Following a Full-Body Yes.

One afternoon in August 2025, I was painting with music playing in the background when a sudden thought landed: I should learn Reiki.

It caught me off guard. I had never received Reiki before. I wasn’t even entirely sure what it involved. But when you’re AuDHD and intuitive, you learn to recognize the difference between a passing idea and a full-body yes.

This was a full-body yes.

I opened my laptop and started searching for upcoming trainings in my area. The first few websites felt clinical and impersonal, like something essential was missing. Then I found Alys.

Within minutes of reading her website, I knew.

She was AuDHD like me. A Reiki Master, massage therapist, and training to become a somatic embodiment coach. There was warmth in her words. Depth. Humanity. I didn’t just want to learn Reiki. I wanted to learn it from her.

I trusted the intuitive hit enough to do the unsexy, bureaucratic, overwhelming thing required to make it happen. Filing two years of backlogged realtor taxes was my Everest. I almost quit more than once. But I wanted Reiki more than I wanted to avoid the overwhelm.

In October, Alys reached out to let me know that, so far, I was the only one signed up for the training. She asked if I’d prefer to wait for a fuller class or move forward one-on-one.

I didn’t hesitate.

I had been quietly nervous about taking the course in a group setting. I know myself. I compare. I overanalyze. I wonder if I’m doing it “right.” The idea of it being just the two of us felt like a gift.

The morning of my first class I was excited and anxious in equal measure. But the moment I stepped into her space, I felt my shoulders drop. Alys has a calm, open presence that immediately softens the room.

She told me that during her meditation that morning she had the sense there was a reason it was just me in the class. I laughed and admitted I was relieved. I had been worried about feeling awkward or behind. She smiled and said she was glad too. It was her first class in almost a year, and easing back in together felt right.

When it came time for my Level I attunement, I expected something dramatic. Fireworks. Visions. A lightning bolt moment.

Instead, it was quiet.

I didn’t feel much at all. No big sensations. No cinematic experience. But afterward, Alys told me the attunement had flowed beautifully. She said the energy felt smooth and easy, like it absorbed without resistance.

That detail stayed with me.

Sometimes the most aligned experiences are not loud. They are simple. Uncomplicated. Natural.

Later, when I gave her Reiki for the first time, she fell asleep sitting upright in the chair. She told me she does not usually fall asleep even when receiving Reiki lying down. At one point, after tuning into my energy, she accidentally dropped her water bottle because her hands were so relaxed.

It was not a dramatic moment. It was steady.

That was the beginning of understanding something about myself.

Level II was different. There was another student in the room. The dynamic shifted. The attunement felt more structured, more methodical. It took longer. It required more attention.

It taught me something important.

Energy is not about intensity. It is about discernment.

Sometimes you are the grounding presence in the room. Sometimes you are learning how not to absorb what isn’t yours. Sometimes growth feels effortless. Sometimes it asks for boundaries.

Over the next few months, through practice sessions and a Reiki share in December, I began to see the through line more clearly. My energy, when I am grounded, is steady. Rooted. Relaxing. Expansive rather than chaotic.

That understanding changed how I create.

When I sit down to paint now, I clear the space intentionally. I set an intention before the first brushstroke. I approach each piece as something that holds presence, not just pigment.

Reiki did not make me someone new.

It helped me trust what was already there.

It helped me recognize when something feels aligned and when it doesn’t. It helped me stop running from the uncomfortable administrative tasks that support my life. It helped me face what I had been avoiding. It helped me sit still long enough to feel my own steadiness.

I did not learn Reiki to become mystical.

I learned it because something in me said yes.

And I decided to listen.