Hiroshi Doi spoke from his practice, based in Usui’s practice; Hyakuten Inamoto spoke from his practice, based in Hayashi’s practice; and I spoke from my Takata practice.

Do you know that cell phones and cordless phones carry the same risks? Here are 9 simple ways to use them more safely and reduce your radiation exposure.

There is a reasonable expectation that any practice referred to as Reiki traces back to Usui, but we cannot assume this to be true. The lack of agreed-upon Reiki standards creates a buyer-beware market. How can we help the public identify Usui-based Reiki practices?

Do you find Reiki hard to talk about? Practitioners often struggle to communicate Reiki practice to the (literally) uninitiated, especially the media. Caught up in Reiki enthusiasm, a practitioner can easily wind up looking ungrounded, and the practice a bit out there and, well, unscientific. It may be surprising to learn that scientists also struggle to share their work accurately, often for similar reasons.

Public interest in Reiki treatment and practice is rising rapidly, leading many to wonder, What’s the best way to learn to practice Reiki? Here are some points to consider.

What ingredients make a Reiki practitioner credible? How can you know if a practitioner is trustworthy and well trained?

Since there are no agreed-upon standards for Reiki education, Reiki certificates are essentially meaningless. A First degree (beginning level) student might have more training than someone who advertises herself as a Reiki master. This creates a credibility challenge both for people who are new to Reiki, and for practitioners who want to showcase their credibility.

How does Reiki work? This question comes up often. The answer is simple: We don’t know.

We don’t know.

I find those words liberating. They free me from the common explanation, “the Reiki energy comes through and goes where it’s needed,” and enable me to explore and contemplate my practice. Perhaps you’d like to do the same. Let’s chew on this together.

This could be a very short post, because when it comes to the science of biofields, there isn’t any. Until such time as doctors are ordering kirilian photographs instead of CT scans and MRIs, don’t risk running your argument aground by confusing frontier science and conventional science. But here’s what science is telling us thus far…

Ask an artist What is art? and you’ll likely get either more than you bargained for in language you can barely recognize as your native tongue, or a cold, frustrated stare. To many artists, art is something they do, not something they talk about. Reiki practitioners can relate. The question What is Reiki? floods them with [...]

Do you approach Reiki as a technique to perfect or a practice to explore? Maybe you’re wondering, What’s the difference? If you approach your Reiki self-treatment as a technique, then you likely have some concern–anxiety even–about doing it correctly, or well, or even–perfectly. Then on any day that your Reiki self-treatment doesn’t meet your expectations, [...]