Reiki Is Safe
Reiki treatment is safe when used with common sense, to support and not replace medical care. There are no known medical contraindications to Reiki treatment, no time when it is inappropriate. This is a huge statement, and a very important one, so let’s examine it carefully.
Reiki treatment is balancing to the individual’s system. The more balanced a system is, the less stressed it is. The less stressed the system is, the more resilient it is, and the more efficiently it self-heals. Reiki treatment encourages the receiver’s system to regain balance and thus optimizes self-healing. Reiki treatment supports and does not override the body’s natural process of self-healing.
When Reiki treatment is used as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for someone with a medical diagnosis, the Reiki treatment does not address the disease or any symptom directly. Rather, Reiki treatment encourages the person’s system toward balance so that the person is better able to address both the disease, and the side effects of medical treatment. Reiki treatment supports the person undergoing medical treatment, and does not interfere with the processes involved in the medical treatment.
Besides looking at the treatment itself, health care also looks at how a treatment is delivered, meaning how it gets to the patient. It is conceivable, for example, that there might be reasons why a treatment that might help a patient cannot be safely delivered to that patient. For example, some cancer patients who could theoretically be helped by massage might be too fragile to be able to safely receive massage, or there might be limitations as to what parts of the body could be safely massaged (perhaps hands and feet only).
Reiki treatment is most commonly delivered through light, non-invasive contact. The Reiki practitioner’s hand can also be held just above the body. In a quarantine situation, the Reiki practitioner offers treatment while wearing gloves. Since Reiki touch is non-manipulative (or non-contact), it carries no contraindications.
Reiki treatment involves no substances. The receiver is not asked to swallow anything, nor is any substance applied to the skin. There is nothing material involved in Reiki treatment that could interfere with medical care or impact the receiver’s health.
Therefore, from a health care perspective, there are no known medical contraindications, no time when Reiki treatment is unsafe.
It is always safe to offer Reiki treatment, as long as you are also taking care of whatever else is needed. For example, in an emergency, you can place a Reiki hand on the victim while calling 911. Reiki is not a replacement for needed conventional medical care, but used sensibly, Reiki can be a valuable resource that can help improve health care outcomes.
If you have a specific question or comment, please post it below.
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I have once had a somewhat similar experience.A family friend who was in late sixties was dying.He had been diagnosed with psarchodosis of lungs.Normal medicines had failed.As a last resort he was put on a certain medicine mixed with steroids.The doctor gave thirty percent chance that it may act.The friend knew I practiced Reiki and asked if I could give it too.Sure,I said.From the second day that I started giving it the lookers on could discern a slight change in his facial appearance.The healing progressed at an accelerating pace as days passed.He continued with the medicine as well.In less than two weeks his x-ray showed a remarkable improvement.The doctor could not believe it and remarked that he was lucky this particular medicine had acted,but it defied his medical understanding that such quick result could be produced.At the end of four and a half weeks our friend was completely healed.It was confirmed by the doctor looking at the x-ray.Of course it wasn’t mentioned to the doctor that Reiki had also been given alongside…My own understanding is that the effectiveness of the medicine had been enhanced manyfold with the help of Reiki.Though it is open to guess that Reiki had its own independent healing effect also in this case.Our friend has been saying afterwards that he never had such good health before. Alicia
Is it safe to provide Reiki treatments to a pregnant woman? Is it safe to both the woman and developing child? If yes, please provide examples of proof of this safety, if possible. Also, are there specific procedures or steps to keep in mind when providing Reiki treatments to these clients.
Many thanks,
Eileen
Eileen, thank you for asking this question. I first received Reiki treatment when I was pregnant with my now 22-year-old daughter, and supporting pregnant women and new mothers is one of my most favorite parts of my professional practice. I have even offered Reiki treatment in hospital, during delivery.
If you stop and think it through, isn’t your question answered in the original post? What specifically is your concern? What is involved in a Reiki treatment that could be harmful to a pregnant woman and developing fetus?
And what kind of proof are you looking for? In my book, I mention a small study done by Cheri Herrmann, RN, on the OB floor of NY Presbyterian Medical Center in Queens. Magnesium sulfate IV is the standard care given pregnant women admitted to the hospital with either early labor or preeclampsia.
The women receiving this needed treatment often complain of a range of side effects, including headache, lethargy, and visual disturbances. In this study, the women who received Reiki treatment as well as the magnesium sulfate reported significant reduction in a number of symptoms, including headache, exhaustion, feeling emotionally drained, and various visual discomforts.
Reiki treatment would not have been offered in this hospital-based research project if there were any concern about safety. The point of the research was to see if Reiki treatment added to standard care might improve the patient’s experience, which it did.
What the practitioner needs to keep in mind when offering Reiki treatment to a pregnant woman is her comfort. For example, after a certain point, it is no longer feasible for a pregnant woman to lie on her back, and pregnant women lying on their side are often more comfortable with a roll between their thighs/knees.
The concerns about the safety of Reiki treatment itself in any situation stem from a basic misconception of what is happening during the treatment. Reiki is not an intervention that targets specific conditions and symptoms even at the cost of unbalancing the overall system, thus risking side effects. Rather, Reiki treatment is balancing to the entire system. This enhanced balance enables the person’s own self-healing mechanisms to make adjustments organically, from within, rather than imposing changes from outside (thereby risking side effects).
Make sense?
I was taught that Reiki is to be avoided with people with three medical conditions:-
1. People who have had an organ transplant as Reiki can affect the anti-rejection drugs that they take.
2. People who have had a pacemaker fitted as Reiki can affect the electrical signals.
3. People who are insulin-dependent diabetics as Reiki can affect the blood-sugar levels.
Janice
Thank you, Janice, for bringing up these three myths that are often taught. Since I learned to practice Reiki in 1986, I have practiced in all three of these situations many times without adverse reactions.
Again, I suggest going back to the original post. Reiki treatment is balancing to the system overall. When there is a new organ in the body, that becomes part of the overall system. So you could say that Reiki helps to harmonize the new element into the recipient’s system, as well as balance the side effects of the anti-rejection drugs. There is nothing involved in Reiki treatment that can interact with the drugs themselves (because there is no substance ingested) or that overrides the body’s wisdom.
Similarly, how would Reiki treatment affect the electrical signals in a pacemaker? Reiki treatment does not involve electricity. Rather, it helps to balance the human system into which the pacemaker has been inserted.
Diabetics who are insulin-dependent check their blood sugar levels regularly because many things affect the amount of sugar in their blood and it has to be kept within certain parameters. The balancing effects of Reiki treatment can definitely affect blood sugar levels, which are being constantly monitored anyway. In my professional practice, every person with diabetes I have treated or trained to practice has told me he/she needed less medication. For some, the change has been quite dramatic. But addressing this type of diabetes involves constant monitoring anyway, and needing less medication is seen as a good thing, not a danger.
It’s important to realize that Reiki treatment can affect blood sugar levels not because it in any way interacts with the medications, but because the system is experiencing a more balance state, which affects hormonal secretion and blood chemistry, moving them toward a health.
Crouse Hospital in Syracuse offers Reiki treatment to maternity patients. Click here for the story on the local tv news.
Hi Pamela,
I have a question for you regarding cancer patients. I have been reluctant to give Reiki treatments to people with cancer as my fear is that the healing energy can encourage the cancer to flourish. What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks
Abby
Thank you for this question, Abby, as I have heard that other people are confused about this. Reiki treatment helps the person’s system balance itself. Tumors grow when the system is unbalanced, so balancing the system by offering Reiki treatment is not going to feed the tumor. Every time we place a Reiki hand, no matter where we put it, there is a systemic balancing response.
Regardless the explanation, if you are uncomfortable treating people with cancer, there is no reason why you have to do so. It’s okay to limit your practice to situations that are comfortable for you.
Dear Pamela,
Thank you for busting some common Reiki related myths and concerns. Your post is very reassuring.
Regards,
Perri
I believe Reiki is beneficial for people with cancer and have had about 4 clients go into rapid remission when Reiki was implemented. One person was scheduled to start chemo but the tumor disappeared after radiation and Reiki. It has been 3 years now-still no tumor. Also the side effects of treatment seem to be lessened when Reiki added. Some other energy modalities like Esoteric healing taught by Dr Barbara Briner in Michigan do not advocate this treatment with cancer.
I am a cancer survivor, having had cancer three times. Cervical, breast and melanoma. The last two mammagrams had questionable images and I was called back. During the 2nd waiting period I gave myself Reiki on that particular breast. After proceeding with the lumpectomy the result showed non-malignant material. The first time I did not have the self confidence to attend to it by myself but the second time I had not choice. Consequently, now I have the confidence that ” I am enough” . In reflection, I have more time and awareness to treat myself with Reiki better than anyone else ever could have.
Hi. There are times when reiki is unsafe. A person may be stressed emotionally in response to an invalidating, abusive or unsafe environment. This is NORMAL and HUMAN even if the level of stress is huge. By removing that “Stress” that I had which was huge and total, something like terror, the reiki left me feeling no emotions ever again. That part of me is gone. Stress is human, if you’re not even a little stressed you’re probably dead (like me). The state this has left me in is inhuman.
I’m sorry to read that you have had an unfortunate experience in the name of Reiki.
However, it doesn’t sound as if what you experienced was actually a Reiki treatment. Because there are no agreed-upon standards for Reiki treatment or training, sometimes people practice in ways that are much more interventionist than Reiki practice is meant to be. For example, the treatment itself doesn’t aggressively remove stress. Rather, it is balancing to the individual, which is often experienced as a comfortable release of stress. It has been my clinical experience that when there are stressors in the environment, as part of the balancing influence of Reiki practice, the person’s awareness increases organically, and he or she is able to identify problems and find solutions.