RESPONSE TO MARCH 25, 2009 BISHOPS STATEMENT ON REIKI - PART II

Third – Reiki is Directed by human thought and will

I don’t know where this one came from. I have to wonder if the Bishops read anything at all about Reiki before they wrote their statement.

One of the first things you learn is that Reiki cannot be directed. I cannot direct Reiki to a specific part of the body. No one can. I do not, nor does any other practitioner, direct Reiki. Reiki goes where it needs to go. When you are administering Reiki, you can feel the energy coming through you and you can feel it dissipate. That’s your indicator to move to a different part of the body. You are directed by the energy as to which points in the body require the Reiki.

Example: A gentleman came in with a migraine. I, of course, went to administer Reiki to his head. But the energy was not really needed there, I could feel it. I continued the treatment and when I reached his solar plexus, ah, this is where energy is significantly flowing. He’s holding something in, was my thought. When I finished the treatment I asked him if he was having any issues with his boss, wife or children. He told me he and his wife had been fighting for over a week. Well, there’s your migraine. I told him that was the problem, he was holding back and it was eating him up inside and resulting in a migraine. The migraine was indeed gone after the treatment but when he asked me what he should do I had to tell him, “you can either stop and get flowers and say you’re sorry, someone has to cry Uncle, or, you can continue to come here every few days and I’ll administer Reiki and you’ll leave without a migraine. It’s your call.” The problem with the latter is that it’s more expensive than the flowers, but easier than the apology. He got the flowers. I now see him every few weeks for maintenance.This example is perfect because it clearly shows that I wanted to get rid of his migraine by treating his migraine at his head when in fact, it stemmed from another source which is where Reiki KNEW the energy needed to be administered.

Remember, as practitioners, we are only conduits – that’s it. We’re not healing anyone – we are the conduits for the energy to come through which allows the healing to take place in the clients body. Our bodies know how to heal. It’s just that when there’s a block, our bodies need a little assistance. Which is what Reiki does, it assists in releasing blocks thus allowing the healing to begin.

In all the years I’ve been administering Reiki, I have never been able to tell Reiki where to go. Reiki directs me no matter what I may want, will, desire or think.


Fourth – Reiki is Not Validated by Scientific Studies

Seriously? Are you kidding me?

Hey, how about that National Institute of Health? Have you gentleman ever heard of them? They’re located in Washington, DC and all of our tax dollars pay for the clinical trials that they support.

This one is so blatantly easy to verify, I think a monkey could have done it. I’m not talking about a trained monkey either. I’m talking about your run of the mill, everyday, average monkey. But I digress.

The NIH has conducted a myriad of studies on the use of Reiki (go to www.tlovereiki.com and click on clinical trials) which have proven its efficacy over and over and over and over again.

There’s no need to go on with this one. It’s way too easy.

Fifth – Reiki is Not Accepted by the Medical Community

Those clinical trials I just mentioned? Yes, the ones that those average, everyday, untrained monkeys can verify? Well they are the reason that highly-regarded, extremely reputable hospitals across this great country of ours, as well as around the planet, have Reiki Practitioners/Masters administering Reiki to patients on a daily basis. The short list: Columbia-Presbyterian, NY; Brigham & Womens, MA; Memorial Sloan Kettering, NY; Morristown Hospital, NJ; California Pacific Medical Center, CA; Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, CT; Tucson Medical Center, AZ - to name a few.

As a matter of fact, Dr. Mehmet Oz, you know him? He’s on Oprah’s show a lot and he’s going to be hosting his own show this fall. Well, he just happens to be one of the most well respected cardiovascular surgeons in the United States AND he’s married to a Reiki Master. He also brings Reiki Master, Julie Motz, into his OR during open-heart surgeries at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York. If you’ve never heard of that hospital, it really has quite a good reputation.

The New York Times Magazine did an investigative report on Dr. Oz’s surgeries with and without Reiki. In their investigation they found that when Reiki was administered during his surgery his patients had none of the usual leg pain or weakness after the surgery, they did not have the usual post-operative depression and the heart transplant patients did not experience organ rejection. Dr. Oz has stated himself, “Reiki has become a sought-after healing art among patients and mainstream medical professionals.”

I would like to suggest a book to the committee. You really should read Julie Motz’ book: Hands of Life – in it you’ll find a lot of accurate information about the medical community and Reiki – you know, how it’s accepted and she’s allowed in the operating room. I’m guessing if it wasn’t something that was “REAL” – she wouldn’t be doing that. They don’t just let people go into the OR for fun – everyone in there has a specific job to do. Julie’s job: administer Reiki.

As a small aside: The American Cancer Society recommends Reiki to Cancer patients and regards Reiki as a safe and complimentary treatment to cancer treatments. That kind of speaks loudly too, but I’m guessing the Bishops would have known that had they done their research.

Sixth – Reiki Has No Scientific Explanation

This truly does bode the question: What planet do you live on?

Now, you can’t tell me the Bishops are uneducated. Okay, maybe they’re not physicists but they were doing this research and once they read what Reiki was all about they should have realized it has a basis in both physics and biology.

Before I became attuned to Reiki I wanted to know if there was any scientific basis for this thing called Reiki myself. I didn’t want to get involved in something that had no credible basis. So I asked myself, what is Reiki? It’s energy. I get that, but, if I take a class to learn Reiki, they’ll attune me, but they won’t give me the science behind it which is what I need to know. It then dawned on me that I needed to take a course to help me understand energy. What type of class does one take to learn about energy? The answer is physics. That was not what I wanted to take but, take a few classes, I did. Those classes are what sold me on Reiki.

The science behind Reiki is indeed based on scientific studies and facts. A conventional scientist, Dr. James Oschman, Ph.D., who became interested in the practice of energy medicine, developed a testable hypothesis after he discovered a number of important scientific studies that point to a scientific basis for energy medicine based on the laws of physics and biology. You can read about his findings in an interview that was published in the Winter 2002 issue of Reiki News Magazine, entitled, “Science and the Human Energy Field”. Oh, and note the year, WELL before the committee met to do their research. Should have been able to find this pretty easily – it’s not a secret magazine.

Reiki is recognized across the globe by the medical community as an integrative safe and complimentary therapy to conventional and holistic therapies.

Reiki is not based on any religion.

Reiki does indeed have a scientific base and there are a lot of clinical trials, sanctioned by the NIH where the efficacy has been proven consistently.

Reiki is not harmful and it is always for the highest healing good of the client whether human or animal.

Keep in mind, every religion has their own rules and can continue to change their rules as they see fit. That’s their option.

We must not forget that free will, freedom of choice and the ability to think and make decisions is the God given right of each and every one us on this planet. It’s up to each of us to make our own decisions as to what we choose to believe, support and practice.

However, it is indeed the OBLIGATION of those who mandate laws and dictate rules, to do so, based on research that is, at the very least, accurate.

It’s really pretty easy.

Copyright 2009. T Love. All Rights Reserved.

RESPONSE TO MARCH 25, 2009 BISHOPS STATEMENT ON REIKI

A statement issued by The Committee on Doctrine, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops titled: “Guidelines for Evaluating Reiki as Alternative Therapy” advises against the use of Reiki at Catholic hospitals, health care facilities, and by Catholic chaplains.

I found the report both very interesting and the research extremely inaccurate.

But before I get into that let me tell you I was brought up Catholic. In my 20’s I chose not to continue to follow the Catholic religion for sooooo many reasons. I know I am not alone. There are many “recovering” Catholics out there. My main reason was, in order to be a Catholic, you have to ACCEPT all of the rules, without doubt or question, or you may be excommunicated. That’s fine. I don’t choose to belong to a group where my opinion does not matter and where I have no voice at all. I have a brain that I use to make up my own mind and I have opinions and beliefs about certain things that go against those of the Catholic Church. Now, I’m not really sure what an excommunication ceremony is like, or if there even is one, I just knew I wanted no part of this religion that clearly was not going to work for me, so I left on my own.

Now, I know a whole lot of people who are “Catholic”. With that said however, I also know a whole lot who choose those parts that they believe in and leave the rest behind. This is where I have a problem. Religion is not like insurance. There is no cafeteria plan. You take it all, or you leave it. Personally, I don’t believe if you are taking birth control or you are Pro-Choice, as I am, you can really call yourself a Catholic when you know, full well, the Catholic Church is adamantly against birth control, other than the rhythm method and they are most definitely Pro-Life. That’s a real biggie in Catholicism. It’s not negotiable. If you don’t buy into that “rule” how can you say you are a Catholic? You can’t. I should say, I can’t, many do.

Now you know where I stand. I’m not a Catholic, even though I received 5 of the 7 sacraments, because I don’t agree with all the rules and I made a conscious choice not to be a religious hypocrite. It was pretty clear cut for me.

Now, in this, the 21st century, the U.S. Catholic Bishops got together and issued a statement against the use of Reiki. After several months of research, via the internet and some Reiki books they read, they concluded it has a religious basis because the information came from Buddhist texts. They also stated that Reiki healing energy is directed by human thought and will, that there are no scientific studies or scientific explanation to support the efficacy of Reiki and that Reiki is not accepted by the medical community.

If you’ve visited my site, www.tlovereiki.com you can imagine how shocking it was for me to read their statement.

Let’s take this one issue at a time, this will mean more than one blog, so bear with me.

Today I’ll deal with the first two issues only.

First of all, it took several MONTHS of research?

I’m thinking it should have taken a lot longer, and it would have had they used reliable sources. You can’t believe everything you read on the internet. Anyone can build a website and fill it with whatever information they want. You really need to be sure your selection criteria is from reliable and reputable sources. Particularly with Reiki websites which have consistently been full of inaccurate information that has then been used as the basis for books. Sad but true. Every industry has its problems. Reiki is no exception. The quality of the information disseminated is crucial in any study or research that is conducted, particularly since it is then to be used as “gospel” – pun intended. It’s best to go to those sources that are known for their reliability such as the International Association of Reiki Practitioners,The International Center for Reiki Training or The Reiki Alliance.

Better yet, if the Bishops had gone to Japan, where Reiki originated, and interviewed those experts who have researched the history and practice of Reiki professionally, by conducting research in Japan, reading original documents, and interviewing members of the founding Reiki organization in Japan they would have learned that there is an immense amount of inaccurate information published on Reiki. Then they would have discovered they had actually obtained both accurate and verifiable information on which to base their conclusions. This would have been a much better, solid, more accurate way to go.

Second – Reiki is Buddhist based. WOW!

Nothing could be further from the truth.

There is a story told by Mrs. Takata, who brought Reiki to the West, stating that Mikao Usui, founder of Reiki, discovered the secret of Reiki in some Buddhist texts. This is not true. Unfortunately it’s been told so many times on-line, in Reiki classes and books that it's become what some consider the facts. At the time, Mrs. Takata was the only source for information and since she was bringing it here to pass it along, everything she said was accepted, no questions asked. Due to language, cultural and political barriers in Japan, it was difficult to do any research at the source for anyone who wanted to further investigate where Reiki originated from and how. It’s only been recently that a handful of researchers were able to break the barriers and learn more about the origin of Reiki.

By translating the story of Reiki that is inscribed on Mikao Usui’s grave stone, and discovering an original document that he wrote himself about the origin of Reiki, researchers got to the truth about the origin of Reiki. Dr. Usui was not looking for a new way to heal at all, the ability to heal came to him, spontaneously, during a spiritual experience on a sacred mountain. He wrote a book called Reiki Ryoho Hikkei (Reiki Healing Art Handbook) and in it he states that “My Usui Reiki Ryoho (healing art) is original, never before explored, and incomparable in the world.” Clearly, Reiki did not come from Buddhist texts and it is NOT tied to any religion at all. There are also Japanese Reiki Masters who are quite familiar with Buddhism and they also find nothing about Reiki withhin the Buddhist religion. They have also gone so far as to say Reiki is religiously neutral. They are not taking credit, if you will, for Reiki being based on Buddhism, because it is not and they do not see any other religious basis in Reiki either. As a side note, I know a lot of Reiki Practitioners, from so many different religions, some of whom are devout in their religious beliefs and have strong faith in the ability of Reiki. If Reiki did have a religious base, someone would be claiming “the rights” to being the origin of the practice I’m quite sure.

I’ll deal with the scientific basis of Reiki as well as the clinical trials that support its efficacy in the next blog.

In the meantime, know that Reiki never harms or hurts, and it only works toward the highest healing good of the client or patient.

Copyright 2009. T Love. All Rights Reserved.