4 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Getting Into Professional Reiki

After practicing Reiki on myself and my loved ones for two years, I finally decided, a year ago, that it was time to share my gift with the public. I reached out to a local multi-disciplinary clinic and that marked my foray into the world of professional Reiki. And what a journey it’s been! Below I share some of the things I wish someone had told me before embarking on this journey.

Taking on the role of professional healer – or any new role really – along with its accompanying challenges and responsibility, can feel pretty isolating at times. I hadn’t always aspired to be a Reiki practitioner so in a lot of ways, the role felt like something I had to grow into; like a new aspect of myself that I had to nurture before it felt natural. And there is a certain sense of vulnerability and aloneness that can come with that process.

Secondly, while being a vessel for this beautiful and wise force we call Reiki, as well as bearing witness to our clients’ experiences, is such a humbling honor and joy, sometimes putting yourself (your feelings, wishes, expectations, etc.) aside in order to be a clear conduit for Reiki during a session, and holding space emotionally for your client, can leave you feeling lonely afterwards. At least I have felt that way sometimes.

There is a simplicity to practicing Reiki on just yourself: You commune in your daily practice with this beautiful energy, whose value and importance you never have to explain, because you experience every day – viscerally, directly – how amazing it is. You’re in a private, intimate dance with the energy and it’s all that matters.

And you might naively assume – as I did – that working with the public will be just as simple. I assumed that getting established would just be a matter of finding a space from which to practice and letting people know of my services. But, of course, it wasn’t.

In addition to doing the sessions, I had to get comfortable with not only “selling” Reiki but also structuring the whole experience before and after a treatment in a way that was helpful to both the recipient and I, to say nothing of all the other aspects that come with running a business.

As such even though I had freely made the choice to pursue Reiki professionally, there were moments when I felt like I was being thrust into a role (or, more accurately, multiple roles) I hadn’t asked for and I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times when I felt like quitting.

For me these aspects were: The part of me that found dealing with money stressful and uncomfortable and preferred the relative simplicity of being broke; the part of me that was more inclined to project my power onto others than to embody it; and the part of me that felt more comfortable and secure shrinking and hiding myself than with being visible, to name a few.

I have since come to learn that on our journey toward establishing ourselves as healers, we will attract precisely the sorts of people and situations that reflect back to us our fears, insecurities, and resistance, and in the process – that is if we’re willing to engage with it – heal and integrate those parts of ourselves.

I consider this a sort of spiritual decluttering, which needs to happen in order for us to come to a place where we’re seeing exactly the kinds of clients we need to see, and in a way that nourishes and sustains us spiritually and financially.

Once the spiritual decluttering is complete; once the people, places, and situations that were meant to illuminate the parts of ourselves that needed to heal have played their role, we have to be ready to release them with love and to move on.

This is sometimes easier said than done. It definitely was for me. I had assumed that my career would take a particular course and that the clinic I found myself at initially was where I was meant to establish myself. In fact, the idea of leaving and striking out on my own felt daunting, even though my spirit didn’t feel quite at home there.

But in the end I did honor my spirit’s nudging to cut ties with the clinic and seek out opportunities to practice that were more aligned with the woman I had evolved into; to acknowledge that I had outgrown the part of me that wanted to stay small and, as such, to affirm that holding on to this place was not serving me. And it’s been one of the most liberating things I’ve ever done.

All in all I have learnt that taking on Reiki professionally is ultimately a process of transformation in and of itself. It will change you. It will force you to grow in ways you might not expect and cannot predict. Embrace the change and trust that the same ineffable force that drew you to this path in the first place will carry you through the bumpier parts of the ride.

Article by Thandiwe Msimuko

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Thandiwe Msimuko is a certified Usui Reiki Master from Zambia. She is also a devotee of Psychic Reiki – a form of Reiki based on the Mikao Usui Reiki Crystal of Awakening and popularised by Brett Bevell, the renowned American Reiki Master.
She was inspired to explore and share her gifts as a healer following the crucial role that Reiki played in helping her recover from her childhood sexual abuse trauma. It’s her hope to help similarly affected women find their way back to wholeness and harmony through the transformative power of Reiki.