Cybele Shana Lerman is an Energy Medicine Practitioner, Reiki Master & Teacher. At her practice, Awaken to Healing, Cybele offers transformational energy healing and coaching sessions to clients that can include Reiki, Chakra Clearing & Balancing, Intuitive Readings, Animal Reiki, Empowerment & Spiritual Life Coaching and more. In this interview, she shares her spiritual journey with us and insights to the importance of self-care.
Could you tell us a bit about your journey into energy healing and what inspired you to pursue this professionally?
Back when I first graduated from college in Santa Cruz, California I took classes from a local astrology teacher, which turned into more of an esoteric class, practicing energy healing together through group meditations. I then ended up going to a local holistic school where I learned about essential oils, crystals, aromatherapy and flower essences. I saw they were offering a Reiki class as well. I wasn’t quite sure what that was, but I was intrigued and decided to take the Level 1 and 2 course and learn more about energy healing. That was about 20 years ago. As I was learning about all of these wonderful alternative healing techniques, I had a vision that one day I would have a practice where I combine all these tools and be able to treat clients with alternative medicine. At the same time, I was working at an acupuncture college, and although I was in an administration role, I was learning how acupuncture and Chinese medicine works.
After getting married and having a baby we moved to Arkansas, a more conservative environment compared to the open mindedness of California. There I worked in a western medical office, in a diagnostic clinic and experienced hands on how the western model works with solutions primarily being surgeries and prescriptions. I spent 7 years there and remember feeling as though it was draining me and I knew I was supposed to do more with my career and my life. I decided to move back to California where I was able to dive back into the alternative, holistic world.
I was happy to get back to California, but I was still doing administrative type work, and not the holistic work that I wanted to do. To have a break from work and take a vacation, I decided to go on a Caribbean cruise, one of my dreams I always wanted to do. There I met some wonderful, like-minded people, who were passionate about pursuing their dreams and living life to the fullest. They were so inspiring! This sparked a reawakening in me, an inner knowing that I had to do the work I was passionate about.
After returning from the cruise, I knew I needed to quit my job and start my holistic practice. I took a great leap of faith, especially as a single mom raising my daughter in the San Francisco Bay area, which was very expensive, but I knew the universe would support me and I had to trust. I became a Reiki Master and Certified Life Coach and slowly started seeing clients out of my home at first, until I got to know the owner of the local crystal shop where I started doing sessions for the customers. As my client base grew, I got my own office in the area, and eventually started teaching Reiki classes to others, along with seeing clients and hosting spiritual events in the area. It felt amazing to finally be doing what I was always meant to do! In my Energy Medicine practice, I like to combine various techniques including Reiki, chakra clearing, energetic cord cutting, working with angels and spirit guides and receiving intuitive messages for the client.
My practice was doing well for the last four years in California but then I started getting this nudge from my intuition that I needed to go back to Florida, which was where the cruise had taken off from. I hadn’t experienced Florida other than that cruise. At this point I had become recently engaged and my fiancé and I decided to visit Florida in March of this year. We absolutely loved it! Upon returning home, we decided we were going to leave California and move to Florida. My daughter was getting ready to graduate from high school and go off to college, so it was the perfect timing.
We picked up and moved everything in July of this year. Fortunately, I was guided to a wellness center here in Saint Petersburg, Florida, where I have been working, seeing clients and teaching classes since we moved here. It has been another leap of faith, as I’ve started over from scratch, leaving my California practice. But things are already going well! In life I have found that I often feel guided to make big changes, and that the universe is leading me in a certain direction. To others it may seem impractical or risky, but I have so much trust in the universe that I’ll be provided for and that things will work out. And they always have in one way or another.
Working out of a wellness center with other practitioners where we all do different things and work together was always one of my dreams as well so it’s wonderful to have that come to fruition.
I’m very passionate about energy medicine and Reiki and people getting back to who they really are without attachments to others and without outside energy influencing them. I am working energetically to get them clear and back to a place of feeling centered and calm. It is very rewarding work and I love it.
What services do you offer?
The main service I offer is an energy healing session which includes Reiki, cord cutting, chakra clearing and any intuitive messages that come through for the client. That session can be done with crystals as well to incorporate crystal healing. The great thing about this service is that it can be done no matter where someone lives because energy healing can be practiced remotely so I am able to treat clients all over the world. I also offer Reiki classes and also private lessons teaching Reiki one-on-one.
I do readings with a pendulum, which is an intuitive tool, talking with that person and their spirit guides and higher self to get clarity on different issues they may have.
I also offer basic astrology teaching, explaining the basics of someone’s natal astrology chart and what signs their different planets are in.
Do you have a personal favorite or area that resonates with you the most?
My favorite is the energy healing session. I feel it is so important to address health from the energetic level. I’ve been finding that cord cutting with other people is really important. Clients come in and I can tell how many energetic cords they have with other people in their lives like friends, family members, coworkers or relationship partners, past or present. When we have those cut during the session it really helps them feel better because their energy field isn’t tied to someone else’s. I explain to them that it’s not cutting that person from their life, it’s just cutting that energetic tie that doesn’t need to be there.
Does it take a lot out of you mentally to do what you do and how do you conserve and protect your own energy when consistently healing and helping others?
I don’t feel it takes energy out of me. I love doing my work so much that if I come into the office feeling tired or low once I start working with someone I get so excited, energized and passionate from doing the work that I love, helping people so it actually helps me feel better.
If I do many sessions in one day, it can be a lot to process and work through, so then I may feel a little tired and need to rest. I am very good at self-care, I definitely have a strong introverted side so I do enjoy my time alone to restore. I think it is very important for people to put themselves first and have great self-care. In our society it can be so common for people to put everyone else first, work, family and kids. Everyone else comes before that person but I think that’s a way to really come into disease and feeling unhealthy in yourself. We really have to put our self-care first, fill up our own cup then we can go out into the world and serve and be there for others. We have to fill ourselves up first with that self-care because we don’t want to be giving to the world around us from an empty, depleted place.
Do you have any spiritual or self-care practices that you regularly follow?
I love being in nature, I have always wanted to live near warm tropical oceans so now I am so happy to be in Florida. It is wonderful being near the ocean. I also love going swimming in the pool.
I practice crystal healing on myself while listening to meditative music to clear out my chakras.
I listen to guided meditations on YouTube. I have some favorite people that I listen to. Some of those meditations are healing meditations where the person instructs different spiritual beings to do healing on whoever is listening to the video. When I listen to those videos I can often feel different spiritual beings working on me and that helps keep me as healthy as possible and feeling great. I also practice Reiki on myself and always recommend Reiki practitioners to do their self-treatments.
Where can we learn more about or get in touch?
You can find me online at www.awakentohealing.com or follow me on Facebook and Instagram.
