Kings Park resident Maureen Rossi, has worn many hats in her lifetime, writer, mom and leader of anti-drug organization, In the Know and now Rossi will add Reiki practiconer to the list
“I spent the last twenty three years raising the kids, writing for newspapers and magazines and volunteering in Kings Park, never in a million years did I expect to become a Reiki Practitioner,” she laughs.
Rossi opened a Reiki practice earlier this year and runs it from The Balance Health and Wellness Center on Main Street in Kings Park.
Reiki is a Japanese word that means “universal energy” and this energy work has been around for thousands of years and has been used by many civilizations. The premise is that the person giving the Reiki (or laying of the hands) taps into the energy that runs through all living things, the practitioner is just a conduit.
“With my journalistic background, I tend to be a facts girl so what I like about Reiki is that that it’s quantifiable, physicists have measured this energy,” said Rossi
When she’s not giving it, she’s reading about it. Plans are in the works to start a program where she can treat returning veterans. “These kids need all the help they can get,” said Rossi.
Educated by what Rossi calls some of the toughest nuns in Queens, she spent twelve years in Catholic school and had a very insular life, growing up in a middle class Irish and Italian neighborhood with over 50 first cousins. She knew nothing of the world of alternative or complimentary medicine, nonetheless energy work.
“However, when I was a about 30, I suddenly became very ill – I was a young healthy mom biking 30 miles a week, cooking healthy, running a small home-based business and bam I got hit with debilitating fatigue, had difficulty moving my legs, began to lose my hair and my teeth and was terribly ill, I felt as though I was dying,” she said.
Her friend a nurse and Reiki practitioner who worked with people with multiple sclerosis’ suggested a treatment.
“I was like Reiki Schmaki – I’ll try anything. Within a few months of treatment, I went into the first of many glorious remissions and I knew I had to learn this Reiki stuff to do it on myself and my family,” she said.
Rossi was trained in the Usui method in 2000 and had advanced training in level II in 2002.
“Every day I go to work, I put my hands on people and whether they are stressed, have cancer, have had a death in the family or have had surgery, I am able, with the Grace of God, to make them feel better,” she said. “At the end of the day, if I could sum it up, it’s all about energy and love,” she added.
Balance Health & Wellness takes most insurance and also offers massage, acupuncture, detoxification, smoking cessation and weigh loss programs. For more information e-mail Maureen.l.Rossi@gmail.com
