The Essential Concept of Energy Exchange

Over the years I’ve been involved in many discussions around why we charge for Reiki – whether it’s for workshops, or healing sessions, or related services, there seems to be a feeling within the spiritual world that charging money for services is a ‘bad’ thing. Coming from the corporate world, I have never had this issue or belief – it has always puzzled me.

Just because we, as Reiki practitioners or Masters, offer Reiki as our means of income does not make it any less value than if we offered hamburgers, window cleaning, or banking. Seeing your line of work as your means of income is not a bad or dishonourable thing. If you could not make a living offering Reiki then you would have to go back into employment, and that would mean one less Reiki practitioner in the world, how is that a good thing?

If you are lucky enough to have support from others, a partner or an inheritance to rely on, then of course you can choose to charge or not charge. But for most of us, Reiki supports us just as much as it supports those we offer our services to. Why is it that in our industry we have such difficulty accepting payment? Would you expect your web developer, your printer, the taxi driver, your utilities company to provide you their products and services for free so that you can in turn provide free Reiki?

If you struggle to charge a fair price for your services, it is time to look carefully at the beliefs that surround you, your self-worth, and your trust that Reiki is a valuable and important offering.

Reiki practitioners and teachers, by definition, are empathic – we want to help others. In general we tend to be over-givers. We need to be careful we do not give as a way to feel better about ourselves. “I am giving all this energy and time to others, therefore I must be worthy and lovable”. You are worthy and lovable without the need to prove your worth to anyone else. From this neutral truth you can then build a sustainable Reiki business based on the same market forces that you would apply in any job. Being in the healing business does not make you ‘more’ or ‘less’ than any other business. You are not defined by your role.

Some practitioners/teachers/students get all upset when I refer to Reiki as a business. And if Reiki is not your life’s work then fine, call it a hobby. But Reiki is what I do for a living and is what I am ‘busy’ with, so to me I find it helpful to strip away all the uptight spiritual baggage and to look at what I offer clearly. As with any business – am I offering services people want to pay for – as opposed to what I want them to want? Am I giving good value – are people will be coming back, and bringing friends? Am I able to sustain myself and achieve my financial goals?

Making sure your side of the energy exchange equation is well balanced is obviously important but from your customers perspective, the concept of energy exchange is equally important. We can only receive what we put out. The more we give, the more we can receive – it is a potential for the energy to exchange. Your customers are committing to their own healing when they give you their money – they are stating “I would like to receive this amount of energy please”.

This is assuming that both people are pure and clear in their intention. There are always cases of Reiki practitioners and customers who are not fully open or trusting to the fact that Reiki will be fully received. A customer may pay you for something they don’t really want to receive. You may take payment and not be fully trusting that Reiki will deliver to the amount you are charging. Murky intention gets murky results.

What I have found useful is having a belief that the customer knows what they are paying for. I trust if they pay me my asking price it is because they are going to get exactly what they pay for. This trust works very well for me, I have rarely had a complaint or a question as to my charges.

Charging allows you to feel worthy, and the customer to feel worthy. It allows Reiki to be honoured and valued. It values what you do as a practitioner/teacher and it means people who come to you also value what you offer and value their own healing. It is a very important part of the healing process.

I am not saying there is not a place for volunteering or charity work, of course these are very valuable and honourable too. But to not charge for any of your time? How is this sustainable? Value yourself, value Reiki, and value your client.

Article by Elaine Hamilton Grundy

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Elaine has been teaching Reiki for over 20 years and founded The Reiki Centre in 2007 to focus on bringing high quality Reiki teaching to those interested in self-empowerment. Over the past 2 decades, Elaine has trained thousands of Reiki students and over 80 Reiki Masters via her vigorous Teacher training program.
She is the author of Reiki, Pure and Simple a down to earth beginners guide to Reiki, and most recently Reiki- A Path to Freedom, which explores Reiki as a spiritual pathway.
Elaine’s passion is bringing the spiritual aspect back into Reiki and helping people find their inner truth and autonomy through their Reiki practice. She runs regular online webinars, workshops and community healing groups and can be contacted via www.Reiki-Centre.com or facebook: www.facebook.com/ReikiCentre