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According to the International Center for Reiki Training, one of the only recognized organizations for Reiki practitioners, “A treatment feels like a wonderful glowing radiance that flows through and around you. Reiki treats the whole person including body, emotions, mind and spirit creating many beneficial effects that include relaxation and feelings of peace, security and wellbeing. Many have reported miraculous results.” It would be understandable if that explanation left you still wondering exactly what is reiki, and how does it work?
It can be tricky to pin down what reiki is and how it works because this healing modality relies on the exchange of energy, and it can be difficult to talk about something so intangible in concrete terms. The International Center for Reiki Training, founded by Reiki master William Lee Rand, defines Reiki as “a simple, natural, and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use.” And though they go on to explain that Reiki can be used to treat “virtually every known illness and malady,” there’s little scientific data at this time to support that claim.
A lack of hard evidence hasn’t prevented millions of individuals from deriving immense benefits from this energetic healing practice. A recent survey found that 1.2 million adults living in the United States had tried Reiki during the previous year, and a Washington Post article reports that more than 60 hospitals now offer Reiki to patients. As Western science has begun to investigate Reiki, the results have been promising.
Whether you’re a naysayer or ready to try Reiki for yourself, this primer will increase your understanding of how Reiki works, what happens during a typical session, what it means to be a Reiki master, the latest scientific findings on Reiki, and more.
Reiki was developed by Dr. Mikao Usui in Tokyo in 1922. In Japanese, the word “rei” encompasses a higher intelligence permeating all living and nonliving beings and shaping the universe itself, and the word “ki” represents the energy that flows through everything that is alive. Ki, often translated as “life force,” is known as qi or chi in other disciplines. The combination of the two words means, essentially, “spiritually guided life force energy.”
Dr. Usui trained several Reiki masters prior to his death to ensure that the healing practice he invented would not die with him. One of those masters, Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, further developed Reiki by adding hand positions to treat the body more completely.
In 1935, a Japanese-American woman named Hawayo Takata came to see Dr. Hayashi. Though she was initially skeptical, she was so impressed by the impact of her first session with him that she began coming back to see him daily. Takata eventually studied Reiki herself and became a Reiki master. She wanted to introduce the healing practice she had found so valuable to new audiences, so after making some tweaks to the method, she imported it to Hawaii. Takata personally trained 22 Reiki masters before she died, and the lineage of all Reiki practitioners working in the United States today can be traced directly back to her.
When looked at from a modern, science-based perspective, Reiki is based in the biofield, a type of energy that, according to Shamini Jain, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California-San Diego, “regulates everything from our cellular function to our nervous system.”
The biofield itself, Jain explained, “consists of things that we can measure, like electromagnetic energy that actually emanates from us.” But Reiki remains controversial because it requires that you accept more subtle, less measurable manifestations of the biofield.
During a Reiki session, the practitioner channels “spiritually guided life force energy” through their hands into the body of the recipient. Because the energy is spiritually guided, it flows to the areas of the recipient’s biofield that require healing. This healing can transpire on a mental level—such as the release of anxiety or sadness—or on a physical one—for instance, decreased levels of chronic pain.
While Reiki can be done anywhere, it’s most enjoyable when conducted in a tranquil environment. You can sit or lie down, whichever you prefer, and there’s no need for you to remove any clothing. You can also choose to have music playing or not, whichever sounds better to you.
Over the course of the session, the practitioner will form their hands into different shapes and place them lightly on, or slightly over, specific areas on your head, limbs, and torso. There are 20 total treatment areas. Their hands will remain in each area for between 5 and 20 minutes.
While their hands are in place, the transfer of energy is occuring. This may cause the practitioners hands to give off heat or to tingle. When the practitioner senses that the energy has stopped flowing to that particular area, they will move on to the next one.
A Reiki session can last between 15 and 90 minutes, and the number of sessions needed to treat a specific concern can vary. Some people prefer to try to reach a resolution in a single session, while others find ongoing treatment to be a better option. The cost for a session ranges from $30 to $100, and is not typically covered by insurance unless it’s part of a larger treatment plan.
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