So

I went and paid 60 bucks on monday at a friends urging to have reiki done.

the practitioner wanted to know what colours I saw. I lay there explaining I did see colours, as in the colour of my blood vessels constricting and expanding in my eyelids as I lay their with my eyes closed.

Don't get me wrong, I was open to this experience being "something" and wasn't in their to try and pooh-pooh the experience... but I can't honestly say I felt any different or any better after or during the reiki.

Did I just pay $60 to have someone massage the air around me (should I have just paid for a proper relaxation massage, the hands on real deal??) while I explained what the inside of my eyelids look like?

Many people have told me I will really feel the difference in a few days... does anyone else have any insight or experience with this? positives? negatives?

am I missing something? it just wasn't as "amazing" as it had been made out to be.

feeling a tad deflated really!

(edit for spelling)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2013 04:54PM by Deus Ex Machina.

$60 could have afforded 1 hour in a float tank. 200 gallons of water, 1200 lbs of epsom salts heated to skin temperature.

Best money you'll ever spend. You're totally weightless and can't feel anything. It's as close to being in the womb as you'll ever get.

Just sayin'..

Joe Rogan? http://www.ustream.tv/joerogan

... in a few days that $60 will sink in and have a calming affect on you ... yes, it WILL work ... you will it to be so (because you spent $60 on it already).


Mormon version: I'm really really REALLY happy!!! I must be, 'cuz my tithing's paid in full.

The current research does not support the value of reiki.

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/reiki.html


I would recommend a good hands-on massage next time. There is a lot of airy-fairy nonsense being spouted in the massage world, too, but there is also some hard evidence that it is effective for at least some types of pain management.

I have a chronic pain condition, and it took a lot of searching, trial and error to find a good therapist, but it really has made my life more manageable without being dependent on pharmaceuticals.

There is likely at least a placebo effect, as well as the value of simply resting and being mindful of your own wellness with someone giving you positive attenion. You can do those things for free, though.

I love that site. I always go there for actual medical low-down on those "alternative" treatments.

In my last semester of college I took a course in "complimentary" medicine. (A nicer way of saying homeopathy.)

We read a few peer reviewed, blind studies that seemed to support the idea that Reiki could do *something* for some people. In fact, in one of the studies the Reiki practitioner was in an adjacent room. Sometimes the practitioner was in teh other room, doing something, sometimes there was no one in the other room. The subjects had no idea if someone was there or not, and they rated the sessions without knowing. And, almost impossibly, they saw statistical significance in ratings between times when someone was in the other room and when there was not.

Now, I still don't really put any stock into Reiki. If someone offered me a FREE session I'd give it a shot, but I just don't really understand how it could possibly work. No physical contact, no medication given, not even aromatherapy? I don't buy it.

I've had great results from chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, and massage. But I generally believe you have to at least TOUCH the other person to get a therapeutic response! Sorry you got wrangled into it.

I didn't get anything out of it when I tried it either. Like you I wasn't closed to anything but I also didn't want to allow myself to fall prey to suggestion statements that they might offer.
I've met people who really support it but I'm not willing to spend so much money to see if I'm one of those.

I do accept energy as a part of the human being - electrical energy, thought and feeling as energy, etc, but forking out a lot of money for something like this is hard to swallow.
$60.00 is cheap, in these parts the crooks, I mean practictioners charge around $90 or up.
I asked one why so much and they gave some explanation that didn't make any sense to me. Weeders explanation makes much more sense.

If you go into a reiki session expecting a miraculous experience and/or healing, you'll be disappointed. Basically it's about relaxation and if you are waiting for something to happen, you probably won't relax as well. It's been shown to help patients in hospitals who can't have a traditional massage. Reducing stress and relaxing helps with healing. I've had reiki done and I like it but for my money, I'd rather have an hour-long full body massage. I find that more relaxing. But I don't think you've been taken either because it's a good modality for people who, for whatever reason, can't have a traditional massage.

I'm always skeptical of anyone who gets all weird, spooky about any kind of bodywork. Also anyone who promises miracles. Because basically, anything you get, reiki, traditional massage, reflexology etc. should be primarily about relaxation and stress relief. If what they are doing doesn't relax you, if they act like you should be seeing angels and leprechauns, if they tell you it will work miracles, then you have a problem with the practitioner. As long as you search around and discover what you find most relaxing, you'll probably be happy. If reiki didn't leave you peaceful and relaxed, move on. You'll find something that works for you - possibly just meditating in your room before bedtime for free. But don't give up on the relaxation/stress relief. Not everything works for everybody but you'll find something you like.

And I know someone said you got off cheap but the girl I go to occasionally for reiki only charges $25.00 for half an hour.
She's new at it but it's pretty relaxing and worth the money at that price. If she started charging what a massage would cost, I'd go with the massage instead.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2013 05:57PM by CA girl.

Look, I'm hippy dippy as all get out but I dont put any stock in Reiki. I have friends that practice it, I have seen it done. It's simply nonsense. Relaxing nonsense but nonsense nonetheless.
Spend your dough on chiropractic (they actually touch your body lol) , deep tissue massage, steam rooms etc. Energy healing is, in my humble opinion, bull hockey.

It doesn't have to be deep tissue - that's a bad choice for some people because too much pressure is placed on sore muscles. Some love it but many people feel beaten up afterward - not relaxing. A regular one-hour massage by a qualified professional is a better way to start and if that's too light a touch for your particular taste, then progress to deep tissue massage.

Also, if you are elderly or have certain health conditions, deep tissue massage is contraindicated. Again, it's about finding the relaxation method that works for you. I have friends that swear by certain massage modalities and they are no help to me whatsoever. But other things put me to sleep and keep my stress down for days. BTW, if anyone is calling it energy "healing" that's probably a red flag right there.

True true, the reason I suggested deep tissue is because studies have shown it stimulates the production of white blood cells. I should have been more specific. Even light massage and being shaken up helps the lymph system, I think massage in any of its forms is great. Just not "energy" massages :)

Reiki is a Fraud

It works just as we'll as a Mormon penishood blessing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2013 08:08PM by sonoma.

That sounds like woo-woo stuff right there. If you don't have a firm and detailed explanation of HOW something works, be skeptical. I even look up all the details on any pill a regular doctor prescribes me before I'll take it. Even if I have to spend some time learning some biology to figure it out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2013 08:27PM by rationalguy.

I had energy healing/bodywork several times. After all that time, I believe that it's really for the person doing it more than for the other person. Once--and I was getting this for free through my school and there was no chance of future payment, so it wasn't for "show" or for money--the girl who was performing the bodywork got incredibly emotional and overcome with whatever she felt was going on, and started crying and saying that she felt my pain and all these other things. I really didn't feel anything during or after, except some mild relaxation while I was lying there. It sort of made me start rethinking "the Spirit": Clearly she got herself worked up when nothing was actually happening, and this to her was a spiritual practice...so couldn't that happen with "the Spirit" as well?

Whenever someone talks in a soothing manner and you're in a relaxed state, it's at least going to have a calming affect on you.

As for healing or manifesting stuff, um, no.

Have a heart to heart talk with a good friend.

Have a massage.

Take a long soak in a hot bath.

I don't think Reiki works for the "reasons" practitioners say it works. Which is not to say that the above aren't therapeutic.

doesn't your spine feel a lot better by having all of that weight removed from your wallet ?

wish I'd just gone and gotten a neck, scalp and shoulder massage really. sigh.

Problem with these practitioners is that even if they ARE for real, most us modern day people have to smoke weed, be on LSD, or in some way be HIGH (lots of meditation works, too) to even begin to reach the wavelength they are on when they are practicing... and unless you're very clever and don't give a shit like me, that can be very difficult to pull off in public settings. xD

-V

If you didn't feel anything.. it's because you didn't do it right. You didn't believe enough.. or you didn't pay enough..
(sarcasm off)

I've done Reiki.
I've taken the 1st degree course.

it's a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo pretending to be spiritual shazz..

but that's just my opinion. :D

anybody else thinks. Maybe the $60 was like the tithing in Mormonism. When people make a great sacrifice, they want to believe it was somehow worth it.

I seems like Reiki is priesthood for women..

$60 would have gotten you a fairly good bottle of Scotch.

Just sayin.

well, I guess I'm different than everyone here. I've had great experiences with Reiki and have been working with http://www.lifesparknow.org/ for a few years now. You can't expect miraculous results with one session. It often takes a series of sessions. Absolutely nothing like the "priesthood" at all thank-you very much! But to each their own.

It's a placebo. I have a friend who does it. She calls me up asking if I felt something at a certain time when she was "sending me energy", and raves about how people she works on (mostly other practitioners) are overcome with emotion, dramatic electrical sensations, and are instantly cured of headaches and other ailments (although, curiously, her own ailments are never cured, even though she has reiki done on herself all the time). I don't believe, and tell her I feel nothing, but she explains my miserable failure away (I'm not "open" to it). Total cog dis.

It's magical thinking; they want to feel something, so they believe they do. They really do want to help, but $60 for a massage or other soothing treat would probably be much better spent.

This brings up some thoughts for me. Just rambling here, so forgive me...I have never participated in reiki, I'm not even sure what a session looks like, but I have used other forms of alternate medicine with good results. I'm thinking that humans are naturally spiritual creatures, many of us wanting something bigger than ourselves, and we have created numerous ways to satisfy the need to believe....religion, supplements, self help books, crystals, herbs, concoctions, therapies, rituals... Maybe one is just drawn to one method more than another.

well, I'm super impressed that inmoland has all the answers for everyone. That is so great! I hope you feel super special now.

Others have also posted suggestions on this thread about the placebo effect, and about studies not supporting the value of reiki, but if it makes you feel better to take out whatever sore point this discussion has hit with you on me alone, darksided, feel free.

You could have had acupuncture, which is AMAZING.

Just took my daughter for her first visit after an auto accident that left her with a permanently cramping neck muscle.

She went to three doctors, physical therapy, bought hot/cold packs, vibrators, etc. Finally said she was willing to try something alternative.

After one visit she said it brought relief and she is definitely going back. Being pragmatic and skeptical, she commented that she didn't give a damn what principle--chi, whatever-- it works and doesn't depend on "faith" to provide relief.


Anagrammy

acupuncture is also great.

I am a firm believer in the ancient massage art practiced at many Asian Massage Parlors.After a relaxing table shower, I am always relaxed even more by the professional service I am given and it is a great release!

It is usually a little more expensive than $60 though.