Healing Grief With Reiki: A Personal Journey of Loss, Learning, and Finding Light Again

Grief changes you. It reshapes your heart, your body, your spirit - often in ways you don’t understand until you’re deep within it. For me, grief didn’t just feel emotional. It felt physical. Energetic. Spiritual. It touched every layer of my being.

My name is Lisa StarAhna - though most people know me as “Star.” I’ve spent nearly four decades as a practitioner in holistic healing arts, but my deepest understanding of healing didn’t come from training or certifications. It came through loss… and through Reiki.

My Early Path Into Energy Healing

I began my career in 1988 as a Licensed Massage Therapist. Early on, my clients started calling me “Magic Hands.” At first, I thought it was just a compliment. But over time, I realized something deeper was happening.

As I worked, I could feel energy moving—not just in muscles and joints, but in emotional and spiritual layers. Clients would come in for physical pain, but what unfolded during sessions often revealed emotional burdens, stress, or unresolved trauma.

That realization sparked what I now call my Healing Quest.

I immersed myself in learning - nutrition, herbology, craniosacral therapy, acupressure, chakra systems, auras, reflexology, and more. I became certified in Holistic Iridology and gained a deep understanding of the four levels of healing: spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical.

But despite all this knowledge, I still felt like something was missing. I needed a modality that could truly address the whole person—something powerful, yet simple and accessible.

Discovering Reiki

In 1996, everything shifted.

A client introduced me to Reiki, a form of energy healing that channels universal life force energy through the hands. She shared how it helped her release emotional blocks and heal physically after the death of her husband. Over time, I witnessed her transformation—she became lighter, calmer, more aligned. Eventually, she offered to teach Reiki to my apprentices and me.

From the very first weekend, I knew I had found what I had been searching for. Reiki wasn’t just something I practiced—it was something I felt deeply. It was intuitive, guided, and profoundly healing.

By 1998, Reiki had become an integral part of my work. My clinic flourished, and I felt aligned in both purpose and spirit.

When Grief Entered My Life

Then, on March 9, 2001, my world shattered.

My 19-year-old son, Shayne, passed away from an accidental drug overdose.

There are no words that fully capture that kind of loss. As a mother, it felt like something inside me had been torn apart. My heart didn’t just ache—it felt broken open. My energy felt scattered. My aura, in my awareness, felt ripped.

Grief wasn’t just emotional. It manifested physically in my body—especially in my second chakra, the energy center connected to motherhood, creativity, and emotional flow. I experienced intense, labor-like pain even during his funeral. The trauma had lodged itself deep within me.

I stepped away from work to grieve with my children. But even in that darkness, I knew I needed to heal—not just for myself, but for my family.

How Reiki Supports Grief Healing

Grief, unresolved, creates energetic blockages. When emotions like shock, guilt, anger, or sadness become stuck, they disrupt the natural flow of energy in the body.

This is where Reiki becomes so powerful.

Reiki works by channeling high-frequency life force energy into the body, helping to:

• Release stored emotional pain

• Restore balance to the nervous system

• Support mental and emotional clarity

• Reconnect you to a sense of peace and spiritual support

It doesn’t force healing—it allows it. It meets you exactly where you are.

My Personal Healing Through Reiki

Two months after Shayne’s passing, I found a Reiki practitioner and began receiving treatments - sometimes twice a week. After each session, something shifted.

Very slowly, my heart began to feel full again—not in the same way as before, but in a new, softer way. I could feel my energy field repairing itself. The heaviness began to lift, even if just a little at a time.

We often focused on my second chakra, where so much grief had settled. Reiki helped break up the dense emotional energy stored there. It felt as though the Reiki energy knew exactly where to go - guided by something greater than myself.

Over time, Reiki did more than ease my grief. It revealed deeper layers of healing:

• I released guilt and self-blame

• I uncovered old emotional wounds I hadn’t realized I was carrying

• I began to truly feel self-love—not just understand it

For any parent who has lost a child, you may know how overwhelming the self-blame can be. Reiki helped me move through that darkness into light and compassion.

" Reiki...doesn’t erase grief. But it changes your relationship with it."

Reiki as a Daily Practice for Mental Healing

As I continued my healing journey, Reiki became a daily part of my life.

Each morning, I practiced self-Reiki, moving through each of the seven chakras—from root to crown. This simple, consistent practice grounded me. It brought clarity to my thoughts and steadiness to my emotions.

Mental healing isn’t just about changing your thoughts—it’s about restoring balance to your entire system. Reiki supports this by calming the mind and allowing space between you and your pain. It doesn’t erase grief. But it changes your relationship with it.

From Healing Myself to Helping Others

Eventually, I returned to Reiki training and became a Reiki Master Instructor & Mentor. I shifted my practice entirely from massage therapy to energy healing. What I began to notice was profound—many of the people who came to me were also grieving. Parents. Families. Individuals carrying deep emotional pain. Reiki sessions became sacred spaces.

I witnessed people move through depression, release emotional weight, and reconnect with hope—sometimes within just a few sessions. Not because Reiki “fixed” them, but because it helped them access their own healing, their 'inner physician'.

Reiki is not a religion. It’s a practice of connection - connection to yourself, to energy, and to something greater.

Healing Through Continued Loss

In 2002, I experienced another loss when Shayne’s father passed away. This grief was different, but still deeply painful. During this time, I worked extensively with distant Reiki healing—using symbols that transcend time and space. This allowed me to process unresolved emotions and maintain a sense of spiritual connection. Reiki taught me something essential: Healing is not about avoiding pain—it’s about allowing energy to move through it.

Living as Reiki

Today, Reiki is not just something I practice. It is something I live. I’ve taught countless students, worked with families, and watched healing unfold in ways that continue to humble me. My own family has embraced Reiki as well, integrating it into their lives and healing journeys. One of the most powerful reminders came when my daughter Rosie broke her back in a skiing accident. Alongside medical care, we surrounded her with Reiki. Two weeks later, her healing stunned her doctors. Reiki doesn’t replace medicine—but it works beautifully alongside it. (After her broken back healed - our Rosie went onto a dance career around the world)

"Healing is not about avoiding pain—it’s about allowing energy to move through it."

A Path Forward Through Grief

If you are walking through grief, I want you to know this: There is no “right” way to heal. There is no timeline you must follow. But there is a path.

Reiki offers a gentle, supportive way to:

• Process deep emotional pain

• Restore balance to your mind and body

• Reconnect with love - even after loss

For me, Reiki didn’t take away my grief. It transformed it. It helped me carry it with grace rather than be consumed by it. My Healing Quest continues, as it always will. And I am honored every day to walk beside others as they find their own path back to light.

There is always light within the darkness.

And so it is.

Namaste,

Lisa “Star” StarAhna