The Reiki Way of Life with Terrish Bilbrey
Waves Reiki Retreat Center sits on a peaceful property in Grayland, where owner Terrish Bilbrey has created a nurturing sanctuary for clients seeking to reconnect with their authentic selves. Terrish, a 20-year Navy veteran, discovered Reiki as a pathway to healing her own struggles with stress and illness. She now uses this gentle energy practice to help others find balance and wellness.
Terrish Bilbrey, owner of Waves Reiki Retreat Center
Waves Reiki Retreat Center features a studio space for classes, a sauna, and treatment rooms, with accommodations for overnight retreat guests upstairs. The ample outdoor space features a fire pit, garden, parking, and a volleyball net, which Terrish has invited the community to use. Terrish lives on site in a yurt behind the main building.
Terrish's philosophy centers on the belief that ultimate health encompasses nourishing the soul and finding rest from life's demands. With an active social media presence, she openly shares her journey with anyone interested in following along. When she's not guiding others through their healing journeys, Terrish can be found gardening, surfing, playing music with her band TMI, creating art, and snuggling with her two cats, Sweet Pea and Sparky.
The Drift caught up with Terrish to learn more about Reiki and her vision of it as a lifestyle. One where community members and visitors alike can experience the love and care she has poured into both her practice and the land.
What is Reiki?
Reiki is pure source energy. It’s universal energy. Everything on planet Earth is made up of energy and information, and humans are no different. We are also made up of energy and information. The practice of Reiki involves a human who has been called to, or has chosen to, channel source energy for themselves and others. Humans need access to this source energy because we often experience disruptions to our flow of energy. If we have a surgery, if we fall off our bicycle, if we're in a car accident, or if we have our heart broken, all of these things in life cause parts of our energy to get cut off or pinched. Reiki is like a tuning fork method of healing. It can help us with our presence in the world. It’s really a lifestyle that raises our vibration. If you want to break it down to one word, it’s love.
What happens in a Reiki session?
When someone comes in for a Reiki session, I ask them what they would like to focus on. Anything that comes to the surface, Reiki is a safe space of compassion and respect. Some basic results are stress reduction. Sometimes people take a nap because they're so relaxed. Often people feel seen and heard because it's a safe place to talk about something important to them. Many people feel more grounded and centered, and lighter.
Reiki can help someone work through that hiccup of their self-doubt or a belief that is hindering them from taking that next step. If they believe they can't do something, well then, that is going to be so. A Reiki practitioner or healer can help you walk through things that are holding you back from believing in yourself, and help the energy flow to areas that are stagnant or blocked.
Terrish, (wearing the sailor outfit), singing with her band TMI
Can you share a personal Reiki experience or outcome?
When I had my very first Reiki session, I said, “I want to learn to like myself.” And my healer helped with that. It changed my life. I was carrying all the things from childhood, from parents, school, society, all this shame and guilt, mistakes, and just all that stuff. Going to Reiki made me realize that's not who I am. All those things I didn't love aren't my true essence. I learned that I’m not what my mom said or what the neighbor said. My healer taught me that all that stuff is part of the human experience. Miraculous things can occur when we are reminded that we are in charge of our soul and our human journey.
I’ve literally been on the run since I was 16 because I never felt safe. For 20 years, the Navy was my hideout spot. So, I had a lot to learn, and I learned to understand that when things don't feel right, you have the right to say no. The hardest part was learning self-worth, deciding what I wanted, going for it, and holding myself accountable. But through all this work, things have shifted. I’m playing music again. I’m creating art. All of these things that when I was too far into my personality as rigid Terrish, I wasn’t doing the things my soul desired.
You have free Reiki share evenings. Who is that for?
It’s for anyone curious enough to walk through the door. If you are open to change and shifting, even if you’re scared, but are curious, I hold space for that. As the teacher, I am here to give people a toolbox. We will discuss Reiki and have the opportunity to practice it. We will set an intention to flow energy from our highest good to the other person’s highest good. Intention is the key to the universe; it is everything.
(Free Reiki Share classes will be held at 6pm on the following Mondays- September 15, October 13, November 10, and December 8)
You also offer Reiki Sound Healing. What is that like?
It's an opportunity for people to get a Reiki session at a really affordable cost. We go into the yoga studio, and I have mats and pillows laid out for everyone. This gives everybody a chance to come in, get comfortable on the floor, and check out. Turn your phone off. Turn your to-do list off. You have a whole hour. And during that hour, I'm flowing Reiki energy, which is pure source white light energy, which encompasses the entire spectrum of the rainbow. The sound bowls have the frequencies of the seven predominant human energy centers. They help move energy. So, if someone has stuck energy in their legs, chest, arms, shoulders, or elsewhere, the sound bowls help create balance, alignment, and expansion in each of the human energy centers, while Reiki flows. It's really just a circus of awesomeness!
(The next Reiki Sound Healing class is 6 pm Thursday September 25. $33. Register online.)
You also have a weekend retreat where you teach Reiki 1 and 2. What’s that all about?
Reiki 1 and 2 training can help you in self-healing. You learn how to understand and expand your personal energy. You’re getting an opportunity for a massive energy shift to align more toward your soul. And you may also discover through your own energetic work that you want to help others. if you decide you want to flow energy for other people, this training teaches you how to do it in a safe and proper way.
Reiki is a tuning fork, and by practicing it, you automatically exist in a better vibration that can also assist anyone lucky enough to be around you. Often, we're living from just this personality and this lifeline. We are living this fearful existence. We are working in a job we don’t like. We are in an unhealthy relationship. We have learned all this programming that keeps us stuck. This is our personality that we've constructed since we were born. Like, this is what I do, and this is who I am, and this is what I believe. Reiki is a lifestyle. It’s living in your joy, your highest soul's truth.
(Reiki 1 and 2 Retreat October 11-12, 10am-5pm. Meals included. $400. More info online.)
Terrish and her cat in the garden
How has practicing Reiki helped shape your vision for your life and your business?
We're not meant to do life alone. I still have a healer and a teacher. Every month, I have a check-in with someone I respect and feel safe with, and who is helping me with the trajectory of what I'm deciding for my life. My healer asks me, “what do you want to create next? What are you wanting to work on right now? What is important to you? Where do you want to focus? What do you want to shift and change?”
Most importantly, I feel safe here. And that's the kind of vibe I want to keep providing now and for the rest of my life. Waves is a place for people to feel safe, even if they don’t feel that way in the real world. This is a space to let down your guard. You don’t have to be the Mom, the CEO, or whatever your profession is. You can just come here and not have to pretend to do all the things. Feeling safe on this planet is something that every human needs to feel before they can really live their authentic life. That’s when we can all create the life of our dreams.
Waves Reiki Retreat Center is located at 2172 SR 105 Grayland, WA 98547
In addition to Reiki classes, Terrish also offers gentle yoga on Tuesday evenings at 6pm for $15.