S1 E4: Zel Amanzi — Energy healing and ancestral practices

In today’s episode, we’re joined by Zel Amanzi (he/they) who is a Sacred Energy Educator located in Los Angeles. He shares about his experiences with yoga and how it brought them awareness of energetic space. We learn how Reiki came into their life and the session that sparked a desire for a deeper study of the practice.

Zel shares how their first Reiki training left them with questions about cultural appropriation and the Reiki certification model in the United States. We get a detailed history of Reiki, when it came to the United States, and how the current model of training came into being. Zel also gives us their take on why we so often see Reiki and yoga interwoven in Western yoga studios.

We hear about the teachers who inspire Zel’s work, and he touches on what it means to practice cultural or sacred practices responsibly. He discusses his decolonization process around his work as a Sacred Energy Educator and how BIPOC folks with barriers to their own ancestral practices can approach Reiki or other energy work as a way to bring them back into their own relationship with divine energy and honor their own lineage.

We finish out our conversation by discussing the transphobia present in the yoga community. Zel tells us about how he and others at the Trans Yoga Project work to make spaces for trans and non-binary folks to practice yoga while also educating cisgender folks on how how they can show up more effectively for trans folks in yoga spaces. Zel also kindly educates us on ways we can support the trans community and reminds us that includes getting uncomfortable by looking at and educating ourselves.

Zel's website: https://www.transgressivemedicine.co/

Zel's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/transgressivemedicine/

https://transyogaproject.com/ 

Marika Clymer https://instagram.com/MoonHouseNW

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Episode transcript

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