2.2 million Americans have used Reiki, new NCCAM document states

2.2 million: That's how many adults in the United States are estimated to have ever used Reiki, according to the newly updated Backgrounder on Reiki from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a division of the National Institutes of Health. That 2.2 million estimate is extrapolated from a 2002 survey which found that 1.1 percent of the more than 31,000 survey participants had ever used Reiki for health purposes.

Thanks to Pamela Miles for letting us know about the update, and especially for participating in the revision. "The current document includes important edits that corrected errors of fact and logical inconsistencies," Pamela wrote in her most recent newsletter. "We now have a credible introduction to Reiki available to the public and to health care providers."

The new Backgrounder on Reiki is in the public domain, so you can link to it, post it on your web site, download it, print it out, and give copies to clients, doctors, friends, or anyone else interested in some basic information about this valuable practice.

Here's one of my favorite parts: "Reiki appears to be generally safe, and no serious side effects have been reported."

Although, like most practitioners, we might quibble with a few of the specifics, overall we found the document to be accurate, clear, and succinct. It might even lead a few million more people to try Reiki.

And it leaves us wondering, if that many people in the U.S. have tried Reiki, how many people worldwide have used it? And since those numbers are from 2002, how many have tried Reiki since then?

We look forward to further updates.