Reiki what is it used for

Each time she became conscious in the recovery room, she placed her Reiki hands on her abdomen or chest, as was comfortable, and found that Reiki soothed the discomfort from the incision. Once out of recovery, she continued giving herself Reiki many times a day. Sophie was discharged from the hospital a day earlier than expected. Five years later, Sophie continues to practice Reiki self-care every day. She and two Reiki friends meet weekly to share treatment-they call it their "Reiki bee"-and she's delighted when her daughter occasionally requests a Reiki session.

Sophie and her physician have stopped some medications and reduced others. She thinks Reiki may be why she is no longer troubled by side effects from the ones she still needs.

Susan had been a pediatric nurse for twenty years. She deeply loved caring for children but lately had to admit that fatigue was creeping into her days and keeping her from enjoying her time away from the hospital.

Two of her nurse colleagues had recently learned to practice Reiki and kept offering her a session. She didn't know why she felt shy about it, but when nothing else relieved this relentless tiredness, she decided to accept their invitation. Her colleagues came to her home to give her Reiki one Friday night. They made her promise to let herself sleep until she awakened on her own the next morning. There wasn't much morning left when she woke up after 12 hours of the deepest sleep she could remember.

Caroline called her friends to thank them, saying, "It's as if my body had forgotten how to sleep well and the Reiki reminded it. A young boy with sickle cell anemia was writhing and screaming, racked with the intense pain that accompanies this condition and often doesn't respond to medication. Her colleagues placed their hands on the boy and within five minutes, he was sleeping peacefully, his body completely relaxed.

There is no convenient time to be diagnosed with breast cancer , but the timing of Caroline's diagnosis was particularly difficult. Her husband was being sent to Madrid on a special assignment and she'd been looking forward to the time abroad and the opportunity to polish her Spanish. Now the timing of their trip coincided directly with the timing of her cancer treatment. Since her treatment could not be done in Spain, Caroline decided to commute.

And look for extra help. Caroline was practical enough to know she needed support on many levels. She needed emotional support to heal from the impact of the diagnosis and the anxiety that stalked her day and night. Her doctor warned that many people found the treatment itself to be exhausting, and Caroline would be adding to that with the fatigue of frequent flying. She was concerned about pain and, given her history of sensitivity to pharmaceuticals, she was sure she'd experience other treatment side effects.

Fortunately, her treatment center had a Reiki program. Caroline paired Reiki with each chemotherapy session and doctor visit. Because she was prone to anxiety even on a good day, she made a point to receive Reiki before her chemo. She found receiving Reiki first greatly reduced not only her anxiety, but also her pain.

Caroline weathered her treatment well and finished on time. While reiki can easily be done in just about any setting, a typical reiki session takes place in a relaxing environment or treatment room, akin to massage therapy. Newton holds some of her reiki sessions in well-ventilated outdoor spaces. In a typical treatment room setting with a reiki practitioner and a client, the client begins face up and fully clothed.

They might briefly discuss their ailment or situation they hope to heal. Throughout the session, the practitioner focuses specifically on their intent for healing. We let reiki do what it needs to do. A typical session lasts 30 minutes to an hour, and a client-practitioner discussion uses a good amount of that time, according to Newton.

Rachel Lampert, M. The patients were randomized into three groups: patients who simply rested, those who received a single session of reiki treatment from a nurse trained in reiki and those who listened to relaxing music. The researchers measured activity of the autonomic nervous system ANS , which regulates heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and digestion.

The higher the HRV after a heart attack, the better the outlook for the patient, explains Lampert. In the Yale study, patients who received reiki had a higher HRV and improved emotional state.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School followed 99 patients at multiple sites to determine the effects of a single reiki session.

The study—a single arm effectiveness study published in in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine— found statistically significant improvements in anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as pain and nausea. Additional research suggests reiki helps with depression and insomnia.

A study in the Indian Journal of Positive Psychology looked at 40 women who suffered from depression and anxiety. Half of the group received a reiki treatment twice a week for 10 weeks and the other half received no treatment.

The women who received reiki saw significant improvements in both their depression symptoms and sleep quality. Portuguese researcher Zilda Alarcao and her colleagues looked at the impact of reiki treatment versus sham or fake reiki in two groups of patients with blood cancer. Each group contained 58 patients who received an hour-long treatment once a week for four weeks—either someone trained to administer reiki worked on them or someone pretending to do reiki sham reiki spent an hour with them.

They published their results in in the European Journal of Integrative Medicine. Practitioners note clients usually report feeling relaxed after a session, but some feel energized. Depending on the nature of the problem, Newton says some clients also may feel more emotional or have other intense feelings in the days or weeks following a session.

While there is a professional code of ethics that governs reiki practitioners, there are no licensing boards like there are for doctors, nurses or even hair stylists.

To ensure the best result, practitioners advise clients to do their homework—ask a practitioner about their training and credentials, but also find someone you connect with and trust. One potential risk is that clients can misunderstand the role reiki should play in a treatment plan. The code of ethics of the Reiki Alliance, a professional reiki association, clearly states that reiki practitioners work as a complement—not a replacement—to the medical care a patient receives.

Reiki is also not a practice intended to instill doubt in other medical treatments and interventions. Clients are strongly discouraged from viewing reiki as a substitute for medical doctors, surgery, therapy or prescribed medications. Clients should also be aware that while reiki—like yoga or meditation—may have roots in spiritual practices from long ago, modern reiki is not a religion.

Practitioners and clients come from all walks of life and belief systems. Naturally, scientists who study reiki beg to differ with that assessment.

They say institutions simply need to catch up with the rapidly evolving science. D, president of the Center for Reiki Research, a nonprofit that aims to advance the scientific knowledge and study of reiki. Dyer acknowledges, however, that some studies have lacked rigor and some have not found statistically significant benefits with reiki. Information about a therapy, service, product or treatment does not in any way endorse or support such therapy, service, product or treatment and is not intended to replace advice from your doctor or other registered health professional.

The information and materials contained on this website are not intended to constitute a comprehensive guide concerning all aspects of the therapy, product or treatment described on the website. All users are urged to always seek advice from a registered health care professional for diagnosis and answers to their medical questions and to ascertain whether the particular therapy, service, product or treatment described on the website is suitable in their circumstances.

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Home Complementary and alternative care. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page. General caution for reiki Reiki practitioner How reiki is used Reiki session Reiki in the community Where to get help.

General caution for reiki Reiki is not a treatment for illness or disease. Reiki practitioner A professional reiki practitioner is someone who has completed at least the second level of a reiki course and is insured appropriately. Reiki session In general, a reiki session will involve: You will be asked to lie on a reiki table or sit in a chair. The practitioner places their hands on or just above your body in sequences of positions. Unlike massage, a reiki session does not involve any form of physical manipulation.

You do not need to remove any clothing and no private parts of your body are touched. During a session, you may feel warmth or cold, a tingling sensation, slight twitching or a rumbling tummy, or you may feel absolutely nothing.

A complete reiki session can last from 60 to 90 minutes.