Reiki, Healthcare, and the Experience of Feeling Whole
By Valerie Briggs, OTR/L, CLT of The Whole Person Flow
Reiki has a mysterious way of finding you when you need it most. You may have heard the term ‘Reiki’ several times before deciding to learn more about it. For some people, Reiki feels like an awakening or a life-changing experience. For others, a feeling in the body is enough to spark curiosity. This feeling is the foundation of The Lymphatic Perceptual Experience.
As an occupational therapist and certified lymphedema therapist, I have seen life-altering health conditions emerge in patterns throughout my career. I consider both the symptoms and the person behind the health diagnosis. I came to Reiki through my work caring for the whole person, not just the diagnosis. Occupational therapy encourages a framework for connecting physical abilities, habits, environment, values, and meaningful activity. Complementary practices can be included when they support those goals and fit the person’s preferences (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2023).
Reiki can offer a quiet, attentive space for rest, body awareness, and spiritual connection. Research suggests possible benefits for symptoms and quality of life, while leaving important questions for future research to address. Reiki deserves a place in whole-person care, depending on the person’s goals, informed choice, and the skilled care surrounding it.
The personal accounts shared for this article help describe what that experience can feel like. The value is in the detail: what people expected, what they noticed, and what stayed with them afterward.
Reiki begins with receiving
Reiki is a Japanese practice in which a practitioner places the hands lightly on or just above the body. The recipient usually remains fully clothed and rests in a comfortable position. Within the Reiki tradition, the practitioner is understood as a conduit for universal life energy, supporting the recipient’s own healing response. Researchers study Reiki through outcomes such as anxiety, pain, fatigue, and quality of life (Liu et al., 2025).
For Nick Peplow, founder of Thailand Care, the opportunity to receive attention was part of what surprised him. After long days accompanying patients through hospitals in Bangkok, he booked his first session on a friend’s recommendation. He expected incense, vague talk about energy, and what he called “a pricey nap.”
Before beginning, the practitioner spent ten minutes asking about his sleep and what was on his mind. Then came near silence, with light touch or hands held just above him. He noticed warmth over his shoulders and stomach and dozed off within about twenty minutes.
“I walked out without any grand revelation, but calmer than I’d felt in weeks, and that was enough to make me go back,” he wrote.
“The stillness turned out to be the whole point, and I don’t think I’d realized how rarely I’m left alone with nothing to do or answer.”
His account raises a practical question for anyone managing appointments, home exercises, work, caregiving, or a chronic condition: where is there room to rest without another task attached?
What the body feels during a session
Warmth, coolness, tingling, and a sense of settling appear in descriptions of Reiki, but experiences vary. Some people notice little beyond the quiet of the room. Other people report feeling energies, color, warmth, or buzzing through their bodies.
Karen Bashford described her first session after learning about Reiki during a group holiday. She sought help while an autoimmune disease was affecting her lungs. During the session, she felt her back become cold while the front of her body felt warm.
Her account describes an unusual sensory experience. “I could feel a gentle wind where she laid her hands on my body. Not unpleasant at all, more like a sensation. After the session, I felt lighter overall, and my breathing was easier, and that lasted for days.” Her description echoes a theme in these accounts: sensations and feelings that linger beyond the appointment.
In my practice, I ask what someone notices before and after a session: comfort, tension, ease and rest, emotional state, or lighter movement. If the goal is lymphatic swelling, improving coordination, or reducing pain, Reiki is an excellent addition to the studio offering.
Relaxation has a place in the research
In a randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial, 21 healthcare professionals with burnout received both Reiki and a session that mimicked (sham) Reiki. Researchers found immediate differences in some heart rate variability measures and body temperature. They interpreted the findings as suggesting an effect on parasympathetic activity, part of the nervous system involved in rest and recovery (Díaz-Rodríguez et al., 2011).
The study was small and measured short-term responses. It gives researchers a reason to investigate autonomic effects more closely.
For Briony Montgomery of The Somatic Therapy Collective, Reiki entered her life after her mother died from cancer. Briony wrote “Reiki has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.” Montgomery, a counsellor, somatic psychotherapist, and Reiki Master in Australia’s Northern Rivers region, initially hoped for an hour of calm and relief from the heaviness of grief.
“For the first time since losing Mum, I felt like I could breathe around my grief instead of being crushed by it,” she wrote. “What actually happened went so much deeper than that. I could feel things shifting in my body that I hadn’t been able to move on my own. It felt like the blockages I’d been holding onto started to loosen, and my heart, which had felt so closed and heavy, began to open again.”
She described Reiki as powerful and long lasting in the weeks and months after. The experience was meaningful enough that she later trained as a Reiki Master herself.
This is the human territory explored in my earlier article, The Collision of Spirituality and Medicine: illness and loss affect identity, relationships, hope, and a person’s sense of connection. Montgomery’s language describes her experience of grief and spiritual healing.
Research in oncology has also asked about the experience of receiving Reiki. A program evaluation at an academic cancer center examined 213 surveys from first-time sessions. Participants reported immediate reductions in distress, anxiety, pain, and fatigue, alongside descriptions of relaxation and spiritual well-being. Because there was no comparison group, the evaluation could not determine how much of the change was specifically attributable to Reiki (Fleisher et al., 2014).
A more recent randomized study followed 58 cancer patients assigned to Reiki, sham Reiki, or progressive relaxation exercises. The researchers reported greater reductions in pain, anxiety, and stress with Reiki, with follow-up extending to three months. Cortisol levels did not differ significantly between groups. This small trial adds encouraging evidence for symptom support during cancer care (Oz Kahveci et al., 2025).
Trust changes the experience of care
Charles Liu’s two Reiki sessions were several years apart and left him with different impressions. The first time, Liu hoped for help with sports recovery and tight muscles. He was skeptical, did not connect with the practitioner, and left disappointed.
On the second occasion, he felt more comfortable and trusting. He reported a physical difference afterward. “What surprised me was how much the connection with the practitioner seemed to matter,” he wrote.
His account leaves room for an experience that did not meet expectations. It also points toward a question researchers face: how do we distinguish the specific effects of Reiki from the effects of attention, touch, expectation, and the relationship with the practitioner?
Prem Singh acknowledges that many people wonder what a Reiki session will feel like, with a mix of curiosity and uncertainty. This wonderment is not unusual with Reiki extending worldwide. Expectations vary across people and cultural settings. Researchers must also account for differences in treatment protocols, comparison sessions, and practitioner interaction (Baldwin et al., 2026).
More recently, Baldwin and colleagues examined sham Reiki protocols and found substantial variation in how comparison sessions were designed. Their 2026 review reinforces the need for careful controls when studying a practice that includes human presence and close attention (Baldwin et al., 2026). The Center for Reiki Research provides an archive and summaries for readers following this developing field (Center for Reiki Research, n.d.).
Many people ask, ‘Is Reiki Real?’ appears in many thoughts, but the experiences are very real in many clients. Runbo Li remarks: “The biggest shift was mental. I walked in thinking Reiki was either placebo or performance. I slept better that night than I had in weeks. The jaw tension I’d been grinding through for months softened. I went back three more times over the following months. Here’s what I tell people now: your body stores decisions you haven’t made yet. It gave me an hour where I couldn’t check Slack, couldn’t ship code, couldn’t optimize anything. And in that stillness, things moved. The best founders I know have some practice like this, whether it’s Reiki, breathwork, or long silent walks. The common thread isn’t the modality. It’s the surrender of control for a fixed window of time. That’s the thing most high-performers are worst at and need most.”
Reiki makes room for personal change
Michelle McIntyre, founder of My Wellness Academy in Perth and now a Usui Reiki Master Teacher, first tried Reiki after seeing a shop-window sign during a difficult week.
“What actually happened was I was more relaxed than I’d ever been,” she wrote.
She had little familiarity with Reiki. When the practitioners spoke about a blocked throat chakra, she did not know what they meant. The next day, she asked for a long-overdue pay rise, something she later connected with the session and the idea of speaking up.
Michelle experienced a personally meaningful sequence of events. Reiki can become part of a larger story about confidence, change, and understanding oneself. She later sought Reiki surrounding her back surgery, and soon after started her own journey to become a Reiki Master-Teacher and founded My Wellness Academy, a IICT Premier Training Provider.
It is common for recipients of Reiki to report positive changes in their life. The perception of the experience follows a common theme: relaxation, relief, clarity, and stillness within. Tara Lynn Conboy, RN, BSN, Hermetic Healer and Teacher of Metaphysics, explains, “I experienced Reiki called Ensofic Ray Reiki. The energy left me speechless. The stillness I sensed within and without truly had me believing there were no worries or stress to be had. I noticed my thinking patterns changed after the session and was more clear. Later that same year, this Reiki helped relieve pain I was having from a kidney stone.”
My role as a Reiki-guided occupational therapist is to listen carefully and leave room for the person’s own meaningful experience. A recipient can experience Reiki spiritually, appreciate the quiet, notice little, or explore other feelings that may arise. That is the most beautiful thing about Reiki, your experience is your own, and what you receive is pure love and light.
The lived experience
The accounts shared here describe different reasons for seeking Reiki: a difficult week, demanding work, physical discomfort, illness, and grief. None can predict another person’s response. Together, they help explain why rest, trust, and the experience of being cared for deserve attention.
In my practice, skilled rehabilitation and lymphatic care remain connected to specific needs and measurable goals. I explore questions like “What is lymphatic energy?” Reiki can be included for someone who wants that form of support, with attention to comfort, personal values, and everyday participation.
Contributor quotations come from generous written submissions. These are individual experiences, not treatment results from Sunflower NeuroLymph Therapy. Reiki complements appropriate medical care and rehabilitation. New or worsening symptoms require medical assessment.
Thanks for reading The Whole Person Flow
References
American Occupational Therapy Association. (2023). Complementary health approaches and integrative health in occupational therapy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 77(Suppl. 3), 7713410200. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2023.77S3001
Baldwin, A. L., DeLeon, P., & Dyer, N. L. (2026). Investigation and assessment of sham Reiki protocols in Reiki research. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 101, 103415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2026.103415
Center for Reiki Research. (n.d.). The Center for Reiki Research. https://centerforreikiresearch.com/
Díaz-Rodríguez, L., Arroyo-Morales, M., Fernández-de-las-Peñas, C., García-Lafuente, F., García-Royo, C., & Tomás-Rojas, I. (2011). Immediate effects of Reiki on heart rate variability, cortisol levels, and body temperature in health care professionals with burnout. Biological Research for Nursing, 13(4), 376–382. https://doi.org/10.1177/1099800410389166x
Fleisher, K. A., Mackenzie, E. R., Frankel, E. S., Seluzicki, C., Casarett, D., & Mao, J. J. (2014). Integrative Reiki for cancer patients: A program evaluation. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 13(1), 62–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534735413503547
Liu, K., Qin, Z., Qin, Y., Li, Y., Liu, Q., Gao, F., Zhang, P., & Wang, W. (2025). Effects of Reiki therapy on quality of life: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Systematic Reviews, 14, 72. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-025-02811-5
Oz Kahveci, S., Engin, E., & Goker, E. (2025). The effect of Reiki applied to cancer patients on pain, anxiety, and stress levels: A randomized controlled study. Seminars in Oncology Nursing, 41(2), 151807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soncn.2024.151807
Thanks for reading The Whole Person Flow