Written by Yosef Michael on October 20, 2025.

Yesterday evening I attended for the first time a Reiki healing class at the studio where I am learning yoga. I didn’t know what to expect. The instructor gave a brief introduction because she noticed that half of the class were new students. Just before she began directing us, she said, “At the end of the class, I will ask if anyone would like to share about their experience of tonight’s class.” I had a wonderful experience, and was the first to raise my hand at the end of the class. She motioned me to begin.

I began; since this was my first time attending a class like this, I didn’t know what to expect. I had learned before from a rabbi who taught me that the Native Americans believe that to be spiritually healthy one must have a connection with their ancestors. I have never felt connected to my ancestors. Last year my sister and I flew to Maui, HI, to visit the graves of our Great-Grandmother, and her parents. (I didn’t know where my Great-Grandfather was buried or his parents. He had died, and my Great-Grandmother remarried and was buried next to him.)

While I was lying down and using the deep and cleansing breathing technique, the faces of four different women entered into my mind for about two seconds each, one at a time. The first three were ex-girlfriends who I should have married rather than moving on and finding the next one. The fourth was my ex-wife. (We were married for 23 years. She divorced because I left Christianity.) All four women appearing represented my regrets with each failed relationship. As each image appeared and left my mind, I let go of the regret for each relationship having ended.

A few seconds later, I saw the faces of two women who looked familiar, but I didn’t know who they were. They both looked happy and were smiling at me, I felt a connection with them but could not understand how or why. About one or two seconds later, I felt the finger of the instructor gently touching my forehead for maybe a minute. With her gentle touch, I felt a cleansing energy flowing through my mind extending through my torso and down to my feet. She removed her finger and left.

My mind returned to the last two women. I was trying to understand why I felt a connection to these two familiar looking women who I did not know. I wasn’t stressing about not knowing who they were, instead I was seeking to understand why they appeared in my mind. Were they each someone I knew in the past and forgot. Then, after a long time, I thought, maybe these two are my Great-Great-Grandmother, and my Great-Grandmother. Almost immediately the faces of two men appeared in my mind such as the two women had. Both the men looked familiar, I felted connected to them, but didn’t know who they were. Then, in a short time, I asked myself, “Are these the husbands of the two women? I began to cry, and immediately I felt the hand of the instructor touching the top of my head with her palm and the same cleansing energy flowing from the top of my head through my body to my feet.These ancestors were from my mother’s side. But my journey doesn’t end here. I still want to connect with my ancestors on my father’s side. But for now, I am content. I am not alone. I am part of something greater than myself. I am part of a lineage that stretches back through the ages. And that is a genuinely inspiring thought.

Photo Credit: I took the photo on my iPhone. I pulled over and walked to capture the beauty.