I hear online Level 1 students saying they don’t know where they practice giving Reiki treatments to others. As a Reiki practitioner who has moved four times in the last 18 months, I know the frustrations of finding a place to practice Reiki with others. I mean, it’s not like there is a section in the yellow pages or classified ads for Reiki Shares. Nor does Googling “Reiki shares near me” turn up many useful results. So I thought I would share with you some of my secrets for finding a Reiki share in your area to help you practice.
Let’s start with the most obvious one – the New Age store/bookstore. They can go by many names and many descriptions, but they usually have several things in common. They sell books on spirituality, divination, and witchcraft, as well as crystals, herbs, candles, and tarot decks. Many will have intuitives and healers working in small rooms where you can purchase various services, such as tarot card reading or Reiki treatment. These places don’t always have Reiki shares, but they will often know where one is.
Organic grocery stores and health food stores are often frequented by people who practice Reiki. So asking the people who work there, especially the smaller stores, can yield some great advice.
Yoga studios are good to check with because unlike the first two places, they have room for a large group of people to meet. I hesitate to recommend a gym with yoga classes, as most of them treat yoga as a stretching or trendy aerobics class, and not the complete system that it actually is.
If the yoga studio near you does not have a Reiki share, you can always offer to start one. Depending on the studio owner’s particular situation, they may be excited to have a Reiki practitioner want to start a share at their studio. And yoga students will are some of the best word of mouth advertisers for your Reiki Share.
Many churches will also host a Reiki share. I have attended multiple Unity churches for the past several years, and with one exception, they either hosted a Reiki share, or wanted to host one. Churches have the space to host a share, and like yoga studios, the parishioners will definitely try it out and spread the word. If your church doesn’t have a Reiki Share, ask if you can start one.
And don’t forget to check the bulletin boards in all of these places for flyers advertising free Reiki shares.
And a great resource for finding Reiki Shares that don’t fit into any of these categories is Meetup.com. The goal of Meetup.com is to connect people offline, i.e. it is a website dedicated to getting people with similar interests to meet in person. There are Meetups for the most common, as well as most obscure categories. With Meetup.com, however, there is a monthly fee to host a Meetup group on their site. So, just because Meetup.com doesn’t have a Reiki Meetup in your area, doesn’t mean there aren’t any.
There are very few cities that do not have a Reiki share somewhere. And if you can’t find one, be bold. Start your own.