Reiki therapy, an ancient healing technique, uses the laying of hands over affected body parts to restore emotional and physical health and well-being. Although Reiki is a non-invasive procedure, discuss its use and benefits with your doctor before you schedule a session with a Reiki therapist.
Identification
Reiki is a 3,000-year-old Japanese therapeutic technique used to reduce emotional stress, relieve bodily pain and facilitate healing from a mental or physical illness. The work Reiki comes from the words "Rei," which translates to "God, higher consciousness or spiritually guided," and "Ki" which translates to "life force energy." Therefore, Reiki therapy literally means a higher-powered or spiritually-guided life force energy treatment for the body and mind.
Theories/Speculation
Reiki practitioners believe you are composed of life force energy. If your life force energy is low, you are likely to be stressed out or sick. If your life force energy is high, you are likely to be happy and healthy, according to The International Center for Reiki Training. Therefore, Reiki therapists attempt to channel positive life force energy through their hands onto your body to energize the parts of your body that need healing and well-being.
Methodology
A Reiki therapist uses his hands to intuitively isolate areas in your body that need to be healed. Then, the therapist lays his hands over those areas to channel positive life force energy into each area. For example, if you experience frequent headaches accompanied by anxiety, your Reiki therapist would place his wrists together at the top of your head and place one hand on each side of your head, with his fingers resting over your temples to channel positive energy into that area. If you have neck pain, the therapist will cup his hands under your neck to bring the positive life force energy into your neck.
Although there are 12 standard Reiki hand positions, your Reiki therapist may alter his hand positions based on your individual physical and emotional needs, according to Discovery Health.
Considerations
Although Reiki is a spiritual practice, it is not a religion and does not require any particular beliefs for the therapy to work for you. You may even use Reiki after medical procedures to assist recovery effects and alleviate side effects, states The International Center for Reiki Training. However, the positive effects of Reiki are considered by some to be a scam. Eric Krieg of the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking, a team of 150 educators and scientists who look for rational ways to explain energy healing, states that there is no way to prove that an energy field actually exists. Krieg states on Discovery Health that he believes Reiki therapists are part of a cult who are "way out there in la-la land."
Expert Insight
Neurosurgeon Clinton Miller disagrees with Krieg's opinion that Reiki is not a valid medical treatment and prescribes Reiki sessions to his own patients, he told Discovery Health. Portsmouth Hospital in New Hampshire also believes that Reiki has medicinal value. The hospital has 20 employees who are trained in Reiki and has given over 2,000 Reiki treatments for free inside the hospital.
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