You are Invited to join us in Tuscany

Dream big and then give wings to your dreams...

It started with a dream and it has now taken root, come join us

For more information and beautiful pictures

Dr Oz prescribes Reiki

Watch the segment of his show where he talks about Reiki and also gives you a prescription for it's use.

A New Year to fill with Promise

It is a New Year...a new decade. Beginnings remind us that we hold what is possible in the center of our hearts and hands. We build our lives with each choice we make. Make Wisechoices and allow your heart to lead. May your choices inspire a better place for yourself and for those who share this beautiful earth.

Love, Mari


"We are all longing to go home to a place we feel we've never been - a place half-remembered and half-envisioned, that we can only catch glimpses of from time to time. Community. Somewhere, there are people to whom we can speak with passion without having the words catch in our throats. Somewhere a circle of hands will open to receive us, eyes will light up as we enter, voices will celebrate with us whenever we come into our own unique access to (His) power. Community means strength that joins our strength, to do the work that needs to be done.Arms to hold us when we falter. A circle of acceptance and healing. A circle of true and lasting friends. Someplace where we can be free and learn to take the light of freedom out into the rest of our lives."

-- Starhawk





"Healers do not heal. Love heals. Healers are essentially lovers-those with the courage to live with an open heart-allowing love to work through them."
~Linda White Dove~






Cultivate Heart Centered Presence- Beth Songer

I don't really consider myself a healer, but I am very grateful to be a witness and bridge to what we consider healing.I have studied many forms of healing and energy balancing modalities. It is something that I am interested in and I enjoy learning about. In fact, I have felt immensely blessed to have witnessed and held sacred space for some very profound healings. For me, there is no better gift that I can give myself than to be a bridge, a vessel for balance for another. In truth, that may be why all of us are here, to cultivate heart centered presence, love and total acceptance of who we truly are, by witnessing others and transmuting ourselves. For it is absolute truth, that when we suffer, everyone suffers. When we are joyful we elevate everyone and everything in joy. When a balance is corrected as healing, everyone and everything is positively effected" because we are all connected as One."

Note: I personally found so much wisdom in her words.



When Spiritual Life Really Begins

When your honeymoon with spirituality ends -- and it will end, marked by the arrival of STDs (spiritually-transmitted disappointments) -- and when your affair with being spiritually correct and spiritually in-style runs dry, you may say so long to spirituality, but it is a premature goodbye.

Disillusionment with spirituality is not only inevitable but also necessary, so that spirituality might be thoroughly deglamorized. When that disillusionment has had its say -- cynicism's couch now being no more than a pain in the butt --and when your fear of re-entering the spiritual no longer frightens or disturbs you, your spiritual life really begins.

Most of the books will be gone; the ones that remain will feel like old friends you don't tire of revisiting, even if only a page or two every couple of months. Most of the practices will also be gone; the ones that remain will feel as natural to slip into as your favorite jeans or T-shirt, at ease with both being worn and being worn out. Most of your aspirations to be spiritual will also be gone; the few that remain will feel less like aspirations and more like unforced inhalations...

Whatever disciplines we take on will result not from one aspect of us dominating the rest, but rather from a core recognition of what is needed... Instead of being at war with our weaknesses, we bring them into our heart. Instead of trying to get rid of what we don't like about ourselves, we develop a better relationship to it. Intimacy thus becomes more our path than transcendence.

Seeking will become supplanted by living a deeper life. Questions will still arise, but will ask for something more real than answers. Alignment with the Real will become the ground rather than the goal. Details will cease being just details. Focusing on might be will yield to focusing on what's here now; that is, hope (nostalgia for the future) will be replaced by faith (radical trust in the now)...

Your longing to be fully awakened will still be present, minus the desperation and ambition that once characterized it. Where once you were in a hurry to get it, now you are not rushing or pushing, having accepted the fact that you are in it for the long haul. Then, even when you are off track, you are on track.

Life after spirituality is the beginning of authentic spirituality. No fireworks, no applause, no pats on the back from the Important, no need to present oneself as someone spiritual. This is the beginning of true nobody-ness. It is not annihilation, but revelation. It is at once bare yet sentient openness, and also the beginning of true individuality.

For every question that arises here, Silence is the answer. Put another way, everything supplies the answer. Nothing is explained, everything is revealed. Beyond knowledge, Wisdom; beyond paradox, Truth; beyond self, Being; beyond everything, everything...

Life after Spirituality is committed apprenticeship to What-Really-Matters. All that happens is the practicum. Every situation offers the same fundamental opportunity. The teacher is everywhere. There is no freedom from our Freedom. No escape. The implications of this froth then still the mind, awaken and release the body, ground and expose the soul, unraveling all our dreams, breaking us open to what we were born to do and be...

Life after spirituality is a constant dying. Emerging from our own ashes becomes no big deal, but just the way things are in each new moment....

-- Robert Augustus Masters



Upcoming Events

Reiki One and Two - Houston, February 27 and 28, 2010

Mari speaking at an Int'l Reiki Conference in Bogata, Columbia, April 1-4, 2010

One Energy Therapy and One Plus, Washington, DC, May 29-30, 2010

Reiki Master's Course in Tuscany, Italy, June 12-19th, 2010



Soul Food

"In everyone's life, at one time or another, our inner fire almost goes out. It is then miraculously burst back into flame by a powerful encounter with another human being.We should be thankful for those people who rekindle our inner spirit."
-- Albert Schweitzer

"Deep within each and every one of us glows a smoldering spiritual ember waiting to burst aflame, waiting for the spark to rekindle it, to allow us to fully experience our capacity and to fulfill our spiritual destiny."
-- Joel Padowitz

"Love is our true essence. Love knows no barriers of caste, religion, race and nationality.We are all beads strung on the same thread of love."
--Mata Amritanandamay Amma

"My deepest desire is to discover how to live life as a work of art,
rather than as a chaotic response to external events."
-- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.
-- The Talmud


In the middle of a storm, a pilgrim reaches an inn and the owner asks where he is going.
"I'm going to the mountains," he answers.
"Forget it," says the innkeeper,
"it's a risky climb, and the weather is awful."
"But I'm going up," answers the pilgrim, "if my heart gets there first,
it will be easy to follow it with my body."




A Must See, It is a special invitation.


Reiki Masters Course in Tuscany June 12-19, 2010

Love, Mari

Dear Friend and Reiki Family,

I have been searching for a way to reconnect with my students in Europe. I also have been doing my own inner work in order to resurface from a much-needed rest and redefine how I will do the work I love to do in a way that both supports me and empowers my students and clients. Yes, I have discovered that this older gal can learn new tricks!

The biggest fear I have is that I will not pay attention to my own body and my own emotional needs to live my passion. One thing for sure I am not interested in single handedly saving the world...one more time. I have discovered the beauty of working towards this goal together.

The challenge has been to honor this fear while putting it to rest. I have learned that what I fear the most is what I seem to bring to me. It is time for new programming! My passion is here and now. I am most happy when I am teaching and working with people. I love seeing the light that comes alive in people's eyes when they remember their own beauty and light.

I am in a period of change. I am working with my body and mind and have excellent traveling partners in this phase of my life. I am excited at being almost 65 and seeing that I am still on the path with you, and that a whole new better world awaits us. I am so grateful you are there with me.

I have created a special smile box..."From Seeds of Desire"...for you...Just click the link to play, I hope you enjoy it. If you are interested in joining me in Tuscany, write to me. If you know people who may be interested please forward this email to them. And if this is not something you are attracted to, then the delete button can be an excellent answer.

You remain in my heart! Thank you for continuing to bless my life. Let me know how you are, too.


Love and Blessings,

Make a Smilebox photobook

2009 Reiki Virtual Retreat Post Retreat Reflection

Reiki is a very passionate and personal journey, the kind of journey one takes in life by choice. It is through looking back at my journey that I have seen Reiki’s subtle workings the most clearly. My story takes place in the Knox, Pennsylvania USA but is worldly in nature. My journey began in Stuttgart, Germany where I stumbled upon Reiki as a healing modality via the World Wide Web. Reiki took me soon after to Tokyo, Japan where I was formally trained in 2005. I am a level two practitioner. I had no idea at the time that I was moving swiftly along a path to understanding an ancient method for gaining happiness. What I did understand about Reiki from my first glance was that Reiki would be a journey that would last the rest of my life.

I began my 2009 Reiki Virtual Retreat with a sense of new hope for reawakening and deepening my Reiki experience. It was my first virtual retreat. This retreat experience came at a time when the Reiki portion of my lifestyle had waned dramatically; I was looking for a gentle journey back towards the Reiki practice I had stepped away from in my recent past. For this year’s retreat I made a personal dedication to self, set a few reminders on my calendar and was determined to participate at whatever level I could comfortably accommodate …no matter what!

In the retreats opening statements I found these reassuring words, “Please find the balance of commitment and comfort that fits your lifestyle. Look at what invites you to practice, and doesn’t feel burdensome. Don’t make it big, make it steady, and practice every day. Find an amount of daily practice that you can comfortably commit to, and a time when you can place your hands and be with your self-treatment every day.”

I realized that I needed to commit to consistency and in so doing promised myself that I would say my precepts twice daily as my minimum without fail.

Week one came and I eagerly listened to the audio files, read the messages and began a new journal just for this 21 day experience. I began in earnest, saying my precepts and practicing my self treatments after which I would do my second degree work, writing about it all in my journal. A well patterned routine, it was one that I had participated in many times over. In my second day’s journal entry I wrote these words detailing my awareness,” During today’s treatment my mind lingered upon many distracting sounds and thoughts and revisited some historical events. I experienced some regret for past emotional upheavals. While I was not saddened by remembering a recent past personal experience of grieving I was intrigued at looking at it from a new, distant and detached perspective, something I have not been able to do before.” Remembering a personal grief experience is significant because as part of my retreat I have promised to send Reiki over the course of the next 21 days to a grieving friend’s family. “In so doing I have more purpose and reason to live Reiki every day during my retreat.” My transformation within the subtle energies of Reiki begins here in the understanding of my use and practice of Reiki Healing Energy.

Over the course of week one my self treatment and Second degree experiences were very similar with a sense of increasing intensity of energy. I was also growing more tired, more exhausted dealing with life issues and ongoing Reiki demands. Reiki Treatment started to seem like a chore, another thing to do on a list wherein there weren’t enough hours in the day. By the end of the week my personal energy reserves seemed spent physically and emotionally. Then, I had a real Reiki refocusing moment. I felt like I had stepped into a black hole. At the end of week one I stood at a crossroads unsteady, struggling with a very difficult decision. I was unsure of my Reiki future, afraid it was suddenly coming to a screeching halt. I needed to give myself some much needed perspective.

After a small period of withdrawal and self reflection, I recorded these words in my second week of journaling, “This evening I began my practice with the precepts and a self treatment. It has been several days of deeply emotional self reflection. I’m not even sure I want to practice Reiki anymore. If it hadn’t been for me starting this retreat I may have thrown in the towel completely. Every morning I remind myself to say the precepts because I promised myself I would, no matter what. This has been the first day I could go back to doing self treatment after a very difficult weekend; a weekend that shook my faith in self, my trust and my commitment for Reiki.”

“I sat in Reiki meditation, not a full self treatment with multiple hand positions but just hands on knees focusing on the feeling and presence of Reiki Healing Energy. I sat for a long time in this simple fashion just trying to believe that Reiki continues to work in my life and that it goes where it is needed even if you just place your hands and listen. I felt a pained connection, a deep emotional ache in my heart. But this was simply how deeply I feel about where I was and what I was doing. Instead of focusing on my physical awareness I tried to just listen. After another long quiet hour I closed the session with love and light feeling that I had practiced acceptance but not sure of my trust in Reiki, my self-worth or my future path. I really wouldn’t call this a treatment by definition but I am trying to treat myself kindly as I search for self healing. I am somewhat broken in spirit but not lost. I feel the light has dimmed but not gone completely out inside me. I hope meditative Reiki can help me to complete my journey back. I was practicing before with a firm grasp of ritual, structure and dedication of purpose. Now, I let go of my preconceived ideas of Reiki work and allow the Reiki itself direct me.”

Week two had felt like an exercise in futility but not failure. It took a great deal of determination to listen to the audio files and read the messages I had missed from week two trying to catch up to week three. Yet, I was happy I had not thrown in the towel after week one.

My first journal entry of week three held these words, “Today I chose to practice. I began my day and decided what I really wanted was to have an indulgent self practice and start my day with happiness. I am choosing to practice Reiki for myself for the first time today. I feel happier and lighter for even attempting to practice purely for practice’s sake.”

In reading the retreat blog posting of “Practice Makes Present” I made the profound discovery that my experiences pointed directly to the path I had chosen and I had indeed experienced a deepening and new connectivity with my Reiki. I had seen first hand how Reiki was moving me forward for my highest benefit and greatest good. My intention at the outset of this retreat was to follow the rules and learn how to participate. I had no goals, save one, to return to the daily rituals of self practice. My clarity came in looking back and hindsight being 20/20. I had been practicing from the beginning with a self treatment ritual but not participating in a self Practice. In all honesty I had no idea there was a distinction between self treatment and self practice. But I learned through the course of my journey of transformation that we as practioners have a whole “other reason” to practice.

In my post retreat reflection, I wrote, “Recently, I have struggled with my Reiki experience and the current retreat has moved me in a new direction. Today for the first time in my Reiki Life I chose to practice Reiki self treatment solely for the sake of daily self practice. (Not self treatment….self Practice) I have come to realize that I indeed felt unworthy of self practice and had been using self treatment as a tool in a toolbox for physical practice, or alternately, as a tool used in my personal preparation for the treatment of others. Today I chose to practice for myself, not for a need or as a discipline but just practice to be with the energy and be with myself. Today I didn’t perform a self treatment I participated in a self practice.” There was a moment when I thought Reiki would leave my life even after I had believed with my whole heart that once you were attuned it could never leave you. I discovered a new way to approach self practice. A way to keep it with me everyday for the rest of my life, and Reiki was the teacher.

Call it hindsight, self reflection or whatever you like. The virtual retreat delivered in ways I could never have anticipated. I have come to know a much deeper understanding of the subtle workings of Reiki in my own life. I can say with all honesty that if I had not participated in this 21 day exercise I would not have been looking when all the pieces came together and the changes I sought were made real before my eyes. I expected to be taught by a person but I learned through the subtle workings of the energy itself. Most importantly I learn to just “BE”. Just for Today…..

Karla Hartzell

Thank You for Participating in the 21 Day Usui Virtual Reiki Retreat

We are honored and delighted that you choose to be with us these 21 days as we commemorated the 144th birthday of Mikao Usui, the founder of our practice, the very first Reiki practitioner.


Usui was a brave and compassionate man whose spiritual longing and effort literally gave birth to this practice, he lives on today in our own practice, even though the form of our practice may be quite different than how Usui himself practiced and taught.


We are a diverse group of Reiki practitioners from around the world. We come from different lineages, different practice styles, different countries, cultures and lifestyles.

Our intention for the retreat was to deepen our relationship with Reiki, and to strengthen our sense of being connected to a global community. We hoped that you reached out and invited others to join us.


This year was a very special opportunity for all of us. Pamela Miles, our facilitator offered us enough structure so that this was a meaningful adventure into practice for all of us. We also counted on each of you to participate in the retreat in the way that worked best for you.


You know yourself and you know what your life is like. We hope that you found the balance of commitment and comfort that fits your lifestyle. And that you looked at what invited you to practice, and didn't feel burdensome. We hope that you didn't make it big, but choose to make it steady, and that you practiced every day. It was our intention that you found an amount of daily practice that you could comfortably commit to, and a time when you could place your hands and be with your self-treatment every day. We know that when we want to create change, steadiness and consistency matters.


It was suggested that you kept a paper and pen near where you practiced, so that you could jot down your observations and contemplations after each session, and even between sessions, as an insight blossoms in your awareness.How did that go for those of you who did that?

Pamela said she has a surprise for you after the end of the retreat..to be revealed later. It sounds like the Retreat continues.

Follow this link: Usui Virtual Retreat look down towards the bottom of the page and you will see the link to the ending message from Pamela.

We will be leaving the three weekly meditations up on her web pages for three weeks at least.

Kimberly Fleisher who started the Reiki School and Clinic in Philadelphia 10 years ago joined us as the last week's guest blogger on Pamela's Retreat site- I loved this particular sniplet she wrote.


"I feel that we all need reminders sometimes, as well as invitations, to renew and refresh our practice. The support provided by the retreat, and the reiki community, nurture my self practice. In turn my self practice helps me to serve the community."

Thank you Pamela for your integrity, heart and clear communication. Your passion for community support shines through in all that you do and are. It has been treasured time spending this Retreat with you. It is my deepest desire that you come and facilitate again.

I have enjoyed being creative during the Retreat. I made another for you today. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did making it.

Make a Smilebox photobook

From my Heart to Yours
Love and Blessings,

The 3rd week of the 21 Day Usui Virtual Retreat Starts Today

We are honored and delighted that you have chosen to be with us these 21 days as we commemorate the 144th birthday of Mikao Usui, the founder of our practice, the very first Reiki practitioner.


Usui was a brave and compassionate man whose spiritual longing and effort literally gave birth to this practice, he lives on today in our own practice, even though the form of our practice may be quite different than how Usui himself practiced and taught.


We are a diverse group of Reiki practitioners from around the world. We come from different lineages, different practice styles, different countries, cultures and lifestyles.


Our intention for this retreat is to deepen our relationship with Reiki, and to strengthen our sense of being connected to a global community. So we hope you will reach out and invite others to join us.


This is a very special opportunity for all of us. Pamela Miles, your facilitator has offered you enough structure so that this can be a meaningful adventure into practice for you. We are also counting on each of you to participate in the retreat in the way that works best for you.


You know yourself and you know what your life is like. Please find the balance of commitment and comfort that fits your lifestyle. Look at what invites you to practice, and doesn't feel burdensome. Don't make it big, make it steady, and practice every day. Find an amount of daily practice that you can comfortably commit to, and a time when you can place your hands and be with your self-treatment every day. When we want to create change, steadiness and consistency matters.


We hope you will find a way to practice Reiki everyday for this next week, in whatever way you can, and know that we are all practicing with you. But if you miss a day, come back to your practice, and your community, the next day.


It is suggested that you keep a paper and pen near where you practice, so that you can jot down your observations and contemplations after each session, and even between sessions, as an insight blossoms in your awareness.


Follow this link: Usui Virtual Retreat Week Three look down towards the bottom of the page and you will see the link to Week Three, Part One and Part Two. The material for Week 3 builds on the foundation we created in our practice in Weeks 1 and 2.

If you are joining the retreat in the third week, Welcome!

We encourage you to back up, spend a few days with the material from Week 1 and 2, and then move into this material. Part One which sets the stage and gives you some context and suggestions. and Part Two is the mediataion and is the foundation for Week 3. There will be a closing message from both us at the end of the 21 days.

There is also a link should you choose to forward this to friends you think will be interested in joining us.

One of the participants of this Retreat is Marvin Double who is
a writer, artist, and photographer as well as Reiki master. He has strong interest in energy work of all types. His specialty is the creation of works which inspire, energize, illuminate and elevate the spirit through writing and visual media.

Marvin posted a message on the Usui Retreat blog and caught my interest as he is passionate about Reiki and the power of keeping it simple. I enjoy his blog and thought you would too. He wrote something beautiful that I am sharing with you. In my mind the smoke he refers to is Reiki. In order to read what he has written you may have to clink on the image to make it bigger



He said "I created this to express in words and images a prayerful hope that our lives may be filled with the wonder, joy peace and harmony to which we are each entitled. Please take the message into your heart and pass it on to others". To read his blog use this link.



Thank you for continuing to be with us for this retreat. We look forward to practicing together this week.

Reiki blessings and Love,








P.S. I made this for you to enjoy!

Make a Smilebox postcard