5 Reiki Website Must-Haves & 3 No-Nos

—Reiki healing websitesMedicine is changing at an unprecedented rate. As a Reiki practitioner, you can help bring Reiki practice into health care by communicating Reiki healing effectively. Here’s some background information  followed by valuable tips on what to include and what to avoid. The tips are especially geared for Reiki websites, but will be helpful even conversationally.

Communicating Reiki healing

Reiki healing is part of what conventional medicine calls complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). A recent medical article* on CAM for weight loss said, “The current roles of physicians and other healthcare providers have expanded to now include skills for helping patients access, critically appraise, and review online evidence, with the goal of identifying best sources for decision-making about interventions.”

This is good news. Reiki healing is one of the interventions patients are looking at (we know Reiki healing is a practice rather than an intervention, but that distinction is rarely made in medicine, where treatment is more common than self-care).

The need for doctors to vet healthcare information is so dire that the article suggests having computers in doctors’ waiting rooms with recommended sites bookmarked.

Doctors and nurse practitioners can be powerful advocates for Reiki practice. But they need us to give them what they need to know, and provide that information in a credible format.

Would your Reiki website get bookmarked by a doctor as a source of credible information for her patients? (Did you note the phrase “critically appraise” in the quote above?)

If your website won’t pass critical appraisal, maybe it’s time for an overhaul. I’ve been talking to doctors about Reiki practice for 20 years with good results. Here are my top suggestions. (Don’t have a website? I know creating your first professional website is a daunting task. That’s why I created Your Reiki Website Webinar).

 5 Reiki Website Must-Haves for Communicating Reiki Healing

YOUR HEADSHOT

Practitioners often put a nature picture or a soothing visual on their homepage, but visitors would rather see what you look like. A photo of you is reassuring. The public needs to see that Reiki practitioners don’t have horns. (And if you do, comb your hair over them.)**

LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION

Where are you? You may have a very good reason for not posting a street address online but you can name a town or a neighborhood, details to anchor the information in the real world. Put it in the footer and maybe the header.

PHONE AND EMAIL CONTACT

Give a phone number, even if it’s a service you never answer directly. As with the location details, it makes you more real and present. Put the phone number in the footer with your location. Your contact form should be the last option on your navigation. Make it easy for visitors to find.

REIKI TREATMENT DESCRIPTION

Prominently feature a word picture with details such as fully clothed, light touch, lying on a treatment table or sitting supported in a comfortable chair. And if you have one, include a picture of yourself offering Reiki treatment in an appealing, uncluttered room devoid of New Age artifacts such as chakra diagrams.

BELIEVABLE TESTIMONIALS

Eliminate anything over-the-top. Include a few short, simple statements (not claims) from people like your neighbors who have been helped with everyday problems. “I’m sleeping so much better since I started Reiki treatment” or “I have fewer migraines and the ones I get are less intense” communicates better than “My life has totally changed since practicing Reiki.” Even though that may be true, not everyone wants a total life makeover. Ask permission to use your client’s full name. Include a headshot if possible. People become more comfortable when they see people like them have benefited from Reiki healing.

3 Reiki Website No-Nos when Communicating Reiki Healing

THE REIKI TRANSLATION

A so-called literal translation of the Japanese kanji won’t help when communicating Reiki healing to a mainstream or medical audience. The translation includes concepts that are completely foreign to non-Asians. It can be off-putting, and does nothing to make Reiki healing relevant to the reader. Think of it this way—do you know or care what electricity is, or do you just want to turn on the light?

JARGON

Communicating Reiki healing means using plain language that is meaningful and relevant to your audience. Reiki practitioners are often blind to how much jargon or shorthand language we use. Even the word “Reiki” can be thrown around in confusing ways. Examine every time the word Reiki appears and ask yourself if it would be clearer with another word after it, such as Reiki practice or Reiki treatment. Simple straightforward language creates confidence. Stick to the basics of what your reader wants to know. Don’t try to say what cannot be said. You’ll look weird or foolish or both. And so will Reiki practice.

CLAIMS

When communicating Reiki healing, it’s critical to avoid making claims. If you stick with the perspective that Reiki practice is balancing to the individual and thus supports self-healing (which has some scientific support), you’ll steer clear of claims. Be respectful of conventional medicine and don’t say Reiki cures specific conditions or symptoms. Soften your language, choosing phrases such as “may support” or “can help.” Avoid saying Reiki does this Reiki does that (and check the notes under Jargon).

Any time you are communicating Reiki healing, feel free to include links to any content on my blog or website that you find supportive, such as How Does Reiki Help?, Yale Study Shows Reiki Treatment Helps Heart Attack Patients, or Reiki Medical Papers. It is important to give links to the original content on my site rather than duplicating the content on your site. Posting other people’s original content is a major no-no for so many reasons.

If you teach, posting a link to Reiki Classes: What’s Right for You? provides an implicit endorsement from me—if, of course, you agree with the standards described. If your standards are not aligned with those stated in the article, skip it as it will work against you.

*CAM and Weight Loss: Does It Work? (free subscription is required to access Medscape articles.)

**BONUS Photo newsflash: If you want to effectively communicate about Reiki healing, it’s important that people can relate to you. That’s easier for them to do when they can see you.

You don’t need a professional headshot for your website. Hand your iPhone to someone you are very comfortable with and go outside in the soft morning or late day light, or stand by a window with abundant natural light. Take more shots than you think you could possibly need. Feeling adventurous? Try the filters on Instagram. You’ll be amazed how easy it is to make an image that you—and others—can relate to. Don’t believe me? Behold this Instagram photo published in the Sunday New York Times.

__________________

Please sign up for my email list and stay connected!

PLEASE HELP ME HELP OTHERS. If you find this useful, pass it on to a friend.

47 Shares

12 thoughts on “5 Reiki Website Must-Haves & 3 No-Nos”

  1. I LOVE the way the Irish use the word “brilliant,” Breda! So happy you found the article useful.

    I actually have’t come across any cynical doctors or nurses. I don’t know how they could continue to serve their patients if they were cynical. It might be helpful to distinguish between cynicism and skepticism.

    If someone is truly cynical, there’s really no point continuing the conversation, because his/her mind is closed. When speaking to people who are professionally trained to be skeptical, all we have to do is give them credible information and let them figure it out themselves, which they will, if we’ve given them what they need.

    1. Hi Pamela

      Yes perhaps the word sceptical is a better fit. Getting the medical community to trust us can be difficult as unfortunately there has been much talk and a few wild claims along the way which has annoyed a lot of this profession. We Reiki practitioners know how powerful Reiki is but I find that people need to be introduced gently to it and in a practical way. (maybe we are still a bit more behind on alternative therapies over here??). So being a member of a federation, having insurance, having practical minded & down to earth guidance from people like you on the best approach is very valuable. Thanks again

      Oh and here’s another Irish phrase for you “That’s grand” which simply means that’s fine or no problem to a suggestion.

      Breda

  2. Hello! I will be getting my second attunement next weekend and am beginning the process of starting a website , I have just volunteering with friends, family members, animals right now as a Reiki I.
    It seems daunting to make a website and get myself out there more, I am having difficulty “describing” what it is, without plagiarizing anybody’s work.
    some websites are also really expensive, do you have any recommendations on just starting my 1st webpage as a soon to be 1st time Reiki II practitioner looking to do this as my work?
    thanks so much in advance!

    1. Christine, there are a number of resources on my site to help you.

      Have have you seen the Helping More People with Reiki video series? Click here for the first video.

      When you are ready to make your site, take a look at Your Reiki Website: What You Need to Know.

      I encourage you to spend more time practicing daily self Reiki and practicing both hands-on and distant treatment on others, and get mentoring from your teacher or another seasoned Reiki professional as you move towards professional practice. Many Reiki students start to charge for their services too quickly, before they are really confident in Reiki practice. You deserve to feel confident, and your clients deserve that, too.

  3. GREAT advice, as always, Pamela!! My own website is in DIRE need of a makeover and I am FINALLY in the process of doing just that, so I REALLY appreciate all of these helpful tips.

    I also want to mention how wonderful your new website layout looks. It’s so well-organized and easy to navigate. You’ve INSPIRED ME!!

  4. Thank you so much for these easy tips. I used to have an image of a person receiving a treatment on my homepage. Last week I asked a friend to take a few headshots using my iPhone and they came out great! I added the headshot to my homepage a few days ago and I’ve already received positive feedback from people who were directed to my site through Facebook.

  5. These are excellent ideas to keep in mind; thank you for sharing them!

    I’m working on rebuilding my own website right now, and something else I learned (the hard way) is that simple, at least starting out, can be better than overly complicated. When I made my first website, I intended on having an introductory page, a page for contact information, a Reiki FAQ, a page summarizing current research, et al.
    Even though some or all of that information is possibly good to have on a professional website, doing them all at once (as I was trying to do) was more than a little overwhelming.

  6. An excellent source for Reiki clinical trials is pubmed.com It has scientifically proven, disproven, as well as current research on just about every ailment of which Reiki treatments have been tested.

    1. Thanks, Phoenix, but practitioners can save a lot of time by looking what’s available on the Medical Papers page of my website, and at the references in the peer-reviewed medical papers I’ve written, which were all carefully vetted. Here’s the link https://reikiinmedicine.org/medical-papers.

      Also, good to keep in mind that Reiki treatment isn’t for ailments; it’s for people. Reiki practice helps restore balance to the system overall rather than addressing targeting disease in the way a pharmaceutical does.

  7. This is so good, Pamela. And the timing is delightfully synchronistic, which makes it doubly good. 🙂
    Today, I have a guest post sitting on an independent publishing site. The topic: reader-friendly author websites. You might think an author site has nothing to do with a Reiki site. I’d have to disagree. Part of the impetus behind the post was visiting the websites of many authors I’ve read, and being put off – or just confused.
    I went to those sites looking for more books they’d written, information about them as a person aside from an author, and contact details – in this case, Facebook page, Twitter handle, Pinterest account, etc. Often, I found myself on a scavenger hunt. The information I was seeking was smashed to the bottom of widget-cluttered sidebars, wedged into those off-putting widgets, or nonexistent. It was all about the authors, and not in a good way. There was no room for readers.
    I’ve seen Reiki sites in similar condition, and I count my first one, in particular, among them. It was, in a word, indulgent. Widgets galore! A page just for chakras! No personal identifiers! It was all about me, and not in a good way. There was no room for clients.
    Two Reiki sites later, I’m getting there. My current site, and the site that will evolve with me from this point on, is still experiencing growing pains, but it is far superior to my first site. Clean, focused, a current headshot (although its Instagram treatment is a bit indulgent), and even contact information. Progress.
    Which brings me back (finally) to your post. I’ve got my eye on testimonials, and am being very choosy about who I’m asking, because I don’t want the too-effusive testimonial, I want the clear and substantive testimonial. I’ve segregated the energy healing portion of my practice from my Reiki practice (they have their own pages on the site), whereas I used to smash them together. 🙂

    1. Ellen, I love your due diligence in researching your author website article!

      And I agree — no matter what their subject matter, all websites need to communicate the public, people who are just learning about what we already know a lot about.

      Don’t be shy to give your testimonial writers specific guidance. Ask what changes they are most pleased about. Lead them to the kind of comment you need and then ask if you can publish it. They will appreciate the help (few people welcome facing a blank page with no direction) and you’ll have a testimonial in five minutes or less.

Leave a Reply to Christina Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top