Reiki is a relaxing form of healing therapy that is applied through non-invasive, non-manipulative gentle touch. Reiki involves lightly laying of the hands just above or on the clothed body, working over the front and back in a slow progression of hand positions.
Reiki (pronounced ray-key) originated in Japan and is composed of two Japanese words, “Rei” and “ki.”
“Rei” can mean universal, spirit, love, consciousness, God, the highest…whatever words work for you that express that which is both within us and connects us to what is beyond and bigger than us.
“Ki” refers to life force energy or life-giving energy. Around the world in different cultures it has had many names including chi, prana, mana…it is the force that gives us life.
“Reiki” can be translated as universal life force energy, spiritually-guided life force energy, etc.
Dr. Mikao Usui is the man who discovered and developed the form of Reiki in Japan that has spread to the west. There are various stories about him but one says that he was a Buddhist who set out on a spiritual quest to discover how the historic Buddha and Jesus allegedly were able to heal others with their hands. After many years of searching, Usui went on a 21 day fast and pilgrimage on a mountain and during meditation received an insight that every human was able to channel spiritual life force energy through their bodies, specifically through their hands, and bring transformative healing to others. He began practicing and was amazed at what he and others experienced. He began helping as many people as he could and quickly realized that he couldn’t heal everyone in his community who needed help, so he began training others in Reiki healing. Eventually, Reiki came to Hawaii and then to the mainland of the United States.
Reiki has connections to many hands-on healing modalities that span the entire world and thousands of years. Each one has different practices and variations but the core principle is the same throughout most: that there is ki, chi, or life force energy flowing through and around us constantly and we can actually gather more of that energy within our bodies and energy fields/auras and then share it with others for healing. It’s amazing!
In Reiki, the practitioner channels that loving universal energy through their body and connects that energy to the client’s energy field/body/aura with their hands, eyes and breath to remove stagnations and blockages so the life force energy can flow effortlessly and clearly. Reiki calms the body and puts the client into a gentle, soothing, relaxed state that can feel similar close to sleep. When this happens, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, which is the state our bodies need to be in in order to heal naturally. Clients often feel subtle physical sensations like heat and tingling during the session and a deep relaxed feeling close to sleep and afterwards often feel a sense of peace, spaciousness, clearing and lightness.
Reiki can help with so many things! Reiki is a wonderful complimentary therapy that can be implemented alongside all other medical and therapeutic techniques. Reiki can help:
-Ease stress and anxiety
-Ease the symptoms of depression
-Lower blood pressure
-Help to release emotional blockages
-Ease chronic pain
-Support recovery after surgery or medical procedures
-Support the relief of symptoms from radiation and chemotherapy
-Help with clarity and life purpose discovery
-Support end of life care
-Alzheimers and dementia symptoms can be eased like agitation, fear, worry and confusion
-Can help improve sleep and insomnia
-Reduce fibromyalgia symptoms
-Support addiction recovery
-Support the processing of grief and loss
-Support life transitions
-Support the healing from eating disorders
-Can help deepen spiritual connection
-Can help foster a sense of peace and feeling hopeful
Reiki has no religious doctrine and is accepted by people from all backgrounds and belief systems.
We begin by sitting and talking about how you're feeling and what you are looking for support with. You are welcome to share anything with me. I'll walk you through how the session works to help you feel comfortable. Then you'll lay on the table under a cozy blanket and I'll play healing sound frequencies throughout the session to help calm and heal the body. I will gently brush sage over you if you are comfortable with that to help clear energy and support the creation of a sacred space together. Then I will work from the crown of your head to your feet, using different techniques to feel into your energy and sense for restrictions and imbalances. I'll lightly place my hands on you where I can sense the healing Reiki energy is needed. I may place crystals on or near you to help support the healing. Then at the end of the session, I will clear your aura and complete the session. Afterwards we will have time to sit together and I will share what I noticed and you are welcome to share anything you felt or experienced.
During my Reiki Massage sessions, everything is the same as a Reiki session except I add in relaxing massage strokes to help deepen the calming of the body and mind and help support healthy energy flow. For Reiki Massages, the client is unclothed to their comfort level. I work with my intuition during the entire session, and may focus on a particular area for the massage or the full body. Each session will be different rather than following a certain routine or sequence like I do in relaxation massages.
And I'm always improving and exploring ways to deepen these offerings as I continue to practice.
“According to an International Association of Reiki Professionals (IARP) study of “America’s Best Hospitals” (the top 25 ranked by U.S. News and World Report in 2002), 60% of them had formal or informal Reiki programs in place. All hospitals using Reiki said that they believed Reiki to be at least somewhat beneficial for patients, and 67% said they believed Reiki to be highly beneficial.
For example, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York not only offers Reiki therapy to patients but also teaches Reiki once a month, inviting the patients’ caregivers, the patients themselves, and the general public to learn it. “Patients love it,” says Simone Zappa, RN, an administrator in the Integrative Medicine Department at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. “And they love it because it works.”
Acceptance of Reiki in institutions comes in part because it is so easy to incorporate into the clinical setting. It requires no specific setting, technology, or preparation. Reiki is a touch therapy, and RNs and other professionals routinely touch patients as part of their job. If they are Reiki-trained, every time they touch a patient, the patient automatically receives Reiki energy. Since long, formal sessions are not required to support a patient with Reiki therapy, opportunistic mini-treatments in the normal course of patient care make Reiki very easy to incorporate.”
What Nurses and Physicians Say About Reiki in the Clinical Setting
“Mounting anecdotal evidence confirms its benefits over and over again. Nurses and physicians who use Reiki in the clinical setting consistently say it: Makes a patient relaxed, calm and cooperative; relieves acute and chronic pain; boosts the immune system; reduces stress; decreases the need for pain medication; improves sleep and appetite; accelerates the healing process, and has no side effects or contraindications. They also say that Reiki reduces many of the unwanted side effects of radiation and chemotherapy, including nausea and fatigue.”
(source: https://iarp.org/reiki-clinical-setting/)
Reiki and Surgery
“Increasing research allows Western healthcare practitioners to see quantifiable data about the effects of Reiki on patients with a variety of conditions. The largest ongoing study of Reiki in the clinical setting continues to be conducted at Columbia/HCA Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Portsmouth, NH, where more than 8,000 surgical patients have been given pre-and post-surgery Reiki treatments. Reiki is incorporated into their admission procedure and is also administered during transport to surgery. Treatments are given by trained RNs, physical therapists, technicians, and support staff.
Research results continue to be consistent. All the patients in this study who received Reiki had the need for less anesthesia, had less bleeding during surgery, used less pain medications, had shorter lengths of stay in the hospital, and indicated greater satisfaction with their hospital experience than other patients.”
Reiki for Pain Management
The Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Canada, conducted a study on the effects of Reiki with 20 oncology patients in chronic pain. Study supervisors used both a VAS (visual analog scale) and Likert scale to measure pain before and after Reiki, and their conclusion was that Reiki greatly improved pain levels.
Reiki and Oncology
Other research with oncology patients shows that Reiki speeds up the elimination of toxins, improves immune response, helps manage side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, and helps reduce the inevitable fear and anxiety that accompanies a cancer diagnosis.
Reiki and the Heart
“The Section of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, at Yale University conducted a study to determine if Reiki would improve Heart Rate Variability (HRV) in patients recovering from acute coronary syndrome. Reiki is an ongoing clinical program offered on Yale-New Haven Hospital cardiac units, so the Reiki therapists in this study were 5 Reiki-trained nurses already employed in that program. To compare Reiki to musical intervention and resting control, continuous electrocardiographic readings were obtained for 12 control, 13 music, and 12 Reiki patients. The change with Reiki was significantly greater than with music (p=0.007) or resting (p=0.025).”
Reiki and Chronic Illnesses
Several studies on Reiki and chronic illness indicate improvement in spleen, lymphatic and nervous system function in patients with multiple sclerosis, lupus, fibromyalgia, and thyroid disorder, as well as better management of symptoms in patients with AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome, and sleep disorders.
Reiki During Pregnancy
Research conducted at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, CT, showed that Reiki used during pregnancy reduced anxiety by 94 percent, reduced nausea by 80 percent, reduced pain by 78 percent, and improved sleep by 86 percent.
(source: https://iarp.org/reiki-clinical-setting/)
Reiki and End of Life Issues
For end of life issues, hospice studies show that Reiki addresses physical and emotional symptoms while improving quality of life during palliative care. Reiki promotes deep relaxation, pain management, and relief from depression with less medication. It also facilitates the release of anxiety, grief, and fear, supporting positive emotional closure with loved ones and a calm, peaceful passing.
Reiki for Children
Clinicians have found that Reiki is equally safe and effective for children. At California Pacific Medical Center, one of California’s largest hospitals, Dr. Mike Cantwell, a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, provides one to three-hour-long Reiki sessions. Dr. Cantwell says, “I have found Reiki to be useful in the treatment of acute illnesses such as musculoskeletal injury, pain, headache, acute infections, and asthma. Reiki is also useful for patients with chronic illnesses, especially those associated with chronic pain.”
Research References:
-https://iarp.org/reiki-clinical-setting/
-Alandydy, Patricia, BSN, RN. “Using Reiki to Support Surgical Patients.” Journal of Nursing Care Quality, April 1999, Vol.13, No. 4, pp. 89-91.
-Barnett, Libby and Babb, Maggie, “Reiki Energy Medicine: Bringing Healing Touch into Home, Hospital and Hospice,” Healing Arts Press.
-Bossi, RN,MS, CS, Larraine; DeCristofaro, RN, MS, OCN, and Ott, RN, MN, MEd, CS, Mary Jane. “Reiki Treatments for People Living With Cancer.” Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library.
-Bossi, RN,MS, CS, Larraine; DeCristofaro, RN, MS, OCN, and Ott, RN, MN, MEd, CS, Mary Jane. “Reiki as a Clinical Intervention in Oncology Nursing Practice.” Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, Vol. 12, No. 3/2008, pp. 489-494.
-Brewitt, B., Vittetoe, T, and Hartwell, B. “The Efficacy of Reiki Hands-On Healing: Improvements in Spleen and Nervous System Function as Quantified by Electrodermal Screening.” Alternative Therapies, July 1997, Vol.3, No.4, pg.89
-Olson, Karin, R.N., Ph.D., and John Hanson, MSc. “Using Reiki to Manage Pain: a Preliminary Report.” Cancer Prevention and Control, June 1997, Vol.1, No. 2, pages 108-13.
-Singg, Sangreeta and Linda J. Dressen. “Desirable Self-Perceived Psychophysiological Changes in Chronically Ill Patients: An Experiential Study of Reiki.” International Society for the Study of Subtle Energy and Energy Medicine, June 1999.
-Wardell, Diane Wind and Joan Engebretson, “Biological Correlates of Reiki Touch™ Healing,” Journal of Advanced Nursing, Feb. 2001, Vol. 33, No. 4: pp. 439-445.
-Rachel S.C. Friedman, MD, Matthew M. Burg, PhD, Pamela Miles, BA, Forrester Lee, MD and Rachel Lampert, MD, “Effects of Reiki on Autonomic Activity Early After Acute Coronary Syndrome,” Section of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University, School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, FMP 3, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
There are so many amazing stories about the experiences people have had with Reiki. I love sharing these in addition to the scientific research so we have a well balanced understanding that Reiki really does work to help heal the body, mind and spirit. I have many stories I can share from receiving and offering Reiki in my own practice but I’ll share others here that I’ve gathered from fellow Reiki practitioners and the families and loved ones of those who have received Reiki. These and many, many more are available to read on the International Center for Reiki Training website.
-Reiki in a Maximum Security Prison
-Reiki Gives a Man His Life Back
-Reiki On A Terminal Cancer Patient
-Reiki and Epstein-Barr/Fibromyalgia
Want to try Reiki with me?
I offer Reiki sessions and Reiki Massages at two locations in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
Locations:
My main location is my healing space in downtown Oconomowoc, 106A North Main Street, Oconomowoc, WI 53066 / Book sessions online below.
4Rivers Center for Well Being on the Shorehaven Campus (for those with limited mobility who use walkers or wheelchairs) / Call me to book a session at this location.
I am also available to offer Reiki for people in hospitals, hospices and in their homes.
