E-Newsletter:
How Nurses Are Mainstreaming Reiki (8/11)
Last month's e-newsletter showed energy healing is popular among nurses and gaining mainstream acceptance. Those are connected. Nurses are introducing energy healing to their patients, colleagues and other medical professionals, and they're explaining it in the context of traditional, established caring models. Here's how nurses are mainstreaming energy healing - and why they deserve a big Reiki hug:
Nurses Are Introducing Healthcare Professionals to Reiki.
Nursing journals frequently publish introductory energy healing articles. The July-August 2011 issue of Holistic Nursing Practice introduces cardiovascular disease management using biofield therapies - Reiki plus nurse-developed Healing Touch and Therapeutic Touch. Two RNs from Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., explain Healing Touch's benefits in the Fall 2010 issue of Beginnings: The Official Magazine of the American Holistic Nurses Association, and Therapeutic Touch got an article in German pediatric nursing journal Kinderkrankenschwester in September 2010.
Nurses Are Leading Reiki Research.
Nursing instructors are often the lead authors of energy healing research. A professor from CUNY Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing is the lead author of an article in the January-February 2011 issue of Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing discussing the successful study design behind 2008's trials of Therapeutic Touch energywork on bone and bone cancer cells.
A nursing professor from the University of Granada in Granada, Spain, is the lead author on a placebo-controlled, repeated measures, crossover, single-blind, randomized Reiki trial published in the August 2011 issue of Biological Research for Nursing. In this trial, Reiki - but not sham Reiki - significantly increased heart rate variability (HRV), decreased low-frequency HRV and increased body temperature, suggesting Reiki slows the parasympathetic nervous system (breathing, digestion), sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight) and metabolic activity to aid relaxation.
Nurses Are Adding Reiki to Their Caring Standards.
In 2010's Creative Nursing, an RN trained in Reiki and Healing Touch noted "Reiki and other energy modalities are included in the scope of nursing standards in many states," and now "Disturbed Energy Field" is a NANDA-recognized nursing diagnosis.
Nurses Are Pioneering Reiki Programs in Hospitals.
Critical Care Nursing Quarterly for July-September 2011 pointed out Reiki can help hospital patients and staff deal with stress created by the "complexity and intensity of critical care" environments. Thanks mainly to nurses, many hospitals are already offering energy healing services.
The September-October 2011 issue of Holistic Nursing Practice looks at two ANCC-designated Magnet hospitals' Reiki programs. Started by a nurse who is also a Reiki practitioner, the Reiki program at Abington Memorial Hospital in Abington, Pa., has "evolved" over the last ten years. It now includes "a policy and annual competency" requirements for nurses who practice Reiki. Such programs have led the way for others, like the one at University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., which, in contrast, is directed by a Reiki Master/Teacher and staffed by volunteers.
Unfortunately, hospital energy healing programs are still few and far between. In the Chicago area, if you've been diagnosed cancer, you can receive free Reiki or Healing Touch from volunteers at the Wellness House in Hinsdale, Wellness Place in Palatine and Cancer Wellness Center in Northfield.
You can always work with a private practitioner, though. Email erik@chicagohealingstudio.com or call Erik LaBelle, Reiki Master/Teacher, at 312-504-7693 to schedule an appointment for your Reiki healing session.
Anna Schibrowsky
Chicago Healing Studio
