Judy Alonso has volunteered her time and expertise at Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge for nearly a year, coming in weekly to provide Reiki sessions for interested clients. For those of you who haven’t met Judy or experienced a Reiki session, here's a little background on Judy, and how and why she came to be a Reiki Master.
“In 2005 after 4 1/2 years of my husband battling throat cancer, some friends suggested that we should go to the Reiki Center in Hollywood, Florida, where we lived for 20 years, and talk to the Reiki Master. They felt she could probably help him with pain since he was done with his radiation and umpteen chemo sessions, and wasn’t going to do anymore. Nothing to lose at this point for sure with only a 10% chance of survival.
We did not even know how to pronounce Reiki, let alone what it was. The Reiki Master, Myrna Farbiash, was in that day (hmmmm, what a coincidence) and spoke with Al first and then took a look at me and spoke with me. She told me there was a Level 1 Reiki class a couple of months or so down the line, and it was already full, and if I wanted to be in on it to go tell the Reiki Master at the counter to put someone out if she had to, but to make room for me. Being the kind person she was, she did not put anyone out, and not knowing if Al would even still be with us then, I enrolled us both in the class.
As it turned out, he was still with us, and that was the last thing we did together. He struggled to get there each day for the 2 day class, but he made it. A week later, the Lord called him home. The Lord put me on my path of Reiki through Al’s illness. Maybe, otherwise, I would not have been able to recognize His road sign.
Funny, in the mid 60’s I had 2 dance schools which I thought I would be doing for the rest of my life. Then, as life went, I worked for the Postal Service for 30 years and retired a year after my husband passed away, Whew! During that year, I completed my Level II Reiki Class, Reiki Master Class and finished all of my teaching requirements before moving back home to Baton Rouge.
I had already begun teaching my classes and doing my sessions when I received the Cancer Services Bulletin in the mail and noticed you all were offering alternative methods of body, mind, spirit; and Reiki was one of them. I immediately called and asked for an appointment to bring my cards, brochure, copies of certificates and ministry and asked to “SIGN ME UP!” This was my chance and my honor to give back to the very thing that put me on this journey in the first place—the wonderful people still battling this disease called CANCER.
What is one of the most important things I have learned in life, you ask? It is said so many ways but this is one of my favorites:
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD
Painful moments, TRUST GOD
Every moment, THANK GOD
And, when you feel you have come to the end of all you know, and are about to step off into the darkness, trust and have faith in God that he will either give you something solid to stand on, or wings to fly.”
Love, Light and Angels,
Judy Alonso
Reiki Master Teacher
Baton Rouge, LA
