What a week!

Free your spirit, and find your soul’s purpose in life. That’s the way to health and happiness, says holistic healer Ann Jenkins.

Interview by Zillah Bugeja

I won’t describe myself as just an aromatherapist. Holistic healing is a very Oriental way of looking at things. Everything is linked within the body. I use aromatherapy massage, shiatsu, hands-on healing, transference of energy, psychic intuitive healing. The Oriental analysis is really good. Knowing your blood type can also give you a clear picture of how you should be eating for optimum health.

Holistic natural healing treats not just the body, but the mind and soul too. It’s the soul that’s crying sometimes, so people need to understand the source of their problems.

Patients may react during sessions, crying or laughing, but mostly crying, and the one thing I always see is the change in facial expression. It lifts, and people go out looking younger.

During a consultation, I look at the feet first, without asking any questions, because I want to discover things for myself. After looking at the feet I look at the face and tell the client what I’m seeing by means of physical and emotional problems. It will fit in with what they’re feeling and have experienced. Once I know their make-up, I can know what herbs, vitamins, supplements and also what type of oils they need, for psychological or physical problems. I also advise about healthy eating.

The sessions also consist of a lot of counselling, teaching people how to overcome their problems. There is a lot of negativity around. For many women they are glorified maids, so they get frustrated and depressed with fits of obsession, which is regretfully, what is expected of them by society.

Even children are under a lot of pressure. For example dyslexic children are mistakenly sent to a psychiatrist when all they need is special teaching and to have their innate creativity emphasised.

Six years ago it was very difficult to communicate with the Maltese, all my clients were foreigners, but for the last three years I’ve survived solely on this work. The Maltese have opened up – it’s only by word of mouth that people come to me, I don’t advertise. I’ve even had doctors come to me for treatment, and often they send clients to me, like this French tourist who could hardly walk, but was fine after a session.

A lot of illnesses come from your whole framework. If you constantly say ‘xi dwejjaq’ your brain can actually change your DNA and you’re telling yourself to self-destruct, which results in auto-immune diseases. Women often feel dead from the waist down, not being able to let go of the past. This can be dealt with successfully.

Another thing that is treated well is pain. A lot of practitioners have been sending patients to me. The mixture between oils, lymphatic drainage massage and pressure point therapy on the meridians releases blockages immediately, I’m not exaggerating. It can be a little painful, then it is followed by release which lasts a long time.

The source of pain most of the time is not an injury, but someone being rigid or stressed, anxious, not balanced, and not giving enough time to themselves to find exactly what life is about. After six years, without wanting to, you learn from your clients. A problem with fear can lead to dysfunction in the kidneys and bladder, then you might have shoulder pain and sciatica too.

My suggestion would be for everyone to buy a good book and go with their guidelines to have a small kit of oils at home, even for when you go abroad. They can cure so many things, from sore throat, thrush, athletes foot, to migraine, and you don’t need to go with medication unless your back’s against the wall. Oils work wonders immediately for bronchitis, for example, you can even use them on your pets. My cat got over cat flu in only three days. And my son will ask for me to use oils as soon as there’s something wrong with him.

And the more you get your body used to natural healing, the quicker you will heal in future because it will be more receptive.

I started off in this profession when I had some terrible physical problems which would not go away, no matter what medicines I tried. I came across a book in Agius and Agius called Aromatherapy for Women, and I started to treat myself. Then we were given some horses who were destined to be put down, and I healed them too, obviously I was experimenting at the time, using human doses, but it prompted me to take the matter seriously and eventually make it my profession.

The message I would like to get across is for people to actually find their soul, which means to discover what eventually they’re meant to be doing. This will free you, when you break away from traditional pressures. Every individual is beautiful and has special things to offer the world.

Everyone has a role, the point is to find it. Obviously getting to know your body and how it ticks is important, as well as learning how to love and respect it – everything else will follow.

The worst illnesses come from anger, hate and resentment, so it makes sense to tap into goodness and positive thinking.

I’ve done many things in life and have now found myself, I know this is what I should have been doing in the first place. I’ve always worked with people, but now what I‘m doing is all my own doing, the return is also mine, I am not responsible for anybody else’s actions.

What you give, you get back. I’m surrounded by good people. I believe in equal exchange, where you get what you give. If you attract negativity you can’t appreciate life, so how can you then feel good about yourself? The damage you do is the damage you get.

I work very hard. I’ve got two children and this is my only source of income, yet I see a lot of people who don’t need to have all this stress. Ambition, pace of life and materialism as well as not being in touch, all wreak havoc on their lives, unnecessarily.
There are intelligent people out there who have understood that women have brains too, and that an individual cannot be suppressed to anybody else’s expectation. If you have a role which you can be of benefit to the community, why should you hide your talents? The old-fashioned trend of women being the cleaner has to change. Intelligence enables you to appreciate people’s talents. I believe in freeing the spirit. Even for men, if they’re not happy at work, they will feel trapped and not be free to express emotion, or do what it is that they need to do.

Communication with clients doesn’t stop when they leave, they all become friends, they’re not numbers, so I have a good relationship with all my clients. Some days I finish work as late as 8.30pm. the treatment takes time, depending on the client’s needs, especially if they need to be talked to. On Saturday and Sunday it’s not just work that goes on in the room, but people are phoning me all times of the day and night. I can’t tell them that it’s 10pm and I need to sleep. But the satisfaction I get from work makes up for the lack of personal time. You can’t do it if you give selfishly, you can’t seek yourself, because it is all about giving.