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Original poster

I think people should be careful doing Reiki

718 replies

lottieandmia22 · 06/01/2018 19:32

This post assumes a belief in spirituality so I'm not interested in debating that specifically. If you want to please start your own thread.

From what I can see, reiki is channeling occult energy through people's bodies and is therefore potentially risky. It seems to me that new age practitioners will repeatedly say they don't believe in malevolent entities but I think this is naive.

One of my friends told me that his dad was never the same after he became involved with reiki.

And also nearly everyone I've met who has done it was told by the reiki practitioner that they are 'special' have a 'gift' or could easily become a reiki master.

OP posts:
BertrandRussell · 13/01/2018 07:09

Some people do find the truth unpleasant. And object to their beliefs being questioned.

PinkietheElf · 13/01/2018 07:19

Everyone's truths are different probably due to life experiences, temperament, education, their character, the society they grow up in, the culture etc etc

However it seems to some bolshy posters on MN that only they actually KNOW - Grin

BertrandRussell · 13/01/2018 07:26

No- everyone has their own opinions, thoughts and feelings. People can’t have their own truth.

speakout · 13/01/2018 07:32

I am happy to live with some things unknown or not understood.

Yes we have no scientific rationale or mechanism for some practices, but if I know someone who has had benefit and the practice does no harm- and I also mean not choosing that alternative therapy to the exclusion of traditional medicine then I really can't see what the problem is.
My friend is HV and tells parents to buy homeopathic remedies for non serious but exhausting infant problems like colic or teething. Yes as a first line she advises to get baby checked medically for other possible causes, but if parents have tried that route and Calpol tummy treatements are not working then I totally understand that parents will try alternative methods.
I have done so myself and have had considerable success.

I can't see the problem.
We are free to choose our own course of action, and really don't need all these warnings.

BertrandRussell · 13/01/2018 07:49

“I am happy to live with some things unknown or not understood.”

Of course. It would be a bit of a shame if you weren’t- of course there are lots of things that are not understood!

But there are also lots of things that are......

BertrandRussell · 13/01/2018 07:51

“My friend is HV and tells parents to buy homeopathic remedies for non serious but exhausting infant problems like colic or teething”

So she tells people to spend money on things that as a HCP she must know don’t work except as placebo? That’s just unethical.

speakout · 13/01/2018 07:55

BertrandRussell her personal view is that they often work.

speakout · 13/01/2018 07:57

Just like my DDs orthodontist thinking that homeopathic arnica works.

I don't know why that puts your jockstrap in a twist.

BertrandRussell · 13/01/2018 07:58

But every single properly conducted trial shows they don’t. Does she tell them that? In her professional capacity?

BertrandRussell · 13/01/2018 07:59

Because HCP should be ethical.

PinkietheElf · 13/01/2018 08:06

But every single properly conducted trial shows they don’t. Does she tell them that? In her professional capacity

Many trials now show that much medication works due to the placebo effect.
I think I was reading about trials of antidepressants. Actually many are placebos.
But if it cures your depression who cares.
Bertrand said
Some people do find the truth unpleasant. And object to their beliefs being questioned
then
No- everyone has their own opinions, thoughts and feelings People can’t have their own truth

Like I said above only some 'experts' on MN KNOW the Truth but these aren't their beliefs, oh no, IT IS THE TRUUUUUUTH.

Wink in fact they should be rewriting the bible so that everyone can share in their great knowledge instead of wasting time on MN

BertrandRussell · 13/01/2018 08:13

Yes, the placebo effect is very powerful. Does the HCP make it very clear the patient that the things she is recommending have no active ingredients and can only work as placebo? Because if not, she is being unethical.

Candyandpop · 13/01/2018 08:21

Sending out love, light and positive energy to every one, especially to the angry people on this thread. Omm........Grin

BanyanTree · 13/01/2018 08:22

About a year ago I had a facial and the therapist used some kind of wand that sends pulses of light into your skin. I have had this done before, no problem. On this occasion I had a really strong feeling of malaise, so much so that I had to ask her to stop a few times. I felt as if I was just about to get up and go to the corner of the room and curl up into a ball and sob. I have never, ever felt like this before. I was really unnerved by it and afterwards the manager told me that the therapist was also their Reiki master. Since then I have not been able to lie down and have a pamper session which I so used to love. Honestly, been doing this stuff for years and cannot explain why this happened.

ButtPlugInMyHalloweenHaul · 13/01/2018 08:31

Reiki does work but fuck knows how. My SIL does it and I am very sceptical but have to confess it works.

Original poster
lottieandmia22 · 13/01/2018 08:33

I don't object to my beliefs being questioned. I DO object to every thread I start in this topic being derailed by the same people over and over.

And that is what you have done. Again. Start your own fucking thread!

OP posts:
Original poster
lottieandmia22 · 13/01/2018 08:34

ButtPlug if you look up 'occult' in the dictionary it does not mean hidden.

OP posts:
Original poster
lottieandmia22 · 13/01/2018 08:46

Banyan - that's such a shame. I have heard that reiki practitioners often are affected by the energies that they have plugged into when performing reiki. So perhaps this is what happened in your case. I would not let it put you off having a facial in the future though. As you say, the me time is important. Just check the therapist doesn't do reiki!

OP posts:
picklemepopcorn · 13/01/2018 09:08

If a placebo works, then it works. It isn't a waste of money. The HV has experience of some families being helped by various 'placebos' who weren't helped by the initial more mainstream treatments. Why wouldn't she recommend them? Surely it would be more unethical to fail to share ideas which might help?

My niece had an amber anklet. I had never seen one, never read about it, no idea how they are supposed to work. I'm not going to inform them they are wrong to feel that teething was easier since she wore it. I can think of all sorts of reasons why it can't work, but how does it help them? It isn't my job to carp and criticise and police them.

Effectively, we haven't been able to have the conversation Lottie wanted about the possible dangers of Reiki because of the sceptics on here. Without you guys, we could have explored what might happen, what isn't going to happen, and perhaps come to a rational explanation that helped Lottie understand what happens in Reiki, but no- you just want to shout people down.

Let other people discover things for themselves, stop cramming it down their throat!

mypoosmellsofroses · 13/01/2018 09:12

My Mum had a reiki session when she was in the hospice, I was in the room with her and could see her doing the cats bum face throughout. Smile
Now I get that for some people it would be relaxing and it's great that the hospice offers things like that but the bit that pissed me off was afterwards when my Mum asked me to get her a drink of coke (she was only having mouthfuls of drinks at that stage and often fancied coke or fizzy orange, things that she never really drank before, but the stronger taste seemed to hit the spot for her) and the practitioner got really uppity and started scolding her, telling her that she MUST drink lots of water to "flush out the toxins" Hmm She got the double barrelled death stare from the pair of us for that and I fetched the coke, which she had a very enjoyable sip of, was one of the very last things that she drank unaided.
Relaxing = fine, telling a woman at the end of life, absolutely eaten up by cancer to drink water to flush out toxins that had somehow been released by the "therapy" = Fuck Off

BertrandRussell · 13/01/2018 09:15

Out of interest, why is it “shouting down” if you say “this thing has been tested and shown not to work” but not if you say “despite all the evidence to the contrary, I continue to believe it does work”?

Original poster
lottieandmia22 · 13/01/2018 09:30

Bertrand, why don't you start your own thread with that question and stop detailing mine now.

OP posts:
picklemepopcorn · 13/01/2018 09:57

Because Lottie isn't asking about if it works. She's asking about positive and negative effects of it. So you could come on and say 'it's a waste of money, it doesn't work, there are no effects' and that's fine. Your contribution is then over.
Other people can come on and say 'I hated it, the therapist was so controlling' or 'I loved it, it was relaxing and I saw lovely colours/felt a heating sensation' etc. You don't get to tell people they didn't experience what they experienced (whatever the mechanism behind it, their experience is subjective). You don't get to tell people they are fools for being interested in what other people experience. The language people use to make sense of their experiences is entirely up to them.

MoKnickers · 13/01/2018 10:04

The point is that the only dangers of Reiki are being fleeced of money for little more than a lie down, and possibly trusting it over conventional (effective) medicine/therapy.

BertrandRussell · 13/01/2018 10:08

"You don't get to tell people they didn't experience what they experienced"
I know I don't. I am perfectly OK with telling people that what they experienced was either trickery or placebo because reiki does not work, though. And therefore there is no reason to be worried about it channelling malevolent occult energy. Because it doesn't channel any forces of any sort.

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