This question was asked in an article in a Reiki magazine a while ago.  As a Reiki Practitioner and Teacher (Master) with 20+ years of experience,  I disagreed with some of the points made by the author and wrote an article in reply.  Sadly, it was turned down for publication, but I still feel the points I wanted to make were valid and important for Reiki students and Practitioners to consider.  I also think that any article should be open to reply, and censoring balanced replies is not healthy, so I’m offering my reply here, slightly amended for my blog. 

The simple answer to the question is – YES, of course you can practice Reiki, whether you are ‘registered’ with an organisation or not.  The only thing you really do need and must have is insurance and it is possible to get that without registering with a third party.  There is currently NO legal requirement which says a Reiki Practitioner has to be registered with any organisation.  However, I felt this did not come across clearly in the article.  As a Reiki Practitioner and Teacher I felt the information in the article was confusing for students and potential students.

There is, in my mind, no difference between what was referred to in the article as a “Professional Practitioner” in Reiki, and a “Practitioner.”  The author may have had her own views on it, but she did not make it clear this was just her view.  There is no legal requirement for any Reiki Practitioner to register with any organisation, whatever sphere they may be working in.  This was not made clear either.  

The Department of Health currently only “recommends” that complementary therapists used by GP Practices, Hospices, Charities or Hospitals, should be CNHC or GRCCT registered.  It is not a requirement.  In my view this too was not clear from the article.

In 20+ years of Reiki practice and many years of teaching, I have never heard the term ‘Folk Art Practitioners’.  This very odd phrase was used in the article by the author to refer to those of us in the Reiki world who have trained via the traditional shorter courses – which is the only way Reiki has been taught until very recently, so covers the vast majority of Reiki Practitioners out there.  She also seemed to suggest that those doing traditional Reiki courses practice ‘only’ with family and friends, but this is absolutely not the case.  There are many thousands of Reiki Practitioners who work with clients and they trained in the traditional way.  And that includes me!  Given the long history of Reiki, most current Reiki Practitioners have trained traditionally, and work with the public. 

I am sorry, but I do not practice ‘Folk Art’ – whatever that might be - and I found the phrase insulting.  I practice Reiki, in a Professional capacity (that is, for paying clients), as well as for friends and family.

The article seemed to suggest that students who have ‘only’ done ‘short’ – that is, the usual, traditional 2-day courses - for Reiki I or Reiki II -  are just ‘practitioners in their own right’ – this was the author’s phrase – whatever she meant by that - and she used the lower case ‘p’ here for ‘practitioner’.   In my view every Reiki Practitioner is a Practitioner in their own right.  I introduce the issues around being a self-employed Reiki Practitioner in Reiki I, and cover them again in Reiki II.  This includes matters like insurance, confidentiality, note-keeping, health and safety, data protection and GDPR, client care, accounts and so on.  Students on these longer courses seem to be told that they ‘cannot’ get insurance until Reiki II.  This is not the case.  While some insurance companies may follow this line, others are happy to insure people after Reiki I. 

There was a quote given in the article and I could not understand why it was included.  As far as I could see it had no bearing on the issue.  (The quote referred specifically to practitioners in a particular organisation being ‘able to advise clients on a healthy lifestyle’).  This is certainly a good thing to do, but you do not need registration in order to encourage clients to live more healthily.  Registration with an organisational body does not imbue any therapist with knowledge of healthy living.  Any complementary therapist – not just Reiki Practitioners - can offer suggestions for healthy living to clients, and many, including me, have been doing it for years.     

I felt unhappy about the way the author seemed to imply that her “lesser” Reiki students (those doing the shorter, more usual, traditional courses) will not able to register with the CNHC (with whom I am registered), when in fact they can with a little experience.  I did all my Reiki training many years ago, but it was reasonably easy to register.  Just a matter of filling in a few forms and providing 3 years of accounts and some references.

Personally, I feel the modern NOS (National Occupational Standards) requirements for Reiki are far too much, and I think I am allowed an opinion on that.  More moderate requirements would have been fine.  Reiki is a simple, beautiful therapy, straightforward to learn, extremely safe, easily taught in a few days and, therefore, for students, relatively inexpensive.  It is not brain surgery.  Some Reiki students are being asked for 75 or more ‘case studies’ even at Reiki I level.  When I trained as a midwife – with the lives of not just one, but two people in my hands – I was required to assist at or observe 150 births of various kinds.  As an experienced Reiki teacher my view is that to ask for 75+ case studies for Reiki students at any level is simply unnecessary and over the top. 

The new requirements – longer courses, many case studies - risk lifting Reiki into an expensive category that may well prevent some very good people from learning Reiki, and possibly create divisions in the future between Practitioners, with some looking down on others because they didn’t do a “proper” course.   I find this elitist and hierarchical, precisely what Mikao Usui did not want, when he created this beautiful, simple healing model, for anyone to use.  I am familiar with the NOS requirements from teaching Crystal Therapy at that level for 10 years, and I looked at them for Reiki.  As a qualified teacher of adults, with City and Guilds 7302 and CTLLS, with 6 years’ experience teaching Reiki in a College of Further Education, as well as teaching privately for more than 20 years, I decided I would not go down that road.  

Most important for me in that decision was that Mikao Usui intended his model of energy work to be available for EVERYONE, for it to be easy to learn, and easy to use.  I preferred to stay true to his aim.  It is wrong, to me, to suggest to students that, unless they do a NOS level course, they are somehow a “lesser” Practitioner than the so-called “Professional” who takes the longer course.  We bring all that we are to our Reiki.  People training in Reiki have other life experiences and skills, and often other complementary therapy or professional training – mine was Midwifery - and I brought all that professionalism into my healing practice and my teaching of Reiki.

What about those who choose a shorter, more traditional Reiki course, perhaps for cost reasons, and later want to register with the CNHC or GRCCT?  If they have learned with me, I tell them, as far as I understand it, the current position is that they should be able to do this.  What are those students to do who are told this is not possible?  Take themselves through a repeat, or ‘upgrade’ course later, with all the additions, at great expense, because they have not been told the truth and offered all options at the beginning?  Or not train at all?

The world needs healers, it needs Reiki Practitioners working with the public, and we should be encouraging ALL who want to train in this beautiful healing modality.  Titles such as “Professional Reiki Practitioner”, simply should not be used in my view.  We are ALL “Reiki Practitioners”.   

DISCLAIMER (The Small Print)       

These are just my current thoughts. 

Thoughts can change as we learn and grow.

You may disagree with me, but I am nevertheless entitled to my thoughts.

You don’t have to like my blog or take notice of anything I say.

It is important you always make up your own mind - about everything.

I am not you, and don’t know you or the details of your life. 

Therefore, you are responsible for any decisions or changes you make as a result of reading my thoughts. 

 

 

 

 

The fact that “Caring for the Emotional” comes in two parts says it all – our emotions are so important!  They can drive us, lift us, weigh us down.  All the better then to take time to consider, at any point, how you are feeling – and why. 

I said in ‘Part 1’ that ALL emotions are valid – and they are.  Given to us by Nature, every emotion is there for a purpose – just like all the parts of our physical body - and each has a healthy mode of expression.  There are different frameworks to help us understand this, by various authors.  I’m going to describe here the model I’ve found most useful.

JOY – let’s start with the easy one!   Joy, Happiness, is about SHARING with others and feeling that togetherness of celebration – a birthday, a new job, success in education.  And its right to allow Joy into your life, to feel great and acknowledge it.  Only remember - it isn’t natural to feel on top of the world every minute of every day.  Life happens, emotions change, flow, move up and down.  Understanding this can help us to avoid unnecessary disappointment.  Joy will come into our lives again. 

FEAR is about danger.  A natural WARNING mechanism.  Think of the ancient people of Earth, hunting, being hunted, exposed to the weather in ways we rarely are today.  Fear would have been a life-saver for them – which is exactly what it is meant to be.  The natural instinctive reaction to Fear is to ESCAPE – to run, to get help, to keep yourself SAFE. 

This is fine – until we start to feel Fearful when there is no actual danger to life.  Fear sets off a whole cascade of biological processes in the body – the Fight or Flight reaction.  Cortisol and adrenaline are pumped into the blood, heartbeat goes up, digestion is shut down – all so you can run for your life if you need to!  But, if you don’t ‘run for your life’, the substances put out by the body don’t get used up in the intended way, and they can, over time, be damaging. 

So, if and when you feel Fear, examine it and ASK yourself if it really is justified.  If you have the time to ask, it possibly isn’t!  The Fight or Flight reaction is so naturally fast that, in a genuine situation, its likely you would just move yourself out of the way without time for thought. 

Physical activity is good for using up the hormones of fear, so go for a walk, do some exercise appropriate to you.

ANGER  is a natural defence mechanism.  Sadly, humans use anger in all sorts of unnecessary and hurtful ways, but it has a healthy purpose – to help us defend ourselves if we are at real risk of being damaged.  The natural reaction to being hit or threatened or trapped, is for “RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION” to rise up in us, and we ‘push back’, speak up perhaps, take some appropriate action, in an attempt to change the situation and, again, keep ourselves SAFE.  This might also include calling for help from others.

Pausing and questioning yourself when you feel angry can be helpful.  ASK, WHY do I feel angry?  What has happened?  Is it justified?  Sometimes, if we are in an impossible situation, struggling with someone or something very difficult or stressful, anger can rise up without justification.  Practicing self-awareness – ‘Am I really angry?’ can be helpful. 

Anger is often over-used, for the smallest issue or imagined slight.  Or it is misdirected;  used inappropriately when another emotion feels too much or the person can’t or won’t express that emotion for whatever reason.  Usually this is GRIEF  or sadness.

SADNESS.  The mortality rate of the human race is 100%.  Every one of us will reach the end of our life at some time and we will lose people we love.  Therefore, as a human, LOSS IS INEVITABLE.  Although this seems obvious, grief is probably the emotion with which people struggle the most. 

By turning away from loss, ignoring it, suppressing it, we are harming ourselves, and sometimes, others, if Grief is misdirected and comes out as Anger.  I have experienced that reaction in family members, and it can be extremely damaging.  Shelves of books have been written about death and dying, and bereavement, and I highly recommend the works of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.   

Perhaps the most important suggestion anyone can make is - Allow Yourself to Grieve.  Grief calls for togetherness and needs consolation.  And it takes Time.  No-one can lose a loved one and be “over it” in a matter of days or even months. 

The best advice I was given after my Mum died was the honest truth that I would never be “over it”.   We ‘get over’ losing a favourite pen, or a book.  We do not ‘get over’ losing a loved one, as if they had never been there.  I found this idea illuminating and comforting.  I didn’t have to ‘forget’ my Mum, sweep her out of my memory, ‘get over’ losing her.  I was told I could, and would, be able to ADJUST to a different world, one without her physical presence.  Yes, I could that. 

In shamanic work and Energy Field Healing the cycles of life – beginning, middle and end – are understood and honoured as a natural process.  Shamans speak of the many Little Deaths in life – losing that pen, the favourite book, being made redundant, even retirement from a loved job – all these are losses.  If we allow ourselves to feel and process the Little Deaths, we are better equipped to cope with the bigger losses, when they come. 

My heart goes out to anyone – that is, everyone! -  who has to travel through the mists and fogs of bereavement.  Like you, I have been there, and I know it will come again.  That’s life.  But I have found that place of adjustment before, and therefore, I know I can again, however long it takes. 

"Riding the dark horse of grief is excruciating, hollow, numbing, enraging, and a deeply private process.  It takes as long as it takes – no more, no less."

                                                                                      Sylvia Browne    "The Other Side and Back"   

 

“Bone grows slowly and tissue mends in Nature's time.

And at Her pace my heart will heal,

Until the day the love and gratitude outweigh the pain.

I can't see that now, can't even accept that it might come.

 But life unfolds, and one day, I think

I might be able to hold you in my heart,

And not feel pain.”

                              Kim Quance       From “Losing Mum”, March 2006

 

 DISCLAIMER (The Small Print)       

These are just my current thoughts. 

Thoughts can change as we learn and grow.

I can always be wrong, but am nevertheless entitled to my thoughts.

You don’t have to like my blog or take any notice of anything I say.

It is important you always make up your own mind - about everything.

I am not you, and don’t know you or the details of your life. 

Therefore, you are responsible for any decisions or changes you make as a result of reading my thoughts. 

Finally, nothing in any of my blogs is intended nor should be taken as medical or health advice.  Always research for yourself and talk to doctors or therapists you trust (conventional or complementary).