Reiki, Philly Style: 21 Years of Reflection with Alexandra Kurowski

In 2020, The Reiki School is celebrating 21 years with a new sweet spot, and a new website, with the same Philly flavor. As part of this celebration, we are kicking off a blog series called “Reiki, Philly Style: 21 Years of Reflection.” We invite any member of our vibrant community to submit their stories, transformations, memories, and pictures to be featured.

This installment features Alexandra Kurowski, Reiki teacher, psychic mama bear, self proclaimed tarot renaissance woman, mother of 3 children, and 5 cats.

When I initiate a connection, of any kind, I never know where it will take me. Some of the most whimsical decisions in my life, that I made for no discernable reason, impacted me in deep and unexpected ways. This sets the scene, walking towards the train after a metaphysical meetup that would meet in the back of Essene, on 4th Street, in 2008, with my soul fam, Maria. She pulled me into a different, more notorious 4th street building, telling me that there was a Reiki School in there somewhere. After locating it and procuring some information, I made my way home where the card landed in one of the many piles of my life.

Months later, I was working as a Health Counselor and looking for a spot to hold some workshops and see clients. While “cleaning” I ran across the card and emailed inquiring about space rental. At my premier and entirely decadent raw chocolate workshop, a moment truly written in the stars, I met Laurie Elder. Blissed out on cacao, we became fast friends, so did our families. She encouraged me to start teaching Intuitive Development and offer readings readings professionally. In 2009, she became my Reiki teacher.

Reiki was as weird and wonderful as anything else I truly loved. I thought I knew so much. Of course, I knew less and less as time went on, as the layers stripped away. I learned much more practical things… how to surrender, mostly, and how to transcend my limits. My personal life was messy. That hasn’t stopped. I was gifted by the universe, a very particular set of obstacles. I was an artist, and psychic… I also had debilitating ADD and depression. I lived in poverty. I was a new mother, and newly motherless. I was in a family dynamic that was not meant to last. Every time I thought, “How the fuck am I getting out of this one?” Reiki was a gentle river guiding me past the obstacles, a tender light in the darkness. I found acceptance… in my own special brand of chaos, in my gifts, and in my challenges...myself, really.

People ask me all the time what Reiki is. These days, I don’t think my answer fits a general description. I have witnessed incredible things with my clients. It’s the quiet tears and deep release of trauma. It’s witnessing their biggest fear and realizing it has no power over them. It helps them say things they’ve never told anyone. It’s honest, wise. It’s someone considered non verbal chatting away. It’s hopping off the table without pain. It’s vulnerable. It’s finding the will to live. Finding the next step, and the next. It’s having the strength to let go. It’s leaving their toxic partner/job/living situation or finding boundaries with a toxic family member. It’s saying no...and fuck yes. It’s feeling so much lighter. It’s doing what you love. It’s restorative, or energizing. It’s destructive and creative. It’s what they need, although perhaps not what they think they need. It’s nature, with a human twist. Life and force. I find this to be the most magical thing, actualizing change. There are subtle shifts that happen, sometimes without even realizing it. It’s a moment in catching oneself, and realizing you are different, you do differently, you are more than you were.

In the Summer of 2014, I started teaching. My first Reiki 1 is forever etched in my heart. This was a big, boisterous, amazing group of people. Reiki School classes become a family unit. This has always been the case. They come from every walk of life you can imagine. The years that followed also became some of the most painful in my personal life. I was in deep transition, facing a lot of fears. I remember days wiping my tears and heading to my spot at the head of the classroom, taking a great big deep breath and either leading right into a meditation, or listening to student check ins. By the end of the three hours, I would settle back into a place of beingness, light effervescent peace.

Community is a curious thing to cultivate. It takes certain things, I’ve noticed. First, openness, of course. This happens when you get a group of people together who are “the weird ones” in their daily lives. They find each other, and it’s like a party...a juicy sleepover. But the individuals tend to be very different from one another. We let down our guards and learn from each other. This gives perspective like nothing else. In a practice where one of the goals is to transcend duality, this is where I most see it happening, learning about different backgrounds, classes, professions, struggles, cultural practices, sexuality, religion, and even politics. In a truly safe space, these conversations can happen, and bring people closer together. The reiki practice portion of class would bring a sense of quiet reflection in the room. We were all subtly changed by the end of each class.

I started teaching when the school was at 727 S. 4th Street. Class would end, I would lock up, Jack would be next door with his buddy from across the street. His buddy would yell, “Heeeey! It’s Miss America!” and Jack would offer me a glass of wine. Some nights, I would take it. When the nights got colder, it was Sambuca. When I told him I preferred bourbon, he graciously made the switch. We would talk about opera, business and family. These were the years that I learned that nothing really ever got easier, but that I could be at ease. That I could breathe and move through the days with intention, and attention. Life had no sugar coating, but it could be sweet, in passing moments, the rich beauty in connection, infused with the perspective and peace that had gathered within. A true strength that needed nothing, but was boundless and sufficient unto itself.

This was not to ignore the shadows at hand, or to glamourize the heights that can come from deep practice. Nothing is quite as profound as a balanced ease with oneself. Reiki is there when I feel I have nothing left. It is also there when I feel a part of forever and everything. It helped me surrender and let go as much as it helped me pull it all together. These days, I love that Reiki has found some popularity. I don’t have to explain myself, or teach people how to pronounce it. I still welcome skeptics with open palms... that’s good fun. It’s been humbling and affirming to hold space for the powerful transformations in all of Philly’s finest movers and shakers. Life never ceases.