Remarkable Women: Cortney Martinelli
KENT, Ohio (WJW) — It’s about finding a way to center yourself against things that seek to tip you in the wrong direction.
Cortney Martinelli helps people find that center in their lives and works to channel away the negative.
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“Give people [time] to rest and digest. I mean stress is not actually a bad thing; stress is a bad thing when it’s chronic and not followed by recovery,” she said.
Cortney’s Shine Ohio helps people find the way to that personal recovery.
It’s a road that she also walked at one time. She spent many years in a corporate job that she loved, but it could be very stressful and demanding. Cortney said she reached a point where she wasn’t centered and felt a need to change.
What started her on her journey was Rekki.
“I found my Rekki master, and her name is Susan. All of this is a progression and a journey, and it wasn’t like I found her and everything was fine but that’s where it all started it started. With Rekki abut 15 years ago, and then I started exploring a lot of different things and it was a need to feel better,” Cortney said.
After a few years of juggling a corporate job and exploring and learning rekki, meditation, sound therapy and other skills, she left the corporate world and founded Shine Ohio.
She created a place that she calls the Lighthouse and has made it her mission to help people find a way to deal with the stresses of life.
“We have pressure coming out at us all the time, and when that pressure hits us, what’s going to come out is what’s on the inside,” she said. “So what I do, what I teach people is how do you change the inside. How do we work on the inside so that when pressure is applied you like what comes out,” she said.
And Cortney teaches a lot: more than 150 different events a year to groups and individuals.
She and her crew have helped hundreds of people find the road that they need to follow to find the positive.
It could be learning how to enjoy nature through Shinrin Yoku or forest therapy. It could be offering hugs and meditation lessons from a pop-up help booth or from one of the many different forms of yoga that she teaches.
It could even be something as simple as placing a call through the phone of the wind.
“It an unconnected phone obviously, but it’s where people can come and grab the phone and talk to their past loved ones. It’s based on a Japanese tradition where people can come and find solace talking with their past loved ones,” Cortney said.
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People can find peace along man,y many paths, and Cortney knows how to guide people along 14 different paths.
Finding space to actually take a breath and pause is sometimes harder than you might think. But when the storm of life does rage around you, and you feel you’re losing control.
A lighthouse might be what you need to find friendly shores.
“Lighthouses don’t go looking for people to save…they just stand there shining,” Cortney said.
For more information about Shine Ohio, click here.
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