When I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism three years ago, my mom immediately began looking for more “natural” things to help me. We went to Indonesia a year after my diagnosis, there they have this thing called a Reiki Master who is supposed to balance out the good and 
evils within a body. Defined by Kathleen Whelan and Gracie Wishing as “a complementary healing method to enhance an overall sense of well being, reduce pain, decrease stress, and foster relaxation”. After I got my treatment, I did feel better, more at peace- but was this a result of confirmation bias?
A randomized control trial done in Seattle, Washington where 100 patients who suffered from Fibromyalgia a chronic pain condition, were tested with Reiki Masters or an actor. The objective of this experiment was find whether or not Reiki helped with the pain. The results from this trial was that Reiki did not help the patients symptoms. All of the outcomes were identical to those who were treated by the actors.
Not many trials have been done on this idea, it’s a hard concept to come to terms with because it is not something that is measured statistically. Yes, you can do an experiment by which I meant there is a control group and a tested group, but how these groups are measured is by observations. A potential problem with doing lots of experiments with Reiki is the Texas sharpshooter idea. The concept of Reiki is very cool and it would be great if it could help someone, but if too many experiments are done, than something is bound to come up as Reiki working.
The idea of Reiki is really cool, I felt much more relaxed and at peace with myself and bo
dy, but maybe that was because I was laying on a comfy massage table with my eyes closed for over an hour. It might have been confirmation bias for me because I would really love for it to work for me. But who knows, after all Reiki is a very spiritual matter so it is really hard to judge.
To see a Reiki master in action, click this link!
Caitlin-
Exactly! It’s basically the placebo affect- when you think something is happening even if it isn’t actually going on. My statistics teacher last year explained this concept to me really well and her analogy was that if a group of people had a headache and half of them were given an ibuprofen and the other half were given a pill that looked just like that but did nothing (placebo), many times the patient will believe their headache went away (even if they were given the placebo) because they had so much faith in the pill. This could easily be what happens with Reiki, you want to feel so balanced so that you force your brain into thinking that you are. By the way, great name!!
I have never heard of Reiki until I read this blog and it seems so interesting! I looked it up and found this cool video on it. I agree with you, I think it does seem really awesome and relaxing. But I also see your point how it could just be because you are laying down comfortably. Kind of like going to a spa relaxes someone. They say Reiki is instinctive, and something we do almost on a daily basis. Although I do not think it can help completely, sometimes people say even THINKING something is supposed to help your pain actually makes you feel as if the pain is lightened.