Reiki is not pseudoscience

Recently, I was navigating to my website using my iPhone’s Safari browser and as I typed the URL a Google search result came up showing the Wikipedia entry for Reiki. It stated that Reiki is “a form of pseudoscientific alternative medicine.” I was so surprised by this statement and have resolved to assist in the editing of it. When I do so, I will be sure to remove the term, “pseudoscience.”

The reason for this is that Reiki is not pseudoscience. In order for it to be pseudoscience, it would have to be based on the scientific method and clearly it is not. As Pamela Miles says so well:  Reiki is a spiritual healing practice. I love science and I love Reiki, but they are separate things. I can believe in both and that does not degrade one or the other. Reiki works in the same way that other lifestyle changes work that bring about relaxation, that decrease pain, and improve one’s mood.

As Reiki practitioners, it’s important that we remember, and that we’re clear in our communications, that Reiki is not science. It is not based on the scientific method and yet we know through our experiences and those of our clients that it works and it facilitates the natural healing abilities of the mind, body, and spirit.

How do you talk about Reiki to your friends, family, colleagues, and clients? Are there explanations that you find more effective than others? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Here are some helpful articles that continue this discussion:

Reiki for . . .

I started writing this post as “Reiki for Hospice Staff and Volunteers” and then realized that I write a lot about “Reiki for <this group of people>Reiki and <that condition>,” so I thought it would be useful to get clear on what Reiki is “for” and what it is “not for.”

Reiki is for:

  • women, men, children
  • people who are sick or healthy
  • the stressed out
  • cancer patients, survivors, and families
  • nurses, doctors, therapists, bodyworkers, lawyers, athletes, musicians
  • moms, dads, coaches, teachers
  • hospice staff and volunteers
  • people with fibromyalgia, allergies, migraines, insomnia, anxiety, depression, or PTSD
  • blessing your food
  • increasing gratitude in your life
  • helping others and yourself
  • finding your keys and fixing things*
  • mindfulness
  • skillful speech
  • comprehension, confidence, clarity, and cohesion
  • working with difficult emotions
  • finding your true calling
  • connecting with the universe

The list could go on and on. When we say: Reiki is complementary with any treatment or medication and can be used to treat all types of conditions, this is what we mean. It is universal life-force energy and its application is universal. There are no counter-indications.

Reiki is not for:

  • mind reading
  • use as a replacement for proper medical treatment when that is called for
  • harming others or yourself

Reiki is for increasing love, light, and healing in your life.  It is not for things that decrease love and light.

So the next time someone asks you what Reiki is for, you can say: Reiki is for whatever you need to achieve your highest healing good. Reiki is always for that!

 

 

*Take a Reiki 2 Class to find out more about using the Reiki symbols in everyday life!

10 Health-Promoting Reasons to Take a Reiki Class

Hands as in a Reiki ClassAs a Reiki Master Teacher, I’ve noticed that people take Reiki Classes for a wide-variety of reasons. Some people are seeking an addition to their professional practice as a physician, nurse, or therapist. Others are looking for a self-care practice to manage their stress and promote their healthy lifestyle; while some people are inexplicably drawn to the class. They are not sure of the reason that they are there but they are certain it is the right thing to do.

If you’re considering taking a Reiki Class, here are 10 health-promoting reasons to sign up today:

You want:

  1. A self-care technique that is available to you anytime, anywhere
  2. To feel calm and relaxed in your body and mind
  3. To experience inner peace
  4. A connection with the energy of the universe
  5. Greater presence, connection, and mindfulness in your relationships
  6. An additional technique to use in your current work as a caring professional
  7. Better sleep more regularly
  8. The possibility of accelerated healing
  9. To work toward greater mobility
  10. To experience regularly the love and light that is our essence

I hope you’ll join us at an upcoming Reiki Class to experience all of these things and your deepest health-promoting intentions for yourself and those around you.

Wishing you a greater connection to the light and love of the universe.

Reiki: Anxiety and Cancer Treatment

Reiki handsThis past Saturday, I offered Reiki during three one-on-one sessions at the Wellness House in Hinsdale.  The Wellness tune-up room is a spa-type room with dimmed lights, healing music (my current favorite is Steven Halpern’s Music for Healing), and a Reiki (aka massage) table.  I have been practicing here for over a year and each time is an energizing and humbling experience.  In a very general way, you can describe what I do as offering Reiki to cancer patients.  However, each experience is so unique, each person and his/her experiences are unique, and yet each person’s experience is so similar (even in its uniqueness).

Some people come to Reiki in the midst of treatment.  They are thin, nauseated, and engaged in the “battle”.  And yet others come to Reiki after treatment, full of energy and lingering side effects, busy with their work and home lives, and creating their new normalcy.

They all come to Reiki with stress, fear, anxiety and all of the side effects of their emotional lives.  They expect a lot of Reiki.  (Don’t we all?  And why shouldn’t we?  It IS universal life force energy.)  They expect: stress-relief, better sleep, freedom to live their lives.  That freedom might just include the energy to be active all day and sleep well at night from an appropriately tired body.  Or it might be the energy to do the things one loves throughout the day, even reading in the evening, curled up in a favorite chair and staying awake long enough to read more than one page.

Even when the session is ended and they report feeling so relaxed, they often ask in an anxious voice, “What did you feel?  What did you notice?  Was it good?”  And I wonder to myself, “What is my role here as a Reiki practitioner?  Do I diagnose?”  No.  Reiki practitioners do not diagnose.  Can I offer an encouraging and kind word or two?  Indeed, and I do, because invariably that is my experience – it is positive and I feel encouraged.    The Reiki is there for them.  They draw it in and get the healing they need.  Is it a cure-all?  No, unfortunately.  Is it complementary with other modalities and treatments?  Absolutely.  Do they sign up for more and bemoan the fact that they can’t get in more frequently.  Yes.

Reiki provides emotional and spiritual support during cancer treatment.  It helps to mitigate anxiety and fear and their side effects.  With Reiki one can achieve better sleep, increased physical energy and the support of the universe.

Please share your Reiki experiences in the comment section.

Wishing you peace and wellness.

[twitter-follow screen_name='u_r_reiki']

Change . . . Child’s Growth vs. Aging

It is Fall in the Northern Hemisphere.  One of our seasons of change, people say.  Maybe all seasons are seasons of change.  Maybe we are constantly changing.  Constantly in a state of flux, but we are not aware of it.  There are moments, of course, when we are acutely aware of change, for example, during major life events like moving, changing jobs, getting married, etc.Janice Lodato, Reiki Master

Lately, I’ve been reflecting a lot on my body’s physical changes that are coming about because of my age.  Many of these are not welcome and I’m having extreme difficulty with acceptance.  In contrast, I was reflecting on the changes we observe, and welcome, in children as they grow and mature.

We marvel at the first year of life and all its physical and developmental changes — the first tooth, the increase in height and weight, the first words, the first steps.  But on the other end of the spectrum all the physical changes are to be accepted, not celebrated — the first gray/white hair (and the many that follow), the veins that must be covered, the eyes that need assistance, the shorter height, the injuries that heal so much slower, and speaking of slowness, the races that will never be won.  Nothing to celebrate here.  Just accept.  We cheer on the ascent into adulthood only to turn our eyes away from the “decline” to old age.  The statistical bell curve of life:  going up is good, going down is bad.  Why must it be a decline?

So this is where my mind is right now, in a battle with acceptance.  Why accept?  What’s in it for me?  Accepting seems like rolling over and playing dead.  Is that what I’m practicing to do?

I once worked for a woman who, during times of corporate reorganization, would spout out “Change is good.”  She would repeat it as if trying to convince herself and us.  Change is not in itself good or bad.  Change just is.  Our perception of it is what makes it good or bad.  In her statement she was glossing over the fact that some change is bad – it’s painful, difficult and sad (if those things are indeed “bad”).  Again, change just is.  It is:  inevitable and constant.  We can celebrate it, as in a child’s growth, or we can rail against as in our attempt to look and act younger than we are.  Change:  accept it.

My mind is continuing the battle with acceptance.  I’m trying to smile at my wrinkles and marvel in the new, even if I don’t welcome it.  My body is doing the best it can and I try to help it with adequate sleep, nutritious food and plentiful exercise.  A daily dose of self-Reiki helps too.  It brings me back to the constant and universal within me.

Wishing you light and peace.

[twitter-follow screen_name='u_r_reiki']

Reiki Goes Where it is Needed

In the Usui system of Reiki there is a principle that Reiki goes where it is needed. In practice this can look like a Reiki session where the practitioner has her hands on the shoulders of the recipient for the whole session.  However, the recipient entered the session with a sore knee and a headache.  After the session, the recipient reports that the knee feels much better and her headache has decreased.  This occurs without the practitioner ever placing her hands directly on the knees or the head.  This is the wisdom and power of universal life force energy.  It goes where it is needed.

There are many stories that illustrate this principle.  For instance, my teacher, Libby Barnett, tells the story of one of her clients who came to her with an injured ankle that was healing very slowly.  The day after the Reiki session, Libby followed up and her client said that the ankle was about the same, but the evening after the Reiki session she had written the outline of a children’s book that had been in her mind for years.

Another client I have worked with had only stress-reduction on her mind.  However, after her Reiki session, a cyst in her wrist became enlarged.  She observed this for several days and on the fifth day it seemed to go away.  When she followed up with her physician, who had been monitoring her condition, he confirmed that the cyst was gone.  She was relieved and grateful and saw how Reiki went where it was needed.

As a Reiki practitioner this principle can sometimes guide us in hand placement.  For instance, rather than placing the hands over the recipients ankles, the practitioner may be guided by Reiki and intuition to place the hands on the lower leg.

I welcome your thoughts in the comments section and wonder how you have experienced Reiki’s power to go to where it is needed.

Wishing you light and peace.

[twitter-follow screen_name='u_r_reiki']

Welcome to Reiki Healing Energy!

Welcome to my new website and blog: Reiki Healing Energy!  I have been practicing Reiki since October 2001.  It seems amazing to me that this is the first time I’m formally presenting my Reiki practice outside of a Reiki session, a wellness tune-up or a Reiki class.  However the time seems right as I am very near to the exact date that I received my Reiki 1 attunement and then a few days later my Reiki 2 attunement at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in western Massachusetts.  I clearly remember my heart racing with excitement as a sat in a metal folding chair receiving the attunements.  I was filled with grace and love as I learned about Reiki and practiced it with my teachers, Libby Barnett and Maggie Babb (Chambers).

After my first attunement, like my fellow students, I was amazed by the awareness and presence I was able to experience during my morning yoga practice.  Food tasted more vibrant as well.  In my dorm room at Kripalu, I relished the view of the lake from my top bunk, the gnarled cherry tree beside my window and the gentle snores and words that rang out in our room during the night.

After the second attunement, the palm of my hand was alive with energy.  In my dream that night, I was comforted by the presence of my maternal grandparents who sat with me and encouraged me on this journey.  They smiled at me as they did when I was a child, with complete acceptance and understanding.

After leaving Kripalu, I experienced many challenges of balancing life’s daily demands with my Reiki aspirations.  However, that is one of the beautiful aspects of Reiki.  It is so simple and readily available that it can be integrated into one’s daily life with ease.

In future posts I will discuss what brought me to Reiki and some insights I have gained in the past 11 years.  I look forward to your comments and hearing about your healing journey as well.

Wishing you light and peace.

[twitter-follow screen_name='u_r_reiki']