What is the general attitude in Canada to this kind of thing? i am a qualified Reiki practicioner and one of my ideas was to set up my own business doing combined massage and Reiki in Edmonton (after taking the massage qualifications in CA of course).... anyone likely to be interested or will i be set on fire in a witch hunt?!!

Based on my circle of friends in Calgary, I would say there is a fair degree of interest in holistic therapies. But then I see myself as being a bit "different" from Calgary's mainstream society, and many of my friends also could be described as being a bit different.

From what I've heard from friends who have lived in both cities, Edmonton is a little more open minded than Calgary is. So I would expect holistic therapies to be better received in Edmonton than in Calgary (although, as I said, a market for them does exist here too).

In the case of most "alternative" therapies, treatments are not covered by the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan, and clients pay out of their own pockets.

You can get an idea of the "alternative" scene if you look at Synchronicity Magazine. Hmmm, this is interesting. When I look up Reiki in the classified ads in the Directory section, I find six practitioners with phone numbers beginning with 403 (which suggests the Calgary area) and only one with a phone number beginning with 780 (which suggests the Edmonton area). I would not have expected the balance to be so strongly in favour of Calgary.

I don't know what to make of that. Does it mean that there is more of a market for Reiki in Calgary? Or does it mean that there is a need in Edmonton that is not being filled and that you could help to fill? Or does it mean that Synchronicity Magazine's classified ads are not an accurate reflection of the numbers of Reiki practitioners in the two cities? I don't know.

My BC and MB insurance covered $500 per year per Paramedical So that's massage, chiro, physo etc

So loads of interest what is the competition like in Edmonton already? www.411.ca might show you some info.

If you google search for reiki therapy in Edmonton, there are a few
clinics and practitioners listed there. I think in general, Canadians are
open to alternative medicine.I live in Van. and holistic therapies are well
received. We have Tzu CHi center that is affiliated with the Cancer Society
and Vancouver Hosp. Good luck with your Reiki , I think your practice will
be accepted there. Yoong

Yoong, your previous posts indicate that you've nursed in Alberta, in Grande Prairie if I remember correctly. Since you've actually lived in Alberta and worked in the medical field here, I hesitate to second guess you. But I find Coastal BC to be more "progressive" (if that's the right word) than Alberta is. It shows up in lots of little ways, like the number of vegetarian restaurants per capita in the Greater Vancouver Area compared with those in Edmonton and Calgary.

I don't want to suggest that all Albertans are closed to the concept of Reiki. I've already stated that Reiki has something of a following here. But at the same time I think it's a stretch to quote your experience of the practice of medicine in Vancouver as if it has any relevance to the practice of medicine in Alberta.

I have two Alberta friends who have had malignant tumours surgically removed recently, one in Calgary and the other in Edmonton. The Calgary friend went on to have radiation and chemo. The Edmonton friend still has to go through all of that. In neither case did a single medical person who treated them (doctor, nurse, etc.) ask them a single question about their lifestyles (diet, exercise, sleep habits, stressors, etc.). Oh, wait a minute, after the Calgary friend had completed her conventional treatment, she went to an acupuncturist (whose services she paid for out of her own pocket). The acupuncturist did ask her all of those lifestyle questions. But no one in the conventional medical system asked them.

Morwenna, who is a physiotherapist in Calgary and who does home visits, has reported that she does ask a lot of questions related to a patient's overall wellness.

But the anecdotal reports I've heard coming out of the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary have not inspired me with confidence.

Judy,
That's right I was a med /surg RN in Grande Prairie,it was in 1980
during the oil boom, then worked in the Royal Alexandra in Psych.
Then moved to BC. Judy, I see this as an opportunity for you to
open your practice in Calgary or Edmonton because of less competition.
With your skills,why butt head with the competitions in BC?
In BC we are open to alternative meds.In my unit the Docs do not
oppose if patients want to see a holistic practitioner but at the
same time they ( patients)are being monitored for safety.
Good luck to you, it is a great opportunity to promote holistic care to the
Albertans to adopt healthier lifestyle and ease the healthcare system.
With the explosion of population growth there , changes got to take
place. Please let me know about your progress. Yoong

Judy,
That's right I was a med /surg RN in Grande Prairie,it was in 1980
during the oil boom, then worked in the Royal Alexandra in Psych.
Then moved to BC. Judy, I see this as an opportunity for you to
open your practice in Calgary or Edmonton because of less competition.
With your skills,why butt head with the competitions in BC?
In BC we are open to alternative meds.In my psych unit the Docs do not
oppose if patients want to see a holistic practitioner but at the
same time they ( patients)are being monitored for safety.
Both professions communicate with each other ,kind of respectable
with each others practices.
Good luck to you, it is a great opportunity to promote holistic care to the
Albertans to adopt healthy lifestyle and ease the healthcare system.
With the explosion of population growth there , changes got to take
place. Please let me know about your progress. Yoong

I hope you are lucky in Edmonton. I worked in the Alternative Therapies field in England and found the market almost nonexistant here in Ontario. In fact I now work in an entirely different field to pay my bills. Not to generalise but the difference I personally found here was that people were not interested in making a lifestyle change if they could just buy a pill to do the job instead. Health food stores are predominantly sports products (bodybuilding) and weight loss.

Good luck!

Hi,
In what area of Alternative Therapies you worked in when you were in Uk,if you don't mind me asking. Few years ago I wanted to study and hopefully work with the Royal London Homeopathic Hosp. Due to the nursing shortage
here,I did not get my 1 year leave of absence. I could have taken the
courses here , but preferred to study in UK and visit my old friends there.
Sorry to hear that you can't work in Ont.,perhaps BC is a place for you.
Today I saw on the paper that Spa Utopia in BC has 15 full time positions
for RMT.Anway good luck to you , Yoong

oooh that's encouraging - I'm Reiki level 2 and would love to be able to practice in Calgary when/if we get out there.

I heard there's a 'Wild Rose' clinic that offers spa and complementary treatments in Calgary. Maybe openings there?

http://www.wrc.net/wrcnet%5Fcontent/clinic/

Yes, please do give us some more details, if you don't mind. I'm a Reiki Master too (Usui Reiki, of course) and one idea I was playing with was to study at the Toronto School of Homeopathic Medicine or the Homeopathic College of Canada (also in Toronto, where partner lives). Not a lot of point in forking out all that money if I'm not going to be able to make a living at the end of it, though.