Melissa Gardiner
My personal healing journey began with a Landmark Forum Course that my parents gifted to me in 2003.
This opened my eyes to a whole new way of seeing and being in the World.
Yoga
When I tried Yoga for the first time in 2005, as cliche as it sounds it truly felt like coming home. A feeling of finding home within. Having lived a life up until that point disassociated from my physcial body – this truly was a blissful feeling. The calm and ease it created in my nervous system was a welcome relief to the anxiety, depression and disassociation I had been experiencing. I’ve been deeply committed to my Yoga practice since, as it brings joy, ease, and love to my Life.
I studied Yoga extensively with my kind and loving teacher, Donna Farhi. I attended numerous intensives and retreats, amounting to 800+ hours of study. It was an honour to be accepted onto Donna’s 21-day Advanced Teacher Training in 2010, and I have been a teaching assistant at many of Donna’s workshops in New Zealand and Australia.
In 2017 I decided it was time to get officially certified as a Yoga teacher and I did my 200hr Yoga certification through The Contemporary Yoga Centre in Auckland with the delightful teachers; Karla Brodie, Neal Ghoshal, Vincent Boletta and Dyana Wells.
Yoga is a deep and insightful practice that brings One many joys. It helps considerably in balancing your nervous system so you can cope more easily with everyday life pressures and stress. The beauty is it can be practiced by anyone. You don’t need to be flexible or be a particular age, size or shape to enjoy the many blessings of Yoga. I am passionate about Yoga and all it entails, and this passion is reflected in my teaching.
CranioSacral Therapy
This healing modality truly lights me up. It is all about listening to the body and allowing the body to share what it needs to heal. It is a beautiful mix of Science and Energy. CranioSacral Therapy has a unique ability to facilitate deep healing, shifts, and transformations, especially when the person is ready to embrace it.
I have studied Craniosacral Therapy through the Upledger Institute International where lecturers from around the globe travel to Aotearoa to offer Trainings. I completed CranioSacral Therapy I + II in Christchurch during 2009 and 2010, followed by SomatoEmotional Release I + II during 2018. These are the 4 core post-grad Trainings. I have been a teaching assistant for both the CST I and CST II trainings which is the perfect opportunity to hone ones skills and embody the layers of knowledge.
During February of 2020 I completed the Applications of SomatoEmotional Release Course in Christchurch with the gifted and compassionate Rebecca Ridge. Through rigorous written and practical assessments in 2021, I completed my Techniques Certifcation through the Upledger Institute and I am now proud to say I am a certified CranioSacral Therapist.
Angelic Reiki
I began my journey of Angelic Reiki with a healing session with the divine Rachel Zahner at the Body Mind Spirit Festival in Christchurch, back in 2018. This piqued my curiosity as I felt a dramatic shift in my energy bodies. Being one who loves to learn and experience, it was no surprise that my Soul pulled me into the realms of the Angels.
From here I went on to complete the 1st and 2nd degrees of Angelic Reiki in 2020 with the talented and radiant teacher Tania Smith. I completed the 3rd and 4th degrees of Angelic Reiki in 2021, and became attuned to the Angelic Kingdom of Light as a Master Teacher & Practitioner in 2022, under the guidance of Tania.
I love teaching people how to channel these high vibrational energies for healing and transformation. I am passionate about supporting people in raising their frequencies, making this Ascension journey we are all navigating together easier.
2024 saw me offering my first group Angelic Reiki healing to 30+ people at the Papanui Spiritual Centre, which was a transformative and healing event for those who attended.
The Compassion Key ®
My first experience of Compassion Key was with Edward Mannix through a collective Clearing of The LightWorkers’ Persecution Imprint™️online in March of 2023. This was a powerful event, and I knew in my Being that learning more about this would not only support me on my own personal healing journey but also others on theirs.
Compassion Key® is highly effective in dealing with karmic imprints and the affects of our inner child wounds. Throughout 2023 & 2024 I studied online at my own pace, whilst attending live healing sessions with Edward and other faculty, and taking part in an exceptional one-on-one healing consult with a fun and nurturing facilitator.
After a number of practice sessions with online class friends, I was delighted to receive my certification as a Compassion Key Practitioner.
I have a deep love and appreciation for Nature. Being raised on a small remote island, I grew up surrounded and immersed in Nature. And it has been Nature that has kept me steady, grounded and connected through out all the trials on this journey of Life.
“Nature is here to Nurture us.
Nature is here to Remind us of
our True Nature within.”
iRest Yoga Nidra
From early on in my Yoga practice I was drawn to the depths that could be reached through meditation and in particular the Yoga Nidra’s that Donna was sharing. An early experience of Yoga Nidra where I became one with the Universe will be forever etched in my mind and Being. To feel such expansiveness, nothingness, beingness was profound.
I was drawn to learn more about this, and I completed an Integrative Restoration, aka iRest®, Level 1 Yoga Nidra Training with Dr Richard Miller in 2014 in Australia.
iRest helps you question all that you take yourself to be. It encourages you to ask: Am I my body? Am I my thoughts? Who am I? These enquiries reveal the changing nature of what you perceive as solid reality. Through these meditative led enquiries into the nature of who and what you are, you become less reactive or identified with, any thought, belief, emotion, sensation, image or experience. Instead, you witness these changing phenomena without judgement and create an unshakable equanimity, even in the midst of change and uncertainty. (NB: words inspired from the iRest.com website)
I share this wonderful and enlightening practice in my Restorative Yoga classes, mini-Retreats and weekend Retreats.
Relaxation Massage
At the end of 2022, I completed my Diploma in Wellness and Relaxation Massage through The New Zealand College of Chinese Medicine in Auckland. I studied part time from home, begining February 2021. The study was rigorous, with self-paced learning, assessments and online exams. This Diploma involved traveling to Auckland for three intense weeks of practical assessments and physical exams, which culminated in working in a clinic space on the public. I am thrilled to now be a qualified Massage Therapist.
This modality has become increasingly meaningful to me, offering a soothing way to release tension through the healing power of touch. Healthy touch is fundamental to well-being, offering not only physical relief but also emotional comfort and a deeper sense of connection.
Yoga, for me, provides the space of rediscovering and remembering my true Self – my True Nature
Through Yoga I have learned the importance of loving my body and of truly loving my Self.
Through this space of acceptance I am creating a life of balance, Joy and flow. This ripples out to those around me.
Any change we create on the inside, creates change in this beautiful World we are all living in.
Together we rise.