The Cult ofCrunch: Breaking Down the Good, The Bad, and the Biblical (or not) of Natural Living Part 6: Reiki

She was getting what she thought was a normal massage, and it started out that way. But the massage therapist actually was a Reiki practitioner. Whatever he started doing at the end of the session started to feel evil to her. She didn’t know anything about Reiki, but she knew that wasn’t good.

This was a story off of a podcast I listened to on Reiki, but I have heard similar accounts from people I know as well. To be completely transparent, I didn’t know at all what Reiki was until a year or so ago. It is more fringe than most practices you’ll fine in the crunchy movement, yet I felt the need to touch on it as a very popular local health store advertises that they do Reiki healing. As fringe as it may seem to some, it’s not at all to others.

What is Reiki?

According to reiki.org, “Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing.” The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that Reiki is a “complementary health approach in which practitioners place their hands lightly on or just above a person, with the goal of directing energy to help facilitate the person’s own healing response.”

The etymology of “Reiki” is the combination of two Japanese words. “Rei” means “universal” or “spiritual.” “Ki” means “life force energy.” The “Ki” is the Japanese equivalent to the Chinses “Qi” or “Chi” which refers to the fundamental “life force” that animates the universe and all living things in it. In essence, Reiki means “universal life force energy.” Understanding this is key to understanding Reiki.

Practitioners of Reiki believe that we have a “universal life force energy” that flows through our bodies in paths called meridians. These meridians can become blocked through stress or injury. We need the life force energy to flow well through us for physical and emotional wellbeing. One of the ideologies backing Reiki that sets it apart from other healing modalities is the belief that this life force aids in the body healing itself. The Reiki practitioner channels energy through their hands to helps clear the blockages in meridians so that the body can heal as it was intended to do.

What is the history of Reiki?

Dr. Mikao Usui was the founder of Reiki. Born of a wealthy Buddhist Family in 1865, he went on to study at a Buddhist monastery taking particular interest in medicine, psychology, and theology. Because of those interests, he looked for a way to help people heal in a way that wasn’t solely attached to one religion so that anyone could experience healing. After a 21 day fast and meditation on Mount Kurama, Dr, Usui experienced a spiritual awakening in which he saw ancient Sanskrit symbols that helped him develop Reiki healing. He went on to establish a clinic for healing and teaching in Kyoto. In 1922, he founded a Reiki school and clinic in Tokyo. He taught other Reiki masters who continued practicing and spreading Reiki after his passing.

Dr. Chujiro Hayashi was one of the people trained by Dr. Usui. He further developed Reiki by adding hand positions to cover the body more thoroughly and refined the attunement process. He trained more Reiki Masters including Hawayo Takata who took Reiki to America. She found Reiki because of needing a surgery while in Tokyo in 1935. She felt she didn’t really need the surgery and opted to try out Reiki instead. She saw Dr. Hayashi on a daily basis which she believes ultimately lead to her healing without surgery. She went on to learn Reiki One and Reiki Two and eventually became a Reiki Master. She spread her knowledge and healing practice to the United States. Eventually, she attuned 22 Reiki Masters.

Is Reiki Effective?

PubMed published an article on Reiki with the title being “Reiki Is Better Than Placebo and Has Broad Potential as a Complementary Health Therapy.” In essence, the article looked at 13 suitable studies to determine if Reiki gave any benefits or not. Of the studies they looked at 8 showed Reiki to be more effective than placebo, 4 showed no difference, and 1 showed no benefit whatsoever. The conclusion was that Reiki overall was more effective than placebo in leading to increase in healing ability. They stated it is “a safe and gently way to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.” The article did state that they do not recommend Reiki as a cure for any health condition. It can be used as a complementary therapy along with medical treatment for those who need it. They recommend more studies to be done to further examine the benefits of Reiki.

While this was the PubMed conclusion, one could debate the quality of the studies and the lack of studies all together on Reiki. The overall conclusion no matter where you look from a secular point of view is that it can be used as a complementary therapy as it cannot take the place of real medical treatment.

It should be noted that on reiki.org they go over how Dr. Usui did state for lasting healing one had to accept responsibility for their healing and take part in it. One had to practice the Ideals of Reiki. They are: “Just for today: Do not worry, do not anger, be kind, be grateful, work honestly.” This is particularly important for Reiki practitioners, but it helps those who are trying to assure that their meridians stay clear and they have a good flow of life force energy.

Diving off the study portion of the effectiveness of Reiki, I have a controversial take for a Christian on it. I think that while there is likely some of the placebo effect that causes people to see some improvement, I also think that Reiki can genuinely work.

Hear me out, I don’t think that it’s working because we have a life force running through our meridians that causes innate healing in our bodies. I don’t think that eating seed oil French fries or stress at home or a car accident blocks the life force flow through your body causing healing to be obstructed. I don’t think that a Reiki practitioner is channeling a universal life force energy to clear the blockages in our energy pathways.

I do think that this is tapping into something much bigger and darker and more powerful than we realize. And because of that, I believe that some people see healing.

How does Reiki line up with a Biblical worldview?

In short, it doesn’t.

Reiki claims to be not tied to any one religion. Reiki.org states that it is spiritual in nature but has no dogma. Reiki supposedly comes from God, but you don’t have to believe in him to learn it. But should you believe, it will help you become more in touch with whatever religion you may follow.

So, it’s good to go, right? Not so fast.

We folly when we think that we can be truly spiritual outside of Christ. At least in a good way. God made us both physically and spiritually. He made our souls. To be spiritual outside of God’s parameters of how we are to be in relationship with Him is to break God’s command.

We may be communing with spirits, but they are not the Holy Spirt.

We can look at the account of Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8:9-24 for an example of someone who possessed supernatural abilities but was not working with the power of the Holy Spirit. In Deuteronomy 18:9-13 God forbids supernatural practices like divination, fortunetelling, sorcery, charmers, mediums, and necromancy. If practicing these things were fine for all religions because “it’s just spiritual, not religious,” God would not have outlawed it. It was not an abomination to God because it was benign or didn’t work, rather it was because it was worshiping other gods than the one true God. Reiki, like sorcery, is tapping into power we were not meant to tap into. In 2 Thessalonians 2:9 it states, “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders.” Similarly, in Matthew 24:24 Jesus says, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and preform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” Clearly, this is a kind of spirituality that Christians cannot take part in regardless of what Reiki experts may say.

We could stop it right here and it would be sufficient for the Christian to have no part in this. Unfortunately, there is more wrong with Reiki than just this.

The ideology that our bodies are wise and can heal themselves is at its core self-idolatry. In the garden of Eden, we were created beautifully and whole, but our bodies were tainted by sin. No, in Genisis 3 Adam and Eve didn’t drop immediately dead from eating the fruit, but the process of death started. We have bodies that are broken by sin. We are dead spiritually without Christ and are dying physically daily. The idea that there is a life force in the universe that channels through our bodies to aid in self-healing is to deny the reality of sin and death that has touched all of humanity. It is to say that we don’t need God to heal us as there is power already in us. This is not at all what Jesus says in Matthew 11:28: “Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” In Christ we find rest, not in energy flowing uninhibited through our meridians. Let us not be like those to whom Jesus referred to in Matthew 13:15 when he said, “For this people’s hear has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

While those who receive Reiki healing are obviously not going to Christ for healing and may be opening themselves up to demonic powers, I feel particular concern for Reiki practitioners. There are 3 levels to Reiki practitioners. Reiki 1 is someone who can do self-healing. Reiki 2 is someone who can channel Reiki for others. And Reiki Master is someone who can attune others to become Reiki practitioners. Receiving the ability to practice Reiki is called an attunement. The attunement opens a Reiki student’s chakras and energy channels to initiate the flow of specific Reiki frequencies of universal life force energy. Once they are attuned, they can channel Reiki for themselves or others. The effects of the attunement are permanent. To get attuned, the students must prepare themselves by detoxing and clearing themselves, working through guided meditation to open themselves, have the Reiki Master attune them by opening their chakras to let the energy flow, then integrating the energy and insights they have gleaned. A student’s attunement process may involve them seeing different things from something as simple as colors and shapes to clairvoyant and clairaudient encounters with guides. Some have lost memory. For some, it’s less remarkable. Post attunement side effects include fatigue, emotional sensitivity, headaches, and more.

Reiki practitioners are referred to as a “hollow bone” or “straw.” This is because it is not the life force of the practitioner that is being given to the client they are trying to help heal and open blockages, rather it is the universal life force power that is flowing through them to the client. Don’t glaze over that. There is another power or being that is flowing through this one person who was give these supernatural abilities from someone who possesses these abilities. This power is flowing through them to the client. In addition to laying hands on patients or hovering them over them, practitioners use sacred Reiki symbols to focus and enhance the flow of the universal life force in the client.

The practitioners must live by the Ideals of Reiki. They also need to be cautious with what the eat and drink and take to practice Reiki. Being a “hallow bone,” they need to assure that they are the cleanest, clearest, they can be for their clients. Any “junk” in their life might inhibit healing for their patient. It is clear that Reiki is not just something done with hands. As paritashahhealing.com put it, “Reiki is something we become through the way we think, feel, and move through the world.”

This is all wildly concerning. Reiki is messing with spirits that are not the Holy Spirit.

Walter Martin laid it out very clearly in his book Kingdom of the Occult. In his chapter “Tools of the Occult,” he has this to say about energy healing:

“Energy can be defined in countless ways: life-forces, moving power, or ley lines (energy lines said to crisscross the earth), Reiki (the energy associated with Reiki massage), Prana, polarity, chi—there are many names for occult energy—but generally it refers to the creative life-forces within human beings and/or outside of them. This energy is the power that surround and feed mankind, and it is fed in return by mankind; it is a power that can be controlled by human beings through various means—crystals, cards, ceremonies, mediation, correct diet, and yoga. This is the power source worshiped by the kingdom of the occult. God has revealed that this power source does not originate with Him, and that leaves only one other source: the prince of darkness—the devil. It is important to note here that the devil is not the polar opposite of God; he is not equal to God in nature or power. The devil is a created being, but he is a powerful created being. A closer identity match to the devil in angelic nature and power would be the archangel, Michael. Simply put: the energy of the occult is the energy of the devil and he is using it to destroy the children of God.” (Emphasis Walter Martian’s)

Walter Martian didn’t mince words and neither should we. Reiki is antithetical to the Christianity. We should have nothing to do with it.

I want to make an appeal to those who have partook in Reiki either as a patient or practitioner: repent. I don’t say this in a judgmental way, but rather out of love and care for your soul. The life force flowing through you and to you is simply demonic power. Repent. In Reiki they may say that your attunement is permanent and you can never lose it. You can be free of demonic power only through Jesus. You can lose it through the power of God which far outweighs any demonic power you may currently know. Come to the cross in repentance and faith and you can have the Holy Spirit fill and transform you.