The Healing Power of Reiki Energy with Eleanor Hayward l S2E076

Linda Orsini: 00:00:00

Welcome everybody. Welcome Eleanor Hayward and welcome listeners to a call for love. You are in store for a great treat today, because today, Eleanor and I are talking about the transformative power of energy healing. We discuss Reiki, energy healing, and it is a profound tool. If you don't know much about it, you are going to get the whole low down, because it is not only just a personal and spiritual practice, but it helps you really become grounded, balanced and aligned with inner healing. And so Eleanor, my guest today, is not only a dear friend, but I have actually been blessed to be in her healing hands, and she offers a unique combination of body work and inner work, blending Reiki with acupuncture, tapping, massage and her signature of miracle mindset, mentorship. So whether you're curious about energy healing or seeking personal development, Eleanor's empathetic and intuitive approach holds sacred space for your healing journey. And Eleanor works both online and in the Hamilton region of Ontario at a special studio called be yoga and wellness, and she offers a ranges of services to guide you on your path of empowerment, embodiment and evolution. So welcome, Eleanor, welcome to a call for love.

Eleanor Hayward: 00:01:33

Thank you so much, Linda for the invitation. I'm really grateful for this time in this space, and I love connecting with you. We've got several things in common that we're weaving, and Reiki energy is certainly one of them. That's a it's been a very powerful part of my journey, and I'm glad to share some information and some perspective about it with others.

Linda Orsini: 00:01:53

Yes, we had such a great talk leading up to this interview that I feel like we've already been talking for a while, because we are truly intertwined. And as of course, people heal themselves, but as conduits for healing for others, we really share a lot of similarities. And so it's a real, true gift to have you here to share this conversation and to begin, I just wanted to say that you know, as both Reiki Masters, we both share this passion, but to know your personal journey and how you got started with Reiki, what actually drew you to this energy healing work, and as you discuss This, maybe discuss in your mindset, what Reiki energy healing is,

Eleanor Hayward: 00:02:45

yes. So I was first exposed to Reiki when I had a complimentary modalities course that was part of my registered massage therapy program, sorry, massage therapy program through Stanford Fleming College, I guess it was around 2003 or so, and I was a very logical, analytical, skeptical human being back then. I was of the mindset that if I can't see it, then I don't believe it. And I thought, well, but if they're teaching it to me in class, then there's got to be something to it. There's that was that there was that authority, and acupuncture was another technique that they were exposing us to. And I don't do acupuncture. I heard you say that I do acupressure. So I work with the meridians of the body, which is the traditional Chinese medicine philosophy, in terms of releasing energy that gets stuck in the body. It's usually emotions, but it can be mindset, it can be other spiritual phenomena as well as physical, ergonomic factors. So a lot of people have heard of this flow of chi that's like, whether it's tai chi or Qigong or some of the other energy disciplines that people can practice Reiki. So, r, e, i, k, i, so the key is the Japanese word for the same phenomenon of the energy flow that goes through the human body, and Rei is the universal life force. So put them together, Reiki is the universal life force, energy. And I thought, Okay, sure. I'm energy flow, whatever. I went into massage therapy as a professional, and a few months into my work, working life, my stepmother, she says, Well, I'm gonna go learn Reiki level one with my daughter, my stepsister. And she says, Would you like to come with us? And I was like, Sure, let's, let's go do it. I'm open to new things. And I was open at that time. I think I had fallen into the, you know, the fancy and the magic of Hollywood and and, like, labyrinth was a movie that I loved as a kid, the fairies and the goblins. And that was like, I was open to that energy. And. And I but I didn't feel anything. I wasn't sensitive enough to perceive what the Reiki attunement did to me and but I did witness. My stepsister had a very emotional breakdown, and I was like, I was watching this happen. I didn't understand what was happening, that her emotions were releasing from the Reiki attunement, but I was I was open, and it wasn't until a few months later when I was massaging another woman and she says, Oh, you do Reiki. And I was like, how do you know? And she says, Well, I've had it before. I know what it feels like. And it took her third party validation for me to pay closer attention and it was a major milestone on my spiritual path to learning, to believe in what I can't see, and trusting the universe is less than that. When you believe it, then you will see it. So that was and then I went through my level two, my level three as a practitioner, level three as a master, over a period of probably 10 years. And I started teaching Reiki level one about 10 years ago, and I've been teaching it ever since. I still offer Reiki level one here at B yoga and wellness studio in Burlington, yeah, the Reiki attunement at a ceremony with Reiki symbols and hand gestures. And again, the old skeptical me was like, What are you doing? But there is some power to that ritual and the metaphor that makes sense to me. I wonder if this aligns with your understanding. To Linda, is that the average person has energy. And I use the metaphor of a radio that you can tune the radio up or down, and you've got this bandwidth, this frequency that you can tune into. And I believe that everybody has the vibration of Reiki within them. So for example, if your child falls and bumps their knee and they say, Mommy, kiss it better, that your love is an energy that goes into and can help heal other people. So love, just as a as an alive human being, we have this energy. But my understanding with Reiki is that this attunement, it just opens our energy field up to another range at the end. But dials it in. We dials it in so that you have access to more energy flowing through the universe, more of your soul is flowing through your body, so that you can be more more present, more grounded, more intuitive, and that it comes with practice. It's just because it's there doesn't mean you use it right. It depends on what your intention is and how you're you're practicing with it. Like meditation is a basic practice to be able to tune in to your energy, which I just find fascinating. So again, I didn't, I didn't feel anything with my level one and but with with time and with practice, I've become more aware of my spiritual gifts, which are empathy. I can I can feel other people's feelings, and I just am a naturally curious human being. And I've used Reiki to develop my spiritual gift of empathy into a clear sentience, like I can feel other people's feelings, but I'm not a sponge anymore, because I used to when I was unaware. I would just take on other people's stuff and but I've learned to be curious, to tune into that energy, to access it, but not take it on. I can ground it and and still maintain my higher energy field knowing that I can't heal anybody. I think that's one of the the real wisdoms of healing, is that nobody can heal anybody else. We can only hold space and share our time and our our energy and our tools so that other people can learn how to heal themselves as well. That changes the the philosophy of the medical allopathic medicine model, which is the doctor tends to have all the answers and the patient knows nothing, like that. It feels like that's the undercurrent of what our system currently is, and it's like we're looking for versus the quick fix. We want the medicine. We want the surgery to make us feel better, but we don't. We're not really empowered to understand our body and understanding our anatomy and our physiology and our how our energy works and how we play into it, with our nutrition and our movement and our sleep and all of these other factors that make us who we are, our mental health.

Linda Orsini: 00:09:36

Yeah, I do believe that, as he said before, that we all possess this energy, and really the privilege of being able to tune into it, to heal and notice what's going on within ourselves. And then, once we have that, we can extend that Reiki energy healing modality, you know, through attunement, which is getting a. Tuned to that energy, to be a conduit for others. But I also always tell people, because as a Reiki Master and I do sound Reiki with my clients, that I'm just the conduit, like I'm not actually delivering the energy healing. It's through the symbols. It's, it's brought to me through me, and then to the client, yes,

Eleanor Hayward: 00:10:27

which is your vessel for the energy?

Linda Orsini: 00:10:31

Yes, it's a flow. It's like a river. It flows, you know. And I always say a little intention, a prayer before. And of course, there's many skills to employ when you are offering Reiki to clients, and so you do have a Reiki share at B yoga? I

Eleanor Hayward: 00:10:52

do, yes, because I've taught so many people Reiki level one that to give people place to practice, because it is, it's a philosophy, it's it's a perspective, it's an opportunity, but it doesn't mean that you're going to do it, right? So the Reiki share creates space for them to come to share. You know what our challenges are, but what our wins are, and to hold space for each other share our resources and practice because it's as as the recipient of the Reiki, you have a sensation of what might be happening for you within your body. A lot of people can feel hot, like my hands are hot when you're receiving it. Some people that, some people are like, your hands feel cold to me, and it's like, okay, whatever you need, but it feels like a pulsing waves, tingling. Some people see colors. Some people actually get visions. Other people will have an emotional release when they're receiving Reiki, it's other people have visions like it really does depend on who the individual is and what that energy brings for them, and it's just getting to understand and how do you perceive that energy? Other people fall asleep and other people feel nothing. It really, it depends on who you are. But when you're actually giving the Reiki, that's a different experience as well, because you might be able to tune into your intuition, your your Claires, as you will, your sixth sense. So some people can pick up again on the emotions that I tend to some people will get visions about what's going on for this person. Some people will feel hear auditory messages from their guides, from what's going on with this process. And other people again, other practitioners, sometimes I don't feel anything, and I just trust that the energy is flowing as it needs to. There's an intelligent flow to this energy that it goes where it needs to go, and it's never ceases to amaze me, and I the number one piece of feedback that people share is that they feel lighter afterwards. They don't feel so heavy and dense, because the Lord knows, this world is really fearful and really dense and scary at times, and it really takes us to learn to become the eye of the storm, to not get swept up on the chaos. It takes practice to see the chaos going around and maintaining an inner peace. And Reiki has been a key, you know, play on words. I didn't big change, but it's been key to my inner peace, ultimately, and part of my path. Would you agree? Oh,

Linda Orsini: 00:13:26

yes, I find that, you know, it's it's true. I took my first level one and received attunement, okay, and, and, you know, I actually quite used it in my life just at that point, because as a school teacher, you know, I'd have yarn duty, and a child would fall down and bump their knee or lower whatever. And I really believe that we are intuitive, powerful human beings. And so I would say to the student, you know, put your hand on it, give it a little send it loud. And, you know, they wouldn't as the cut, and I was just wanting them to send their own healing to their own body. And then, of course, I would, if it was okay with them, I'd put my hand on their back or their shoulder, and I'd say, Well, you know, how are you feeling now? And just that little bit of intention, that self soothing, as mindfulness says, and the Reiki energy, because, as you know, Jesus, too, he had the laying of hands. And I just believe that was Reiki, the energy moving through his hands to the peoples. And so that was, it's been around forever.

Eleanor Hayward: 00:14:44

Yes, that philosophy, and I don't think that, at least in my experience, and maybe this is my mindset, but it feels like Reiki isn't the be all and end all of healing, like I'd love to be like, put my hands on a person's broken leg, and then bingo, bango, they're you. Yeah, their bones are healed. It doesn't seem to work quite that deeply that quickly, although I have seen some profound results with people that are part of the path, because I don't know if there's benefit to healing suddenly, because our body's trying to communicate with us too, we tend to perceive pain as bad, and yet it's your body communicating with you what is out of alignment. And it could be like a physical alignment, like your bone being broken, but it could be more of an emotional alignment, in terms of we are meant to be love, but we are love on an energetic frequency. But so often, if we're stuck in fear or we have anger, shame, grief, sadness, resentment, jealousy, all of these lower vibe emotions that it's and creates a blockage in our system. So Reiki is that intention for love and gratitude and peace and joy on the higher frequencies, it's encouraging us to have greater alignment, and then we're in the flow of the universe, and then we can behave from our alignment and be more authentic, to better assess what our needs are and honor them, and communicate better and communicate community, so that we can collaborate rather than tear each other down, which is so commonly what our culture teaches us.

Linda Orsini: 00:16:24

Yeah, well, what you're saying is completely, you know, in alignment with my thought system. Because, you know, there's a time for regular intervention of medicine, you know, if you break a bone, he could go to the doctor. But I do hear what you're saying, and I agree that with Reiki, energy healing is that you feel something and that creates, it's like a bubbling to the surface, and then it's our job really not to spiritually bypass it by just shoving it, you know, pushing it away, but saying, Oh, there you are. Okay, what is happening here in my emotional body, in my physical body, isn't this interesting? Okay, now, let's just hold space for it and then move through it. It's, it's not like snap your finger kind of process. It's, it's an awareness, and you're right, your body, you know, there's so many books Louise Hay and other people, your body speaks the truth. So are we listening to our body? Because it's our emotional body is being expressed through the physical body. Yes, and that's why I think, and I agree your acupressure tapping or massage is it tunes into that, and it's energetic knots within our physical being that are able to release,

Eleanor Hayward: 00:17:59

and it's our beliefs, too. Because, again, if, if, if I'm skeptical, and I come into a Reiki session and I'm closed, and I think that you're full of shit, then it's not gonna flow, because the mind is very powerful and closed. But if you come in and curious, and maybe that there's an openness, though, oh, that's interesting, that as as as your word, that it's then, then there's openness and it can flow. But so often our we have, we have biases, you know, and we buy into stereotypes, and we don't. We have prejudice that we make up our mind for or against something, and it's it, it limits us. So mindset is the mind body as well. So Reiki, I remember like, I am an Air sign. My brain is like, I'm very petty. I am a recovering overthinker. And I remember going to a Reiki treatment after my first attunement, and I can't remember where it was between my second and my third but to a woman in Georgetown, and I came out of the Reiki appointment, and I was like, Oh, my brain is quiet. Oh, I can think one thought at a time. I'd never experienced that peace of mind before, and I found that that was it helped my belief in the energy

Linda Orsini: 00:19:22

with that experience. Yeah, it's so interesting. And you know, wasn't it Henry Ford, who said, If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you're right,

Eleanor Hayward: 00:19:33

absolutely. I'm not sure if that was Ford, but yes, I know, I've heard the quote before, and it it's true. Yeah,

Linda Orsini: 00:19:39

it's so interesting because the power of the mind, the power of the mind, and, you know, I believe that life seekers, or soul seekers, really gravitate to this, because it's, it's for me, I'm going to speak for myself, my my. Real. I hate mine. Could say, goal in life is to become more aware, to become more conscious and living, so I can be better for Earth and others. And for me, Reiki is one modality. The sound healing for me is huge. And of course, yoga, meditation, I mean, it's like, it's like, once you dive into one modality, and if you're loving it, it's a snowball.

Eleanor Hayward: 00:20:26

It's just like,

Linda Orsini: 00:20:29

learn everything, yeah, and it's a beautiful snowball. It's, it's full of a lot of treasures. Yes,

Eleanor Hayward: 00:20:36

all modalities matter in the we call the miracle mindset, or, sorry, the miracle magnet movement that we're part with the love your vibe transformation is that we're we're all designed to be miracle magnets. We're all designed to have our purpose and our mission flow through us to us that these miracles happen. I think again, back to, you know, the religious philosophy of Jesus and the laying on of hands that he was the original miracle magnet, right? He was, he walked his talk, and he was this being of love and acceptance. And, you know, Reiki is again, another, another term that I think, accesses that energy and that healing and that wellness and to to be an example of how we can each live our lives and be living in community and live in peace and or we're learning as a community, I think, and all modalities matter that whether it's whether it's acupuncture or massage, meditation, yoga, but it's also nutrition, and all of these other like, they all matter. There's like, NLP, for example, is not when I practice hypnotherapy, there's but even regular, traditional therapy, there is benefit to medicine and surgery. I didn't mean to dismiss those. There's a time and a place, but it's about, how do we empower people to understand what it is that they need, rather than anybody else pushing anything else on anybody, saying, This is what you need. It's how do we learn to sense that and plant medicine? I find that very powerful as well, the power of ceremony, the power of prayer and intention and and I guess meditation. It's I've heard it said that prayer is what you put out into the universe, and meditation is where you can hear what the universe says in reply. So it is this that back to the radio frequency. It's like what we put out and what we get back. And our heartbeat is very powerful. We put energy out, we pull energy in. We put energy out, we pull energy in. And whether it's sound healing, right, if you see these sound waves or light waves, it is the waves of the ocean, the waves that you can see it in, clouds like but there's always this given this take in the universe that, and I even remember being a plane the first time and seeing rivers like rivers don't go straight, rivers go in a flow as well. And that we're here to give and receive equally. And it's Reiki just really helps us tune into that nature, because we are in nature and being more present. So tell me about some of your early Reiki experience. Linda,

Linda Orsini: 00:23:08

as I said, you know, I had the first attunement, and then there was the lull. There was a little bit of a space, and then I picked it up again. And I really find it is very powerful. And I do also love what you said is that prayer universe, however that looks for each person is we kind of send it out there, but then we just mosey on. We just like, get so busy again. And then, if I do believe, once we ask the universal law is they do listen and they do provide. But are we able to hear it? Are we? Can I just share a quick story, please? Yes, I love this one. So there's this person drowning, and did you know this? I think I know this one, yeah, this person is drowning and, and he's and the person says, I think in this context, it was a he, but it doesn't matter. He says, Oh, dear, dear Lord, please save me. So a little canoe comes by and, and the canoe says, Come on, hop on. And he says, no, no, no, no, God's going to save me. And so the canoes, and then there's a motorboat that comes by, and the motor was like, come on, come on in. You know, get out of the water. You're gonna drown. And he says, no, no, no, no, no, God's gonna save me. And then a big ship comes by and and offers him, say, to save him. And he says, Oh no, no, no, God's gonna save me. Well, of course, he drowns, and he goes up to heaven, and he says, you know, you didn't save me. And he says, What are you talking about? I said, a canoe. I sent a motorboat and a big ship and and so are we really seeing the signs? I mean, it's a really great story, but it's just a reminder. And if we're so busy in our life. Yeah, and this is what I'm saying. We're so busy, so we put it out there. Are we able to receive it? I noticed for me that I receive it sometimes through my physical body, you know, I get like a stomach cramp, or I get, you know, shoulder this, or, or a headache and and then creating this silence and stillness to kind of listen, and then going to a modality. You know, of course, we can do it for ourselves, but it's real treat. It's a real treat to be able to go somebody to somebody else. And I'm getting a treat because next week I'm going to visit you. Yay,

Eleanor Hayward: 00:25:37

yes. And because people hold space for each other, and that's what you said, holding space, I feel like holding space is, is a gift. It's a it's a skill that not a lot of people in this culture can do very well, because often when we say, okay, oh, I'm having a pain, people are like, Oh, I'm having a pain too, which means that they're they're they're hearing to react. They're not hearing to listen and to understand and to ask questions. Tell me about your pain, and when people can ask questions and witness us in our full, authentic power like and that can be like, for example, I had a session with Lisbeth here at be yoga the other day, and she just held space and asked questions, and I was able to sense like, Okay, I'm feeling this resistance here. And went into some healing in a relationship that I had some hard feelings still about being mistreated, and I was holding on to that, and she was able to just hold space for me to cry and to get it out. And I'm feeling like it takes some time to process and integrate. And feel like, How does this feel in my new alignment now that there's less of this heaviness that I'm carrying around still, because in my experience, that we hold a lot of heaviness, and we're not even really aware of it. How aware are we of it? And so Reiki does, like I said, people feel lighter afterwards. It's like, oh, okay, some of this heaviness has, has dissipated, and it it can, you know, we can have these epiphanies of like, oh, this is what alignments like. But then it's a practice we have to keep taking steps on our healing journey. And it's the these layers are just it never ceases to amaze me. So the power of somebody else to hold space, and Elizabeth offers Reiki as well as part of it, a part of her gift. And it's it never ceases to amaze me in terms of, how do we tune into ourselves and feel what it is that we're holding on to? Because so often it's we're not even aware, like it's there in the unconscious levels, like when we've been mistreated and there's been trauma and and again, that heaviness is like we just, you know, it feels normal until we start to learn to feel later. I can feel later as a norm, and it can sometimes feel really even uncomfortable when, you know, seeing the news and seeing social media and knowing a lot of people are struggling, and you know, war and the world hunger, even in our own our own neighborhoods, and not people not having the resources that they need in terms of water and food and coming back to nature and even climate change like it's all connected. We're all contributing. We're all putting energy out into the world, whether we're aware of it or not, and what are we taking in, and it's, it's just this fabulous adventure of discovery breaking.

Linda Orsini: 00:28:49

It's really life seeking. You know, I held a retreat just recently, and I led a breath work experience, and there were several women, well, there was a lot of emotional release. But two women, what came out, they didn't really want to see, hold space for acknowledge, and they said, You know, I put that away a lot of years ago. I really don't want to unpack this now, and I said, you know, that's, that's choice, and everyone has the choice. You know, if, and you might, you might not go down that road, you might not open that box again. You know, done it. You know, I dealt with that, and that's fine, but at least it's a conscious decision to say, you know, there's still unresolved stuff here, but you know, it's a little too much. I'm not really interested in it, and I'm doing other things. And I would say that's perfectly fine, because you are the instrument of your life. But if you do want to unpack that, you can. Had that in safety and in love and in kindness with support from many modalities as we both offer. So I think that would be my wish for everybody, and especially a call for love. Listeners, yes,

Eleanor Hayward: 00:30:15

breath work is so powerful. Breath work is incredibly powerful in releasing that, expressing those things and the power of choice, again, back to the power of the mind. You'd made that decision to, like, kind of keep that box closed, because sometimes the mindset is, I don't want to appear weak in front of people, and that's how it received tears too often I feel like that's a patriarchal influence, that feelings are weakness, and we have to undo that. It's like no human feelings are human and and, but ultimately, the truth is, the Body Keeps the Score. What is that? Bessel. Bessel van der Kolk, yes, and Gabor Mate are two very influential doctors that are expressing like how this trauma affects us, and if we don't process it and integrate it, it's going to manifest in other ways. It's going to manifest as your as your reactions to other people. It's going to manifest as illness. And I find even it can even be injury, because if people were, say, really impatient with you, like that's the pattern that we feel like Time, time is money in this culture. And if we're feeling this, the scarcity, there's not anxiety, I don't have enough time, there's not enough that I'm going to be rushing. And then guess what happens when you rush, you misstep, you misperceive, and you're going to get an accident, and there's going to be some sort of an injury that can occur. So it's like slow over time with an illness, but it can be very quick, like an injury, and we need to learn to come into so once we cry, there's this sense of, I mean, it can be really heavy for a time while we integrate, but ultimately there's more space. There's space for energy to flow and open up, and space for our energy, but also our blood and our lymph. It creates movements. And that's why rake or right yoga is so powerful, too. It physically makes space. Massage physically make space in the tissues. So there's, there's room for all of these modalities. And I'm so glad you practiced breath work with these ladies at Arab retreat. And it is, but that's the power of choice. Like nobody can. You know, there's that old saying you can't lead you can lead you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make a drink, even if it's thirsty. You can't, you can, and that's respecting other people's choice, because I can't judge what's going to be helped them necessarily.

Linda Orsini: 00:32:35

Yeah, it's, it's not fair. And I do believe people are, well, the people I know are trying to do the best they can, and you know, I just have to acknowledge and hold people for who they are with loving kindness. That's that's kind of my mission. But so Eleanor, thank you for sharing all these words of insight and wisdom, because this is a powerful topic, energy healing and empowering ourselves to be healers and know where to go. Now. Where would they go? If they want to, I will include all the links, but you are at be yoga and wellness. Be yoga and wellness

Eleanor Hayward: 00:33:17

primarily, and working with Elvira Hopper, the love your vibe transformation. They can find us on social media, and they can reach out to me by email, phone number. I'm I'm here to connect in and have a complimentary clarity call with people if they're interested. Thank you, Linda, yeah, and

Linda Orsini: 00:33:35

I can't wait to see you next week for my treat. Yes.

Eleanor Hayward: 00:33:40

Yeah. Maybe juicy. Thank you. Hey, thank

Linda Orsini: 00:33:43

you everybody for tuning in to a call for love and really wishing you the the self empowerment to do what you need to feel better in your mind, body and spirit. So for my heart to yours. Namaste. Namaste. Bless the deep.