After much soul searching and researching, I have decided to earn a Florida massage license because I believe this is the best way for me to add more credibility and legitimacy to my practice and to reach my goals as a soul who carries the strong inner desire to spread Light – knowledge, freedom and self-love – on earth. As a Lightworker, I sense this as my purpose.
Reiki and Shamanic work, while spiritual in nature, also help to resolve physical issues and make us feel better. They are considered by the US Dept of Health & Human Services as complimentary alternative medicines which are to be used together with allopathic medicine. They are accepted as more than just faith healing. For this reason, I feel that earning my massage therapy license will help me attain my goal of reaching more than just the spiritual community with my services, partly because it provides a more comprehensive license to touch.
Florida’s Massage Board has determined that Reiki is massage and the state of Florida prohibits the practice of massage without a license. While I don’t completely agree that Reiki is massage, I can agree with this statement which was given by a former Board Member: “…while a Reiki practitioner may not be manipulating soft tissues in the true sense of the definition, they are manipulating blood flow, soft tissues, and fascia by touching the body and leaving their hands in place for a period of time…” I prefer to give Reiki by touch. I know many practitioners avoid and often prefer not touching for various reasons. That works too; but in my practice I know very few people who don’t obtain greater benefits from a hands-on session.
In addition to giving me a professional license to touch, receiving a massage license will increase my knowledge of the physical body, expand my toolbox for private healing sessions, and help me reach a wider group of people who might not be open to more spiritually-based healing techniques. Most importantly, I will also be able to take the work of Reiki, which is becoming more widespread, into a variety of places that I can’t access now without the license.
Ultimately, I want to demystify these more esoteric healing arts and help people understand their place in the world of physical and spiritual healing. Having the freedom to perform these healing arts with touch helps me accomplish this. And who wouldn’t like a massage?