Back in May '07 I became a Reiki master. Years before I had become a Reiki 1 and 2 practitioner as I had wanted to heal other people. I did both courses in the same weekend. I'd been asking myself for years "What can I do in order to help other people heal?"

The thought that I may need healing myself was never a factor in my process or decision to study Reiki.

Having trained and worked in the NHS for over thirteen years I have come across more than my fair share of illness. For several years I worked on an acute admissions ward and a Coronary Care Unit (CCU). During that time I have read and studied much around the subject of potential causes for heart disease.

My initial training taught me that heart disease is caused by atherosclerosis (the building up of fatty deposits in the arteries) and that this was a progressively degenerative condition.

These days I keep myself in fairly good shape. I'm not fanatical about fitness but I do have a regular exercise routine. One of the more enjoyable aspects of this is my twice-weekly football run-out.

I'm by no means an exceptional footballer, yet I hold my own at the level that I play. Some nights I play well, others not so well. The most important aspect for me is that I enjoy football and I have more consistency now than I had when I played ten years ago.

After over 13 years working a nurse I had witnessed some weird and wonderful things. Occasionally, one of them stands out as significant. Back in '97-'98 I went to Australia with a one year working visa. During this time I worked for nurse agencies in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The experience was a good one as I was able to see how another health care system worked.