15/06/2019
An interesting thought...
I recently joined a group on FB for Reiki healers. One of the first couple of things I noticed was the frequency with which people posted asking for healing to be sent to them, or a relative, and the āhealing circlesā which people āopened upā for an evening or a few hours, inviting anyone who wanted healing to draw on the circle.
As a Reiki Practitioner/Teacher of 20 yearsā experience, and Energy Field Healing Practitioner/Teacher of 10 yearsā experience, both of these concerned me. I sent in a post, about the first situation, carefully explaining my thoughts, and so far, it has not been posted. Almost certainly a victim of the āadmin policeā on FB ā one of my frustrations about the place.
However, I think this is an important subject in the energy healing world, so, although not everyone may like what I have to say, I am going to explain why I feel uncertain about these requests for quickie (and therefore also āfreeā) healings and āopenā healing circles ā¦.
I am not an uncaring person, I think my students and clients would attest to that, but we would not, in almost any other walk of life, think of asking for something in this way. Yes, some of the requests involve really serious illness/injury or people who are dying, and that may be a different issue ā though I still think proper full healings are the best way. But, in general, most requests seem to be because someone has had a ābad dayā, or is feeling ādepressedā ā fairly normal situations that we all go through now and again.
Therefore, I think this attitude devalues Reiki. It is not good for the person asking for healing, and it is not good for the person who gives it. As healers we need to avoid falling into the Rescuer position, where we want to help/fix/cure everyone. That is a road to burnout. The number of people who might ask for āa quick bit of healingā is, frankly, endless, and impossible to keep up with. For this, and other good reasons, my wise Reiki Teacher taught all her students to strenuously avoid āquickieā treatments.
There is also the uncomfortable, but necessary, issue of personal responsibility. We are ultimately responsible for our own health, and life is all about choices ā from what to eat and drink, how (or if) we exercise, how we take care of our emotional and mental health, who in our life is good for us, and who is not, and whether we choose to focus on our own well-being or leave it to others to do it for us. I donāt think the latter position, where people ask on internet forums for āa quick bit of healingā, is truly healthy. If we want healing, it is important to make a positive choice for that, to choose a healer and go and have full healings, in a proper setting. If it is a case of finances, there are many healers, like me, who are willing to discuss reduced fees.
For healers and āclientsā, giving healing for nothing goes against the principle of āenergy exchangeā, and this is important. If we have healing for nothing, where is the incentive to help ourselves, if someone else will jump in and do it for us? The risk is that people can become dependent on this less than optimal source of healing.
As healers, if we continue to do healing for nothing, my view is that we are giving out the wrong message ā that Reiki doesnāt have to be paid for, that it is not important enough, or good enough, for its therapists to charge a fee, to earn a living. I charge a very reasonable amount for my work, and my sessions with clients are sometimes long, because I give clients space to talk, but I have to earn a living.
On the page the reply to these requests for healing is most often a one or two-word message - āSentā, or āSending.ā What does that mean? Has the healer sat down and prepared their healing space, prepared themselves, checked their own energy and grounding, connected to the āclientā and done a proper, full, distance healing? To do anything else is not going to be that helpful for the person asking, or the person āsendingā, and therefore, devalues them, and Reiki, again. If we want Reiki to be taken seriously, we have to be serious about it! āSentā sounds as if they may have just had a kind thought, or perhaps spent a few seconds āsendingā. But that is not Reiki, that is having a nice thought about a person. Nice. Kind. But misleading.
If we do healing for family or friends for no fee, that is different, because we are in relationship with them, and there will be other forms of āexchangeā between us. I often do healing for members of my family. I assist some clients with distance healing between appointments, and I do not charge for this. I volunteer at a local hospice one day a month, where I give my time for no charge, and I have some clients for whom I do healing for a reduced fee. I have on rare, exceptional, occasions treated clients for no fee at all, but that is my personal choice No healer can hope to keep going if they are not able to earn enough to live and pay their bills. That is only sensible.
The group I joined is supposed to be for Reiki healers, so presumably, the people asking for healing, are also Reiki-trained? What about self-healing? What about exchange healings with a Reiki friend? I exchange healings on a regular basis with a trusted healer friend, and we support each other between times if one of us has a particular stress.
And, to the āopenā healing circles. I think these could be energetically risky for those who hold them, and those who use them. Holding space like this is not necessarily safe for the healer, who may have dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people, linking in to them. Yes, the healer will, in theory, be channelling universal energy, which is limitless, but the healer is human, and everyone has a capacity.
As energetic Beings humans make energy connections to anyone they are in contact with. This means, in my experience, that everyone involved in an āopenā healing circle, is connected to everyone else, not just the healer. That is because they are connected to the healerās energy and that is a conduit to anyone else also connected at the same time. This opens up the possibility for energetic issues and stresses to pass between people. Unless the healer is very aware of what is happening, there is also the risk that some people may draw unknowingly on the healerās personal energy, and even remain connected to them after the circle.
I āhold spaceā for my students when I teach, and clients when I work. But I see one client at a time, and teach only small groups. It is specific and limited. It is therefore easy for me to check afterwards if an energy connection remains by accident ā which it does on occasions - and I can close it down.
Quickie, āfreeā healing ā a good thing? I am sorry, but I think not.
