Top benefits from Reiki healing

Gentle therapy reduces stress and pain

Reiki is one of the best-loved types of energy work. Massage therapists, nurses and other Reiki practitioners have witnessed it reduce stress and pain during the Reiki session. The particular beauty of Reiki is that it can be used on anyone no matter their condition, from infants to those healing from surgery or wounds to people in hospice care.

Where did Reiki come from?

Reiki was founded in the early 20th century by a Japanese man named Mikao Usui. An accomplished practitioner of the martial and meditative arts, he gave healings with light touch, and taught some of those who received these treatments. These students called what he did “Usui Hand Healing.” One of them developed the system further and began calling it Reiki (from Rei, meaning universal, and Ki, meaning life energy).

What is Reiki like?

During a Reiki session, the practitioner will place his or her hands in 12 different positions on the head, the front of the body and the back. Practitioners may also place the hands on a site of injury or pain. The practitioner’s hands don’t have to actually touch the body, and the receiver does not need to be awake.

Reiki life energy seems to soothe, or balance, the nervous system. It can be adapted for almost any use, and can even support conventional medical procedures. Hospital and other medical staff see that Reiki calms and reassures patients in pain and distress, and they enjoy giving it because it reduces their own stress as well.

Medical research of Reiki says?

While the debate on how best to study integrative therapies such as Reiki is gaining steam, research attempts have been and continue to be made. Nonetheless, research into Reiki is just beginning. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has completed five studies looking at Reiki’s ability to benefit people with diabetes, advanced AIDS, prostate cancer, fibromyalgia, and stress.

Other published studies have looked at the effect of Reiki on measures of stress hormones, blood pressure, heart rate, and immune responsivity, and on subjective reports of anxiety, pain and depression. The studies to date are typically small, and not every study is well designed. However, overlapping data from some of the stronger studies support the ability of Reiki to reduce anxiety and pain, and suggest its usefulness to induce relaxation, improve fatigue and depressive symptoms, and strengthen overall wellbeing. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews contains a review on the use of touch therapies (including Reiki) for pain and a protocol for use of Reiki for psychological symptoms.

At Willow Tree Massage Therapy we are proud to offer Reiki healing. While Reiki is becoming better known in the field of medicine our trained therapists have personally witnessed the amazing life enhancing effects

Bookmark and Share