My journey to
becoming a helping professional might seem like a series of random life
accidents to some. Others might see the linearity in those events. Looking back
now, I personally believe it was meant to unfold the way it did.
Ever since I
remember I’ve been fascinated by the mastery of the physical performance of the
human body. As a kid, seeing a sports championship on TV instantly made me want
to try that sport and take it to the highest possible level. I was eagerly
looking for some form of movement my body could perform and excel in. In my
teenage years, I ended up in competition swimming, ranking among the promising
prospects of my native country, Hungary. For years I’d kick my days off diving
in the swimming pool at 5:40 AM, making me fall asleep during my first classes
of the day at school, and getting back again to the strokes in the water right
after. It was intense, but I loved it. In my high school years, basketball
became my main sport, which I gave up after 4 years of practice, when I
finished school. At the age of 19, I met a guy who introduced me into Aikido, a
traditional non-competitive form of martial arts originating from Japan. I fell
in love with the philosophy of calm discipline, with the idea of respecting our
enemy, channelling their energy, turning it back to them not to defeat or beat
them, but rather disarming them and leading them into stillness. For a good 20
years, I had been practising Aikido almost daily. Moving to Brussels in 2010
drew me off again from systematic practice, but I’ve never given up on my fun
sports (football, tennis, squash, ping-pong and could go on). Physical exercise
has always stayed in the core of my being, a part of my identity if you will…
… until, in
2022 life happens again. My knee was severely injured without accident or major
physical strain. I need to slow down, learn patience through my pain and,
accept physiotherapy as the only form of sport I can practice. It broke me at
first, but life proved to be a teacher beyond what I had imagined. One day,
doing my regular physio exercise in the woods, my lower back suddenly got stuck
and I felt the harshest pain ever. I lay down on the underwood, call my wife to
come and pick me up by car, to witness her ever-fit and strong husband take 45 minutes
to get in and another 90 to get out and walk those 10 meters from the closest
spot by the sidewalk to our front door. I lay down on the bed and from there I
spend 5 memorable days not being able to get up again. I mean not at all.
Including no going to the toilet. Let alone to my son’s baccalaureate
graduation ceremony just hours later that very day. I watch it on Youtube, from
the bed, just 2 blocks away from where it is happening. Thank COVID, I was
grateful for that! But not being able to go to the bathroom is another degree
of an issue. Losing one’s dignity at the age of 50, and being fully dependent
on someone else is cruel. Even if that one is the person closest to us.
Spending a good 11 days in bed brought me the mindset shift. And the Universe was
gracious enough to send along a gift. One day, walking our dog, my wife
“accidentally” (and I did say about accidents earlier…) chose to engage in a
conversation with an old man we had been seeing regularly in our neighbourhood
for years, but never talked to. Turns out he is into Reiki, a form of energy
healing we knew close to nothing about. Desperate as my wife feels, she calls
me and cautiously asks if I am open to give the thing a try. Desperate as I am,
I instantly say yes. That’s how Luigi comes to our home on that very Sunday and
gives me the one-hour magic on our dining table topped with my son’s bed
mattress. I have never felt that kind of gentle and compassionate attention,
that strong intention to help with any other therapist before. At the end of
the treatment, Luigi calls in my wife and tells me to get off the table and
take some steps just to show her that I can. It sounds like a joke. A bad one.
And it happens, I get up and walk. Just like Lazarus in the Bible. 2 more
sessions and 11 days later, not only I am able to walk again, but we set out on
our usual dreadful 1400-km full day non-stop driving summer trip to go back
home. With me at the wheel for the full length. The rest is history…
Coming back
after the summer break, the shift was amplifying. I started to look at life and
the fragility of our health in an entirely different way. I felt a strong
calling to learn a form of therapy that empowered me to help others avoid going
where I’ve been or come out of the suffering just like I did with Luigi’s help.
The first method calling me was Ayurvedic Yoga Massage, taught by an
internationally acclaimed master who coming to give intensive training to
Brussels from Asia, just months after my life-changing incident. Before
Christmas I was a Certified AYM therapist, embarking on my mission to become
another pair of healing hands in my hometown of choice. And eventually, I
couldn’t help looking into learning Reiki, too. I was lucky enough to be
initiated and trained by Kubo Atsushi sensei, representing the direct lineage
of authentic Japanese Usui Reiki, just 4 generations down the line from its
founder, Usui Mikao.
My intention
now is to serve and help as many people as I possibly can, preventing or
significantly easing their pain. My allies are my innate skills to listen and
connect with humans and the compassion taught to me by my own suffering.
It would be a
true privilege for me to gain your trust. I promise I will never take it for
granted.