What’s Reiki?

Reiki is the life energy that flows through all everything. As a healing practice, Reiki has its origins in Japan in the early 1900s. Reiki practitioners channel universal life force energy through their hands to stabilize energy imbalances in people and promote relaxation and subtle healing. Read more about it here.

What to expect at a Reiki session:

Come wearing comfortable clothing and minimal jewelry. You'll lie on a massage table and I will do a quick energy scan to get a baseline sense of your body's energy. I'll hover my hands or lightly touch different places on your body for 3-5 minutes each. A typical Reiki session will cover ten different areas of your body, although if there are areas where you are experiencing pain or discomfort we can focus on those too. I might use some aromatherapy or essential oils, too if you are comfortable.

You might feel subtle pulsating energy, tingling, heat, vibrations, and/or see colors. You might fall asleep. You might feel something inexplicable. Stay curious!

Reiki Research

The efficacy of Reiki on stress reduction, anxiety alleviation, and pain management has been confirmed by multiple clinical studies. Check out this UCLA summary of clinical Reiki research.

• The study by Jalil et al. found that a distance Reiki intervention program significantly reduced distress and increased eustress (positive stress) in the experimental group compared to the control group among employees in Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The study by Bowden et al. that found state anxiety scores were significantly lower after a 30-minute Reiki session compared to before the session in healthy subjects.

• The study by Mackay et al. showed that heart rate and diastolic blood pressure, indicators of reduced stress, differed significantly between the Reiki group and placebo group.

Reiki is offered at many prominent hospitals and medical centers across the United States, including:

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

• NY-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia

• Yale New Haven Hospital

• Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center

• Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania

• Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System

• George Washington University Hospital

• M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

• California Pacific Medical Center

• Mayo Clinic

• Cleveland Clinic

• Mount Sinai