Get yourself a facial that does it all. We appreciate a good multi-tasking beauty treatment, and holistic esthetician Julie Civiello Polier’s signature Shamanic Facial is the ultimate.

Booking a facial can be a tough splurge for some of us to justify, what with life’s rapid pace these days. We popped in to stylish beauty mecca, tenoverten recently to learn what all the buzz was about over Julie’s reiki facial and found ourselves one thousand percent refreshed, revived – and, dare we say, prettier – after little over an hour. Busy moms with a leaning towards the woo-woo and executive babes who need a treatment to be double duty in half the time — listen up. This is one of our favorite new treatments in the city.

Combining magical microcurrent with potent botanical potions, healing crystals and reiki (learn more below) this unique treatment combines mind-body benefits with major beautifiers. Here’s a bit more from Julie herself…

Q: What the heck is reiki, in case people aren’t sure?

A: Reiki, a gift from the Japanese lineage, offers healing for the mind, body and spirit. A Reiki practitioner channels universal life force energy, or through the laying on of hands over the client’s energy centers, or chakras, bringing harmony and balance, as well as ridding the body of blockages, trapped emotions or anything that isn’t serving at present.

Reiki has been effective in promoting wellness or recovery for virtually every known illness and malady. It is also compatible with any other treatment, often assisting and supporting the existing healing program, be it radiation, chemotherapy, prescriptions, etc. Clients report deep feelings of well-being, peace and even miraculous recoveries, leading lives that are symptom-free, cancer-free, radiant with a complete return to their highest and most loving selves.

Split photo with a salon lounge on the left and a therapist performing a facial on the right

Q: What should be expected during the reiki facial?

A: Who knows what will happen! Some clients experience a gentle, relaxing facial and may even receive a deep rest with a nap. Others have a cathartic release, tears are shed, and they purge a lot of emotions. I often begin with a grounding meditation, inviting all fragments of ourselves to gather and fully arrive in the present moment. I ask the client what the intention is for the session or what brought him/her in for the treatment. This allows both of us a focused container to work and release into.

I read the client’s energy, often visuals or information start coming to me to share, or the guides have messages of loving encouragement or redirection to pass on. I assess their skin after a loving and relaxing cleansing to discover which protocol is most aligned: microcurrent (a gentle and harmless electrotherapy that can be an alternative to injections and facelift surgery), gua sha with rose quartz gemstone, lactic mask, extractions, soothing mask, detoxing scrub, vitamin infusion, repairing serum.

In almost every treatment, prayer or meditation is used to invite harmony throughout the chakras, body, mind, spirit. It’s a journey, and many clients share they feel deeply restored and aligned as they float out of the treatment room.

Q: How did you discover reiki, and can you share a couple things you’ve learned you believe everyone should do/try based on your learnings?

A: When I teach others who wish to be Reiki practitioners, I often share the magic and miracles that are more pronounced in one’s life with the incorporation of this healing technique. And one of my many magical experiences with Reiki is that it found me! For several years before I received my reiki level one attunement, folks would come up to me, often strangers on the street, asking to look at my hands, requesting I give them a healing. Bewildered, I would mumble an apology, saying I wasn’t a healer and excuse myself. Little did I know, we are all healers, each with unique and incredible gifts.

As the Universe often provides, reiki healers began to present themselves into my life, or friends would invite me last minute to a workshop or gathering. I found my Reiki teachers, or they found me, and I received all levels of attunement and now attune others who are called to the work through their levels of certification.

Through the practice and study of Reiki, I have remembered we are all healers, we are all capable of alchemizing — transforming matter and any event into a gift of learning, an opportunity to deepen our relationship to ourselves and to love. In a Reiki healing, inviting deep breath into the body, a full expansion of oxygen into the lungs, allows any blockages or restrictive patterns or belief systems that aren’t serving anymore to ride out and release through the exhale.

I offer to you as you read this, that your breath is your life force. This is the most magical tool and gift you carry. Your breath assists you to soar through any challenge, any difficulty, as well as remain grounded through any achievement and life-shifting success. This breath is available to you now and always and allows you to respond instead of reacting. Breathing in deeply in this moment allows you to choose who you will be now in this new moment, and in this moment, and in this one.

Looking for an effective at-home skin hack? Scoop up another
genius skincare tip from Julie here.