14 Tips for Aspiring Reiki Practitioners

Do you feel called to share your intuitive healing gifts with the world? Does holding reiki treatments and teaching energy healing practices excite you?

If you’re considering becoming a professional Reiki practitioner, I have some tips and insight that can save you years of trial and error. Since 2018, I have been sharing in-person and distant reiki sessions, circles, digital downloads, and training. I’m excited to share with you the considerations that can help you find your way of sharing your light in the world!

Reiki Practitioner Tips: Becoming Reiki

1. Your lifestyle affects your ability to channel Reiki.
   Every choice you make impacts your capacity to be a clear and open channel for Reiki. The foods we eat, the relationships we engage in, the time we spend on our devices, and the movement or lack of movement that we give to our bodies influences the amount of lifeforce we’re able to receive, hold, and share. When we become practitioners, we can’t separate our personal lives from our professional lives. We must engage in healthy patterns and mindfulness throughout the day so that we could be a pillar of light.
   
2. Your healing will continuously unfold.
   As you accept the path of holding space for others, life will continue to show you how you can return to love. Reiki Masters don’t reach a destination where our healing is complete, from which we help others heal. In fact, we may be just a few steps ahead of the people that we are holding space for. Often, we are walking right beside them.
   
3. The reiki trainings are only a starting point in our practice.
   They offer us the initiations, foundational knowledge and techniques but it’s only with our continued application of them that we start to truly understand Reiki. Only after months and years of consistent practice can we start to see how Reiki is shifting us. Although receiving a certificate, and the title of “Reiki Master Teacher” can give us a sense of accomplishment or validation, it is truly the beginning of our spiritual practice. If you’re seeking to practice Reiki professionally, it’s essential to practice daily. You can complement that with regularly receiving Reiju, exchanging reiki with colleagues or mentorship with your Reiki teacher.

Reiki Practitioner Tips: Holding Space for Others

4. Ground yourself.
   Many beginners are intrigued and captivated with opening their third eye chakra so that they may receive interesting visions, whispers from spirit, and validation. What most students don’t realize is we must start with a sturdy foundation. Focusing on the lower chakras, and the Hara rather than the Third Eye Chakra, helps us to be present, vital, which is helpful in receiving, and interpreting our intuition. Moving first to the third eye can leave us feeling unsafe in our intuitive Reiki practices.
   
5. You are not responsible for any particular outcome.
   You are only responsible for being present, and practicing your modality in an authentic and true way to you. You are responsible for offering a nonjudgemental, compassionate, and safe space for people to find their truth. Reiki sessions, circles, and training are spaces where your clients can explore their consciousness, shift energy and remember their light. However, it’s not on you to make a symptom, memory or emotion disappear. It’s not on you to break lifelong patterns, and to channel psychic experiences. These things often happen naturally in sessions with our presence and connection to Source, but we cannot force them. We are the channel for Reiki, rather than the Source.
   
6. Don’t wait to be healed.
   If you are waiting for a full circle moment, to feel 100% healthy and well, in order to hold space for others, you might be waiting forever. A few years after my training in Reiki, I felt the call to share what I learned with others. However I was waiting for all of my symptoms to clear. I was waiting for all of my traumas, memories, emotions and thoughts to resolve before I could help others. Thanks to some encouraging mentors who helped me work through my resistance I began anyway. Reiki is not about permanently banishing our blocks, but sometimes it’s an opportunity for us to live and grow with our challenges. If you’re a practitioner that is in the midst of your own healing, it doesn’t preclude you from sharing your light with others. You can hold a safe space for others even if your life doesn’t seem perfect.
   
7. Serving others is powerful medicine.
   A few years back I experienced a tough cycle of multiple health issues, the pandemic, shifts in my family, the loss of my father, several moves and my Saturn return. But in that phase, my work with others was what got me through. It gave me a sense of purpose and connection to others that created a rich, wholesome life. While sharing Reiki in sessions with others, I would feel many of my own symptoms lessen and dissipate as I was in the energy of love with presence. It was the time when I could step out of my own experience, and connect with others who were more or less experiencing similar things as I was. Ironically, holding space for others and finding meaningful work that I enjoyed helped me to heal on many levels.

Reiki Practitioner Tips: Marketing & Legality

8. It’s still a business.
   Although it’s a spiritual practice, it’s imperative that you are informed about your local, state and federal laws when creating a professional Reiki practice. There may be laws around whether you’re allowed to perform hands-on-healing, how you can market yourself, and more. You must also be aware of tax implications. Keep organized records of all income, and expenses so you can file your taxes with ease at the end of the year. Consider getting liability insurance and having your clients sign an informed consent. This will ensure that they know exactly what you are offering, and what to expect. It can protect you from lawsuits and claims.
   
9. You can’t please everyone.
   Occasionally you will have clients and students who are disappointed. Often it comes from them not knowing what to expect from Reiki and so it’s really important to be honest in your marketing and to describe your work authentically. If you feel that you haven’t been able to support them in the way that you wanted to, be honest and take responsibility for your words and actions. There will be times when your intuition tells you that you won’t be able to support a client/student further. Sometimes what they are looking for is outside the scope of Reiki, and so you can let them know and provide referrals if they are open to it.
   
10. Let it be an exchange of energy.
    If you’re starting a professional Reiki practice, put some thought into the value of what you’re exchanging. Even if you’re practicing with friends, consider charging what feels like an even exchange. It doesn’t have to be monetary but receiving an exchange for the energy that you share is important in valuing and replenishing yourself. When deciding on your pricing structure, it’s important to take into a consideration:

• The training you have received and personal spiritual practice you have maintained to be able to offer sessions
• The experience you have with healing (personal and with others)
• The time it will take for you to offer Reiki (including preparation for the session and grounding afterwards)
• The energy, and the mental and emotional capacity it will require of you
• How valuable and life changing is your offering for the recipient

Reiki Practitioner Tips: Authenticity

11. Let your offerings be true to you.
When I started my practice, I focused heavily on offering 1-on-1 sessions simply because I thought that’s how all practitioners supported others and made a living. In hindsight, I recognize that there are numerous ways to share Reiki while earning a living. You can offer circles, trainings, digital downloads, memberships, books, apprenticeships, retreats, workshops and more. You may be called to offer reiki in “alternative” environments such as hospices, yoga studios, animal shelters, or schools. When marketing yourself, you can create any form of content that you enjoy creating such as podcasts, blogs, newsletters, Instagram posts, TikToks, and YouTube videos amongst others. Just because you see someone being “successful” on a platform or with a certain offering, doesn’t mean that you have to show up in the same way. Consider what offerings and creations light you up. What is true to your style and helps you express yourself?

12. Your sensitivity will waiver.
Your empathy and intuitive healing gifts will not be the same from when you first learn Reiki, to years down the road. For some, Reiki will be a practice that helps them to deeply see, feel and sense all of creation. For others, they may feel overly empathic walking into their Reiki training, but their practice can help them harness these gifts until it’s not overwhelming. I personally find periods of time in which I am called to manage my mind and emotions so I can open up to Spirit more. At other times, I notice heightened empathy, and I go back to my Reiki tools that offer grounding and protection. It’s essential to notice where your sensitivity is, and to alter your practice so you feel safe but connected.

13. Reflect on what reiki means to you.
How would you describe it? What has been your experience with it? How is your approach unique? These questions can help you to clarify your intentions, and find your voice with confidence. When an acquaintance or stranger asks you about your offerings, it will be easier to explain and pitch your work if you have a language that you’re comfortable with. Come back to these reflections every now and then, to see how you can align further with your purpose. Your goals and intentions will change over time.

14. Build confidence with experience.
Consider volunteering Reiki at a hospice, non-profit, animal shelter, or hospital to gain invaluable experience. Starting with a volunteering gig can take the psychological pressure some beginners feel around imposter syndrome or the need to provide results. I personally volunteered at a hospice, which quickly reflected to me the power of Reiki. Although I minimized some of the experiences I was personally having with Reiki, I couldn’t deny the transformation I noticed in others, or the benefits they reported with me. You can also practice with family and friends to gain confidence, insight, and fulfillment. Volunteering Reiki gifts us practitioners the opportunity to hone our craft while being of service to others. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed reflecting on my experience of becoming a practitioner! Becoming a Reiki practitioner is one of the most challenging careers but it is also one of the most fulfilling, and nourishing ones. It forces us to continually evolve, while healing us in mind and body.

If you’re considering sharing your Reiki healing gifts, I welcome and encourage you to get started. You will adapt and find your rhythm as you show up consistently.

If you have any questions or insights, I welcome them in the comments below. Thank you!