Do You Need a License for Reiki in Washington?

Washington defines massage as a health care service involving the external manipulation or pressure of soft tissue for therapeutic purposes, and no one may practice it without a license. Light, still Reiki touch does not manipulate tissue. The law never defines pressure, though, so the line is unclear.

Reiki, polarity, therapeutic touch and energy work are absent from the exemptions, and no board ruling on Reiki was found. One exemption covers people who have completed a somatic education training program approved by the Secretary of Health, which uses minimal touch over specific points to facilitate balance in the nervous system. It applies only after that approved training.

Yes. The massage definition requires manipulation or pressure of soft tissue, so no-touch and distance work fall outside it. The Medical Practice Act is broad: you practice medicine if you offer to diagnose, cure, advise or prescribe for any disease, ailment, injury, pain or other condition, physical or mental, real or imaginary, by any means.

That act exempts the practice of religion and treatment by prayer. Avoid offering to diagnose, cure or treat any condition.

No. The massage license requirement applies whether or not you are paid. The family exemption covers massage given to immediate family members only.

Without a license you may not use massage, massage practitioner, massage therapist, massage therapy, therapeutic massage, massage technician, massagist, masseur, masseuse, myotherapist, touch therapist, acupressurist, body therapy or body therapist, or any term implying a massage technique. Advertising massage without a license is unlawful.

Touch therapist and body therapist are restricted titles in Washington, and many energy workers use them. Check your website, cards and listings for these words.

State law limits extra city and county licensing for state-licensed massage therapists. That protection does not cover unlicensed energy workers, who may still need an ordinary local business license, so check with your city or county.

No board ruling on Reiki was found, and the search for Department of Health guidance on Reiki was incomplete. Ask the Washington State Board of Massage in writing whether light, still touch with no pressure on soft tissue falls under the massage law, and keep the reply.