Article by Deborah Lloyd, Reiki Master
Any healing practitioner, whether it be a psychotherapist, massage therapist, Reiki practitioner, or any energy healing facilitator, can benefit from learning how to transition smoothly from one client to the next. In many settings, appointments are back-to-back, with just a few minutes between each one. There may be days when the practitioner feels exhausted although the number of sessions were the same as usual. Let’s examine a few real-life situations.
Your first client of the day was very demanding. She asked many questions, expressed considerable doubt about Reiki and said your fee was too high for what she received. Your next client was dealing with grief from the loss of his spouse; you felt much empathy towards him; he was appreciative of Reiki and seemed less sad when he left. Your next client was a regular client, with a focus on his degenerative disease and how he is coping with it. The last client of the day was an angry woman – upset with her job, her sister and her boyfriend. She reported feeling lonely and insecure; she left in a much calmer state.
There was no time in between sessions to process all this information, emotions and energies. In fact, you set the intention to “set aside” these after each session, to be able to focus on the following client. The ideal time to process these events would be immediately after each session. The next ideal time would be at the end of the workday. However, we do not live in an ideal world!
Now that the day has been completed, you are ready to clean up your practice space, go home and have a quiet dinner with your spouse. While you may feel better for the next few hours, the processing of these sessions must occur, in order for you to maintain your own professional – and personal – wellbeing.
Each healing practitioner needs to find a method that works for her/him. Here are some ideas:
- Set aside time each evening, or the following morning before you see clients, to review each session in your mind. Write down anything that bothers you; journal on these notes when you have a block of time but do it within a few days.
- When you feel upset by a session, ask yourself these questions: What exactly was upsetting to me? What emotions did I have?
- In order to maintain balance, also process the sessions when you had positive feedback. Identify and write about your emotions after these sessions.
- Give gratitude always – for all clients and sessions.
There may be clients and situations where you cannot determine what was upsetting to you; or, how to deal with your emotions. Please do not judge yourself, or think you are “less than” another professional. It is difficult to be totally objective when you are emotionally involved in a situation. This is when it is helpful to contact your Reiki Master, another Reiki or healing modality practitioner, or mentor. Be honest when discussing what occurred and how it made you feel. Often, another practitioner, with much experience, can assist you in this process.
And, don’t forget doing self-Reiki during the Reiki process is always helpful! Take care of yourself, as this is the only way to maintain professional and personal healthiness.
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Deborah Lloyd is a Usui and Karuna Reiki® Master and certified holistic therapy practitioner, providing Distant Reiki sessions and training in Asheville, NC. Deborah is the author of two books, 22 Messages from the Archangels; and, Believe and it is True: A Story of Healing and Life Lessons. She is also one of the co-authors of Reiki 101: 101 Answers for Your Reiki Questions. Reach Deborah at deb@deblloydhealing.com and on Facebook at Deb Lloyd Healing.
Surprising clients with how much you charge for services “after” the fact, is “never” a good idea (not that you personally do this, but just in case others do~!)! Making certain you advertise or state how much you charge “prior” to “any” session, alleviates the possibility both now and in the future concerning pricing complaints!\ Careful consideration concerning the type of criticism you receive, can indicate whether or not you need to make an adjustment, or just blow off their stuff (literally shaking off their woolly boogers, then Reikiing yourself and the healing area after they leave! You should cleanse yourself and your healing area “after” every client anyway, and at the end of day too!)\ What is critical in any event that leaves you feeling uncomfortable is, learning how to “discern” (seeing events as a witness), rather than judging (having a personalized emotive reaction). By discerning what happened, it provides insight into the differences of someone who; wants to gain at your expense, who is letting off steam because they have no other safe outlet to do this, thus it has absolutely nothing to do with you. Then lastly someone who is genuinely unhappy and the lesson is specifically for you to make adjustments… Remember, “A good teacher is but a wise student!”\ Another consideration, leaving a half an hour open between sessions, providing yourself time to; cleanse the area and yourself, process and write down quick notes concerning what both you and the client experienced, etc…. Then later after your last client leaves for the day, cleanse the area and yourself, then reread and fine tune what you wrote… By writing quick notes between session(s), you get things out of your system, leaving stuff behind so you are fresh for the next client. Making written adjustments at the end of the day from your notes, helps to see if Reiki has helped you adjust and learn too.\ Lastly, have compassion for both the client and yourself… The Universe didn’t provide any of us an owner’s manual in how to navigate life… We are all here to learn and transform! Re-member, you are Love(d)… Namaste…
Dear El,
I appreciate your comments!
Blessings,
Deborah