One of the biggest questions holistic practitioners are faced with today is: Do I have a legal right to provide holistic services?

Health coaching is a rapidly growing field in the wellness world. It is a rewarding profession that is becoming more well-known as interest in holistic health grows across the nation.

There are many paths and philosophies within the health and wellness coaching field. New approaches, hybrids, and modalities are continuously emerging and evolving. 

Are you a state-licensed practitioner looking to expand your offering? Have your clients asked you for information about natural supplements or healing herbs? Perhaps you have considered incorporating herbal remedies, herbal supplements, or health coaching services related to wellness and nutrition to your existing offering.

Few will argue against the notion that good nutrition is a pillar of good health. Yet the vast majority of Americans today consume more processed food, preservatives, and genetically modified organisms than any other generation in history.

Across the country, millions of people are educating and empowering themselves about holistic healthcare options, including holistic, integrative, naturopathic, and functional medicine.

There are many reasons holistic medicine is on the rise. Many people are no longer satisfied with Western or mainstream medical approaches for health. The public is wary of the influence of Big Pharma in the conventional healthcare system and the over-prescription of synthetic, pharmaceutical drugs.

Clients seek treatments that get to the root of the illness with fewer side-effects while avoiding habit-forming substances. Thanks to this shift in public opinion, therapies that only a few years ago were on the fringe are now taking center stage.

“Eastern medicine” is nothing new. It is a term that refers to the various health systems that have evolved for thousands of years in several parts of Asia, especially in China and India. What is new is the rising interest in Eastern medicine in “the West” as a form or complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Do you have a chronic disease and have exhausted your options within the mainstream system? Do you want to learn how to take your health into your own hands with holistic medicine and alternative medicine? Are you curious about how holistic health modalities such as massage, chiropractor, essential oils, and reiki can improve your quality of life?

Since the founding of reiki by Dr. Mikao Usui in Japan roughly 100 years ago, the knowledge and practice of this energy healing art has spread around the world. You can learn reiki as a personal practice for your own inner peace and well-being, for your family and friends, or turn it into a part-time or full-time profession as a reiki practitioner.

Reiki is a Japanese healing modality that promotes peace and relaxation by channeling of universal energy. The practice of “laying of hands” has been used as a form of energy healing across the world and throughout human history.

For thousands of years and across many cultures, the energy healing practice known as “laying of hands” has been used to promote mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. Reiki is a Japanese energy healing practice that can loosely be translated to “universal life force energy.”

Reiki symbols are an important part of the teachings in the Usui lineage and a core element in reiki training. These Sanskrit-based Japanese forms have been passed on through generations of reiki masters and reiki practitioners around the world in the century since Dr. Mikao Usui developed the ancient energy healing system in Japan.

Essential oils have been used for millennia by humans across the globe to aid in health and well-being. Over the past few decades, the popularity of essential oils has skyrocketed. In response to this demand, many holistic health practitioners are exploring how to legally incorporate aromatherapy and essential oils into their holistic services.

As a massage therapist, you might be interested in adding or may already be incorporating holistic services such as raindrop therapy and reiki into your existing state-licensed practice. It is important to know how you can do so safely and legally, to protect yourself and your massage business from financial and legal troubles.

Essential oils have many benefits for health and wellness, such as relieving stress, uplifting mood and boosting energy. They can also be used to complement or augment the benefits of other holistic health services such as massage, reiki, acupuncture, reflexology and yoga.

If you’re a state-licensed chiropractor or massage therapist, you may be thinking about incorporating essential oils or aromatherapy into your practice.

You’ve chosen to follow your path in holistic health in order to help others achieve and maintain physical, emotional and mental health. You offer much-needed alternatives to a mainstream system of Western Medicine that relies heavily on pharmaceutical medications and procedures that treat the symptoms, but often ignore root causes of disease.

Before offering any services outside of the scope of a current state-licensed practice, it is important to know the regulatory realities and legal implications of incorporating additional holistic health specialties.

In the field of holistic health, there is a lot of confusion around what it takes to provide services legally as a practitioner.

You may have wondered: Is my certification enough? Do I need to be licensed? And what exactly is a 'defendable legal basis'?

One of the biggest challenges for holistic health practitioners is successfully marketing their services. Even if you are highly skilled and experienced in your holistic health field, without good marketing and a defendable legal basis for your services, you may struggle to make a livelihood or even put your profession at risk.