Reiki Roundup

Penang, Malaysia: The National Stroke Association of Malaysia now offers Reiki for stroke patients, to "help them heal themselves," according to an article in The Star.

Washington, D.C.: "A hard look at soft therapies" is how Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, describes the Pentagon's $5 million plan to study the use of such modalities as acupuncture, yoga, meditation, qigong, and Reiki to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries, and other problems.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Reiki practitioner Charlotte Ewer gets a nice writeup in the Inquirer about the gardens she created and maintains at the retirement community where she lives.

St. Petersburg, Florida: Uncertain economic times will be the focus of the annual Day of Prayer at the Esperanza Interfaith Center. Reiki practitioners will be among those offering advice, meditations, and healing services at the gathering.

Freehold, New Jersey: A clinical psychologist who also practices Reiki offers an intriguing statistic in a local newspaper feature: 35 U.S. hospitals now have "full Reiki departments," Dr. Madhu Sehgal is quoted as saying. We have to follow up on that and find out what constitutes a "full Reiki department." (Does it include a Reiki ward?) The article is mostly accurate, although it does credit Hawayo Takata with bringing Reiki to the west more than a decade after she died.

Santa Ynez, California: Reiki is one of the modalities used by dressage trainer Susan Derr Drake to help riders and horses connect.

Southampton, New York: A Reiki practitioner and her husband are starting a new business based on story sharing.