She replied to my mail immediately, I was touched by how thorough she was and how she answered all my questions patiently and compassionately, even though I was miles away, just a newbie asking some questions about Reiki.
This later impacted how I reply to anyone who asks me questions about Reiki.
More impressive was the fact that Gulcan never gave up on me, she continued to follow up with me. I took my Reiki class with William Rand in November that year. I was drunk with Reiki. Everywhere I looked there was Reiki. I wanted to share it with everyone I met. Gulcan was the first person I shared my Reiki 1&2 class experiences. I wrote her every detail, every miracle. We become Reiki pen pals.
I wanted to meet her in person when I was in Turkey the next summer. I sent her an e-mail. Her reply came few weeks later, just a day before we departed for Istanbul. She was in Denmark attending a training with the Dalai Lama. She was talking about how she was still up in the clouds. I was astonished. Could one really meet the Dalai Lama? Wow! I didn’t know we were going to be in Toronto next year sitting together just few yards from the Dalai Lama :-)
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| Gulcan and I at Toronto- May 2004 |
Gulcan and I met for first time on Monday June 30th 2003 at 10:30 am in her home in Fenerbahce, Istanbul. (thanks to my journaling records!)
I remember that day very clearly. It was one of the most memorable days of my life.
I’m not exaggerating… A lot happened that day that changed my life forever. First thing I remember is Peanut, Gulcan’s Cocker Spaniel who greeted me as soon as I entered her apartment, (Peanut, if you’re not in doggie heaven, you must have incarnated as a human being already!).
It was a beautiful summer day. We sat in her balcony overlooking the vast Marmara Sea. There was a clear blue sky, the Princess Islands were shining like diamonds, we could see sailing boats and joggers on the trail down below. We had a lot to talk about. We caught up on our life stories. She was an industrial engineer from Middle East Technical University, one of the most prominent engineering schools in Turkey. She worked in IT, she had experiences in sales, training and even as a translator.
I brought her a gift, a necklace that had immediately reminded me of her when I saw it. It turned out to be her symbol. She was surprised. She even asked me “Who are you? Really WHO ARE YOU?
When I told her I work for P&G, we immediately found a common friend. She called him, gave me the phone and we surprised him. Gulcan talks about miracles of Reiki and how it brings people together. Over the phone she invited our friend to attend her upcoming Reiki class. He was confirmed. We all laughed.
Then the doorbell rang, Gulcan was surprised, she wasn’t expecting anyone. It was her mom who lived close by. She stopped by to say hello. She was the cutest old lady with a cute straw hat. Gulcan told me she is Reiki 3. I was so happy to meet her.
Gulcan then showed me her library. So many books, books everywhere. She recommended some Reiki books, I took notes, I had so much to learn. I was like a sponge. She was looking for a certain book and she remembered that she had leant that book to Yesim, a friend of hers. She called her friend to ask her who the author was.
Yesim? Could it be the same Yesim? Another acquaintance?
A year prior to meeting Gulcan, I came across the blog of a writer from Istanbul, Yesim Cimcoz. I immediately felt close to her. She lived and studied in the US. She was my age, she had a 3 year old son and I had a 2 year old daughter. She too was a yoga, Reiki and Tai-Chi practitioner and believe it or not she lived in my neighborhood, Moda in Istanbul (in a huge city of 12 million people!). In her blog, she mentioned Gulcan as her Reiki teacher. Being home sick, I loved her writing on Istanbul so much that I printed it and put it on my cork board at work and read it few times every day.
“For me Istanbul is not a city. It is a smell. It is a yellow light in a window at night reflected on thick velvet curtains pulled tight, behind which lives I don't know, have never met, are being lived. It is the voice of the muezzin sounding a sad prayer that enters my soul and floods my whole being, pulling me into different directions all at once. Istanbul is an old woman, frail, wrinkled, eyes reddened from age, white hair brushed loosely back sitting in her faded nightgown in the late afternoon before the window of her living room, looking out expressionless at the people that go by. Istanbul is houses where crocheted cloths cover television tops and side tables. It is the smell of a glass of fresh brewed tea on a cold day and warming by the heat of a wood stove. It is the smell of fresh baked bread and the crisp sound of a piece being pulled of as steam rises to bring forth the smell. Istanbul is the Bosphorus lapping against an old boat that carries me to the evening lights of the other shore as sea air and the salt sprinkle across my face and the tired, disillusioned, weary people on their way home from another long day at work sit indoors. Istanbul is expectation, anticipation and hope in the air. It is relentless, pulling, tugging at me never allowing my attention to drift elsewhere. “
I felt so close to Yesim, I even thought about writing to her and telling her how I admired her writing. I never did. However, her last name Cimcoz sounded so familiar. Where do I know this last name? I asked a good friend of mine who is a veteran of Moda, she knows everyone in our neighborhood. Sure enough, she did, she said, Yesim is Huseyin’s wife. Of course, I remember Huseyin. He is a good frined’s high school friend. I can’t believe I come across Huseyin’s wife on the internet. Yet, I still didn’t write to Yesim.
Gulcan was on the phone with Yesim and I asked her if she’s talking to Yesim Cimcoz. Gulcan couldn’t believe we have another connection. She gave me the phone. I didn’t know what to say. I told Yesim that I had found her website a year ago and I loved her writing about Istanbul that it’s on my cork board back in America. Gulcan invited Yesim to her Reiki Share that night so that we could meet! I was not used to so much excitement in one day and it was not even over yet.
Gulcan thought we must have a karmic connection. So many coincidences were simply too much.
She had a friend who is a karmic astrologer. Typically people wait for months to get an appointment with him. Gulcan directly called him and asked him to tell us if we had a past karmic connection. We gave him my birth date and time, he already had Gulcan’s. He put our charts together and he confirmed that I was Gulcan’s student in a past life. He said, now that we found each other again, we’ll work together and travel as well.
At noon, Peter joined us, back then Gulcan’s boyfriend, now her husband. Peter was such a gentle soul, but very deep. We had lunch together. We talked and talked and talked. We had so many similar interests. I didn’t want the day to end. After lunch, Peter made us Turkish coffee. Peter is a Britt who studied Philosophy. At that time, he had just left a 20 year consulting career as an ex-pat in Istanbul with one of the largest consulting firms to spend full time in writing, breathwork and energy healing. I admired his dedication. Could I do that one day?
If Gulcan was Fire, Peter was Water. If Gulcan was Yang, Peter was Yin. They complete each other so well. I associated myself with both of them. I loved being electrified with Gulcan and soothed by Peter.
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| Gulcan and I at Caddebostan -Summer 2010 |
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| Peter Adams, Yesim Cimcoz, Gulcan Arpacioglu, Zeynep Premdasi Yilmaz February 2014 |
You can find Peter’s book, The Healing Field at Amazon. Yesim was the writing coach during the process to bring this book to life. Peter’s book is a collection of real-life cases of intensive energy healing work that Gulcan and Peter have been experiencing for the last 15 years. A must read, if you’re into healing. The book provides a comprehensive understanding of all elements that impact healing. It reinforces a field of consciousness that expands to past lives, before birth and even ancestors. This healing field connects us to one another, to our family and ancestors and to wider community of all sentient beings and is sensitive to ethics and harmony of all.
http://www.amazon.com/Healing-Field-Energy-Consciousness-Transformation/dp/1452583560/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393701071&sr=1-1&keywords=peter+mark+adams
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