We were lucky to catch up with Danielle Bentz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Danielle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

I never used to believe in the spiritual side of life. I loved hearing ghost stories and unexplainable phenomenon but I never experienced something like that myself. So I remained skeptical about any sort of greater power, until I started having crazy experiences with my reiki and tarot clients. I have experienced so many wild and magical healing moments with my clients that I’m a huge believer now!

The wildest story that I have to share started with a big disappointment.

One of my reiki clients is an incredibly strong, resilient woman who found out around the age of 3o that she had very advanced cancer. When she started hitting dead-ends with the western approach, she looked for more holistic healing routes. That’s how we met!

When she showed up for reiki, I felt a lot of pressure to help her find comfort and healing. I wanted to help her best I could, she was going through so much! I let her know that when I’m doing reiki healings, I often receive messages for my clients that I share with them after the session. And I set the intention during her reiki session to channel any messages that are helpful for her healing journey.

That’s why when we were halfway through her session and still nothing had come through, I felt beyond disappointed! I remember checking the time at 2:32pm and thinking that’s an interesting looking time, making note that the number might be the message. By the end of the session, that number was the only message to come through so I had to go with it.

When I shared the number with her, and she let me know that the number has no significance in her life my heart dropped. Then, I felt called to turn it around and say that within the next week, that number may come up and mean something. With that she left, feeling some relaxation but I still felt disappointed I couldn’t help more.

About a week later, I was back at home and driving my friend to the train station for a trip she was taking. We stopped at a cafe to have breakfast and she was telling me this really cool story about her friend who did a 10 day silent meditation retreat to heal her chronic illness. She told me that by the end of the 10 days her illness went into remission and I remember being in awe of this, wondering why we don’t recommend meditation more often to help with illness. I remember thinking, “why don’t we prescribe meditation alongside western medicine approaches – it’s free and truly helps people?!”

On my way home, I was driving and I looked down at the dashboard and saw 2:32 pm, and ahead of me on the road a license plate with the numbers 232 was there! I was shocked! All at once, it hit me- Finally the 232 made sense- the message that I needed to share with my reiki client was about the power of meditation and considering a silent meditation retreat for her healing. I raced home to message her.

When, I pulled into the driveway and shared this all with my reiki client, she responded excitedly saying that someone recently mentioned the power of meditation with her and she had been researching ways to explore it. Another confirmation and synchronicity! I was super excited at this point and hopeful this would all be helpful for her journey.

A couple years later, I reconnected with this client to find out that later that year she researched Joe Dispensa, a neuroscientist turned meditation leader and someone known for curing illness with meditation practices. She ended up going to one of his retreats and using his meditation practices and months later her cancer went into remission! She actually has a video on Joe Dispensa’s website as a testimony of what meditation can do!

After this story, I learned to get out of my own way and allow the messages to come through. To trust that what I have to offer is enough and to show up as a channel for healing for my clients. It has been such a magical and wild and crazy journey. I have no idea what this power is – is it God, is it the universe, is it our higher self? No idea! But what I do believe is that there is something greater than us out there helping us out, and to receive that help we just need to ask and get out of our own way and trust.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The thing I get most excited about is empowering people to connect with their spiritual gifts. I believe we all have innate healing abilities and I LOVE teaching energy medicine in Reiki classes and connecting people with their intuition in my 9 week program called In Your Power. Connecting with my own spiritual side has made me feel more whole and fortified from the inside-out. I am so grateful to my teachers and friends who have helped me along the way- and continue to guide me. I LOVE seeing people light up when they realize they have access to so much within themselves and to watch their journey unfold from there.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The mind so powerful! I once experienced a very traumatic event that left me so shaken I did not sleep for 3 weeks. I was suffering from ongoing panic attacks, constant anxiety and a chronically dysregulated nervous system. I lost 15 pounds in one week because eating food felt unsafe in this state of PTSD. It was really scary!

I am so grateful for my background in reiki, meditation, yoga and mindfulness. Little by little, I found center. The biggest anchor I had was in the concept of neuroplasticity. I convinced myself that I could train my mind to find stillness by experiencing tiny pockets of stillness and safety in my body that overtime grew into larger spans and a healthier brain.

I remember attempting to do yoga again for the first time since the panic attacks started. I had to talk to myself out loud that it was safe to open my body up into a downward dog, safe to twist my torso, safe to take a child’s pose. Each movement bringing me closer to relief. I also found two incredible therapists who helped me with somatic release of the trauma and ways of finding safety in my body.

About two years after this extremely difficult time in my life, I am happy to say I have more good days than bad days. My anxiety and nervous system are completely regulated. It feels miraculous- but our body and mind are so powerful! And we have so much more power than we realize in our paralyzing states of fear.

Now, when the trauma comes back up from nightmares or dark thoughts I have so many tools in my toolbox. I practice reiki, breathing exercises, journaling, movement, chanting, sending love to the scared parts of me. It all helps so much! I have no idea where I would be now if I didn’t have my practices and the amazing support I have found on this healing journey.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

It’s crazy but true that for the first 30 years of my life I relied on other people to help me make all of my decisions. From where to go to school, what to do in career, who to date, what to eat for dinner – I used to feel paralyzed in making my own decisions and looked to my friends, family, or partners to help me make my life choices for me. That meant that when I turned 30, I looked around at my life and didn’t recognize myself in it. Because I was building a life to impress others, one that others wanted for me.

Learning to trust myself, listen to my needs and connect with my intuition is an ongoing journey, and so rewarding. Now, when I don’t have clarity, I very rarely ask for someone else’s opinion. Each person’s perspective is so unique and relevant to their own personal journey and past experiences. How could anyone else know what is best for my present and future? I am the only person who is walking in my shoes! I am the only person with my digestive system, nervous system, dreams, feelings, experiences – I am the expert in knowing what I need in life.

That’s why I LOVE helping people connect with their own inner compass so they can take charge of their decision making. Especially women. Women, among other groups of people, have been systematically oppressed against taking control of their lives. I love watching women rise into their own power and realize their true needs and wants.

Also, it’s amazing to ask for support when we need it. When we come up against things in life that we haven’t experienced or others are experts in. But, for the majority, I believe we should be the captains of our own ship. And learning to listen to our body’s signals, our feelings, our logic and intuitive knowing is an ongoing and powerful learning for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: daniellereikiboston.com
• Instagram: @reikiboston