It’s a dark autumn morning in the late preseason of the ski hill. My breath steaming in the cold, I am out atop the north hill along the 35-acre perimeter of the ski area. There are only faint sounds this early in the morning: the owl sanctuary off in the distance, the last of the season’s brittle leaves ratting on the high limbs and some nearing foot traffic. As I follow the trail’s arc upwards, I am met by a group of runners. They see my trail of smoke, the sage burning in my hand, and their heads are bobbing with several gazes. They’re loud with breathing and already prepping their lungs for my wake, while giving me a unified look of confusion.

I am the outside operations supervisor of Hyland Hill Ski Area in Minnesota, and I want to explain how using Reiki in my job has helped in ways that I never thought possible. But first a little background about my job and the people that work for me.

Hyland Hill is a workplace of people  with a multitude of talents, personalities, stress factors and timelines to meet. We all work hard throughout the seasons, whether it be for skiing, disc golf, seasonal events, enhancement projects or routine maintenance of the facility. This takes place in all weather conditions, from hot and humid to very cold and wet, to bring the public the very best possible product we can, in a safe and enjoyable way. But that isn’t an easy task.

The ski season  is around 114 days and the shifts throughout this time are 24/7. This can be very fast-paced work, especially in the beginning of the season when we first start making snow and are getting it pushed out and groomed. The goal is to make it possible for the public to go skiing the day after Thanksgiving.

Discovering Reiki and Using it at Work

I was first introduced to Reiki in mid-2008, and I often wondered why I had not come across this practice earlier in life. Now, in my heart, I know that it was guided by the divine order of things and that it was only then that I was called to be a part of this beautiful practice, to help heal the world one client, one student and one living thing at a time.

It took me a while to talk about this newfound energy with the members of the crew.  They are a typical rough and tumble group that works hard at what they do in some harsh conditions and situations, a group that uses the effin-himer word frequently in their everyday conversation! So as you might imagine, when I told them about Reiki and how it works, they had a few sideways looks for me. They were skeptical at first, but they listened and eventually, over time, they came to better understand and accept what I was doing.

Using Reiki at work all started a few years ago when one of our big snowmaking upgrades was not going well at all. It seemed that the project was jinxed from the beginning, and like Murphy’s Law, if something could go wrong it did! As the crew and I got more stressed, and tensions built as the project deadline grew closer, I knew something had to change and that’s when one of the crew asked me, “Is there something you could do to spread some good JU JU you do on the project? ” That’s when the light went off in my head: Reiki. Reiki can help with this in a big way.

This was a tall order of Reiki because we were behind schedule, the ski season was fast approaching and there were lots of details left to finish. I asked Reiki to be with us in all that we do and to help make the daunting task of this project turn around for the better.  

How I approached this was to sage the area and send good energy to the project itself, surroundingI put the Reiki symbols in my hands as I greeted everyone with a handshake. I would charge my Reiki Grid at home when I knew we had a difficult task to deal with that day.

So every day for the rest of the project, I blessed the project and everyone who was working on it with Reiki in every way I knew how. And eventually, the cloud of negativity lifted from the project, and all started to fall in place. In the end we met all deadlines and were ready to bring on the ski season!

To this day, when I talk to the crew or someone individually about a project at work, I use the above practices to help to keep the conversations as calm and productive as possible. When giving out assignments, especially when it is “go time” to get a big project done, I use Reiki. I also started to infuse the city water main coming in to the shop with all the Usui and Karuna Reiki^® symbols, so that the water we drink and wash our hands with is charged with Reiki.

In closing

As you have read throughout my article, you can see how Reiki has done wonders for my work, and it has added so many positives to the way that I do my job. I will continue my practice of using Reiki at work. I have learned to look for ways to use it throughout the day. It seems to flow naturally the more I practice and call on it for help. I would encourage anyone that is in a situation like mine to incorporate Reiki into your place of employment or the business you own. You will be amazed at the calming effect, as well as the many benefits and blessings you will experience from doing this.

With Love and compassion!

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” ~Steve Jobs