The Science of Reiki

Introduction

When I first heard about Reiki many years ago, I was incredibly sceptical of all the benefits it claimed. At the time, I was a registered nurse who firmly believed in the medical model of treatment. A few years passed, and after various friends sharing stories of life changing experiences, I decided to give it a go. Again, I was extremely dubious that it would help, only to be shocked by the outcome. I went into the session feeling exhausted and anxious, but somehow left feeling energised, relaxed, and euphoric. The days after I felt calmer, with a greater sense of clarity on life. I was a convert.

A few months later I decided to train in Reiki, and now practice this with other methods of energy and sound healing, integrated with my knowledge as a nurse. It amazes me how my clients experience such profound shifts whether it be physically, emotionally or spiritually. Recently, Reiki is becoming more and more mainstream, with it even being provided in some hospitals as a complementary therapy to be used alongside treatment. In the US, over 800 hospitals provide Reiki treatments (Baldwin et al. 2019); the UK has also started to offer Reiki in some hospitals.

For those that experience Reiki, the experience itself is often proof enough of its effectiveness; however, research in this field has increased in recent years. I wanted to share with you some of the studies on the effectiveness of Reiki.

What is Reiki

Reiki is an ancient energy healing system, re-discovered in the early 20th century by Japanese scholar, Mikao Usui. “Reiki” is Japanese for “Universal Life Energy,” and is a word used to describe a system of natural healing. There are many variations of Reiki, but in essence, Reiki treatments can help the body physically, emotionally or spiritually. It is a tradition that is open to any belief system.

Reiki is a form of biofield therapy, which is based on the principle that fields of energy and information surround living systems, and that these fields can be influenced by a practitioner to stimulate healing responses. Most biofield therapies involve an energetic exchange between practitioner and client, which can often be draining for the practitioner. Reiki is different in that the practitioner simply allows the Reiki energy to flow passively through their hands and into the client. Reiki helps to restore the client's energy to a state of balance on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels, thereby enhancing the client's natural ability to heal and establish natural equilibrium.

Pain

Pain is one of the most common symptoms and may lead to significant psychological, mental, and physiological problems in individuals. According to data by The Center for Reiki Research, Reiki is an effective approach to decrease levels of pain, depression, and anxiety. A Meta-Analysis by Demir Doğan (2018) also reviewed four randomised controlled studies that studied the effects of Reiki on Pain. The studied concluded that Reiki was found, in all studies, to significantly reduce the Pain Scores of participants.

Cancer

Cancer Research (2021) states that some people use Reiki as a form of complementary therapy, alongside medical treatment. They report that “some people say that reiki has helped to control side effects of their cancer treatments, such as pain, anxiety and sickness. They also say that it helps them cope better with their cancer and its treatment” (2021).  A small study completed by Bartys el al (2016) found that participants reported:

A release of emotional strain during reiki—feelings of a release of energy, a clearing of the mind from cancer, inner peace/relaxation, hope, a sense of being cared for; experience of physical sensations during reiki, such as pain relief and tingling; physical, emotional and cognitive improvements after reiki, such as improved sleep, a sense of calm and peace, reduced depression and improved self-confidence.

Although this was a very small study of only 10 women, it does display how Reiki can make a positive difference to people’s lives.

Stress

Chronic stress can lead to physical problems in the body. This is due to your body constantly being in a “fight or flight” response and producing unnecessary amounts of cortisol and adrenaline. Clients seeking Reiki in the Western world often have concerns relating to stress, which can be effectively applied  to help people regulate their body, and come out of the unsustainable, high-alert “fight or flight” state, which allows the client to manage the situation they are experiencing. A relatively small study conducted on nurses found that Reiki notably reduced their stress scores (Cooper et al, 2000).

Physical and Psychological Health

A large 2019 study aimed to measure the effect of a single session of Reiki on physical and psychological health in a large nonclinical sample (Baldwin et al.). 1411 Reiki sessions were conducted by Reiki Practitioners across the United States and included in the analysis. Statistically, significant improvements were observed for all outcome measures, including positive affect, negative affect, pain, drowsiness, tiredness, nausea, and appetite, shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, and overall well-being   (all p-values <0.001).

Summary

This is just the tip of the iceberg on the research conducted on Reiki, but it definitely demonstrates some of the huge benefits of Reiki. It is also worth noting that holistic therapy studies often have very low budgets compared to Big Pharma clinical studies, so sample sizes are significantly smaller. Reiki still remains one of my favourite holistic healing services, and I hope that we start to see more Reiki therapists within hospitals.

If you would like to find out more about the services I offer, please click here.

References

Baldwin, A., Dyer, N. and Rand, W., 2019. A Large-Scale Effectiveness Trial of Reiki for Physical and Psychological Health. [online] Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. Available at: <https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/acm.2019.0022> [Accessed 18 February 2021].

Cancerresearchuk.org. 2021. Reiki | Complementary and alternative therapy | Cancer Research UK. [online] Available at: <https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/reiki> [Accessed 18 February 2021].

Cooper, M., Cuneo, c., Drew, C. and Naoum Hefferman, C., 2021. The Effect of Reiki on Work-Related Stress of the Registered Nurse - Charlotte L. Cuneo, Maureen R. Curtis Cooper, Carolyn S. Drew, Christine Naoum-Heffernan, Tricia Sherman, Kathleen Walz, Janice Weinberg, 2011. [online] SAGE Journals. Available at: <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0898010110377294> [Accessed 18 February 2021].

Demir Doğan, M., 2021. The effect of reiki on pain: A meta-analysis. [online] science direct. Available at: <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1744388117303626> [Accessed 18 February 2021].