The Reiki Cafe 

the "authorities" who conduct these tests miss the point. I am sure they probably do so in a perfuctory way.

Reiki

Reiki is a spiritual practice developed in Japan in the early 20th century that, in the hands of Westerners, has evolved into a new-age healing practice. Popular in Hawaii and California by the 1970s, reiki has since become a staple at health spas and in granola-loving cities across the United States.

Reiki involves a practitioner (that is, someone who has taken a couple days of training) who places her hands on or just above a patient's body to transmit healing energy — the "ki" or reiki, better known as qi in Chinese traditional medicine. Reiki has all the trappings of new-age healing: restoring balance and instilling life energy through mysticism and/or vibrational energy. Akin to a hands-off massage, reiki is said to relieve stress, fatigue and depression and promote self-healing for just about any disease, including cancer.

The two largest scientific reviews of reiki, published last year in International Journal of Clinical Practice and in November 2009 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, reveal that reiki is not an effective treatment for any condition. Also in 2009, the U.S. Catholic Church weighed in, stating at a March meeting of bishops that, "since Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence, it would be inappropriate for... Catholic health care facilities... to provide support for Reiki therapy."

Reiki is not an outright scam; the practitioners seem to believe in what they are doing. In the end the soft music and whispery speech of the practitioners during the reiki sessions merely helps one relax.

while one should allow others their point of view, it would seem to me that the catholic church should be the last institution to claim something has no scientific basis.

aim,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- one view would hold that if the only result Reiki practices accomplished was to engender wider and more frequent compassionate action, then a good deal more than a bit of healing for a sprained ankle has been fostered

>:-}}

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

It would be nice to know what protocols were used in the studies.

If you google "Janelle Durham" and "energy healing" you'll find a website with links summarizing research results for studies involving reiki and similar modalities. I like the study summaries that are noted there, because they seem to be even-handed -- they note both positive and negative results, as well as where there are concerns with the design of some of the studies.

Bruce

Can you tell me where your quote comes from, aim?

Also of note, there were at least two strong rebuttals of the Catholic bishops' statement, one from holistic nurses and one from lay Catholic Reiki practitioners.

Pamela Miles also a trailblazer for medical validation of Reiki, not to mention Dr. Oz being a big supporter.

Blessings,
Aronaya

aronaya said on

>Can you tell me where your quote comes from, aim?
>
>Also of note, there were at least two strong rebuttals of the Catholic bishops' statement, one from holistic nurses and one from lay Catholic Reiki practitioners.
>

If you have links for the rebuttals, could you post them in one of the sections that allows links?

>Pamela Miles also a trailblazer for medical validation of Reiki,

Then it's really unfortunate that she's now casting doubt on her credibility -- and perhaps that of other practitioners too -- by saying ridiculous things like "the Japanese language has no words."

not to mention Dr. Oz being a big supporter.

That's encouraging.

Bruce

As far as I read from the posts here anyhoo, that bishop didn't say that reiki didn't work, only but because of issues of faith or catholic religion it seemeth a no go area. I can respect that. Maybe not agree, but tis none of my biz...

I recently saw a photo or few, of one young islam 8 year old having his arm crushed under a truck cause he stole. All in the name of islam.

Makes me think of priorities.

People are getting vexed over a few words.

The bishops essentially said that Reiki was not valid either as spiritual healing or scientifically based. Rebuttals were from the Holistic Nurses Association and a group calling themselves Catholic Reiki Practitioners - use those for search keywords. I totally agree that any group has the right to accept or reject a practice based on how it reconciles with their beliefs. It does appear the bishops' view is not unanimous, however.

Also, on Pamela Miles, I receive her emails, and I don't recall her saying that Japanese has no words.

Blessings,
Aronaya

aronaya said on

>Also, on Pamela Miles, I receive her emails, and I don't recall her saying that Japanese has no words.
>
>Blessings,
>Aronaya

If you look on her blog -- google "pamela miles" and reiki and japanese language -- you'll see that in fact she keeps insisting that "the Japanese language has no words." It's quite a ridiculous assertion, but she made it.

Bruce

Oh, OK, I don't read blogs much, just read emails from lists I'm on. I don't feel qualified to comment, therefore. I do appreciate her work in the area of introducing Reiki to medicine -- I believe it's helped a lot to smooth the path for the rest of us.

Blessings,
Aronaya

I was given this name to check, look what I found..........

'Reiki' Just a Word

In 1998 Allan Sweeney was invited to address the first ever large gathering of Japanese Reiki Masters in Tokyo, Japan. Unfortunately, as he was in Egypt with a group of his students, he could not attend personally, but sent the following message to Tokyo. It was read out at the gathering of Japanese Masters and Sensei's, and is a message to all Reiki practitioners and Masters throughout our world.

'Reiki'. Just a word. Yet within that word is so much. It contains Heaven and Earth. Spirituality and materialism. Love and healing. The word 'Reiki' means so much. How can we describe it to others adequately? Would it mean more to them than just a word?

Perhaps it depends who we are talking to!

For example, in England, if we were talking to a doctor, we would say that no-one knows how Reiki works; but that studies done on chronic patients in doctors' surgeries show that healing can help 72% of the patients that doctors give up on. This study has been repeated with similar results.

Most doctors hearing this information are impressed. If we had said anything else, perhaps Reiki would have been just a word.

If we were talking with a scientist, we would say that 155 world-wide experiments and studies on healing have been published in two volumes called 'Healing Research'. Of the 155 experiments, 55 were of significant or highly significant value. This percentage of significance is very high. In fact, the percentage success is more than twice what is needed for a medicine to be prescribed or sold in England.

Most scientists hearing this information are impressed. If we had said anything else, perhaps Reiki would have been just a word.

If we were talking with a priest, we would talk about Reiki's Unconditional Love; the God nature of the energy; how both healer and patient feel loved during and after a Reiki treatment. We would talk about the highest Rei of the Reiki, the energy that may come in as high as 7,200 cycles a second. We would say that if anyone reaches this 7,200 frequency in their energy body, they have a God experience relevant to themselves as an individual. It feels like Unconditional Love.

Most priests hearing this information are impressed. If we had said anything else, perhaps Reiki would have been just a word.

If we were talking to a Marxist, we would talk about the readily available nature of the energy, and the way it can be used for self-healing. This means that we can help all segments of society. With self-healing, even poor people have a chance to be healed.

Most Marxists hearing this information are impressed. If we had said anything else, perhaps Reiki would have been just a word.

And so on. Every person we meet has their own belief patterns, their own understanding of the world. This becomes one of the difficult areas to overcome if we wish to expand Reiki alongside the medical professions ñ or any other body of people. Because we cannot hope to help others understand Reiki if we talk about Reiki in a way they do not understand.

In England, I have helped Reiki become accepted in the prisons. Initially this was because I talked about Reiki in a way which was acceptable to the Director. I then took part in a pilot scheme which was followed by an offer to be the National Reiki Trainer for all of the prisons in England. I am now teaching Reiki to prisoners for their self-healing, and also to therapists who will work in prisons across our country. If I had said different things to the director at the start, maybe to many prisoners Reiki would still be only a word.

Reiki. Just a word. Yet within that word is EVERYTHING. Reiki is curing, helping, healing energy. It is cleaning, cleansing, transforming energy. It is empowering, nurturing, caring energy. It is universal, spiritual, God-like. It is Love.

Please offer that Love to everyone. Do not be shy. It is your birthright to be healed. Progress your own soul. Shine the light from within you to lighten the darkness of others. It is your birthright to be able to heal. Let others know about your light in a way they will understand. Help the soul path of others. Do it with that word, Reiki. Unconditionally.

Reiki. Just a word. Yet within that word is so much. Seek the deeper meaning of the word. Within the meaning is Truth; a fun life of spirit in flesh; professionalism and respect to medical authority. Within the meaning is enjoying Usui Sensei's Reiki cure.

Usui Sensei is much respected in England. For without his wonderful teachings, we would not be helping and healing each other as we are today. Written on his tombstone is his wish that Reiki would spread around the world. With this message from England being read to your gathering today in Japan, Usui Sensei's wish has not only been fulfilled ñ Reiki has come full circle around the Earth.

I wish you every success in your future. Both for your organisation, and for you as individuals. Life and love start fresh every day. So does Reiki. Use it both as an organisation, and as individuals, for with Reiki the world will be a more beautiful place.

Reiki. So much more than a word.'

With sincere, loving, Reiki thoughts

Allan J Sweeney

Dr. Oz must not have read this!

Blessings,
Aronaya

Humbling, thanks soineann.

I find that these people who are debunking reiki are ones who if reiki wasn't available would try to debunk something else.

Sometimes I think that there are ones out there whose sole purpuse is to debunk, delittle and deride any type of spirituality. Even the catholic church in ireland gets some flak.

Ok, the church isn't perfect, but the ideal is. The basework of the church is unconditional love without attachment as taught by jesus. If for a second we forget that jesus was the son of god, and just see him as just a man with a vision and a wonderful message, what a wonderful enlightened human being he was.

Not unlike Usui, or the dali lama, or counless others. Mother teresa. All done in the name of love. If not the word, then just the action.

I think maybe from my perspective the church has lost its way a bit. It began early on, but hopefully all the scandal and misuse of its power will be at an end, and the message of unconditional love without attachment will hold sway.

While I'm dreaming, I'd like a mountain bike parked outside my house with my name on it from an anonymous doner. lol

Reiki is just a word, but it holds so much.
I remember trying to explain reiki to someone, I found myself thinking in terms that he would understand but at the same time getting the message across without comprimising the meaning.

I'm going to save the above letter if I may, and send it to my friends.

It gives me a hope.

Well, that certainly makes reiki practitioners look dopey; a respected "leader" of reiki saying something silly like that. Perhaps she does not understand language, and is refering to written kanji vs. phonetic morphemes for words. She sure aint no linguist.

As for the catholic church: they've opposed healing for a very long time. One of their genocidal crusades was to kill all the christians who refferred to jesus as "the healer" instead of "the christ" as being heretics. They also officially outlawed the practice of healing centuries ago (they kept up with the bloody exorcisms, however, until the later 1900's).

They also oppose science at every turn they can, especcially when it comes to points where science provides evidence of their scriptures being a story. They love creationism, but only if it excludes all other creation stories.

What's more to be said, the catholic church is screwy. Who cares what they say? The fact that they have turned against reiki should reinforce reiki's reputation.