How Jacarina Soto Is Disrupting The Reiki Industry

Jacarina Soto is a first-generation Dominican American who went from living the expected life of getting her college degree and working in corporate America to living a purposeful life running her own spiritually directed business. Today, she lives with the purpose of serving others as a Wholistic Life Coach, Reiki Healer, and Meditation Teacher.

Soto focuses her business on creating a unique safe space for aiding all women to help with doing the inner healing work, emphasizing helping BIPOC women. She wants to help women with her teachings focussing on the spirit, mind, body connection; when all three come together in alignment, people can move forward with strength, confidence, and happiness to accomplish all of their goals.

Making a Difference in BIPOC Communities

Soto has personally witnessed the most impact of her work within the BIPOC communities. Soto explains that “In the BIPOC communities, mental health and pretty much any form of healing work has been stigmatized. We have continued to normalize and suppress the trauma.” She understands that due to first-hand representation. “I had the unplanned experience of having women of color be my teachers, which has been powerful to see women that look like me take up space and be leaders in their fields,” she said.

Soto has been able to bring women together and allow them to discover their innate wisdom and power by using different modalities. These modalities eventually enable them to explore what works best for their distinctive body, mind, and soul. She believes that when all three come together in alignment, they can operate from our highest consciousness to live in authenticity.

Growing up as a first-generation Afro-Dominican American, Soto never felt like she quite fit her surroundings. “My coping mechanism was always to seek external validation from my achievements,” she said. “However, as much as I tried to live life to the expectations of my family and society, there was an internal war happening.” She found herself going through the motions of doing all the expecting things but never feeling fulfilled. When she started learning about the inner world, things began to fall into place and transformed everything.

“I always say I didn’t find Reiki,” Soto explained.  “Reiki found me. I think for the majority of us who end up in the holistic field, it was never intended, and life guides us here.” Soto feels that she was brought on this path for a purpose and wants to help others find themselves in the same direction.

“Don’t feel intimidated by the number of practitioners within the energy work field,” she said.  Soto believes that if you feel called to being a reiki practitioner or any other wellness practitioner, follow that feeling. Clients will trust your ability and think that you can help them. Just remember to bring your unique style to your practices. Even though Reiki is a hand-healing modality learned from a master to student, allow your intuition to guide you every time on how to do it. For Soto, that’s utilizing crystal during reiki sessions when they are not traditionally part of the practice.

When being an energy healer or reiki practitioner, the most important thing one must do is take care of your vessel. “With Reiki, our body becomes the conduit to channel the reiki energy,” said Soto. “This work requires a lot of energy used, and you’re working with other’s energy, so make sure to rest and reset when needed. Be mindful of taking care of your body, mind, and spirit how you see fit every day.”

Through the business aspect of it, customer service is critical. Soto ensures every client has the best experience possible. When you are growing your business, referrals will be the most significant marketing tactic. This is a service-based business, so Soto likes to make sure her clients feel safe to relax and can feel that you genuinely care about their wellbeing. You want your clients to leave feeling happy and be able to come back. There is false humility around charging for holistic services, that at the end, you are providing a service that requires your knowledge, skills, time, and energy.

Within the next five to ten years, Soto sees herself creating a massive community for women to connect worldwide. She wants to educate them on discovering who they are, recalibrate their energy, release limiting beliefs, and embody their highest consciousness. Soto hopes that as the world returns to travel and interact more freely, she can host in-person events and retreats, leading to creating a non-profit wellness center to provide mental support for teenage girls.