John Gosselin and Jenna Alphonse meet with the Edgecomb Planning Board on Thursday, July 7 about Alphonse’s plan to open a Reiki studio on Gosselin’s property at 27 Boothbay Road. (Abigail Adams photo)
The property at the intersection of Route 1 and Route 27 in Edgecomb has been the location of several businesses throughout the years, including a restaurant, a toy store, and a day care. Soon, 27 Boothbay Road in Edgecomb may be home to a reiki studio. Reiki is a Japanese healing technique for the body, mind, and spirit.
Reiki practitioner Jenna Alphonse and property owner John Gosselin attended the Edgecomb Planning Board’s Thursday, July 7 meeting to talk about the potential new use for a small building on the property. The meeting was a preliminary step. Alphonse plans to transform the small structure into a “peaceful, healing, and safe place” for clients, she said.
John and Kristen Gosselin recently received planning board approval to transform the first floor of their residence, the former day-care center, into a three-unit lodging house. Adjacent to their residence sits the small structure Alphonse is eyeing as the future home of her reiki studio.
Planning board members debated whether the change of use for the small structure would require a complete site plan review, or if the low impact of the change of use would enable the planning board to waive many of the requirements of the land use ordinance. The property has been through at least three changes of use, most recently in 2014, planning board members said.
Alphonse and Gosselin plan to return to the planning board with a completed change-of-use application. When they do so, the planning board will determine whether a full site plan review is required for the property. Alphonse hopes to open her reiki studio to the public by September, if not sooner.
Alphonse has been practicing reiki for about 20 years, and has been certified to teach reiki for about eight, she said. She was pursuing her nursing degree and working in the medical field when she witnessed firsthand the impact of reiki on the health of her patients, she said.
“In the medical field, it was a great opportunity to see the impact of the practice,” Alphonse said. Reiki helped reduce the need for medication by helping with pain management, Alphonse said. It also helped reduce patients’ anxiety and stress levels and restored emotional balance, she said.
Alphonse left the medical field to pursue reiki and spiritual healing full time, but said the practice, while based in the East, can work in concert with western medicine. “It’s very complimentary to western health care,” Alphonse said. “I love to see the two working together.”
Alphonse practices Usui reiki, which is based on healing techniques developed by Mikao Usui in the early 1900s. Following a spiritual quest, Usui discovered a system of channeling the energy of the universe to areas of the body experiencing energy blockages, or in need of adjustment, according to Alphonse’s background material on reiki.
The healing practice of reiki, which translates to “universal life energy,” developed as a result. Reiki practitioners help improve the flow of spiritual energy through a pattern of laying hands on the body. In addition to spiritual and emotional benefits, reiki is believed to accelerate the healing process for physical ailments.
The practice is not religious; it is a holistic, healing technique that honors all belief structures, Alphonse said.
Alphonse recently relocated to Edgecomb from Florida where she had a well-established reiki practice and taught individuals interested in becoming reiki practitioners, she said. While Alphonse hopes to return to teaching future reiki practitioners, she is focused on getting her studio up and running in Lincoln County.
“It’s a great location,” Alphonse said.
For more information about Edgecomb’s future reiki studio, contact Alphonse at 727-265-5371 or clearlightspiritwater@hotmail.com.
