An Evaluation of the Subjective Experience of Receiving Reiki: Qualitative Results from a Pragmatic Effectiveness Study

Abstract

Objectives:

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the subjective experience of Reiki in a large sample.

Design:

The study design was a single-arm pragmatic effectiveness trial with qualitative questions completed post-Reiki session.

Setting:

The study took place at private Reiki practices across the United States.

Subjects:

A total of 99 Reiki practitioners met the inclusion criteria and participated in the study. Reiki practitioners invited each of their Reiki clients to complete a survey before and after the Reiki session. Of the N = 1575 Reiki sessions recorded, N = 1284 qualitative responses were completed (82% of total) and included in the analysis.

Interventions:

Trained and experienced Reiki masters conducted Reiki sessions in person, with each session lasting between 45 and 90 min.

Outcome measures:

Participants were asked to describe their experience during the Reiki session.

Results:

Qualitative analysis revealed eight major themes: (1) deep relaxation and calm (68%), (2) body sensations/somatic experiences (53%), (3) emotions (29%), (4) spiritual or symbolic significance (18%), (5) changes in symptoms (17%), (6) changes in perception (11%), (7) sleep and drowsiness (10%), and (8) changes to breathing (4%). Significantly more males reported feeling relaxed and experiencing time perception changes, whereas more females reported body sensations, emotions, visual perceptions, and spiritual significance.

Conclusions:

The findings from this study suggest that Reiki can elicit the relaxation response and alter emotions and perception in such a way as to facilitate a transformative subjective healing experience. Future work will analyze these themes as they relate to changes in symptoms and compare the experience of Reiki with other biofield therapies.

Introduction

Reiki is a popular type of biofield therapy originating in Japan and is based on the principle that the fields of energy and information surrounding living systems can be influenced to stimulate relaxation and a healing response.¹ Similar biofield therapies include healing touch and Therapeutic Touch. During the practice of Reiki, the practitioners simply allow energy to flow passively through their hands and into the client or patient.² The notion is that receiving Reiki enhances the natural ability to heal across multiple levels: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.³

There is demand for Reiki in the health care system and its use is on the rise. According to an International Association of Reiki Professionals (IARP) study of “America's Best Hospitals” (the top 25 ranked by the U.S. News and World Report in 2002), 60% of the hospitals had formal or informal Reiki programs in place. All hospitals using Reiki said that they rated Reiki as at least somewhat beneficial for patients, and 67% of hospitals rated Reiki to be highly beneficial.⁴ Reiki is often included as part of complementary integrative health (CIH) offerings in hospitals.

According to a survey released in 2012 by the Health Forum, a subsidiary of the American Hospital Association, and the Samueli Institute of Alexandria, VA, provision of CIH services in the 5858 responding hospitals increased to 42% in 2010 from 37% in 2007. A more recent survey⁵ showed that 92% of responding children's hospitals offered CIH services, and 38% had hospital-based CIH centers.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses report that Reiki results in statistically significant improvements in many physical and psychological symptoms common to a wide range of diseases such anxiety, depression, fatigue, pain, and nausea,^6

–12 although there are some inconsistent findings in the literature. From 1989 to 2021, a total of 93 peer-reviewed research articles have been published on Reiki. Of the higher quality studies, those comparing Reiki with at least sham-Reiki or standard-of-care largely support the hypothesis that Reiki may reduce pain,^13

–17 anxiety,^16,18,19 depression,^20,21 and burnout,^22,23 and may increase relaxation and well-being.^24,25

In addition to its demonstrative improvements in psychological and physical health symptoms, Reiki is also associated with a unique and sometimes transformative subjective healing experience. This experience may guide researchers to the underlying mechanisms of Reiki. Previous qualitative studies of Reiki, although few in number, have reported themes related to feelings of relaxation and calmness, body sensations such as warmth and tingling, emotional release, changes in perception, and connection to spirit or a higher power.^25

–29 However, these studies contain only a small number of participants within specific clinical populations, either patients or their caregivers. No study to date has examined the subjective experience of Reiki in a large nonclinical population, where Reiki often occurs.

Despite its widespread use, there is a paucity of research investigating Reiki in private practice settings (e.g., practice-based research). Indeed, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) has put forth a call for more practice-based research to evaluate the effect of CIH therapies in real-world, ecologically valid settings.³⁰ To date, there has only been one pragmatic effectiveness trial assessing individuals receiving Reiki in a nonclinical setting, where people often receive Reiki for managing their symptoms.³¹ This article presents the qualitative component of that large-scale effectiveness study. The purpose of this pragmatic effectiveness study was to evaluate the qualitative experience of receiving Reiki in a real-world, private practice setting. Based on limited previous research, the authors hypothesize that similar to clinical populations, there will be themes related to relaxation, emotions, body sensations, changes in perception, and spiritual experiences in a nonclinical population.

Materials and Methods

This study presents the qualitative results from a large-scale pragmatic effectiveness trial, the quantitative results of which showed that a single session of Reiki improved psychological and physical health symptoms.³¹

Participants

The study took place at private Reiki practices across the United States. Reiki practitioner participants were recruited through the Center for Reiki Research's online mailing list, ∼25,000 Reiki practitioners as well as people interested in Reiki who may or may not be practitioners. Inclusion criteria for participating as a Reiki practitioner were as follows: (1) a certified licensed Reiki master with the International Center for Reiki Training, (2) having an active Reiki practice in the United States for at least 1 year, (3) providing at least two 45–90-min sessions per week, (4) Reiki is the only modality practiced in the sessions, and (5) having a computer available to the client that is internet connected.

Of the 120 Reiki practitioners who were interested in participating, N = 99 met the inclusion criteria and participated in the study (83% of those interested). There were no monetary incentives for participating in the study for either the Reiki practitioners or clients. This study was approved by the Harvard University Institutional Review Board.

Reiki as a practice

Usually in a Reiki session, the client lies down on a massage table or bed, but may also sit comfortably in a chair. The client is fully clothed during the session and for extra comfort is typically offered a blanket. A session usually lasts around 60 min and involves the Reiki practitioners placing their hands gently resting on or slightly above different locations of the client's body. During this, the Reiki practitioner allows the energy to flow, which may be felt as sensations of heat, tingling, or other impressions. The number of hand positions used depends on the Reiki tradition, practitioner, time available, and/or needs of the client. Each position is held between 1 and 5 min or until the Reiki practitioner feels that the energy has stopped.

Study procedure

After meeting the inclusion criteria, Reiki practitioners were e-mailed an information sheet for their clients and instructed to hand it to each of their Reiki clients when they arrive for a session as usual. There were no exclusion criteria to participate as a Reiki client. The information sheet invited the clients to complete the study and included a link to the survey. They were provided information regarding the study; that it was voluntary and that not participating would not affect their relationship with their Reiki practitioner. They were informed that the purpose of the study was to discover if and how Reiki sessions benefit people, that the information will be used to help Reiki practitioners' better serve the public, and it will also be used to plan scientific Reiki research studies. Reiki clients completed the survey online using Qualtrics survey software licensed to Harvard University (www.qualtrics.com). The survey took <5 min to complete.

Immediately after the Reiki session (post), Reiki clients were asked to: Please describe what you experienced during the session. Answers were provided in an open text box without a word limit. Of the N = 1575 Reiki sessions, N = 1284 provided responses (82%) and were included in the analysis.

Data analysis

Qualitative data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach.³² All of the authors involved in data analysis were experienced in qualitative research; two had PhDs (N.L.D. and A.L.B.) and are professional full-time researchers (Research Scientist and Professor, respectively), one had a master's degree in environmental studies (S.K.), and one had a bachelor of science degree in psychology (A.A.). Data were obtained in digital written format and were coded by hand by two independent coders. Written responses were coded for initial themes via random selection of 10 interview transcripts. After initial coding, two independent coders reviewed the discrepancies and converged the ideas. Upon consensus, descriptive codes were presented to additional members of the research team for review and approval.

Using this preliminary codebook of themes, all qualitative responses were then coded. Consensus meetings and discussions throughout coding led to identification of categories (or major themes). Exemplar statements and narrative construction of themes are provided. Statistical analyses to compare frequency of themes across genders were conducted using JASP Software 0.14.1.

Results

Demographics

Females accounted for 81% of the sample (n = 1044) and males 17% (n = 218). Two percent (n = 22) of the sample did not state their gender. The mean age was 49.2 and ranged from 18 to 89. With respect to race/ethnicity, 83% identified as Caucasian or white, 7% Hispanic, 2% African American or black, 1.9% Asian American, and 6% as other or multiracial.

Theme identification

Qualitative analysis using a grounded theory approach revealed eight major themes: (1) deep relaxation and calm, (2) body sensations/somatic experiences, (3) emotions, (4) spiritual/symbolic significance, (5) changes in symptoms, (6) changes in perception, (7) sleep and drowsiness, and (8) changes to breathing. Minor themes were generated through the coding of all the data and have been included in relation to the major themes identified. Due to the large sample size, a great emphasis was placed on identifying these minor themes or secondary categories so that the major themes could be better understood.

Table 1 highlights the major themes, minor themes, and the percentage of participants who reported each. A small portion of the sample 1.3% (n = 17) was labeled as “uncoded” and was not included in the table. This reflected responses that were too general and not specific enough to be categorized within a theme. Examples of an uncoded response would be “the power of Reiki is impressive, I will be back for more,” “intense,” and “this was very cool.”

Table 1.

Major and Minor Themes, Definitions, and Example Quotes from Written Descriptions Following the Reiki Session

Major and minor themes	Definition	Examples from written descriptions	Gender, age
(1) Deep relaxation and calm	Feelings or experiences with a sense of relaxation, peace, calm, and stillness	Powerful experience of receiving Reiki that has brought a sense of physical calm and peace with everything	Female, 43
		I felt a sense of great relaxation and my jaw unclenching and relaxing about 10 minutes into the session	Male, 46
(2) Body sensations/somatic experiences
(a) Body sensations	(a) Feelings or experiences with the physical body such as heat, pulse, vibrate, twitch, pulse, tingles	Flood gates opening up with my blood flow and legs and arms felt heavy	Male, 61
		When she was working on other areas felt a current coming from her hands, which was causing a tingling almost numbing feeling. Another thing, the area where my lower back pain usually resides I felt that numbing and tingling.	Male, 27
(b) Energy sensations	(b) Feelings or experiences of energy around the body, phantom hands	At one point during the session, I was laying still with my eyes closed and felt warm pressure on my left arm. I thought the practitioner was holding my arm but, when I opened my eyes, she was on the opposite side of the table with both hands over my torso.	Female, 60
		At a time when therapist's fingers were at the sides of my feet, she moved to next hold but I felt her fingertips still on my feet	Male, 65
(c) Floating, lightness, and out of body experience	(c) Feelings or experiences such as floating, lightness, loss of sense of where body/parts are located	For the first time I experienced my hands and feet lifted by energy off of the bed. I also felt that my entire body was above me and floating in a different place.	Female, 35
		Ethereal, felt like I was floating above my body	Female, 24
(3) Emotions
(a) Positive emotions	(a) Emotions that are pleasant or desirable	Happier!	Female, 61
		I have a sense of gratitude, love and centeredness	Female, 39
(b) Emotional release and healing	(b) Finding the root of issues and seeing how to heal them, sensation of something lifting	Being able to find out what was the root of my emotional state and how to correct the bad energy that needed to be released.	Female, 34
		My tears flowed hot, searing into my skin like lava and yet, so ashamed of the tears, till I heard, it was good to let them flow, cleansing tears. I felt my soul shake, and then, finally, the tears stopped	Female, 63
(c) Negative emotions	(c) Emotions that are unpleasant and unwanted	Anger Sadness	Female, 40Female, 46
(4) Spiritual/symbolic significance
(a) Journey and visualizations	(a) Journeying to other places, traveling, and seeing a story or movie being played out	I also felt like I grew wings and dove off a very tall building but flew back up to the top just as my practitioner called me to come back down.	Female, 43
		I got a vision of walking in a peaceful setting somewhere in Japan, under a row of beautiful cherry blossom trees	Female, 54
(b) Inspiration and clarity	(b) Focused on the future, a realization of what to do next, and getting new ideas	Great clarity on stressful issues I'm challenged with.	Male, 30
		Empowered to think about myself more and set my boundaries.	Female, 66
(c) Visitations	(c) Saw or felt their deceased relatives, family members, or other beings	Then I saw a face of a woman come in clear in my vision, it was Reiki Master Takata. It was a wonderful feeling and I know then it was her who was at the back of my head, touching my head with her fingers.	Female, 57
		That is when Jesus appeared with a message, I felt tense and He said, do not worry, everything is ok. I am in charge of everything. Why do you ask me to help, when you continue worrying. You are always seeking for me and ask me where I am. And when I am in front of you, you do not recognize me. I am in each person that you see.	Female, 56
(d) Connection to oneness and the Universe	(d) Feeling connected to source, oneness with everything, and a sense of renewed faith	Connection with the Divine	Female, 57
		Surrounded and held by something greater than I	Female, 56
(e) Statement of intention	(e) The act of directing the session toward a specific goal/aim	My intention for the day was to cut loose people and relationships who do not respect my boundaries and to welcome those who do. I kept my mind on this intention and various relationships and people floated through my thoughts	Female, 51
(5) Changes in symptoms
(a) Reduced symptom relief: pain, tension, depression, blood pressure, etc.	(a) Symptoms that are lessened or minimized in size and intensity	Pain in an area that I had surgery in quickly disappeared. A pain up my left hip when the foot was worked on again that disappeared. My brain fog is gone and sinus fluid drained during the process.	Female, no age stated
		Blood pressure reading dropped from 146/89 to 134/64.	Male, 59
(b) Increased symptoms: pain, nausea, anxiety, etc.	(b) Symptoms that have been magnified and expanded in amount and intensity	I asked to stop after about 1/2 of the total treatment time for today because of the pain associated with the spasms	Female, 64
		I do now have a really bad headache almost like a squeezing of my head inward	Female, 48
(6) Perceptions
(a) Visual perceptions (color and light)	(a) The experience of seeing colors, lights, auras	At different moments there were bursts of color which moved across. Primarily yellow and white	Female, 46
		I saw purple color and yellow and a rainbow of lights while I had my eyes closed	Female, 47
(b) Time perception changes	(b) The experience of time going faster or slower than usual	I feel like I was only on the table for about five to ten minutes but, in fact, was laying on the table for about forty eight minutes	Female, 45
		Completely lost the sense of time and direction	Male, 25
(c) Auditory perceptions	(c) Sounds heard	When she first touched my head I heard a whirring, like a large turbine	Female, 45
		Heard a low sound as the practitioner had her hands near my head	Female, 26
(d) Olfactory perceptions	(d) Specific smell or odor identified during session	I also had an odd odor that came and left like a rotting smell	Female, 28
		Smells	Female, 64
(7) Sleep and drowsiness	Sleep, drowsiness, inability to stay awake	I know I fell asleep for a while I slept for a while during the treatment	Female, 72Female, 45
(8) Breathing changes
(a) Conscious/focused breathing	(a) Direction and awareness of the breath	Focused on breathing in and out from belly	Male, 66
		I also noted, for the first time, that I was able to isolate my breathing to belly only breathing	Female, 70
(b) Difficult/shortness of breathing	(b) Difficult breathing	Shortness of breath	Female, 25
		Difficulty breathing	Female, 60
(c) Shallow breathing	(c) Shallow, low breathing	Low breathing	Female, 30
		My breathing slowed down	Female, 72
(d) Relaxed/deeper breathing	(d) Deeper, calmer breathing	Breathing deeper	Female, 58
		Within 5 minutes of contact I could feel my body totally relax and “drift.” Breathing rate decreased, heart rate decreased.	Female, 47
(e) Holding in breath	(e) Keeping the air in and not exhaling	I became very aware of how much I hold my breath, braced for the next wave of fear, pain, worry, fatigue. I had to be prompted to breathe and again and again.	Female, 54

The theme of deep relaxation, calm, and peace was the most dominant theme in the sample with almost 70% (n = 871, 68%) of clients reporting this experience from their Reiki session. Clients expressed the following such as “overwhelming sense of peace and calm” and “I am completely relaxed and feel 100% at ease and free in my mind.” The second major theme identified was body sensations/somatic experiences (n = 684, 53%), with three minor themes identified: (a) physical sensations, (b) energy sensations, and (c) floating, lightness, and out of body experiences (OBEs) (Table 2). The third major theme was emotions (n = 366, 29%), with three minor themes identified: (a) positive emotions, (b) emotional release and healing, and (c) negative emotions.

Table 2.

Number and Percentage of Major and Minor Themes Across All of Reiki Participants (Total, N = 1284) and by Gender (Female, n = 1044; Male, n = 218)

Major and minor themes	Total % (N)	Female % (n)	Male % (n)	p
(1) Deep relaxation and calm	67.8 (871)	66.7 (696)	75.7 (165)	0.009
(2) Body sensations/somatic experiences	53.3 (684)	56.4 (589)	36.2 (79)	<0.001
(a) Body sensations	45.8 (588)	48.5 (506)	31.2 (68)	<0.001
(b) Energy sensations	10.2 (131)	10.4 (109)	6.9 (15)	0.108
(c) Floating, lightness, or out of body experience	7.7 (99)	8.5 (89)	4.6 (10)	0.049
(3) Emotions	28.5 (366)	30.1 (314)	20.2 (44)	0.003
(a) Positive emotions	15.8 (203)	16.4 (171)	12.8 (28)	0.193
(b) Emotional release and healing	13.1 (168)	14.2 (148)	7.8 (17)	0.011
(c) Negative emotions	3.6 (46)	3.7 (38)	2.8 (6)	0.516
(4) Spiritual/symbolic	18.2 (234)	18.7 (195)	14.2 (31)	0.119
(a) Journey and visualizations	8.7 (112)	9.2 (96)	6 (13)	0.123
(b) Inspiration and clarity	6.1 (78)	5.9 (62)	6.9 (15)	0.597
(c) Visitations	3.3 (42)	3.6 (38)	1.4 (3)	0.087
(d) Connection to oneness and the Universe	1.9 (25)	2.3 (24)	0 (0)	n/a
(e) Statement of intention	1.0 (13)	0.8 (8)	0.5 (1)	0.624
(5) Changes in symptoms	16.5 (212)	17.1 (178)	12.9 (28)	0.127
(a) Reduced symptoms relief: pain, tension, etc.	13.9 (178)	14.4 (150)	10.6 (23)	0.136
(b) Increased symptoms: pain, nausea, anxiety, etc.	3.8 (49)	4 (42)	2.3 (5)	0.219
(6) Perceptions	11.2 (144)	11.4 (119)	9.2 (20)	0.340
(a) Visual perceptions (e.g., color and light)	8.9 (114)	9.6 (100)	4.6 (10)	0.018
(b) Time perception changes	1.8 (23)	1.1 (11)	5.1 (11)	<0.001
(c) Auditory perceptions	0.6 (8)	0.5 (5)	1.4 (3)	0.129
(d) Olfactory perceptions	0.3 (4)	0.4 (4)	0 (0)	n/a
(7) Sleep and drowsiness	10.1 (130)	10.1 (105)	10.6 (23)	0.827
(8) Breathing changes	3.9 (50)	4.1 (43)	3.2 (7)	0.532

n/a—Variance could not be calculated.

The fourth theme was spiritual/symbolic significance (n = 234, 18%), which had five minor themes: (a) journey and visualizations, (b) inspiration and clarity, (c) visitations, (d) connection to oneness and the universe, and (e) statement of intention. Visitations were experienced by 3% (n = 42) of the sample and 1% (n = 13) had a statement of intention set for their Reiki session, such as being focused on their highest good, divine purpose, or finding a good job and/or mate.

The fifth theme identified was a change in symptoms (n = 212, 17%), either by (a) improving or (b) worsening. One-seventh of respondents, (n = 178, 14%) reported reduction and/or relief of their issue or negative condition/symptoms after a Reiki session, whereas increase in symptoms such as pain, nausea, and anxiety were reported by 4% of participants (n = 49).

Changes in perceptions was the sixth major theme identified and comprised the following four minor themes: (a) visual perception, (b) time perception changes, (c) olfactory perception, and (d) auditory perception. Visual perception was the most common minor theme with 9% (n = 114) of the sample experiencing varying colors and lights during the Reiki session. Sleep and drowsiness was the seventh theme identified, and was experienced by 10% (n = 130) of the sample. These Reiki clients reported almost falling asleep or actually falling asleep. The eighth major theme was breathing changes, which was reported by 4% of the sample (n = 50).

Gender analysis

An exploratory analysis of differences in gender and minor themes was conducted. Individuals who did not state their gender (n = 22) were excluded from this analysis. Due to this sample not meeting normal distribution, a Mann–Whitney U test was performed, and it revealed statistical significance for the following themes: relaxation and calm, body sensations, emotional healing and release, visual perception, time perception changes, and floating, lightness, and OBEs. Significantly, more males reported being relaxed during the session and experiencing time perception changes, whereas females reported more body sensations, emotional release and healing, visual perceptions, and floating, lightness, and OBEs (Table 2).

Correlations between themes

Table 3 displays the Spearman correlations between each major theme. Correlations between themes were weak in general, with the highest correlations observed between changes in perceptions and spiritual significance, r = 0.203, and between deep relaxation and body sensations, r = −0.147, which was negatively correlated.

Table 3.

Spearman's Correlations (r) Between Major Themes

	Deep relaxation	Body sensations	Emotions	Spiritual/symbolic	Changes in symptoms	Perceptions	Sleep and drowsiness	Breathing changes
Deep relaxation	1
Body sensations	−0.147^***	1
Emotions	−0.112^***	−0.059^*	1
Spiritual/symbolic	−0.115^***	0.038	0.028	1
Changes in symptoms	−0.035	0.013	0.003	0.024	1
Perceptions	−0.099^***	0.081^**	−0.071^*	0.203^***	0.035	1
Sleep and drowsiness	0.043	−0.001	−0.069^*	−0.038	0.011	0.028	1
Breathing changes	0.009	0.059^*	0.033	0.093^***	0.062^*	0.031	0.013	1

p < 0.05, ^** p < 0.01, ^*** p < 0.001.

Discussion

This was the first qualitative study of the subjective experience of Reiki in a large nonclinical population. Eight major themes were identified: (1) deep relaxation and calm, (2) body sensations/somatic experiences, (3) emotions, (4) symptom changes, (5) sleep and/or drowsiness, (6) spiritual/symbolic significance, (7) perception changes, and (8) breathing changes. Males were more likely to report relaxation and time perception changes, whereas females were more likely to report body/somatic sensations, emotional release or healing, and changes in visual perception.

The current study is the first to obtain data from more than 200 male recipients of Reiki, and no previous qualitative study has specifically addressed males. Apart from 1 study in which 5 of the 23 participants were male, either no males were included, or gender was not reported.³³ Of noted importance, women wrote longer and more descriptive responses than males, generating potential bias in the number of themes and richness of the descriptions between males and females.

The themes that emerged from the current study are similar to those described in the few previous qualitative studies, suggesting that the Reiki experience is comparable across different clinical and nonclinical populations and is not necessarily influenced by a specific ailment.^{25

–29,33
–35} Reiki can elicit deep relaxation, improve emotions or release stored negative emotions, reduce symptoms, alter perception across the senses, and bring clarity and meaning to one's life. One theme the authors identified that has not been described previously or has received little attention is “sleep and drowsiness.” It is possible that this was experienced by participants but was not noted.

Similarly, no other studies except one³³ reported changes in breathing (e.g., “rapid and slow” and “shallow and deeper”), as they may not be as noteworthy as some of the other more intense experiences. However, given the importance of deep or slow breathing for parasympathetic activation,³⁶ more research studies should examine changes in breathing.

The most common major theme reported by respondents was deep relaxation and calm, experienced by 68% of Reiki participants. Both qualitative^{25

–29,33,37} and quantitative results^{22,31,38
–40} support that Reiki elicits deep relaxation and reduces stress. For example, Witte and Dundes³⁸ found Reiki to be an effective means of inducing relaxation, with a similar proportion (64%) of Reiki participants reporting being physically relaxed as in the current study. Baldwin⁴¹ recently described that there is strong clinical evidence that Reiki stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and leads to similar clinical outcomes associated with the relaxation response, the initiation of the parasympathetic nervous system,⁴² such as decreased heart rate, blood pressure, and increased heart rate variability.^38
–40 Although no objective measures were used for the current study, one individual noted a decreased blood pressure reading after the Reiki session.

Body sensations or somatic experiences documented by participants in this study, such as feelings of warmth, tingling, lightness, or floating, are similar to those found in other studies.^{25,27,29,33
–35} For example, Raingruber and Robinson³⁵ examined four modalities, including Reiki, for promoting health and problem-solving abilities in nurses. Participants described “a warm tingly sensation in their hands and sometimes their feet.” Some studies reported subjective experience of lightness, floating, flying, or weightlessness,^27,33,34 as well as sensations pertaining to energy, such as pulsing, throbbing, and electricity.^33,35

The emotional or emotional release aspect (e.g., crying, letting go of held emotions) of the Reiki experience has also been documented in previous qualitative studies, including having an emotional response or release, and an improvement in emotion.^26,29,34 In clinical conditions, studies with depressed patients have shown improvements in depressive symptomatology following Reiki.²⁷ Similarly, the quantitative component of the current study found an increased positive affect and a decreased negative affect, and improvements in depression from pre- to post-Reiki.³¹ Many people seek Reiki sessions not only for relaxation and stress relief, but also for symptom relief, whether depression or pain. Similar to the current study, other qualitative studies have also reported improvements in symptoms, including depression,²⁷ pain,^26,28,29,34 and physical symptoms in general.²⁵

One of the more mysterious but powerful experiences within a Reiki session is that related to spiritual or symbolic significance, reported by 18% of Reiki participants in the current study. For some individuals, receiving Reiki is similar to a spiritual or mystical experience. Other studies of Reiki have reported similar experiences, including feeling the presence of a higher power,³⁴ a greater connection to spirit,²⁷ and the experience being difficult to describe or ineffable.³³ Reiki is also associated with experiences of journeying, visualizations, and visitations (12%). Visitations were from family members, deceased relatives, spirit guides, and/or guardian angels. Journeys and visualizations included experience such as being on Earth, in different countries, to outer space, or engaging with the animal kingdom. In the most conservative sense, Reiki could be eliciting such deep relaxation that a hypnagogic state between wakefulness and sleep is sometimes achieved, associated with dream-like and symbolic experiences.

A proportion of Reiki participants reported having altered perceptions (11%) during their session, including changes in visual perception, such as seeing colors, and auditory perception, such as hearing whooshing or humming sounds. Previous studies have reported similar themes related to the Reiki experience.^29,33 Similar to the current study, other studies have also reported changes in time perception, with time moving faster, slower, or both simultaneously.³³

A small portion of participants (6%) reported experiences of inspiration and clarity during the Reiki session, such as realizing what to do next in their life or getting new ideas. A similar finding has been reported, through which nurses reported that their problem-solving ability was enhanced after Reiki.³⁵ They described being able to solve clinical dilemmas quicker, having a greater sense of clarity, and their mind feeling “less jumbled.” It is possible that the relaxation and peace induced by Reiki improve clarity of thought and the ability to see solutions previously overlooked. It has been suggested that such enhanced abilities may be the result of reaching an optimal autonomic state,⁴³ and it is quite possible that Reiki can help the autonomic nervous system achieve such a state.

Limitations

This study had several limitations that warrant discussion. First, such as all pragmatic effectiveness trials, Reiki clients chose to have the Reiki and the authors did not measure expectation, limiting their ability to account for expectancy effects. Future work will include this variable for clients and practitioners. Second, the authors did not assess whether the Reiki participants were new to Reiki or whether they had previous recorded sessions. Therefore, some Reiki clients may have attended more than one session. A fourth limitation is the lack of generalizability to other demographics, with Reiki clients being mostly white middle-aged females. However, this gender difference is not exclusive to Reiki, it is the usual demographic in many complementary and integrative medicine studies, where women are three times more likely than men to seek these therapies,⁴⁴ making this study ecologically valid. Future nonpragmatic research would benefit from including more males and diverse demographics for generalizability.

Conclusion

The findings from this qualitative study suggest that Reiki can elicit the relaxation response and alter emotions and perception in such a way as to facilitate a transformative subjective healing experience. More work is needed to understand the association between the subjective experience, such as the emotional healing component, and therapeutic outcomes. Future work will explore the relationships between different themes and changes in symptoms to investigate potential mediating factors. Subsequent studies will also compare the experience of Reiki with sham Reiki and address whether the subjective experience changes over time with multiple sessions.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the International Center for Reiki Training for its support of this research and Corey Bippes for his assistance with the study.

Authors' Contributions

N.L.D. was involved in the conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, validation, investigation, and writing of the article. A.A. was involved in the methodology, formal analysis, validation, investigation, and writing of the article. A.L.B. was involved in the conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, validation, investigation, and writing of the article. S.K. was involved in the methodology, formal analysis, and validation. W.L.R. was involved in the conceptualization, methodology, and investigation. All authors reviewed, edited, and approved of the article in its current form.

Author Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Funding Information

N.L.D. received funding from the International Center for Reiki Training to conduct this study. This research did not receive any additional grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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