This is probably the hardest page for me to write, for it deals with my personality, my personal history, and generally who I am. So I will deviate here from the more objective nature of the rest of the site, simply because I cannot be entirely objective about myself. No one can. I will also tend to go on tangents, and perhaps even be a bit long-winded. Please bear with me.

I hope that this site provides valuable information about Reiki to newcomers and practitioners alike. After reading a little about Reiki itself, the question inevitably arises: "Who is providing all of this information and what credentials do they have?" Or even: "Is this the Reiki Master-Teacher for me?" I offer the autobiographical information here to hopefully answer those questions and give some insight into how Reiki can affect one's life. It certainly has affected mine.

Original Entry - November 2000

Where to begin, then? I suppose I should start by saying that I am generally a private person when it comes to my spirituality. And although Reiki is not a religion, it has become part of my spiritual path. Healing is part of my life goals, and Reiki is a perfect way to bring that goal to fruition. As a result, it is not possible for me to practice Reiki without incorporating it into my spiritual worldview.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

To start at the very beginning would be tedious (at least in detail), but I will try to provide an overall impression of what led me to Reiki. For basic biographical information, my name is Elaine Eriksen Rose. I am 27 years old, born and raised in Massachusetts, USA, currently living on its South Shore. I have a B.A. in Music, with minors in Mathematics and Theatre, from Bridgewater State College.

From a young age, I have always been empathic, and have had within me the compulsion to heal. Other people's emotions are tangible to me, and I rely heavily upon my intuition in my daily life. (At least when I'm centered.) It took me a while to recognize that everyone does not see the world in the same way. We all have abilities and perceptions like this - we assume that the rest of the world sees with the same eyes we do, has the same perspective. It's perfectly natural, for how can we conceive of a different outlook when there is only one we know?

Here is where I run into some of the hesitation that initially delayed my writing of the "auto-biographical" section of this website. So much of my personal path for healing has been involved and intertwined with my relationship with the Divine, and although it may sound cliché, I hold that relationship sacred. I do not speak of it lightly, nor do I feel it is something to be "bragged" about or held up as a badge of honor. I believe for those who feel they have a strong relationship with the Divine, the truth of that relationship will show not in their words or claims, but in their actions - in how they live their lives and interact with other people.

For the purposes of this autobiographical section, I will leave it at this then: I am grateful to God (in all forms) for who I am and what I have been given the chance to be. My relationship with the Divine grows as I do, and I know that process will continue for as long as I live. I intend to make that process a conscious one.

So why Reiki? Well, I have always wanted to heal in one form or another. Growing up, I was often the "counselor" among my friends and family. Looking back, I can see that sometimes this was a healthy position to be in, and sometimes it was not - either for me, the person I was "helping", or both. This has been one of the harder aspects of healing for me to understand, just as it is a challenge parents face every day: To truly offer healing and guidance out of love does not mean providing all the answers. It does mean offering as much information as is appropriate, then letting the other person determine his/her own path.

But before I could incorporate that into my philosophy, I was devoted to understanding as much as I could about my natural healing abilities. As I read books and generally followed the scholarly route to discover some answers, I pointedly stayed away from any "occult" practices such as Wicca (Witchcraft) or anything else resembling ritual magic. It seemed to me that healing was a natural process and part of my being. At the time, I thought - if I were meant to be a healer - my abilities would automatically develop in that area as I grew spiritually.

I should be clear here that I do not think poorly of these paths, only that they did not feel "right" to me. In fact, I think that many of the "pagan" spiritual paths that have gained so much popularity in recent years are beautiful in their worldview. Like almost any outlook, it is not the path itself that is "good" or "bad", but the way the person following the path decides to implement that knowledge in their lives that makes the difference. In fact, although to a lesser degree, I believe the same thing of Reiki.

But I digress…

In the summer of 1994, I met a woman (whose name, unfortunately, I cannot recall) that was a Reiki I practitioner and about to be attuned to the second degree. She was kind enough to offer me a session as well as explain the basic concepts of Reiki. I was fascinated. She did a variation of the form of Reiki that I now practice. She used a crystal to scan and balance the chakras while applying what I refer to on this site as "Reiki". The session was wonderful, but I felt that it was not time for me to learn that particular form of healing. There were two main reasons: for one, I did not prefer the use of crystals. And secondly, it did not "feel right" at the time. I put it in the back of my mind, thinking that perhaps I would come back to it in a few years.

Just before this, I had experienced some things on a spiritual level that I will not discuss in depth here - the important part is my reaction to these events. In short, I scared myself. I thought myself vulnerable on a spiritual level, and so began to shut down energetically. Of course, I did not recognize it as such at the time. Nor did I understand what I was doing to myself by trying to be "safe".

I have had arthritis in my knees and ankles since I was 13. Over time, I have come to recognize that two things trigger the pain and inflammation in my knees: My allergy to milk and emotional stress. Well, as you might imagine, when I started to shut down my energy out of fear, my knees got progressively worse. Over the course of the next few years, I remained "shut down", making choices that were - generally speaking - not good for my health. Among other issues, I had regular migraines and my knees deteriorated to a point where I could barely walk.

I still thought of myself as "spiritual", and even occasionally went to seminars or meditated on my own in an effort to renew and rejuvenate my connection with the Divine. I was not miserable, but there was something missing. Having always had what I consider to be a strong connection with God, I knew there was more, a better way to be balanced. I just didn't know how to attain it.

In the spring of 1997, I received what I affectionately refer to as a "spiritual two-by-four to the head". Through a series of life events, I was gently - then not so gently - reminded of who I've always wanted to be. I turned back to the practices (like meditation) and searching that had once been a regular part of my life, but had somehow diminished over the past few years. I remembered the woman who had introduced me to Reiki, and recognized how it aligned with where I wanted to take my life. I started looking for a teacher.

Originally, I thought I would not find a teacher nearby. In fact, I didn't even look nearby, thinking I should make the extra effort to find the right teacher. As it turns out, after looking far away, I found a wonderful teacher who was holding a class within ten minutes of my house. I took the first degree class with Master-Teacher Pat Roberson in early November of 1997.

Pat is a wonderful teacher, and I firmly believe (with the benefit of hindsight) that I was meant to learn from her. My Reiki I attunement felt very much like returning home. When we got to the hands-on portion of the class - where we started applying Reiki to each other to learn the hand positions - I immediately felt the energy flowing up through my feet to my heart chakra, spinning there, then passing down my arms to my hands. I was amazed - This was just the sort of natural ability I had been looking for. Reiki builds on your own natural healing abilities, magnifying them. Now I could physically feel what I had always suspected to be true: That we are all interconnected, and it is completely natural for us to heal by touch.

On this site, I outline the basics of an attunement and explain that it can be a life-changing event. It is not necessarily so, but I feel that it was for me. I knew before I even came to the class that, should this healing method resonate with me, I wanted not only to learn it, but to live it and teach others. I wanted to learn the next degree of Reiki as soon as I could. So I signed up for the next available Reiki II class, in mid-December of 1997. Although this is a relatively short period of time between degrees, I felt I was ready.

Strangely enough to me (at the time) was the effect of the 21-day cleansing period after my first degree attunement. Despite the bad state of my knees, I had very little physical cleansing manifest at the time. I felt my healing abilities increase exponentially, but my own health was only moderately improved. Of course, I had only given it a month. I can see now that my choice to make Reiki a part of my life, and to make other changes in line with a more balanced and healthy lifestyle, was part of a longer-term process of healing.

I spoke with Pat about my readiness for the second degree. In our discussion, she agreed that if I truly felt I was ready, she did not have an issue with me taking the class in December, despite the relatively short period of time since the Reiki I class.

I should also add here my feeling about this point in my life. In so many ways, I stood at a crossroads. I felt very strongly that I was being urged along this path by the "powers that be" (for lack of a better reference). I felt as if I had, in some ways, wasted those three years of turning my energy inward, forfeiting the learning and growth I might have experienced while I put my metaphysical head in the sand. Whether that was actually a spiritual influence or just my own subconscious speaking out, I honestly don't know. I am happy with the result, though, so I don't give it much thought. Some things aren't meant for too much introspection.

Now, I do not feel that time was poorly spent at all. But I will touch upon that later.

I was attuned to Reiki II on December 20th, 1997. I came to the class thinking I would breeze through the cleansing period for this level, just as I had for Reiki I, and go on to Master training in the early spring of 1998. Looking back, I can only laugh at that. The second degree Reiki attunement works on the emotional and mental bodies, and as a result is often the most life-changing of the attunements. During the class, Pat recanted many stories of people leaving behind bad emotional habits and dropping relationships that were emotionally damaging to them. Listening, I looked forward to shedding some bad habits, but did not expect that I would leave any of my relationships.

When I try to explain how my second degree Reiki attunement changed my life, words tend to fail me. Granted, I recognize that it was not only Reiki that affected me. Yet it did play a large role in the direction and speed of my growth. Looking back, I can see it has served as a catalyst for so many of the changes I have invoked in myself since then.

After the attunement, I went through a period of emotional cleansing unlike any I have been through before. Yes, as predicted, issues fell away. Things that had until then upset me, even though I knew they should not, suddenly had no power over me. Unlike other issues I had worked through (as we all do in our daily lives), it wasn't that the emotion arose and I was able to put it aside. Rather, I just realized one day that the emotion was no longer arising at all. But more than that, there were relationships and habits within relationships that I recognized were no longer healthy, and that I could not continue.

I want to point out here a common misconception about this kind of positive change. It is easy to believe that there was something intrinsically "wrong" about the other people in my life at that I ended up deciding I could no longer be around. That simply is not true. I do not harbor any ill will toward the people, relationships and habits I moved away from at this point in my life. In fact, I thank them, for I learned so much about myself through them. This includes my health problems. For example, I think that the deterioration of my arthritis to a point where it was difficult for me to walk gave me perspective on those who may come to me for healing of similar issues.

You see, it wasn't the circumstances, habits and relationships that became "bad" (or that I didn't recognize as "bad" until then). I believe it is that I changed, and so those parts of my life and personality simply fell away as no longer serving me and who I was becoming.

This part of the healing process threw me into a strange emotional state. I was at once in turmoil - my life turned upside down in many respects - and content - intrinsically knowing that I was on the right path and feeling supported by the universe. I knew I was not ready for the next degree of Reiki until I felt that I had worked through this state.

Yet I still wanted to continue on to the Master level as soon as I felt ready. By late spring of 1998, I had found my emotional footing again, and was eager to continue my study and exploration of what Reiki can be. After discussing it with Pat, I enrolled in her Master class in June, followed by the Reiki Master-Teacher level in September of 1998. The Master level attunement was an incredible experience, and has greatly opened up my spiritual perceptions. The Master attunement is only the beginning of a life-long process, and I know now that it sparked the acceleration of my own growth.

Looking back, I wonder if I did push myself too hard. I debate whether or not I gave myself enough time in between the different levels. This is one of the points of contention within the Reiki community. Some teachers offer all levels of Reiki in a weekend or week, and many other practitioners think this is too much, too fast. Some would even say that being attuned to the Master-Teacher level within a year means that my Mastership is somehow less valid than another who may have taken longer.

I have wrestled with this issue. If you have looked over the rest of this site, you may have realized that my professional Reiki practice is fairly new. I am writing this in November of 2000, and have only recently begun to rent office space and teach regularly scheduled classes. Why did it take me so long? I think there was reason.

First of all, I have a corporate job. I work with a medical software company (notice the irony here), traveling to train our customers on the nuances of our software. I have recently re-affirmed my commitment to being a holistic healer on a professional level. This epiphany came about as I recognized how the corporate world affects me and my personality. This is not a slam on the corporate world; just recognition that I am happier when I am healing and helping others to find what I believe is a beautiful and empowering path.

Yet through this job, I have learned skills that I consider invaluable to my ability to teach. I have now done corporate training for nearly four years, and have learned much about what does and does not work in an adult classroom setting. Like the physical difficulties I had, it seems in hindsight that the job was perfectly designed to deliver the right skills to me for where I want to go. Whether or not that is a connection I am only making in my mind does not matter much to me. Regardless of whether it was "meant to be", the fact remains that I think it will assist me in my endeavors as a teacher.

Aside from the mundane aspect of my corporate job, there's the spiritual aspect of my life. Trained as a Master-Teacher in 1998, why didn't I immediately launch into my own practice? Surely if I can do it now, along with the corporate job, I could have done it then under nearly identical circumstances. For a while, I frowned upon my apparent inability to incorporate Reiki into my professional life. I even wondered if it was not the right path for me. But now, having come full circle to a point where I truly have taken steps toward a professional practice, I think I can see more clearly.

Each attunement has its own effect, works on its own level. (See the section on attunements for more information.) Receiving the attunements within a relatively short period, I think that I personally needed time to fully incorporate them into my life. Only now, looking back, do I realize that from the first attunement in November of 1997, I have been in a healing process. I have made changes in my life and outlook; I have grown spiritually and emotionally.

Until now, I didn't have a strong drive to teach. Although I would teach classes when the opportunity arose - when someone came to me in particular asking to be attuned - I generally did not feel compelled to teach. Partly, I wondered if I wasn't ready. Now I think that I needed for some of the healing process that began with each attunement to work itself out before I could take the next step. At the time, I thought the changes in my life were just part of my natural growth. And they were. But looking back now, I can see how each attunement aligned with certain changes and choices in my life. Many of these choices did not fully resolve themselves until this year. Now I feel I am ready, and the result of my first class reinforced that thought.

This does not mean that I am "done" with my own spiritual growth or study and exploration of Reiki - not by any means. Each attunement is the spark for a process that will continue throughout my life. This is especially true of the Master attunement. Although it is not only the aspect of my personal philosophy and spirituality, Reiki has been an incredible catalyst in my own growth. And I have had the honor of witnessing its effect upon other people's lives as well.

So I suppose the point of all this is whether or not you can consider me enough of an "expert" on Reiki to produce a website, or to be given the honor to give or teach you Reiki. I will let the information I have provided on this site stand for itself. If you find any discrepancies or disagree, I welcome commentary and discussion.

Although I have explained here personal past doubts about my readiness as a Master-Teacher, they are now just that - past. I have offered the information here in an attempt to give you a glimpse into who I am and where I am coming from. In the end, only those who read the information on this site and educate themselves will truly be able to judge whether or not I am qualified. And only those who receive a session, or take one of my classes will know if I am the right Reiki Master-Teacher for them. I truly hope that this information has been of use and that I will have the distinction of being able to share this path with those who seek it.

Which brings me to my last point (I promise). When I built this site, I debated about the name for my business. Why "Reiki Intuitive"? So much of my own path has been about expanding, developing and trusting my intuition. But more than that, it is clear to me that healing is intuitive by its very nature. Reiki, although perhaps considered a "strange" idea by some in the West, is not a foreign concept to our body, mind, and spirit. It is the natural extension of our healing abilities as human beings. Once it has been incorporated into our lives, it is as natural as breathing, and assists us in developing our own intuitive natures as healers. It has certainly done so for me, and I hope that it will do the same for you.

Newest Entry - September 2002

Nearly two years have past since I wrote the (long) autobiographical section above. It is now September of 2002, and I have just moved to Erie, Colorado (just outside of Boulder).

I do not have much to add here, except that my path with Reiki continues on a daily basis. Over the past two years, I have had the honor of assisting many people with their healing process and teaching a great deal of people in Massachusetts. More importantly to my ability as a teacher, I believe I have continued to grow personally. Reiki has assisted greatly in that process.

I am at another turning point as I leave my home state for another, and set up shop once again. However, I have no doubts that this move has provided me with incredible opportunity to grow. Hopefully, it will also afford me the opportunity to share in the healing process with people out here as well.

Blessings,             Elaine Eriksen Rose

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