How Energy Healers Can Flourish by Aligning With the Law

✏️ Editor’s Note:
What does it really mean to “flourish” as a healing practitioner? And how do you stay in alignment with your purpose—and the law—without feeling overwhelmed?

These are the kinds of questions that can keep us stuck, especially when business and legal topics feel disconnected from our calling.

In this article, attorney Ian Foster explores how legal alignment can actually support your visibility, vitality, and abundance. You’ll learn how things like consent forms, safe harbor laws, and tax tools don’t restrict your practice—they protect it, so you can grow and serve with clarity.

What does it mean to have a “flourishing healing practice?”

It’s not a rhetorical question. I’m genuinely asking us all to think about it. In fact, I love this question.

I love this question because it focuses the mind on what we’re trying to achieve; it forces us to think about our goals; it allows us some freedom to decide what “flourishing” means to each of us; it’s beautiful because it shows we’re all unique, we all have different values and goals and achieve them in different ways, and each of us can “flourish” in our own way.

And yet….

As we’re all together on this healing journey, part of our chosen community of healing practitioners, I’ll make an educated guess that we have some values and goals in common.

💡 Read EMPA’s blog article: Your Healing Work: 5 Essential Goals for Grounded Growth

For one thing, all of us are on our own healing journey and we’re dedicated to our clients’ healing journeys. We want to see a better world and we believe healing wounds and trauma is a key to getting there.

For another, I’m guessing we all have some idea of “flourishing” that includes the freedom to actually perform our calling and help the people who need our help. The details might differ, but I bet most of us want to be visible to our communities and clients, to feel vibrant and energetic, and to have sufficient abundance to live a stress-free lifestyle so we can focus our attention on our common mission.

In essence, while a “flourishing practice” will have a distinctive look for each of us, I believe we all see “flourishing” as being visible, vibrant, and abundant in some form or another.

This issue is all about helping you create your own version of a flourishing practice. And, as an attorney who serves energy healers, I’d like to talk about building your own flourishing practice by being in alignment with the law.

What Does Alignment Really Mean?

Alignment is a word we often like to use in the transformational and healing industries but sometimes I wonder if we stop and think about what it really means.

Of course there are various formal definitions of “alignment” – which include a range of concepts like proper positioning, adjusting components to work together, facing a common direction, having a planned route to a destination, and grouping forces together.

And in the transformational and healing industries we have our own, somewhat more nebulous concepts of “alignment” – things like a feeling of peace, a state of being in harmony, a connection to our source energy, and a sense that we are advancing our values.

Personally, when I think of the word alignment, I am imagining some combination of those formal definitions and nebulous meanings … something that’s hard to describe in a couple words and very dependent on the context.

So what about you? What does it mean in your mind to “be in alignment?”

As before when I asked what flourishing means to you, this is not a rhetorical question. I encourage you to go ahead and sit with it. Imagine the word alignment and what it means to you personally. Then take a moment and think about what alignment means in the context of building your healing practice.

Begin to understand that being in alignment can help you flourish, and realize that flourishing also helps free you to find your alignment.

That is to say, flourishing and alignment reinforce one another in a cycle that allows you to improve your business, improve yourself, and become a true force for good in the world.

How the Law Helps Your Practice Flourish

Now, it’s only fair if you’re wondering what all this has to do with the law and why an attorney is writing this column.

I’m writing because my passion is helping healers build practices that are visible, vibrant, and abundant, so they can go about fulfilling their missions and making the world a better place one client at a time. That’s what gets me jazzed every morning to go serve my community. That’s what’s in alignment for me and helps my business flourish.

And that’s why I’ve used these magazine columns to give you my take on how laws affect the healing industry and how we can take the most advantage of those laws to build flourishing healing practices.

I’ve done my best to show you things in a way that’s in alignment with my goals and values and offer practical, real-world guidance on how to use the laws in alignment with your goals and values.

I do all this because I believe we can build flourishing practices by being in alignment with the law.

Alignment Doesn’t Mean Agreeing With Every Law

I recognize that when we talk about flourishing and being in alignment, most healers do not immediately think of legal issues. That’s okay. That’s normal. But I’m trying to change what’s normal when it comes to the healing community thinking about the law. I’m trying to make legal considerations a normal, natural, and even enjoyable part of doing business.

Because when you’re in alignment with the law, you are safer and more confident.

Because when you’re in alignment with the law, you are free to build visibility, abundance, and impact.

In other words, when you’re in alignment with the law, your practice flourishes!

I’m going to get more specific and explain why that all is true. But before we go any further let’s make something clear: when I say you should be in alignment with the law, I am not saying you must like all the laws; I am not saying you must agree with every requirement; I’m not even saying that you should expect every law to be in alignment with your own personal values…because some of them won’t be.

If you live in a democratic society, then you live under a legal system which is the result of generations of hard work and compromise among lots of people with different opinions and values. Our legal system has evolved as imperfect people with big disagreements come together to solve problems through compromise.

It’s absolutely expected that you will agree with some of our laws and you’ll disagree with others. Living under the rule of law doesn’t mean we all get what we want all the time.

It doesn’t even mean we get results we all agree are just or right. It simply means that we can expect, for the most part, a predictable procedure for enacting and administering the laws we have.

And being in alignment with this imperfect legal system definitely does not mean you must give up your personal values. You are free to keep fighting for your values. You are free to keep trying to convince others of the merits of your values while staying open to hearing their views as well. In fact you should do so.

That’s how we learn and grow and live together.

Instead, being in alignment with the law simply means that you understand how the laws work, how they create risks and benefits for your healing practice, and how you can minimize those risks and maximize those benefits.

When you’re at odds with the legal system it’s hard to be visible, hard to be vibrant, and hard to be abundant. You’re too busy expending energy fighting and hiding. You’re too busy playing small. When you’re at odds with the legal system you’re not making the difference you are called to make in the world.

On the other hand, when you minimize your legal risks and maximize your legal benefits, you are actively building the foundation that allows you to be visible and abundant. It’s one of the best things you can do to build your flourishing practice.

When you stop seeing the legal system as a wall between you and your goals – when you start seeing the legal system as an important tool that helps you live your purpose and make a difference – then you have gone a long way toward healing that anxiety we all feel around legal issues and creating a positive mindset that will drive you forward.

AND…when you heal that legal anxiety…you can find ways to align with the law that are also in alignment with your values and mission!

Specific Tools That Support Flourishing

Client Privacy

Our legal system gives you the ability to protect your client privacy, while still allowing you to share client information without their consent in emergency situations. A written consent form is not a barrier to client trust; it is the empowering tool that enables trust and helps you build a flourishing practice.

Safe Harbor Laws

Safe harbor laws protect energy healers and alternative health practitioners, allowing you to practice without fear of prosecution. Learning how these laws create a protective shield is a key to building a flourishing practice.

Getting Paid

You’ll do more good in the world if you’re paid well for your work. The legal system helps by allowing you to set up binding contracts and consent forms that outline payment terms and refund policies clearly. This empowers both you and your clients.

Business Entities

If you are running a for-profit healing practice, a business entity like an LLC or corporation is essential. They protect your personal life from legal risk and provide important financial and tax mechanisms that save money. Properly forming and using a business entity is one of the most empowering steps you can take.

Taxes

Most healers feel fear and anxiety around taxes, but tax laws were designed to benefit small business owners. Learning the rules helps you earn more, pay less, and build a confident, flourishing practice.

What’s Next: Flourishing With the Law

In this column I’ve asked us all to think about what it means to flourish and what it means to be in alignment. I’ve shown how flourishing and alignment go hand-in-hand. I’ve explained my values-based perspective on the law: that it’s an imperfect system which we sometimes like and sometimes don’t, but one that can still be used to minimize risks and maximize benefits.

I’ve given specific examples ranging from client privacy to tax compliance. These are just a handful of the many ways we can align with the law without sacrificing our principles. These are ways to use the law to benefit both us and our clients by building a flourishing practice.

As discussed at the top of this column, “flourishing” and “alignment” will look different for each of us. Still, I’m betting we all want a practice that’s visible, vibrant, and abundant. And being in alignment with the law is one of the best ways to get there.

✏️ Editor’s Note:
In the past, legal considerations may have felt like roadblocks—something that pulled your focus away from healing.

Today, you can see how aligning with the law creates space for your practice to feel more more abundant.

Looking forward, our hope at EMPA is to see every healer in our community flourish. That’s why we put together a free downloadable Buyer’s Guide—to help you explore protection options built just for energy healers, so you can grow with peace of mind.

This article was originally published in the July/August 2024 issue of Energy Magazine. As part of the ongoing Laws & Regulations column by Ian Foster, these articles aim to help energy healers navigate legal, ethical, and business challenges with clarity and confidence.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not provide legal, financial, or medical advice. The examples are general, and coverage may vary by policy. Always refer to your insurance provider or policy language for specific details, as the policy terms take precedence. For legal concerns related to your practice, consult an attorney.