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Reiki practitioners, you’re all in my heart, and this post is for you.

By Karen Yankovich

Several months ago I hosted a free workshop titled “How to Make More Money with your Reiki Practice”.  Over 800 people signed up for this workshop, it’s clearly a topic that many Reiki practitioners  struggle with.

I want to share with you some posts that I got on my Facebook page when I promoted this workshop.  These are straight from this page.

“I was trained by my mentor to not charge for my services. How do the morals work with charging for reiki?”

“Reiki is God’s gift to ONLY some people so he /she can do good for People…………How can U make it a Business???”

“Reiki should not involve money! You taint intention. Please do it with compassion, not a price tag”

“the return is your own good karma. That is all u should recieve”

“why charge people to help them?”

“I think this is the problem with integral healing practice – it all becomes about how to make money and not about how to best serve.”

“The advert makes reiki look a cheap way of making money and I don’t agree with your selling point either. It’s disrespectful to the art and dicipline of reiki”

Keep in mind, these aren’t people who don’t understand or believe in the benefits of Reiki.  These examples are from real people, who understand and often practice Reiki.

I wonder how they pay their rent?

To be fair, there were many more people who jumped in with comments like this:

“One is not paying for the reiki but for the persons time. The room has to be clean, heated and a treatment couch. I have been a reiki master for longer than I remember. I do give a lot of free treatments. Often in payment I will accept what a client can do in return. The reward for me is seeing the miracle come true. Oh, and I forgot the insurance, candles, crystals and tea and cake afterwards. Plus the heated couch !
Love & light to all.”

“As a healer you have a gift to help others , but we are souls here on earth to have a human experience!!  Which means bills and mortgages.  No one should ever feel bad about charging for their services as long as you the practitioner know in your soul that what you are charging is the right amount for you. Money is energy and you need that exchange !!!!”

These are comments from just one post.  There are others, with the same kind of exchange.  I occasionally block a post if it’s particularly nasty, but for the most part, I don’t shy away from the controversy.  It’s MY passion in life to help others live a life of abundance from THEIR passions, and if Reiki is your passion, I want you to spend as much time in that energy as possible.  I don’t get the same controversy from my yoga clients, or my health coach clients, they understand that in order to help the greatest number of people on this planet, they need to be supporting themselves financially while doing it.

Reiki Fundamental:  In order to get the most value from a Reiki treatment, there needs to be an exchange of energy.

I’ve been a business consultant and coach for over 20 years.  I’m also a Reiki Master and a Dream Coach.  I know how icky talking about money as an energy exchange can be if you’re Reiki minded.  I say this with much love: Reiki practitioners, it’s OK to value your time.

Maybe, in order to shift your mindset, your services should list the benefits of your Reiki treatments instead of the time vs price.  For example, it’s typical to see Reiki services listed like this:

Reiki One Hour Session                $65.00
Reiki One and half hour                 $85.00

Where do your clients minds go, immediately?  “She’s making $65/hour!  I’m lucky to make $20/hour.”  Now, we know this isn’t true.  WE know that we spend hours each week preparing our space.  We pay for insurance, oils, sheets, tables, we pay rent for a space, we spend hours giving free treatments at hospice centers and at farmers markets.  In order to be successfully balancing your practice and your life, ALL of that needs to be considered.

What about if your services were priced like this?

Shortcut to stress-free – stop in for a half hour after your busy day for some soul soothing Reiki – $50

Reiki for Relaxation – spend an hour aligning your emotional, mental, and spiritual self – $95

Do you think maybe this would help you feel comfortable about the INCREASED prices?  Listen, I’m not here to preach that you should overcharge to make millions off your unsuspecting clients.  I’m here to say that if you DON’T value all of your time spent on managing your Reiki practice, you will soon be closing your doors.

Money is a worthless piece of paper without the human energy exchange behind it.  Give value to that human energy exchange, open yourself to it energetically, and your clients will too.

The true consequence of undervaluing your time is that you are building an unsustainable business.  Your heart is in the right place, now you have to find confidence in your gift to price your services properly.  What do you think your clients would think if they knew how much money you REALLY make per hour?  Is it even minimum wage?  Is this a business, or is it a hobby?

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I’m including the Reiki Precepts here to remind you of the amazing gift you are sharing.  I want you to continue sharing that gift with the world.  I want you to be able to abundantly gift your services when you choose to, because you are being supported abundantly by it.  PLEASE value your time, all of it, and your clients will understand why.

My friend Laura Wieck, a body-mind coach, says it like this:

Pricing isn’t personal… It’s BUSINESS!  

Being able to clearly communicate the benefits to what you offer and confidently price yourself accordingly is how you assert your VALUE to clients.”

Assert your value.  Value your time.  Keep sharing your amazing gift with the world.  We NEED you!

Homework: Pour yourself a glass of wine/tea/kombucha and get out your journal.  Write a love letter to yourself, asserting the value of your time.  Being confident with the value of your time has to start with YOU.  When you’re done, grab a mirror, look yourself straight in the eye, and read the love letter out loud.  Now, go back and look at your services, and rework them from that space of loving value.  xoxo

Extra Credit Homework: Get out that journal again.  Start to list all of the ways you can serve the world if you were abundantly supported by your passions.  Where can you volunteer?  Who can you leave a huge, secret tip for?  Spend some time on kiva.org, who can you support there?  List at least 100 ways.  DREAM BIG!

Comment below, share your tips and techniques for pricing YOUR services!  We need all the help we can get.

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 P.S. I’m happy to help! Sign up for a FREE 20 minute business boost session.

 

Heart picture courtesy of www.awakenvisions.com