Reiki can do no harm or can it?

Reiki can do no harm or can it?

Reiki itself can do no harm. It is a Japanese energetic touch therapy with roots that go back to Ancient Tibetan Buddhist healing as do many other alternative therapies. Reiki works with the electrical conduction system of the human body, BUT with the wrong practitioner it may give the appearance it can do harm. The problem is not with reiki, but with the unqualified reiki person working with someone who has experienced trauma.

 In the case of my student, the reiki worked. It was the lack of training or communication by the practitioner that caused the problem that exacerbated the healing crisis she felt making her feel as if “someone put voodoo” on her.

Sadly, over the years, I have seen too many well intentioned reiki practitioners take a 6-8hr workshop and want to profess their expertise in reiki. That is not reiki, but ego talking. If you are teaching this or have been taught that, there is a misconception, and it needs to change. 

Working with trauma victims, requires more than just reiki training. You must know the clinical signs and symptoms of trauma and in my opinion, have some sort of clinical or medical training in one or many areas such as trauma, abuse, first aid and cpr, psychology, grief, post traumatic stress, etc. 

There is a lot of scientific data research citing the many benefits of reiki as a treatment option especially for diagnoses such as anxiety and depression which tends to plague many victims, and speaking as a survivor of abuse myself, reiki DOES work. 

Reiki is also used in medical offices and hospitals all over the country as part of an integrative therapy approach. Boston area hospitals that offer reiki as part of their programs include: Boston Children's Hospital, Dana Farber and Brigham and Women's. Nurses are also able to get CEUs. So you see reiki itself, has become a viable treatment options for many within the medical community. 

A study done in 2007 by the National Health Interview Survey indicates that 1.2 million adults and 161,000children received one or more sessions of energy healing therapy such as Reiki in the previous year. According to the American Hospital Association, in 2007, 15% or over 800 American hospitals offered Reiki as part of hospital services. 

Out of ignorance, I see so many well intentioned reiki teachers and practitioners exacerbating serious medical problems and shedding a negative light on the good reiki can do as viable healing modality by preaching that anyone can do reiki on anyone as reiki can do no harm. Again, it is not the reiki doing harm, but the unqualified reiki practitioner. 

How? With an unqualified reiki professional, a victim who already experiences fear, mistrust, and guardedness, these symptoms can significantly worsen. 

A qualified reiki professional does the proper client intake, knows when the client is ready for actual healing to take place, there is proper communication between practitioner and client, and if healing crisis takes place a qualified practitioner knows what to do and knows where to refer the client if medical intervention or treatment is required. 

With statistics such as, one in three women experience abuse in their lifetime, the chances a reiki professional will encounter a client with trauma is great. Domestic abuse has hit epidemic proportions in this country and is expected to remain steady until the economy improves, laws to protect victims are enforced and resources to organizations that work with victims are improved. 

This is not taking into account other traumas from events such as our military servicemen returning from war or Hurricane Sandy or 9/11. 

Of the 1.7 million veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, 300,000 (20percent) suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression.[i] 

According to the VA, about one-in-five female veterans have post-traumatic stress related to "military sexual trauma", a catch-all category that includes everything from sexual harassment to rape.[ii] 

For 9/11 survivors, “at least 10,000 firefighters, police officers and civilians exposed to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center have been found to have post-traumatic stress disorder.”[iii] 

“Statistics say that only 5% of those who survived 9/11 in New York City went on to experience symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). But in the case of Hurricane Katrina, 33% later suffered symptoms. This is a very high percentage, even for an extremely traumatizing event.”[iv]

With these numbers and statistics, it is imperative, the manner in which reiki is utilized needs to be given much consideration. 

The reiki practitioner who looks out for their client first, will set ego aside and do the right thing by referring those clients to a professional better qualified to work with those individuals. 

If you have ever experienced some form of trauma in your life whether it be abuse, rape, natural disasters, loss, war, or the like, then please understand that not all reiki professionals are the same just like not all doctors or therapists are the same. Seek out a reiki professional with training or professional experience in the related fields you seek and ask questions. 

As a reiki professional and a survivor of abuse, I can attest to you the many wonderful benefits reiki has to offer especially in healing issues surrounding abuse. 

This article was intended to help educate both well intentioned reiki practitioner as well as educate the general public on why choosing the right reiki professional is critical to your overall health, healing and overall wellbeing. 

If you have never experienced reiki before, I suggest you give it a try. I have personally witnessed the many benefits of reiki, which is why I have become so outspoken about this challenge. Just like anything else, understand not all reiki practitioners are trained alike or practice reiki alike. If you have a reiki story you wish to share related to this topic, I would really like to hear from you. 

I sincerely hope the information given served as informative, beneficial, and healing.