Keeping Reiki FreeB Y W I L L I A M L E E R A N D

Illustration by Tom Bowman

The following article is a reprint from the Reiki News Magazine, Vol. Four, Issue One, Spring 2005. 2005 Vision Publications. All rights reserved.

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One of the benefits of Reiki is how easy it is to acquire,practice, and teach. Thousands of teachers offer a varietyof styles, which for the most part are reasonably priced.People are free to treat themselves or others or to start a Reiki busi-ness offering sessions to clients. When giving sessions, practition-ers can follow the training they received, innovate according totheir inner guidance, or add techniques from other healing meth-ods. Teachers are free to teach the same way they were taught, addtechniques and ideas they feel are useful, or create new systems ofReiki with new symbols, attunements, and healing energies. Allthis takes place in most states in the US without any governmentrestrictions, regulation, or licensing requirements.

This freedom to teach and use Reiki has allowed it to developand expand quickly. While no official records are available, a goodguesstimate is that there are at least a million people with Reikitraining in the US now. There are many more throughout theworld, and the numbers continue to grow! This growth, in turn,has undoubtedly helped improve the health and well-being of amajor segment of the population while at the same time loweringhealth-care costs and creating a source of income for many people.

Reiki is truly a miracle in many ways, and it is important thatwe acknowledge how fortunate we are to be able to freely prac-tice such an important skill. It is also important for us to be awarethat there are forces currently present, or that could develop, thatcould take this freedom away.

One way our freedom to practice Reiki could be unnecessari-ly limited is through government licensing or other forms of gov-ernment regulation. This possibility is realit has already hap-pened in one state, and attempts to restrict Reiki have occurredin other states or could occur unless we take action. Remember,Reiki is powerful and will help us maintain its free use, but inorder to do this, we need to be well informed, work together, andtake positive action. Here are the some of the important eventsand issues that we need to consider.

Texas Takeover AttemptThe lack of standards has allowed a wide range of training to

be available, ranging from the very good to the very poor. This isan issue that deserves attention. However, some have apparentlytried to use the lack of standards as a means to gain control of theReiki market.

A group in Texas made up of two Reiki schools sponsored leg-islation that would have required government licensing and allowonly those who attended their Reiki schools to practice or teachReiki in Texas. This was House Bill 367 submitted by Texas StateLegislator Debra Danburg in December 1998. The fee they werecharging for teacher training was $10,000! Obviously this wouldhave greatly reduced the number of Reiki teachers in Texas andrestricted the style of Reiki one could learn or practice. Due to thethousands of protest letters sent in by the Reiki community to

Danburgs office and other legislatorsand because the bill wasprobably seen as an attempt by the two schools to corner the mar-ket on Reiki trainingthe legislation was dropped. We are thank-ful to those who helped defeat this bill. However, its possible thatother groups could try similar tactics and be successful.

Florida Massage Board IssueIn 1999 and 2000, the Florida Massage Board voted that Reiki

is massage and that anyone practicing Reiki for compensationmust have a massage license or other license to touch (such as anursing license). This took place even though Reiki practitionersclearly explained to the Massage Board that Reiki didnt involvemassage and could be practiced without touching the body. Theway the law is set up, the Massage Board has the legal authorityto define massage anyway it wants and is not required to respondto reason. The board continued to define Reiki as massage, thusrequiring a massage license to practice Reiki.

Enforcement of this law is up to the Florida Department ofHealth (DOH), which must first receive a complaint that some-one is practicing Reiki without a massage license. According toDeborah Miller, a health-freedom activist attorney practicing inFlorida, the DOH could then take any of four actions: Issuing aCease and Desist Notice; taking the practitioner to court if theydont cease and desist; issuing a fine not to exceed $5000; andgetting a civil court to impose a civil fine. They could also seekthe arrest and criminal prosecution of Reiki practitioners whopractice without a massage license.

The Florida DOH has limited resources, and, as far as I know,no Reiki practitioner has had any action taken against them. Butthere is no guarantee this will continue. At any time a group ofmassage therapists or others could file a complaint and any of theabove actions could be taken against Reiki practitioners inFlorida. This same misuse of power could take place in any statewith a massage license requirement.

Medical Practice ActAnother threat to the freedom we enjoy as Reiki practitioners

is the Medical Practice Act. Put into place about a hundred yearsago in most states in the US, the act aimed to give medical doc-tors as much control of the healing profession as possible. TheseMedical Practice Acts are worded very similarly in most states.They are worded in such broad terms that anyone doing anythingto help another person could be considered to be practicing med-icine and therefore required to have a medical license. This lawhas been used to prosecute alternative healers for practicingmedicine without a license when they had not caused harm,were not doing anything related to medical treatment, and weresimply using their alternative healing systems.

Here is a copy of the law as it exists in Michigan, but similarwording is used in most states. The only state that doesnt enforce

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their medical practice act indiscriminately against unlicensedpractitioners is Oklahomaas far as I know.

Practice of medicine means the diagnosis, treatment, pre-vention, cure or relieving of human disease, ailment, defect, com-plaint, or other physical or mental condition, by attendance,advice, device, diagnostic test, or other means, or offering, under-taking, attempting to do, or holding oneself out as able to do, anyof these acts.

As it stands now, the practice of Reiki by unlicensed health-careproviders could easily be defined as technically illegal in most statesand subject to criminal prosecution. Although no Reiki person hasbeen charged with practicing medicine without a license as far as Iknow, others in the alternative healing professions have, and ifnothing is done, it is only a matter of time before Reiki practition-ers are likely to be prosecuted. In fact, as Reiki becomes more pop-ular, it is likely that a backlash from the conservative medical com-munity, the religious right, or others could prompt them to use thislaw to greatly reduce our right to receive and give Reiki sessions.

Is Government Licensing Right for Reiki?The above issues are serious challenges to the practice of

Reiki. They could limit who could practice Reiki, dictate howReiki is to be taught and practiced, adversely affect our publicimage, and take away the freedom we enjoy in its practice. Somehave thought that government licensing or other forms of gov-ernment regulation would solve these problems by creating stan-dards for the practice of Reiki and increasing the status of Reikipractitioners to the level of other licensed health-care providers.

While government licensing would solve some of the prob-lems, such as preventing prosecution by the Medical PracticeAct, or allowing us to provide our own licensing rather than berequired to get a massage license, there are definite drawbacks tothis approach that far outweigh the benefits.

Government licensing would most likely require anyonewanting to practice Reiki to take training from a government-approved school, practice according to government guidelines,pay a licensing fee, and be subject to government oversight, fines,and the possibility of losing ones right to practice if one didntmeet government requirements.

The fees necessary to become a Reiki practitioner wouldalmost certainly go up. There would be the licensing fee, whichcould increase whenever the government felt it necessary. Thetraining would likely be more expensive and would not necessar-ily be an improvement over the training currently offered bymany teachers and schools. In addition, the training would mostlikely require a greater time commitment and there would likelybe a limited number of teachers or schools offering government-approved training, thus reducing the range of training available.

The training requirements could also change at any time accord-ing to the decision of government officials who may not beknowledgeable in the practice of Reiki. As you can see, govern-ment licensing is a serious issue that could reduce the number ofpractitioners available, take away many of the freedoms we enjoy,and change the way Reiki is practiced.

There are other forms of government regulation we need to beaware of, including registration. This seems innocent enoughatleast at first. Registration in some states simply requires one to reg-ister with the appropriate government office in order to practice.In that case it could also be called a permit. In other states regis-tration is more like licensing and requires a certain type of govern-ment-approved education and title protection. However, once aregistration bill is passed, government officials can create addition-al registration requirements that could include more educationalrequirements, practice guidelines, and registration fees. Over timea registration bill could easily end up working very similarly to gov-ernment licensing, depending on the state policies and laws.

In addition, when considering the purpose of government reg-ulation, we need to be aware that the only legitimate purpose thishas is to protect the public from harm. This is why medical doc-tors are required to get a license. The surgery they perform andthe drugs they prescribe can cause harm. Requiring special train-ing is beneficial in that it is likely to reduce the harm medicaldoctors could cause. However, Reiki is not like the practice ofmedicine. Reiki is a simple laying on hands technique, whichexperience has shown does not cause harm and doesnt present arisk to the public. Therefore there is no legitimate need for gov-ernment regulation of Reiki.

While it is true that there is a wide range of quality availablein the practice of Reiki and especially in its teaching, there arebetter solutions than government licensing. And in fact, it is feltby most Reiki practitioners Ive communicated with that the pos-itive value of the freedom we currently enjoy far outweighs theproblems of poor training that a few create. It is also important tounderstand that individuals are intelligent enough to decide forthemselves which teacher or Reiki class is right for themratherthan having the government do it for them. In order to make thiseasier, I suggest that each school, teacher, or practitioner beencouraged to set their own standards and openly advertise themalong with their training background. This would make it easy forpotential students and clients to decide where to go for classes orsessions and reduce the effect of poor training offered by a few.

Will a Religious Defense Help?In order to protect themselves from the above-mentioned

problems, some Reiki practitioners have sought legal protectionby obtaining ministers credentials from the Universal Life

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Church or other religious groups who include laying on hands asone of their religious practices. However, the protection thiscould provide is not well understood by most that are using it.Most feel all they have to do is become a minister and have acopy of their membership card in their wallet or purse, but muchmore must be done.

In order for a Reiki practitioner to receive even minimal pro-tection from the above issues, you must actually accept the reli-gious philosophy and be a practicing member of the church ofwhich you have become a minister. In addition, you need toopenly advertise this, and your Reiki clients need to understandthat the Reiki sessions you give are part of your religious practice.And even if this is done, it still will not provide complete pro-tection against the Medical Practice Act, or the actions of a mas-sage board or other government agency.

Others have taken a more extreme position and said that oneway to prevent Reiki from being controlled by the government orother groups is to legally incorporate it as a religion, which wouldgive it protection under the First Amendment of the USConstitution. This would require that anyone wanting to havethis protection become a member of the Reiki religion and useReiki as a religious practice. While this might be possible, at bestit would only give minimal legal protection, and is not really agood solution.

One of Reikis positive features is that one doesnt need tochange ones religious beliefs in order to practice Reiki. People ofall religious backgrounds practice Reiki and continue to maintaintheir original religious beliefs. The fact that Reiki is practiced bypeople of all religious backgrounds makes Reiki a uniting force inthe world, bringing together people of all religions in a spirit ofharmony and trust. This is especially important now when dis-trust and war have so often been created by opposing religiousgroups and the need for world peace and harmony is so impor-tant. To require that one must accept Reiki as a religion and con-vert in order to be protected from unnecessary government regu-lation would greatly restrict the number of people willing to prac-tice Reiki. The existence of a Reiki religion would cause manyreligious people who would normally be interested in Reiki to feeluncomfortable with Reiki and not want to be involved with it.

SolutionIn 2000 a number of Reiki groups began working together to

try to solve the problem created by the Florida Massage Board. Weasked our Reiki students to send protest letters to them explainingthat Reiki is not massage and to ask them to remove Reiki fromthe definition of massage. The board did not respond to ourrequest, even though we made it very clear that Reiki is not mas-sage. In fact in their meeting they even went as far as to say that

a Reiki practitioners hands are electrical devices and thereforetheir use needs to be regulated by the massage board. They obvi-ously were not going to be convinced, and, as explained above,they have the power to define massage any way they want.

Its also possible that massage boards in other states could dosomething similar, thus jeopardizing the free practice of Reiki inany state that had a massage-licensing requirement. When I con-sidered this and the other threats to Reiki freedom that Ive out-lined in this article, I knew that something needed to be done. Isent Reiki to the situation and continued to look for a solution.

Shortly after this, I heard about Diane Miller, an attorneywho had done work to help alternative healers in Minnesota.Diane had been involved in a legal case in 199396 defendingHerb Saunders of Odin, Minnesota. Herb developed a healingmethod based on the use of specially prepared cows milk, whichwas successful in treating many illnesses, including Lyme disease,arthritis, and cancer. His technique involved taking a bloodsample from the sick person and injecting it into a pregnantcows utter. The cow would then produce transfer factors for theillness. After the cow gave birth, its first milk, which is calledcolostrum, contained the transfer factors and was given to thesick person. Many people claimed to have been healed or helpedby this process.

The medical profession didnt like it and took Herb to courtwith a number of charges including practicing medicine withouta license. Through the help of Diane Miller and lead attorneyCalvin Johnson, Herb Saunderss case was dismissed on May 30,1996. (See http://www.arthritistrust.com/Newsletter/2000sum-mer.pdf)

Realizing that the Herb Saunders case was only the tip of theiceberg and that all alternative healers are at risk of prosecutionunder the Medical Practice Act, Diane went on to work with theMinnesota Natural Health-Legal Reform Project to design a leg-islative solution. She became their lead lobbyist and legislativeconsultant. Through her effort, along with help from volunteers,the Minnesota Complementary and Alternative Health CareFreedom of Access Act was passed and went into effect asMinnesota Statute 146A on July 1, 2000. The new law exemptsunlicensed health-care practitioners from charges of practice ofmedicine without a license.

With this background and the fact Id been told she is also awonderful person, I was prompted to call her and find out if shecould help the legal issues facing the Reiki community and espe-cially the situation in Florida. She said the type of legislation shehelped draft and get passed in Minnesota would prevent theproblems that the massage board had created in Florida and alsoprevent Reiki from being licensed or regulated by the govern-ment. In effect it would confirm that the practice of Reiki is legal

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Health Freedom GroupsARKANSAS HEALTH FREEDOM COALITIONWebsite: www.arhfc.org

CALIFORNIA HEALTH FREEDOM COALITIONPO Box 186Palo Alto, CA 94302Voicemail: 650-352-4533 E-mail: chfc@californiahealthfreedom.comWebsite: www.californiahealthfreedom.comTheir bill has passed and became effective in 2002.

FLORIDA HEALTH FREEDOM ACTIONPO Box 430871South Miami, FL 33243-0871Phone: 305-668-2800, Fax: 305-662-1665E-mail: info@floridahealthfreedom.orgWebsite: www.floridahealthfreedom.orgTheir bill will solve the massage board problem, and theyneed help.

GEORGIA COMPLEMENTARY ANDALTERNATIVE MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONPO Box 373478Decatur, GA 30037Phone: 404-284-7592E-mail: cama@mindspring.comWebsite: www.camaweb.org

HAWAII REPRESENTATIVE CYNTHIA EVANSWebsite: www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/house/members/

HEALTH FREEDOM ACTION MASSACHUSETTS INC.Sheila Parks, Ed.D., PresidentVoice 617-731-5510P.O. Box 1864Brookline, MA 02446Website: www.healthfreedommassachusetts.org

HEALTH FREEDOM COALITION OF OHIOWebsite: www.ohiohealthfreedom.org

IOWA HEALTH FREEDOM COALITIONEmail: info@iowahealthfreedom.orgWebsite: http://www.iowahealthfreedom.org

LOUISIANA HEALTH FREEDOM COALITIONWebsite: www.lahfc.org

MICHIGAN NATURAL HEALTH COALITIONWebsite: http://www.mnhc.info/mnhc_008.htm

MINNESOTA NATURAL HEALTH COALITIONPhone: 651-322-4542E-mail: mnhc1@earthlink.netWebsite: http://www.minnesotanaturalhealth.org/This is the group that created the Minnesota Model, whichbecame effective in 2000.

NATIONAL HEALTH FREEDOM COALITIONPMB 218, 2136 Ford Pkwy.St. Paul, MN 55116-1863Phone: 651-690-0732, Fax: 651-699-8306E-mail: similars@aol.comWeb Site: http://www.nationalhealthfreedom.comThis is the national organization that is helping states passlegislation.

NEW JERSEY NATURAL HEALTH COALITION NJNHCPO Box 148Mount Tabor, NJ 07878Phone: 973-486-8073, Fax: 973-627-5051E-mail: membership@njnhc.orgWebsite: www.njnhc.org

NORTH CAROLINA CITIZENS FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOMSusan O'Neil,Phone 919-932-4398Email: susone@gmail.comWebsite: www.citizensforhealthcarefreedom.org

OKLAHOMA HEALTH FREEDOM ACTION NETWORKEmail: healthfans@yahoo.comWebsite: http://www.oklahomahealthfreedom.org

RHODE ISLAND COALITION FOR NATURAL HEALTH INC. PMB 100-4081220 L Street N.W.Washington, D.C. 20005-4018Phone (Toll-free): 800-586-4264, Fax: 800-598-4264E-mail: cnh@naturalhealth.orgWebsite: www.naturalhealth.orgPromoting health freedom in Rhode Island

WISCONSIN HEALTH FREEDOM COALITIONWebsite: www.wihfc.com

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and needs no government regulation. This was great news. I alsosensed from talking with her that her values and motivation werespiritual and that she had a heart-centered interest in helping allalternative healers including Reiki practitioners preserve thefreedoms they enjoy.

This so inspired me that I got a plane ticket to Minnesota andtraveled there so I could meet Diane and learn from her in per-son what this process is all about. When I arrived I was met byDiane and her friend and fellow health-freedom activist, JerriJohnson. We had a great time together. In the process of showingme around Minneapolis, they explained many of the detailsabout how their bill works and what it took to get it passed.

One of the important lessons they learned was that in order togain the attention and support of the legislators, who are at leastpartially motivated by votes, they had to create a bill that bene-fited the greatest number of people. This is why their bill isclient-based rather than practitioner-based. The legislation theycreated, which is now called the Minnesota Model, focuses onpreserving the right of the public to have the widest possiblechoice in the methods of alternative healing available to them,rather than allowing the government to limit those choices byrequiring practitioners to have a government license or otherform of government regulation. This kept the focus away fromhaving to prove that alternative healing works and directedtoward the right of the public to choose the healing method theywant as long as those methods dont pose an imminent risk ofharm to the public.

During our conversations they mentioned that they wereforming a national organization to help other states get similarlegislation passed. I thought that was a great idea and encouragedthem. After I got home they called and asked if Id like to be onthe Board of Directors. In thinking about their offer, I consideredthe quality of their work, their high level of integrity, and the factthat their values and spiritual purpose match my own. Because ofthis, I decided to accept. Shortly after this the National HealthFreedom Coalition (NHFC) was formed. Im glad I was asked tobe part of this organization as this has allowed me to be connect-ed to the front lines of this work and stay in touch with theimportant issues as soon as they come up.

The Minnesota Model and newer models passed in otherstates, such as the California Model and the Rhode Island Model,provide the type of protection we need to keep Reiki free. It pre-vents massage boards from requiring Reiki practitioners to have amassage license to practice. It prevents Reiki from being takenover by individual schools or groups. It prevents Reiki practi-tioners from being prosecuted for practicing medicine without alicense. And it assures us that Reiki is a legal practice free of gov-ernment regulation!

While it doesnt prevent poorly trained practitioners frompracticing Reiki, it does require practitioners to advertise theirtraining background and what they provide in a Reiki session.This is an important part of the bill as it makes it easy for some-one seeking a Reiki session to make an informed decision. It islikely that this requirement will help reduce the number of poor-ly trained people in practice. The bill also requires practitionersto include a disclaimer to the effect that Reiki practitioners arenot licensed health-care providers and that if clients are in needof medical care, they are encouraged to seek help from a licensedhealth-care provider. Most professional Reiki practitionersalready provide this type of information anyway. In addition, theclient is advised on how to make a complaint should a practi-tioner not provide the services advertised or not disclose theirtraining background. These stipulations are minimal and arehealthy for the Reiki community, causing it to be more profes-sional and accountable to the public.

Ive spoken with Reiki practitioners in Minnesota andCalifornia, where bills have passed, and found that most enjoythe legal protection the bills provide. They have found it easy tocomply with the requirements as most were already in compli-ance when the bills went into effect.

I wondered if there had been any complaints filed with thestate about Reiki practitioners. I spoke with the MinnesotaOffice of Unlicensed Complementary and Alternative HealthCare Practice and was sent a report. According to the report,there were thirty-one complaints received in three years. Most ofthe complaints were against massage therapists for sexual mis-conduct. There was only one complaint against an energy work-er in this time period, but it didnt indicate what type of energywork they did. This is encouraging, as it seems to indicate thatmost people are happy with the quality of service being receivedfrom Reiki practitioners in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Model is a good solution for the Reiki com-munity, but it does take work to get such a bill passed at thestate legislature. However, the NHFC provides informationand encouragement on how to get an appropriate bill passedefficiently, including suggestions on avoiding the pitfalls. Ifyoure interested in learning more, I suggest you go to theNHFC Web site. If youd like to support their work, I encour-age you to become a member. I also suggest you check the listof organizations in the sidebar to see if your state is listed andcontact them.

Reiki is a wonderful gift that provides great value to all of us.Its important that we express our gratitude by being its stewardsand taking the responsibility to safeguard its use. Im happy youhave taken the time to read this article and I encourage you totake the action necessary to keep Reiki free. 1

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