Dear All,

There has been a discussion in Ohio Reiki yahoo group on the legal status of Reiki that I wanted to share with you here in case you’ve not followed the messages on the board.

One of the Reiki practitioners called the Ohio Medical Board regarding the legal status of practicing Reiki in our state. She was told by the State Medical Board that having a disclaimer or being a ordained minister will no longer legally protect you in Ohio. Claiming "stress reduction" won't work any longer either, “relaxation” is. All that is valid is having a LMT license or being a medical professional. Lots of other hands on healing modalities or energy modalities may fall under these restrictions too. Here is directly from her message:
“The very reason I called the Board was to ELIMINATE the fears. When we live in a climate of confusion and misinformation, it is not healthy for anyone, and I believe that out of respect for both my clients AND myself, and my fellow practitioners, calling the Board was the right thing to do.I want to clarify and say that nobody has said Reiki is illegal. What they are saying is that to practice ANYTHING professionally - and anything would include spitting on someone - with the intent of "affecting a bodily function" - THAT is practicing medicine. We are not permitted to practice medicine without a license. Thus, LMTs, PAs, NPs, MDs, DOs, no worries, you're good :-) The rest of us who are unlicensed as medical professionals, we have to be VERY VERY CAREFUL in Ohio. We are not permitted to say that Reiki is stress relieving (as stress is a measurable physical response) but we can say it's relaxing. We can NOT charge money to say and assure that Reiki - OR ANYTHING ELSE - cures or helps ANY medical or psychiatric condition, IF WE ARE NOT MEDICALLY LICENSED. That is the law in Ohio. A minister's license will not exempt us from this law. Some states have different laws... Vermont, for example, and New York. In those states, a medically unlicensed Reiki practitioner is not restricted. But here in Ohio, to practice any alternative modality, we must either become licensed medical professionals, operate under the direct supervision of one, OR we must remove any medical claims from our written and spoken words (yep, sadly, including "stress relief"). This is not coming from me - it's coming from the Ohio Medical Board.

One last important thing - the Board told me that they do NOT police the situation. They rely on receiving complaints. Scary when you think about the fact that our doctors are not policed, but the flip side is that unless any of us incites complaints, there will not be an uproarious investigation of Reiki in Ohio :-) This is another reason why I personally choose to be compliant. “

Our own Patricia wrote: “ This is how it is in the middle of a paradigm shift. Let's simply urge the shift to move a little faster so that hands on healing becomes the norm in 2012 rather than 2020....” which I whole heartedly agree.

Someone else wrote:“Who can regulate universal life force energy? Jesus would have been considered a felon under the current state laws”.
A resource you can check out in Ohio is : Ohio Sunshine Health Freedom Coalition at http://www.ohiohealthfreedom.com/.

Meditation Meet-up on Sunday February January 9th 5:00pm - 5:45pm at Grace Tree Yoga Studio
I’m facilitating monthly Meditation group meetings at Grace Tree Yoga Studio every second Sunday of the month. Join me each month to experience the dynamics and support of meditating as a group. Each meet-up will begin with a brief introduction for newcomers on the basics of meditation and a grounding meditation. The rest of the time is open for everyone to have their own experience. All are welcome. Free (Love offerings accepted).
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Reiki World Peace Meditation on Wednesday February 16 7:30 pm – 7:45 pmJoin thousands of people around the world to send Reiki for World Peace. You can download the World Peace cards from William Rand’s web site: http://www.reiki.org/WPCM.html

Reiki Day on Sunday April 3rd at Grailville 9:30 am- 5:30 pm
Here is another to another wonderful Reiki Day. The morning section of the meeting will be for Reiki Masters/Teachers(9:30 am-12:30pm). The afternoon session is open to all practitioners (1:30 pm-5:30 pm). Please sign up at Ning or by e-mail. Want to help? We need your help!

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Reiki hugs,
Love & Light,
Zeynep “Premdasi” Yilmaz