0:11

Welcome to Mindsurfer MD . I'm

0:13

your host , Dr Liz Trainor , and my

0:15

mission is to normalize discussions about

0:17

mental health and provide resources to

0:19

those of us who are riding the waves . So

0:21

let's dive in .

1:12

Hi everybody . I am so delighted

1:14

to have Dr Judith Hong here with us today

1:16

. She is a board certified

1:18

dermatologist practicing in Northern California

1:21

, and she is also an

1:23

avid artist and a

1:25

gymnast and a hockey player and

1:27

a dancer , and she is also a

1:29

master teacher

1:32

of Reiki . She's a Reiki master teacher

1:34

and I'm very excited to explore

1:36

what Reiki is and

1:38

how you stumbled upon it and

1:40

how it can

1:42

be useful in

1:45

life for those of us who are struggling

1:47

with depression or pain

1:49

or anxiety or many

1:52

other things . So yeah

1:54

, so hi how are you ?

1:56

I'm doing well Thank you , liz , for inviting

1:58

me to your podcast and I'm really

2:01

nervous but excited to

2:03

share about my

2:05

Reiki journey and how it's impacted

2:07

me and how I

2:10

love sharing about it because it's

2:12

helped me so much in my life and continues

2:14

to , and how maybe

2:17

this is something that could help others and

2:19

they may not even realize it . So

2:21

I'm really excited and

2:24

I was actually thinking if we could just start

2:26

with a little meditation and

2:28

I'll write this and so everyone listening

2:31

please join along and we

2:34

can enjoy this together . So we'll start

2:36

with our hands in what's called gao shou and

2:39

that's prayer position or hands

2:42

coming together , and

2:45

you're going to go ahead and just start

2:47

to notice your body and notice your breath , just

2:50

coming back to

2:52

our bodies , our senses , and

2:58

just let that breath naturally start to deepen

3:01

and

3:03

soft bellies . And

3:07

let's go ahead and imagine a cord

3:10

comes from the tip of our tailbone

3:12

, so an area some might

3:14

know as the root chakra , and

3:16

have it go down into the ground and

3:19

it keeps going down into the earth and it goes

3:21

down , down , down , down , down

3:23

down all the way to the

3:25

core of Mother Earth and there it anchors and

3:27

wraps around and

3:31

, as that happens , anything

3:33

that's dense or not serving

3:36

you or any

3:38

stressors just start to naturally drain

3:40

down this cord and it goes into the

3:42

Mother Earth to be absorbed

3:45

and transmuted into love and light . At

3:48

the same time , there's this earth energy that

3:50

starts to flow up the cord and into our bodies

3:53

. Then

3:55

, at the crown of your head , imagine that

3:58

it opens up and then there's this beautiful

4:00

waterfall , brilliant

4:02

white light , the sparkling , dancing

4:05

light coming from the cosmos

4:07

. It flows into our

4:10

heads and it starts to just spread

4:12

into every part of our body

4:14

. It goes down our

4:16

head or neck , into our shoulders

4:19

, all the way down to the tips of the fingers

4:21

, it goes down our chest

4:23

, our abdomen , into

4:26

the pelvis , into both hips and it goes

4:28

all the way down to the tips

4:30

of our toes . This

4:32

brilliant light is just saturating

4:34

every cell in our body and every space

4:36

in between . And

4:41

as you breathe in , you really feel this

4:43

earth and cosmic energy

4:45

coming in . And

4:47

as you breathe out , imagine it expands

4:49

out every surface

4:51

of your body 360 degrees

4:53

like a fine mist . So

4:56

we're just breathing it in and

4:59

as we breathe out , it just expands and

5:12

we can start to use our imagination . And

5:14

since there's no limits to

5:17

our imagination . You can start to see

5:19

this mist of energy expanding

5:21

out further and further . So

5:24

maybe it starts with filling up whatever

5:26

room you're in , maybe

5:29

expands to your

5:32

city , and

5:35

then you can expand it out to your whole country

5:37

, and

5:41

then next we can even expand it to

5:43

cover our entire planet so

5:47

that every being living

5:49

or inanimate can receive this , and

5:55

then you can let it continue out to infinity

5:58

into the universe . So we're breathing

6:00

it in and as it expands

6:03

it just goes out forever

6:05

, and

6:14

then we're going to slowly start to bring it back in

6:16

. So let's

6:18

bring it back to the

6:20

earth , let's

6:25

bring it back to our country , let's

6:30

bring it back to our city , let's

6:36

bring it back to our room , and

6:42

then let's put our hands on our heart and

6:46

let's bring all that back into our heart . This

6:51

is women , physicians . We

6:54

know what it is like to really

6:56

give and give with a heart , and

6:59

this is just a little moment where we can

7:01

let our heart receive . Our

7:03

very loving , generous

7:05

, giving hearts can just

7:09

receive this energy that's all

7:11

around us . It's the heavens

7:13

, each other , and

7:21

I'm just so grateful to

7:23

be here on the podcast and thank

7:25

you everyone for listening

7:27

. We

7:30

can slowly come back

7:32

to and

7:34

you can open your eyes , as they're been closed .

7:38

And that was beautiful . Thank you so much . I

7:42

really needed that because I was nervous too

7:44

. I don't know why , but I

7:46

just I loved your class . I'm

7:48

so grateful that I was able to take your

7:50

Reiki level one class

7:53

a couple of weeks ago and in fact I tried

7:55

and it actually really

7:57

helped . I did some Reiki on myself this morning

7:59

, Just

8:02

being present , and I found

8:05

it very grounding and something that you said in class

8:07

has become a little bit of a mantra that

8:09

I am grounded and it's not about

8:12

me and just letting

8:14

that energy flow through to

8:17

calm myself and

8:19

heal myself , and I'm

8:22

learning to apply that to help

8:24

others too . So very early

8:26

on my journey . But I would

8:29

love to hear a little bit about how

8:32

Reiki first came into your life , Judith . If

8:35

you could tell us a little bit about that .

8:37

So it's funny one of my teachers

8:39

says you don't find Reiki , reiki finds

8:41

you . So

8:43

Reiki found me and basically

8:46

I did all my training at UCSF

8:48

med school residency just

8:50

very focused . And then we

8:53

decided to move to Sonoma County . That's

8:55

where I got my job , which I'm still at . It's a

8:57

really wonderful office . And

9:00

Sonoma County I didn't know . I

9:02

knew it was beautiful as wine country but is

9:04

actually home to just a lot

9:06

of interest in spiritual

9:09

practices , alternative , complimentary

9:12

Reiki . And

9:14

so I just started

9:16

to hear the word Reiki and

9:19

some of my close friends , actually in different

9:21

circles who are

9:24

very intuitive I had two separate

9:26

friends said you should do Reiki . I said

9:28

I have no idea what that is , but great

9:31

, just brush it off . And I think

9:33

it popped in a couple other times . I'm like

9:35

, oh , there's that word Reiki again . And finally

9:37

it was actually a new patient at

9:39

my office . She had tinny aversa

9:41

color , so it was pretty simple

9:44

, straightforward visit .

9:45

but I looked at her occupation and

9:47

I said hey , it says you're a Reiki

9:49

master .

9:50

I'm like what is that and how do I

9:52

learn it ? So she

9:54

told me a little bit about it and said

9:57

oh there's . You know , if you

9:59

want to learn , there's a really great teacher locally

10:01

here in Santa Rosa , daily Little . And

10:04

so I went and I looked as like , oh , there's

10:06

a workshop in two weeks . Okay , I

10:08

can do it , I'll sign up for it . I didn't even

10:10

bother reading about it or looking into

10:12

it , and so I showed up to class

10:14

and I love doing this . I'm very curious and

10:17

I'll just try anything . You know that's

10:19

legal .

10:19

Yes , yes , you sound like me . Yes , yes , exactly , I

10:23

have my boundaries .

10:24

But you know , I'm like , why not ? You know , reiki

10:26

class ? And I thought it was really interesting

10:29

. I just it was such a different way

10:31

of thinking about wellness

10:34

and healing and you know , her whole thing

10:36

was that you're just a vessel to , not about

10:38

you . And

10:40

that blew my mind because I was like , as a physician

10:43

, it's like , oh my God , it is about me , it's

10:45

my , it's my duty , it's my job . I

10:47

have to fix this person . And this was

10:49

, you know , her concept was the more

10:51

you're just relaxed and not invested

10:54

in it , the more happens . And that

10:56

just completely I

10:58

didn't get it you know and I'm learning

11:00

to , to understand the process , but I

11:02

loved it and I didn't

11:04

actually feel very much . You know , there

11:06

are people that were very intuitive . They were seeing

11:09

colors , they were feeling the energy

11:11

and I was like , oh , I'm relaxed

11:13

, this is good . But when I was doing we

11:15

were doing practice on each other and I was hovering my

11:17

hands over someone

11:19

, the teacher said , wow , there's

11:22

so much energy pouring out of your hands . And I

11:24

looked at my hands . I was like , I don't know what

11:26

you're talking about , but , okay

11:28

, I'll go with it . And

11:30

so that was my Reiki one class , and

11:33

I started just practicing because I found

11:35

it really calming for myself . So and

11:37

I like helping others so it was great

11:39

. It's like , oh , you're , you know you're , you

11:41

have a headache or you're stressed Like , come here , let

11:44

me , let me try this Reiki thing . I just learned and

11:48

I found myself really calm . The other

11:50

person really loved it , and so

11:52

that that kept going . And then

11:54

what happened was that I realized that

11:56

it was divine timing . So I learned Reiki

11:59

one in April of 2017

12:02

. And then , october of 2017

12:04

, I'm in Santa Rosa . It

12:06

was the Tubbs fire and

12:09

I was in an area

12:11

that was just completely devastated

12:13

by the fire . I lost my house . I lost

12:15

every single item I owned , except

12:17

for the clothing on my body . I

12:20

got my dogs and my husband and

12:22

my purse , and that was it . And

12:25

so it was traumatic , to

12:27

say the least , and not just the individual trauma

12:30

, but the trauma of this

12:32

entire community , I mean , burnt to ashes

12:35

. People lost their home , people lost their lives

12:37

, their loved ones , their businesses

12:39

, and

12:41

so my world was completely turned

12:43

upside down . And then here's where Reiki

12:46

came in again was it

12:48

was the first week after the fires . I

12:51

mean just trying to find a place to sleep

12:53

, a place to eat .

12:55

I mean basics , right , yeah

12:57

bottom of my heart , I

12:59

was like my friends like what do you mean ?

13:01

right now ? I'm like , do you have nail clippers ? Like my

13:03

nails were too long and I didn't have nail

13:05

clippers , so she got me nail clippers

13:08

and the same friend I am gifted me a session

13:10

with this other woman . We both knew for

13:13

Reiki . And so I went

13:15

and I had not been sleeping I mean just the

13:17

most shock and trauma

13:20

and frozen you know

13:23

I could be and so

13:25

I was on the table and she started doing

13:28

some Reiki and I told her I was like you know , if

13:30

you have any messages of guidance

13:32

, I knew she was intuitive and

13:34

psychic . I was like I just need

13:36

anything right . And so she

13:39

kind of paused , hesitated , and she said

13:41

you know , 10

13:43

years ago , did you ever lose yourself

13:46

? And I looked at her , I

13:48

said what do you mean by losing

13:50

yourself ? And she said have

13:52

you ever been suicidal ? And

13:55

I said yes , actually around 10 years

13:57

ago , around time of internship

14:00

, I was suicidal . And

14:02

she said well , what I'm hearing now

14:04

is that 10 years ago

14:07

you had everything and

14:09

you lost yourself . And

14:11

now you've lost everything but

14:13

you have yourself , and

14:15

it still kind of brings tears

14:18

to my eyes too . Yeah

14:20

, it was a lightning bolt and I literally felt this

14:23

like coming in through me and it

14:25

was like at that moment because I have all

14:27

the work I'd done from that period , so

14:30

that I called . That was the first fire . That was

14:32

like the burning of myself , that

14:34

was , I lost all of myself and I had

14:36

to raise myself from the ground up

14:38

, right , and , you know , dove into

14:41

that healing process and

14:43

then , you know , 10 years later , my whole

14:45

home , my community's , burnt to the ground . But

14:48

I realized I had myself , I'd

14:50

gotten to a place where I understood

14:53

what that was . And even

14:55

though the journey has not been easy and it's

14:57

still , you know , ongoing , you

15:00

know , four years later , I

15:04

knew that I could , you know , get through this . And

15:07

the universe has sent out , you know , support

15:09

. And it's funny , actually , it

15:11

was right after the Reiki class , about a month later , I

15:13

had already signed up for a Reiki level two and

15:17

I wasn't going to do it Before the fire , oh my

15:19

. God , I'm in this like frazzled

15:21

state and people say that a lot . They're like you know , things have

15:23

come up . I'm not ready to be spiritual

15:25

and grounded . I'm like that is the time

15:28

to do these classes . And

15:30

I tell people I've cried at every

15:32

single Reiki class I've taken

15:34

and actually some I've taught , because it's

15:36

just such an opening

15:39

and it's , you know , to

15:41

have that space where you know

15:43

Reiki's not about fixing you , it's

15:45

not giving you advice , it's not , it's

15:47

just letting you be and

15:51

just with just holding the space and

15:53

this intention for everyone's

15:55

wellbeing . And

15:57

that's how it's been such

16:00

a powerful practice for me and to

16:02

the point where I want to , you know

16:04

, share about it . So that's

16:07

a very personal story that

16:09

I've only recently began

16:11

sharing . But I realized just , you

16:13

know for any listeners out there

16:15

for you . You know , we

16:17

I think a lot of us have these moments , and

16:20

I think it's normalizing these conversations

16:22

that we can share these pretty

16:25

magical experiences that change

16:27

our lives . So Absolutely

16:29

.

16:30

Thank you so much , judith , for sharing that , because

16:32

I was just , it

16:34

was so touched by your story . It

16:36

just it really moved me . It brings me to tears again

16:38

too , and

16:42

suicide is the 10th most common cause of death

16:44

in this country . It is something that I

16:47

think is something

16:49

that that is so , so

16:52

common but not discussed Suicidal

16:55

ideation and I I

16:58

want to provide

17:00

resources such as Reiki to

17:03

those of us who are struggling , because I

17:06

think it's something that , if we're willing

17:08

to talk about it , we can

17:10

open each other's

17:13

hearts to providing

17:15

these resources . I

17:18

would love to hear because I know you've

17:20

had some pretty powerful examples in your practice

17:22

. There's

17:26

one in particular about Well

17:30

, let me just open it up to you Can you tell us about

17:33

some of the experiences

17:35

in your practice of dermatology where

17:37

bringing the

17:40

practice of Reiki has been helpful ?

17:44

Yeah . So there's always one that

17:46

comes to mind and is what really

17:49

kind of launched me into being more

17:51

open to Reiki . Because

17:54

as a physician

17:56

, I totally understand the need

17:58

for evidence-based medicine

18:00

and evidence-based practices

18:03

and I understand

18:05

skeptics and I

18:07

am one too . So

18:10

after I took my Reiki class , I'd just been practicing

18:13

on just kind of friends and

18:15

some colleagues and just very private about it , Like

18:18

, oh , this is just this little fun thing and so

18:20

closet . Reiki-est yes

18:22

exactly , and then it was . I

18:25

think it was just about two months after I

18:27

took Reiki one . I was

18:29

working with a patient who was

18:31

there for a melanoma excision

18:33

and I already knew she already

18:35

told me she's high anxiety

18:37

. I had given her Ativan

18:40

, premedicated her beforehand , I

18:42

even was trying to speak in my

18:44

calmest voice possible and

18:47

just to talk her through breathing , but she

18:49

was just having a

18:51

complete anxiety attack and

18:53

out of desperation I just blurted

18:55

out have you heard of Reiki ? I

18:58

was just grasping at straws and so she's

19:00

like oh yeah , my sister does Reiki right . Perks

19:03

of being in Sonoma .

19:03

County .

19:06

And so I said well , you know , I just

19:08

learned Reiki and could I just

19:10

offer you a little bit of Reiki

19:12

? And I was

19:14

already gloved in and so it's great , right , you don't

19:16

have to touch . So I just like hovered , my medical

19:18

system was across the way and she

19:20

just transformed in front of me

19:23

, in front of the table and

19:25

I will actually read her Yelp review

19:27

because I'll let her speak about it

19:29

and the ironic thing is that she misspelled

19:31

my name .

19:32

She wrote Dr Wong , but I'll change it to Dr Wong , but

19:35

it's there on .

19:36

Yelp . So she

19:38

wrote . Dr Hong is above and beyond any

19:40

MD I have ever been treated by . First

19:42

, she found , biopsied and verified a

19:44

melanoma on my back . Then , when I arrived

19:46

to have her remove it , I was a mess , totally anxious

19:49

, scared , shaking and crying . Dr

19:51

Hong is clearly much more than a great MD

19:53

she's a kind , caring and amazing

19:55

energy healer . When Dr Hong put

19:57

her hands on my back near the site to be removed

20:00

, my whole body stopped shaking . I

20:02

became immediately calm and as she was working

20:04

on me , I became even more calm

20:06

. I know it's because of her healing energy

20:08

and presence . By the end of the surgery

20:11

, I felt completely peaceful in my body

20:13

. The whole experience was quite spiritual

20:16

for me . Dr Hong indeed gave me

20:18

a healing on mind , body and soul

20:20

levels . Oh , and I have

20:22

the dates from so June of 2017

20:25

and I took Reiki April of

20:27

2017 . So

20:30

that is one of the most

20:32

singular moments of this

20:34

Reiki journey where I was like

20:37

what , what just happened ? And

20:40

it made me realize , okay

20:42

, I need to keep going with this

20:44

. I don't know what it is , I

20:47

don't know what happened In

20:49

a way I still don't but this

20:51

is really fascinating . And how wonderful

20:54

that I can just hover

20:57

my hand , do nothing , and

20:59

we can shift this whole . And we

21:01

both had this spiritual experience right there

21:04

. Yeah , clinic , yes , so

21:07

, so , yeah , so that was one of my most

21:10

powerful ones . And I'm

21:12

still not someone I don't really bring

21:14

in Reiki as a clinical

21:16

practice into , because I

21:19

really use it kind

21:21

of for myself and just

21:23

to help with staff sometimes or just

21:25

to kind of manage energy

21:27

. But I it's

21:30

been rare I actually do Reiki in the

21:32

clinic , but that was one time where

21:34

I did . And then the other fun one I actually

21:36

just saw her back recently is

21:39

a patient where same thing , her

21:41

anxiety I had to do a biopsy , a

21:43

shaped biopsy . She was panicking

21:46

. I was trying

21:48

to help her out and talk

21:51

and finally I was like , oh well , there was that

21:53

Reiki time . I did Okay . So I was like

21:55

, okay , oh , have you

21:57

heard of Reiki ? And fortunately she did , and

22:00

so I did a little Reiki

22:02

and then I went ahead and did the procedure

22:04

and it went great . And

22:07

the next time she came back six

22:09

months later and

22:11

, actually interesting , it turned out to be a melanoma that

22:13

I biopsied . So when she came back

22:16

another time she said Dr Hong

22:18

, you changed my life what

22:20

? And she's like my needle

22:23

phobia is gone . And I said

22:25

what she's like ? Yeah

22:27

, it's gone , it's this lifelong

22:29

phobia . And I

22:31

was like , okay , and

22:34

of course I'm like okay

22:36

. Well , maybe the explanation was I put

22:38

her in a very calm state

22:41

and just by offering her something

22:43

, even if Reiki doesn't exist , but

22:45

me just being present with her , willing to

22:47

try something out of the box , shifted

22:50

something in her synapses

22:53

and the link to the amygdala

22:55

, fear , reaction . But whatever , if

22:57

that's it , if that's all . It was a placebo

23:00

. Fantastic and

23:03

that's the fun thing is the unexpected

23:05

, it's the magic , I call

23:07

it . It's like the magic of medicine

23:09

and or magic of

23:11

life and the surprises

23:13

and the mystery and

23:16

the . I always , when I was little , like , I love

23:18

, like the magical realms and

23:21

the sparkly , the unicorns

23:23

, the , and so

23:25

Reiki has that for me . It fills

23:28

that little , that childhood wonderment

23:30

, childhood joy of like , ooh

23:32

, what if there is magic in the world ?

23:35

So yes , and

23:37

I think we create

23:39

our magic and I think that

23:41

, like you said earlier with

23:43

and you taught this in the class that Reiki

23:45

is not about us , the practitioner

23:48

, healing the patient . It's allowing

23:50

the patient to heal themselves . It's creating a calm

23:53

place and

23:55

I think of it as basically holding somebody in

23:57

meditation and love together and

24:01

allowing them to come to that calm place . And , like you

24:03

said , if you want to get into the science of it , rewiring

24:05

things to calm down the

24:07

amygdala right or Fright or Flight Fear

24:10

Center , and

24:13

that can lead us into talking a little bit about some

24:15

of the science because , like you were saying , you know , as

24:17

physicians , we want the data , we

24:19

want the numbers , and there have been a number

24:21

of studies that are placebo controlled , that

24:24

have found some benefit to

24:26

Reiki . Can you talk a little bit about those

24:28

?

24:29

Yeah , absolutely , and you

24:31

know , and for those of you who

24:33

kind of want more information , you're always

24:35

welcome to reach out to me , because

24:38

I've compiled some of it and I don't

24:40

have it by memory , so I'm going to be looking at my

24:42

notes . But one

24:45

website I really recommend is

24:47

the Center for Reiki Research

24:49

, and this is

24:52

a group of Reiki

24:54

practitioners , scientists , whose

24:57

goal is really compiling all the studies

24:59

that have been done on Reiki , and

25:01

then they have this process

25:03

called the Touchstone Process , where they actually do these

25:05

summaries . And so I

25:07

was really excited because you

25:10

know , I , you know I like

25:12

looking at some of the research , but for me it's such

25:14

like a like a spiritual experiential

25:16

practice , but I know some

25:18

people that's really important , and so this is a really

25:21

great resource for that . And

25:23

then another good book is

25:25

called Reiki and Clinical Practice , a Science-Based

25:28

Guide by Ann Baldwin

25:30

, and she also does a kind

25:32

of summary of all the different studies

25:34

. And you know she has an interesting journey because

25:36

she's also a scientist too , and

25:38

there was a lab assistant

25:41

that did Reiki and she had

25:43

a profound experience , and so she shifted

25:45

her studies to studying

25:47

Reiki . But let

25:49

me see there's also McManus

25:53

2017 has a very good

25:55

review about placebo-controlled

25:57

Reiki trials

25:59

. So this is the cool thing there are actually

26:02

quite a lot of placebo-controlled

26:04

, because of course you're like , oh , someone's there

26:06

, they're putting their hands on you , like

26:09

that's healing in and of itself . But in

26:11

the placebo-controlled trials they had people

26:13

who were not Reiki practitioners

26:16

and they had them like actors

26:19

or nurses and they trained them . This is

26:21

where you put your hands or this is how you mimic

26:23

, and so you're

26:25

actually they got sham Reiki and

26:28

so I know that's always very

26:30

important to have that control aspect

26:33

. And there are different studies

26:35

, but some of them have showed a decrease

26:38

in heart rate in high

26:40

blood pressure sorry , not heart rate , blood

26:42

pressure in hypertensive patients

26:45

. There was a study about burnt out

26:47

healthcare professionals that showed

26:49

increased heart rate variability . We

26:52

don't relate to that at all . Right , health

26:55

care professionals burnt out what are you talking about

26:57

?

26:57

I love pathology . I have to say I feel very

26:59

fortunate to be a pathologist .

27:01

And I'm a dermatologist . Yes

27:04

, we're so grateful

27:06

for all you primary care

27:09

frontline workers . I

27:11

mean just

27:13

so much respect for all

27:16

our colleagues , our physician colleagues , our

27:18

healthcare colleagues , every

27:21

one out there who's doing what

27:23

they can . And

27:26

then there , let me see , there were also

27:29

some decrease in

27:31

pain , depression and

27:33

anxiety in a group

27:35

of chronically ill patients . And

27:39

then there were studies that show no effect

27:41

too . So there was a study on fibromyalgia

27:44

no difference in pain . There was a study

27:46

on the amount of anesthesia needed for

27:48

pediatric patients , I believe

27:50

, getting dental procedure no difference . So

27:53

I am not here to say

27:55

, gosh , rakey's gonna cure

27:57

everything that's out there , because it's

28:00

not . And actually that's

28:02

not the point of it at all . As I've learned , it's

28:05

a really meditative , compassion

28:08

, mindfulness practice , and

28:10

the healing is a byproduct . That's

28:13

not up to us . It's that

28:16

person's own journey , it's their own

28:18

connection with the spirit divine

28:20

, whatever you call it God . They're

28:22

higher selves , and

28:25

so that's how I viewed it and it's

28:27

a . I love it as a compassion practice

28:29

, because you can do self

28:31

Rakey , you can do Rakey for others , you can

28:33

do Rakey for the planet , you can do Rakey

28:36

for something going on at a

28:38

distance , you can send Rakey ahead of time

28:40

for something . I sent Rakey to this podcast

28:42

because I was like , oh , my gosh , I was so nervous

28:44

about this . Like okay , well , I'm talking about

28:47

Rakey , I should just do my own practice and

28:49

send it , rakey and I asked for Rakey

28:51

friends to send you know , and

28:54

so it's kind of fun . It's prayer

28:56

, it's intention , it's

28:58

something that's been part of human

29:00

. You know , just being

29:02

human right like how , how

29:05

much has has spiritual practice

29:07

or prayer hands-on

29:10

healing , you know so

29:12

.

29:14

That's the community aspect , and you have a , you

29:16

have a Facebook group , I think . If can

29:18

you tell us a little bit about that , is that for students

29:20

?

29:20

or um , no , it's , it's for anyone interested

29:23

. It kind of started out as the place to

29:25

gather you know people I was teaching , but it's

29:28

open . It's called a wishing wellness

29:31

way Reiki , and

29:33

that's . You can just find

29:35

it on Facebook or you can find me , judith

29:37

Hong , and you know , message me and I can always

29:39

add you and and

29:41

that's a fun thing . And I realized one of the most

29:44

fun things about teaching Reiki is

29:46

the cool people I get to Meet and then they

29:48

learn Reiki and then I can ask them to send me some Reiki

29:50

. I need help , selfish

29:54

, you motive , but no

29:57

, it's , it's just really great community

29:59

and and and then

30:01

people bring in such a different gifts . You know there's

30:03

other people who do other forms

30:05

of energy healing , like I've . You know

30:07

healing touch or qigong , or you

30:10

know yoga practices , and so

30:13

we have all these different ways of connecting

30:15

to those , those parts of us and

30:18

that connection to spirit . So Reiki's

30:20

just one , you know , example

30:23

of that . But it doesn't have to be

30:25

just that . I always tell people just go with

30:27

what Resonates and what's

30:29

fun , right , don't pursue something

30:31

if it's not enjoyable . If you

30:33

know if and I tell my students that , like

30:36

anything here I'm teaching

30:38

that doesn't resonate , just let it go . But if there's

30:40

something that you really connect to

30:42

, like , you really like the hands on the self

30:44

, great , you know the self Reiki . Or you

30:46

like visualizing the light , wonderful

30:49

, you know other things , you know

30:51

let it go . I'm not , I don't

30:53

. I want everyone to just explore

30:55

themselves , and and the analogy

30:58

I use is you know , I'll show you a

31:00

brush and here's the blank canvas

31:02

, is here's how you dip the brush and paint and paint

31:04

. But I don't want you to paint

31:06

like me , I want you to do your own art

31:09

style , whatever you bring in . And so

31:11

with Reiki , I say , if you already do

31:13

yoga , just bring in Reiki

31:15

into your yoga practice . If

31:17

you cook , you love cooking , send

31:19

Reiki to your ingredients , to your food , and so

31:22

that's where it's like a mindfulness practice

31:24

of it's my little

31:26

touchstone , for you

31:28

know , being mindful about what I'm doing , what

31:31

I'm experiencing , and

31:33

I am definitely not there most of

31:35

the time and it's a little early

31:37

on . Yes , I'm quite

31:39

human but it's helped me so much

31:41

, just with every you

31:44

know part of my life . Just

31:46

, you know , reiki and the

31:48

. The other thing I do want to share that rate

31:50

my animal Reiki teacher , kathleen Prasad

31:52

, taught me is that Reiki is

31:54

about our inner light , seeing

31:57

another person's inner light . So there's a sense

31:59

that we all have our light and sometimes it gets covered up

32:01

, it's foggy

32:04

, it's misty , there's mud on it . Right , life

32:06

happens and we feel like we have no light , but

32:09

it's there , and then if you can see

32:11

other people's light and

32:13

look for that , that's

32:16

. I'll share a story about that one

32:18

. So I had a metastatic melanoma

32:21

patient who was , just , you

32:24

know , not happy with the health care system

32:26

, not happy with you

32:28

know a lot of what was happening in general

32:31

, of course , and and he was difficult

32:33

energetically , very difficult for me and I would Kind

32:38

of dread our visits because it was hard

32:40

for me . I'm very sensitive and someone's

32:42

not happy or you know

32:44

, in a in a kind of angry , frustrated place

32:46

that it impacts me . So I just took

32:48

this animal Reiki class . She said , you know , my

32:50

light sees your light . I was like , okay , all right , that's my practice for this week

32:52

. My light , I'm seeing his light , I'm seeing his light , I'm seeing his light , I'm

32:56

seeing his light . So I go in and

32:58

we're going about our visit and somehow

33:00

I think I just asked about his hobbies

33:03

, right ? I'm like , okay , I'm not

33:05

seeing a sick patient

33:07

, I'm seeing who is . Who is he like ? What

33:09

is he interested in ? And he says

33:11

hockey . And so I was like hockey

33:13

, oh my god , I played hockey

33:15

, you know , and I played roller hockey

33:17

, I played ice hockey , like I love hockey

33:20

, and he just lit up right

33:22

and we just we talked about hockey

33:24

, I asked about what position he played

33:26

and anyway , so , and it

33:28

just , it just shifts right . And so the

33:32

next time he comes in , he

33:34

hands me this thing wrapped

33:36

in this black scarf , and he's like here you go

33:38

. And I said oh , what

33:41

is it ? He's like well , it's a gift

33:44

. And he said

33:46

I was out with my brother and I

33:48

said I want to buy my doctor a gift . And

33:50

he's like oh , like which doctor ? And

33:52

your oncologist ? He's like no , my dermatologist

33:55

. She's , she's one of the most important doctors

33:57

you know . So

34:00

I opened the gift and we're in

34:02

Santa Rosa , which is , you know

34:04

, charles Schultz and Snoopy and all that

34:06

, and it was Snoopy playing

34:09

hockey with an H and

34:11

he said the H is for hockey and the H

34:13

is for Hong , and I had to hold

34:15

myself from just you know Bali , and

34:19

it still sits on my desk and

34:22

and that's like my little reminder

34:24

of if we can just do

34:26

those little shifts . You know

34:28

, instead of dreading to see that

34:30

patient that you know , yes , time and again

34:32

they've been difficult , if

34:35

we can , okay , where , where's their light

34:37

? You know where's their light and ask

34:39

I asked for help , like you know Reiki , for

34:41

helping me connect

34:43

to this person . And

34:46

and you know what's ? I realize

34:48

what's kind of fun about

34:50

being a clinical physician

34:52

is that it's a great playground

34:54

to try these practices

34:57

. So , as you learn different practices

34:59

you know compassion practices , loving

35:01

, kindness , reiki , grounding

35:05

just try

35:07

it out in your clinic and

35:10

and you'll , you'll get feedback . You'll get feedback

35:12

like , oh , this , this is something

35:14

that works well for me , or no

35:16

, didn't really feel that , but that

35:18

shifted my . My practice is a . You

35:20

know I , any patients are listening .

35:22

I hope they don't feel like they're a little out

35:26

of compassion and , you know

35:28

, wanting to help you know others be

35:31

as good of a physician as I can , so well

35:34

, I really benefited from taking your class

35:36

and you know I'm a pathologist , so I also

35:38

will be using Reiki only probably on myself

35:40

and and family members . But I

35:43

would love for our listeners to be able

35:45

to find your class , and you said that

35:47

people can find you on Facebook . They can find

35:49

you on Facebook and you do to Hong

35:51

hong , or do you have a website

35:54

that you want to let people know about ?

35:55

you . I don't , but

35:58

I know that is next , so . But

36:00

at this point you could actually I do

36:03

have a separate email account . So

36:05

that's wishing wellness

36:07

at gmailcom

36:10

and so , and then I

36:12

guess what I do develop a website

36:14

. We could probably tack

36:16

that on somehow . So thank you

36:18

for wonderful , wonderful , wonderful

36:20

.

36:21

Yeah , and I again

36:24

, I found it to be such a simple

36:26

but but powerful technique and

36:28

I was surprised

36:30

in the sense that it's something

36:34

that was only what I think a three

36:36

hour class , that

36:38

that just just to get some

36:40

of the basic fundamentals , that

36:42

and you know , as you said , you'd

36:44

only taken Reiki one and already , two

36:47

months later , we're able to really help

36:49

a patient in a way that you might

36:51

not have been able to before taking

36:53

that class . So it's a pretty simple but

36:55

powerful and experience that I highly

36:58

highly recommend it . Anyway

37:00

thank you so much for sharing your

37:02

journey . I am so grateful . I think

37:04

this will be really beneficial to our listeners . Hopefully

37:07

you weren't meditating when you were driving , but we are

37:10

just so happy to have you here

37:12

and please , please

37:14

, reach out to Judith to find more information

37:17

.

37:17

So thank you so much

37:19

. Thank you , liz . This was wonderful

37:22

. My first podcast , you did

37:24

it . Yeah , with you , I'm the better

37:26

person to walk

37:28

hand in hand through .

37:29

Yes , thank you , we'll jump together .

37:31

Take care .

37:35

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subscribe , share with a friend and provide

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37:51

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