MOTHER MINDFULNESS SERIES: Shellie Pearson

Welcoming Guest 3 of our MOTHER MINDFULNESS series:

Meet Shellie Pearson, proud owner of Asthetique Skin Care clinic in Victoria. 

Shellie has 20+ years experience in the skin industry and over this time has noticed her clients require more than just skincare and internal supplements to correct their skin issues.

This is why she started to incorporate energy healing (Reiki) into her facials. Read on to find out how this differs from a normal facial. 

You offer Reiki facials, most people would have no idea what this is! Can you in simple terms explain what Reiki is? 

Reiki Facials are our newest service on offer and they are definitely a unique addition.

The idea came about after myself and one of my team members completed our Reiki Training.  Seeing the benefits that Reiki provides to your mind, body and soul, and in turn your skin, plus having a firm belief in treating the skin from the inside out, they just seemed like the perfect match.

We have designed these facials to allow the client to rest, quieten the mind, relax and completely let go, all whilst supporting and nurturing their skin.

Reiki translates as “universal life force energy” – it is a gentle and relaxing healing treatment that involves the practitioner placing their hands in a series of positions on or above the client's body, allowing energy to continuously flow through them, balancing the body’s energy centres and releasing any blockages.

Why did you get into Reiki/energy healing? What are the types of benefits you have noticed from it?

Reiki Healing came about after many years of my own personal spiritual journey.

It was something I experienced as a client a number of times and after a while I really started to become more aware of the benefits the sessions were providing me, for all different parts of me and my body.  For my physical, mental and spiritual health – including the health of my skin.

To be honest, I have been a qualified practitioner for quite some time, but only just now am I incorporating it into the clinic space.

I think a lot of it is timing for me, it was time to put my belief of treating the skin as a whole into action.

With 20+ years experience in the skin industry there have been numerous times where my client has required more than skin treatments, skin products and internal supplements to correct their skin, and energy healing (Reiki) is a fantastic complementary modality.

Everyone is unique and individual and therefore so too are the benefits they receive from having a Reiki Session.  And quite often you will experience a different benefit or benefits from one session to another.

For myself personally, the biggest benefits have been a sense of calm and clarity of the mind, an increase in awareness and trust in my intuition, a sense of balance in the body and different levels of emotional healing.

In general terms benefits include:

•  Self care and relaxation
•  Promote the body’s natural healing abilities
•  Stress and anxiety relief
•  Encourages emotional healing
•  Balance your energy centres/chakras
• Removes stagnant built-up energy
• Assists with pain relief
•  Increases intuition

How does it work to release blockages within the body and balance the body's energy centres? 

As a practitioner, we are purely the vessel for which the energy travels through.

Prior to starting the session we ask for the clients ‘higher good'' to provide them with the energy they may require at that particular point in time and the beautiful thing about Reiki is that the energy goes exactly where it is required to go to release any blockages and help bring you back into homeostasis.

I will note that how your body receives the energy can depend on a number of factors with one of them being exactly how ‘open’ you are to receiving it and the benefits you notice can depend on how aware you are as well

How does it differ from a “normal'' facial? Does your skin benefit the same?

The fundamentals of the facial remain the same.

Each facial cleanses your skin, exfoliates the older skin cells and aims to treat your individual skin concerns with customised products.

It is the Reiki component that is the difference.  This is done while the client is comfortable with a mask on their face.  The healing goes anywhere from 15-25mins.

Our Reiki infused facials leave the client feeling deeply relaxed and calm with all their bodies systems having being worked on.

These systems (including the integumentary system) are designed to work in synergy together so the benefits for your skin can only be enhanced.

Skincare is only part of the story, why do we also need to treat the mind, body and soul to achieve real, long term, skin results?

After having troubled skin most of my life, this is something I have also believed in for quite some time, it takes more than just looking at and correcting the integumentary system to achieve real, long term skin results.

This belief is what has led me to begin my studies in Ayurvedic Medicine this year.

Our bodies have 12 amazing and complex systems that need to be taken into consideration to truly treat your clients holistically.

In particular, I take close consideration to the digestive, nervous, lymphatic and endocrine systems when trying to correct and maintain a client’s skin.

All these systems are designed to work in synergy together, and if one isn’t functioning properly, you will see a domino effect in the body.

When it comes to obtaining skin results, you can eat well, exercise, meditate, go to bed early and use amazing skin care, but if you don’t take care of what is happening in your mind, the same issues will continue to appear.

When you think of health - what springs to mind?

Health is your wealth – I don’t think there is anything more true than this. All the money in the world cannot buy it.

For me personally, health is having the balance between mind, body and spirit leading to being free from any dis-ease.

It is also having the awareness and ability to be able to recognise when I am out of balance or re-alignment, and to bring myself back to homeostasis when required.

What is your favourite way to calm your mind? Or do you have some form of daily ritual?

Since beginning my studies in Ayurvedic Medicine, I have in fact taken on more of a daily ritual or practise, and in turn this has been a huge influence on my state of mind, and my skin.  It has been really interesting to note that it has been the small changes I’ve made daily that have kept my mind calm.  Rather than waiting until I am stressed and then doing something to calm it, my daily practice now keeps my mind clear, calm and creative.

To put in simple terms, my practise includes –

• Deep breathing before getting out of bed.
• Scraping of my tongue to remove excess toxins.
• A glass of lemon water before anything else.
• 5-10 minutes of ‘Morning Realisation’ – gratefulness, meditation, sitting still.
• Exercise.
• Eating well, foods that are right for me – not the latest food fads.
• Winding down earlier in the evenings with a herbal tea.
• Turning screens off earlier before bed.
• 5-10 minutes of ‘Evening Reflection’.
• Deep breathing before going to sleep. 

The most important thing for people is to not get overwhelmed with what to do, or trying to do too much to calm your mind, you end up getting overwhelmed and doing the opposite, becoming stressed!

My daily practice came about after months of slowly introducing one thing at a time. And so that is my recommendation, one small change at a time.

I strongly advise choosing one thing to implement for 21 days, then add in another et and starting with just 5 minutes.

They could be things like – deep breathing, writing down 3 things you are grateful for, meditation, moving your body (exercise), introducing lemon water to your morning routine or turning your phone off half an hour earlier in the evening.

Small changes can have the biggest impact on your state of mind for the day.

You can reach Shellie at her clinic website or on instagram