Adages like: it just doesn’t feel right or trust your gut are accepted truths, but seldom recognized are their connection to energy work. Reiki, a form of energy work, moves weak and blocked energy that creates physical or emotional imbalances. Reiki and other methods of energy work implores us to be self aware by listening to what our bodies are trying to tell us. Once we fall in tune with energy and vi
brational frequencies can we be open to self healing.
Asha Sims, holistic practitioner, centers her health and healing around energy work. As a former mental health practitioner she can attest to stark differences between holistic and modern medicine. For one, using energy work has proven to be faster and a more significant healing method for her mental health clients. Asha recalls serving a woman with bipolar who after sessions with Asha, was able to stop taking medicine and have fewer bipolar episodes. Asha is able to use reiki to move the energy from an energy center called the root chakra to activate healing within. The root chakra, located at the base of the spine, controls stability and safety. When the root chakra is blocked it can result in anxiety or lack of trust. When Sims embraced energy work, she began to understand the impact our 7 different chakras has on health and wellness; she saw a greater success rate and closed cases more readily.
With Asha’s calm demeanor and inviting spirit one could imagine that stress and strife skipped over her like skipping rocks on ponds named Tranquility. On the contrary, Asha has attributed her success to her surviving torrential waters. “Life has awakened me and I don’t regret any of it.” Energy work found Asha in a time when she realized she was being verbally abused by her spouse and knew she had to make changes. Leaving houses, cars and several businesses behind, she left what seemed to be comfortable living for a road of healing and recovery. It is no coincidence that after a divorce Asha dropped several pants sizes, “half the illnesses we deal with comes from mental stuff that we hold that begin to manifest in our body.” 
Once she began the journey of healing by letting go of situations that stunted her wellness, her body’s natural response was to let go of the weight. Sims’s life change was not for the faint of heart, as a result, she struggled to pay rent and secure services, but it was from the love and generosity of sisterhood that allowed her to recover from difficult times. Sims does not regret the hard times because it allowed her to be firm in who she is and tells others, “ If you don’t feel you cannot heal.” Confronting trapped emotions forces their release. “Healing ain’t pretty but when you come to the other side you feel like a whole different person.”
She educated herself on holistic therapies that help to bring awareness to the things we speak, put in our bodies, and tell ourselves. Asha listens to her body’s vibrations and leans on “If it doesn’t feel good don’t do it!” Too often our decisions and actions are based on pleasing others even when our gut is being oppositional. These teachings become a lifestyle. Unfortunately the services needed to achieve this lifestyle are not recognized by modern medicine, and as a result, are not covered by insurance. In a healthcare system motivated by profit, Asha finds a way to heal and not steal. Sims’s service in the community reflects her commitment to love and serving others. “My reward is knowing that I’m hel
ping people to see life differently, not dependent- taking back over self. I Am. That’s what we have to go back to.” Admittedly, Sims knows that healing is not easy. It is a process that includes letting go of hindering emotions of fear, guilt, trauma and pain. Asha is a walking testament to all treatments she provides including: reiki, yoga, and supporting others through therapy.Our conditioning allows us to find comfort in labels and diagnoses. Asha urges us not to become disillusioned, “Don’t become dependent on diagnosis. Don’t agree with titles or school labels which are there in place to make money- they (healing) are deeper than that” Asha’s reluctance to lean on labels is challenged by modern medicine that believes without a diagnosis there can be no cure. Asha has proven this belief to be inaccurate and limiting. The whole body must be
in harmony which is achieved when energy blocks are clear and awareness of self is at the foreground. A firm grounding makes it hard for others to sway us or knock us down. This grounding is found at the base of still waters; by nurturing our innate gifts and through self awareness we find success. Asha Sims proclaims, “success is being in love and at peace with yourself.”
By Jasmine Bourdeau
