RoseJimenez's Blog

Anxiety - Can Reiki Help?

Reiki does most definitely help with anxiety.

Here is an excerpt of a study done on Reiki and Anxiety:

Reiki Induces Relaxation. Reiki reduces anxiety and blood pressure, and increases relaxation, according to recent research. "Experience of a Reiki Session" was conducted by Joan Engebretson, R.N., Dr.Ph., and Diane Wind Wardell, R.N.C., Ph.D., certified holistic nurses and associate professors at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

The study involved 23 participants, ages 29 to 55, each of whom received a standardized reiki treatment. A single reiki master provided Reiki Touch, a form of the Usui Reiki System.

Before and after each session, quantitative information was collected. The measurements all changed in the direction of relaxation. Participant anxiety and systolic blood pressure decreased significantly following the session, while skin temperature and salivary IgA levels rose after receiving reiki, which indicates a physiological relaxation response.

Interviews were conducted and recorded after each session. Subjects described a change in their state of awareness. Qualitative descriptions of the session as peaceful, soothing, quiet and gentle were consistent with the relaxation response indicated by the quantitative data.
Posted on: 2014-03-28 18:08:33. Comments

Reiki Gets Trash Talked Again!

Will someone please tell me when it was called "Open Season on Reiki" and it's practitioners? We seem to be getting pummeled in one form or the other all over the Internet. From the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops saying reiki "lacks scientific credibility" to Dr.Richard Dutton, chief of anesthesiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, in Baltimore saying reiki is "mumbo jumbo". Is this plain, old fashioned fear speaking or is it possibly blind ignorance? Either way, the record on reiki needs to be set straight and I encourage my colleagues from all around the world to help inform the general public about what reiki truly is as well as what it is not. Too many people are mixing all kinds of things together and calling it energy work. Many are even using basic reiki lessons and calling it something different, yet energy work, thereby confusing the public even more.

As a Reiki Master/Teacher I am increasingly appalled and disheartened with amount of "trash talk" about Reiki. It seems that those who trash this beautiful Japanese healing technique for the improvement of both mind and body health do so without fully researching it or understanding. While some new age groups claim to be Reiki practitioners and mix and match all kinds of energy work together, please take the time to research what true Reiki is. Not all energy work is Reiki. Reik is not mumbo jumbo, mojo, whatchamacallit. It is a healing technique used to improve quality of life.

Please read below some facts about Reiki and conventional medicine working together:

Reiki Therapy at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Watch here http://www.webmd.com/video/reiki-alternative-good-health
The National Center for Complementary&Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
NCCAM is the center in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that studies the safety and effectiveness of complementary and alternative therapies such as Reiki. Reiki has been use at NIH's Palliative Care Unit since 2000. See: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/reiki/
Reiki: Rising Star in Complementary Cancer Care
By Kate Jackson. Read article from For The Record on Reiki and Cancer below: http://www.fortherecordmag.com/archives/ftr_040504p32.shtml
Health Information: Reiki for Cancer Patients
Channel 5 - MYFOXNY.COM -- A hospital in New Jersey is using an unusual treatment to help fight pain. It doesn't involve painkiller medication or needles. Instead the Japanese technique involves using hands.
There is a Reiki program as well as other alternative medicine programs currently at Morristown Memorial Hospital. For more information on the Reiki program and other alternative medicine programs at Morristown Memorial Hospital go to http://www.atlantichealth.org/Morristown
Reiki and The Medical Community
The article ‘The first Reiki Practitioner in our O.R.' by Jeanette Sawyer in 1988 in the AORN Journal describes the steps that were taken to allow a Reiki practitioner into the theatre at the request of a patient during a laparoscopy. Also in 1988, patients were given the opportunity to experience a 15minute pre- and post- surgery Reiki treatment. More than 870 patients took part and as a result there was less use of pain medication, shorter stays in hospital and increased patient satisfaction. This was discussed in the article, ‘Using Reiki to Support Surgical patients' by Patricia and Kristin Aladydy in the Journal of Nursing Care Quality.

Heart surgeon, Dr Mehmet Oz, has worked with Julie Motz who used Reiki on his patients. These patients had received heart transplants and had experienced open-heart surgery. She treated 11 patients in total and none of them had the usual post-operative depression. The bypass patients had no post-operative pain or leg weakness and the transplant patients experienced no organ rejection. Julie Motz has written about this experience in her book, ‘Hands of Life'.

There are many aspects of Reiki that are being researched today. Some to see if Reiki speeds up healing, others to see if, how and whom it relaxes, to measure biomagnetic fields and to verify the concept of distant healing.

Here is a well-known trial completed using Reiki to examine its effect on human blood levels.

Human Hemoglobin Levels and Reiki
Reiki Healing: a Physiologic Perspective
Wetzel, Wendy (1989).
Published in Journal of Holistic Nursing 7(1), 47-54.
Reiki & St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center, NYC. At St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center, we believe that aligning your spiritual and emotional needs with your medical treatment can help improve your outcome and quality of life. The Complementary Therapies Program aims to provide a truly comprehensive approach by treating the whole person and not just the disease.Experienced professionals will help you access therapies such as yoga, massage, acupuncture, Reiki, therapeutic touch, Qi Gong and mind-body skills group. These are not alternative treatments to your medical care; rather, they are therapies used in combination with traditional treatments to provide you with a well-rounded approach.

I sincerely hope this helps clear up any misinformation and misconceptions regarding the practice of Reiki.
Posted on: 2009-06-09 21:48:16. Comments