Reiki for life pdf

A few years later a Japanese team measured a biomagnetic field emanating from the hands of practitioners of yoga, meditation, Qigong and similar modalities Oschman, These electromagnetic signal pulses varied from 0. Device-generated pulsed electromagnetic fields PEMF have been effective for bone stimulation, stroke rehabilitation, decreased postoperative pain, and other applications Abo et al.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation TENS units are a well-known example of an adjustable pulsed electromagnetic field that is used to decrease chronic pain. Although it may be difficult to imagine tiny particles that react to human thought, scientific experiments have shown this phenomenon to be true for some time now Rae, The similarities between human-generated biomagnetic energy such as Reiki therapy and device-generated electromagnetic fields for healing seem clear.

The measurement of human biofield energy demonstrates the existence of human-generated biomagnetic energy. The similarities in the behavior of quantum particles and Reiki energy require more study, however repeated physics experiments with thought-driven particles united with the measurement of human biofield energy suggests that Reiki energy may consist of quantum particles that may lead to a validated theory of Reiki therapy.

Human biofield as it extends outside the body. L Polarity, therapeutic touch, magnet therapy, and related methods, p. Polarity, therapeutic touch, magnet therapy, and related methods, p. Pain is a very common symptom. Approximately million Americans suffer from chronic pain Institute of Medicine, Additionally, millions of people suffer from acute pain pain that lasts for 6 months or less such as people with cancer, trauma or surgical patients, and other everyday events such as a sprained ankle or a stubbed toe.

Anxiety is a state that may accompany many of the conditions that cause pain such the diagnosis of a serious illness like cancer or heart disease. Very few high-quality studies have been done exploring Reiki therapy for pain and anxiety.

The following keywords were used: pain, anxiety, and Reiki. The last search was run on April 4, After removing duplicates there were 49 articles: 17 review articles, 6 informational articles, 1 study that reported on the prevalence of CAM use that included Reiki, 6 qualitative studies, 1 dissertation, and 18 studies of any type, any year. Studies that include Reiki therapy as an intervention are scarce.

To present the best evidence, articles were included in the review if they a used Reiki therapy as one arm of the study, b used randomization with a control or usual care group, c were published in peer-reviewed journals, d measured either pain or anxiety, e published in or later, and e were published in English.

After evaluating the 18 studies against inclusion criteria, 12 studies remained for full review see Figure 4. Each of the 12 studies selected for full text review was carefully evaluated by both authors against the inclusion criteria. Five of the 12 did not fully meet the inclusion criteria. One article was a one-page preliminary report Miles, , a second used a convenience sample with no randomization or control Birocco et al.

The remaining seven studies met the inclusion criteria for review as determined by both authors Beard et al. Only two studies mentioned race. Beard et al. Tsang et al. The seven studies see Table 1 included in the review examined a variety of populations: three studied cancer patients Beard et al. The results from each individual study may be found in Table 2. All studies in this review used randomization as specified in the inclusion criteria.

Olson et al. Two studies used a three group design. In sham Reiki, an actor performs the same treatment sequence as the real Reiki practitioner, but with no Reiki energy. Three of the studies examined both pain and anxiety Richeson et al. Two studies considered just pain Gillespie et al.

There were a variety of validated measures used. The STAI scale was originally created to measure anxiety in adolescents with cancer but has been well validated in adults. Richeson et al. Gillespie et al. Panel on Persistent Pain in Older Persons, All but one study included in this review achieved at least one statistically significant result on the outcome variables of interest for the Reiki therapy intervention. While investigating Reiki therapy and relaxation response therapy compared to wait-list control for men with prostate cancer receiving radiation therapy, Beard et al.

Working with cancer patients who had recently completed chemotherapy treatment, Tsang et al. There were no between group differences when comparing the Reiki therapy intervention to usual care. In an investigation of women undergoing hysterectomy, Vitale et al. Cancer patients in the Tsang et al. In a study to explore the effect of Reiki and sham Reiki compared to usual care for painful diabetic neuropathy, Gillespie et al. There were no between group differences in total pain. Reiki therapy has been explored in a variety of populations including cancer patients, community dwelling adults, surgical patients and more..

The studies included in this review exhibit design flaws common to research involving complementary therapies. The most obvious difficulty is sample size. The median number of study participants was 24 range of 16 to participants. It is difficult to make generalizations to a population, even a limited one such as adults with cancer utilizing such small sample sizes.

Moreover, acquiring these samples may take months to years. For example, Beard et al. The length of recruitment time creates difficulties if a longitudinal design would be more appropriate. Length of intervention may have been problematic for some study outcomes. Although Olsen et al. It seems possible that if the study had lasted several weeks they may have seen the decrease in medication usage that they were looking for.

Another study that may have benefitted from a longer intervention time was Gillespie et al. Although this was one of the longer interventions 12 weeks total , PDN is not an easy condition to treat and does not respond well to medications. Possibly if the intervention had run 26 weeks or longer, the authors may have been able to detect a difference between the Reiki group and the sham Reiki group.

Timing of interventions can also be important to success. For example in the Reiki therapy intervention for breast biopsy, the pre-biopsy intervention was given within seven days prior to the biopsy and the post-biopsy intervention was given within seven days post biopsy. In contrast, Vitale et al. This timing resulted in a significant decrease in both pain and medication usage.

Most studies included in this review used a standardized protocol of timing and hand positions. However, these protocols differed significantly from study to study. Reiki treatment times varied from 25 minutes in the diabetic neuropathy study Gillespie et al. The average treatment length was 48 minutes. All but one study used a set protocol for treatment hand positions. Based on the findings of this review it may be helpful if future Reiki therapy studies consider the following design strategies.

First, in order to be able to conform to scientific research standards, a three arm design which includes a Reiki intervention, a sham Reiki intervention placebo , and a non-intervention control group seems most effective. Having a sham Reiki group allows for investigators to take into account and control for the therapeutic effect of attention and potential effect of human interaction.

It has been shown that any touch therapy, even a sham intervention produces an effect on subjects as demonstrated by several of the studies in this review. Second, in order to combat the reluctance of subjects to participate in complementary research, a crossover design is suggested.

In this way, control subjects know that they will receive the intervention either now, or in the near future. Studies that use a crossover design seem to have fewer issues with control groups Post-White et al. Third, a standardized protocol of intervention length and hand positions seems essential. It is difficult to compare subjects who have not utilized the same treatment protocol. Fourth, researchers need to consider whether Reiki therapy is appropriate for a particular condition, and what the optimal timing of the intervention may be.

Another possible avenue of research would be to teach first degree Reiki to subjects and have them practice Reiki therapy as a self-healing strategy. This could be combined with weekly or periodic Reiki treatments by a Reiki therapy professional.

The reasons for this suggestion are two-fold. First, a preliminary report using this method with an HIV population showed a decrease in pain and anxiety using self-Reiki Miles, This may be because the men using RRT were encouraged to practice daily while the Reiki therapy intervention was only twice per week.

It would be interesting to discover whether daily Reiki self-treatment would produce a larger decrease in pain or anxiety than a once or twice weekly session given by a Reiki therapy professional. Every effort was made to limit bias in study selection. Inclusion criteria were tight and strictly adhered to. Small sample sizes may contribute to some inflation of effect sizes. Only studies that used a reliable randomization scheme were included.

There was no requirement on study use of validated measures although most studies included in this review did use validated measures. Only studies published in English were included and no gray literature such as dissertations or conference abstracts were included.

Publication bias may of course account for some inflation of results. There are very few high quality studies that explore the use of Reiki therapy for pain or anxiety. Because the number of studies is small, the interventions are dissimilar from each other, and the populations presented are so different, it is difficult to make generalizations or recommendations from these studies.

Some of the dissimilarities included length of individual treatments which ranged from 30 to 90 minutes and populations varied from cancer to surgical to community dwelling adults. Design issues included small sample sizes, the timing of interventions in relation to the complaint, and the length of the intervention in relation to the issue being addressed such as painful diabetic neuropathy which is known to be difficult to treat.

While it is often difficult to recruit subjects into non-drug related studies, more than one study specifically mentioned the difficulty of recruiting or keeping subjects in the non-Reiki control groups. On the other hand, the majority of studies in this review did achieve statistical significance or near significance on the variable of interest; either pain or anxiety or both.

Effect sizes for most of the studies in this review went from small to very large. Based on statistical significance, the strength of the effect sizes see Table 1 , and public interest in Reiki therapy as a non-invasive even comforting intervention, there is enough evidence to suggest continued research using Reiki therapy.

Suggestions for study design and standardization of treatment protocol were proposed in order to increase the potential for positive outcomes in future research. Reiki therapy is a non-invasive, often comforting and relaxing intervention that is within nursing scope of practice in most states.

Additionally, Reiki therapy may be a good self-care tool as suggested by more than one study Cuneo et al. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help!

Whether you want to recap on the basic Reiki routines, follow detailed instruction on First and Second Degree techniques, discover how to use Reiki for spiritual growth or find out how to become a Reiki Master, this is the book for you. This classic text, used by teacher and student alike, has now been fully updated and expanded to include even more illustrations to help guide you through each level of Reiki plus the very latest on developments in Reiki training in the West, how the mind-body connection works, the Japanese tradition of Reiki and the legal requirements for Reiki practitioners Originally published: Includes bibliographical references and index.

The researchers found that global pain scores and walking distance improved in both the Reiki and placebo groups. However, there were no significant differences between groups at the final visit. The researchers noted that the pain scores were relatively low in all groups, with high variability, which reduced the power to detect a statistically significant difference between treatments.

Assefi et al 18 conducted a clinical trial to determine whether Reiki can be beneficial as an adjunctive treatment for fibromyalgia. Reiki was provided by 3 experienced Reiki masters using two minute sessions weekly for 8 weeks to recumbent participants. The trial results showed that neither of the treatments improved the pain, fatigue, well-being, or physical and mental functioning of patients with fibromyalgia. These researchers concluded that adults with fibromyalgia are unlikely to benefit from Reiki.

Both of these studies evaluated the potential of Reiki to relieve the pain of painful diabetic neuropathy and fibromyalgia, which are difficult conditions to manage with allopathic medicine. In the trial by Gillespie et al, 17 both Reiki and placebo showed some promise for relieving the pain of painful diabetic neuropathy, but the experiment did not have sufficient statistical power to detect a significant difference between treatments.

In the trial by Assefi et al, 18 neither Reiki nor placebo was able to relieve the pain of fibromyalgia or the resulting fatigue and reduced well-being, indicating that Reiki is not a potential cure for this recalcitrant and difficult condition. Bourque et al 19 undertook a randomized, double-blinded pilot study to determine whether the use of Reiki decreases the amount of analgesics administered to patients undergoing screening colonoscopy.

A Reiki master provided a minute Reiki treatment simultaneously with intravenous administration of midazolam a sedative , prior to the colonoscopic procedure. During colonoscopy, meperidine an analgesic was administered to the conscious patient, depending on the level of pain experienced. The trial results indicated no statistically significant difference in meperidine administration between the patients in the control and Reiki groups.

The researchers noted that the study would have been enhanced by having a pain scale to determine the amount of meperidine to be administered to the patients. It was observed that patients displayed a calmer demeanor after screening colonoscopy with Reiki. Kundu et al 20 investigated the potential benefits of Reiki as an adjuvant to opioid therapy for postoperative oral pain control in pediatric patients.

Reiki was provided by a Reiki master for 20 to 30 minutes details not provided. It was reported that there was no evidence of benefit from a single session of preoperative Reiki in terms of reducing pain intensity, analgesic requirements, incidence of side effects, or perioperative family satisfaction. In both of these trials, Reiki was not found to be more effective than placebo for reducing acute pain during medical procedures.

In both cases, however, it is unclear whether the design of the experiments provided sufficient statistical power to reach a firm conclusion. Bourque et al 19 stated that the experiment could have been improved by using a pain scale to help calibrate the amount of analgesic administered.

Kundu et al 20 used the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability FLACC pain scale, which is appropriate for determining the dosage of postsurgery analgesic for young children, but its statistical resolving power is not well defined. This review identified 13 placebo-controlled studies of Reiki that included at least 20 participants in the Reiki treatment arm, of which 8 found that Reiki was more effective than placebo.

Two of the studies were conducted with rats and produced clear, objective evidence of a benefit of Reiki over placebo. Although there is currently no scientific explanation for this, the clinical trial evidence is compelling. Further research is warranted to better understand this phenomenon. Reiki has been shown to be better than placebo for inducing a state of relaxation.

In a healthy individual, the activity of the 2 branches can be rapidly modulated in response to changing environmental demands, but overall are maintained in a state of dynamic balance, or homeostasis. This regulatory process is primarily mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system via the vagus nerve.

It is known that the vagus nerve plays a vital role in mediating the mutual interactions between the brain and the body. According to the neurovisceral integration model, 22 the vagus nerve plays a key role in processes that regulate the health of the body, including inflammatory responses, glucose regulation, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function.

According to the polyvagal theory, 21 the autonomic nervous system is the neurophysiological substrate for emotional expression and contingent social behavior. The perception of pain, like other emotions, is an affective state that is governed by the autonomic nervous system. Chronic pain is associated with dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system and reduced heart rate variability.

Increased heart rate variability indicates a greater capacity of the autonomic nervous system for affect regulation and reduced pain sensitivity. A compromised autonomic nervous system, as characterized by reduced heart rate variability, is associated with cognitive and affective dysregulation, and psychological inflexibility, which are major psychological risk factors for psychopathologies such as chronic anxiety and depression. Thus, the vagus nerve plays a vital role in mediating both physical and mental health.

Artificial stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system via the vagus nerve has been shown to reduce the perception of pain, 29 reduce depression, 30 and improve mood and quality of life. For patients with chronic health conditions, Reiki has been found to be more effective than placebo for reducing pain and anxiety, 13 depression, 15 and for improving self-esteem 13 and quality of life. As a safe and gentle way to activate the parasympathetic nervous system via deep relaxation, Reiki has the potential to provide valuable support for a broad range of chronic health conditions.

Research to date does not suggest that Reiki can cure any health condition, so it is not appropriate to regard Reiki as an alternative to allopathic medicine. Instead, Reiki should be regarded as a useful complement to conventional practices, especially for chronic illnesses where the use of drugs offers little benefit. Previous research has provided evidence to suggest that Reiki may be a useful complementary therapy in acute settings.

For example, the effectiveness of Reiki as an aid to recovery after major surgical procedures has been tested in an Indian hospital. Reiki was provided for 7 days after surgical procedures such as laparotomy, gastrectomy, hysterectomy, cholecystectomy, mastectomy, and general abdominal surgeries.

Reiki was found to improve the vital signs temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, and pain , hence the prospects for better recovery and to reduce anxiety and depression.

Reiki could potentially play a complementary role in acute surgical procedures, to reduce the risk and cost of postoperative complications.

However, in the 2 placebo-controlled trials considered in this review, 19 , 20 Reiki was not found to be more effective than placebo for reducing acute pain during medical procedures. A possible reason for this is that, in these 2 trials, Reiki was provided for a short period minutes prior to the procedure. In contrast, in the trials that reported success, Reiki was provided for a number of days postprocedure, that is, for 2, 34 , 35 3, 33 or 7 consecutive days.

No research has been conducted to evaluate the optimum duration of a Reiki session, or the optimum number of sessions that should be provided.

Typically, a Reiki practitioner would recommend the use of 3 sessions as a starting point, regarding more Reiki as being better than less. The optimum amount is likely to be different for each condition, and possibly each person, so this could be a significant source of experimental variation that has not yet been taken into account. Since Reiki has been shown to have a significant effect on measurable physiological variables such as heart rate variability, it is recommended that research be undertaken to investigate whether the effect of Reiki on heart rate variability has only a transient or lasting benefit, and whether multiple Reiki sessions over an extended period of time have a cumulative effect.

This review has found reasonably strong evidence for Reiki being more effective than placebo, suggesting that Reiki attunement leads to a quantifiable increase in healing ability. Reiki is better than placebo in activating the parasympathetic nervous system, as measured by reduced heart rate, reduced blood pressure, and increased heart rate variability. For patients with chronic health conditions, Reiki has been found to be more effective than placebo for reducing pain, anxiety, and depression, and for improving self-esteem and quality of life.

According to the neurovisceral integration model and the polyvagal theory, these effects are due to higher parasympathetic nervous system activity, mediated via the vagus nerve. This understanding suggests that Reiki has the potential to provide valuable support for a broad range of chronic health conditions. However, there is no justification to regard Reiki as a cure for any health condition. Instead, Reiki should be regarded as a complementary therapy that can be implemented alongside all other medical and therapeutic techniques.

Further research is recommended to help optimize the application of Reiki for specific health conditions and to examine the benefits arising from provision of multiple Reiki sessions over an extended period of time.

The author wishes to acknowledge the guidance and wisdom of his Reiki masters, Elizabeth and Robert Thuan, who are dedicated to professionalizing the practice of Reiki. The author is grateful for the support of fellow members of the committee of management of the Australasian Usui Reiki Association, who are dedicated to letting the love of Reiki shine in the world. Ethical Approval: Ethical approval was not needed for the research published in this review article.

National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Published online Sep 5. David E. McManus , PhD 1. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Email: moc. Received Jul 5; Accepted Jul This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Abstract This study reviews the available clinical studies of Reiki to determine whether there is evidence for Reiki providing more than just a placebo effect. Keywords: Reiki, clinical studies, placebo effect, parasympathetic nervous system, complementary health therapy, chronic health conditions, postoperative recovery. At the Oncology-Haematology Unit at Bega Valley Health Services, Reiki sessions are provided by Jennifer Ahrens, who reported, Patients and carer responses noticeably referred to their fear and anxiety during a time of diagnosis of cancer and follow-up treatments.

Methods Four selection criteria were applied to Reiki studies for inclusion in this review. Results There were 13 peer-reviewed studies published between and that met all of the selection criteria. To assist in the interpretation of these data, the selected studies can be grouped into 4 categories: Physiological responses to Reiki Use of Reiki as a complementary therapy for a chronic condition Use of Reiki as a treatment for a chronic condition Use of Reiki as a complementary therapy for an acute condition Physiological Responses to Reiki Witte and Dundes 10 conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study using university student volunteers to measure objectively the effect of Reiki on physical and mental relaxation.

Reiki as a Complementary Therapy for Chronic Conditions Dressen and Singg 13 investigated the potential benefits of Reiki for patients with a variety of chronic illnesses.

Reiki as an Adjunctive Treatment for Chronic Conditions Gillespie et al 17 investigated the efficacy of Reiki for alleviating pain and for improving mobility and quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes and painful diabetic neuropathy. Reiki as a Complementary Therapy in Acute Settings Bourque et al 19 undertook a randomized, double-blinded pilot study to determine whether the use of Reiki decreases the amount of analgesics administered to patients undergoing screening colonoscopy.