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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

'Distance reiki' - quack or what?

171 replies

mackthepony · 25/05/2022 20:27

Mate has started doing reiki.

She's now offering 'distance reiki' - same as normal reiki but feels your energy online. And yes, there's a charge for it.

🙄

Is it just me? Wtf?

OP posts:
ZaZathecat · 25/05/2022 20:33

Not just you!

BrightYellowDaffodil · 25/05/2022 20:34

I’ve used Reiki for both me and my animals, people I know well are Reiki practitioners and Masters.

If you don’t believe in it, you don’t need to use it or engage with her about it. But you also don’t need to knock or belittle the beliefs of others.

Andromachehadabadday · 25/05/2022 20:37

My (now ex) Mil had a treatment of distance reiki retreat about 15 years ago.

She paid a woman and then sat in her own living room meditating. While, apparently, the woman was meditating at the same time. Obviously, no proof the woman was.

and the retreat part was that mil had to imagine being at this woman’s countryside cottage.

It was all really weird. And cost £200.

DatingIsDifficult · 25/05/2022 20:39

BrightYellowDaffodil · 25/05/2022 20:34

I’ve used Reiki for both me and my animals, people I know well are Reiki practitioners and Masters.

If you don’t believe in it, you don’t need to use it or engage with her about it. But you also don’t need to knock or belittle the beliefs of others.

Yes but surely that’s in person? Not from opposite sides of the UK?

IDespairOfTheHumanRace · 25/05/2022 20:40

Reiki is pure quackery anyway, just like spiritualism, crystal healing and all the other shit people buy in to - anyone foolish enough to pay for online reiki must have more money than sense!

But, good luck to your friend if she is able to sell this 'service' - if she can, she could probably sell snake oil by the tanker load too

Thissucksmonkeynuts · 25/05/2022 20:47

I worked with a man about 20 years ago who had a bad I just at work. He had someone Reiki it from half way across Europe. They arranged a time on the phone and aparently both sat and did their thing as arranged. He said the drs were surprised at the strange way the wound healed and how quickly too.

Knittingchamp · 25/05/2022 20:49

Andromachehadabadday · 25/05/2022 20:37

My (now ex) Mil had a treatment of distance reiki retreat about 15 years ago.

She paid a woman and then sat in her own living room meditating. While, apparently, the woman was meditating at the same time. Obviously, no proof the woman was.

and the retreat part was that mil had to imagine being at this woman’s countryside cottage.

It was all really weird. And cost £200.

Bet she was watching Coronation Street lol. If I had no morals I'd literally be off right now to start a Distance Reiki practice website.

ThreeLittleDots · 25/05/2022 21:04

Quackery, but the placebo effect is real so let them crack on, I say...

underneaththeash · 25/05/2022 21:07

ThreeLittleDots · 25/05/2022 21:04

Quackery, but the placebo effect is real so let them crack on, I say...

Exactly

KarmaStar · 25/05/2022 21:22

Distance healing does work but NOT via the computer.she's scamming.

BackInBits · 26/05/2022 00:04

ThreeLittleDots · 25/05/2022 21:04

Quackery, but the placebo effect is real so let them crack on, I say...

Yes, let them quack on.

<gets coat>
<ducks>
<tries and fails to avoid making a duck pun>

MasterBeth · 26/05/2022 00:07

BrightYellowDaffodil · 25/05/2022 20:34

I’ve used Reiki for both me and my animals, people I know well are Reiki practitioners and Masters.

If you don’t believe in it, you don’t need to use it or engage with her about it. But you also don’t need to knock or belittle the beliefs of others.

...but you can do if they are batshit crazy. Dumb ideas deserve ridicule.

CalmerCalmerChameleon · 26/05/2022 00:09

Quack.

JusticeForWanda · 26/05/2022 00:13

Total quack. A friend has just done Level 1 reiki and is now offering treatments….aside from the fact it’s all nonsense, surely if you believe in something like your energy, you’d think it was important enough to want someone more experienced than level 1 doing it?!

ThreeLittleDots · 26/05/2022 00:13

Yes, let them quack on

Ha. I was instantly kicking myself for missing that one in my 'crack on' post!

Stompythedinosaur · 26/05/2022 00:26

BrightYellowDaffodil · 25/05/2022 20:34

I’ve used Reiki for both me and my animals, people I know well are Reiki practitioners and Masters.

If you don’t believe in it, you don’t need to use it or engage with her about it. But you also don’t need to knock or belittle the beliefs of others.

I think this pov doesn't sit so well when someone is scamming money out of people for an alleged treatment that has zero evidence of working. We aren't just talking about private beliefs, we are talking about taking advantage of others. It is exploitation.

I cannot believe that anyone without significant cognitive impairment could believe in "distance reiki" is beyind me. How could it possibly work?

DrippyLongstocking · 26/05/2022 00:36

What a fantastic scam. I fluctuate between wishing this kind of stuff was banned to wondering how best to get started as a ‘practitioner’.

ThreeLittleDots · 26/05/2022 00:49

YY. See also tarot reading, mediumship and dare I say chiropractic too (for treating anything other than muscle or joint pain)

KrisAkabusi · 26/05/2022 01:10

Reiki is nonsense.

Distance reiki is ridiculous nonsense.

JenniferBarkley · 26/05/2022 01:17

ThreeLittleDots · 25/05/2022 21:04

Quackery, but the placebo effect is real so let them crack on, I say...

I'd agree with this if these charlatans weren't charging.

Reiki is dodgy as it is but the set of people who would believe in distance reiki just have a high proportion of people who are vulnerable for one reason or another.

mackthepony · 26/05/2022 02:23

Glad it's not just me being a cynic!

OP posts:
ElenaSt · 26/05/2022 02:31

If it worked then surely the opposite of long distance healing would also work and the practitioner could concentrate on the other person becoming fat/bald/spotty!

JenniferBarkley · 26/05/2022 09:24

ElenaSt · 26/05/2022 02:31

If it worked then surely the opposite of long distance healing would also work and the practitioner could concentrate on the other person becoming fat/bald/spotty!

OMG! That explains so much about my life! I'm not a lazy, grumpy arsehole, someone is distance reiki voodooing me!!! Grin

LadyEloise1 · 26/05/2022 09:42

I went go a Reiki practitioner. It was a waste of time and money.

Choufleurfromage · 26/05/2022 09:45

Andromachehadabadday · 25/05/2022 20:37

My (now ex) Mil had a treatment of distance reiki retreat about 15 years ago.

She paid a woman and then sat in her own living room meditating. While, apparently, the woman was meditating at the same time. Obviously, no proof the woman was.

and the retreat part was that mil had to imagine being at this woman’s countryside cottage.

It was all really weird. And cost £200.

😂
This is like men who ring porn lines thinking they are chatting to a stuning woman who wants nothing more than to pleasure them
When in fact it's probably a middle-aged lady doing her ironing while talking!
Still, this has cheered me up no end, although I worry for those who beleive in such snake oil treatments