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Reiki, help much appreciated

Caz

Student
C
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
38
Hi to all, this is my first post here, apologies if this has been asked before, but I can't find the answer.
I'm sceptical to the core of my being, it gets me into all sorts of trouble really.
A friend of mine has mentioned there is "scientific proof" that reiki has a measurable effect on bacteria.
I can find reference to this on all sorts of whacky websites with names like healingbyangelhands.com, (that was made up, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is a real site) but does anyone know if this sort of thing has been scientifically refuted?
I'm not sure how reiki is perceived here; I don't know much about it, beyond my first assumption that it is complete bunkum. I notice it isn't listed in the Encyclopedia.
Thanks in advance for any input.
 
Ask your friend to supply the citation - after all it's her claim.

I actually took a Reiki course - and that was my awakening to critical thinking. All reiki is passing the hands over the body and having access to some magical symbols. What I noticed is that the other students in the class wanted to believe so much that they agreed with everything the instructor (reiki master) was suggesting. They could "feel" the energy. All I could feel was latent body heat.

Most likely my lack of belief in any gods is what got me to think a bit more skeptically of reiki - because the instructor was mixing a great deal of faith into this reiki and of all things - if the person didn't get better, it was because that person was carrying too much emotional baggage - in other words, "blame" the victim if the treatment doesn't work - don't blame the treatment.

I only wish I had of applied the skepticism prior to plunking down the course fee. But at least it lead me to Randi's site among others.
 
Hi carole_, welcome to the forum.

Your suspicions are correct, Reiki is total bunkum. Call it a "healing ritual" at best, and a money-making scheme at worst (becoming a Reiki master costs quite some money).

I personally have not heard of that alleged effect on bacteria, but I highly doubt it, to put it mildly. If your friend (or anybody else) makes such a strong claim, it is up to them to support that claim.

In case you haven't found these links yet, you can start reading about Reiki and other "magic" healing methods here:

http://skepdic.com/reiki.html
http://www.ncahf.org/articles/o-r/reiki.html
 
Reiki does indeed have a measurable effect on certain metrics such as resting heart rate and blood pressure. These effects however are indistinguishable from those acheived by sham reiki. (Placebo)

I wasn't aware of any claim that reiki can have a measurable effect on bacteria. I can't find such a claim on PubMed however widening my search I find this and a book by Gary Schwartz. This is a name with which many here will be familar.

Schwartz and his colleagues also experimented with Reiki on test subjects such as e. coli bacteria and laboratory rats. Presumably, neither would have any expectations about Reiki and would therefore not be subject to the placebo effect. The bacteria were subjected to the stress of heat, while noise was used to create stress in the rats. The Reiki-treated rats had significantly less microvascular leakage (a measure of stress) than those receiving no treatment or sham Reiki. In the e. coli experiments, the researchers found not only that Reiki could affect cells in test tubes, but that the less stressed the practitioner, the more effective the treatment. And the most successful Reiki practitioner in the e. coli study coincidentally turned out to be a full-time animal healer.
Click to expand...

Apparently the reason these results were not published in a scientific journal is the bias that mainstream science has against energy medicine. Sound familair?

I think that the best rebuttal might be that is Reiki was good for E-coli then it mightn't that be bad for humans fighting infection?
 
Many thanks for the information given here. And the welcome. (And the video link! That gives me a clearer picture of what reiki does, I wonder if my friend gets the blue rays, I'll have to ask her, perhaps she's not doing it right...)

The links to the lab studies give me pause for thought.
Though they were not published in any kind of peer review journal.

I'll keep reading round the subject, thanks again.
 
"...noise was used to create stress in the rats..."

What kind of "noise"? Some "noise" is calming - soothing. Especially repetitious noise like fans, running water,etc. The noise could've actually been the positive affect.
 
Whilst you're pausing and thinking, find out a little more about Gary Schwartz. I'm saying nothing.
 
Reiki
Click to expand...

I believe the Reiki are an alien race that launched an attack on Earth several decades ago, which killed some prominent superheroes of the time.

At least, that's what my contacts say in Paragon City.

They've recently re-started their war against Earth, however I see very little evidence of this in day-to-day life there.

This is Top Secret, so I probably shouldn't tell you, but...

According to some investigations I helped out with, the Reiki are actually massively genetically engineered humans from the future of a parallel Earth.
 
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