Once a week, The Swell Collective features a tribe member living the tribe values out loud.
BE GOOD. DO GOOD. SEE GOOD. SHARE GOOD.
Name: Sarah Chapman
Occupation: Reiki Practitioner, Artisan and Oracle Reader
Company Name: Ocean Dreams Reiki, Ocean Dreams Creations
Contact Info:
Website: http://www.oceandreamsreiki.weebly.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/oceandreamscreations
http://www.facebook.com/oceandreamsreiki
Email: oceandreamsreiki@gmail.com
What change in the world would you like to see through the work you’re doing?
I would like to see more people find peace and love in their lives. That’s my tagline: “Peace, Love and Reiki Blessings.” I bless all of my handmade items with Reiki and I tap into the person’s energy that I am creating the item for. I create for their highest good. Reiki brings relaxation and stress reduction, as well as promoting many other types of self-healing. So I create something based on not helping them get rid of their anxiety or disease, but rather helping to bring about the opposite of the issue. We always want to focus on what we need and what heals our spirit, not what we don’t need or what’s hurting us. I want to create a space for people to be happy and to improve their lives for the better. I want to empower them, just as others have empowered me, to make the changes I knew I needed to do all along, and I will use whatever resources come to me for the individual.
Briefly describe the journey that brought you to the work you are doing today.
Wow, I have been on this journey for as long as I can remember. There are so many forces that have shaped my life today. I started off being interested in different cultures and their shamanic practices in college, when I was studying Anthropology as a major. Then a couple of years later, I found a Pagan group and went through the process to join their coven. I have been a Practicing Pagan since 1999. Through that course of time I have studied Wicca, Druidry, Sea Witchery and many other beliefs. I was raised Jewish and didn’t like how the women were treated as inferior to the men and in my teens, that basically ended it for me. Finding the Pagan Path was finding home. I am a nature lover and would often just stare at the leaves fall; I have always been attuned to the Moon and could make changes in my life with the power of my thoughts. I used to do energy work, but when I found Reiki, it seemed to fine tune everything for me. It also brought about peace to my heart and I was able to deal with many past issues. I am also an Empath and Reiki was a tremendous help with that. Now I am working on becoming a Reiki Master and will hopefully attain Reiki Master Teacher by the end of this year. My ultimate goal is to teach families, because I have seen what a huge impact it has made on my life, my husband’s and both my little sons.
What or who inspires you? Why?
The Land, Sea and Sky inspires me. The land is our home, where we rest our physical bodies. The sea sustains us, cleanses us, and blesses us with life. The sky is our breath, our gift, and part of the Divine, we can look up to and be filled with awe and wonder about our lives; and yet these elements are all forces that can destroy as well. It’s the balance of nature that inspires me. Also, love – the purest creation of the universe. I see it in my family’s eyes. I feel it in a hug from a friend. I smell it when my sons bring me an intoxicating plumeria flower from the ground. It’s in all our senses and it’s what can bring us peace as well.
What is your greatest personal or professional challenge at the moment? How are you working to overcome it?
Balance. I’m home schooling my two boys ages 4 and 6. My husband is in the Coast Guard, so sometimes I play the Mom and Dad role when he is gone. I make crafts to sell and run a weekly Sunday Distance Reiki group on Facebook; I go to Reiki Shares once or twice a month and student teach for Reiki classes. I manage to find time for my own Reiki classes, plus an online Crystal Healer course I’m taking…all this in addition to all the other fun things a Mom/Wife has to do! It’s non-stop. I keep going until my body tells me to stop. I am starting to honor myself more lately, and taking breaks when I need it – sometimes more than I feel I should. So, it’s all a time management balance, but I love teaching my kiddos. I love being a military wife, even though it has its own set of challenges and of course, I love helping others.
What advice would you give your 18 year old self?
Stick around kid, because you will do something great with your life. Even if it only helps a small amount of people, you were meant to be here, in this time and place. You were meant to help others and all the craziness you will go through, is all a learning experience to show you the way to Enlightenment. Joy. Peace. Love. Creativity. Blessings. Love. And more Love!
What is most rewarding about the work that you do?
When someone has told [me] how their life has changed for the better in some way. It’s often as a compliment to what I did, but I remind them, it’s all them. They had to truly believe in themselves deep down, for the change to happen!
Anything else you’d like us to know or share with our fellow Swell mates?
I look forward to working with other people with open hearts and open minds to see what great things they can bring about in their lives and the lives of their friends, family or the world. We can all work together to make good things happen!
~Peace, Love and Reiki Blessings~
