Reiki Is Spiritual Xanax: Avoid Quick Fix Mental Health
Let"s face it, nowadays there is a pill for everything! You feel down, take a pill. You feel anxious, take a pill. You want to lose weight, take a pill. Less stress?, take a pill! We are in a day and age where people will channel money and energy into quick fix and no wait scams. Convenience is taking over and we see it everywhere. No more do people stand on the Chipolte line for their burrito bowl, they preorder it online, pay and pick it up when it's ready. Online shopping through apps and trendy subscription services have changed how people buy clothes, food, electronics, hair care, vitamins, makeup, you name it! We see this magnified on Facebook and Instagram. Social media bombards us with advertisements for meal prep services, quick acting weight loss programs, magical wellness elixirs, hair growth formulas, overnight wrinkle erasers and personal shoppers. Entertainment streaming networks roll out the entire season of our favorite shows, eliminating the childlike anticipation of what will happen next week! What about self and mental health? The same pattern exists within western medicine and it is a major cause for concern.
The use of psychotropic drugs by adult Americans increased 22 percent from 2001 to 2018, with one in five adults now taking at least one psychotropic medication, according to industry data, Americans spent more than $16 billion on anti psychotics, $11 billion on antidepressants and $7 billion for drugs to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).The rapid growth of all three classes of drugs has alarmed some mental health professionals, who are concerned about the administration of powerful anti psychotic drugs by people who think they are a quick fix or a replacement for therapeutic intervention. Often, these drugs are administered to those who do not need to be taking them as their symptoms can be reduced with sought out treatments such as holistic healing, traditional therapy, meditation and mindfulness.
One specific healing modality that is racing to the top of the charts is Reiki. What is Reiki? Reiki is a non-denominational eastern energy balancing practice that was made popular in America in the 80's. Reiki utilizes source energy (which is believed to exist all around us) to remove emotional and mental blockages that inhibit the balanced flow of chi (energy) within a patient, resulting in a more relaxed and optimized body, mind and spirit.
Reiki, as we know it, was founded by Dr. Mikao Usui in Japan in the 1920s during a deep meditation. Usui was a Buddhist teacher and healer who was seeking to discover divine spiritual healing powers. It is said that he discovered reiki on a retreat into the mountains. The answer came into his mind and heart and when he returned to his village he wrote the first known reiki manual and formed his school. Even though he died soon after, the expansion of his school and it's teachers led to visits from all over of the world to study and receive healing, as the word was getting out about this magical energy. Cases of reiki curing cancer and other serious illnesses circulated and called a woman from Hawaii to seek treatment in Japan. After being cured and receiving her master degree, Mrs. Takata brought reiki into western society and although it went though some changes, it has become one of the most popular energy medicine modalities used today.
Psychopharmacology and the like are not a quick fix and professionals are beginning to see that as the opioid epidemic rises in this country. 80 percent of heroin addicts were first addicted to prescription drugs. 80 percent of adults over 40 and 10 percent under 40 use at least one prescription drug daily and 20 percent of them are on or addicted to antidepressants or anti anxiety medication. The fact that reiki exists and is known to impact mental health hastily, is on the rise. A survey conducted in 2007 indicates that in the earlier year 1.2 million adults and 161,000 children in the U.S. received one or more energy healing sessions such as Reiki. This has now doubled.
Reiki is also gaining wider acceptance in the medical establishment. Hospitals are incorporating it into their roster of patient services, often with their own Reiki-trained physicians, nurses and support staff. Reikiwas in use in hospital operating rooms as earlyas the mid-90's. Since then, its acceptance in medicine has grown. It isnow listed in a nursing "scope and standards of practice" publication as an accepted form of care, and a 2008 USA Today article reported that in 2007 15% of U.S. hospitals (over 800) offered Reikias a regular part of patient services. Today that number has also grown.
A research study at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut indicates that Reikiimproved patient sleep by 86 percent, reduced pain by 78 percent, reduced nausea by 80 percent, and reduced anxiety during pregnancy by 94 percent. The Center for ReikiResearch completed the Touchstone Project, which summarized Reikistudies published in peer-reviewed journals. The 25 studies examined were further evaluated to decide the effectiveness of Reiki. Theconclusion states: "Overall, based on the summaries of those studies that were rated according to scientific rigor as "VeryGood" or "Excellent" by at least one reviewer and were not rated as weak by any reviewer, 83 percent show moderate to strong evidence in support of Reikias a therapeutic modality. A 2004 study followed patients being treated for mild depression and stress. After six weeks of treatment and for up to a year afterward, those who had received Reiki showed both immediate and long-term improvements in depression, stress and hopelessness. In a small study, there was a complete elimination of typical postoperative depression in heart surgery patients given Reiki during surgery!
I believe in the faster service, less wait time and the "I want it now", era, I do! Some concerns in life need the proper time and care to be beneficial. Mental, spiritual and emotional health is one of them. Popping a pill when anxious may relieve a symptom but it will not dissolve the trigger and emotional block that is causing the anxiety. For example, I used to take a pill to help me sleep, until I started administering reiki on myself before bed. Most often I feel asleep faster and woke up feeling refreshed and energized, unlike the groggy morning after feeling a pill supplied. As time passed, I noticed I automatically would fall sleep without any help!
Is reiki a quick fix? No, but it supplies the same feeling as a quick fix pill with longer lasting results that support body, mind and spirit balance and if used over time, reiki has been proven to show dramatic results in mental and emotional health and in some cases has helped people get off of their medication. I always tell my clients that reiki is spiritual xanax and if lucky enough to become addicted, they are sure to live a joyful, healthy and spiritually blessed life!
Author: James Bene
Los Angeles Reiki Healing, Hoboken, NJ Reiki Healing
Sources:
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/misuse-prescription-drugs/what-scope-prescription-drug-misuse National Institute of Drug Abuse
Chip Brown, "The Experiments of Dr. Oz,"The New York Times Magazine, July 30, 1995, 20-23.
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Hartford Hospital, Integrative Medicine, Outcomes, http://www.harthosp.org/integrativemed/outcomes/default.aspx#outcome6.Measurements cited were obtained during the initialpilot phase of the study, December 1999 - December 2000.
The Center for ReikiResearch, Touchstone Project, Conclusion, http://www.centerforreikiresearch.org/RRConclusion.aspx.
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