Spiritualist Guides Energy Business
Reiki Training Center Flows With Clients, Products, Healing
by Maureen McDonald

(This ariticle appeared in the Detroit News
Thursday, June 17, 1999)

Glastonbury, England

As the setting sun gleams through the ancient rocks of Stonehenge, Southfield spiritualist William Lee Rand guides 27 participants into an hour long exercise to release their tension and energize their minds.

"I don't direct the process, I'm simply a channel for the attunement energy flowing from the Higher Power," Rand said.

Rand has used that "higher power" to build a successful business around what he loves to do.

Rand teaches Reiki, a Japanese-based hands-on healing technique based on the idea that a life force flows through everyone, infusing them with aliveness. If this energy is depleted, people are more likely to get sick or feel stressed. And Reiki is a way to restore your life force and to heal.

Since founding the International Center for Reiki Training in 1990, Rand has trained 3,000 people to administer a "hands-on" technique for stress reduction and relaxation. The author and publisher also conducts seminars around the world, overseeing five employees and 18 certified teachers.

Each year around mid-June, the summer solstice, he journeys to the Stonehenge site at twilight. The lanky, robust 52-year-old Rand dances in and out of the ancient rocks of Stonehenge without gasping or losing his train of thought.

He claims the healing discipline has energized his life and his business practice. Over the decade, he's moved from a rented bedroom in Royal Oak that doubled as a healing space to a 3,600-square-foot office and a 3,000-square-foot home and retreat center, both in Southfield, along with a 60,000-member mailing list.

Like Deepak Chopra, the world-famous healer and metaphysical guru who appears on Oprah, 20/20 and other talk shows, Rand sees himself as a synthesizer who brings a multitude of ideas and people together to experience a shared sense of community.

In addition to the workshops, Rand has a mail-order catalogue to sell Reiki books, audio and video tapes, t-shirts and other products.

"William Rand is a very thorough instructor, very well-organized. He draws students because he is very good at what he does," said Sheldon Stoleman, an M.D. and anesthesiologist at Oakland General Hospital in Madison Heights who uses the techniques to help relax patients.

Rand reminds his students who hope to become practitioners themselves that their "divine energy" must be grounded in a physical reality.

"The mind is like a magnet, so make your intention clear," Rand said. "Decide that the value you and your clients receive from your Reiki practice will far outweigh any effort or sacrifice that might be involved in creating it."

Rand says he donates 10 percent of his pretax profits to charities, including a shelter for abused women and children, an Arbor Day foundation, the rain forest in Central America and 35 Tibetan Buddhist monks at Ling Khangtsen monastery in Southern India.

"What separates William Rand from other healers who come and go from the scene is his intense, sincere desire to help humankind," said Cindy Saul, editor of PhenomeNews, the New Age Detroit monthly newsmagazine with a circulation of 100,000.

"He works to make everything as legitimate as possible, even bringing out a textbook on the topic."

William Lee Rand

Age: 52

Business: Runs the International Center for Reiki Training in Southfield, which trains people in how to administer a "hand-on" technique for stress reduction and relaxation. The trainings run $310.00 for a combined level one and two class, and $825.00 for the master/teacher training, $1000.00 to do the same at Stonehenge. Rand also oversees Vision Publications, which produces his books and newsletters.

Founded: 1990

Background: Instead of college, Rand embarked on a lifelong study of metaphysics, including a stint in Hawaii with a Kahuna, a spiritual wiseman. He is certified in neuro-linguistic programing by the Robbins Research Institute and learned past-life regression therapy, astrology, tarot card reading and other spiritual disciplines.

Team: Five employees and 18 teachers.

Combine spiritual and business practices

Here are some tips Rand recommends for growing a spiritual-healing business from nothing to an international movement.

* Pray before you start each day. Take a room or a small desk and adorn it with pictures of healers, crystals, incense and Tibetan bells. Meditate on and send Reiki to the results you want and pray for those who you will encounter so that the meeting progresses smoothly and successfully.

* Rely on higher sources. If you are doing healing work in a selfish way, only for money or to gain control over others or to take on an air of self-importance, you will find it difficult to get support from your higher power or the surrounding community.

* Give some of it away. Focus on helping others and healing anything within yourself that may inhibit the flow of love and compassion.

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Maureen McDonald is a Detroit freelance writer.