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Alternative Wellness: Reiki Therapy

Awaken and shift energy in the body for wholehearted wellness

Holly Beavers of the Energy Exchange at her home in Eagle where she performs Reiki therapy.
Tricia Swenson/Vail Daily

Editor’s Note: The Vail Daily’s Tricia Swenson searched the valley for alternative wellness modalities that are lesser-known and have proven benefits. Follow this series and take steps to improve your wellbeing and see which offerings work for you.

Where energy goes, Reiki flows. That is the phrase Holly Beavers uses to describe Reiki therapy to help people heal. Reiki is a form of energy healing that originated in Japan in the early 20th century. The word “Reiki” is a combination of two Japanese words: “rei,” which means “God’s wisdom,” or “the higher power,” and “ki,” which means “life force energy,” according to the International Center for Reiki Training.

Eagle resident Holly Beavers is a Reiki master practitioner, a Baptiste certified yoga teacher and life coach at her practice called Energy Exchange. She started doing yoga in the early 2000s when she was a student at University of Colorado Boulder. After moving to Vail in 2010, Beavers did another yoga teacher training at Revolution Power Yoga in 2015 and that’s when she found Reiki.



“In 2015 and 2016 I went through my trainings for level 1, 2, and 3 and being a Master Reiki means that I can teach others how to administer Reiki,” Beavers said. “The first time I was working on an aura with my teacher in Denver, she said, ‘Oh, you’ve done this before’ and I said, ‘oh, no, today is my first day’ and my teacher said, ‘oh, no, you’ve done this before’ and I realized that this was a familiar feeling. Whatever you believe, whether it’s religion, God, Buddhism, past lives, it just felt very much a part of me. So, that’s when I realized that I could bring this to people, and I believe everyone is stuck somewhere at some point and time and this is how I could help them.”

Reiki therapy can be used to calm and focus mental and physical sensations in your mind, body and soul.
Jeppe Hove Jensen/Unsplash

Reiki is performed on a regular massage table with hands above the body or maybe some light touch on a client’s clothed body. Beavers will read the chakras, starting from the root chakra and moving to the crown chakra, working to move energy that is stuck to create more balance and a more whole feeling. People come to Beavers for Reiki therapy when they are experiencing some sort of physical injury, a mental block or an emotional issue that is holding them back.

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I could feel that my body was holding on to emotional trauma. I was familiar with energy work and hadn’t yet tried Reiki, so I came to Holly for a safe place to support and move that stagnant energy. Throughout our session together, long-instilled patterns from my life began to creep into my conscious mind. With these new breakthroughs and thanks to the safe place Holly created through talk therapy and energy work, I was able to have relinquishing, yet fulfilling experiences time and time again. Holly taught me tools that allow me to acknowledge and shift my negatively habitual ways of being into more gratifying practices. Through this work I have access to being present and self-aware. I am now living in authenticity, I’m full of gratitude and passion for life!

B.B. – Reiki client

“I’ll have a client who comes in and says, ‘I’ve got a heartache,’ and they will literally put their hands on their heart and say, ‘my heart actually hurts,’ so then I’ll suggest we work on some opening and some physical hand techniques that work with Reiki on their heart chakra space and then also work on the whole body,” Beavers said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a client walk out and be on the negative side, even if they are walking out and feel emotional, there’s always a clearing. And it’s like they finally realize, ‘OK, there’s space for something new.’ Sometimes it brings people to tears because they are ready to release things,” Beavers said.

Holly Beavers is a Reiki master practitioner, a Baptiste-certified yoga teacher and life coach.
Holly Beavers/Courtesy photo

Beavers works with mental and emotional health issues like a breakup, loss of a job, grief from the loss of a loved one and other hardships, but Reiki can also be used to complement Western medicine, especially with injuries.

“A friend of mine shattered her ankle and her ankle and her knee were the same size because it was so swollen. I started working on her ankle and started tapping on her ankle and you could visibly see within a half hour that her ankle had shifted, it was physically a half a size smaller after I worked on her. Patients still work with their surgeon and physical therapist and Reiki is a complimentary modality. The energy that is around that injury can be shifted and it helps to heal the area,” Beavers said.

Holly can see the causes and under her gentle guidance she is able to move energy back into their proper positions. This leads to balance and grounding, which helps the body naturally realign itself.
Holly has used Reiki on me several times to help with everything from sore tendons to an upset stomach. She has also helped me become in touch with some deep emotions I did not know were there. I would highly recommend a Reiki session with Holly. Try it, you will be happily fulfilled and content.

K.M. – Reiki client

I had a chance to get on the massage table and experience Reiki therapy for myself. I felt very comfortable in a serene setting with essential oils adding aromas to the ambiance. My eyes were closed but I could feel energetic sensations, almost a tingling feeling, especially around my head. Beavers did an abbreviated session with me because I was short on time, but I still feel like I received the benefit out of it and Beavers said she could still read quite a bit about me from the chakras and what the universe was telling her.

She said that I vibrated with high energy which matched what she knew about my lifestyle. She also felt some heaviness at my heart chakra and maybe that is because I have physical issues with my collar bone or that could be some of the grief I still feel after my dad passed away three years ago.

Beavers will suggest different action items her clients can take with them and she also teaches them ways to help shift habits and create more overall well-being.

I was so busy, but I scheduled a first-time session of Reiki with Holly and I am so glad I did. She was warm and welcoming from the moment I walked in. She asked about any ailments/laments I had, making it clear I only had to give her as much information as I was comfortable with. She was so present and I could sense her loving energy. I kind of got emotional, which I wasn’t expecting.
During the Reiki session, I felt warmth throughout my body and I could sense the degree to which Holly was working. I must have had a lot of blockages. I felt calm and relaxed for the rest of the day, not hurried at all despite the busy day I had ahead of me. I felt a shift in my attitude for several weeks afterwards, too. I was positive and energetic.

J.M. – Reiki client

“When people leave, I can see that their eyes are brighter, their face is more relaxed or if they were pale their face is rosy with openness and they oftentimes leave with a possibility of something new,” Beavers said.

To learn more about Reiki therapy and its benefits, visit HollyBeaversEnergyExchange.com.


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