Unblocking Creativity with Reiki Master Chris Pinkerton
Become balanced and centered, release trauma, anxiety and depression, and get back to yourself - these are some of the benefits of Reiki. Chris Pinkerton is a Reiki Practitioner and Certified Health Coach, and we talk about how her clients have found relief from pain as well as releasing creative blocks. She says, “Reiki's about bringing the body back into balance, bringing the energy system back into balance, and the body naturally heals itself. There's so much trauma that needs to be released out of your body, and that can be really cathartic and therapeutic.”
Listen to the episode here:
Unblocking Creativity with Reiki Master Chris Pinkerton
Welcome to this episode about Reiki with Chris Pinkerton. She is a certified health coach and a Reiki Master in Columbus, Ohio. And I ask her about what it's like to give and receive Reiki and her thoughts on the experiences that come from doing Reiki. This is an extension of a panel that we did a while ago called Reiki 101, but we're just going a little bit deeper to find out how Reiki can really support us and also increase our creative expression. I hope you enjoy.
Watch the video of this conversation with Reiki Master Chris Pinkerton
Welcome Chris Pinkerton, to The Psychic Artist Podcast. I'm so pleased to welcome you today. You are a Reiki Master and you've joined us before for this panel called Reiki 101. And I just wanted to go a little deeper and talk to you about Reiki some more.
Yes. Thank you, Sarah. I'm so excited to join you and I love chatting all things Reiki, so happy to connect with you.
Yeah. And what have you been up to lately since last spoke? Have you been doing remote sessions or in person sessions or any trainings that you're offering related to Reiki?
Yeah, I've been doing primarily in person Reiki. I do also distance Reiki. So some my clients are across the world from me, which is really cool. So I do a little bit of both and I'm working on a few different programs to offer in 2022. I'm working on a series that's about energetic health. So I'll be rolling that out, both online and in person. And then I'm also working on a tapping challenge. That I'm looking to launch in February.
Chris Pinkerton
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Oh, wonderful. Yeah. I love the tapping posts that you share on Facebook and it always inspires me to start tapping again. I often forget, even though it's such a powerful tool. And how interesting too, that energy work, tapping, and Reiki flow so nicely together. Do you find that's the case for you as well?
I think so, too. Yes. And tapping, if people aren't aware of that, it's also called emotional freedom technique. It's just another really quick way for people to release some stress, to recenter and rebalance. I think the two go hand in hand, tapping and Reiki. I definitely recommend tapping to my clients.
Yes. What are you going to do for the energetic clearing or balancing program that you're going to be sharing?
I have found that a lot of my clients are just realizing that they are empathic or intuitive themselves. I call them baby empaths. I do a lot of coaching and talking to them about ways to ground, protect and release energy. I have been developing this series of courses to help them first of all. So somebody who's just kind of realizing that they have empathic qualities and what that means, and then ways to keep themselves healthy, right? I've joked around with clients, we go through health class, like physical health class in high school, but we really need something for energetic health to teach us about that piece of health. And so that's my idea. I'm still in the development phase, but right now I have a series of six different subjects that'll be part of that workshop series.
That's beautiful. And how did you arrive at that in relation to Reiki? Would you say that your years of sharing Reiki as a practitioner informed your awareness?
Definitely, yes. And I've seen a need from clients. Specifically the clients that have been coming to me. The interesting thing about Reiki is that we tend to attract people that have gone through either similar things that I have as a practitioner or just as an individual human being, right? So I have found this recurrent theme of things as I'm working with my clients and as I'm talking with them. So I think that my work as a Reiki practitioner has really kind of moved me into this, "Ok, there needs to be also like an education and teaching aspect to what I'm doing." When my clients come in, I kind of give them, not really homework, but here's some things that you could do, right? To kind of help yourself continue to feel better. So I see that need to just educate and teach people about taking care of your energetic health, just like we take care of our bodies.
Yeah. And for people that haven't had a Reiki session before or maybe they have, but they're not quite sure what's going on, do you want to share what Reiki is for you?
Yeah. So the easiest way for me to explain Reiki is that it's a gentle touch, energy healing technique. Which sounds really woo woo, but it's very soothing. And a lot of times I'll say, "Okay, if you know about or you've heard about acupuncture, to me Reiki is like acupuncture, but no needles." So we're working within your chakra system to open up any blockages or get some stagnant energy moving, because when everything is flowing through our bodies, since we are energy bodies, when everything is flowing unencumbered that's when we feel calm, we feel centered, we feel at peace. And when that is out of whack, obviously we feel stressed. We might get physically sick. So in a nutshell, that's the easiest way for me to explain it.
And then I usually tell clients, especially new clients, that at the very least, once you receive Reiki, you'll feel relaxed, you'll feel less stressed, typically you sleep better. And then beyond that, it's very individual to each person, as far as what's experienced. Some of my clients might have relief from physical pain. Some might have more of an emotional release if maybe have tears come out, right? So that's releasing trauma from the body. That's the neat thing about Reiki, it is so individualized. Which also kind of makes it hard to describe. I understand why people have a lot of questions about, "What will it be like, what will I experience?" I just say, "Be open to receive that Reiki energy and it's going to flow where it needs to go."
Yeah. And in terms of pain, what has your experience been with clients that come in with a symptom of pain? Do you have any examples of how that's been for them? What has that transformation been like? Was it immediate or did it take till the next day? Have you noticed how Reiki affects your clients with pain?
Yes, I definitely have. And while we can never make medical claims about healing, Reiki's about bringing the body back into balance, bringing the energy system back into balance, and the body naturally heals itself. So no medical claims whatsoever, but I've definitely noticed I've had clients come in that are suffering from a headache or maybe they're starting in a migraine. And usually at the end of the session, the headache is gone or we've stopped the migraine. Personally, I was suffering with really severe TMJ and I could not clear it. This was when I was first starting to receive Reiki like probably five years ago. And I tried all kinds of different things. I went to my dentist, they just basically said, "Put warm compresses on, take ibuprofen," I really don't like to take medication, so I was really kind of desperate. And not even really realizing that Reiki might benefit that, but I started receiving regular Reiki and my TMJ cleared. So to me that was a miracle, because it was so debilitating. I remember going to the dentist saying like, "I don't really think you can even clean my teeth because I can't open my mouth wide enough for you to get in there." And I'd have to think about what I was going to eat through the day, because again, I couldn't open my mouth fully. So for me, that was just amazing. And that was again, all Reiki, because nothing else was taking care of it.
That is amazing. And as I hear you speak, I remember feeling similarly, not quite as severe with TMJ, but jaw pain and various aches and pains over the last several years. Once I learned Reiki and started to regularly give myself Reiki, I don't have those things anymore. So they kind of just disappeared without me noticing it.
I wonder how did the practitioner treat you? I'm curious if you could talk specifically about, if a client came to you with a particular ailment in one location, what's your protocol or approach?
So in my case, my Reiki practitioner (she's my Reiki master as well), is also a massage therapist. So her take is a little different, as all of us practitioners have different ways of doing things. She would concentrate her hand placements on the, for me it's the right side of my jaw that was really the problem. But she would concentrate some of her time there but also did a little bit of manipulation or massage kind of on that jaw bone. But I've noticed personally too, if I'm working in a pain point area, I'll still do my full placements that I normally do, but I will give a little bit extra love, to that area, as well as front and back body. And that usually clears things. And again, maybe that's going to take a few sessions to clear, but concentrating and putting the intention and that flow of energy there really helps.
Yeah. I've noticed when other practitioners are working on me, that they could be working on my feet and I got a lot of change in my skull. So there's, as we know in the body and with meridians and with energy points and the cranial sacral connection, there's different areas of the body that you can be holding someone's toe and affecting their sinuses. So I just think it's magical and wondrous how complex and yet how specific these points are in the body. Do you put your hands right on the person or do you often come off the body or what do you like to do?
Really whatever the client prefers. So I haven't had any clients that refuse the gentle touch but we are able just to hover above the body a few inches if we need to. I think a lot of people right now are just... People in general enjoy having another human being giving some gentle touch, right?
I just think it's so important for us to feel connected to other human beings. And we've been so disconnected through the pandemic and COVID and isolation. So sometimes I feel like a lot of my clients really haven't received any human touch besides seeing me. So it's an honor for me to be able to do that for them and give them some gentle touch to them.
And what brought you to Reiki? Do you have a story of how you came to Reiki?
Yes. I knew nothing about Reiki before I went to receive. And honestly, I told you already, I had the TMJ issue going on, but I was also going through a lot of personal difficulties. I had a number of losses, so my parents, they were divorced but they had both passed away within a few years of each other. I had some other losses happening. I had a lot of things going on that I just was really having a hard time personally. I think there was a lot of things that I didn't truly allow myself to breathe through. So I kind of stuffed a lot of emotion down. So I had been going back to my Reiki, or not Reiki, my yoga practice and my yoga teacher suggested that I go see her Reiki master and just give it a try.
And again, I was like, "I don't understand what this is." So truly went in with, "Don't know what this is, but I'm open to it. So I'm going to try it." And my first session, actually, my first few sessions that I experienced as a client, I cried through the entire session. And I remember saying to my Reiki master, "Is this going to stop?" I came in not really thinking I felt like I needed to cry or that I wanted to cry, but she said, "There's just so much trauma that needs to release out of your body." And that's really what happened. So it was very cathartic and therapeutic for me.
And honestly I worked through so much going to those Reiki sessions that, I've done all kinds of different things. I've done talk therapy, I'm someone who's dealt with a lot of anxiety and depression all through my adult life. And honestly, I felt like once I started receiving Reiki regularly, that so much of that lifted and I felt kind of back to myself if that that makes sense.
Yeah.
So once I started feeling more balanced and centered and again, I just felt like so much cleared for me that I thought, "Okay, I need to be able to do this for other people. I want to be able to give this gift to other people." So that's when I decided to go through my Reiki attunements and training and did so with my Reiki master. So it's been an amazing way for me to kind of then give back. I feel like I received so much healing with my own Reiki sessions that I feel now that it's kind of full circle and now I can give back to others.
That's so beautiful. And how often would you go or how often do you recommend a client to come to you if they really want to work through something like that?
So my regular clients, and even myself, I still go about every four weeks or five weeks to see my Reiki master, and I consider that maintenance. And that's pretty much what my regular clients will do. And we just have that agreement that we might schedule out four weeks, but if something comes up or they just have a really difficult time, personally, professionally, whatever's going on, they can call or text to get in sooner. But for the most part, just on a maintenance schedule, I say every four weeks, five weeks. If there's something more acute going on, if there's a lot of physical pain or something else, and again, it's up to the client, but maybe every two weeks I might see somebody. Just depending on the situation. So it's something that we talk about and put together a treatment plan for them.
And what do you feel when you're offering Reiki or what do your client's report feeling when they're receiving? In your sensory awareness or your metaphysical awareness?
Yes. That is so dependent on the individual, as far as what they experience, that a lot of time I don't want to give a whole lot of information about what might come up. So a lot of my clients will say that they see colors and that's typically related to the colors that the chakras are, or they might be related to the different archangels, which is a cool thing. Sometimes clients will feel either warmth coming from my hands, or maybe they'll say coolness, or they'll say they don't feel anything at all. Again, it's based on that individual. But that sometimes they will feel kind of like electrical impulses through the body. Nothing painful but just kind of like a zing or like a release. Some people will describe it as almost like a flow of water or something that they could feel. One of my clients just said, "Do you have something wet on the crown of my head? I feel like you have a wet wash cloth." I'm like, "No." So it's a lot of interesting different sensations.
I'm laughing because as you said, "flow of water", it started raining outside my window.
Yeah. That's pretty neat.
It's a nice feeling. It's like cleansing energetically.
Yeah. It's always gentle. It's never painful. So that's the other piece I want to make sure that your listeners know, is that Reiki is always about good. It can never do any harm, so it's never painful.
And also, I think you mentioned this too, in our panel, that Reiki goes where it needs to go. So I imagine you're not consciously saying like, "Oh, you have a stomach ache, I need to heal your stomach ache." You're just allowing the energy to flow, would you say? And then a Reiki will go in the body where it naturally needs to be.
Absolutely. As Reiki practitioners, we are not giving our energy to the client, we're actually a conduit or a channel for that Reiki energy.
So sometimes my clients are very concerned like, "Are you okay?" After a session and I would say, "Absolutely, yes." Sometimes I even feel more energized when I'm complete with a session just because that energy is flowing through me as well. So we get a little bit of benefit as practitioners. But sometimes I'll feel different sensations within my body sometimes, or I might feel a headache if that client is feeling a headache. So sometimes I can feel different areas of pain within my own body. It's different and it's unique to each. You never quite know what each session is going to bring. So that's the cool thing about Reiki is that there's really like no one size fits all, it's different each time. I even say that to clients, that the experience that they might have in one Reiki session with me may be totally different the next time.
And have you attuned others or have students that train with you?
I just started doing that practice, yes. So I have a group of students that went through Reiki one with me that I attuned and they'll be going through Reiki two with me in February. So that's, again, a very powerful ceremony I feel on both ends. So receiving the attunements as the Reiki student, again, it's very individualized as to what each person experiences, but it's a very powerful, and I feel like a very sacred ceremony.
Did you get feedback from them? Like what that was like for them on any of the students? Did you notice things? I know that sometimes when we receive attunements, it can kind of jumpstart our spiritual journey.
Definitely. There are students that had a lot of emotion come up, tears come up through the ceremony, through the attunement ceremony. A lot of them felt more connected to their spirit guides or maybe met a spirit guide through the ceremony. And then definitely felt a little bit more opened up intuitively. And I've noticed that in myself also just from receiving my Reiki attunements, that I definitely have more intuitive messages coming to me, especially when I'm working on clients. And I feel like that's increased over the past year, even as I've done my own coursework in intuitive and psychic development courses.
Yeah. And what about the style of Reiki that you are trained in? It's the Usui method, tradition?
Yes. The Usui tradition. Yes. I think that's a very popular methodology. I know there's a number of different Reiki trainings that you can go through. I think the Usui is really, to me like the traditional Reiki, but that doesn't mean that any of the others aren't equally as amazing and valid.
Yeah, there's a couple of different lineages that came from Usui. This is sort of an esoteric thought, but sometimes, like I feel that you and I might have met in a past life and done this sort of work together. Do you have any sense of like, "Oh, this is familiar to me from another part of time?"
Yeah. I do feel that. You and I have met through another group, but I feel really connected to a lot of the people within that group. So yeah, I do feel like we're all obviously connected in some ways, but some of our soul groups, I feel like, yes. When we cross paths again, it seems very familiar and almost like easy to just kind of pick up where we left off. So I do feel that too.
Yeah. So even though Reiki has a particular time and lineage owner and a name, to me there's some sort of universal energy, healing modality awareness that I feel is not specific to time or place. That somehow when I learned Reiki, I was reconnecting to that awareness in myself. Even though we're channeling that energy, we each have our unique way of understanding healing, and transmission, and divine energy, and flow. It's just really cool. I learn so much from practitioners too. So I feel like there's not just one way. I guess we use the word Reiki because it holds the keys to this particular type of experiential healing.
Yes, definitely. And I do think practitioners have their own individual ways of delivering Reiki or delivering their healing and that's the beauty of it too. We get that basis of training but then, depending on other people's interests, like I know I have another friend who's a practitioner and she's also a shamanic healer. So she really blends the two together, which is so amazing. I think that each practitioner has a little bit different kind of take on how they deliver their healing. And it's equally as powerful, no matter what.
And we talked a little bit at the beginning about tapping, but I wonder, do you have any daily practices or an energy clearing work or any ritual that you do before or after offering Reiki?
So I definitely. Every morning when I'm on my walk with my little dog, I do a grounding and a protecting and a shielding of my own energy. So I kind of do a walking meditation when I'm with her. And that's a given for me, no matter what. Sometimes I'll repeat that through the day, depending on what's going on with me. But then I'll also have a conversation with my angels and guides after I do that meditation. But I definitely prepare before each Reiki client. As my client is getting settled in my Reiki room, I'll step away so that I can wash my hands to kind of, again, release any energy from my hands.
But I also then call in an invocation to ask for help and guidance and protection during the Reiki session to definitely increase my intuition and my psychic abilities so I can receive messages for them and just to help guide my hands through the session to kind of place wherever that client needs it. So I definitely call upon my angels and guides, my Reiki masters and guides. And I do that for before every client. So I do have my own little ceremony.
That's so beautiful. And do you have any sort of magical stories or other things that you want to share about your experiences in Reiki or awareness that you've received?
The interesting thing is that, there's so many benefits to Reiki, that's why I love it so much. Like I had one client who was new to me, and I didn't know this at the time, but she was working on a book and she was experiencing writer's block. Like she was just having a really hard time just producing. And so she came to me, I think this was maybe the first or the second time that she came for Reiki. And after our session she left and then the next day she texted me, she was like, "Oh my gosh." She said, "The Reiki just completely cleared my blocks. Opened me up." She said, "I went home. I went and I wrote three chapters for my book. I wrote a blog. I did this, I did that." She was just like, "I know that it was Reiki." She was like, "I just felt this immediate opening as soon as we were done and everything just clicked."
I'm like, wow, that is really kind of cool, right? Because I've had some people talk about some physical things that have improved, or maybe some emotional things, but not so much from the creative standpoint. And I know a lot of your listeners are creative, so how cool is that, right? To have that tool in your toolbox to be able to use if you're just kind of feeling stuck. So that was a cool message. And then again, definitely people who have had some emotional releases. I always tell my clients that this is a safe space for them to allow those tears to come out because it is releasing trauma for the body. It's stuck energy. We want to release it and take it out the body.
So I did have a client that came to me, again, I really didn't know her very well. Obviously this was her first session, but she definitely had some tears, definitely had some releases. But I received a message that was like, she was calling herself damaged goods. And she would not mind me sharing this because we've talked about it. And as soon as I said, the word "damaged goods", she just, again, burst into tears and she was releasing that, right? So it's a lot of times that we're releasing some of the limiting beliefs or the negative self-talk that we have.
And after she did that, again, she kind of reached out to me the next day was like, "I just feel so much better, so much more at peace." And just in realizing some of those things that came up, she was like, "I'm journaling on it and I'm letting it go." So, again, and you just never know what's going to come up. And I just love the idea of helping people kind of get back to who they're meant to be, right? And back to the beautiful souls that they are and remembering that.
Yeah, it also sounds like you're really creating a safe space for people to experience grief and release it or experience sadness, trauma, or just, not experience, to become aware of things that might be stuck and release it. And just those tears during Reiki is a form of release it sounds like.
Well, and kind of as we talked about in the beginning that I feel like I attract a lot of clients that are similar to what I've been through or what my path has been. And I've definitely moved through a lot of grief. I've moved through a lot of anxiety, depressions, some toxic relationships. So my clients come to me and it really mirrors my own path. So I feel like in a way too, I was really drawn to this work. It's not only healing for me, but then to be able to turn around and offer healing to people that are in my "shoes" or have been going through similar things.
Yeah. And they're probably drawn to you because of the frequency or vibration of sort of your attunement to healing that you've gone through. They're like, "Okay, she's got the keys. I need to check out how do we do this, help me out." It's really, really an amazing process. So thanks so much, Chris. I feel like there's so much beautiful work that you're offering. And would you like to share how people could connect with you if they want to work with you in person or remotely?
Absolutely. So best way is to either reach out to me on Instagram or Facebook. So on Instagram, my handle is letter C and then pink. P as in Paul, I-N-K, so cpinkwellness. And then I'm on Facebook as Chris Pinkerton. So they can just search me there, send a message, and I'm happy to chat with anyone, offer any assistance. So again, I do in person Reiki, I'm in the Columbus, Ohio area, but I can also do distance as well, which is equally effective. And then if anyone's interested in the programs that are coming up, again, I'll be doing some in person locally, but also offer them online. And to learn more about tapping as well.
Yeah. And you're moving soon to a new studio, I hear, right
I am. Yes. So right now I'm affiliated with Xen and it's spelled with an X, so X-E-N, Xen Wellness. And we have amazing things besides Reiki here, like infrared sauna and cocoon, but I'll be moving my Reiki practice over to a space called BOHINDI, which is a beautiful shop that has handcrafted jewelry, and crystals, and candles, and essential oils, and all kinds of yummy stuff.
And do you find that people benefit from doing like some other modality and then Reiki or sort of piggybacking these modalities? Like when you're in this sort of wellness space, do you find people like to do multiple things?
Oh, sure. I'll have clients that come in and will receive Reiki and then I will recommend that they do infrared right after because it's very grounding to energy. So that's an amazing thing to do. But I also have clients that will, if they're in talk therapy, they'll schedule their therapy either before or after Reiki, again, just because Reiki helps so much with centering, right? And kind of doing wellbeing in peace. So I do have clients that do that. And then I always recommend that people do some grounding and releasing after Reiki sessions. So obviously drinking lots of water or taking a nice salt bath after Reiki is really great for grounding. But also again, releasing any negative residue, any negative energy that's being released. So that's probably great things to do.
Yeah. That sounds great. Clearing the area
Yes.
Well, thank you, Chris. It's been so lovely to talk with you. I wish I could come and visit you in person there.
You need to. So if you get to Ohio, you have to come and see me. But thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
Of course.
Yeah. And what have you been up to lately since last spoke? Have you been doing remote sessions or in person sessions or any trainings that you're offering related to Reiki?
Yeah, I've been doing primarily in person Reiki. I do also distance Reiki. So some my clients are across the world from me, which is really cool. So I do a little bit of both and I'm working on a few different programs to offer in 2022. I'm working on a series that's about energetic health. So I'll be rolling that out, both online and in person. And then I'm also working on a tapping challenge. That I'm looking to launch in February.
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