that sell Japanese products (in the tea section, usually, or in the Japanese section). I like the loose leaf version rather than in tea bags. A photo of my favourite brand is below.

The wikipedia entry on Genmaicha tells me:

  • It is sometimes called ‘popcorn tea’ because the grains of rice pop during roasting and look like popcorn.
  • The tea was traditionally consumed by poor Japanese, as the rice was considered filler that reduced the price of the tea.
  • The tea was traditionally used by people who fasted for religious purposes or went without food for periods (probably because of its savoury qualities).
  • Finally, ‘the sugar and starch from the rice cause the tea to have a warm, full flavor that is similar to that of nuts. It is considered easy to drink and helps one’s stomach feel better.’

You learn something new every day.

While I have been remarkably consistent about serving clients genmaicha, I decided lately I needed a bit of a change, and discovered a herbal tea in Woolies (and have since seen it in Coles too). I don’t like all the flavours in the ‘Higher Living’ organic range, a British company: the cinnamon (I love cinnamon) had too much liquorice in it; the ‘ginger kick’ just didn’t have enough kick for me. But I love their ‘green tea with coconut’ and their ‘green tea with chai.’ Great combos. Clients seem to like it too.

When I was in university in Canada, my favourite herbal tea was ‘Almond Sunset’ from the company Celestial Seasonings from Colorado. It was such an odd flavour that they stopped producing it for a long time and then brought it back in 2016 by request, but I don’t think they sell it in Australia!

In any case, let me know in advance if you have a request for the type of tea I’ll serve you during your treatment, or feel free to recommend a new kind of herbal tea to try (I think it’s best to limit the caffeine in drinks for reiki when  trying to relax!).

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.

More reviews of Reiki Surry Hills

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It’s always such a pleasure to share feedback with you, and I’m so grateful to my clients who took the time to write these words:

Reviews from Bookwell (the online booking service):

Greta – 5 stars – visited September 2018

Thank you, Andy, I instantly felt comfortable with you in your lovely place. After walking in stressed and rushed and not in a great place emotionally I walked out feeling much calmer and peaceful. During my reiki session I was able to think about some things that cause me worry in a more positive and calm way. G x

Scott – 5 stars – visited September 2018<

Holly – 5 stars – visited August 2018<
Andy is a miracle worker. Very professional and kind and clearly committed to delivering quality service. 🙂

Steven – 5 stars – visited August 2018
Andy provides a very professional service and the treatment was both powerful and nourishing.

Reviews on the Reiki Surry Hills Facebook page:

Betty, August 29, Amazingly healing. Andy is very talented and a calming energy. Highly recommended.

Anthony, August 28, I recently had a Reiki session with Andy and the entire experience was very positive. He was courteous and attentive throughout the session, listening to my concerns and explaining the Reiki process to me… The treatment itself was relaxing and I have felt more balanced and aligned within myself since. I will likely return to see Andy again in the future.

Amritha, August 9, I had an amazing reiki session with Andy, and would highly recommend him!

Reviews from Google

I currently have a 5-star rating on Google from 19 reviews! The latest:

Ciara, September 2018: It’s so hard to describe the positive benefits of reiki with Andy but they are 100%. I thoroughly enjoy my sessions and always feel uplifted and energised after. I would highly recommend!

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.

Reports on a few clients

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I always find it interesting and useful to hear back from clients, and I think it’s a good thing to be able to share this with you. It gives people an idea of what they might experience or moreso the different range of experiences, and everyone has different sensations and outcomes from treatments, and individuals might have different experiences from each treatment!

A few clients report only positive experiences. One client reported recently that after she left the treatment:

“I felt peace. Peace during all the rest of the day and next day as well. I could say that it helped me to be balanced. That peace is found today as well, and It helps me to not rush into things, and to be patient with myself, time and cycles.”

Another client said he got “exactly what I needed from the last reiki session. It cleared my mind from the troubles I had.”

Other clients report some negative feelings, sometimes after positive ones, but accepting that this is part of the healing process. One reported being on a “big high on the day” of the treatment, but needing to deal with “really strong emotions” the next day.

Another client felt emotional, really tired, unmotivated and drained! But she also believed that these were energies, following the treatment, that she needed to go through, and that she’ll definitely have another reiki session at some time.

And another client had a really interesting experience during the treatment, feeling the different kinds of energy throughout his body, but then felt afterwards a mild headache and sluggish before feeling better the next day.

I had two interesting reports from clients about physical issues. One is a regular client, and for the first time, during the treatment and after, she felt immense pain at her knee. Even though she had had minor problems with her knee before, it wasn’t so painful (and she hadn’t come to reiki for her knee problem). After the treatment, with the pain continuing, she went to her doctor who diagnosed that she had torn her meniscus and needed surgery. So, while it wasn’t pleasant, it seems like the treatment allowed her inner light to be brighter and shine a light on this problem so that it could get fixed. Reiki couldn’t repair her meniscus but it did push her towards action that was needed.

Another client came specifically because of long-term hip issues. For at least two days afterwards, his hips felt worse. I’m not sure if he’s found a solution, but I would guess that the same thing happened. The treatment was pointing out an issue that needs to be solved. Healing isn’t always relaxing and pleasant. I hope he can find some way to resolve the issues!

Finally, I thought I would report on another long-term client, who has been coming for the last 10 months, about every 3 weeks. Coming for a first treatment in the midst of much personal turmoil and problems, and not something that was going to be easily or quickly resolved, she found that the treatments helped her, on a regular basis to deal with the stress of the situation. She often receives messages during the treatments, phrases or words that give her strength or reassurance. She described at her last treatment feeling more grounded and less frantic, and I’ve seen it too, a wonderful progression to being happier and calmer (particularly as the situation resolved).

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 or call me 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.

A report from the reiki retreat

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In August, I did a reiki retreat with the International House of Reiki. It’s the 10th year that they’ve done it, and even though I’ve been hanging out with IHR longer than that, I’ve never managed to make it before. I always thought it was the wrong time, or I was doing other travelling, or I didn’t want to leave my partner and do a trip on my own, or … Always an excuse, so I’m glad I didn’t make any excuses this time, I just went!

It was held in the Sanctuary Retreat near Mission Beach in Far North Queensland, about two hours’ drive south of Cairns. It’s a pretty, quiet and isolated place, with a 20-minute walk, albeit a very steep one, to a gorgeous beach called Garner’s Beach. And if you’ve followed my Facebook or Instagram accounts, you’ll know that I met, for the first time, some friendly cassowaries, which are magnificent and strange Australian creatures who have a reputation for being dangerous and aggressive. These weren’t, luckily.

Over the four days of the retreat, we met every morning and afternoon for two to three hours, and meditated, chanted and did various reiki exercises, on our own, or in pairs or small groups, meaning we also practised reiki on each other. It was a wonderful way of deepening my practice, with my dear teacher, Frans Stiene, who is one of the world’s most well-known and best reiki teachers (though he would be far too modest to tell you that) and his ex-wife, Bronwen Logan, who co-runs the International House of Reiki with him and lead us in a number of beautiful meditations.

As reiki traditionally has been taught by a teacher directly to students (rather than, say, in a classroom or online), I think it’s really important to keep in touch with and spend time with your teacher. My brother was my first reiki teacher, but as soon as I started doing regular reiki practices and taking courses with Frans, he became my main teacher who I continue to ask advice and seek guidance from. The retreat was a great way to spend time with him!

But mostly, the retreat was about deepening my practice. This is a way to then bring back deeper treatments for my clients. I can feel it already! It was also great to talk to others who teach reiki, or also give treatments, and with all who were there, who consider reiki an important part of their lives. One thing that was interesting is that when I was receiving reiki, there was a part of my head between my right nostril and ear that was extremely painful. Ouch. It happened every time. As I’m normally used to reiki only being relaxing and pleasant, it gave me good insight into what some of my clients experience who have reported unpleasant feelings during a treatment. It was also a good lesson in trusting that even though the healing didn’t feel good that it was necessary to go through (though… ouch).

That was only one of the interesting insights into my own practice and also, the time to relax and be quiet in warmer weather than the Sydney winter, was nourishing. If you’re a reiki practitioner, I definitely can recommend this retreat, and for anyone else, I can recommend that taking time to retreat, time to yourself and to be quiet, will be good for other parts of your life. Perhaps take a lesson from me, and don’t make excuses. Just make the time and space to do it.

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.

Reiki newsletters

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A young cassowary: check out my Facebook page for a video of an adult.

Sending out newsletters to clients is a way to keep in touch with them, and I think it’s useful for my business. I’m not completely sure: I know how much I hate to deal with too many email newsletters and promotions, and also know what it feels like to feel drowning in information and things to do.

Hopefully, since I only manage to send out these newsletters twice or three times a year, clients will forgive me… and they can always unsubscribe.

I usually try to have a topical introduction and then links to two blog posts that I hope will be useful or informative. Since I’ve just come back from a reiki retreat in Far North Queensland (which I’ll blog about later), the theme of this newsletter was cassowaries. Which may seem a bit random, but you know: cassowaries.

If you’d like to check out the latest newsletter, I believe you can do so by clicking here. And you can also subscribe there too…

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.

Some reviews from Facebook and Google

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It’s always great to share feedback with you from clients. Here’s the latest:

From Facebook

Vanessa, July 2018: “I really enjoyed my session. I felt relaxed and floated out of the building, feeling calm & more settled than I had been for a long time. Thank you Andy!”

Mike, July 2018: “Had my first session with Andy when he was just commencing his Reiki journey. His skills & healing energy have increased greatly over the years & a recent session proves his powerful understanding of universal energy & impact. I highly recommend Andy and his professional approach to stress, pain & mental clarity!”

Jenan, June 2018: “I had my first reiki experience last week . I was very surprised how good and relaxing it was. It definitely helped me to clear my head as I felt like I was stuck with my own negative thoughts for a while to a point that it affects my studies and my concentration. Now I feel like I’m back on track with everything, I’m more energized and simply happy and balanced!! Thank you Andy “

Adrian, April 2018: “Andy was amazing! My first session was very relaxing and I could feel the treatment help my stress around my chest and head. I highly recommend Andy’s work.”

From Google

Janne: “I’m so grateful for having my first reiki session done by Andy. The whole experience during and after the treatment is beyond what I had imagined. The level of peace , connectedness and balance is something that puts me in awe. I recommend Andy to everyone and I’m definitely going back for more!”

Alexis: “My treatment with Andy left me feeling more calm and peaceful than I ever remember feeling. One day on and I’m far more relaxed, positive and energised. 100% recommended.”

Vien: “Magical experience. As sufferer of anxiety and depression Reiki has done wonders. My advice is to stay relax and mentally allow yourself to heal.”

Alexandra: “I had my first Reiki session with Andy a week ago and it had a profoundly positive impact. I highly recommend him. Thank you 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.
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.