We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kayley Erlandson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kayley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

My defining moment in terms of where I”m at in life right now happened in early 2021. My family had experienced several deaths in our family in a short period of time, right on the outset of the pandemic. So not only was I navigating unexpected death of loved ones and figuring out the grieving process, but I was also isolated because of the pandemic and living alone.

It was a point in life where I asked myself why I was holding back on doing things that I wanted to do – simply because of how it would look to other people. In April 2021, one of my close friends died unexpectedly. Our last conversation a couple days before had been about my wanting to open my own business and her encouraging me to do it. I decided that life was too short and officially started my business. A year later, I left my job where I was doing website content and design for a college marking department and went full-time with my business Two Bluebirds!

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?

It all started with my interest in reiki and energy work back in 2015. I thought reiki would be an amazing supplement to my personal mental health journey in talk therapy, so I learned reiki through some local practitioners and went through all the “levels”.

It all snowballed from there as I explored other spiritual gifts I had and decided what skills I wanted to nurture and what I wanted to provide for other people as a practitioner. Right now at Two Bluebirds, I offer magical 1:1 sessions for both humans and animals. I offer reiki + energy work sessions, mediumship, tarot card readings, pet readings (for living pets) + pet mediumship, and Magical Mentorships, and I also do private events and parties. I often mix-and-match my skills during a session to fit what a client needs. For example, a pet might come through during a reiki session and I pass on their message to their owner, then continue the energy work.

The people who come to my studio are looking for not only healing but HOW to do that for themselves. They want to feel better. Who doesn’t? My approach as a practitioner is that of a guide vs an authority. I tell my clients that they’re the driver in the car, I’m the person in the passenger seat holding the directions and letting them know which roads we could take to get to a certain destination. Whether they want to turn at a certain point or not is up to them.

My approach to energy work definitely sets me apart from other practitioners in my field. The Westernized version of reiki is a very narrow view of what energy and energy work is and how energy can act. I approach energy and energy work as fluid vs something that is fixed. I approach it as a PART of us vs something separate from us.

I always tell my clients: “Your body is an ecosystem”. Instead of segmenting their body/energy into separate areas and treating an issue as something separate from my client, we treat it as an integral part of them, even the parts that are causing them pain or discomfort. We take the shame out of what they feel and notice and simply let them observe without judgment. I guide them through tuning in with their body and energy and we literally talk to their energy and ask it what it needs in the moment. I work with a lot of trauma stored in the body, and taking this approach allows my client to feel empowered in working with that trauma.

For my mediumship sessions, my approach is that of a trained evidential medium. I’ve spent years developing and training under my mentors. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be properly developed as a medium. Evidential mediumship means I provide specific evidence from spirit so we can confirm who we’re talking to. Oftentimes, this evidence includes descriptions of the spirit’s personality, their relationship to my client, how they passed, physical description of the spirit, their favorite memories of my client, names and important dates, messages they want my client to know, and bringing forth other information that the spirit feels is important for my client to know. I can connect with both human and animal spirits.

With mediumship, I’ve spent a long time developing, but also unlearning and challenging what I was told the afterlife looked like. Spirits aren’t as scary as some would think! Our loved ones and pets on the other side are closer than we think and we are always connected to them.

With my pet readings, I speak to living pets and let them tell me anything they want to tell me. If you’ve ever wondered what your beloved pet would say if they could talk – that’s where I come in! Connecting with animals and letting their owners know what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling is something I’m incredibly passionate about.
Your pet reading will give us a chance to take a peek inside your pet’s mind and see what they are thinking and feeling, plus real “action steps” for you to take after the reading is over so you can keep your furry friend as happy and healthy as possible!

Every person is so incredibly unique and beautiful and that same person is different each time they walk through my door, so I never limit my approach to working with my clients with a standard, check-off-the-boxes, cookie-cutter session. Humans are beautiful tapestries, masterpieces woven together with threads creating our whole selves.

I am most proud of finding my own unique approach to my work and in my brand persona, and for embracing “being seen” as I am! This January, I did a colorful photo shoot where I brought in several crowns, bright clothes, colored glasses, and other joyful items. They are some of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken and show a side of me that I had hidden previously. I am finding my joy in life and the joy just being a human being here and now.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

If you’re going to do any energy work, mediumship, intuitive work, or spiritual or holistic services, I recommend getting some form of trauma-informed training for spiritual practitioners. Understanding what trauma looks like, recognizing signs, making enthusiastic consent, and client safety (emotional and physical) a priority during a session – all important steps we as practitioners can take to not re-traumatize a client and empower them.

I would also recommend getting educated about abusive domestic relationships. I’ve had several moments where this helped me hold space for a client, recognize the signs, and give them appropriate resources.

You will definitely need a list of trusted resources at the ready to be able to refer your clients out. I work closely with a licensed therapist who I trust and can wholeheartedly recommend to clients. I am not a therapist, so I take great care to not cross that line as that therapist role for my clients.

If you have a lot of religious baggage you haven’t unpacked, I recommend doing so before working with the public or with clients – through therapy and other mental health avenues. We all have baggage as human beings, but doing your own inner work and working through spiritual hang-ups can help ensure you aren’t putting fear-based religious and spiritual beliefs on your client.

Lastly, I also recommend deepening and expanding your education about indigenous peoples and native groups of the land you live on, as well as any native herbs and rituals and their background and significance for that group of people. The spiritual community in the US has taken indigenous practices, often without understanding their significance and deeply rooted history. Understanding that history and your ancestors’ role in it is something that we have the responsibility to look at right in the face and do the work. Take great care in the practices, rituals, and items you choose to utilize in your own practice. See how you can give back.

This field is not regulated in any legal sense because of the nature of the work, but we have a responsibility to make sure we’re being as responsible as possible.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I recommend the book “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer (an indigenous scientist) for just a hint of the “body as an ecosystem” concept that I really resonate with. It will change the way you look at how you fit in with the world around you and your reciprocal relationship with the land.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.twobluebirdsfm.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twobluebirdsfm/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twobluebirdsfm/

Image Credits
Britta the Photographer