How I got started in alternative healing while dealing with my own negative beliefs.
I bet that some of you who open this blog are healers, alternative practitioners, and possibly artists. Yes, I am speaking to you Reiki practitioners, massage therapists, yoga teachers, holistic coaches and such. Maybe you are self-employed, or maybe you are thinking or working for yourself. So, if you are self-employed and what you are selling is a product or service, you may have experienced certain challenges. The exciting benefit of your self-employment is the freedom of decision-making and creativity on your own time. Yet, the number of challenges may seem greater than the benefits. So, what is the secret to a successful and profitable business?
My story:
Just to be clear, I don’t really like calling myself a healer. I would rather call myself an alternative or holistic practitioner. The work I do is energy healing work, but I don’t like to use the name ‘healer’ on myself. Also, most of the people who know me call me a Reiki Master, but I don’t like that name either. Yes, I am doing Reiki healing and teach Reiki classes, but I prefer to call myself a ‘holistic practitioner’ who does energy healing, that’s it.
The idea of running a holistic business never occurred to me, and I never thought that I would be working for myself full-time. I was a world traveler and got a BS degree in Geography and Travel. I was damn serious to work in the travel industry.
Also, I started my studies as an older student (not as a kid in her twenties), traveling as a tour guide and working, so that tells just how serious I was.
As I finished my school and got married, things shifted to a different perspective. I was not interested to be an international tour guide anymore, and I really didn’t see any good work prospects in the tourism industry. My husband has my thanks for pushing me to turn my main hobby into an income source – the ‘holistic healing’ business. I don’t think I would push myself because I didn’t have the self-esteem or even a desire, yet alternative medicine was always a major personal interest and a lifestyle.
I have been seeing clients for many years and I have been running Reiki classes here and there, but I was somewhat resistant to holistic healing as a full-time job.
First Steps:
The first step was to make my website. After that, I decided to join the local chapter of BNI (Business Network International) and attended weekly meetings for various local businesses. That forced me to change my attitude toward my practice and treat it as a business. I felt pretty odd and uncomfortable speaking in front of 40 other businesses, creating a commercial and telling the networking crowd about how awesome I am. My niche was different than the other industries and my self-esteem was too low. It was not an easy group to be part of and I didn’t see the benefit back then. I understand it today. It forced me to treat my holistic healing practice as a business.
My next step was finding my own space to practice. In the past, I was borrowing other wellness places for some percentage and I also was using my home as a healing office. I finally got my own wellness office space, yet the main blockages on money and abundance didn’t arrive yet. I was going to face them next.
Self-sabotage is well hidden:
My next issue was procrastinating. Even though I invested into the fancy Marie Forleo online B-School (business class), the old beliefs were still creating habits of non-action, postponing my work.
I used to be always there to help others with their problems, taking my focus away from me and my business. My procrastination was deeply rooted in self-sabotage, blocking myself from financial abundance and happiness. I guess I had a lot of extra time back then.
Three and a half years later, I had a toddler boy and no time left to waste. This forced me to shift my beliefs and habits again. Many times, I tell my clients in their healing sessions that they have to accept themselves, knowing that ‘they are enough’ and ‘they deserve good’, so their situation can improve. However, I am still catching myself slipping into the old patterns of negative thinking. I am working on it, and life can be constantly improved.
The belief of ‘Not being good enough’:
Have you ever wondered how many people have this belief? This may be coming from our conditioning culture, where we expected to excel, be perfect, or to be the best. Who sets the measurement of what is perfect? Does it come from our parent’s expectations? If not, then perhaps it comes from the social settings of our youth. It makes us think that we must compete to obtain success. And if you don’t have enough self-esteem, you would rather give up or never try in the first place.
If we think that we are not good enough, we may as well think that we don’t deserve. That goes together.
I personally found my beliefs shaped by my original culture (the Czech Republic). And guess what – I haven’t seen any other people with the same cultural beliefs here in the States, only myself. If I didn’t leave Czech, I may not have changed or the changes in my belief system may have happened much later.
Common mistakes/wrong beliefs:
In the advanced Reiki classes, we discuss the issues with healing work and money. Here are some typical questions.
1) Why do we have to charge for healing work? Is it ethical?
Yes, it is absolutely ethical. We charge because this is work; and as any other work, we deserve to be appreciated. The energy of the exchange is important for the commitment of the patient – if there is no payment there is no acknowledgement of what occurred, and no energy balance for the practitioner. Don’t get all wrapped up with the idea of being a philanthropic ‘healer’ who does the work for free, ok? That’s why I prefer to call myself a holistic practitioner. The ‘healer’s ego’ can be a problem and can lead you to believe all sorts of stories and BS. If you don’t charge for your work, then you have a money issue and you need to fix it. You must set your value for what you offer the world. If you have no money and no one is taking care of you, you may not survive.
2) Healers as well as artists have the old rooted belief that they can’t be a business person if they want to do art and healing. This is coming from old times, so let it go. If you are not business oriented, than get yourself into it and learn about business. Be updated. Another option is to hire a person who has the right skills and experience and will help you to do it right.
3) Positive affirmation will bring you abundance and success but…
Guess what: you must stop being wishy-washy and go for the action. Write your goals, affirm yourself with positiveness and go for it. The positive affirmation will support your actions, but they won’t do things for you. You are the one to do it.
Of course there are more issues on this subject. I will talk about them in my upcoming workshop called “Holistic Healing Business Workshop”. Click here to learn more: https://silvielockerovahealing.com/classes-2/
Hope you found this blog interesting. If you want to get more creative, try to answer these questions.
Questions for you:
- Describe how much effort you would be willing to put forth to make your dream come true?
- What is your talent or skill that you believe you are the best at?
(it can absolutely be anything you think of) Would you be willing to offer your skill for money?
If not, why?
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