I am a Reiki Master-Teacher.
My practice is active and fulfilling, both to me and to my clients. I have many modalities to offer people who bring issues to me that trouble them, and find that the "Freedom of Access" laws that we enjoy here allow me to custom tailor treatment sessions to the needs of each individual.

With that in mind, I must speak of the "regulations" and restrictions that some jurisdictions put on alternative and holistic health. We already KNOW what regulations, laws, etc., have done to allopathic medicine, and the pharmaceutical and surgical circus that its been turned into--which of course IS 'all about the money!'

I beseech everyone to stop the spiral of madness and consider that we all need fewer laws, not more.
In having governments pass laws to regulate our practices and behaviors, we must, concurrently demand that they institute control to monitor and enforce the laws. The bureaucracies all over the planet have become so convoluted and in many places corrupt, that it is my stance that we need fewer, not more, government involvement in things about which they have minimal knowledge, and certainly nothing more than a financial interest.

Remember, in order to pass a law, it takes money.
In order to enact a law, it takes money.
In order to enforce a law, it takes money.
In order to determine who the offenders are, it takes money.
In order to evaluate offenders, it takes money.
In order to punish offenders, it takes money.
In order to raise the money that it takes, it takes money!
It IS all about the money!
Ultimately, the money is taken from the public, both practitioners as well as clientele, and from everyone else who could better serve the needs of the public by putting their money to better use.
We KNOW Reiki can do no harm-- if a practitioner isn't ethical, their clientele will dwindle and they will be out of business. Reiki can do no harm.
If a practitioner IS ethical, and charges a very modest fee, regulatory expenses will either drive that person 'underground' or into a position of needing to charge more to cover expenses.
The bureaucracy that is created to monitor anything 'regulated' serves no one but the regulatory bureaucracy!
People do not support that which does not serve them--ineffective, unethical, or whatever. Ineffective Reiki practitioners will not 'survive.' People will not support them.

Having 'credentials' does not make for an effective, ethical, responsible, or 'good practitioner'-- as evidenced by many doctors, dentists, lawyers, mechanics, pool cleaners, nurses, police, child care providers, massage therapists, psychologists, you get the idea! What do you call the person who graduated at the BOTTOM of their class? "DOCTOR!" Good doctor? bad doctor? good cop? bad cop?

Please, call off the dogs--let Reiki do what it does best. Reiki heals. Reiki works. Reiki is gentle and does no harm.
Please comment. 8^)
Warmly, Barbara

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Barbara,

You make a strong and valid point. And yes, Reiki's universal life force energy is gentle......it heals and it really works! Through distance and time....there's no limit!

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Hi All,

I am also a Reiki Master Teacher and very much in agreement with the National Occupational Standards and regulations. As a Therapist/Trainer/Supervisor I have heard of many unethical practices and regulation aims to protect the profession and the public from unethical and unscrupulous practitiioners. I am all for the advancement of Reiki and many other complementary therapies and it is for this reason that I understand the need for regulations and evidenced competency in order that both the public and the professionals can trust and refer people to qualified ethical therapists.

All Love
Kim x

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Hi

I agree there are many unscrupulous and unethical practitioners out there and I can see the argument for regulation but saying that I don't think you can regulate Reiki. I believe that Reiki will sort things out without our help. As Dr Usui points out "Reiki can never and will never belong to just one person or one organisation. Reiki is the spiritual heritage of all humanity" (Petter F A (1998) 'The Legacy of Dr Usui' 1st Englis Ed, Lotus Light Publications).

Best wishes.

Myra
Reiki Master/Teacher

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I worked with a client 50 years old, a few months ago who had been to a "Reiki Practitioner" he asked her to remove her clothes and blew on her genitals. She felt "strange" but as she had been on one of his training courses thought it was ok. She herself, was a victim of sexual abuse and declined to speak to complain to anyone regarding this as she felt stupid.

This is of course extreme, and there are many practitioners who practice ethically and many that arent even aware of the subtleties of ethics or transference, counter-transference issues that can arise in a therapeutic relationship. Often practitioners work unsupervised with no requirement to undergo their own therapy or supervision, which in all other professions, medical or otherwise would be seen as bad practice and not tolerated.

I heard also recently from a hypnotherapy client about her 10 hours of hypnotherapy with another registered therapist who had spent a lot of time sharing details of her divorce with the client who was going for a phobia. I imagine this therapist also is working without her own personal therapy and supervision and is therefore exploiting her clients. Again this client didnt want to complain and "get her into trouble".

Following a white paper when complementary therapy organisations were asked to self regulate or be regulated all complementary therapy organisations are currently looking at self regulation and developing the NOS.


Details can be found here.

http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/view_framework.php?id=100

Love Kim

Last edited: 1-11-2006 09:48:16 AM

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Transference is a phenomenon in psychology characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings of one person to another. For instance, one could mistrust somebody who resembles an ex-spouse in manners, voice, or external appearance; or be overly compliant to someone who resembles a childhood friend.

In a therapy context, transference refers to redirection of a client's feelings from a significant person to a therapist. Counter-transference is defined as redirection of a therapist's feelings toward a client, or more generally as a therapist's emotional entanglement with a client.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transference

For those that are interested in the subtle bodies and transference coutner transference you might like to check out this link

http://www.thinkbody.co.uk/body-psych/subtlebodyctr.htm

Hope that helps
Kim x

Last edited: 1-11-2006 09:48:53 AM

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Dear Kim,
What are your views in tranferance regarding seeing clients from the same family or who are married?
Do you think there's a high probability of 'entanglement' for the Therapist in this situation?
(perhaps this should be a new post - but not sure where to put it!)

Kind regards, Jayne

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Hi Jane,

I think the potential for entanglement is always inherent within any relationship. Working with couples or families has a higher risk as the client may disclose information that causes you to see the partner or family member in a different light and your work therefore is not "clean". example a man may disclose his wife is verbally abusive, which might cause a therapist to work differently with the client had she not had this information.

The difference may not be at an intervention level as it could be a shift in the therapists attitude and presence with the client.

I am certainly not advocating for not working with couples, and of course these particular issues may not crop up in your work with couples.

As a counsellor/therapist I work with couples in the same session and will from time to time see each partner separately if need be.

With regard to Reiki I would work with family members and partners, and always ensure they understand my confidentiality policy. As an experienced therapist I am aware of the dynamics and the transferential issues and have professional supervision in place.

As a supervisor I think this is a great issue to reflect and explore in supervision and would be interested in how you and other practitioners deal with this.

Thanks for developing the thread and forgive the double "nots" I've been up too long.

Love Kim x

Last edited: 24-10-2006 05:07:09 PM

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That would be one simplistic interpretation and transference/counter transference is quite complex.

Feels like we're a bit off topic again from original post :O) Should we shift?.

A therapists counter-transference can tell them about their own issues, those of the client, or both. In some theoretical orientations transference is seen as a positive tool to be worked with and through, and in others as something to be ignored.

Personally I believe it deserves awareness, respect and reflection.

The following may be helpful to you, its not the article I was thinking of but theres plenty more to be found on google and if you're working with people its definitely a topic worth exploration.

http://www.ordinarymindsydney.com.au/readings/buddhism_and_psychotherapy/healing_and_emotional_maturity/

Transference and Counter transference


As two people meet over and over again in a relationship of a therapeutic or spiritual nature where there are clear roles of one being a teacher and the other a student, or one a therapist and the other a client, a dynamic occurs which is referred to as transference. Spiritual teachers would be aware of the 'felt sense' of transference in their interactions with students. Analytical therapists have made a study of transference in far more detail and depth and it is one of the cornerstones of all analytically oriented therapies.


Transference, put simply, is the fixed expectation we have of other people in our lives. It can take the form for example of an idealised transference, an erotic transference, a hostile transference or a dependent transference. Clients or students project certain expectations onto a therapist or teacher

which will be conditioned from their past experiences, particularly by their relationship with their mother or father, or their fantasy of what a mother or father should be if they lacked parental figures. When we are caught in a transference, it is as though we are in a trance. It is as though we are looking through a green lens and all we can see is green whenever we look at that person.


To put it in Buddhist terms, transference is a kind of delusion which prevents us from seeing the person as they are. One of the most common transferences in spiritual groups is an idealised transference, where the teacher is seen in a superhuman way and larger than life. Within limits this can be a healthy kind of transference to begin with which promotes good role modelling and the idealising evens out as the student matures. But if there is an over-idealised image of the teacher and unrealistic expectations, it is usually followed at some stage by a devaluing of the teacher. The more unstable the student is (or the more influenced the teacher is by praise and blame) the more stormy the relationship is likely to be.


Counter transference on the other hand refers to the therapists reaction to the client. In Freudian terms, this used to refer to unresolved issues the therapist has which colour his/her relationship with others. eg a fixed view that all people are weak and helpless and need to be helped. A more contemporary view is that transference and counter transference evolve together and the experience of counter transference is a key to help the therapist understand the client's inner experience in greater depth. A therapist's role and a spiritual teacher's role is to absorb the transference and detoxify it, rather than react to it.


An understanding of these interpersonal dynamics is invaluable in helping therapists and teachers understand the difficulties that may develop in their relationships with clients or students. Difficulties may then be worked through rather than misunderstandings remaining unresolved or resulting in an end to the relationship. Understanding transference helps us to have a longer and wider view of the teacher/student relationship so that the storms can be weathered much more effectively.


The recognition of counter transference in the therapist or teacher is essential. It should be a part of a teacher's ongoing practice to examine their own problems that get drawn to the surface in their interactions with students. We are only too aware of Buddhist teachers in all traditions who have become caught up in their students' erotic and idealised transferences which has lead to an unethical violation of boundaries. A teacher who is not prepared to examine their own counter transference is not humble enough to teach and is a danger to others and to him/ her self. Religious traditions with their high ideals can become a hiding place for unexamined grandiosity


Love Kim x

Last edited: 1-11-2006 09:50:11 AM

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David Im not sure how to move all the posts going back to Jaynes specific question so am leaving them as they are.

David so many questions you’d have me write a book. :O) I’m endeavouring to answer your questions here given the time restraints I have. For those that are interested, there are plenty of books, professional trainings, workshops, supervisors who can help you learn more about transference/counter transference and if anyone is interested in professional supervision, I am happy to talk with them as I am qualified in Supervision and supervise a wide range of therapists.

One great book is Kylea Taylor’s The Ethics of Caring where she illustrates transference through the chakras. Carolyn Myss touches on this in her book why People Don’t Heal and How They Can or is it Anatomy of The Spirit.- Both great reads.


That wasn’t my quote, simply a text I used to illustrate. So here’s my interpretation of that sentence. Absorb in this instance means to me to contain and reflect rather than to react,. Detoxify, I see as reflecting and considering the transferential issues ensuring therapists/teachers own personal issues are processed, thus allowing the work to be “clean” and free from therapist/teachers “contamination”


That’s precisely what reflective practice and supervision is for David to look at the grey or fuzzy areas and ethical considerations, conscious and unconscious processes that take place in any interaction between two people. Particularly when in a more obvious position of power, i.e a client/therapist, student/teacher.

A therapists responses must be reflected on to ascertain whether they are transference or counter transference and whether their own personal issues are being triggered or whether the client is simply projecting onto them their own issues. This is known as projective identification.


I didn’t say that this therapist was within her remit at all David. I stated that the transference could tell you one thing or another. Its not a case of black n white.

I don’t have the time or desire here to teach in depth on transference/counter transference and am simply highlighting it as an area to be looked at in view of regulations and national occupational standards.

Therapist or Teacher Self disclosure has value when it helps build the rapport and relationship and is helpful for the client or student to move on. When it’s simply meeting the needs of the Therapist or Teacher its exploitive and unprofessional. Personally I think 8 3 hour sessions and so much therapist personal disclosure deserves closer reflection and intervention and is a breach of the particular code of ethics this practitioner is working with.

David I for one would love to hear your personal thoughts on transference/counter transference and how you feel it affects you, or not and how you deal with it.

Can you say some more about your view as to why they are moving and what “creating a vacuum” in your guides view is specifically?

Enough intellectualizing and theorizing, I must get some work done :O)

Much love

Kim x

Last edited: 1-11-2006 09:52:01 AM

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am very strongly in agreement with Kim here

The practise of regulation is about making it easier, not harder, for people needing treatment to receive quality treatment.

it actually forces ineffective practitioners to work improve their qualifications, or get out of the game

and it also ensures that unsubstantiated practises are required to provide evidence of their effectiveness

i am also a reiki practitioner [i no longer make a point of working with it as a practitioner] and feel that despite Usui's claims, many ARE trying to make reiki their own.

regulation would ensure that a reiki practitioner was required to evidence a minimum level of training and 'skill' in order to claim to be a reiki practitioner - after all, anyone currently can put their hands on someone and claim to be a Reiki Master - and there are many who may not have the subtle distinction to be able to tell the difference between the real deal and a charlatan.

cameron

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Transference, put simply, is the fixed expectation we have of other people in our lives.

Here in lies the problem. When we have expectations of someone, we can be disappointed that this person didn't live up to OUR expectations. Mind you, did we tell that person what our expectations were, or did we just 'assume' they knew what our expectations were.
Whenever we work with someone, either as a therapist or client, there needs to be some discussion on what each expects of the other. Unless this happens, you will generally find there is disappointment. As a general rule, when the expectations are verbalised, then transferrence does not occur.
I could 'rave' on about expectations, till the cows come home, however, let me ask you all this question, when was the last time you explained what your expectations were of and to someone else? Oh and by the way, have you ever looked at your expectations for YOURSELF?

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