Dear Aronaya,
I've never had the experience, so I can't say for sure. My guess is that these folks might be resistant to the idea of Reiki...either conciously or unconciously. Perhaps, either in the back of their mind or in the front, thinking that it's some New Age fad without any basis.
Perhaps the mentality about such things in New York is different than Maine. Did it ever happen at SPARK?
Hugs,
Roxy