Greetings, SuperFriends, and welcome to this week's episode.

So, check it out, guys. As you know, I’ve been pretty interested in ideas like Q’i, energy healing, and the unknown for the last year or so. Well, today, we’re going to take a deep dive into that, and really exploring the outer reaches of the word “superhuman” – and, well, I’m not quite sure what to make of this.

We’re joined by Yolanda Williams of Yew Chi Wellness, a Reiki master teacher, educator, and speaker. If you don’t know about Reiki, well, we’re going to get into that in the episode, but basically, it’s a form of energy healing… but here’s where things get really interesting. Before the interview, Yolanda offered me a Reiki healing session, which I was very happy to accept. So far, so good.

But here’s where things get really interesting… the Reiki session was performed remotely – over the span of 7,500 miles – without Yolanda and I ever talking. What’s even more interesting? Yolanda’s assessments were actually quite accurate.

Needless to say, I had to get to the bottom of this and figure out just what the heck was going on… and of course, bring you guys along for the ride.

In the episode, we talk about Reiki, healing, energies, and much, much more. The episode will certainly require you to keep an open mind – but if you do, I think you'll learn a lot and maybe have some of your long-standing beliefs challenged. I know I did…

In this episode, we discuss:

• Who is Yolanda Williams and what does she do?
• What is “Reiki,” how does it work, and what is it used for? 
• What are the different layers, levels, and styles of Reiki?
• What does the scientific research community say about Reiki? Has it been proven?
• How did Yolanda Williams get into Reiki, after a very troubling time in her life?
• A play-by-play of the remote Reiki session Yolanda Williams did for me personally
• What does Yolanda see and feel when she does a Reiki session?
• An open discussion of skepticism around “woo-woo”
• Why did Yolanda sense that maybe my diet has been changing when she read me?
• A discussion of “distance” and “remote” Reiki, and how it supposedly works
• Is it possible that one day we will acknowledge Reiki the way we acknowledge meditation?
• Where can you learn more or start to experiment with Reiki?
• What homework would Yolanda Williams have you do this week?
• What is the #1 message Yolanda would like you to take away this week?

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Reiki | Wikipedia
• William Lee Rand and the International Center for Reiki Training
• Our previous episode with David Orman
• Our previous episode with Alex Charfen
• What The Bleep Do We Know (Movie – controversial!)
• Dr. Imoto's Water Experiment (controversial!)
• I Am (Movie)
• Reiki.org
• YewChi.com – Yolanda's website w/ Free Webinar

Favorite Quotes from Yolanda Williams:

Transcript:

Introduction: Welcome to the Becoming SuperHuman Podcast. Where we interview extraordinary people to bring you the skills and strategies to overcome the impossible. And now here's your host, Jonathan Levi.

Jonathan Levi: Greeting SuperFriends, and welcome to this week's show. You guys, before we get started, I want to read you an awesome, awesome review from Myron KY from Brazil. “Made My 2016”. If I had to choose what made my 2016 a significant year, I would have to say it was the Becoming SuperHuman Podcast. I listened to it. Doing my daily workout. And I can confidently say that it changed my life. I'm a different woman, a superwoman. She then says a bunch of stuff in Portuguese. I'm not going to read this whole thing and embarrass myself, but thank you so much, Myron for that incredible review. I'm glad it made your 2016. It definitely made my week.

So thank you for that on to today's show. You guys, I'm gonna level with you. Okay. I've had some pretty interesting explorations this year, 2016, around Qi, energy healing, and just the unknown. And today we're going to take a really deep dive into that, and we're really going to explore the outer reaches of that word, SuperHuman.

And honestly, guys, I'm not sure what to, what to make of this, okay. So we're joined by Yolanda Williams of Yew Chi Wellness. She's a Reiki master teacher, an educator, a speaker, all that good stuff. If you guys don't know about Reiki, well, we're going to get into that in this episode, but basically, it's a form of, and stay with me here, energy healing.

But guys here's where things get really, really interesting because before the interview, Yolanda actually offered me a Reiki healing session, which I was super happy to accept. So far, so good. Right. But here's where things get really spooky. The Reiki session was performed remotely. Over a span of 7,500 miles without Yolanda and I ever actually speaking.

So what's more interesting than that is Yolanda's assessments were actually, shockingly accurate, too accurate to be cold reading. In fact, so I had to get to the bottom of this. I had to talk to her. I had to figure out what the heck was going on. To be honest, I went into the conference, pretty sure that I will, I was going to have to end it with, listen, this is total woowoo. I can't handle this. I can't do this. And yet we hit it off and she makes some really incredible arguments that I think might've convinced me, but I'm not sure.

So, listen to this conversation, keep an open mind as I did, because there are a lot of things that we don't know, and we don't understand. And even if you think it's total, woowoo, you're going to be super entertained by this episode, I think is probably the most unique one we've ever done.

And you might just learn something. You might just come away inspired. It might just calm you down. I certainly learned a lot. And well, just listen to it and let me know what you guys think. So without any further ado, let me present to you, Yolanda Williams.

Yolanda, welcome. Welcome. How are you doing today?

Yolanda Williams: I'm doing well. Thank you. And thank you for having me.

Jonathan Levi: A pleasure. So this is a bit interesting because in some sense, I kind of feel like you already know me pretty well. And I want to get into that in a little bit. I've got a lot of questions, uh, but first maybe tell me a bit about yourself.

So I don't feel like we're on such an uneven playing field.

Yolanda Williams: Oh, okay. So, well, I live in San Diego, California, and as you know, a practice energy work, very specifically Reiki. And this has been an interesting journey for me. I mean, this isn't something I grew up with and it's not definitely not how my personal path started.

I used to work incorporate. I worked for an international bank and it was one of those spaces in life where I had to make a decision of either relocating to keep my job or taking a layoff package and I opted to do that. And so I found myself in a space of anxiety and having panic attacks and all of the stress around what to do with my life.

And that's how I ended up here in this field of energy healing and meditation and things like that. So I wasn't always, you know, this energy healing, Yogi will type of person, but yeah. That's really what led me here. It was just a change in direction in my life and trying to find ways to help alleviate stress and anxiety.

Jonathan Levi: Incredible. Awesome. So I'm glad that you use the term woo-woo before me because I'm going to remind you that you described this as woo woo cause this feels like I'm all into energies and this year I've learned. Learned or been taught, I should say a lot about this idea that there's energies and stuff like that.

But I have to say we're now getting it like pretty woowee for me. So I'm excited about it. I'm going to expand my comfort zone today. Let me ask you this first though, you mentioned the term Reiki and I'm not sure everyone in our audience knows what that means. So what exactly is Reiki and how's it defined in? What is it used for?

Okay. So Reiki is a Japanese form of energy healing. People think of it as, um, you know, energy healing specifically, but the word itself, it's almost like the way we would think of a compound word. So Ray means spirit or higher power. And the key is the same as, you know, the Chinese version of Qi or, you know, in India they call it Prana.

So it's basically our life force. So when you have the word together, it's loosely translated as spiritually guided life force energy. And. It is this technique that we use to help alleviate stress. And it really promotes relaxation. And a lot of people use it to alleviate physical pain. And it's based on the idea that this unseen life force energy that flows through us is what causes us to be alive.

Just like many traditions far beyond, you know, Reiki coming about many cultures. Had the same thought or, you know, idea or school of thought. So even in Indian tradition and that's over 5,000 years old and they talked about Prana and in Chinese medicine, again, very old, they talk about Qi and it's all about coming into balance with our life force energy to create more harmony within our being.

And so that's what Reiki is. It's a technique to help us come back into energetic balance.

I dig it. I totally dig it. So typically is Reiki done with the laying of hands or am I thinking of something else?

Yolanda Williams: It can be. Yes. So, well, I'm glad you brought that up. So there are different levels to Reiki.

Personally, I've studied with six different Reiki master teachers. And if you look up Reiki, there are different styles of Reiki. And so there's a particular style that I studied called G-code and Reiki. And it's very. Traditional, you know, it sticks to the original teachings of Reiki, but then Reiki has also been westernized in a lot of ways.

So there are Western practices of Reiki as well. And in the Western style, there are three levels. So we have level one where you learn the history of Reiki and foundational practices and the laying of hands. And that's how the energy is exchanged between us through the laying of hands. Then in Reiki, level two, you learn how to do Reiki from a distance, like the experience you and I had together. And, and the third level of Reiki, which is called master level is where you learn to attune other people to Reiki.

Jonathan Levi: Okay. So this is very interesting. I do have to ask the science geek in me has to ask. You know, there's been a ton, tons and tons and tons of research on meditation to the point where people are now.

Like, yes, it does increase cortical density by X, Y, and Z.  Has research been done on Reiki itself.

Yolanda Williams: Yeah. So actually one of my teachers, his name is William Lee Rand and he founded the International Center for Reiki training here in the United States, but he teaches internationally. But he started a center for Reiki research and there have been studies and research being done, but what's interesting about, you know, energy work, as you can imagine, it's really unpredictable. And a lot of times what science, you know, it's like you need these controlled circumstances to prove the same results again and again. And quite honestly, even from what I've learned through practice, No two sessions are the same and not even with the same person.

So it's a very interesting thing. And I was thinking about talking to you today and how excited I was that we could have this conversation, because I think the only way for all of us to learn more about ourselves and how we work in this energetic component of what, in who we are, is through sharing our experiences with it.

You know what I mean? Because it, I mean, I don't know how you can really. I mean, they do study it, and like I said, the research that's been done. Has been done because Reiki is now offered in some hospitals, a lot of oncology departments offer it to help alleviate pain and yeah, relaxation for patients.

It's also commonly offered now in hospice care for the same reason to help alleviate pain and help people feel, you know, peace and relaxation. So studies have been done in that. You know, you may look at what people's symptoms are and what they're feeling, and then comparing, you know, how they feel afterward.

But again, you know, it's not something that. It's going to be exact session-wise. Yeah. Over and over again.

Jonathan Levi: Yeah. I mean, I definitely, like I said, I've had some really intense experiences that have helped me kind of understand, and logically I can process the fact that you know, all matter is made of energy.

And so it's logical to assume that things can influence energy and you can explain this away scientifically in a hundred different ways and say, when someone is angry, their heart rate accelerates, and that's a change in energy as well. Observably. So that's really interesting. Tell me a little bit more about how you came to learn and I mean, you studied with six different masters.

This sounds like a plan.

Yolanda Williams: Well, I will say this. It's not necessary to train with six different people, but I was skeptical. Okay. So imagine, you know, I am going through this anxiety. I'm very, you know, not connected at all to this woo-woo stuff. And 10 years prior to me even hearing about Reiki, I had an astrology reading where I had my chart done and the woman did terrible for me.

And she was so accurate. That scared me and I didn't contact this woman for 10 years. So fast forward, 10 years later, I find myself on my bedroom floor, literally in tears crying, begging the universe, like, please like, just give me direction, help me. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. And I mean, I had to make a decision.

I just couldn't not do anything, you know, so I'm literally on the floor praying, crying, asking for just like help and guidance, and all of a sudden this strange calm just came over me and. It was like the anxiety melted away. And I had this moment of clarity and this woman popped in my mind. So I contacted her.

I trusted that. And I went back to her for another reading. And in that she spoke to me about me being a healer and all of these strange things. And I thought she was crazy quite honestly, but she recommended that I start meditation and go get a Reiki session to help me with my stress level and to help me to gain some clarity.

So that day I signed up for meditation, which I had never done prior. And I started reading about Reiki and because it was so out there. I mean, it sounded interesting to me. I signed up for a class instead of taking a session. So in my first Reiki class, you know, I really became aware of how tangible energy can be, which was, you know, absolutely amazing to me to say the least.

And I learned a lot from my first teacher. So then I started researching more and I just thought there must be more there's things of this, that. I mean, they couldn't explain beyond experience. I was very heady with it. You know, I was trying to use my rational mind, trying to make sense. I was looking for these answers of like, no, give it to me, black and white.

Now, how did that? So I kept studying its different teachers looking for these answers that later I realized. I wasn't going to really understand until I allowed myself to experience it and start focusing on just my practice and really stop dismissing what I actually felt and what I actually experienced.

So that's how I kind of, I just went down the rabbit hole of curiosity. I was genuinely curious and I became more curious about us and what we are and what we're capable of and what this all meant. That's how it all started and I just never looked back.

Jonathan Levi: Wow. Okay. So I'm glad that you talked about your experiences of skepticism because I think you probably assessed for my email that that's my first response as well.

So I'm glad you're not hugely offended by the fact that I'm like, what the heck is going on here, but I'm keeping an open mind here. So let's talk about the session between you and I, because I have to admit your assessment was pretty accurate. I didn't feel a lot happening during the session. I had a little bit of like, itching and tingling and random itches all over my body.

Like my finger would really itch, but before we kind of get into that, explain the setup to the audience. And then what exactly did you do to gain the insights that you shared with me? And by the way, feel free to share kind of anything you said to me or anything that you found. I don't really keep secrets from the audience so much, so.

Yolanda Williams: Okay. Where do I start with that? So the setup to conduct a Reiki session period is on the practitioner side, very meditative. I mean, it's really literally like you go into this meditative state and you really become the observer of energy. So basically when someone says they're doing Reiki the best way I can describe it as you're channeling this universal life force energy, and you can feel this energy.

The throughout your body, but if you were in person, I would feel it through my hands and these different sensations through my hands. So it feels like this concentrated higher amounts of energy moving through you. When I'm doing a distant session, the same thing I go into this meditative state. And like I said, in Reiki, level two, you, you work with these Reiki, symbols that also hold energetic vibration.

But I guess to explain it to someone who's not experienced it, it feels like. Like, if you saw me, I'm sitting in Lotus position pillow on my lap and I'm using the pillow kind of as a proxy of you or whomever I'm doing Reiki for. And I go into this meditative state and I intend really to connect with you energetically.

And I start to feel this energetic connection and flow of energy between the two of us. And then it's just really a matter of trying to stay in that mode of observation and not trying to do anything. Cause I mean, I'm just observing the movement of your life force and your energy. Now, one thing I will say is with Reiki, it's not that in every session someone will necessarily have messages for you.

And even when this started for me, I would see things. I started putting my hands on people and I would feel energetic sensation similar to what you described feeling. I would feel tingling sensations or I would feel the heat, or I would feel just like something that felt staticky or as it progressed, I started to see colors and I would see.

Things, but I didn't know how to translate it. So it was like I was having all of these energetic impressions and sensations, but I didn't know what it meant. So because of that, I personally went on to study intuitive development just so that I could learn how to translate what I was sensing and feeling during Reiki sessions.

Jonathan Levi: Wow. Okay. So I do have to admit, like I said, your assessments were pretty spot on. You talked to me about internal conflict in my heart regarding love and romance, and this realization that that's one of those things in life that can't be hacked, like everything. You also talked to me about this conflict between scaling my business versus focusing on other priorities.

You mentioned a few other things, you know, coming to terms with big, scary questions, life and dietary changes. All that stuff is accurate. But I do have to say that all that stuff is stuff that I've talked about before, you know, in episodes with Alex Charfen or Dr. Dan Angle or Drew Canole. So I have to ask level with me.

Did you listen to any of those episodes before preparing for our session?

Yolanda Williams: I did not listen to those episodes. I did, however, listen to an episode with you and the man who spoke about Daoism and Acupuncture.

Jonathan Levi: Oh, cool.

Yolanda Williams: So when I got your email, I actually quite honestly let me back up. Even before that, I was in meditation the day when I sent you the email and said, would you like a session?

I was in a meditation and you popped in mind. And I had this feeling of, you know, this would probably be a better conversation if he actually had the experience of a session. And there was a part of me that was like a little hesitant around that, like, Oh, and then we're going to talk about this, like, you know, publicly, you know what I mean?

Like I understood that I was really putting myself out there. But on the other hand, too, I knew that you know, I believe in this because of my experience. And again, I think it's a very important conversation to have because I think it opens us up to question more about what we are and what we're capable of.

So, yeah. That's why I even offered it.

Jonathan Levi: Respect, respect.

Yolanda Williams: Yeah. Anyway, so when I got your email, quite honestly, like my heart was like, Oh my gosh. Like, no. And then I thought, you know, let's kind of comical because I would think the same thing, but.

Jonathan Levi: I'm so glad you said that.

Yolanda Williams: Yeah, no, it's true. When I first got the email from you even about the show. I was so curious about the show just from the title of it. So of course, I went to the podcast listing and looked at what the show topics were, but I was more interested in hearing you and what your interest was around energy work. So I was drawn to listening to the episode about. The doubt was I'm in that type of thing.

And I saw that you had a lot, it seemed like several things about superfoods or things like this. But honestly, for me, I'm not drawn to that only because I have so many allergies to raw foods. Raw vegetables, raw fruits, almonds, everything. So I just, yeah, I like that stuff normally doesn't help me. Yeah. I know.

Jonathan Levi: I was talking to my mentor about this today and I was like, I really don't know what to do. Like I'm going to level with you completely Yolanda. I was like, I don't want to accuse her cause this could be the real deal, but so which by this, right. Well, what if it's not either? Or what if it's both? Like, what if she knows a little bit about you and that helped inform her reading and allowed her to gain deeper clarity through the Reiki. And I was like, huh.

So it sounds like a little bit of that. Like you kind of, you knew my vibe a little bit, and then we're able to hone in maybe a little bit deeper than I would've expected because of it.

Yolanda Williams: Well, there's two parts to that. One, I would say it's actually, to me, in my experience, it's harder to read people when you know too much. Because then your mind gets in the way. And so like, for example, I hate when my mom tells me, you know, to connect to her and look at our space because it, it really forces you to stay out of what you think you know about the person and just allow information to come through.

So it's always easier, I think, to go in without knowing anything. Because then you just, I mean, whatever comes up, comes up and there's nothing you can do about it. And there was something else she said, Oh, knowing about you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Being informed about you. That was actually something that was a hesitation for me because I saw that you did have a lot of information about, you know, foods or health or, you know, what we ingest.

So when something came up in your space and it looked like almost like a, it didn't seem like it was something that was just easy going for you. Like, yeah, I've got my diet down and I'm good, and I'm healthy. It seemed like more of this question of like, Whoa, wait a minute, you have a lot of information, but really it's going to be more beneficial to you to pay attention to your body.

I actually, question that more because looking at how much you seem to talk about this, I would think that wouldn't be a question for you. Do you see what I mean? So when that came up, I was kind of like, Oh, that's interesting. But yeah, I always just put it out there. Whatever comes up. It doesn't have to make sense to me because it's not about me.

Jonathan Levi: Totally. And that's fair. And I think the issue with the diet right now is twofold. One, I've switched to all my, uh, produce now comes automatically in one of these like organic boxes. And I used to be on a keto diet. So basically no carbohydrates and inevitably what ends up coming to a lot of the time is potatoes and sweet potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes and like carby starchy foods.

And so I'm kind of experimenting with that. And I think that's probably a little bit of what you picked up and also experimenting with this idea of like, okay, I know that I should never have wheat and stuff like that, but right now, you know, it's Hanukkah. And so it's all about the jelly donuts, where, and I'm just thinking to myself, like, You know, that optimal health versus like a little bit of suffering and feeling a little bit sick, but being able to partake in this like very special tradition once a year and toying around with that, like a spot on.

And that's something that I haven't talked about too much about like vacillating and knowing that the paleo diet is the way to go, but asking myself, it's kind of like, you know, once in a while, smokers, like I know. Personally, I never smoked, but I know a lot of people who are like, I know the risks, but once in a while I just want a cigarette.

And that's kind of how I'm feeling about things like pastries.

Yolanda Williams: I think too, and even as you're saying this, it's coming up now and it makes more sense of even what I saw in your space is, I mean, we really are unique in our designs and our bodies are so intelligent and that's really, you know, one of the things that I've come to realize through the energy work and realizing how intelligent beings we are.

 Our systems how intelligent they are. So that's why the message was coming through really, for you to beyond just what you know, or what you've studied about food and what you're ingesting, really paying attention to what you crave and what you sense and how your body responds to different things.

Because what may work for someone else, isn't going to necessarily be the exact. Right. Optimal, healthy recipe for you. Just like I said about me, you know, everyone says I should eat everything raw. However, they don't understand that for me, it's a terrible situation. You know, we're all so unique in our design.

So you really taking what, you know, almost as like a foundation and to help you translate. What comes up for you when you tune into your body, what is your body asking you for? What do you, when you ingest something, how does it make you feel? Do you notice, like, does it make you feel more energetic? Is it making you feel heavy?

Like, not just the fact of what we're told it's supposed to do for you, but what it's actually doing just for Jonathan? Do you see, what I mean? So that's really what that message was about.

Jonathan Levi: Totally. Okay. You're winning me over because I do, I think now I'm realizing like, somehow I was completely cool with the whole idea.

Like I've had people kind of touch me and feel energies and stuff like that. And like, I try not to get to woo-woo on the show, but I've had some experiences, especially when. Quote, unquote plant medicines are involved where like you can feel electric shocks from people in charges and really intense things. For me, where I got really, really skeptical was the remote kind of distance treatment.

And I'm realizing that doesn't necessarily make sense. It's kind of like saying, I mean, if I'm going to be skeptical, Of wireless internet that I have to be skeptical of why you know what I'm saying? So like I'm realizing that maybe it was, if I'm going to believe in this, I have to believe that it's going to work remotely.

But tell me how that works. I mean like, yeah, there are seven and a half, almost 8 billion people on the planet. There are like 5 million people around me right now. How you find one person and zone in on them? I mean, that's, what's really bizarre for me.

Yolanda Williams:  It to say the least. I mean, there's a couple of things that come to mind with that. One, when I first started practicing distant Reiki, because, you know, I mean, obviously something you have to practice to really connect to. I practiced on my mom and she lives 3000 miles away from me. And one of the first times I practiced on her, she had back pain and it went away for her. So I was really excited and, you know, so that started to take away me being so skeptical of like, wow, this stuff really can, you know, it can work.

But I also had in mind, it's my mom. And, you know, you have like a natural closeness to certain people like, you know, our parents or whatever, certain people close to you, they know when you're not okay. Or you think of someone. And then all of a sudden they call, like we have these, we Intuit and we feel each other in so many ways that we don't pay attention to.

And this practice really starts to make you go deeper and really start to question like, well, how connected are we beyond the physicality? And even when you think about spirituality and the idea of this oneness in us, all being, you know, from the same source and all of these things, there's no separation.

It really starts to connect you deeper into that idea because you realize like, Oh my God, I really can connect to someone who's not here. Now, how it's done? I mean, honestly, I could say I have no idea. I'm amazed every time I have a session, whether it's distant or in person, every time you could speak to anyone who's ever worked with me.

And after every session, I'm like, Oh, that was so amazing. And I've been practicing this for six or seven years now, and it's still, it amazes me. So the best way I try to explain it to people of like how we can sense energy is. And this goes even like it doesn't matter the distance or whatever, but you know, if two people are arguing and you walk into a room and you literally can feel the tension in the room or you're okay, you're having a great day.

Then one of your friends calls you and their energy just totally. It could be on the phone. They're not physically there, but their impressions just beat on you. And you're like, Oh, and then you feel drained and you feel, however you feel. We are connected. We do sense each other. When you watch something on TV if you see something happening to someone that empathy, that energy, you feel it like we feel each other and so many ways.

And in terms of like zoning in on you. I can only say again, from my experience, it's all intention and intention is huge in this work. And again, it's one of those things you have to step out of logic. You cannot box this stuff into logic, cause you'll just, I mean, you just, you can't, you have got to allow yourself to experience and just observe and trust.

And kind of like have like this childlike wonder, like playfulness with it all, because it's the only way you're going to make sense of it is through the actual experience of it without dismissing what you experience.

Jonathan Levi: Right. I'm coming to realize that. And you also mentioned that in your email, which further kind of surprised me and lately people have been sending me a lot of articles, some of which I, I have the time to read and some of which are, you know, Hour, long YouTube videos talking about experiments where consciousness affects matter.

Where plants supposedly if an owner of a plant imagines burning the plant.

Yolanda Williams: The plant response.

Jonathan Levi: Yeah. So this is super weird and super woo woowooey, but like evidence is starting to mount in my circle of consciousness, if you will. What are your thoughts on that?

Yolanda Williams: That's amazing to me. So there's two things and it's interesting because the podcast that I did here of you interviewing the man about the Taoism, he actually brought up a movie that I saw in my mid-twenties.

It was called what the Bleep. And that was the one, I don't know if he spoke about this in particular, but in that movie, what the Bleep do we know it was my first time really hearing about quantum physics and, you know, This type of thing. And there was a man on there named Dr. Imoto and he did the study with water where he would literally look at the way the molecular structure of water was changed just through the vibration of words. And it wasn't even just speaking the words. He literally just wrote words on water and then we'll look under a microscope at the water and it would change its structure and the words that were like love or something like this, the water looked beautiful.

And then you have a vibration, like hate or something like this. And it really did have an effect on the water. Then there's another movie. That came out when I first really started getting into all of this, it was called I Am. Did you see that movie by Tom Shadek? Okay. Watch that movie. I mean, it's amazing.

So he basically was a, he may still be a huge movie director. He did all of those movies with, I can't think of the comedian right now, but whatever. And he had everything in life, you know, wealth, success, all of these things. And he came to a point in life after having a bike accident where he really started to question.

What was the purpose and meaning of life? Like he had all of this stuff, but he wasn't happy. So he made this movie, this documentary, and in that there are different aspects of what we're talking about. And one of them was that with the plants where they literally show the experiment of plants, having this consciousness and having a reaction to the energy that is presented to them.

So, yeah. I mean, I think it's amazing. And especially with the water, the Dr. Imoto, I mean, that was so intriguing to me because when you think that we are made up of primarily water, I mean, we're like literally we're water-based, you know, and if those types of words and vibrations could affect water, it's like, imagine what that's doing to us.

Right. And what we expose ourselves to and how we're constantly being affected and transformed and manipulated energetically by what we expose ourselves to.

Jonathan Levi: So I have to admit, I also saw that and my immediate response was like to look upon snopes.com and see if it was BS or the research was badly designed, but like the scary thing is there's not a lot debunking that, and maybe someone in the audience will correct me, but like search around for Dr. Imoto debunked or Dr. Imoto BS or like every possible permutation. And there's not a lot like you would expect it to be really easy to find, but it's not easy to find it all, which is a little bit bizarre and scary to me.

Yolanda Williams: Well, I would even tell you to, you know, you and the people listening to try like an experiment for yourself.

This is something that I played with, with myself and meditation. And, you know, I would say too, when you have an opportunity go into a meditative state, And when you think about something that maybe is displeasing to you, start to notice where you feel that in your body and notice what your body feels like when you are thinking about something that is, you know, stressful, displeasing, whatever, and then shift your focus in literally just let the word love echo in your mind.

 Just keep saying love to yourself even internally. And as you say it, and as you breathe and let your life force move through, you let that energy of the word love, start to move through you. And I'm telling you, it shifts the way you feel it does. And so again, like how can we, you know, maybe we can't always make sense of everything logically, but it's true.

You know, our thoughts, our energy, all of these things. It's all interconnected to our physicality and our overall wellbeing and how we feel and how we experience life itself. Totally. So definitely something to start questioning and examining for yourself.

Jonathan Levi: And I think, I mean, this has come up before on the show, but I think that's why it's such an exciting time to be alive because 50 years ago if you were to sit down and be like, listen, this thing, this meditation.

Like, I think it's making me smarter. I think it's making me calmer. I think it's making me happier. People will be like, you're a freaking one. And today we can actually show that the prefrontal cortex grows cortical gentrification increases gray matter density, ink. I mean like weird. Like, all you have to do is think about your breath for 20 minutes a day and your brain physically transformed.

Yolanda Williams: So now how intelligent are you? Like how intelligent is the body that that happens?

Jonathan Levi: Right. And so I guess my biggest, like when it comes to a woo-woo biggest argument in favor is if you showed up in like 200 BC with something as simple as a magnet, Yeah. You know, people would think like, this is a trick, this is, this is sleight of hand, you know, it can't really be pulling this piece of metal.

And yet today we're just like, yeah, duh, like, of course, it is. And of course, meditation works. So maybe that's where things are going with Qi. And I mean as quantum mechanics starts to explain bizarre things like.

Yolanda Williams: No totally. And it is so exciting. And it does the thing that I love so much about it is the moment you think you do understand something or you think like, Oh, I got it.

It makes sense. It evolves with you. You really do. It's like the classes and you know, anyone who's interested in rake your energy healing, the classes really are a foundational they're tools, but you literally it's like the energy itself. Becomes your teacher and you begin to evolve with the energy itself and how you work with it and what you understand.

You know, it's kind of like if you read a book today and then a year from now, you had a different awareness or understanding, you could read that same book and get something totally different from it. The same is true with, you know, energy and this work and what we think we understand about it. And. All of these things, but it's funny to me that you use that example.

I used to have a podcast and I actually shared this story before, when I started all of this one time, I was at a meditation retreat thing at the Chopra Center. Um, Deepak Chopra has a center here in San Diego. And so we're sitting in meditation and the person guiding us is literally telling us be still, you know, focus on the breath, be still okay.

And I, at that time had never had like an intuitive, like thing happened to me. So shockingly, I literally heard something say, there's no such thing as stillness. And I opened my eyes and look around the room and I'm like, what? And so I close my eyes again. I hear there's no such thing as stillness. And then I start to get this knowing or sense of even when we have our body still, I mean, you know, our lungs are still expanding and contracting. Our heart is still beating. Energy is still moving. Like nothing stops. There is no stillness, you know? And then I started, my mind started to go into the space about. There's no such thing as magic and how everything that we perceive as magical and all it's so strange is really just our lack of understanding about the natural workings of the universe.

And just like you said, if we brought someone back like a caveman and turned on a light, they would be amazed and think it was magic. But in this day and age, we understand electricity. So, you're absolutely right. I mean, it's just one of those things. Again, I think the conversation is so important to have, because the more we share our experiences with this, think the more we will come to understand, not just energy, but again, ourselves.

Jonathan Levi: Holy crap. I think you're convincing me. I like half expected this interview to go very differently and just be like, I'm sorry, this is too much for me. But like, literally I was like, this might be the first interview I have to be like, I'm really sorry I can't do this. But like, walk me through what you saw and felt and experienced this morning.

So like, I mean, so I do visualization, right? Like this is how I, I can memorize. Yeah. Hundreds of pieces of information and in a few minutes, is it like visualization? Like you're seeing talk to me.

Yolanda Williams: Yeah. Okay. So I will say this then I'll share very specifically about you. It is really different session to session.

I mean, quite honestly, there were some sessions where I connect with the person, whether in person or distant and it's boring in comparison to other sessions in that like you're literally in this meditative state and it feels very like not much is going on. You're just, you know, you're just there. And then the person may have seen and felt 10,000 things.

But on my end it was very quiet, so to speak. Then there are times where I connect with people and it's very visual. It's almost like this is the way I think of it now after practicing for so long like we're literally walking consciousness and our bodies, our fields, all of this, it's all like where the storehouse of consciousness where like consciousness emotion.

And so when you connect with someone, it's like, you're really, you get to connect into what they hold, whether in thought and feeling, experience all of these different things, these like pictures and impressions of this person. And again, sometimes it comes through as like visual. Sometimes it comes through just as a feeling or like the sense, but in some instances, it is very clear.

Like it's a very clear story or message or image. And sometimes it's very fragmented. Like for example, time in working on a lady, I kept saying, what do you call those? Uh, peacock feathers to me that made no sense at whatever I shared it with the woman. And it had a very sentimental meaning to her. So that's all that mattered.

I mean, you know it, whatever, but in connecting with you. I have to say, because it was such a unique experience, knowing that we weren't going to be talking about it publicly. I really had to go into like deep meditation to step outside of my mind and really allow myself to just, you know, let go and be the observer with you.

And when I connect with you the way that I like to do it, I, you know, focus on my breasts, allow myself to completely let go. And I start to just think of your name. And, and I knew where you were. I mean, you know, generally speaking, so just thinking of your name and where you are in the world. And then I start to get the sense of you.

Like my impression of what you may look like physically and what this field of energy, this field of consciousness. I get a sense of it around you, and I will feel it. So with you very specifically, I right away felt. Connected to this field of energy that is you. And I was trying to just observe, like, almost doing a scan of what I was seeing, but my attention was drawn in right away.

Like I mentioned, in the email to your heart and to your lower. In your abdomen area, like your sacral solar plexus area. So just to bring my attention to one thing at a time, I then like visually bring my attention to your abdomen area. And again, I'm using a pillow as a proxy, so it's like, I'm simultaneously feeling that I am laying my hands on your solar plexus and your sacral area.

And I'm just literally observing. And my intention is just that this life force energy is moving through me. And the way that I see it is that you are allowing the balancing of your own energy, however, you allow it. And so when I had my hands in this lower abdomen, part of you, that's where the information was coming up about, you know, really allowing yourself to pay attention to your body.

It looked like something that was coming up. The way you would imagine like a parasite or something like this, which is why, but for me, it was like a cue of like probiotics, which is why my mind went to that. And that's what I shared in your email. So some things will come through and it's symbolic. So it's actually a lot of whatever comes up.

I ask, like, what does that mean? What is that about? You know, and I just trust what comes through. And then I was guided up to your heart space and the information I shared with you about that is what came through. Although it felt very guarded too. So even with that, um, one thing I'll say some people when you connect with them, they are open.

Like their energy fields are just open, like come in. No problem. Let me in. Whereas sometimes you have to work with a person a few times. For them to really allow you in more deeply, you know, even to say, like moving beyond the skepticism for you. So, you know, if we do it again, you may have a different experience.

Cause you may be more open because now you know, more of what to expect. So it really literally is that it's like being in a meditation. And connecting with someone and you may have visual impressions. You may have physical sensations and Reiki aside. I mean, that's one particular practice around energetic connection, but we're already connected. You are energetic. I am, we all are. So I would say like, even for someone like you, if you want it to play with this, go into a meditation and breathe yourself into connection with someone, you know, and notice what comes up for you. Just allow yourself to be an observer and notice if you get any sense of this person's presence of what they feel like of.

Just whatever comes up for you and you may be surprised.

Jonathan Levi: Wow. So that's a really nice segue. Yeah. I want to learn more about this. Say I want to learn to do what you did today or just, I want to understand how this works. It sounds like you've read everything there is to read about this. Where do I start?

What books do I read? Who do I train with? How does that work?

Yolanda Williams: Well, one thing I do recommend people go to, especially finding a local teacher is reiki.org is a great place to go Reiki, REiKI.org because they have a listing of practitioners, you know, globally. And so you can find someone locally with that I will say.

And the lineage that I've learned, and this is also true of the lineage. That's very traditional, the GQ and Reiki. They don't do distant attunements. And so when you learn Reiki, you get what's called an attunement and that's to connect you to being able to channel energy in this way. And it's really considered like the sacred kind of, you know, like process between the Reiki teacher and the student.

And so it's always done in person. However, nowadays, you can look online and people offer distant attunements. Now I will say with working with energy and seeing how things can be done remotely. Absolutely. I personally believe you can do a distant attunement, but also understanding and experiencing that connection that you have with that process in person, I do personally recommend learning and having an attunement in person if you can.

Jonathan Levi: I think I want to do that too. I'm intrigued by this. I've had some interesting experiences, but now I really want to explore this a little bit more.

Yolanda Williams: I have a love, love, love to hear what your experiences are afterward.

Jonathan Levi: Definitely keep in touch about it.

Yolanda Williams: Yeah, absolutely.

Jonathan Levi: This is an interesting bit of a journey. Cause I came back from, It's going to sound so cliche when I say this, but I came back from burning man.

Really curious about healing. I was in a camp with a lot of healers doing really super interesting and intense stuff. I had some really interesting experiences, myself, like head-scratchers, and I think it's all just part of this like journey of being drawn towards this stuff. Yeah.

Yolanda Williams: And I think it's this we're all going that way.

I mean, you know, more and more of these conversations are becoming more common, so.

Jonathan Levi: Absolutely. So, Yolanda, I was going to ask about homework. You actually gave a nice piece of homework, which is, you know, do meditation and observe the breath. Did you want to elaborate on that homework or assign a different piece of homework for this week for the audience?

Yolanda Williams: Yeah. So one of the things with that going into a meditative state and observing yourself, you know, I think, you know, we just, we weren't taught to do that. So I think a good piece of homework is really allowing yourself to connect with you and acknowledge what you feel, acknowledge, what you sense in your body, acknowledge what your body feels like, like, you know, move your consciousness around and observe your legs, observe your arms.

What comes up for you, but just get to know yourself in general. And start to question what you see, what you feel, what you sense. I mean, in your interactions with people, what you're sensing about them, what you feel, what you sense when you go into different environments, start to question what you feel or again, what you sent and what that means.

How are you even picking these things up? Be curious, you know, and just don't be dismissive of your experiences.

Jonathan Levi: Wow. And Yolanda, where can people learn more and get in touch with you and potentially experience what I experienced today?

Yolanda Williams: I have a website. YewChi.com. It's YEWCHI com. And even on my site, I have a free webinar that goes into more detail about the history of Reiki and the practice.

So there's a lot of information on my site to help people get to know more about the technique and they're free guided meditations on there too. So if you have.

Jonathan Levi: Brilliant. And Yolanda, last question that we ask every episode, which is if people take away just one message and they carry it with them for the rest of their lives, what would you hope for that to be?

Yolanda Williams: I would hope that people will become witnesses of themselves. That's what I really, really hope is that we all start to pay attention to ourselves and to explore ourselves with more curiosity and more trust. But yeah, I mean, really just that like start to get to know you, we do so much of ingesting externally and, you know, learning and taking in information outside of ourselves.

Like, turn that back in. I really think that one of the best things we can do is get to know us.

Jonathan Levi: Yes. And it reminds me of a very nice quote from a book that otherwise I didn't find to be revolutionary, but it's a quote from Siddhartha. Which is that all knowledge comes from outside, but all wisdom comes from within.

Yolanda Williams: Yes. Perfect.

Jonathan Levi: Yolanda, it's been such a pleasure chatting. Thank you so much. And thank you also for the session this morning. It's going to take me a while to process this.

Yolanda Williams: Yeah, well, definitely keep in touch.

Jonathan Levi: I will, and I hope you'll do the same.

Yolanda Williams: I will. Thank you so much for having me

Jonathan Levi: A pleasure. Take care.

You too.

All right, SuperFriends. That's it for this week's episode. We hope you really, really enjoyed it and learn a ton of applicable stuff that can help you go out there and overcome the impossible. If so, please do us a favor and leave us a review on iTunes or Stitcher or however you found this podcast.

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