I am Lilia. Therapist, Artist, Reiki Teacher.

I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and graduated from University of Michigan in 2012. In June of that year I moved to New York City and lived there for ten years. I started off working in non-profits, my favorite role being a Program Manager for a consulting company that helped other non-profits with fundraising. The consultants used to say they were therapists for Executive Directors and Board Members and it was in that work that I realized I wanted to be a therapist...but for anyone. So in 2016 I went back to school for a Masters in Clinical Social Work at New York University. My first role working as a therapist was my 2nd year Internship at the NYU counseling center working with college students in a short-term capacity. I absolutely loved it.

When I graduated I went on to work for a psychodynamic group practice in midtown manhattan. Interestingly, it was right around that time that I was introduced to a Reiki Teacher through a friend. I vaguely knew about Reiki but had never received a treatment. I decided to sign up and learn Usui Shiki Rhoyo Reiki Level 1 (a weekend course teaching the form for placing your hands gently on different energy points on the body in order to support energetic flow) so I was beginning my career as a therapist while also beginning essentially an embodied meditation practice.

I kept going with the Reiki learning level 2 and then eventually choosing to pursue Mastery Training in order to become a teacher myself. This three years of training brought me to Grenada, a small island in the Southern Caribbean that has an organic network of Reiki Practitioners including the teacher I was working with. I met my now husband on the airplane during my 6 month trip in 2021 and then moved here in early 2023 in a full time capacity. I have been experimenting with the best of both worlds of Reiki and Psychotherapy since 2017. You can read more about my sessions format here.

An example of a Reiki position. This is me treating my heart. Something nice and comforting to do whether you’ve learned Reiki officially or not ;)