By Je’Don Holloway Talley
For The Birmingham Times
One phone call changed Sheri Bagwell’s life.
Bagwell had been suffering from Stage 3 endometriosis since she was 8 years old and by age 32 “was in pain more often than I was not, and my hormones were so imbalanced that I felt mentally unbalanced as well,” she said.
After watching a television interview with a Reiki energy worker Bagwell said, “I figured rather than a life full of hormone replacement therapy, I could try this as one last ditch effort to save my organs,” she said.
What happened after the phone call and visit to the Atlanta-based reiki specialist?
“Three months later after changing my diet to organic and incorporating essential oils into my daily routine to keep my hormones balanced, I was completely healed. My doctor was flabbergasted,” she said.
‘Life Force Energy’
Because she was “brave enough to make the phone call”, Bagwell, 46, a practicing Reiki Energy Specialist now for more than 13 years, said there have been beneficial effects on her life and “level of happiness . . . I also created a connection to my higher self that allows me to be more connected to my intuition and more fulfilled in my life.”
Reiki, which is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing is administered by the “hovering” or “laying on hands” and is based on the idea that an unseen “life force energy” flows through us.
“It gets you more in touch with your higher self or God, whichever term you choose to use, and allows you to see how much taking care of yourself helps every aspect of your life, you become more determined to take care of yourself naturally, and it is not so much an option any more. It becomes necessary for you once you get in the habit of it,” said Bagwell, who teaches classes at ‘Back To Life Naturally’, in Hoover, and ‘Conscious Body Healing Arts’, in Mountain Brook on a bi-weekly basis.
Reiki is made of two Japanese words – Rei which means “God’s Wisdom or the Higher Power” and Ki which is “life force energy”. So Reiki is actually “spiritually guided life force energy.”
Bagwell said she got pregnant naturally a year after her “first session even though I was never supposed to be able to conceive or carry a child. I healed my body of fibromyalgia and allergies, to everything from foods to chemicals”, she said.
“I also created a connection to my higher self that allows me to be more connected to my intuition and more fulfilled in my life.”
At 32 years of age, Bagwell, then a cosmetologist, knew she needed relief to get rid of the endometriosis that had plagued her since she was a child.
Energy Healing
After immersing herself in reiki, Bagwell remembered having “these feelings of energy” moving through her body.
“I’ve always been connected to energy healing, I remember as I child feeling energy move through my body that I didn’t understand and couldn’t explain,” she said.
She also said conversations with her hair clients were different. “[They] would talk to me about their problems, be it emotional or physical and I naturally started to give advice that people would say changed their lives, being that it put new energy around their problems or circumstances, and made them look at their situations more clearly than ever before,” she said.
‘Balanced Energetic Fields’
Bagwell began to study the Reiki energy healing system for herself.
“This was a healthier occupation for me than hairstyling which involves chemicals, plus it was way more rewarding to help people in this way,” she said.
Part of her work is to make sure that a client can get all the support they need to achieve balanced energetic fields,” she said.
“I offer emotional support, and I offer physical support by recommending foods, essential oils or supplements that can help you maintain optimal health across all fields”, she said. “I also work with doctors, chiropractors and others who may support in ways I cannot.”
Bagwell said she can see the difference from most of her clients who tell her “after one or two sessions that their lives are working so much better and they are much happier even though their lives have not changed much from the outside. Others tell me their bodies feel lighter and spring cleaned. Most people tell me they feel more balanced.”
Bagwell said more people are looking at different steps to self-care such as “acupuncture, meditation, yoga, and dietary changes like eating organic or natural . . . natural medicines instead of prescriptions as much… people are going vegetarian and vegan,” she said. “Although I am not vegan or vegetarian, I am on an all-organic diet, and reduced meat intake.”
Bagwell said she believes many African-Americans are getting more familiar with the practice.
“I do have many African Americans who come to my classes [although] I don’t think as many people of any race are as aware of the benefits of energy work. However, my first energy specialist was black, and in all the classes I went to with her, I was the only Caucasian in the mix.”
Asked other benefits of Reiki energy she said “entire households run smoother, and with more ease with regular energy work. You save time when you are more balanced. You don’t run around like a chicken with your head cut off. You remember things easier. Your days run smoother. Believe it or not, taking time for yourself saves time as well as creates mental balance.”
For more info, contact Sheri Bagwell at 770-235-7599, sheribagwell@me.com | Website sheribagwell.com. Find her on Facebook at Sheri Bagwell or Sheri Bagwell Embody your divinity.
