August 8, 2026

Before I began practicing Reiki, I was acutely aware of societal divisions around us. Having grown up in different countries, I witnessed and experienced how race, ethnicity, religion, and social hierarchies kept people apart and even polarized groups. Some might say that these divisions are not as bad as they were decades ago, yet we’d be burying our heads in the sand if we thought they no longer existed.

Let me share my own experiences: When I was a child, my parents moved to the Philippines from Europe for a few years. I went to a private school where I was bullied by my Filipino classmates for speaking English, the language of one of the country’s colonizers. My classmates let me know in the cruel way that kids do, that I should be speaking in Filipino (Tagalog) since I was brown-skinned like everybody else. Their words exactly! My parents raised me with English as my first language. There was nothing wrong with that!

Then again, in my teens, my family lived in Hawaii, and I was targeted this time by White classmates who were not yet open to brown-skinned foreigners. What did I do to warrant this? Nothing. I just existed. This happened in the 1970s, a time when racial discrimination and ethnic tensions actively existed in Hawaii despite strong marketing that these islands were a multicultural paradise.

In short, I was harassed for being linguistically “too white” for my brown-skinned classmates, and for being “too brown” for a white community. Either way, I could not win. These experiences left deep marks on my psyche.

But when I began practicing and teaching Reiki and after exploring the heavy topic of racism for years, a flash of insight changed everything. My childhood pain finally dissolved.

My students and clients from various ethnic and spiritual backgrounds sought healing for remarkably similar reasons. They came to me dealing with challenging family relationships, burnout, breakups, self-doubt, loss of identity, grief, anxiety, or physical illnesses, among other things.

Their deepest hopes were remarkably alike. They wanted to heal family members or reconcile with loved ones. Many wanted to empower themselves and regain their self-esteem. Some longed to connect with deceased loved ones; others sought guidance from their angels or spirit guides.

For the first time, I came to understand our great equalizer: that everyone fundamentally wants to lessen their suffering and experience peace, love, and joy.

This moment of enlightenment led me to forgive my distant past, move on from this trauma and not allow it to affect my relationships with people.

I’m not saying that racial discrimination, destructive social heirarchies, and religious intolerance doesn’t exist. It does. But there are ways to transcend these. 

In terms of different faiths, the International Center for Reiki Training (ICRT), where I trained in Reiki for years, promotes a spirit of unity. We are invited to meditate on this statement: “May the followers of all religions and spiritual paths work together to create peace among all people on Earth.”

Today I no longer believe that there is only one path to the sacred. Different traditions nourish different people, and I have come to respect sincere spiritual seeking in many forms.

In my view, the Spirit of Creation and the energy from Source does not discriminate or divide. It heals and unifies. It permeates our essence and makes us more cognizant of our shared humanity. It did this for me and set me free. I wish this for those who have experienced divisiveness or discrimination of any kind. As I travel the world, I carry this medicine with me. Through working with energy, I invite you to experience the joy of knowing how much we really share.

Photo: Bas-relief at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia where I visited in 2024.