I often get asked variations of the same question – “Can I practice right after Reiki I?”, “If I want to make this a career, what do I need?”, “How does it work with insurance receipts?”

These are all slightly different questions, but in this blog post I will answer them all and more.
My aim is to give you an overview of the “governing bodies” when it comes to Reiki in Quebec, Canada today. Unfortunately, if you live elsewhere, the answers may be similar but I don’t actually know.

When can I practice Reiki? (and charge for it?)

At the moment of writing this, in August 2020, there are no laws surrounding this. Reiki is not a protected practice. Anybody can practice it (no matter their training) and charge whatever they want. I joke it’s a little bit the “wild, wild west”. That said, you’re asking because that doesn’t sit totally right for you, so let me answer this question on multiple levels.

1. In terms of training, when are you equipped to be a Reiki channel for others? 

In Reiki I, you not only do your 21-day self-healing journey but you also learn many of the important finer points when it comes to being a channel for others: How to stay neutral, how to keep your boundaries intact, how to take care of yourself after a session (if you get triggered), and of course how to actually lead a reiki healing session from start to finish (including what to say, how to prepare someone, etc.). 

Reiki II and Reiki III are certainly the next levels for the energy healing, but in terms of giving reiki to others, it doesn’t add much as far as the practicalities go. It does add, of course, in the depth of healing you can facilitate for others.

2. In terms of training, when are you equipped to charge for your service?

Here’s where each of us has different backgrounds and different skill sets to pull from and your personal confidence and integrity come into play.

Do you already have an established tarot/osteopathy/yoga/mindfulness/doula… practice and business set up? Are you a psychologist, social worker, sexologist? You’re ahead of the game, you’ll likely feel confident to add Reiki to your service-toolkit sooner than later. To really market yourself as a Reiki practitioner and feel confident about it, most people will want to do Reiki I, II & III. 

Is this your very first modality? It will likely take longer to get all the finer points of seeing clients down. I recommend adding Energy Healing Toolkit and Chakra Journey to your curriculum. Those 5 courses give you a solid basis to work with others.

In either case, practice practice practice. Do case studies. There will come a time, where you feel it. It’s time to charge. When will you feel it? There’s a law of equal exchange.

Law of Equal Exchange:  If the exchange isn’t above board, it goes underground. 

When it comes to healing arts, there’s something genuinely rewarding about being able to offer something that makes such a profound impact on others. Your receiver’s healing, understanding of themselves, relaxation, pain relief is all quite priceless. It stays that way no matter how much you charge. In the beginning, you receive a tremendous amount just by getting to practice and learn. But there’s a “but”. 

Your time, your wisdom, your attention, your intuition, your own self-healing are all investments you make when you give a healing session. When you feel like you’re on the receiving end of “getting to” give someone else Reiki (because you’re discovering yourself! you’re learning! you get the human loving satisfaction of supporting someone else on their healing journey!) the exchange gets to be crystalline and pure. Once you’ve had more practice, it’s natural for it all to be less exciting and you’re receiving less on the learning front. That’s when the exchange can go underground and (totally unconsciously and unintentionally!) you start maybe requiring “thank yous” for your work (and feeling resentful when you don’t), or requiring your clients healing to look a certain way so you can feel gratified. This does NOT serve your client. This is where the exchange needs to become above board again. Money is the most typical way we have of doing this. There’s another wonderful thing that happens when your clients become clients and pay you. There’s an added dimension of choice that comes to the equation. Your client is now investing in their own healing through you. I’ve found that as a rule the more equal and crystalline the exchange is, the better it also is for your client. (These are some complex energetics and I intend to unpack them thorougly with my students in Business 101 when that opens up).

What about insurance? for them? for me? Or accreditation?  What does it take to set up your business?

Great questions. 

There are 2 different types of insurance you will need to think about to protect yourself: 
Professional and General Liability (I use Lackner-McLennan Insurance) and you’ll need to update your home insurance policy if you work from home. 

To write insurance receipts, you’ll need to be part of an Association. Associations require their members to follow a certain ethicaland deontological code and pay a yearly membership fee. In return, they support their members with various things – marketing, advice, and most importantly they are recognized by insurance companies and provide you with the receipts you’ll give your clients. Your reiki hours will typically be recognized for naturotherapy associations. However, be mindful that to be a member of an association, you’ll need at least 400 hours of relevant training (if not 1000). I use AQTN.ca. They recognized my Reiki hours, my energy medicine hours, my Bachelors in Psychology and my Masters in Psychology. I believe they will also recognize Yoga Teacher Training hours & more. Get in touch with them for details. 

As for accreditation,  the associations are in my opinion the most practically important governing bodies here in Quebec and is going to be most important for your clients. That said, in Canada, there is also a group that is doing a good job at upholding standards and quality control as far as Reiki training goes. This is reiki.ca.  They require a number of case studies and review them for you. If you pass their criteria, you are then recognized by them and get a place on their website. Personally, I was really well guided in my Reiki training and didn’t feel the need for outside accreditation.

Finally, to set up your business, you can consider yourself “self-employed” for this work and declare and pay taxes as such. If you want to register a business name, it’s fairly simple to do (and by no means necessary). 

As for how to get clients and market yourself? That’s a whole other question that I’d love to get into another time, maybe with business 101. For now? Please don’t buy into the myth that you need a blog and a website and 12 social media accounts and #allthethings. You need paying clients and time to see them. Don’t overcomplicate this.

That’s it for now, 

Love, 

Inge 

Related Products: 

Reiki I. Click here. 

Reiki II. Click Here

Reiki III. Click Here. 

Energy Healing Toolkit. Click here.

Soft & True. Click Here.

Business 101.Click here.

Chakra Journey. CLick Here.