Heart 2 Talk with Theresa Cesare
Through an audio diary approach, I will share pages by having conversations amongst insightful people on health, wellness, beauty, spirituality, family and personal stories that inspire. Talks that come from the heart.
Heart 2 Talk with Theresa Cesare
Reiki, Gratitude & Mindset: Unlocking Your Inner Hero with Erica Grace
In this episode, I bring back one of my favorite souls, Erica Grace—author, energy healer, and Reiki practitioner. Her mission is to help you uncover your inner hero and remember that you can live an epic life, even in the middle of challenges and setbacks.
Together, we dive into the power of gratitude, mindfulness, and Reiki. You’ll hear how these practices can shift your mindset, regulate your energy, and help you feel deeply supported from the inside out. Erica shares many beautiful benefits of Reiki and reveals the one universal benefit it offers anyone who is willing to receive it.
Tune in to discover how this gentle yet powerful modality can support you in thriving from the inside out and walking as the hero of your own story.
Follow her on Instagram: @greatlikeyoubook
Erica's Website: https://greatlikeyou.com/
Self Love Guided Meditation by Erica Grace
Nightly Gratitude Guided Meditation With Ocean Sounds
by Erica Grace
Welcome to Heart to Talk the podcast. I am the host and creator Theresa Cesare My intention for this podcast is to deliver to you wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Through solo episodes and conversations amongst insightful people. It is my greatest honor to bring to you talks that come from the.
Speaker:Hey, loves. Welcome to another powerful episode. Today I'm bringing back to the podcast one of my favorite souls, Erica Grace. Erica is an author and a Reiki practitioner whose mission is to help you uncover your inner hero. And remember, you can live an epic life no matter the setbacks. Erica, welcome back to heart to talk.
Speaker 2:Yay. Thank you so much for having me. It is such an honor. I am a huge fan of the podcast and I'm so happy to be joining you today.
Speaker:Oh, thank you. The honor's mine and the beautiful thing is our history. So when I first. Launched the podcast and I first started teaching about affirmations. You were one of the first people in the audience and vice versa when you launched your mission and promoted your book, I was there as well. So here we are five years later, still so dedicated to our missions and I'm just really excited to dive in. So for those who don't know you if you could just give a refresher, like share with everyone who you are, your story, what you do.
Speaker 2:Sure. Thank you so much and yes, I am so grateful to be on this journey with you. It has been just such a beautiful ride that we've taken together and yes. To your audience. My name is Erica Grace, so I'm an author and a reiki practitioner, and I'm here to help my clients step into their best life and regardless of any type of challenges that might get in their way, because I have experience with that, unique experience throughout my whole life with. Medical diagnoses since around the time of my first birthday, and it inspired me to help others in my unique way and through my perspective because I truly believe that despite. Everything going on. I live the best life possible and I wanna see that for others. I wanna see others not getting caught up in the problems that they encounter, but being able to really acknowledge them, feel them, but also still create memories and still build beautiful relationships and live their lives. Purpose as they go along. So that's really passionate and that's what lies on my heart, whether it's through my book or through my Reiki practices with my clients. That's something that I always keep at the core and foundation of what I do.
Speaker:I love that so much, and you're just like living proof of resilience and the power of just mindset but what does it take to show up as that behind the scenes that there's like work that goes into that to override. You know what you talk about the setbacks. Can you go into that a little? Definitely.
Speaker 2:That's a great question. And I do have to say that some days are easier than others. I. Have an amazing support system and an amazing, what I call toolkit. So those things that we have, that we keep in our back pocket for when we need that motivation and that extra boost. And my secret sauce is, my things that make me most happy is, number one, movement and mantras. And movement looks different for me depending on the day, so it's not something I can quite plan on, but starting your day in a way that fills your cup and that makes you feel. Centered and ready to go about your way. So for me, you know, starting the day with a beautiful mantra or affirmation while I'm just stretching out, getting things going, also. Breath work and reiki practices like that, and also meditation. And I like to keep those, especially in the morning, to set the tone short and sweet. Now at night, a lot of us are able to have a more lengthy practice, but to start the day, keeping things short and sweet. So that you don't feel the overwhelmed, so that you truly feel that it's setting you up for success. That's another thing. And most importantly, the most important mindset shift I've. Ever found is gratitude. Finding something to be grateful for, no matter how big, no matter how small, there's always something. And some days it's easier than others to find that gratitude. But it's so important that we shift into that because when we're in gratitude, it's really hard to. Be in a disempowering state and be in a negative mindset. So that's been really the key game changer. And I've, really been passionate about speaking about gratitude over the years because it has been such a gift in my life. I call it my anchor. And, it's also important to acknowledge that there are days. When everything just feels so heavy and you feel like almost taking a break from the tools, like you know that you have the toolbox, but you feel like taking a break and just sitting with the emotions and know that that's okay. Know that that doesn't make you a bad person to be kind of. Feel really feeling and really acknowledging, wow, things are hard, things are challenging. That is the first step. To healing and to discovering a more productive place. It's so important to feel the emotions, to acknowledge them, to sit in them. And only then can you move forward in the most productive way and turn things around most positively. And in my book. Great Like You, which is intended for young readers. But, I released this pre pandemic and once the pandemic hit a lot of adults in my life started pulling it out and referring to it as a tool and as a resource. And in there we also talk about mindset shifts through things like visualization. Thinking about where you wanna be and just spending some time to visualize it. Though Olympic athletes do things like this when they prepare for their big event, they really see. What's going on? They really feel the wind and, feel the excitement from the crowd. We need to set ourselves up for success as well using visualization in a way that relates to our life. And in the book I also talk about goal setting. Being someone that's had chronic illnesses since I was around one. Always having something to look forward to and something to move the dial towards really kept me going and really, kept me motivated and in a nice mindset as well.
Speaker:I like that you talk about gratitude I think just making it a priority because that's how it becomes your default setting. It ends up being just your natural response.
Speaker 2:Yes, 100%. Because the way that I practice gratitude is as a reframe, situation based. So as. Hardships come up. As challenges come up, I feel them. I take a deep breath, take a step back, and I find the gratitude and I try to find the gratitude that most relates to the scenario. So if it's a. Conflict with someone that you love and you're just, getting so riled up when you take a deep breath, a pause and a step back, find something you really appreciate about them. And so that's what I challenge, people to do, and once you start doing that, it will become a default, but a great way to get started with gratitude. For those of you that might not have really dabbled into it and might not have really made it a. Just in your daily life is to either have a morning ritual around it or an evening ritual around it. So either first thing in the morning or last thing at night, think of three to five things that you are grateful for and try to change them up. So it would be amazing if you go ahead and write those three to five things down and the next day. A different three to five things, and that's a nice way to really get yourself in the condition of making this a daily habit. And also if you share that you're doing this with a friend, with a loved one. And challenge each other to go back and forth and do these shares together. That accountability piece can really help you make this a habit as well.
Speaker:That is so well said and explained. I, that's why I love having people like you on to just share your perspectives and different ideas. Okay, so I wanna now dive into Reiki. I understand that you tried Reiki as a modality for your own healing, and was that the onset of what got you to become a Reiki practitioner?
Speaker 2:So I had dabbled into receiving reiki really, for years, and I used to look at it as just this, like once in a while, luxury. And then once. My, my health journey, my physical health journey started getting really difficult around 2020. And so how I love to look at things when they get more and more difficult is through. New eyes, new perspectives, and new approaches. And I decided to make reiki a more consistent part of my practice. And it helped me so much with nervous system regulation, with pain management. Benefits of reiki is that it can impact. Any area of your life that you're focusing on. So whether it's physical, mental health, spiritual or emotional, whatever your goals are, reiki is for you and can help you with that. So I received Reiki for a while and then I decided that this was too good not to share and. I wanted to really hone in on developing my very own virtual reiki practice. So I had worked with a lot of genius Reiki masters, and I selected one. Specific Darcy that I just particularly loved the way that she delivered the virtual Reiki sessions. So I was trained under her about roughly three years ago to get my certifications. And so I have been doing virtual one-on-one, Reiki. For these past three years. And I also do group in-person retreats, group in-person, reiki, and I also do, group virtual reiki events on occasion as well. So really now everyth everything we've expanded to. So it's been a beautiful journey and I just love sharing this modality because. Reiki is a relaxation technique that utilizes the life force energy that we all have within us, and so Reiki energy always knows where to go. And it's more intelligent than distance and time. That's why virtual sessions are able to be done, and that's why I love virtual sessions so much because my clients practice from the comfort of their homes. And the reiki always knows where to go. We clear blockages, we examine the chakras, and we get feedback and messages of. Advice of how to move forward after the session. So it's really such a profound and powerful experience, and I feel to make it a regular part of your practice and to do it from month to month, you'll really see the growth and the shifts. And one of the biggest universal benefits of Reiki that I've seen. Despite what the goals are of clients, a universal benefit is that you connect so much deeper to your intuition, so you're able to really get that inner feedback. You're able to make decisions faster, you have more clarity in your life. More focus in your life and more of an enhanced ability to be present. So I found this to be crucial, not only in my healing journey, but for my clients as well. It just truly does so much in enhances our lives.
Speaker:Oh my gosh, that all sounds amazing. Sign me up. Yes. Speaking of that, can you tell this audience like where we can find you to sign up and any other details regarding that?
Speaker 2:Sure, sure. So the best way to connect with me is through Instagram and it's named after my book. So it is at Great like you book. I also do have a website, which is great like you.com. But on my Instagram, I also will share about when I have in-person group events going on, because if you haven't tried reiki before, that's always such a great. Entry level way to get in. Also when I do the group virtual events, I'll share that. As well, through Instagram. And feel free to reach out and DM me anytime, because by request I'll put things together and we'll just have a great time connecting and getting to know each other. And I am open to any and all questions about Reiki'cause I know there's so much out there about it right now.
Speaker:Well, thank you for that. so before we pivot into our ending questions, is there any other, tips, or anything that you wanna share with this audience?
Speaker 2:Ooh. I mean, I would say. This area isn't something that you have ventured into yet. Where I would start a great resource for you to get started with meditations. Would be Insight timer. Mm-hmm. And if you look at me on there, I do have free meditations on there and they're very short and sweet. I keep them that way so that they are introductory to get you started on your practice. And I offer quite a few so you can change them up. Two of my favorites are, I do have a daily morning and a daily evening. Very short and sweet. Guided meditation I've found on my journey. Given the challenges I've had physically, it is hard for me and it has been in the past, hard for me to really settle in and meditate and receive these beautiful energy modalities. So where I started experiencing that is through the short guided meditation. I find that that's a great way to get started, and then you can just go from there because there's so many benefits for your nervous system and for your life when you incorporate these type of practices.
Speaker:Wow. Thank you for that. So now we're gonna pivot for the traditional three closing questions. Erica, ending questions. So the first ones, so besides Reiki, what other healing modalities do you recommend? Sure,
Speaker 2:sure. I love, sound Bowl. And at some of my in-person group sessions, we have Tricia, an Amazing Sound Bowl healer, that does it as well. And. I feel like there's so much science behind it, if you do look into that, but I feel like that's just such a great way to get deep and really connect. And then of course the meditations that you can do through insight time are also breath work that you can do through Insight Timer. I've been, recently doing a lot of hypno breath work through my friend Michelle. And very powerful, profound messages come through very quickly. when you get still and you give yourself time to really hear your inner voice. Everything will shift for you. Everything will upgrade for you. So that's a huge message that I wanna deliver to this audience today, is really just take that time to connect with you and hear yourself. Because in the environment that we're in, we do not. Do that enough. We have all the things, all the alerts, all the chimes going off. And so when you just get quiet, that's where the magical happen. That's where the answers will come to you and,, it's just gonna be amazing to see how your life really expands and up levels from that point.
Speaker:Wow. Such great tips. And next question, what is your favorite affirmation?
Speaker 2:Sure. I'm gonna give you two. So I am gonna give you one of yours, which I have the card in front of me right now. And I used, these cards and a lot of my. Sessions. These are just so special. So thank you for creating your affirmation deck. And so your affirmation that I love the very most, I have a lot of favorites, but one of yours that I love the very most is everything I need is already within me. And that really resonates with what we're talking about with listen to that inner voice, get in touch with that intuition. So that's why that's one of my favorites from you. And then from me, there's an affirmation or motto or mantra that I created years ago, and I call it the great like You Crew, mantra. And it is center, serve, celebrate. And so this is how we wanna structure our days center, serve, celebrate. So starting each day by centering yourself, by getting grounded, by doing that thing that makes you feel fulfilled and excited to start your day. However that looks for you, making that a daily priority. We'll really set you up for success because you are gonna show up as your best self, as long as you're centered at the start of each day. So center, serve, celebrate. The second step is to serve, and this is how you spend the majority of the day. Whether it's through your work, through your helping others, through your paying compliments to others in service is how we spend the bulk of our days. And so then remembering third. To cap your day off in celebration. So taking time to take a step back and really reflect on something amazing that you did that day, even if it was just a little, little shift or a little, little move towards your goal. This is something that we do not do. Enough in this fast-paced environment that we're in, we do not take the moment to really pat ourselves on the back and we can of course, also lead the way and do this for our loved ones as well. So center, serve, celebrate.
Speaker:Oh, I love that. And I loved the celebration part.'cause you're right, we're always looking at what still needs to be done and we're so hard on ourselves. But I'm gonna add that to my night routine. Uhhuh, my little nightly ritual. I'm gonna celebrate what was my win for the day. Love it. Okay, so the last question, Erica.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:What are you most proud of?
Speaker 2:Ooh. I love this question, and I would say equally my book and my Reiki practice, because through that I'm showing others how they can turn their pain into their purpose and using this life to help others live their lives most fully.
Theresa Cesare:Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. Please download, rate, subscribe, and share this podcast. Also, be sure to visit my theresacesare.com to check out my inspirational merch, connect to my social accounts, and much more may you continue to be filled with wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Otherwise, friends, I will be back in two weeks for another episode of Heart to.