Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Oberhill.
Karen, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey to where I am today has been a profound process of returning to myself. I grew up very sensitive in a chaotic and high-control environment. I learned that being myself was not okay – that I needed to stuff my emotions down and defer my intuition and wisdom to external forces. The belief that others knew better than me and that I wasn’t safe to practice my inner knowing forged my relationship with myself and how I related to the world, though I was not aware of it at the time. I struggled to find myself, belonging, and a career, because I was always seeking answers from others. I tried a lot of different jobs and eventually landed on getting my Masters in Counseling because I knew that I was a good listener and cared for other people. I was fortunate to find a job at a Community College upon graduation and I loved it. I believe strongly in education for all and was able to connect with so many people from different backgrounds. I was inspired by the stories of the students I met there and felt excited about helping them to see their gifts and talents. I did a lot of classroom facilitation, helping students to understand their values, strengths, interests, and work preferences. My favorite part of that job was watching people’s eyes light up when they saw the correlation between their talents and passions, which more easily led them to educational and professional goals. I wanted to make sure everyone left my office feeling heard, seen and appreciated.
After 11 years in Career Counseling, I made the decision to become a private practice therapist. I knew I had a lot of transferable skills and wanted to help people on a deeper level. I called our local practice owners and asked their advice for getting into the field, sharing my experience and asking curious questions. One of those practice owners decided to try me out and shortly thereafter I joined a 40+ person mental health private practice in Kalamazoo, MI. I learned a lot there, eating lunch with the other therapists and participating in two supervision groups. During that time I purchased untold amounts of books so I could learn every kind of therapeutic modality and treatment intervention that interested me. I was especially interested in Mindfulness practices, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Parts Work and Somatic (body wisdom) Therapies, because I value personal agency. Helping people to view their thoughts and behaviors without attachment so they can make choices that align with personal power felt incredible. I started leading people in meditations for relaxation and had people envision what different future choices might look like. One of the things I learned was that many people aren’t really able to receive the messages their bodies are sending. Learning to help people feel safe enough to want to connect to their bodies again became important to me. I tried a lot of treatment interventions during that time but ultimately felt as if something was still missing. I noticed that my clients weren’t feeling healed and wanted to keep coming to sessions, even after we accomplished their therapy goals. It felt that we were addressing the same issue or pattern over again, and I wanted to keep digging to add deeper healing modalities.
Running concurrently with my career passions came a period of time where everything seemed to go wrong. In the Spiritual Counseling world, we can this a dark night of the soul, and what it means is that challenges keep coming and are outside of your personal scope of control. In this dark night, you may feel separate from God or the Universal energy, and question life and your identity. It started with working too many hours as a therapist. My resting heart rate was 125 bpm and I felt dizzy, eventually fainting on a family trip. Shortly thereafter I was diagnosed with 3 Autoimmune Diseases, which led to 4 eye surgeries and the removal of my thyroid. Additionally I was struggling with the death of my mother, whom I helped pass at home. My company was being bought out and I could barely get out of bed to see clients. I was also involved in a contentious custody case that lasted years and drained my finances and energy. Finally, I lost one of my therapy clients, someone I helped leave a domestic violence situation. When she passed, I didn’t understand. I was mad at the world. I felt sick and tired. I knew it was time to take a step back from seeing clients and put my own healing first. I got a therapist, a wellness coach, began breath work and Qigong, and found a Reiki Master Teacher and Quantum Healer.
Reiki is a Japanese relaxation technique that promotes healing. It is an integrative therapy that does not replace medical or mental health care, but can enhance it. Reiki can be done hands on or off, in person, from a distance, asynchronously or synchronously. The moment I felt the energy, I began to feel lighter and more like myself. It took time, but this energy led me towards what I needed to keep healing, and by that, I mean, I would just know the next right thing. I also credit energy healing with helping me to find my inner voice and my intuition again. I loved it so much that I studied under the Reiki Master Teacher. Through a process of Attunement, or a special ceremony in which the Teacher passes the ability to allow Reiki to flow through a Student, I became more sensitive to energies, could hear my inner wisdom with more clarity, and felt a loving connection from the Universe. Eventually I was able to make peace with the death of my client and mother. I was stronger mentally and physically because of the self work I was doing. The noise in my mind went away and I was able to meditate for the first time. My nervous system calmed and I became more articulate, able to express my feelings and not take things so personally. The biggest surprise was the sense of peace I found and the renewed desire to develop my skills and be of service. I received certifications in hypnotherapy and regression therapy. I did a lot of studying energy management, the energy of situations, and the quantum field, or the particles of energy around us. If you think about it right now, you can probably sense the energy of other people, or in a room, or can perceive the energy of a situation. You could call this your 6th sense, or the subtle senses that exist outside of your 5 physical senses: seeing, touching, tasting, smelling and hearing. Now I that I have a language to explain energy, I love to help people develop their sixth sense, too, (hence my business, 6 Ray Healing, LLC.) I discovered that when people feel safe enough to listen to their bodies and intuition, that they intuitively know what they need to really heal themselves. And if discovering that inner wisdom is a challenge, then we can talk about hypnotherapy as an option to connect to the subconscious mind. There are so many ways to heal with energy. I think that’s why I love it.
My personal history, combined with my professional experience, allows me to meet my clients exactly where they are. Today, I am deeply honored to hold space for others to move from feeling stuck or overwhelmed to a place of aliveness and balance. My practice is designed for those who have been through the things I have: grief, loss, car accidents, surgeries, religious pressure, relationship imbalances, identity confusion, people pleasing, overworking, systemic issues, and more. Many people I work with have already done or are continuing to do their inner work and are ready for the deeper energy work that can integrate the wisdom of the lessons they have learned into their daily lives.
I started working with energy and the subconscious mind because I realized that true healing requires more than just clinical understanding; it requires a safe, grounded container for us to listen to our spirit. I realized that my own experiences with trauma, imposter syndrome, and the pressure to ‘fix’ others were actually the foundation of my intuitive gifts. Today, as a Spiritual Counselor, Reiki Master Teacher, and Hypnotherapist, I bridge that gap. I combine my clinical background with somatic and energetic practices to help others own their energetic sovereignty and personal power. My mission is simple: to help people slow down, listen to their own inner wisdom, reclaim their intuitive gifts, and move forward with healthy connections and experiencing more joy.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It certainly hasn’t been a smooth road, but I’ve come to view the rough patches not as barriers, but as the essential architecture of my current practice. My path was paved with significant personal trials—from navigating both client and personal trauma to managing autoimmune disease, chronic illness, and the complex grief of caretaking and losses. For a long time, I struggled with proving my worth while neglecting my own nervous system. For few years I was dependent on drinking wine to stifle the pain of my situation. I didn’t want to feel so much emotion and thought that disconnecting from my body at night or when I was alone made life easier. I ultimately discovered that I wanted better coping tools because I deserved real healing, too. I started to change my habits slowly, starting with drinking more water. Eventually I added lymphatic movement, pranayama, kundalini yoga, sound healing events, and sessions with other practitioners. I learned to read Tarot cards to help me understand the stories I was telling myself, and to move from a victim mentality to one of feeling empowered. I am sober 5 years and credit my family and the amazing teachers and helpers I met along the way. I didn’t give up, choosing to become disciplined, focused and determined to heal. It was worth it. I am happy now and I wasn’t sure I could feel happy a few years ago.
Running my business, 6 Ray Healing, LLC, has also been challenging. I was not initially very intelligent with my business decisions. I would say I had the typical entrepreneur mentality: “I have solutions! People will come,” I thought. But they didn’t come in large numbers as I predicted. And so I kept going, kept learning. Joining an entrepreneurship camp helped me a lot because it gave me some practical skills and helped me to ground the soul of my business. Recently I have been on a beautiful journey of networking where I am meeting other business owners with similar personal missions to mine. We have a cup of tea or go for a walk, discuss our passions, and ask how we can support one another. I love meeting people who are not concerned about competition, realizing that even if we offer similar services, they are needed because no two people will offer exactly the same services. I am also putting myself out there in the world – I am starting to offer events, workshops and quick educational videos. A podcase is next and I feel goosebumps as I think about it. I am starting to have fun with the creative process of sharing my knowledge so other people can find their wisdom. It feels really good.
The biggest obstacle for me was that internal journey: moving from a place of people-pleasing and external validation to reclaiming my own energetic sovereignty. Reconciling my identity and learning to reparent myself after the deaths of my parents were the hardest chapters, but they were also the catalyst for everything I do today. I realized that the pain I experienced wasn’t just something to get over; I gained the wisdom that allows me to hold space for others who are feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure of their next step. The struggle wasn’t a detour; it was the training ground for the compassion I bring to my clients now.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
6 Ray Healing, LLC is a space where clinical expertise meets intuition, the subconscious mind, and energy work. I guide people back to their body, their wisdom, and their joy. I am a Spiritual Counselor, Reiki Master Teacher, and Hypnotherapist, and my business is built on a foundation of 19 years of counseling experience combined with holistic, somatic, and energetic practices. I named my business 6 Ray Healing because I am drawn to help sensitive people to own and remember their intuitive abilities. If you ever played pretend as a child, you were using your intuition. Maybe you could image what to do next, see it like a moving picture, draw it out, etc. We all had the ability to connect in to inner wisdom, to play and to be joyful until our caretakers, and/or general society told us not to play, and not to follow subtle inner wisdom. I love the rebellious justice of reclaiming inner agency, power and joy in a world that is struggling to accept that every individual person deserves autonomy, access and resources.
I specialize in helping sensitive, thoughtful individuals who have done personal work, or who are curious to develop their intuition and gifts. If you still feel “stuck” or disconnected, we can work with your Subconscious or Wise Mind through various modalities. My offerings include Spiritual Counseling, Reiki and Energy Management Sessions, Intuitive Mentoring and narrative card readings. I offer Private 1-1 Reiki Apprenticeships for people who are drawn to energy healing and want to develop their abilities. My Hypnotherapy sessions vary in length and can help you to access the deepest layers of connection with the subconscious mind. I like to tell people that I work on a continuum; I offer everything from practical grounded tools for everyday, to standing in personal power managing your energy, to developing that 6th sense and an understanding of multidimensional healing. Every session will include spending time integrating the mind, body, and spirit. It is important that you understand the choices you are making and how they affect your relationships and your life.
I think something that sets me apart is that I don’t position myself as the authority over anyone else. I view my clients as the experts on their own lives, with many viable choices. My approach is explicitly consent-based, trauma-informed, and paced to the client’s nervous system. I am most proud of the brand identity I’ve cultivated—one that champions energetic sovereignty. My goal isn’t to create long-term dependency on me, but to teach people how to stand firmly in their own unique skills and own their power. I want readers to know that healing doesn’t have to be a struggle; when you feel safe enough to slow down, you reconnect with your natural, innate capacity to heal.
I am most proud that 6 Ray Healing represents a refuge of safety in a world that often demands we perform. Brand-wise, I want to be known as a practitioner who listens deeply—to people and to the subtle language of energy. To your readers, I want to say: you don’t have to struggle to be heard, and you don’t have to perform to be worthy of care. Your mind, body and spirit know what to do to heal. I’m just a guide.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I would say don’t give up when you really want to create something beautiful and useful to the world. I used to think not giving up meant pushing harder, working longer hours, and grinding through the resistance—that was the culture I came from. But the most important lesson I’ve learned is that there is a profound difference between perseverance and force. If I allow myself space, I am more creative. If I am honest about my feelings, I feel more connected to myself and to other people.
For a long time, I tried to force my business out there and wanted my career to look a certain way based on external expectations, which only led to burnout and health crises. The lesson was don’t give up on your own truth. I had to learn how to surrender the need to control others’ perceptions of me and the outcome itself so that I could actually hear what my intuition was guiding me toward. Real persistence means that you are brave enough to understand and share who you are, all parts included. You cannot worry about other people judging what feels true to your heart, to your spirit. We were all created to have something special to share, and if it doesn’t resonate with some, that’s okay. Don’t force it. Now instead of powering through or shifting my creation to meet the expectations of others, I practice the quiet, daily courage to return to my center, listen to my body, and honor my own pace and creativity. It is a gift to help other people do the same.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.6rayhealing.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/6rayhealing
- Facebook: 6 Ray Healing, LLC
