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Reiki, the Japanese healing technique administered by the laying on of hands, is a safe, natural therapy based on the idea that an unseen life-force energy flows through us and keeps us alive. If that energy - called "reiki" in Japanese - is low, we are likely to get sick or feel stressed. If it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.
Reiki (pronounced ray key) balances and strengthens the body's energy, promoting its ability to heal itself. Reiki practitioners initiate reiki while doing conventional medical practice or therapy treatment. It is not a substitute for any medical therapy or treatment, but supplements and expedites the recovery process.
There are no prerequisites or qualifications to becoming a reiki practitioner. Once reiki is activated in your hands, you have the ability to radiate this gentle and nurturing polarized energy. You can treat yourself and others.
I have found that reiki treatment can initiate movement in muscles by waking up paralyzed nerves. Reflexes and tone normalize. Reiki helps heal fractured bones, sprained tendons and strained muscles. It decreases pain and the side effects of medicines. It brings about many positive results at a much faster pace.
Patients draw reiki energy from their practitioners' hands through chakra, energy centers correlated to the body's endocrine system and its organs. Reiki energy helps to harmonize the body's energy pathways through the chakra and also strengthens and activates inner healing strength.
Use in Hospitals
Routine medical practice is based on expensive medication, tests and technology. This fosters an unsolvable cost dilemma. Seeking to save money while increasing effective treatment, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York now offers reiki to its heart surgery patients in the OR to expedite post-operative recovery and avoid operative complications.
Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York and the Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Ohio use it to eliminate side effects of cancer medication and radiation therapy and to help prevent the spread of the cancer.
Tucson Medical Center in Arizona has a team of reiki practitioners who give therapy to their oncology patients while they are waiting for chemotherapy treatment. Patients have reported a reduction in pain, increased appetite, better sleep, increased relaxation and positive attitude toward life.
Portsmouth Regional Hospital offers reiki treatment for its ambulatory surgery clinic patients, and the California Pacific Medical Center offers reiki through its health and healing clinic for chronic and acute illnesses. The University of Michigan Hospital offers reiki healing to all types of patients through its nurse practitioners under the title of nurse healers.
These hospitals claim reiki treatment is efficacious in reducing symptoms including anxiety, depression, phobias, indigestion, insomnia, loss of weight and appetite.
My Experiences
At our Vital Energy Wellness Center, Kristine Kelly, an occupational therapists and reiki master, and I initiate this treatment for all patients coming for routine therapy.
I have seen some amazing results from it, having combined it with routine therapy for many years. I once came across a severe contraction of the hand following CVA in a nursing home I was covering. Nursing staff, doctors, physical and occupational therapists were all involved with this patient's treatment when I began working there. They were trying to open the contracted hand, which had developed a very bad wound on the lateral aspect of the index finger and the medial aspect of the thumb. The hand had been in a tight fist secondary to severe plasticity for 4 to 5 months. The staff asked if I had any suggestions for this patient.
I evaluated the hand and reviewed all past treatments. The patient had been given several oral medications. The local therapist had been trying to range the patient by using whirlpool treatments, ultrasound and a splint roll. Once or twice the wound had a light scab but opened up again.
I started my reiki treatment along with Myofascial ReleaseT on the left hand. With great surprise we watched the hand open almost 25% in less than 10 minutes. An occupational therapy assistant was surprised to see that the patient was relaxed and calm throughout the treatment and no one needed to hold her good hand.
I cleaned the contracted hand with antiseptic spray and applied lamb's wool between the thumb and the index finger. I notified involved staff not to touch the hand even for hygiene. On my next visit (the third day, because I work alternate days) I started my reiki first thing and then took the lamb's wool out. To my surprise, the scab was there on the thumb and index finger. The head nurse came and saw the wound with disbelief and happiness.
When I returned again I checked range of motion for the whole upper extremity as well as the hand. I opened the thumb and took the lamb's wool out. The wound was completely healed.
I also have seen positive results with my sports injury cases, such as expeditious healing of tendons, muscles and bones. I have seen a boosting of confidence, harmony in team members, help for acute and chronic migraines, head injuries, CVA cases with memory and judgment loss.
Hima Dalal, OTR/L, originally from India, has been practicing occupational therapy for 23 years. She currently works in Columbia, S.C. She is also a reiki grand master and yoga teacher. Readers who want to learn more can reach her at 803-781-3157 or 803-466-1082, and her e-mail address is vitalenergywellness@yahoo.com.
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