How to Become a Holistic Health Practitioner

Do you spend half your income on gemstones, energy healing books and incense? Do your friends refer to you as that hippie new age chick? Have you ever gone to the doctor for a simple complaint and wondered where the drum circle and shaman were so you could get to the serious healing? Maybe you're not that bad off yet, but maybe you are~ and you're having trouble finding a school or a mentor to help you learn the advanced techniques of holistic healing? Fear not, there are several options open to you, and some of them you can learn from home!

The first , and most popular way that people become educated in holistic therapies is through bodywork, namely massage therapy. Massage therapy schools are plentiful, often there are two or three within one hundred miles of each other. The benefits of learning massage over other therapy techniques is that massage therapy is easily insured, has defined regulations, offers board certification, and is sometimes a covered therapy on patients insurance policies. Most massage therapy schools train students to certified massage therapist status (CMT), and leave them prepared to take the licensing exams appropriate for their state, in less than a year. The drawbacks to massage training can be intense job competition, the expense of training (averages between five and nine thousand dollars), and the classroom attendance requirements. If massage therapy interests you however, search the internet for local schools, there are many sites that 'warehouse' massage school information on the internet.

The traditional method of becoming trained in the less known holistic arts is through apprenticeship to a master practitioner. Energy healing arts are often still done in this way, such as Reiki. Reiki is a spiritual healing art that is passed from master to student through a series of spiritual initiations along with instruction in the modality. While there are numerous books and sites out there that promise tat all you need to be a Reiki practitioner is the information contained within them, this is not true. A Reiki practitioner must find a master to train and initiate them, and have their master issue them a lineage certificate that traces back to Dr. Mikao Usui to be authentic. The good news, many Reiki Masters can be located via the International Free Reiki Foundation who will do training and attunements for free or for surprisingly little money.

There are several online or distance learning schools that offer great holistic certification programs. Reiki Blessings Academy and Clayton College of Natural Health are both great schools that offer wonderful courses, but you must consider what you wish to do with the education when choosing between them, and what level of training is required for practice in your state. Clayton College of Natural Health offers in depth technical courses in subjects like iridology as well as Bachelors, Master, and ND programs for holistic health. Reiki Blessings Academy offers many classes in different modalities of Reiki and energy healing and carries private accreditation.

Always research the school and the laws in your area to make certain that you will be getting the training required to fulfill your personal or career desires. A career in holistic health can be the most rewarding of all choices, but making bad choices in the beginning can turn the prospect of a bright future into a financial frustration.