Reiki on himself and his family and then began to share his knowledge with the
larger public. He opened a clinic in Tokyo in 1922 and his fame for healing spread
quickly all over Japan. Reiki was introduced in the United States by Hawayo Takata,
a Japanese-American woman, who studied with Dr. Usui.
The Education of Therapeutic Hands
Therapeutic Touch does not require extensive formal training. It can be learned by
most anyone who is motivated by compassion and committed to helping others.
Family members can be taught how to use it effectively with their loved ones. In
fact, one of the leading researchers and teachers of this method, Janet Quinn, Ph.D.,
R.N., has created a videotape home-study course for family caregivers. (See the
Resource section.)
Nurses who seek certification as Healing Touch practitioners from the AHNA are
expected to do extensive reading, including books about techniques, healing tradi-
tions, self-healing, and possible theoretical explanations. The preparation may take
two to three years of study. Most programs strongly emphasize “healer, heal thyself,”
and practitioners are encouraged to process their own issues.
Reiki is usually learned from a Reiki Master. There are two degrees in Reiki healing,
as well as a Master degree that prepares one to teach others. Most people can com-
plete the first degree in a weekend course. The content includes historical informa-
tion, the concept of energy healing, how to transfer energy from oneself to another
person, and the hand positions used in healing. The second degree, also done over a
weekend, includes learning how to do distant healing and further enhancement of
your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing abilities. The Master degree
takes years of additional study and a training mentorship with a Master Reiki practi-
tioner.
How do Energy-Balancing Therapies Work?
By any name—chi, ki, prana, subtle energy—a life force energy is universally recog-
nized in biofield therapies as the core of life and the driving force in healing. The
belief is that all living beings are complex networks of interwoven vibratory fields
surrounded by an energy field, and that energy centers within that biofield control
the energy flow into and out of the body. It is at this level of the subtle energy sys-
tem that both health and illness originate. Energy field theory is based on quantum
physics theory, which posits that matter is energy and that all things generate vibra-
tory fields interconnected by mathematical laws.
Although no adequate Western scientific evidence currently supports the existence of
this human energy field, many of the most sophisticated instruments widely used in
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