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Anyone Into Reiki?


2fortheroad
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What I'm about to say in no way excuses the behavior of the person who, perhaps with the best of intentions, caused distress to exsie's dying father and to his family.

I say whatever helps people is a good thing. If I took penicillin, I'd die, but it's cured billions of people. One bad experience with a reiki nurse, disburbing as it was to our much-loved exsie and her family, doesn't mean they're all bad, as Shellon's example has already quite clearly shown.

It's been proven that the human touch has a healing effect. Whether it's because of chakra or the effect of touch on the nervous system, I don't much care. I don't see how having someone put their hands on you with the intention of making you feel better is a bad thing.

There have been some studies. This is a small sampling of abstracts from those studies, gleaned from that bastion of hookey-pook, the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database.

Here's one:

J Adv Nurs 2001 Feb;33(4):439-45

Wardell DW; Engebretson J

School of Nursing, University of Texas Houston Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, USA

BACKGROUND: Despite the popularity of touch therapies, theoretical understanding of the mechanisms of effect is not well developed and there is limited research measuring biological outcomes. AIMS: The aim of this study was to test a framework of relaxation or stress reduction as a mechanism of touch therapy. METHODS: The study was conducted in 1996 and involved the examination of select physiological and biochemical effects and the experience of 30 minutes of Reiki, a form of touch therapy. A single group repeated measure design was used to study Reiki Touch's effects with a convenience sample of 23 essentially healthy subjects. Biological markers related to stress-reduction response included state anxiety, salivary IgA and cortisol, blood pressure, galvanic skin response (GSR), muscle tension and skin temperature. Data were collected before, during and immediately after the session. RESULTS: Comparing before and after measures, anxiety was significantly reduced, t(22)=2.45, P=0.02. Salivary IgA levels rose significantly, t(19)=2.33, P=0.03, however, salivary cortisol was not statistically significant. There was a significant drop in systolic blood pressure (SBP), F(2, 44)=6.60, P

Here's another:

J Altern Complement Med 2004 Dec;10(6):1077-81

Mackay N; Hansen S; McFarlane O

Institute of Neurological Sciences, South Glasgow University Hospital NHS Trust, 1345 Govan Road, Glasgow G51 4TF, Scotland, UK.

OBJECTIVES: to investigate if a complementary therapy, Reiki, has any effect on indices of autonomic nervous system function. DESIGN: Blind trial. SETTING/LOCATION: Quiet room in an out-patient clinic. SUBJECTS: Forty-five (45) subjects assigned at random into three groups. Interventions: Three treatment conditions: no treatment (rest only); Reiki treatment by experienced Reiki practitioner; and placebo treatment by a person with no knowledge of Reiki and who mimicked the Reiki treatment. OUTCOME MEASURES: Quantitative measures of autonomic nervous system function such as heart rate, cardiac vagal tone, blood pressure, cardiac sensitivity to baroreflex, and breathing activity were recorded continuously for each heartbeat. Values during and after the treatment period were compared with baseline data. RESULTS: Heart rate and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly in the Reiki group compared to both placebo and control groups. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicates that Reiki has some effect on the autonomic nervous system. However, this was a pilot study with relatively few subjects and the changes were relatively small. The results justify further, larger studies to look at the biological effects of Reiki treatment.

And another:

J N Y State Nurses Assoc 2003 Spring-Summer;34(1):9-13

Gallob R University of Rochester School of Nursing, Loving Touch Center of East Rochester, NY, USA.

Reiki is a complementary, energy-based healing modality. It has ancient roots, but is uniquely suited to modern nursing practice. Reiki training offers a precise technique for tapping into healing energy, or ki, and transmitting it through touch. Reiki treatments are gently balancing and provide energy that supports the well-being of the recipient in a holistic and individualistic way. Relaxation, pain relief, physical healing, reduced emotional distress, and a deepened awareness of spiritual connection are among the benefits attributed to Reiki in anecdotes, case studies, and exploratory research, as summarized in this review of literature. Reiki is easily adaptable to nursing practice in a variety of settings, and can provide support for the practitioners of Reiki themselves, as well as benefiting those they treat with Reiki.

There are also studies that say more studies are needed. But this is NOT an unresearched complementary therapy in the medical community. There are LOTS of studies on it.

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Scout Finch: Reiki is found under holistic in the phone book or under Reiki itself. Some licensed massage therapists have Reiki listed in the services that they provide.

Some Reiki Masters give "free" instruction. I have given partial scholarship's to people who needed them. Instructors get paid to teacher and people are paying me for my time, just like other people get paid for working at a job.

Linda Z, thanks for the studies.

I was very dismayed when I read that the Reiki nurse started sharing that Excathreda's father had one foot in the after life.

When I work with people I take the time to explain what is going to happen to the best of my ability and I promise nothing for results. I taught a huge group of family members Reiki in a small town in February of last year. They wanted to "save" their Mom from cancer.

She was terminal. IMHO, I would rather have the ability to do perform REIKI or some other energy therapy to my loved ones if they wanted it and were ill than just sit around and wring my hands. Doctors are still PRACTICING their craft. REIKI does not take the place of DOCTORS!

CEU's can be given for training in REIKI as well as other classes to people in the health care profession, which expects the practioner (nurses and massage therapists) to keep up on their education of knowledge that can support their patients and themselves.

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I went to Omaha and worked on a cancer patient about ten years ago. His wife called and asked for the session. I suggested she get one herself because of the fact that as the care taker of the patient, she probably could use some stress reduction. Her husband wanted the session. I think it's imperative that the client WANT the session.

The nurses and doctors allowed me to come into his hospital room. For about an hour I gave him Reiki. He went on to beat cancer. I gave him REIKI for the side effects of the cancer treatment about 6 months later.

He is alive and well. He did many things including nutrional therapy along with the western medicine's method of dealing with cancer.

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Sigh. Satori, Reiki doesn't take the place of morphine!

Travel the hospital circuit. Hmmmm. I work where I get work. I just started doing Reiki at the AIDS project in Lincoln with other people that are Reiki trained. I got really concerned when one practioner at a "practice" group healing not at the AIDS project started saying her "intuitive" impressions while working on a person. I was concerned that some of the people that we might give Reiki support to would not be comfortable with that.

I caught a lot of FLAK for that and trying to get the REIKI standardized in some fashion and all us all working together turned into a big head ache with a woman that has decided to leave the group.

Yeah, doing this work for free and providing practioners a place to actually get hands on experience in providing Reiki for each other as a group kicked up some EGO's and some hard feelings.

You can't hurt someone by directing Reiki at them. The person only receives the Reiki if they want to.

IMHO, the scene Excathreda depicted was something I wouldn't have wanted to be a part of in any way, shape, or form.

I don't "push" Reiki on people and I don't try to convince skeptics. We all have a right to our opinions. Keeping the sarcasm down would help, however, that's hard to do when your 'worked up' about something.

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So reikilady reiki'd some guy with cancer, and he survived.

Anyone with such an impressive resume should be working the hospital circuit, emptying the terminal cancer wards. If not, it's moral dereliction on the order of depraved indifference and gross negligence. Good god almighty, SAVE those people! Ohhhh, it doesn't work quite like that? It's the magic that always works sometimes.

There's the problem with these so-called "success stories." They can't be duplicated. Oakspear is a sharp guy. He has to confess that it resembles snake oil in most respects. Might be less than diplomatic to say so, of course.

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When you are sick - whatever brings comfort is a blessing, whether it is scientific or not.

However, it should be with the approval of the person who is sick, or it won't bring comfort anyway.

We had hospice involved when my mom was dying. I HATED them. Not because there is anything inherently wrong with hospice, but because they kept trying to convince my mom to quit fighting and let go. I didn't want her to quit fighting and let go - I wanted her to fight and live.

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Satori, why are you aiming your sarcastic remarks at reikilady? Is it completely out of the question for you to simply debate a subject without the subtle (sometimes) digs?

quote:
So reikilady reiki'd some guy with cancer, and he survived.

She didn't say he survived because she provided reiki therapy, did she? From what I read, this therapy is gaining approval in the "mainstream" medical community as a complementary, palliative treatment. It's comforting, for whatever reason. I haven't seen reikilady claim it cures cancer. Have you? Maybe she thinks it does, but that's for her to say. I haven't seen her state that or even imply it.

quote:
Anyone with such an impressive resume should be working the hospital circuit, emptying the terminal cancer wards. If not, it's moral dereliction on the order of depraved indifference and gross negligence. Good god almighty, SAVE those people! Ohhhh, it doesn't work quite like that? It's the magic that always works sometimes.

More sarcasm. How uncharacteristic.

quote:
There's the problem with these so-called "success stories." They can't be duplicated.

Did you read any of the abstracts I posted? Do you want to honestly examine the subject of the subthread you started, or do you just want to pick on reikilady? Hmmmmm.

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We had my dad in hospice for the last months of his life, also. He was terminal with COPD, which is very stressful in the end. He wasn't going to get better. He knew, and we knew, that it was likely to be his last winter, because of the amount of working lung tissue he had left. He caught a cold after Christmas and was gone by February.

The staff where he was at was very caring, and he was able to have enough meds to make the last days easier, which may not have happened in a hospital setting. His death was not gruesome, as we had heard COPD deaths could be...He had morphine, which may well have shortened his life by a few days or a week--or perhaps it kept him alive longer since it eased his pain and stress levels.Who knows? He was lucid when awake until the last day.

Family could visit at any hour,and could stay through the night if they wanted. My mom was able to stay in his room at night. The family spent the last hours with him, staff was not a significant presence other than to check meds etc.

We planned to have my mom at hospice, by her request--she also had a terminal illness, but she died unexpectedly of a stroke.

Both my parent were in their late seventies at the time of their deaths,and had been ill for a number of years.

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quote:
Anyone with such an impressive resume should be working the hospital circuit, emptying the terminal cancer wards.

i agree, 100%

but i wonder what kinds of things might be keeping old and new alternative and traditional medicines from getting into these places?

or keeping people from accepting them?

?

i tell ya, there is a healthy skepticism to be had in life

but it can also get sick, cultic, even occultic

and when worn like a badge

or when its voice takes charge of the house

or otherwise somehow becomes paramount to all other ways of knowing and experience

its very voice diminishes possibility

and so, impossibilities mount

like a wailing banshee doubting the reality of ghosts

i mean, why light a candle when you can curse the darkness, right?

wink2.gif;)-->

ive seen and known and experienced enough proof to know that Reiki is and can be very effective

the books have been/are being written, the studies have been/are being done, the people have been/are being healed

such subtler and psychic levels of "reality" and "practice" are pretty easily demonstrable to those who will simply perform the injunctions

or simply do the research outside of their comfort lingo, or favorite authority

there is so much hope and wonder to be found in life

especially inwardly, in the shadows

so proceed with precision, curiousity, and gentleness

the mysteries never end

hope, healing and miracles are very possible

within, without, alone, together..whatever

peace

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quote:
Oakspear is a sharp guy. He has to confess that it resembles snake oil in most respects. Might be less than diplomatic to say so, of course.
I haven't heard outrageous claims by Reikilady or any of the other Reiki practicioners that I know. I haven't heard any pressure to get Reiki treatments, or derision of those who don't believe that Reiki works. I can't address what goes on anywhere else: what kind of money is involved or time committment or what have you, just what I have seen.

If it works, then hooray for Reiki. If it doesn't work, what harm has been done that hasn't been done by someone getting prayed for? If someone claims that they "feel better", maybe they are deluding themselves, or maybe not, why should anyone else care?

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Thanks Sirguessalot! Being a part of the healing and support in people's lives is very exciting, however, it's not about me and what "I" do. I just get to have it flow through me. I get to be the "instrument".

Reiki didn't cure my thyroid condition, however, the Doctor is lowering the medication again. The last few months I've had more Reiki given to me. It might have helped.

The Reiki Principles are as follows:

Don't get angry today

Be grateful today

Work hard today

Be kind to others today

These principles were part of the philosphy of the secret are of inviting happiness into a person's life.

This last excerpt is from William Lee Rand's book "Reiki, The Healing Touch/First and Second Degree Manual.

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Maybe I missed this somewhere...

What and how are the certification and license policy and proceedures for reiki?

For example:

When I go to a massage theripist, I see the diploma and license of the person giving the massage.

Is there an accredited school for reiki?

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Alternative treatments have historically been poo-poohed in the medical community and they are only just recently beginning to take serious, legitimate looks at the validity and effectiveness of these kinds of treatments.

Even Christian Prayer has been shown to increase one's immunity and help improve those with health problems. Why wouldn't Reiki?

Candace Pert is well renowned worldwide for her scientific expertise, particularly with neuropeptides. Because of her intense study, experiments and knowledge of the immune system, chemical neuroanatomy and such, she strongly advocates that there is a definite mind-body connection.....and that what and how you think and feel is a major player in one's physical health. Likewise, Reiki can contribute positively to someone's health if allowed to.

If you don't think the same way, fine, but there's no need to get nasty about it.

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Not you, Zshot. icon_smile.gif:)--> I'm sorry. I meant Satori's sarcasm. I should have been more clear.

I'm not sure if Reiki has certifications. I do know they have classes and that a professional should have received one-on-one training. Perhaps Reikilady will shed some light on your question. It's a very valid question. wink2.gif;)-->

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Abigail said:

quote:
We had hospice involved when my mom was dying. I HATED them. Not because there is anything inherently wrong with hospice, but because they kept trying to convince my mom to quit fighting and let go. I didn't want her to quit fighting and let go - I wanted her to fight and live.
As with most everything, it depends on the people involved... one of the local hospices took care of my dad his last few months... their sole focus was to make him comfortable and also give my mom a break... and they were wonderful at that and took care of everything when he did pass... my experience with them was nothing but positive...

it just depends on the "practitioners" I guess...

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Those of you who may perceive some sarcasm are correct.

quote:
Originally posted by reikilady:

I went to Omaha and worked on a cancer patient about ten years ago. His wife called and asked for the session. I suggested she get one herself because of the fact that as the care taker of the patient, she probably could use some stress reduction. Her husband wanted the session. I think it's imperative that the client WANT the session.

quote:
Originally posted by reikilady:

The nurses and doctors allowed me to come into his hospital room. For about an hour I gave him Reiki. He went on to beat cancer. I gave him REIKI for the side effects of the cancer treatment about 6 months later.

Anybody who denies there is an implied claim here isn't paying attention. In making this OBVIOUS claim, reikilady is NOT speaking to skeptics, as she admitted earlier. Courting skeptics would be a waste of time, and PT Barnum could explain why.

This sort of claim preys upon desperate people looking for a miracle. They are the same sort who line up at the lottery machine every week. The odds of winning a lottery are less than being struck by lightning twice while crossing the street to the convenience store. And yet, the tickets sell by the hundreds of millions. Desperation negates common sense. And this is why people buy reiki.

"Touch" can be helpful or harmful, depending. Even Wierwille's "touch" when perceived as compassionate and "spiritual" (reportedly) made many people feel better. When his touch was one of lust and lechery, the effect was quite different, and the harm is still felt today, long after his death.

Proper massage IS therapeutic. Reiki (like chiropractic) seems to borrow some massage techniques, and to that extent offers "therapy," but it adds the elements of wizardry, mysticism and spiritual theatrics. Like many new age industries, it cozies up to medicine seeking just enough validation to separate the sheep from skeptical shepherds (friends, family) warning them against phonies.

quote:
Originally posted by reikilady:

He is alive and well. He did many things including nutrional therapy along with the western medicine's method of dealing with cancer.

I wouldn't doubt for a moment that massage contributed to this cancer survivor's chances. If calling it "reiki" gave him the confidence to try it, then its contribution was at best a benevolent deception.

Where things like this go wrong is when the money begins changing hands. One reiki site I found is very eager to see reiki begin to cash in on the 14 billion people spend out of their own pockets every year on various therapies.

Whether or not reikilady sincerely believes in her techniques doesn't make the "reiki" part real. It doesn't protect the public from the many opportunists who will be drawn to this pseudo-scientific spinoff of hinduism.

I do think it's a cult, by ideology if not by affiliation.

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Why is it that we are more accepting of doing what someone, who has a 23% chance of making a medical error, tells us to do just because they have MD, ARNP, or PA behind their name?

Why is it that we're more into putting body-chemistry altering poisions into our bodies, that carry an 8% risk of being administered incorrectly to us when dispensed by a pharmacist or pham. assistant, than we are willing to explore other alternatives along the way?

American culture has a love/hate relationship with it's healthcare providers. We love to put all of our trust in the hands of the men in the little white coats, but we sure hate it when they make mistakes. We're not willing to take ownership for our treatment - we want to be told when, where, how much, and often don't ask "why?" nearly enough. But isn't that what this culture has lead us to?

The first line of the hippocratic oath is "First do no harm" - if this carries over into other "alternative" treatments as well, then physicians should embrace it. If they aren't embracing these other treatments then they aren't treating "the WHOLE patient". Patients have to be seen as more than just a body. They are spiritual beings, they are someone's loved one, they have their own desires/needs/etc. and that should be respected.

In hospice care there is a growing trend of treating the whole patient - whether it means having their Rabbi at their bedside, their message therapist, or burning sage - whatever they need or believe will make them feel better - that's included in their care plan. Have you heard of a "birth plan"? It's the plans a woman makes before she goes to the hospital about how she's like to have her labor and delivery go. Maybe she wants certain foods to be available, maybe she wants music playing, or certain people to be in the room. Well, now a days some terminal patients are making the equivelant plans for when they die - more of them are including a spiritual aspect of what they want.

Now this post comes full circle - it's the patient's choice to pick how they want to be treated and what they believe will bring them the best outcome. If they die doing it, you can at least say they died living for something they believed in - if you put your trust in traditional medicine, you can say the same thing about yourself at the end of it all. It's really all the same in the end, isn't it?

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Chas, are you saying that medicine is imperfect, therefore we should accept any and every new age McSorcery that comes in the name of peace, love and goodness?

People forget to ask themselves. Where do you think the proverbial wolves get their "sheeps' clothing?"

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