Reiki has been around for almost 100 years, but its rapidly growing popularity means you might have plenty of questions about this Japanese healing technique. Find out how reiki can heal your body from the inside out.
Reiki originated in Japan in the early 1900s, but thanks to devotees like Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, and Angelina Jolie, this hundred-plus-year-old spiritual healing technique is having a major moment in the wellness world.
Regardless of whether or not your Instagram feed is flooded with posts about the growing interest in this healing practice, you may be wondering if reiki might be beneficial for you.
DailyOM turned to the experts to find out what exactly reiki is and everything you need to know before booking your first appointment.
What Is Reiki Healing?
Simply put, reiki therapy is a form of touch healing that aims to increase relaxation and calm your parasympathetic nervous system. Practitioners of this ancient practice use a light touch — or even no touch at all — during reiki sessions to calm the nervous system and help promote a healthy flow of energy.
“Reiki practitioners channel energy. [They] place their hands on or near someone to balance that person’s vital energies, helping to bring the body into a greater state of balance,” Nikki L. Ward, a reiki master teacher and certified medical reiki master in Ellicott City, Maryland, tells DailyOM.
“Generally, it helps to reduce stress, pain, and worries, balancing on all levels — mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual — which allows the body to heal itself.”
Interested in learning more? Check out Reiki Healing for Beginners
What Happens in a Reiki Session?
A typical reiki session can last anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes. The client usually lies down on a massage table fully dressed with their shoes off. Sessions can also be done in a chair to accommodate various conditions like pregnancy, where lying down may not be a comfortable option.
“Using a very light touch, the practitioner starts at the client's head, then works their way down the body in a series of hand placements on or near the client’s body,” says Ward. “Usually, clients are very relaxed by the time I’m finished with the hand placements, but at some point in the session, the practitioner may have the client roll onto their stomach for work on the back. Some may experience warmth and tingling and may fall asleep during the session, but most experience a state of deep meditation.”
What Is Reiki Used For?
Although reiki isn’t a cure for any specific ailment, it has been used along with Western medicine to help patients suffering from cancer, Parkinson’s disease, long Covid, and other health conditions. These days, reiki therapy is widely available at respected medical centers and hospitals including the Mayo Clinic, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and the Cleveland Clinic.
So why the uptick?
According to Donna Audia, a trauma nurse who leads the integrative care team at the University of Maryland Medical Center, more and more hospitals are adding reiki to their services simply because the demand for it keeps growing.
Reiki patients said they felt relief from both psychological and physical symptoms such as stress, anxiety, fatigue, and pain.
“We have more and more patients asking for it,” Audia told DailyOM. “Patients share with me that they are not always given definitive diagnoses but are told to reduce their stress. Reiki is a tool to reduce stress, whether it is used for self-care or as part of a treatment regime. Now hospitals are being reimbursed based on patient satisfaction, and reiki is being requested by more patients seeking non-pharmaceutical treatments.”
What Does Science Say About Reiki?
Although research is still limited and some skeptics say that reiki is nothing more than a placebo effect, recent scientific evidence appears to suggest otherwise.
According to a study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, cancer patients who participated in a clinical trial reported a 50 percent or greater reduction in stress after receiving reiki treatments. Patients said they felt relief from both psychological and physical symptoms such as stress, anxiety, fatigue, and pain. Ninety-four percent of them reported that they found reiki sessions helpful and would recommend them to others.
Another blind, controlled pilot study examined the effects of reiki on patients undergoing knee replacement surgery. The participants were divided into three groups. One received fake reiki treatments. The other received standard medical care and the third received real reiki therapy. Only the group that received real reiki showed significant reductions in pain, blood pressure, respiration rate, and anxiety.
What Is the History of Reiki?
Reiki was created in 1923 by a Japanese Buddhist named Mikao Usui, who gave thousands of reiki treatments prior to his death in 1926 and taught 20 men the spiritual healing practice. One of those students, Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, went on to open his own reiki therapy clinic in Tokyo.
Not long afterward, a woman named Hawaya Takata sought him out for treatment for her asthma and lung issues. She was ultimately so impressed that she decided to study reiki with Hayashi before returning home to Hawaii, where she eventually opened her own reiki clinic and taught other practitioners for many years.
Takata is credited not only with bringing reiki out of Japan and into the Western world, but also with helping to develop a standardized hand-placement protocol with Hayashi. It is in large part because of her contributions to the practice that reiki is now commonplace throughout the world at hospitals, wellness centers, and even day spas.
How Are Reiki Practitioners Trained?
There are four levels of reiki healers: level I, level II, reiki master, and reiki master teacher. Level I practitioners don’t usually practice professionally since they are still gaining real-world experience.
Reiki master teachers usually use the same basic information in their coursework regardless of their lineage, but sometimes blend other healing modalities and energy techniques like crystals and chakras into their trainings. Students also learn hand-placement protocol and self-practice from their reiki master teachers, who provide certification to their individual students. There is no accrediting body or standardization for reiki certification.
How Do You Find a Reiki Healer?
There is no license required to practice reiki therapy, but there are plenty of ways to find a qualified reiki practitioner in your area. Organizations like the International Association of Reiki Professionals and The International Center for Reiki Training both offer directories where you can search for certified therapists. Yelp, Google, and local hospitals are also great resources for finding reputable healers in your area. And if all else fails, ask your family and friends for recommendations.
“Ask your healthcare provider or psychologist if they know practitioners that they’d recommend,” says Ward. “Or check local wellness centers and community boards for flyers and business cards. Most of my clients find me from Google or word-of-mouth. Reiki can also be given virtually [a form of the complementary health practice referred to as “distant reiki”]; local is great, but not necessary.”
Is Reiki Right for You?
Regardless of whether you’re a total skeptic or a believer in integrative medicine, you have nothing to lose by giving reiki a shot. Unlike over-the-counter or prescription drugs, there are virtually no known side effects.
“It is safe, gentle, effective, and noninvasive,” says Ward. “Even if someone isn’t coping with an illness or diagnosis and just wants an effective way to manage stress, reiki is an excellent option. Its ability to reduce someone’s stress is huge. It doesn’t hurt and may not ‘cure,’ but it really does promote healing.”
