Reiki for health care professionals

By Amy Wilinski

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious; it is the source of all true art and science.

–Albert Einstein

Have you ever thought about the power behind the healing force in your hands?

Have you innately known that there was something more there, but did not know how to access it?

It was these questions and a personal powerful healing experience with Reiki that led me on a journey of experiencing, learning and teaching this powerful vibrational energy healing technique.

Reiki is a Japanese healing art that uses subtle energy forces in and around the body for stress reduction, relaxation and promotion of healing on all levels. It was developed in the early 1900s and brought into the United States in 1938.

Over the past 15 years, Reiki's introduction and acceptance into traditional medicine has been booming. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) classifies Reiki as a "biofield medicine," which involves systems that use subtle energy fields in and around the body for medical purposes."¹ Reiki involves the use of light touch on or slightly above the body. It uses "universal life force energy," the energy that lives in and animates everything, to bring about balance within a person's system.

As our society is becoming more aware of quantum physics and the subtle energies that play an integral role in our daily lives, Eastern medicine techniques such as Reiki and acupuncture, which work with our energetic as well as physical bodies, are becoming more widely accepted and understood. The beauty of Reiki, when coupled with "traditional" medicine, is how easily it is learned, its cost-effectiveness and how easily it can be integrated with our current therapy practices.

I have to admit that my logical, skeptical left brain was not immediately accepting of Reiki. How could someone affect such a change in my body and emotions, by just placing their hands on or slightly above me? Didn't they need to move or manipulate my physical body somehow?

Reiki differs from many other practices we learn as clinicians in that it is a channeled energy. The practitioner is a conduit for the energy ("ki"), and therefore it does not take years of practice, belief or honing of skills to be a strong Reiki practitioner. It is easily learned in a day-long workshop, and practitioners report seeing immediate responses when incorporating it into their current practice.

Reiki involves laying the hands on different places on or above the body and allowing the "ki" to flow through you and into the recipient. You, as well as the client, receive the benefit of the Reiki energy, a welcome change from the many practices we offer as clinicians which leave us drained and fatigued after a day's work!

While many modalities we offer as clinicians require expensive equipment that is not always available to us, Reiki is never any further than your hands. This is especially beneficial for those practitioners in settings with limited resources.

Reiki and Medicine

Research into Reiki is showing some beautiful applications when coupled with conventional medicine. Reiki, when used in conjunction with conventional cancer treatment, has been reported to ease the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, improve immune function, ease anxiety and enhance positive emotional attitude, decrease pain and promote relaxation.²

Some recent investigative studies which are supported by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine include how Reiki might work, whether it is effective and safe for treating the symptoms of fibromyalgia, Reiki's possible impact on well-being and quality of life in people with advanced AIDS, the effects of Reiki on disease progression and/or anxiety in people with prostate cancer, and whether Reiki can help control blood-sugar levels or improve heart function in people who have nerve pain from diabetes.

Anecdotal reports from clinicians who have integrated Reiki into their practices have been encouraging. Because Reiki promotes a deep relaxation response in the body, therapists often report increased range of motion, with patients reporting less pain/discomfort, when Reiki is coupled with their traditional session.

Some hospital physicians and administrators who have been using Reiki at their facilities as a treatment prior to and during surgery have reported patients needing less pain anesthesia during surgery and less pain medication following surgery.³ Personally, I have seen Reiki work wonderfully with my elderly parents following total joint replacements. I administered it to my 79-year-old father, who had undergone surgery for total knee replacement. Two Reiki sessions were provided to him following his surgery while in the hospital. On the day of his discharge from the hospital, he was in his garage changing the carburetor on his lawn mower! Total knee replacements are typically one of the most painful joint replacements to undergo, and yet he experienced minimal pain and full range of motion within days.

As Reiki works on all levels of our being–mind, body and spirit–it is also a wonderful adjunct to those working in the area of mental health. Many of my clients with anxiety, depression and other mood disorders describe a feeling of "lightness" and well-being after a session. They report increased clarity and balance in their lives and relationships.

Reiki also offers a self-treatment component that is highly effective. Outpatients with HIV/AIDS have been shown to be able to reduce use of psychiatric medication under medical supervision while using Reiki self-treatment.⁴

Maria, a physical therapist with rheumatoid arthritis that incapacitated her to the point of reducing her work schedule, found relief and healing using Reiki. Maria shared, "I have decreased flare-ups, and pain level has decreased. I have also noted increased energy level even after work." At last report, Maria stated she was back to working full-time.

As health care professionals, we have been trained expressly to look at the person as a whole. Reiki fits beautifully into this model. For the clinician trained in Reiki, the ability to offer healing energy to him/herself cannot be understated. With the stress-filled, high-burnout nature of our fields, having a modality that we can easily use on ourselves for bringing about healing, wholeness and balance is very much needed.

References available upon request or at www.advanceweb.com/OT or upon request.

Amy Wilinski, MBA/OTR/Reiki Master, is the owner of Golden Light Healing, a company specializing in holistic solutions to health. She is an occupational therapy practitioner with over 22 years in conventional medical settings including hospital management, rehab, NICU, pediatrics and home care. She currently offers Reiki training for health care professionals to hospitals, individuals and university programs. She is also available for private sessions and consultation. She can be reached at GoldenLightHealing@bayland.net or 920-609-8277.