Reiki Certification & Intuitive Sessions

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. It's not easy to sift through the many wonderful Reiki healers and teachers to find one who's best for you. One guideline offered by Chiyoko Yamaguchi, one of the founders of Jikiden Reiki, was:

"You can't offer expertise on something you haven't done!"

Based on that advice, look for a teacher who has accumulated the experience to give you a quality session or class. Starr has performed over 6,000 one hour or longer Reiki sessions and has taught hundreds of Reiki classes. Even Starr's Master Teacher students can offer a great class or session, as they can opt to work for up to a year teaching in her classes, leading Reiki Shares, operating the clinic and more. In that way they earn the experience needed to provide a wonderful class or session.

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. There are some good, specific questions to ask a prospective Reiki practitioner or teacher that involve their Reiki training, experience and fees. Please visit http://usui-reiki.org/choose_reiki_teacher.htm where I've outlined a few ideas for you.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I began Reiki without understanding that there's a huge spectrum of Reiki teachers and healers to choose from! Reiki led me to accumulate a depth of knowledge and experience to offer my clients and students. But I would suggest that not every Reiki aspirant needs to take the long road like I did! I have much love and respect for my first Usui Reiki teacher. She opened Reiki doors for me which changed my entire experience of life. I worked with Reiki and I was happy. As I used what I learned, I saw how much more there was to learn! A teacher in New Jersey caught my eye so I repeated with her. I worked with Reiki and I was happy. A few years passed and I attended a four-day, Japanese Technique Workshop in Boston with Arjava Petter. From him I experienced the depth of the heart of Reiki and I was determined to learn the entire system again with him and his wife. Since he teaches Usui Reiki only in Europe and Japan, off I went to Germany for a week! It was the highlight of my life and I thought I'd never need another class. I worked with Reiki and I was happy. Then Jikiden Reiki found me! I discerned the value of using Usui & Jikiden Reiki together and traveled to Nova Scotia three consecutive summers to learn to teach from the founder, Tadao Yamaguchi. Now I work with Reiki and I'm very happy! :-) Learning in layers of intensity was an amazing journey...beautiful and perfect...leaving me with deep perspectives for teaching and healing with Reiki. It's important to know that just as not every dentist or landscaper has the same skill to offer, neither do Reiki teachers and healers! Gather some knowledge then follow your heart.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. What I love about my work is that a person comes in with a concern and leaves in a new and better place. Whether they received a physical and/or emotional healing the person is happier, more hopeful, and excited about the possibilities that opened to them through the session. The peace and balance that comes to both myself and the client from a Reiki session is difficult to imagine until you try it for yourself.

I also love that anyone can benefit from Reiki. A person doesn't even have to believe it'll work. If they want to try it, it'll work for them.

I love that anyone can learn Reiki. I've taught children as young as six years old. They're such natural healers and bring a joy and simplicity to the Reiki healing process that we adults would do well to emulate! I've also taught the elderly in their nursing home bed. What a joy it is to show them that they do have the power to help themselves. All they need is to want to learn and they can do it.

I love that Reiki works miracles in the lives of everyone who wants to use it!

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. The story that most touches my heart is about my Dad. He was a sensible, practical, hard-working Vermonter. He believed that if you couldn't see it, it wasn’t there.

I was happy that when I learned Reiki he agreed to try it. When he pretended to read the paper while I gave him Reiki I smiled as I saw him slump as his stress peeled away. He became a convert and when I arrived for a visit he'd come out on the porch and excitedly ask, "Did you bring your (Reiki) table??” Of course I always did.

The years passed and my Dad developed pancreatic cancer. I made the round trip from MA to VT every week and he got a lot of Reiki that he said helped with the pain, stress and anxiety caused by the disease. He spent the last days of his life in the Respite House in Williston, VT. I basically lived there, sleeping on the pullout sofa so I could help any way I could to ease his way Home.

The night before he died I sat beside his bed giving Reiki to his pancreas. I thought he was in a deep morphine state when he raised his hands and moved mine about an inch. A few minutes later he raised his hands and again moved mine a little bit. Then he said, "Huh. There must be something to that Reiki." I asked, "Why's that, Dad?" If I ever doubted that Reiki helped him, I no longer did: He replied, "Because wherever you put your hands, the pain goes away."

The next morning at 7:35am I was at his bedside giving him Reiki. He opened his eyes and told me he was ready. I'll always remember my Dad's strength of purpose as he made the decision to go. I said, "Dad, just look for the Light. Don't look anywhere else, just go for the Light." And Reiki helped him go.

Imagine my gratitude for the memory that with Reiki, I was able to help my Dad at the most painful and vulnerable time of his life. I wish everyone would learn Reiki.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. I would suggest that a student take all the levels of Reiki from more than one teacher. Also, set a goal for the number of hours you spend giving Reiki to people you don't know and learn to keep relevant notes. Two hundred hours is a good start. Doing these things will provide a broader base from which to develop your own unique perspectives, ideas, skills and class/workshop formats. It takes time to develop a practice, there are no magic wands to make it happen faster. Hard work, determination, and a deep desire to help people will bring you together with the right people and places to grow. Remember: Cream rises to the top, but it takes time.