As we know, not only can anyone reap the benefits of Reiki, but Reiki can also address a wide variety of issues. As such, the importance of focusing on a specific group of people as a practitioner – as opposed to catering to the general public – is one that is not explored often, in my humble opinion. However, it is an important factor to consider as an aspiring or budding practitioner. Below are some of the ways that picking a niche has helped me:
1. I feel less like an impostor
Like many people, when I just started out I doubted myself a lot, not least because the field of professional healing was very new to me. In addition to the newness of it all were the internal resistance and insecurities that I had to grapple with in adopting the role and title of healer. Often I wondered what I was doing and just who I thought I was.
I didn’t doubt the power of Reiki to help those I worked with necessarily. But I did feel daunted in the face of the myriad issues that the clients who came to the clinic I was affiliated with at the time were struggling with.
But I noticed that ever since recommitting to my mission to working with child sexual abuse survivors (which was what inspired me to want to share Reiki with others in the first place) I feel less out of my depth. Because I understand from personal experience what it can be like to struggle with such trauma and how exactly Reiki can help, it feels like I have a solid foundation from which to approach, communicate to, and help clients.
2. I feel more inspired and focused
It didn’t happen immediately, but I noticed, months into my professional journey, that I began to feel less and less enthusiastic about my work with clients (even though my personal Reiki practice was still a source of comfort and joy). I didn’t feel as grounded or as energized from performing Reiki sessions as I initially did. Instead, I felt more and more drained, lost, and resentful.
Intuitively I knew that the reason I was feeling drained and disconnected from my clients was because I wasn’t focusing on my target market. But I initially resisted this knowing. I wondered how it was possible that working with a clientele that wasn’t a good fit for me could adversely impact my sessions. After all, it was still the same Reiki flowing through me. What did it matter if I was offering it to everyone rather than the people I felt drawn to work with?
But then it all made sense when I considered the fact that there is a lot more to doing Reiki professionally than simply offering a session. To retain clients, you need to have an interest in their story and history and to be able to walk them through how Reiki can help them going forward. All of these things are easier to accomplish when you’re passionate about the specific issue you’re helping your clients with; when the problems they are facing have personal resonance or meaning for you.
Or at least this has been the case for me. I’ve experienced a greater sense of connection, direction, clarity and purpose ever since deciding to help clients who are going through what I went through.
3. I have found it easier to create a structure and systems around my sessions.
As established, there is more to doing Reiki in exchange for money than simply offering treatments. In order to serve your clients effectively, there are a variety of documents, resources, and tools you’ll need, from intake and consent forms to assessment forms and progress charts. Depending on what you’re helping your clients with, these will vary. And when you know exactly who you’re serving and what your goal is, the process of tailoring these documents and forms to reflect your client’s needs is easier.
4. I have found it easier to “sell” Reiki
For some time I believed that the reason I was having trouble attracting and retaining clients was because Reiki was too new and too weird for most people, hence their reluctance to book me or to come back after having a session with me. I just needed to give it time and let people catch on to the idea of Reiki, I told myself.
It doesn’t help that Reiki is a subtle force that sometimes works in ways that we don’t expect or aren’t readily perceivable. As such, it can be a challenge to explain to people, especially those who’ve never heard of it, how exactly it can help them.
But more and more, I’m convinced that if you know who your target audience is and you’re speaking directly to their needs (that is, you can explain clearly how Reiki can help them with their particular issue), you won’t have to struggle as much to draw them in or keep them as your client. Things are made even simpler, as established in the first and second points, if you can tie it all back to your own personal experience; to the things that Reiki has helped you with exactly.
5. It’s helped me to get more comfortable with the idea of charging for my services.
Truth be told, there were a variety of factors contributing to my discomfort with receiving money for my Reiki services but feeling like an imposter was a big one. And now because I’m digging deeper and know from experience how Reiki can help those I seek to help, I don’t struggle as much in this department.
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It’s easy to assume that by having a target audience and excluding everyone else, you’re narrowing your focus. Indeed, the fear of missing out on prospective income by leaving out everyone else is the reason some struggle with picking a niche (it was certainly partly about that for me). And in a sense it is true that you are limiting your focus. But in another, more important sense, you are actually stepping more fully into your calling, engaging more deeply with Reiki and the degree to which it can use you to serve others.
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.
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