Reiki Roundup

Our ace reporter, Google News, seems to have become a bit nearsighted of late. We ask it to scan the globe for news about Reiki, but the last few weeks it's been searching almost exclusively on the United States -- most likely because we're searching from within the U.S. 

This week, we've specifically assigned it to search several other countries, and in other languages, in hopes of better serving global community of readers in more than 150 countries.

We begin in Swindon in the United Kingdom, where Reiki Awareness Week will be celebrated June 6-13. Highlights include a radio broadcast about Reiki and free Reiki sessions at the public library.

From there, we travel to Argentina for an El Turista article about the benefits of Reiki, and on to Chile for an article on Reiki and eating. 

Next stop, Armentieres, France, where we find a brief article about Reiki for health and well-being. We go from there to Austria, where -- gesundheit! -- we find a derStandard article about complementary medicine that mentions Reiki.

In the United Arab Emirates, Reiki gets a mention in an article on dealing with stress. And in British Columbia, Canada, hospice volunteers are being trained in Reiki and other modalities.

In Israel, the Jerusalem post has an article on a "spiritual bar-cafe" where a "former world Reiki master"  with a "million dollar career" is one of the featured attractions. We've never heard of a "world Reiki master" and we wonder what that is, exactly, and how it differs from any other Reiki master. We've also never heard of a Reiki master with a million dollar career -- not in Reiki, anyway.  

A local (but not global) Reiki master gets a writeup in the Falkensee, Germany, newspaper. And in India, we discover in a report from London that Jennifer Aniston's dog, Norman -- a frequent Reiki recipient -- is not always as welcome on the set as his owner might like.

There are a few Reiki news items from the U.S. as well, including this one (with a lovely photo) from the Star-News in Wilmington, North Carolina, and a Davenport, Iowa, article about entrepreneurs, including a Reiki practitioner, whose businesses are flourishing despite the slow economy.

In Orange County, California, Marcus at California Reiki has a great article on how Reiki has helped a breast cancer survivor. And in Florida, Pamir of Reiki Help blog is celebrating the tweeting and plurking of his 200th Reiki One-Liner(SM). Congratulations, Pamir!

Finally, in addition to our ongoing conversation here, there's a lively discussion under way at Pamela Miles's new blog on "Bishops' Syndrome" -- that's her name for the "unfortunate malaise" (as she puts it) that's spreading as fast as swine flu. The symptoms include:

• incomplete information
  
• inadequate investigation
  
• illogical conclusions
  
• finger-pointing
  
• arbitrary lines drawn in sand
  

The comments so far show that many Reiki practitioners are just now learning about the March 25 statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops denouncing Reiki.

And at About.com, Holistic Healing Guide Phylameana Iila Desy also has addressed the Catholic/Reiki controversy -- and so have her readers. 

We've received some comments on that very subject since our last issue, including this from Pamir:

While the Bishops' statement is not irrelevant, I question (with an open mind) if it's really worthy of so much attention and energy.

I've been teaching Reiki for 15 years and haven't received a single question from my students.

I haven't commented here for the reason below and am doing so now to say this:

"Opponents confront us continually, but actually there is no opponent there. Enter deeply into an attack and neutralize it as you draw that misdirected force into your own sphere." --Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido

Thanks, Pamir.  

David responded to Pamir's comment:

It's unfortunate that the Bishop's statement is not completely irrelevant: Reiki is being discontinued in certain Catholic institutions.

I, too, wondered about the energy being spent trying to "reason" with an almost completely "unreasonable" institution. Logic is not what makes the Catholic Church tick.

It is imortant, however, that everyone who is writing so eloquently and energetically is presenting the truth about Reiki to the public, and that the Bishop's ignorance is being challenged.

Thank you all for doing it!

Pamir replied:

Reiki is and will always be. This is a blip on the horizon of Reiki.

And Reiki Master Tim wrote:

I am shocked. It is everywhere in the Bible about healing hands. for instance, 1Cor 12 7;9 and in Mark16 18 and in luke17 11;19 also in Acts4 30 also in Acts 28 8;9 and also in John 14 12. how can the Pope condem this when there is proof? It is in the greatest book ever written,,,,The Holy Bible

A clarification regarding that last comment: the Pope has yet to offer an opinion on Reiki publicly -- the March statement was from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Perhaps some of the misinformation on which the bishops' statement was based can be cleared up before the Pope addresses the issue. From what we've read, many Reiki practitioners are "sending Reiki to the situation."