Introducing: interviews with interesting people
Meet Becky Nakashima Brooke, a downtown Davenport business owner who brings gifts of healing — including services as an end-of-life doula — to the QC
One feature of this column is stories about people who contribute to good things about life in the QC, who pique my interest, or who just have a great story to tell.
Becky Nakashima Brooke, an Iowa native and Japanese-American business owner in the Quad Cities, meets all those criteria.
Reiki Master Nakashima Brooke has transformed a downtown Davenport office space into Illuminate Healing Studio, which has a lovely and calming atmosphere. Her studio inside Emerson Place (near Stompbox Brewing/The Kitchen Brigade and Front Street Pub & Eatery) offers yoga classes, Reiki, Thai bodywork, and other energy healing practices that she has immersed herself in the study of by continually taking trainings — the latest of which has certified her to serve as an end-of-life doula.
I first met her a little over a year ago, when I attended one of her Cultivating Mindfulness sessions at the Figge Museum. Her class introduced me to qigong and I loved how she blended that with yoga, meditation, sound healing, and poetry. I was curious about how she came to her calling — especially after a mutual friend happened to mention that Nakashima Brooke was once a hairdresser.
I hope you enjoy learning about Becky and her backstory, as well as:
How you yourself are a sound healer and might not know it
Why she pursued this path — especially when the mere thought of death can make so many of us uncomfortable.
And make sure to stay through to the end for responses to my inaugural Quiz for All Quad Citizens!
An Interview with Becky Nakashima Brooke
Here’s something I want to ask everyone: why do you live here? Did you come for work? What’s your story?
I’ve lived in Davenport for 20 years now. I moved here after I married my lovely husband, Will. We were living in Chicago, and, well, my dad got sick, and long story short we wanted to be closer to family. He (Will) grew up for most of his life in the QC area. I always liked Davenport. Growing up in Dubuque, it was a big city that my friends and I would visit.
What inspired you to open Illuminate? Have you always been at this location?
My motivation was I saw how energy healing work has helped me and others, and I wanted to share it. I started taking clients in 2011, working out of my home. But once COVID hit and everyone was home (including my three children), it was difficult to find quiet space to take appointments. Being able to create a peaceful environment was essential. I love my family, and it’s a lot to ask them (or anyone) to be quiet for several hours at a time. So in April 2021, I began to look for space outside the home. I knew I wanted to be in downtown Davenport, and have really lucked out at the building I’m in. And I’m fortunate that as my business has grown, I’ve been able to expand into even more space.
How did you get interested in this type of work?
When my kids were little, I wanted a natural way to help them feel better when they had a simple fall or tummy ache. I remembered someone mentioning Reiki, [a Japanese technique that promotes relaxation, among other things] years before. It was also one of those moments of mothering when I was in a moment of overwhelm (“am I doing everything I can do?,” etc.), with my children and wanting to do the right thing. Friends talked about how it had helped them, so I sought out a Reiki teacher.
I started to study energy healing, and when I looked at the maps of energy in the body, and the more I studied healing modalities that have been used throughout time, it just made sense. There are so many similarities [between the modalities like Reiki, the chakra system, acupuncture, etc.] and I knew there was something to it.
When I began working on friends and family and having clients, I saw results and how it helped them. In my first career, I used to do hair. So I've always been interested in helping people feel better about themselves. For 10 years, it was on the outside, and now, I like to work on the inside. It's better. I love it.
Reiki is something I’m only beginning to understand now that I’ve had a session, (which made me feel great! Thank you!). How do you explain it to those who might be skeptical, or just haven’t experienced it?
People come to me for different reasons, whether it be anxiety, grief, focus, sometimes pain. I always say Western medicine is important. That's a good thing to start with. I'm a nice complement.
For clients who had cancer, I was able to take their mind off of cancer for an hour. And oftentimes when I checked in with them the next day, they still felt better, and felt it was a nice release.
After years of practicing I find it easier to explain, but I understand that a lot of people don’t understand it. My best advice is that you have to experience it. Sometimes there aren’t words to explain it. I believe that we all have the gift to do some form of energy work. I have devoted my time to it, so it might be a bit easier for me to connect. It’s like anything else. You need to do the work.
I also know that meditation has played a huge part in me being able to do the work. Many of us are digitally connected so much of the time. I deleted my personal and business social accounts for seven months, and voila! More free time to study and meditate. A month or so ago, I opened up accounts again, but I have kept it very restricted.
It’s interesting that on your website, you don’t promise to “cure” anyone, but rather to help us to help ourselves.
I believe we have our own innate ability to heal. It can be helpful for someone when I see them to help release anxiety, tension, etc., but what happens when you go back out into the world? My goal is to empower my students and clients. I want to help them relax, and may give them some homework. I also want them to know that I’m a wonderful complement to Western medicine and counseling, but not a replacement. That is very important to understand.
We all have the ability to do so many wonderful things within ourselves. Just one example is humming. It produces nitric oxide in our bodies, which opens up our blood vessels and helps us relax. You might remember your mom humming to you when you were a kid, or find yourself humming when you're happy. Something that simple can be very calming. So it’s your own sound healing that you can do.
I always hesitate calling myself a healer. But I don't know how else to explain it. Except for that we're all healers. I just do it for a living. And I provide a space where people can be healed. I always explain to people that Reiki is not me. I'm just the conduit. I'm supplying a quiet space for solitude and a space to find that connection with yourself.
We’ve talked about Reiki, but what does qigong involve?
I was first introduced to qigong in Reiki training and really got to know more about it during a silent retreat for my yin yoga training with Terry Summers. It’s another form of energy work and often referred to as movement meditation. It builds strength as well as flexibility, and blends beautifully with yoga. I find it very helpful for those of us who have a hard time slowing down. It’s also very helpful for quieting the mind. It can feel like a dance at times, and many people enjoy it. I teach it with my yoga class, as well as once a month at the Figge with my meditation class. I love doing trainings, and when I started learning qigong, I thought, “This is a great way to teach people how to work with their own energy fields, and I'd like to bring this into my practice.”
Did you face any fears when you decided to open your studio?
I had lots of fears. Especially after the pandemic. I’m a spiritual person, and without getting too personal with that, I just went for it.
I’m so grateful for my clients, students, location, landlord, the support of the Downtown Davenport Partnership, and all of the small businesses. The support warms my heart, and I couldn’t do it without such a strong network and of course my family, especially my husband. He has been a huge support with helping me build my practice structurally, as well as helping me set up before class and editing documents, just to name a few.
For years, I wanted to do end-of-life doula training and struggled a bit on how to make it work. One of my friends (Susan McLoone, part owner of Motherhood Matters in Davenport), gave me great advice about making sure that you have a good support system first.
What will that role involve?
I recently got certified through the Peaceful Presence Project, an end-of-life doula certification program out of Oregon. I had a birth doula for my first two children, and…. I think we hand over a lot of our power to the medical system. There’s so much beauty in birth and dying that might not always be seen or experienced in a hospital. I had my two biological children in the hospital, and the support from my birth doula advocating for me made it much more comfortable.
There’s documented information on what happens when someone dies, so if the client or family is comfortable with that, I explain that “this is the stage where their breathing is going to change. These are things that are going to happen.” I help normalize all that.
I also offer help to primary caregivers for any kind of stress reduction through all the things I offer at the studio — anything that would be helpful. I can also sit vigil, sitting by their bed, tending to their needs. Basically I’m a non-medical service. I’m not Hospice — I’m additional to Hospice — but through the Peaceful Process Project, I have resources for them, like a great book called End Notes that I can help them fill out. I can help them fill out their advanced directive.
What drew you to the idea of offering this kind of service?
I know how overwhelming grief can be. My brother passed away unexpectedly over 20 years ago, around the same time as father.
And I’ve experienced being the primary caregiver of someone who’s passing, (for my father). My sister-in-law helped so much. She had lost her mother, so the way she just swooped in … she knew exactly what to do without asking. Like, all of a sudden the laundry would just be done. She knew when to step in and when to not overstep. I know the value of that.
One organization I’ve joined, the National End of Life Doula Alliance, has said that there’s going to be so much more of a need for this because of the “silver tsunami,” which was a term I’d never heard before.
Before I go: Do you have a favorite quote that you come back to a lot for guiding words of wisdom?
I love quotes, and there are so many teachers out there that I quote in class and come back to again and again. One of my favorite teachers is Thich Nhat Hanh. His teachings have been instrumental in my meditation practice as well as nurturing my heart. One of my favorites is short and full of wisdom: “Peace is every step.”
What else would you like to add?
I truly would not be here as a small business owner had I not had the support of my family, students, clients, and community. Any success I’ve had is due to many factors, and most of those are from a loving and compassionate community.
My Quiz for Quad Citizens:
What do you like or love about the Quad Cities (as a whole, or Davenport in particular)?
The community and there are a variety of things to do.What’s something about the QC (or Davenport) that you’d like to see change for the better?
I visited my aunt and uncle last year in Virginia, and I have to say that I’ve dreamt of living there since. There was so much beauty and nature all around. So many trees and places for solitude. There’s a cute little downtown area where you can go and listen to live Bluegrass music on the weekends. So I guess more trees, solitude, and Bluegrass music! Also if Dolly Parton would build a second Dollywood here, but I can’t see that happening.Favorite spots?
Lake George for SUP (stand-up paddle boarding). Sunderbruch Park for hiking. The Figge Art Museum for art and to relax. I love walking around downtown. My favorite restaurants are Taste of Ethiopia, Curry Out, Blue Spruce Bakery, and Miss Phay Cafe because they offer vegan meals.Places (or anything about the QC) that others should know more about, or that you think would surprise someone who’s never been here before?
Gosh! There is so much that is offered here that I don’t take advantage of. I think about that all the time when I think I need to get away. Really if I just stepped out of my comfort zone I would be quite surprised. Two that come to the top of my head are the Midwest Writing Center and LOVE Girls Magazine. Two tremendous organizations that are local and have offered my children some incredible opportunities and support. I mean really! Check them out.
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