How reiki healed one woman’s pent-up fear and uncertainty, and her journey learning and practising the energy healing art to help others
- Pandemic-related stress and pent-up emotions released during a reiki session sparked Jessica Coup’s desire to master the healing art herself
- The American expatriate in Malaysia now helps others overcome physical and mental pain using the ancient energy-balancing practice
Jessica Coup was in the grip of an excruciating headache as she was getting ready to go to a gala. She was about to cancel their plans when her husband placed his hands on her head. Within five minutes, the pain was gone.
“What happened?” Coup asked him. He had done reiki, also known as the healing touch, to relieve her pain.
Nearly 20 years later, reiki – a form of energy healing that originated in Japan in the early 20th century – would play an important role in Coup’s life. But it took the pandemic and an emotional breakdown for her to follow her calling and become a healer herself.
Growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, in the United States, Coup had a strong Christian upbringing and was a sensitive child in touch with her emotions – and those of people around her.
She moved from a large public school to a smaller private school at the start of second grade.
“I was developing headaches and nausea due to being so empathetic, so a smaller school with less students would help me to be less overwhelmed by all the emotions,” she says.
