Is Reiki Science or Hype?

Reiki has been in my life for so long that it is hard for me to imagine Reiki being something foreign, mystical, or unusual. I first received training in 1995 and have practiced Reiki in some form every day since. Based on that information, you can see how hard it is for me to question; is Reiki science or hype? For me, that would be like questioning if the water is wet or if the night is dark.

I do, however, remember how skeptical I was the first time I was introduced to Reiki a few years before my first training. To be honest, I thought Reiki was totally made-up, the question then was not is Reiki science or hype, it was more like these people are quacks, what am I doing here! I guess that makes me a quack:) During the last two decades of Reiki experiences, the only question left is, why would I want to go a day without Reiki in my life?

A Cancer Patient’s Experiences with Reiki

“Terri Reynolds, 56, knows the exchange well. She says, “Reiki.” They say, “Huh?” She says, “Energy healing.” They say, “Hocus-pocus.”

But for Reynolds, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2011, Reiki is anything but. The practice – which usually involves a practitioner placing his or her hands on or above a client to facilitate that person’s healing energy – taught her how to quiet her mind after surgery and six months of chemotherapy.

“When you have a very stressful job and four children, and you get a diagnosis like that, it kind of really slaps you around,” says Reynolds, a certified medical assistant and managed care educator in Springfield, Illinois. “And when you’re grabbing everywhere for anything that makes the littlest bit of hope glisten, you’re apt to try anything.”

Reynolds is now cancer-free but continues to see a Reiki practitioner weekly. “I’ll never stop,” she says.” What Is Reiki?

Is Reiki Science or Hype?

“Reiki is one of several therapies based on the biofield, or a type of energy field that “regulates everything from our cellular function to our nervous system,” says Shamini Jain, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California–San Diego.

While the biofield itself is generally accepted – it “consists of things that we can measure like electromagnetic energy that actually emanates from us,” Jain says – biofield therapies such as Reiki and therapeutic touch are more controversial because they’re based on the idea of a “subtle” aspect of the biofield, which is harder to measure.

“It’s difficult for our Western science to wrap its mind around” because it’s not about popping pills, injecting needles or otherwise altering the body’s chemical composition, says Jain, a clinical psychologist who studies integrative medicine.”

To read the entire article What Is Reiki? in US News and World Report

by Anna Medaris Miller

Reiki: Hype or Help? – Neurosurgeon Clinton Miller’s Story

“Have you ever looked for information about the origins of Reiki or asked the question, “What is Reiki?” Neurosurgeon Clinton Miller viewed Reiki (pronounced RAY-KEY) with skepticism several years ago. That skepticism eroded after Miller experienced Reiki therapy for himself. “I went from high personal excitation to feeling like I was floating in the ether,” says Miller.

Today, Miller prescribes Reiki for his patients. And he’s not alone. Many healthcare professionals and others are beginning to incorporate Reiki in their treatment of illnesses ranging from asthma to cancer to depression. Reiki sessions are being used for pain management, to accelerate recovery from surgery and reduce medication side effects.”

Except from Reiki: Hype or Help?

Is Reiki Science or Hype? – My Mother’s Story

Early in my Reiki practice, my mother came out of remission from breast cancer. There was a lot of conversation about radiation and chemotherapy. My mother had breast cancer since I was 12 years old and had been through both of those treatments several times. She was feeling a little desperate and asked me, “Michael, so what is this Reiki stuff you do and does it really work?” I was so excited I could barely contain myself that my mother and I were having a conversation about Reiki and her cancer. After the conversation, she asked me if I could do Reiki with her. We had two or three Reiki sessions that week, and then I began a daily regimen of distant Reiki healing on her for the next 30 days. When she went to her oncologist the following month, there was no trace of cancer in her system! My mother passed away many years later, but both of us never forgot the experiences with Reiki we shared. It changed her life and made us much closer. This is only one of many similar experiences with Reiki that I’ve had the opportunity to share with others. What makes this one special and unique is that it was with my mother, a woman who grew up in a working-class immigrant Italian home in Newark, New Jersey, with minimal education or worldview.

Is Reiki science or hype? My vote is a resounding no, not hype! Like most other healing professions, there are some Reiki Practitioners who are complete flakes. Unfortunately, Reiki seems to attract them more than most fields of practice. What are your experiences with Reiki, science or hype?