Enchanted entrepreneur: Spiritual store blossoms

Debbie Veach is the first to admit that she’d like to have more forest in her Enchanted Forest Reiki Center, 800 N. Rainbow Blvd., Suite 100, but with the rapid growth of the business, anything seems possible.

“I’d love to have our own building, with trees and some grass and the chance to meditate outside more,” Veach said. “Hopefully, that’s something we can do soon, maybe even next year.”

Veach started the 3 1/2-year-old center with one room and a few items to sell to supplement the income from her healing sessions. The business has expanded and now includes several rooms for reiki sessions, meetings, classes and sound therapy, among other events and activities, with a tree sculpture dominating the gift store entrance. The business also sells jewelry and a wide variety of spiritual items, including divination tools, incense, stones, crystals, wands, statues, mists and oils.

“We like to bring in different healers and psychics,” Veach said. “We bring in anyone who’s kind of metaphysical/alternative in their way of thinking.”

That includes a 10-year-old boy who recently led a reiki circle, creating a crystal grid.

“More and more of the children who are coming are more gifted and more in tune than prior generations,” Veach said. “This boy is very connected with crystals.”

The word “reiki” is Japanese and translates to “mysterious atmosphere” or “miraculous sign.” It more colloquially refers to the universal spirit or life force. Practitioners believe they can manipulate this energy through laying their hands on clients to help foster equilibrium and healing, mentally, physically and emotionally.

“It’s not just tapping into your own energy, like martial artists who tap into their chi,” Veach said. “It’s learning to open up to all of the energy provided by the universe and letting that channel through to the person you’re helping.”

Cheryl Schwochert has worked at the center for a year as a reiki practitioner and has found the experience life-changing.

“You can feel the energy when you come in here,” Schwochert said. “It’s completely different from what’s going on outside.”

Before coming to the center, Schwochert worked in the food and beverage industry but left in part because she felt the job didn’t utilize her gifts.

“I’m a medium,” she said. “I channel messages from people’s loved ones who have passed, as well as spirits. I didn’t admit it to a lot of people until about a year ago. I’ve been doing it for friends and family for a while. I’ve been able to do it since I was a teenager.”

She has found that helping the center’s clients has been rewarding for her, in her capacity as a medium and a reiki practitioner.

Reiki was formalized in 1922 by Japanese spiritual practitioner and scholar Mikao Usui, but Veach said the basics of the practice have existed for thousands of years.

Veach’s parents were casual reiki proponents, but she hadn’t given it much thought until she had a long-recurring medical issue that traditional medicine did not seem to be able to diagnose or treat. She was reminded of the practice, dove into the literature and sought practitioners. When she had mastered it to her satisfaction and no longer suffered from her medical issue, she knew she wanted to share it with others.

“I want people to realize that we’ve got our own abilities that nature provides for healing,” Veach said. “I want people to look for answers other than putting a pill in their mouth. I’m not saying not to see doctors. I’m saying to try natural means first.”

For Veach, that doesn’t always mean meditation and reiki. She believes, as many doctors do, that people can improve their health through diet changes and exercise.

“Get out more, reconnect with your body in natural ways and seek healthier lifestyles,” she said. “This is a place where people can help you do that and seek balance.”

For more information, visit enchantedforestreiki.com.

Contact East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 702-380-4532.