The Reiki Roundup

Last week was the anniversary of the tragic I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota, and Minnesota Public Radio's Laura Yuen did a report on how Reiki is helping some of the survivors cope. MPR did a wonderful job combining audio, slideshow and text to tell the story.

Ever heard Reiki dismissed as having nothing more than a placebo effect? That's not as dismissive as it might seem. In our opinion it's much more than that, but even so, the placebo effect is quite powerful all by itself, as Salon tells us in an article headlined, "Why 'placebo' is not a dirty word." For example, a study found that people who had "sham" arthroscopic surgery -- general anesthesia with only superficial incisions on the skin -- "reported as much pain relief and improved mobility as patients who underwent the actual procedure."

In Stockton, California, a reporter visits a Reiki gathering and comes away confused, because one practitioner in attendance found it necessary to announce that he was clairvoyant.

But Reiki isn't as "out there" as some people think, a veteran nurse tells a reporter in Ireland, where there are now hundreds of Reiki practitioners despite denouncements from some in the Catholic Church there.

Reiki master Lisa Oz gets a mention in a Forbes article about her husband, Dr. Mehmet Oz, headlined "Oprah loves this doctor." The article says Dr. Oz will soon have his own show, so we now expand our quest to get Reiki on Oprah to add our hopes it will get more than a mention on Dr. Oz's show as well.

Anti-alternative and complementary medicine author Simon Singh and I have something in common: "Don't get him started on reiki massage," is the lead sentence of an article about him in The List. Hey, don't get me started on that subject: Reiki is not massage! Massage is not Reiki! Some people practice both! There's a lot of misinformation out there! Singh, on the other hand, seems to dismiss all complementary and alternative modalities as quackery.

And the University of New Mexico is about to open its Center for Life Integrative Medicine Specialty Clinic (unless Dr. Singh can convince them not to before the August 15 grand opening). The center will offer "integrative medicine consults; acupuncture and Chinese medicine; chronic pain evaluation; myofascial trigger point techniques; massage therapy and aesthetics; psychology and hypnotherapy; stress-reduction evaluations and techniques; Ayurvedic lifestyle counseling, nutrition and Reiki; and opportunities to meet with curanderas and other traditional healers. The center also will offer classes, such as Nia technique; Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction; Mindful Eating and Living; yoga; and Qi Gong," according to New Mexico Business Daily.