I recently had the pleasure of completing the First Degree Reiki certification course at A Higher Balance with proprietor, Reiki Master, and massage therapist Judy Copp.
I had long been interested in the concept of Reiki, and this year, with the help of my very kind sister, who provided me with a very generous gift certificate for the course, I was finally able to register for and complete the course.
Copp's A Higher Balance method was everything I had hoped for - and more. Copp herself is a kind, gentle, and comprehensive hands-on teacher - with about one-third of the one-day, $150 First Degree course spent in reading and instruction, and about two-thirds spent in actual, hands-on instruction and practice with other students.
If you are in or near Salem and want to experience this course - which is equally geared toward those who are interested in Reiki for self-healing, and to those who might wish to eventually practice Reiki in a professional capacity for payment - you will first and foremost want to find out exactly where A Higher Balance is located.
In downtown Salem, directly across the street from very prominent Salem Post Office building - across the divided segment of Washington Street - is the Salem landmark, Hawthorne Building. The Hawthorne Building hosts several prominent, retail businesses among its ground-floor, glass-paneled storefronts, including Bank of America's downtown branch, the UPS Store, the locally-owned and operated Living Well massage center, and last but certainly not least, the very-popular and always busy Starbucks.
In the center of the Hawthorne Building - between Bank of America to the left and the UPS Store to the right - is a large set of double doors, and just beyond these a slate-floored, plate glass-paneled atrium of sorts. Inside the small atrium, to the right, is an elevator, and to the left, a set of stairs located behind a closed door. For those wishing some quick exercise, you can take the single fight of stairs up the long, cavernous second-floor hallway. If stairs are not your thing, the elevator one-flight up serves nicely.
Whether via stairs or elevator, one inside the second-floor hallway, the A Higher Balance offices and meditation space will be to your right, at the far end of the hallway. A Higher Balance occupies the corner office of the building, directly above Starbucks. As you enter the modest, yet strikingly beautiful main meditation room, you notice a profound change in the atmosphere - the aura, according to New Age practitioners in-the-know. Natural sunlight streams through the large, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Washington and Canal streets, and beyond those, the train tracks that run along Canal.
On the walls and on various pedestals are are collections of gold and wooden Buddha statues, and accenting these are various altars decorated with candles, statues, images, and small, mostly Oriental-themed objects of devotion. In the center of the room are chairs used for meditation, tables for meetings, and depending upon the time you arrive, one or more Reiki/'massage tables used by Reiki Master Copp to teach the First, Second, and Master-level courses. While in meditation - Sunday nights - you can even request a tufted, silk pillow to rest your feet on. (Socks - not shoes - are de rigeur once you step foot inside Copp's healing space.)
Reiki Master Judy Copp is certified in several healing modalities - that's techniques to you newbies - and uses a combination of physical and mental healing techniques. She also incorporates her unique insights as an intuitive, empathic healer to further enhance what is now developing into the best in cutting-edge, hybrid energy healing in Salem, and on the North Shore.
Copp, at A Higher Balance, offers a wide range of healing and massage services, which include: polarity therapy, which, according to the A Higher Balance website, is " a type of energy healing that encompasses gentle pressure on specific points or pathways on the body, as well as massage, foot reflexology, craniosacral, stretching and rocking; traditional therapeutic massage; vibrational energy healing; and of course, Reiki healing, which a gentle, hands-on healing technique developed by a Japanese monk in the 1920's.
A Higher Balance review - to be continued.... read more
