Shadow Side of the "Spiritual" Community

It happened (again) in a group full of Reiki practitioners, people who supposedly walk the same path of healing, compassion, and spiritual devotion.

I made a comment on a post. Honest. Direct. Clear. Not rude. Not unkind. Just real. And then someone responded with that line, “And you call yourself a Reiki practitioner?” 

Let’s pause right there. This wasn’t some faceless internet troll. This was someone who claims to walk the same path I do. A fellow practitioner. A fellow healer. And in one sentence, they tried to shame me. Tried to silence me. Tried to police my voice in the name of “spiritual behavior". 

Let’s be crystal clear, that is not Reiki. That is control, wrapped in white robes. That is ego, masked as moral superiority. And I’m not here for it. This right here is the shadow side of the spiritual community that no one wants to talk about, how quickly “love and light” becomes manipulation. How “compassion” becomes compliance. How “spirituality” becomes a weapon to uphold performance and image, as long as you stay soft, silent, and agreeable. 

Somewhere along the way, people started confusing Reiki with passivity. As if being spiritual means being spineless. As if being heart-centered means being a doormat. As if we must always be quiet, conflict-avoidant, endlessly pleasing. 

But Reiki isn’t a personality type. It’s not a costume we wear. It’s not a customer service script for the soul. Reiki is a practice. A path. A way of being. One that calls us to presence. Presence with truth. Presence with boundaries. Presence with what is real. And sometimes, truth doesn’t wear soft edges. Sometimes it sounds like, “That doesn’t sit right with me", “I will not tolerate this", “My energy is not here to make you comfortable”. 

Here’s what most people forget: Respect doesn’t always sound like what you want to hear. Sometimes it sounds like what you need to hear. And sometimes the most respectful thing a healer can do is speak with clarity, directness, and unapologetic honesty. Because that is love. That is alignment. That is integrity. I am a Reiki practitioner. And that is exactly why I speak clearly. Why I hold boundaries. Why I protect my field. My boundaries are not walls, they’re sacred commitments. They’re how I stay clean. They’re how I stay aligned. They’re how I stay honest with myself, and with the Source that called me to this path. 

How can I hold space for others if I constantly abandon my own?

How can I live in integrity if I silence myself to make others feel safe in their illusions? I didn’t come to this path to be palatable. I didn’t sign up to be spiritually well-behaved. I came here to live awake. To walk in truth. To protect the frequency I carry so I can serve fully, fiercely, and with heart. 

So, no, I won’t bite my tongue to appease someone’s fantasy of what a healer should sound like. I won’t contort myself to fit into communities more concerned with optics than with actual integrity. I know who I am. I know why I’m here. 

So yes, I call myself a Reiki practitioner. Because I live by truth. Not performance. Not people-pleasing. Not spiritual bypassing dressed up in pretty words. I speak. I protect. I walk with honor, for myself, for this practice, and for the soul mission that chose me for it. And if that bothers someone, that’s theirs to sit with. Because I don’t owe anyone my silence. I don’t owe anyone my submission. I owe this path my truth, integrity and alignment. And I’m done bending to be digestible. I’m done shrinking to fit in. This is who I am. This is Reiki in embodied