How shifting your energy can influence your own reality with Valerie Oula

Q. Please briefly introduce yourself and how you discovered energy healing?

Valerie: Hello, my name is Valerie Oula and I’m an energy medicine practitioner and teacher. Energy healing, specifically reiki was something that I had heard about and had always wanted to check out…and in 2006, a local spa had sent a mailer and I saw reiki listed as a service and booked a session. And even though, I was interested in reiki - I was also a super skeptic. I didn’t really connect with the practitioner but at some point during the session, I felt as if I was soaring through space. I definitely felt different after the session and found it somewhat enjoyable. But by the end of the day, my cynical brain took it all apart and told myself that I imagined everything that I felt during the session. That was at the beginning of the year and at years end, my boyfriend at the time (who’s my partner now) asked me if I wanted to do a 5hr New Year’s Eve meditation at the Zen monastery that was a few blocks away from my apt. And even though I had never meditated before, I somehow said yes. It was during that meditation evening, where I was sitting facing a wall ( never meditated before) that I went into a meditative space and saw blue light that was similar to what I had seen at that first reiki session. With that vision, I “received” the message that I should learn Reiki. I was such a skeptic but I also never ever heard anything like that before so I went with it. Got home and went on Internet Explorer (there was no google at the time) and searched for Reiki training in NYC and found a level 1 course for the next week. 

Q. How do you define the human energy field and its role in our day to day lives?

Valerie: The human energy field is a biofield - every living thing/organism has a biofield, a field of energy that extends out from the physical body that we call the subtle energy body or the aura but the scientific term is biofield and biofield sciences have been slowly and surely gaining traction and more money and more research and attention now more than ever within the scientific community. As far as our biofield in our day to day, it absolutely contributes to your physical/mental/emotional state. When your biofield is strong and radiant, you feel centered and confident. Perhaps you wake up feeling a little down and out, the good news is there are some simple practices to strengthen and clear our field. We want our biofields to be coherent and clear - it is the energetic matrix that influences our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.

Q. What can a first-timer expect in a Reiki class / workshop with you?

Valerie: In any class or workshop of mine, people can expect a very down-to-earth, fun and easy approach to energy work and healing and also I’m prone to dropping a few f-bombs :)

People usually feel lighter and grounded after class, there’s a palpable shift in energy. I love to talk about energy and share my passion with others to see just how magical life truly is with all it’s highs and low and all the in-between.

Q: When we feel intense emotions and set our minds towards a goal, does it go beyond simply feeling good?

Valerie: Our thoughts are energy, literally electrical-chemical reactions in the brain. Intention is everything because it is our mentality that creates our reality. We are constantly co-creating with the Universe. For example, if we can see the challenges in life as happening for us, that the intensity of a situation is here for our evolution and expansion instead of seeing things as happening ’to” us, the mindset that the intensity is here to help is grow is much more empowering. It will help you move through with more grace and you’ll gain more wisdom and growth from that experience. Our energy fields are constantly interacting, there’s always a feedback loop of information, when we go into a situation already thinking that it’s not going to work out - then we are already defeated and that’s the energy that gets mirrored back. When we go into a situation, being more open, there’s more space and possibility.

Manifestation as a practice is really more about getting clear and getting aligned with your truth so that you can open to more in life rather than a laundry list of things that the ego desires. It requires clarity, intention, and awareness to want to look within - to see all the parts of ourselves and embrace and integrate all parts of yourselves to know what’s true for you.

Q: The beginning of the new year typically feels slow and low energy. In your opinion, why is it the best time to work on ourselves and how do we pick energy levels up physically and mentally?

Valerie: When we tune into nature, the winter season is hibernation and slowing down. Winter is the time to go inwards and dream. It is a time of rest and reflection. It is a time of deep rest and restoration which is an essential part of the natural cycle. And then just like in nature, Spring is the emergence of life after deep rest making it an ideal time to reset with a retreat because the more intentional we are in our actions, the more meaningful the results. We can attune ourselves to the blooming trees and plants. We can tap into that same energy within ourselves. We can kickstart the energy to bloom and flower into our intentions and dreams that we may have cultivated in the winter as we figuratively slept..