Reiki in the health community

I was glad to see the article, “Reiki: Hype or Help?” on the Discovery Health site, because I believe the increased research and interest in Reiki points to a similar trend that chiropractic went through about 10-15 years ago.  I remember when chiropractors were often dismissed by the medical community as “quacks” because of their assertion that subluxations created dysfunction in the nervous system, leading to symptoms of dis-ease.  Since then, studies have exonerated chiropractic and it is increasingly being used in conjunction with traditional allopathic treatment.  Insurance now routinely covers chiropractic.  We are also seeing more widespread acceptance of acupuncture in the West too, which had also been viewed with skepticism for a long time in the allopathic medical community.

The article describes how Reiki is increasingly being utilized in the health care community.  There are some hospitals that allow Reiki practitioners to come in to provide treatments to patients, and a number of nurses and doctors are beginning to practice it because they see how it promotes relaxation and a sense of well-being that is beneficial for recovery. However, there are many people who still view Reiki practitioners as being another type of “quack.” 

As Ann Ameling, a professor of Psychiatric Nursing at Yale University, points out, “Many medical practitioners are troubled by the fact that no one has a clue of the mechanism. It’s energy healing, but that sometimes infuriates people with a scientifically oriented mind.”  Lack of scientific evidence for why a treatment works has never stopped medical doctors before.  For example, “off-label” prescribing is done when doctors realize a potential health benefit but don’t always have the scientific “authority” at the time to back up the efficacy they are seeing in the clinical setting.  The best known example is that of aspirin.  Its off-label prescription as an anti-coagulant to reduce arterial plaque is relatively new in its history as a prescribed medication. 

The science of healing energy

James Oschman, Ph.D. is an academic scientist who has written two books exploring the scientific understanding of hands-on healing (Energy Medicine and Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance.) One article, “Science and the Human Energy Field,” featured in the Reiki News Magazine discusses the science behind energy healing, and his work is doing much to bridge the gap so that doctors, nurses and other medical scientists understand Reiki and accept it within the clinical setting.  Here is an excerpt from the article that I found to be particularly helpful at providing context for how “energy” is used in various diagnostic equipment and treatments:

When physicians and scientists react negatively to the term energy medicine, they are forgetting that there are many medical technologies using different forms of energy for diagnosis and treatment.  X-rays and MRIs fall into the diagnostic category. Passive measures of the fields produced by the body are also important in diagnosis: electrocardiograms, electroencephalograms, electroretinograms, and electromyograms. Each of these diagnostic tools has a recently developed biomagnetic counterpart: magnetocardiograms, magnetoencephalograms, magnetoretinograms, magnetomyograms, and so on. Every doctor has used an electrocardiogram, an energy medicine diagnostic tool we have had for nearly a century.

Modern researchers have developed the magnetic biopsy, the electrical biopsy, and the optical biopsy. Transcutaneous nerve stimulators, cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, lasers, electrocautery, and pulsing magnetic field therapy are examples of energy treatment modalities that are part of conventional medicine. Controversial or not, energy medicine based on the use of medical equipment is alive and well in hospitals, clinics, and medical research centers. Reiki and other forms of hands-on healing are another form of energy medicine based on scientifically measurable energy fields emitted from the healer’s hands.

Regarding other skepticism

I was amused by the comment made by Eric Krieg with the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking, who asserts that “Reiki seems to be a cult, and its practitioners are way out there in la-la land.”  First of all, Reiki is not a “cult.”  Cults have specific exclusionary and destructive patterns of behavior ranging from isolationism, emotional manipulation and mind control that are designed to benefit only the leader or members of the leader’s inner circle.  (See Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network for an in-depth description of how cults work.) 

Reiki is spiritually-derived, but it does not adhere to any specific religion or doctrine.  There is no leader or guru, although Reiki practitioners do acknowledge the work and contributions of Dr. Mikao Usui, who founded this particular system of energy healing.  Reiki practitioners are encouraged to adhere to set of ethics governing their use of Reiki, which are fundamentally no different than what you’d expect from any practitioner that is given access to help heal your physical, emotional and spiritual issues. 

The vast majority of the Reiki practitioners I’ve met are also well-established professionals in other fields, hardly people who would be considered “out there” with regard to their intelligence or personal behavior.  For the record, I have over 10 years’ experience in corporate knowledge management.  I oversee a corporate intranet, and my areas of expertise are enterprise content management, site architecture and taxonomy.  That’s a very linear, rational, “left-brained” sort of occupation.  The clients who come to see me come from all walks of life and often tend to be career professionals.  Yet they feel and appreciate the benefits they receive from Reiki. 

Reiki’s future – and yours

The Discovery Health article also goes into some detail about the results of a study that demonstrated the physiological results on 23 participants who received a 30-minute Reiki session:

The results showed that a person’s skin temperature increased, indicating relaxation. “When a person is stressed, the circulation goes to major organs instead of the skin. If a person’s skin is warm, that indicates relaxation,” says Wordell.  In addition, participants experienced a significant drop in blood pressure; saliva levels also rose significantly, indicating good immune functioning and anxiety levels dropped.

More studies done at the clinical level will continue to validate Reiki’s benefits as time goes on, and I believe it will be increasingly prescribed – much like chiropractic, acupuncture and therapeutic massage are – to aid in recovery and wellness, promote relaxation and reduce discomfort. 

Reiki is not meant to be a “cure-all.”  It is one of many tools available to help you down the path to wellness and personal growth.  Reiki is not going to be much benefit to you if you abuse your body, refuse to make healthy life choices and are incapable of embracing change.  Western medicine can’t cure you of any of those issues either!  Reiki helps facilitate and support the healing process on a physical, emotional – and yes, spiritual – levels. 

The rest of the healing journey is still in your hands.  

“Do we merely assume we are taking good care of ourselves? It’s perhaps a good idea to list all the ways we think this is true. Do we get enough exercise? What is enough, anyway? Are we eating the right foods and enough of them? How about rest? Do we take naps when needed, as well as get a good night’s sleep? What about laughter? Some would say there’s no better elixir than a good laugh. Of course, we have to be willing to laugh at ourselves, on occasion, to make the most of it.

Taking good care of ourselves is much more in our control than we might have imagined. While it’s true that some of us need a devoted caregiver because of our infirmities, we are able to laugh at will and to eat what’s good for us. We are also very much in control of how we feel about the circumstances of our lives. Whether we think we have it good or bad has a great deal to do with the details of each day.

The best thing I can do for me today is smile at my life, my friends, my remaining dreams. I can show I care.” 

– Karen Casey, Keepers of the Wisdom

My husband forwarded this quote to me last week, and I appreciated its message, because it encouraged me to reflect on the difference between taking care of and taking responsibility for ourselves.  I think many people use the concepts interchangeably, but in practice, some very important distinctions are borne out.

What’s the difference?

Caring for oneself is an act of nurturing, perhaps no different than what you might do or advise for a loved one.  It can mean something as simple as taking that 20 minute walk with your dog or sitting in a quiet place with a book and cup of tea.  It might mean going to sleep earlier, taking a “mental health day” or choosing to eat more nourishing foods.  It may also include getting healing work such as Reiki or a massage.  For some people, taking five to ten minutes to sit in reflection and prayer is a way to reconnect with the source of Divine wisdom and love. 

Caring for oneself fosters self-love.  By making the effort to engage in practices that are comforting and sustaining on a physical, emotional or spiritual level, you are validating your worth as someone who deserves to be treated with consideration for your basic needs.  It is a practice that encourages mindfulness with regard to what your body, mind and spirit needs in order to remain balanced, grounded and function optimally.

Taking responsibility for oneself is a much more complex process.  It requires a deep, honest look at yourself and choosing consciously to recalibrate your responses to stress or certain emotional triggers.  The goal is to ultimately obtain greater control, peace and stability over the circumstances of your life. 

There is a difference between feeling as if you are going through a stressful, though manageable, time in your life and feeling as if everything is careening out of control.  The former state should encourage you to seek out care-giving moments to alleviate some of the stress and keep your life in its proper perspective.  The latter state is a warning sign to stop, step back and take stock of the ways you may be subconsciously contributing to the suffering you’re experiencing. 

We are already “good people”

Making the decision to take responsibility is a lifetime commitment.  It is about taking control of our thought processes and our emotional responses and setting the intention to see through them to the essence of who we are and what motivates us.  Taking responsibility encourages us to let go of self-destructive patterns of behavior by setting healthier habits and practices.  It inspires us to stop feeling and acting like a victim in our relationships with others.  This is not an easy process by any means.  It requires courage to sit with the aspects of our nature that make us feel uneasy or vulnerable and learn to understand their origins.  It requires honesty and a measure of self-acceptance to look deep within and say, “I am all these things and I am also a good person.” This is your Divine nature expressing Itself.  Only then can you begin to feel like you can manage the circumstances of your life and engage in behaviors that lead to positive benefits. 

The practice of gratitude

The secret to both caring of and taking responsibility for yourself is developing the ability to see the good aspects of every situation – even the unwanted, stressful and painful ones.  This is a practice that can help keep you grounded and positive even in the face of challenges. 

Earlier this year, I was put in the position of having to re-evaluate the tendency I had to respond in a negative way to different stressors coming at me.  It wasn’t necessarily that I believed all these stressors were negative (after all, you can have good stress too) but my way of framing and containing them was to express myself by kvetching about it.  “Kvetching” is a Yiddish phrase for complaining or griping.  It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it had become a habitual way of dealing with my life circumstances.  The perception from several people was that I seemed unhappy, which I fundamentally am not.  So, I did some soul-searching and realized that a good counter-balance would be to practice expressing gratitude on a daily basis.  It could be gratitude for something small someone did for me, or it could be meditative, prayerful gratitude for all of the wonderful things I have, the people in my life and the challenges I face from time to time that allow me to grow emotionally and spiritually.  I’ve been doing some work getting in touch with my spirit guides/guardian angels and that has also helped develop my gratitude practice, because the more I work with them, the more aware I am of their presence and influence.  Reiki also has an important place in this process because it is fundamentally a practice that embraces gratitude in its basic ideals*.  I do Reiki on myself daily and participate in monthly Reiki circles to receive healing energy from other practitioners. 

Life still has its moments, but I’ve noticed that since I’ve made the change to express gratitude that I’ve been able to find solutions for problems more easily, see the bigger picture – and also take greater responsibility for the things going on in my life that are within my control.  Learning to let go of what’s out of my control is one of the ways I’m learning to take care of myself too. 

Reiki as a tool for life transformation

Reiki works on the emotional aspects of our energetic bodies to release blockages that make it difficult for us to let go of pain, trauma and ingrained responses to those “triggers.” It is excellent for promoting mental clarity and physical relaxation.  People often feel that they can focus more clearly after receiving a Reiki treatment and that they are less burdened by whatever issues they’re facing.  They feel inspired to make small changes – even temporary ones – that allow them to nurture their bodies and souls, which helps facilitate greater change in their lives as a whole.  When I work with my clients, I encourage different types of supportive practices, based on individual needs, to supplement process.   Every little thing that we can do for ourselves leads to deeper healing and sparks a transformation that will manifest the greatness that lies within each of us.

 
*The Five Reiki Ideals, as developed by Dr. Mikao Usui, the founder of Reiki:

The secret of inviting happiness
The miraculous medicine of all diseases
Just for today, do not anger
Do not worry and be filled with gratitude
Devote yourself to your work and be kind to people

Living with a chronic health condition can take its toll – physically, mentally and emotionally. Physical discomfort, pain and fatigue are common symptoms, and over time they can often lead to feeling stressed, anxious or depressed.  Medications prescribed to treat the symptoms often add to the mix.  Potential side effects such as fatigue, headaches or digestive upsets can be an additional nuisance.  Additionally, your body’s liver and kidneys are under greater strain to metabolize and excrete the medications, which can also add to malaise and potentially decreased functioning over time.

The degenerative effects of stress

Increased stress levels activate the adrenal glands, producing a constant state of “fight or flight.”  This is necessary when we are in a dangerous situation, as our body is gearing up our bodies to respond quickly to deal with whatever is confronting us.  However, if this response is activated constantly in response to physical or emotional stress, it causes the levels of certain key hormones, such as cortisol, to rise in your body.

Cortisol is necessary for the regulation of blood pressure, supporting the immune function and raising the body’s inflammatory responses when needed.  Normal secretions of cortisol are healthy, but chronically high secretions of cortisol can cause higher blood pressure, storage of fat around the waistline, increased amounts of insulin in the bloodstream, impaired immune function and elevated inflammatory responses to infection or injury.  The effects of stress over time for healthy people can potentially lead to the development of a chronic health condition.  However, if you’re already living with a chronic health condition, it is especially important to effectively manage stress and seek supportive, healing relief.

How Reiki can help

The human body is capable of self-healing, but stress, illness and emotional turmoil eventually take their toll on the body’s natural healing mechanisms. A Reiki treatment helps the body return to its state of balance, improving overall well-being and supporting the body’s recovery from illness or injury. A Reiki treatment itself often creates a calm, relaxed state. When the body is able to rest, the adrenals slow down and cortisol production drops, giving the digestive, respiratory, circulatory and metabolic functions a much-needed break.

People who experience chronic or acute pain benefit from receiving Reiki.  A study published in 2006, entitled, “The Effect of Reiki on Pain and Anxiety in Women With Abdominal Hysterectomies: A Quasi-experimental Pilot Study” describes the use of Reiki in a controlled setting to assist with post-operative pain control.  It concluded that Reiki positively affected the patients’ ability to manage post-operative pain with fewer medications.  Reiki was also given to a control group prior to surgery, and those patients experienced less anxiety regarding their procedure and had shorter surgery times.

Clients receiving Reiki treatment consistently report feeling calmer, more relaxed and gently energized at the end of their session.  I have worked on people who were in acute pain and seen how it caused relief from their symptoms.  Anyone who has experienced the therapeutic effects of massage therapy can benefit from receiving Reiki.  I have worked on clients with cancer, fibromyalgia, migraines, and who are HIV-positive, and they have told me how much better Reiki made them feel.  Reiki is not a cure-all but like all complementary therapies, it helps to facilitate and support the healing process within the body.

Final thoughts

Reiki is increasingly being used in the clinical setting to provide relaxation and relief for a variety of acute and chronic conditions.  However, it is not meant to be a substitute for examination and care from a qualified medical professional.  If you are living with a chronic illness, I encourage you to partner with your physician or therapist to create a treatment plan that includes allopathic methods if needed, as well as other supportive, holistic approaches.  Please contact me to discover how Reiki can augment your journey towards deep, complete healing.