This article is based on Beyond the Reiki Gateway’s podcast “They Think YOU’RE the Expert! Now what?” created by Reiki Masters Kathleen Johnson and Andrea Kennedy.
Choose your words wisely: they can bring confidence & peace or doubt & fear
Kathleen Johnson:
Because regardless of whether you’re a Reiki practitioner or any other type of wellness or holistic practitioner, we have a responsibility to our clients. Because when they first come to us, you gotta remember, they’re going to see you as the expert. And although that may sound great and it makes you feel good, it carries with it in an enormous responsibility. One that I think every practitioner needs to be aware of and mindful when they are working with clients.
Andrea Kennedy:
I couldn’t agree more, Kathleen, I think that this is a great topic and I’m just going to say right up front. When I first started, I certainly never felt like an expert and I didn’t realize that people would see me that way. Of course, I’ve come a long way since then and I have come to realize the responsibilities that we have in our roles as practitioners and then even more so, if we are teachers in our field as well. But I think it’s important that we share our experience with people if they’re interested, because maybe it will help them realize their important roles that they have and their influence, whether they’ve ever thought about it or not, with their clients.
And what we say really matters. We can instill comfort; we can instill feelings of peace and wholeness in the language we use. But at the same time, we can also, unknowing to ourselves, create doubt, create worry and unrest with our clients, never even meaning or intending to have that happen. But regardless, we really do have that power, and I just think it’s important to take a look at that, have a conversation about it and bring it out in the open so that people could maybe be more aware and make more conscious choices in their interactions with their clients and, of course, students as well.
Clients will see you as an expert, whether you consider yourself one or not
Kathleen Johnson:
Of course, we do have a responsibility and honestly, I wish I had this conversation with someone when I was first starting out. I don’t know about you, Andrea, but when I first started practicing Reiki, I was already a Reiki Master. I wanted to wait to start practicing until I achieved the Master level. But even so, I had no real experience with it other than what I had worked on in classes and with family and friends. But I soon realized that when clients would come to me, they viewed me as the expert. And honestly, my thought was this is scary. I was a bit frightened of that. I said earlier that oh, it might make you feel good. It really didn’t. When I was first starting out it scared me. I thought, oh boy, I hope I can live up to what they expect from me.
I’ve been careful to be mindful of what I say to…
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