What is your name and location?
Jane Grant, Hampton, VA
How do you heal yourself? What is your favorite form of self-therapy?
I heal myself by performing Reiki Energy healing, mediating, traveling, yoga, reading, laughing, crying, and singing. My favorite forms of self-therapy are meditation and journaling. I started journaling when I was younger and I’ve always found beauty in writing out how I feel. In some of the most chaotic times of my life, journaling has helped me channel my emotions in a healthy way while meditation has taught me that I am more resilient than I think I am.
When/what was the catalyst that made you start?
There is no particular moment or event that directly started my spiritual journey but there have been a series of life experiences that started shaping my awakening long before I knew what a spiritual awakening even was. I went through a major transitional period in 2015. I graduated from Tennessee State University with my Bachelors and I began a three-year Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Hampton University shortly after. Before I graduated, I began to reassess my life and my purpose. Through this period of introspection, I began to learn the importance of grounding, healing, and accepting myself in order to connect with Spirit and my higher self. I spent 4 years of my life trying to figure out who I was by being everything that I wasn’t and I wanted to go into the next phase of life with a better understanding of my inner Being. Little did I know that once I moved to Virginia my whole life would completely change and I would begin my spiritual awakening.
How has this form of healing helped you?
Through meditation and journaling, I have found ways to communicate my emotions effectively while also being able to identify my own depression and anxiety. I’ve always silently battled with depression but I never knew what to call it or how to even articulate it. When I found refuge in journaling and meditation, I was able to heal myself in ways that I never knew imaginable and this healing is still occurring.
What does your process look like? (Please share what you feel comfortable sharing)
I start by sitting down and just breathing to connect to the present moment. I use my breath as a guide to help me find silence, stillness, and gratitude. I express gratitude and then I begin with my mantras and/or affirmations to help ground myself and balance any energy that I feel may be stagnant, excessive, or disturbed. I also open the floor for my spirit guides or ancestors to speak to me and help guide me. Once I’m done meditating I journal how I’m feeling, the messages that I’ve received, and the gratitude that I feel in that very moment. This can happen in nature, at home, in a hospital, or even in the airport.
How does it make you feel when you are healing yourself?
I feel an indescribable amount of peace, love, and awareness. It’s a feeling that reminds me of my infinite potential and the beauty in being human. In those moments I feel happy, sad, uncomfortable, and whatever extra emotions that come to the surface. I allow myself to feel whatever it is that I am feeling without judgment in order to let go and heal.
Why is what you do so important? Why is this form of self-helping important to you?
Reiki, journaling, and meditation are important for my mental, spiritual, and physical well-being. By practicing these various forms of healing, I have found a way to set myself free from the chains that enslaved my mind and my heart. It’s almost like I found the key to my own shackles and I literally freed the inner me that was dying to be seen, felt, and heard. Through these forms of self-healing, I have found ways to educate my family members, friends, and my patients to help heal themselves on multiple levels.
What is your inspiration to continue doing what you are doing? What is the fuel that keeps you going?
I am inspired by my family, my friends, my patient’s, and random strangers that cross my path. I find inspiration when I’m on the beach or even in a park watching the trees watch me. Inspiration finds me on airplanes when I’m able to sit next to strangers and help them figure out how they can uniquely impact the world around them. I am inspired by the women that don’t know me but find refuge in my conversation and my light. I find inspiration in the resilience of Black people and how we can get knocked down time and time again but still get back up, create love, art, and culture. Being able to help others, especially people of color, see the power in healing and practicing self-love is all the fuel I need.
What are your visions &/or goals?
My vision is to open a Holistic Health clinic that educates and treats individuals by addressing their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. I want to utilize physical therapy, Reiki, meditation, journaling, and nutrition along with other specialties, in a way that will help improve the lives of all people. I want to teach people that they can take control of their health. I plan on becoming a Holistic Nutritionist and developing my knowledge about Holistic herbalism. A short term goal I have for this upcoming year, is graduating from my program and becoming a Pediatric Doctor of Physical Therapy.
Tell us a fun fact about your form of healing, what it is that you do, or something people may not know.
My healing can range from spending time with family and friends to dancing naked in the mirror. Music is a healing tool I use frequently and sometimes that means crying or singing to it. I find a lot of healing around big bodies of water or in traveling to new places and meeting new people. My healing can take many forms and I love finding new ways that resonate with me.
In one sentence, what is your message to the world?
Healing is very possible, sometimes difficult, and frequently unpredictable but it is worth it.
Is there is anything else that you would like to share about yourself or what your form of self-healing?
Many people don’t know that I am certified Reiki Level II Practitioner. Reiki is something that I have been obsessed with for the past two years and I haven’t really shared it with many people outside of my immediate circle. Reiki is a spiritual healing practice that can help balance disturbed energy throughout the body that manifest itself physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. It can help encourage your body’s system to regain its natural balance. If you’re interested in booking a session with me or learning more about Reiki, feel free to contact me via my social media outlets @infamouslyjg or my email: janegrant2493@gmail.com.
**Jane is one of our new contributors! Please give her a warm welcome & send her love!