Expert: PatG - 4/27/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

I would like to know your opinion on how reiki could be qualified as an effective emotional technique.
Best regards,
Maria

ANSWER: Hello, Maria,

Reiki is a technique derived from Buddhism and is said to be a spiritual technique. The word "reiki" contains the word "ki", which means "energy." There are three forms of ki. There are physical ki, mental ki, and spiritual ki. Physical ki is strength derived from utilizing the laws of physics to use force to do something, such as break boards (a martial arts practice). The key to the use of physical ki is speed. The faster the strike, the more boards can be broken. Various parts of the body are used together to produce the fastest strike, such as adding hip motion to arm motion, so that the striking surface (hand, for example), hits the boards with the maximum speed possible. Mental ki has to do more with using a person's mind to increase his strength, or to affect his mood or outlook. For example, using the "kiai" (yell) causes the tightening of abdominal muscles, which helps protect the abdomen from a strike. Spiritual ki, on the other hand, is the result of the activity of spiritual entities (spirits, angels, demons). I once observed a man who said he could break a stack of bricks with a slow motion technique. The only way this would be accomplished is by receiving the assistance of a spirit of some kind. There is no component of physical force involved.

Getting back to Reiki, it is described as being the "laying on of hands". Laying on of hands was practiced not only by Buddhists, but also Christians. The question is WHICH kind of spiritual entity is assisting.

Drawing from my own religious background, I would add the following thoughts.

I believe that at times, demons will afflict a person with some kind of disease or emotional state of mind, so that a technique involving the assistance of demons will subsequently heal the person, and whatever religious practices are connected along with it will gain more credibility among the healed person and observers. When a Christian practices laying on of hands, it would be the case that either God would heal directly, or the person would receive the assistance of an angel. God doesn't always heal; He is sovereign and decides whether or not the healing will be for the benefit of the person, or whether the continued challenge will bring more spiritual growth or result in some other spiritual gain (such as a person who is disabled having time to pray for others).

Emotional problems are a possible result of several different kinds of causes. One is if there is a chemical imbalance in a person's body. People do not have a Prozac deficiency, but they may have a deficiency in a vital nutrient that can cause or aggravate stress. When a person is under stress, this causes the depletion of certain nutrients, such as B vitamins, which must be supplied in greater quantities to restore the person's emotional and chemical equilibrium. An example of the use of nutrients to correct the problem would be the use of phosphatidyl choline (a form of the B vitamin choline) in doses of around a gram. This can be highly effective in some people. A person may also have damaged some of his glands in some way, and this can result in the failure to make certain important nutrients that the body is capable of making. For example, if a person eats too much food with monosodium glutimate in it, it can damage his adrenal glands, resulting in an inability to make sufficient gamma linolenic acid. In my experience, a deficiency of gamma linolenic acid can lead to panic attacks. Supplementation with evening primrose oil or borage oil will increase GLA to a normal level, and relieve the panic attack. There are also other known supplements that can be effective, and making sure to get enough sleep can also be helpful. A moderate amount of exercise can also cause the increase of certain hormones, giving a greater sense of well being.

Another cause of emotional problems can be just the stress of life. For example, if you are having problems with relationships, this can cause stress and lead to emotional problems. To give another example, if a person violates his own ethics, or the ethics of his religion (sometimes called "sin"), he can experience an emotional reaction. Techniques such as Reiki do not address either chemical imbalances or the consequences of broken relationships or sin.

Certain techniques may actually produce a result. For example, if you have a headache, you can pinch the skin at the bridge of your nose, which will relieve tension, increase circulation, and cause the headache to dissipate. Another technique where gentle pressure is applied to the skin may set up a pulsing which can also relieve areas that contain a buildup of lymphatic fluid. This can be used, for example, to treat tinnitus in the ear. Whether or not Reiki practitioners use such techniques, I cannot say. If they do, the result will be physical in nature rather than spiritual.

The mind is a powerful thing, and can affect the well being of the body. If you go to a Reiki practitioner, and he persuades you that if he lays hands on your body, your emotions will be healed, the mere suggestion may cause the mind to respond positively. I would regard this as akin to the placebo effect, where a person takes a sugar pill, but the body responds as if it is a drug, and the mind produces results that fit with his expectations for the treatment.

To summarize some basic considerations, since Reiki is said to be spiritual practice, it will depend on what your religion is as to whether it is compatible or not. For a person who is interested in New Age or eastern religions, it might be compatible. For a person who practices either Christianity or Judaism, it would be incompatible. Given that it is a spiritual practice, the reliability of its results will not be certain. Demons can also decide not to cooperate. Or, they may cooperate at first, but the person will suffer a relapse later, and in the meantime may have injured himself while in a state of euphoria. Standard medical science believes that Reiki is not an effective technique. This doesn't really explain anything. It may be effective to the extent that the person believes it will be. You can't automatically assume that just because it is different from standard medical practice, it has no effect. It is known that when a patient is the subject of prayer (such as Christian prayer), he may recover more quickly. And if the gift of laying on of hands is still operative in the church today, it would be effective. In my opinion, this is not generally an operative technique. It is used by many televangelists to draw people into their particular distortion of doctrine. Given the capricious nature of techniques of Reiki and the possible spiritual entrapment involved, I don't recommend it, nor would I personally use it. It's the sort of thing where a person can get some kind of training, and then can charge money, and if the patient believes it will work, he will get results. This is not a proof that it is truly effective in an objective sense.

I hope this helps. I know it was rather complicated, so feel free to ask questions.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I clearly understand what you meant. But let´s see...I am a reiki praticioner, in other works I have been applying reiki to my bennefit along with it´s principles. And along this time emotionally I am much better. Is it a placebo effect or is there something else? I am not christian but I have become a spiritual person, but mainly I am a logical person. i believe that every time I dedicate time to myself to do some Reiki I´m doing something that most commom people don´t do...I´m dedicating time to me and sending my body a message that I´m important. On the other hand apllying reiki principles has helped me accept events in life that has contribut to not feeling so hopeless about life, less streessed out! You must excuse my english, I´m portuguese and sometimes it´s difficult to expresse feelings in a language different from my own!! You see I´m working on a project about reiki, and my goal its to "proove2 that reiki could help people manage their feelings and accept events in life, due to my personal experience and by asking you this questions I´m trying to figure out if this makes sense to other people.

With best regards,
Maria

Answer
Hello, Maria,

Thank you for the kind rating.

I'll tell you my opinion about what you have said. And by the way, your English is excellent, much better than my Portuguese. I only read Portuguese, and not flawlessly.

In my opinion, the best way to realize you are important is to be sure that you are made in God's image, and He loves you with an infinite love. I'll take God's opinion over my own any day.

I want to address each point you made.

It seems logical to me that when you apply Reiki as you have, you will be feeling better emotionally. I think the main question is whether or not feelings are a reliable indicator of one's true state of being. In my own experience, they're not. Feelings and emotions are beyond our control to a certain extent. Let me give you an example of how I apply this. Suppose someone comes to me and says, I committed this horrible sin, and I cannot forgive myself. Or they say, this person did a horrible thing to me, and I cannot forgive him. I tell them that what they are experiencing is an emotion, but that forgiveness is not an emotion. It's a decision: the decision to take the consequences of what she has done to herself, or the other person has done to her, without striking back. Whether or not the person doing the forgiveness chooses to associate with that other person is a separate decision. But the essence of forgiveness is the decision to accept what they did without striking back. So how does emotion play into this? We sometimes have to repudiate our feelings, if it is to our benefit (or the benefit of another) to do so. Feelings can also get a person entangled in a life situation that ultimately is going to cause a lot of grief. I sometimes tell people that the way to achieve happiness involves, among other things, looking at long term consequences. I tell them that true hedonism does this.

Since you are a logical person, I'll throw out this thought. A decision about what is true needs to be based on logic and evidence. I often tell people the reason I am a Christian is because it is the most logical religion, and it has the most empirical evidence. The Bible makes historical and scientific claims that can be verified. While many religions give people a sense of comfort, there are really two considerations. The sense of well being in this life is only one of them. One's eternal destiny is the other. I sometimes encourage people to try to disprove the factual claims of the Christian faith.

It seems logical to me that the practices of Reiki will indeed accomplish what you are trying to do. However, it is probably also one of a number of different paths that will produce the same results. The reason you are doing better, in my opinion, is because you are working on your attitude. It's the question about the glass of water: is it half empty or half full? It also involves analyzing just who is to blame for whatever adverse things happen. I talk to many women who are taking blame for things they didn't do, such as when someone tries to coerce them into a course of action they really didn't want. And I've watched as people said, so somebody coerced you, but in the end, you're the one who acted on the decision, so you are to blame. So the first thing I tell them is not to take the blame for those parts of their actions that are not their fault. It sounds like this is part of what you have done.

You said your research project is to try to prove that Reiki is helpful. You are a professional Reiki practitioner. There is a conflict of interest problem. You want and need the business or the income, so you will tend to try to formulate arguments that will support what you are doing, and encourage people to become your customers. I'd like to suggest a more objective approach. If Reiki is just one of a number of means to help people to a better sense of well being, be willing to say so. Also, ask whether or not the people you are helping may have a problem with themselves because they did do something that violates their own ethics (or the ethics of their religion). If that is the case, then the practice of Reiki may delay their ability to resolve this much more fundamental problem. It's easy for a person to learn to relax the body and remove the physical stress without thinking about the underlying issues, but in the long run, they can easily come back to haunt that person, sometimes in a devastating way. Denial is a common defense against confronting this question. I meet plenty of people who are in denial. I don't try to bring them out of it because if I do, they could become suicidal. The denial is a defense mechanism for not confronting a problem they're not ready to handle.

When you talk about Reiki, strive for honesty above all else. Since I take a lot of polls about consumer products and their advertising, I find that frequently the emphasis is on presenting a message that people will find persuasive. However, these ads rarely address the REAL issues, and focus instead on the image that is being portrayed by the ad. Is the bottle which contains the product pleasing to the eye? Are the slogans the sort that will persuade people to buy, even though they convey no information about what the product is or what it is likely to accomplish? If your goal is to find a way to persuade others that Reiki is beneficial, you will probably come up with an argument or some advertising. If you have a burden to help others, continue to question everything, including whether Reiki is the best method. Analyze your goals. If you think that the goal of persuading someone is inferior to the goal of providing the best possible help, then focus on that. I am sure that Reiki training costs money. I am sure you have seen good results. And if you were to switch from that to something else, it might also be costly. But prize your integrity above all else. Figure out what is really happening with Reiki and ask whether the goal of releasing bodily tension or relieving negative feelings is the most desirable one, or whether looking at the long term may prove more beneficial.

I hope this helps.

Take care.