In this blog post, Jennifer Brinn shares her remarkable journey from the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley to the serene and intuitive path of healing. Overcoming a debilitating lumbar injury led her to awaken spiritual gifts through yoga and meditation, ultimately guiding her to become a Reiki Master and Soul Coach. Jennifer’s story is one of personal transformation, a life-changing solo trip to Kauai, and a calling to help others reconnect with their highest potential.
How did your personal journey of healing from a lumbar back injury inspire your transition from tech to becoming a Reiki healer and intuitive guide?
Healing a bulging disc in my lumbar was a humbling three-month process. I was a different person back then. I was hard on my body, trail running seven days a week, a person who refused to take elevators, even when carrying heavy bags of groceries. It was as if I had something to prove. I didn’t realize it then, but I was proving to myself and the world, that I could be a survivor from a childhood of physical and emotional trauma. After walking with a cane, three months of physical therapy and taking pain meds, I was able to finally see a specialist who suggested an epidural of cortisone which would reduce the inflammation and sciatica pain that traveled down my leg.
Being told that I’d probably need another injection in eight months, I decided to immerse myself into yoga which replaced trail running and helped me begin to rebuild a relationship with my body. Yoga, which means “union” in the mind, body and soul became the gateway for me to feel truly embodied. For the first time in my life, I felt like I could be kinder to myself, stop running from the emotional pain and release the physical tension stored in my body. Yoga was the gateway that helped me slow down enough to align with a higher life force and listen to my internal wisdom.
Can you describe the turning point when you began experiencing visions of spirit guides and an awakening of your intuitive senses?
If yoga was the gateway, then meditation had become the bridge to a whole new multi-sensory world. It had been almost a month since I began yoga. My body felt more spacious, sleep was better and I felt as if parts of me were beginning to return which gave me more energy. I’d never tried meditation, but one Saturday morning I had the apartment to myself. I placed a cushion in the middle of the living room floor where the morning sunlight streamed in through the window. And I just sat. With my eyes closed, my focus dropped into my body, noticing all the places of tension and resistance. My breath circulated up and down my spine until my physical body could soften. I was able to bring my focus inward. Paying attention to my breath as it rose from the base of my spine, I could feel it rise all the way to the crown of my head, where I’d pause and allow it to descend into the well of my being. Each breath anchored me deeper into my body which, for the first time, was a safe haven. What started as a fifteen minute practice once a week, quickly grew into multiple days during the week with longer increments of time.
After about a month, something began to shift. Typically when I closed my eyes to meditate I would see a dark, purplish black, just like we all do. But after a while, I closed my eyes and the dark colors faded to a bright white light in my mind’s eye. One morning, I heard a small voice within me, “Breathe into the light” it said. I didn’t know what that meant, but I began to visualize myself going deeper into this white light with each inhale. It was as if I was breathing my way into a different portal through my mind’s eye. I felt surrounded by a soothing white light, as if a higher, loving presence had enveloped me.
This became a new dimension to my meditation practice and my life. I palpably felt a loving energy enveloping me. From that point forward, I had a felt-sense of leaning into a presence of energy that was infinitely more intelligent and embraced me in unconditional love. As I sat and breathed my way ‘into the light’, I began to experience visions in my mind’s eye which led me on journeys with spirit guides. Around the same time, I began to feel sensations in my hands and body when in the presence of other people, as if I was feeling what they were feeling. I was picking up on their heartache, their emotional pain, their troubles. In those moments, I experienced an overwhelming urge to reach out and place a comforting hand on their shoulder. I kept the urges and my hands to myself, fearing that people would think I was overstepping their boundaries, or crazy. But I continued noticing the ways my intuition was surfacing after many years in dormancy.
What role did your solo trip to Kauai play in solidifying your decision to pursue a career in healing work?
It was May of 2001 and I was in Kauai for a month-long stay after waves of corporate layoffs washed through Silicon Valley. I’d been laid off from my role in communications at an internet giant. I was also two years into my spiritual journey. As I laid in bed one evening drifting off to sleep, I began to feel something new, a tingling, energetic sensation, across the span of my forehead, as if a small door is sliding open horizontally. A vision appeared to me in my mind’s eye. I saw myself wading in a crystal blue lagoon edged with palm trees. Two dolphins swam to greet me. One on either side, they guided me to swim farther with them into the ocean. The more we swam, the more I drifted off to sleep, but before I did, there was guidance from a higher wisdom, a “download” of information that intuitively came to me. I was supposed to return to the mainland to do healing work with people. I sleepily wondered, “What healing work? What does that mean?” “I’m not a healer…am I?”
I didn’t quite understand it at the time, but what had begun as a back injury in 1999 that I had tried to heal with western medicine, led me into a new world of yoga, meditation, communicating with spirit guides, learning ancient wisdom traditions, developing my intuitive abilities and ultimately led me to the healing modality of Reiki. I had embarked on a life-changing journey that opened new pathways of healing and aligned me with Spirit.
How does your approach as a Reiki Master and Soul Coach help clients reconnect with their true state and potential?
When I ask clients why they’ve come to see me, their most common reply is, “I feel stuck.”
Through discussion and divination tools such as tarot and oracle cards, my SoulCoaching work helps clients understand the deeper core of why they’re feeling stuck.
During a Reiki session I use a gentle hands-on approach to channel a flow of pure energy through their body to restore a state of calm and balance.
Because the Reiki energy is a higher vibration, the mind+body begins to also shift into a higher vibratory state, helping them feel more resilient, make better choices and create real change in their lives.
What lessons from your own healing journey do you find most resonate with the clients you work with?
Many clients appreciate hearing that I also felt stuck in my life. That I was able to heal my body through simple practices of yoga, meditation, Reiki and overall listening to my own body and internal wisdom. They feel inspired to know that healing is available to anyone if they are open to it.
To learn more about Jennifer and her work, please visit jenniferbrinn.com
