Teacher Feature: Chona Bernardo!

Hometown?

I’m from Long Beach, CA.

How long have you been practicing yoga and Reiki?

Yoga 3 years, Reiki 6 years

How did you know that these were things that you wanted to pursue?  

I moved from home and didn’t have the convenience of my chiropractor, so that’s why I first started yoga. I wanted to try something different for my spinal alignment, and yoga has been that alternative healing.  Not only has it helped my back, but it's helped my spiritual and personal growth as well.

After I got laid off from my first career job, I was going through a rough time figuring myself out.  I met an intuitive healer at a gathering and she could sense my need for some energetic healing.  So she laid her hands on me (doing Reiki) and I could feel the old negative energy shaking out of me.  After 10 minutes of this I felt so much lighter, like a load was lifted off my body.  That’s when I realized there was something beyond this physical reality that can’t be seen, and wanted to learn Reiki to heal myself.   

What do you hope people will take away from your sessions?  

I hope people can see that energy is a real thing.  When we go through stress, trauma or any negative emotions, if we don’t process them thoroughly, the energy stays in our bodies and develops into diseases over time.  That’s why it’s important to practice self care to process our roller coaster of emotions.  I hope after a Reiki session, my clients will be mindful of their whole self, and strengthen their self care practice. Some great ways to practice self care are cultivating a regular yoga practice, meditating, or journaling on a regular basis.

What advice do you wish you could give your younger self?

1. Be  your most childlike self as you are because when you get older, you’ll work on remembering who your inner child was.
2. Be as weird and wild and unique as you can.  In the art world, originality is what is sought after.
3. Start meditating.

What do you do when you are not in the studio?

I like to do many things when I’m not at the studio.   Generally, I tend to nourish my introverted self by journaling, drawing & painting, connecting with trees, or going to Korean spas.  I value my alone time and would feel drained and ungrounded if I don’t do that for myself. Sometimes I go to coffee shops to read, or put shades on to secretly sketch the people in my view.

What two or three books would you always recommend to a friend? Women Who Run With The Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Life You Were Born To Live by Dan Millman, Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Do you have a favorite place to meditate? I usually sit in front of my altar filled with crystals at home.  But if I want change it up, I drive up to Self Realization Fellowship in Mount Washington. Or anywhere in nature I can sit down and tune in.

Where is your favorite place to go camping?

Camp Navarro in Mendocino County.  It has a lot of redwood trees with a river that runs through.  That forest makes me feel like I belong there, as if the trees are my aunts and uncles opening their limbs for hugs.  

What is something that most people would be surprised to learn about you? I aspire to open my own wellness community center that offers energy healing, acupuncture, massage, art therapy, yoga, and so much more. Once that’s well established, I hope to open another one in the Philippines so my family there can have easier access to holistic health care.

Chona Bernardo holds weekly reiki healing sessions for the community on Thursdays from 6:30-7:45pm for students that need to restore, heal and balance their subtle energies.
Chona’s sessions are donation based and suggested donation ranges $40-$80, cash only.