Reiki is an Alternative Form of Healing, Pain Management

Pamela Egan Practical Practitioner

By: Pamela Egan, FNP-C CDE


Reiki is an Alternative Form of Healing, Pain Management

Dear Pam,

My sister who has breast cancer recently received Reiki Therapy for pain management. She said that it relieved her pain. What is Reiki and how is it used?
At hospitals and clinics across America, Reiki has gained acceptance as a meaningful and cost-effective way to improve patient care. People find the ancient art of Reiki for many reasons. They all share one common bond: a spiritual experience that awakens their minds, bodies and souls. Reiki’s uses are growing in hospitals and clinics as practitioners seek natural alternatives to help their patients recover from surgery, injuries, deal with stress, depression or to minimize pain from chronic diseases.

Reiki was developed by Japanese theologian Dr. Mikao Usui.

Usui strived to discover a way to recreate the healing miracles performed by Christ and Buddha.

Reiki is a method for using universal life force to heal the self and others. Reiki is typically administered “hands on” while the patient remains clothed. The practitioner simply rests his hands directly on key locations of the patient’s body, applying little or no pressure. For most people, Reiki is experienced as a warm, relaxing, glowing or tingling sensation. Typical sessions last from 45 to 90 minutes. It is not uncommon to use music, aroma, color or other therapies with a Reiki session as well.

According to practitioners, Reiki works to relieve energy blockages in the body, whether caused by physical, emotional or spiritual ills.

Practitioners will employ Reiki in a number of situations: allergies, behavior modification, stress management, depression, even trauma and critical care. Universal life energy is considered a biological force in the Reiki process, something that exists and creates benefit regardless of the recipient’s or practitioner’s desire, intent or belief.

The Reiki practitioner serves as a channel for the universal life force, and is not the source of the healing energy.

The practitioner is viewed as an extension of the patient’s natural healing abilities.

Reiki is very complementary; it can be used with virtually all forms of therapy, conventional or otherwise.

You must decide whether Reiki works for you. You cannot decide that based on intellectual knowledge alone. You must have practical experience. Every patient is different. Some respond well to conventional therapy; others require medication and counseling. Some need something else.

There are no drugs, drips or demands put upon an ill person, only a universal life energy doing what it knows how – heal.

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