Karen Caig

When I was a teenager at family gatherings, aunts and uncles would say, "Karen Renee, come over here and hot-hand me." I discovered that when I rested my hands on their backs, I could imagine God's love flowing down my arms into my hands, which became super warm and helped my family members relax. I always had a natural gift for healing, but it wasn't until I stumbled upon an article in a local magazine that I realized this "gift" had a name—Reiki.

After a tumultuous childhood and struggling through six years of college as a first-generation student, I failed at two marriages and was raising my son on my own, financially and emotionally. I had taken care of my alcoholic father, whom I adored, for a year and a half before his death in 2011. I had reached a point in my life where I needed to heal. I needed a shift. 

After finding an article about Reiki, I took Usui/Tibetan Reiki I and II in Russellville, Arkansas, in 2012. After the Reiki attunement, my hands would heat up faster and hotter during treatments. Then, in 2013, to my excitement, I realized I could take the Reiki Master class with William Rand in Glastonbury, England, and I could receive the attunement in the center of Stonehenge! The timing was perfect: as an English instructor at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, I would be finishing a tour with students in England just three days before this class would begin, so for an additional $145, I could stay behind and take Rand’s master class! When I shared my exciting news with my students, they told me about couchsurfing.org. which helped me arrange for free housing for the days before the class began. These "coincidences" were just more examples of the miracles I have experienced on my Reiki journey.

I completed my Reiki Master that June and joined the Reiki Membership Association. I began teaching Reiki to others in addition to giving Reiki treatments in my home while I continued in my thirty-year English-teaching career. Then, when the International Center for Reiki Training began teaching Holy Fire Reiki in January 2014, I felt guided to "upgrade" to this new energy frequency. Finally, I completed my Holy Fire II Karuna Reiki Master training in November 2017.

I had been taking care of my mother, who had lung cancer, since she was diagnosed in May 2015, and she died in February 2017, just before my son graduated high school. I suddenly found myself with an empty nest, with no one to take care of. 

In January 2018, after retiring from teaching and moving to Bella Vista, Arkansas, to be near my son, who was a student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, I opened an office in Bentonville, Arkansas. In March 2018, I was accepted into the prestigious Licensed Reiki Master Teacher training program with the International Center for Reiki Training. I received the upgrade to  Holy Fire® III and  compIeted the rigorous requirements to become a Licensed Reiki Master Teacher (LRMT) in November 2020.

Of course, in the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone to shift again. The Holy Fire® energy upgraded again to enable us to train people live through Zoom. I closed my in-person practice and began teaching online. Doubtful at first, I found the distant Reiki sessions took me deeper and taught me just how truly connected we all are. Most of my clients found that they enjoyed receiving treatments in their own homes with me on the phone with them. And the live, online classes were amazing--so effective and healing that Reiki Institute is now an online Reiki school offering this healing energy to people all over the world. 

In April of 2023, I felt called to move to Cotacachi, Ecuador, and I continue to teach classes online from high in the Andes mountains as I learn from the beautiful indigenous Kichwa people, among whom I live. It seems the Reiki energy is guiding me to lead retreats here in South America, to help others heal with Reiki and the energy of these powerful mountains. 

With each new step, Reiki continues to guide me on my own healing path as I help others find relief for their stress and pain. My mission is to help train at least one Reiki Master for every family so that everyone can heal at a deep level in order to make our world healthier. 

I am grateful for my journey and for those on this adventure with me. 

 Holy Fire® is the registered service mark of William Lee Rand