One of my Canadian students asked me about practicing Reiki in hospitals.
While some hospitals are remarkably open to Reiki healing, others are not yet there and still skeptical and haven’t yet re-focused their hospital towards total patient care. Some belief they never will. That’s ok.
If you are a Reiki practitioner and wish to give Reiki healing to patients in hospitals, you need not worry. It is only a matter of time. As more and more hospitals are successfully embracing alternative medicine including Reiki healing as a normal aspect of wellness and patient care, eventually even that hospital near you will one day consider Reiki as a suitable part of its health care services and re-focus and re-organize itself to embrace the qualities and benefits that Reiki healing offers.
Reiki healing as well as the wider alternative medicine field have an important aspect of preventative care. Meanwhile the main and sole focus of conventional Western hospitals is to treat the ill and the diseased. To extend that focus moving towards total patient care, will require both a cultural shift amongst hospital staff and doctors, as well as organizational changes. This takes time.
You don’t want to wait for the hospital staff to catch up with what you already know? That Reiki healing works; that it can not harm; and that it does not need a whole new wing in a hospital building for it to be successfully given to patients.
Simply Begin.
Simply begin expanding your linkages with those hospitals and people in the world who are open to Reiki. This way, you expand the rays of light that you are bringing into the world and particularly the worlds in and around hospitals.
Aim to give Reiki to those who are sick as well as their caregivers. Both need the helping hand at times. The Reiki healing hand is a perfect hand to lend.
To give you some insights as to whom you might reach out to and to learn more on the topic of Reiki healing in Hospitals in Canada, the US, the UK and elsewhere in Europe, this website on cancer care, Cancer Support, documents a range of Reiki studies and the use of Reiki in hospitals. It notes a list of sample hospitals who offer Reiki healing as part of their patient care.
Reiki Healing and Cancer Treatment in Hospitals
We we all know, Reiki heals on all levels: mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. Cancer patients could potentially benefit from Reiki in a number of ways: as a natural therapy to help build the immune system; to be more relaxed and peaceful in the healing journey and the work towards optimal health; to ease cancer pain & relief from side effects of chemotherapy.
In the context of cancer treatment in hospitals then, the Cancer Support website explains that Reiki healing is offered to patients to complement conventional cancer treatment, but also to people with stress and mood disorders, to complement the treatment of endometriosis, to complement elderly medical services, and as a palliative care offering help at end of life.
Reiki in Hospitals.
Perhaps this should be titled “Reiki Healing in some of America’s Best Hospitals.” These are some examples sourced from the Cancer Support site. Follow the links directly to learn more about how these hospitals embrace Reiki healing as their offering.
In some of America’s best hospitals, such as Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, Reiki is offered to patients to complement conventional cancer treatments. Reiki is part of the hospital’s integrated medical care. Reiki is also offered specifically to gynecology patients and heart patients.
This is just one example of a US-based hospital. There are many others hospitals in the US offering Reiki as complementary care. And not only in the US.
The (alternative health/Reiki) treatments are designed to reduce anxiety and promote healing while you’re undergoing cancer treatments and leave you feeling your best.
For a Canada-based example, I’d like to mention the University Health Network-Princess Margaret Hospital, in Toronto, Ontario. This hospital too offers Reiki treatment (given by nurses) at their lodge for cancer patients and families.
Other hospitals again recognise Reiki’s ability to help cope with cancer pain. I’d like to mention Brigham and Women’s Hospital (America’s Best Hospitals 2009-2013) in Boston, Massachusetts as an example.
This hospital also features a range of documents on their website in an aim to educate the public on hospital care options & services:
- Reiki treatment offered to complement conventional cancer treatments (handbook for patients, families and friends, pp. 7, 10)
- Reiki mentioned in a handbook on coping with cancer pain (p. 4)
- Monthly Reiki share sessions offered to nurses and visitors (newsletter for nurses, Feb. 2009)
- Reiki initiation offered to nurses (newsletter for nurses, Nov. 2006)
- Peri-operative nurses inform their colleagues on complementary therapies including Reiki (newsletter for nurses, Dec. 2007)
- Nurse-Reiki practitioner’s testimonial (newsletter for nurses, Aug. 2005)
- Study of complementary medicines including Reiki in men with prostate cancer (radiation oncology research).
While some of these documents are a few years old now, I am sure they are continually updated and 2013-2014 editions are available if you visit the website and/or ask for it at reception.
These sites and links are to educate you on how hospitals relate to Reiki healing and give you clues as to what kind of language to use and approach to take when talking to your local hospital which may not yet be embracing Reiki.
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So then, if you are a Reiki practitioner who wishes to practice Reiki in hospitals that are nearby your home, it is my impression that palliative care units are a logical starting point.
The patients in these units may perhaps never cure from their illness, however they can still heal. It’s kind of where conventional western medicine stops, that’s where you’ll start, in most harmony with existing hospital structures and philosophy.
It is my personal belief that by demonstrating the benefits of Reiki for patients, eventually, traditional medical staff will become more open to Reiki being offered to other patients, alongside with their conventional Western health care.
While you could do a limited number of hours of voluntary work in the hospitals, be sure to bring your contact details in a tailored Reiki brochure along to share as appropriate. Family members of patients in palliative care who may not even be able to come to visitor hours in hospitals could benefit from Reiki healing, gaining some relief of their suffering and upcoming loss.
These are just some ideas to help you further work in bringing your Reiki in hospitals. My major takeaway for you today is to simply pursue what you are inspired to, giving regard to how hospitals would like to be approached. By first understanding how hospitals operate, the language they speak and the mentality they have, the right words and phrases will roll off your tongue when talking to them. Hospitals aim to cure while you aim to heal. While there is a difference, there is an overlap as well. Use your judgment as to which aspect to emphasize.
Reiki in Hospitals – Additional Reading
There are a couple of books that I’d like to recommend as further reading:
1. Massage for the Hospital Patient and Medically Frail Client (LWW In Touch Series)
2. Reiki Energy Medicine: Bringing Healing Touch into Home, Hospital, and Hospice
Click the links to learn more about the books and to purchase them. You will find that they both emphasize how you as a practitioner could best fit into the hospital structure and setting.
If you have any questions or further points to add, please leave a comment below so we can develop the discussion on this important topic.