What does reiki do?

Reiki is a non-invasive complementary and alternative therapy claimed to enhance a person's health and well-being through "spiritual healing touch". However, multiple scientific studies conducted on it found no evidence proving these effects.

According to its origin story, during 1922 Mikao Usui, a Japanese man born around 1865, rediscovered an ancient hands-on energy healing modality said to bring people harmony between body, mind, and spirit based on a combination of Buddhist influences, Shintoist ritual elements, qi ("energy") from Chinese folk religion, and the Japanese healing-through-touch technique Teate ('Hand Healing'), popular at the time.

He called his healing method "Reiki". According to Reiki practitioners, this life energy flows continuously through everything which is living. If one's life energy is low, then they are more likely to get sick or feel stressed, while those with higher levels of life energy are more capable of being happy and healthy.

Here are some of the potential health benefits, although none of them have been proven scientifically, which are usually cited:

- Reiki helps relieve pain, reduces healing time, prevents headaches, helps reduce nausea after operations.

- Increases blood flow that promotes faster healing.

- Promotes a feeling of relaxation that boosts your energy levels so you are more energetic, alert, focused, less tired, calm when facing stressful situations... making stress relief more achievable.

- Reiki boosts and stimulates your immune system that in turn aids your body at healing itself or combating diseases and illnesses more efficiently, improving your wellbeing generally.

- Helps in detoxing harmful drugs such as caffeine or nicotine or any type of substance abused that would lead to addiction due to their pleasurable effect as it produces dopamine.

- Helps treat mental disorders through rebalancing chakras associated with certain feelings (Root chakra with feeling safe, Crown chakra with spirituality)...

- Aids digestion, relieves muscle tension and pains, menstrual pains…