Saturday, June 12, 2010

Reiki tiki bullshit

I’m calling bullshit on Reiki, or “Healing Hands.”

When you begin, focus on the palms of your hands, relax, and slowly feel the higher energies filter through them. This may create a sensation of heat or tingling. here's what's going on. You raise your frequency ... bring in higher balanced energy ... transmit it to the other person by touching them, or holding your hands near their body. Some people wash their hands before and after a healing session.

I saw Healing Hands demonstrated a few nights ago. A woman named Laura was talking to me when she started experiencing acute pain. She is confined to a powered chair because of several different serious disabilities. Despite her limitations, she volunteers with a therapy dog at the VA Hospital. I found her odd, but likeable. More importantly, the service she provided to the patients on the cancer ward was invaluable. How could I not like her?

Before Laura’s pain started, she started experiencing blurry vision and was sweating from the right side of her body. As the pain started, Laura’s face became flushed and her eyes started rolling in her head. Since we were in a hospital waiting room, I alerted the nursing staff to the problem. An RN approached to help. What she did next blew me away.

She asked if she could use Healing Hands to release Laura’s pain. She claimed to be a master at Reiki. Laura agreed. I watched as she placed a hand above Laura’s head and one behind her back while she concentrated with her eyes closed. After a few moments she made motions like she was pulling something out of Laura’s body and throwing it away. She repeated this several times with her hands in different positions. The process took 5 to 6 minutes. She stopped when paged to a patient’s room. Laura did not notice. Her pain was overwhelming. I started to call the emergency room EMTs. She stopped me by saying, “I just need my morphine.”

I helped her get to her meds and watched as she prepared a dose using a syringe. She squirted it into her mouth then leaned back in her chair and moaned. After watching this, I suspected that drug dependency was one of her disabilities. After a few minutes she seemed to recover, although she was still in pain. The RN stopped by and said, “Glad I could help.” I let it go.