The Path of Energy Work

Discovering Energy Work—and Myself

When I met Barbara Ann, my Reiki teacher, I was just beginning to understand the deeper layers of what it meant to be a healer. I had been living in London, working full-time in a job that simply paid the bills. But alongside that, I had spent a year studying massage and was preparing to become an aromatherapist. I had discovered how deeply satisfying it was to work hands-on with people. I realized—this is something I’m good at. This is something I love.

At the same time, I had been training with my Wiccan teachers for about two years, stepping deeper into ritual and spiritual practice. During massage sessions, I began noticing something unexpected: my hands, usually cold, would become hot and tingly. I could feel energy pulsing through them. It was strange, but undeniable. I didn’t know what it meant, only that it was real.

The word Reiki kept appearing around me—friends were trained, my aromatherapy teacher used it, and something in me said: follow this. A friend mentioned Barbara-Ann, who taught Reiki near where I lived in North London. I felt the pull and booked a Reiki 1 course, not knowing exactly what I was stepping into.

That decision changed my life.

Studying Reiki with Barbara Ann opened something ancient within me. I had been working with energy in ritual spaces, but I didn’t yet understand my own energetic container—how to care for it, protect it, or heal it. Reiki gave me structure, clarity, and access to a lineage that felt both sacred and practical. Since that first course in September 2005, I’ve practiced self-healing daily.

I was open and curious—but also energetically wide open, unprotected, and overwhelmed. Like many sensitive children, I had suppressed my intuitive gifts in my teens to try and fit in. That suppression had made me deeply unhappy. But now I was beginning to see differently. I was rediscovering my intuition, my inner knowing. I was learning that my “sight” wasn’t broken—it was sacred.

Through Barbara Ann’s teachings—especially her chakra breathwork—I saw how leaky and frayed my energy field had become. But I also saw the power within it. That was the beginning of a long, ongoing process of cleansing and reclaiming. Reiki wasn’t just a method. It became part of how I live, how I serve, and how I understand myself as a visionary, a seer—and a healer.

Energetic self-care became essential.
Like brushing my teeth or washing my hands, cleansing my energy field became a daily, non-negotiable practice.

In my twenties, I was still deeply confused about what energy belonged to me, and what I was carrying for others. Like many highly sensitive women, I turned to alcohol to numb my system—just to get through social situations. I didn’t know how to hold myself energetically, so I escaped.

This wasn’t healthy. I don’t recommend it.
But it taught me something: that I needed tools to be fully present in my body without numbing or running.

Over time, I reclaimed my power through shamanic work, recapitulation (from the Toltec path), and other energy practices that helped me call my energy home.

As an introvert, I also need deep solitude to recharge.
The forest is my medicine. Always has been.

Even in London, I found green spaces. In one flat, there was a quiet garden with a massive maple tree. At night, I’d go out and meditate under it—me, the tree, and a three-legged cat who always joined me.
Nature always finds a way to reach us—if we’re willing to listen.

Barbara-Ann’s teachings were just the beginning. One of my first teachers, David, taught me a tree meditation that I still use today. It shows up across many traditions: Reiki, Wicca, shamanism.

It’s a simple but profound practice—connecting to your roots, your center, and the sky above.
That’s where we begin: Root. Heart. Connection.

Working with these principles, I started noticing something:
Most of my clients had no energetic roots.
Their energy looped in their heads, their thoughts, their over-responsibility. They had no connection to their body or to the Earth.
That’s when I realized… this is what I’m here to teach.

Why I Created This Community

The Willow Women Community was born out of everything I’ve learned the hard way.
Seeing a healer is powerful—but it’s the daily integration that changes your life.

Today, I blend Reiki, shamanism, Wicca, the Toltec path, and Warrior Goddess teachings. Three years ago, I met HeatherAsh Amara, and her work supported me through a crisis when nothing else worked. Her tools helped me reclaim my energy, clear old beliefs, and come home to presence.

As a sensitive person who used to live in other realms, this brought me fully back into the now.

My shamanic journeys became more vivid, more joyful, more accurate.
Why? Because I finally felt safe in my body.