As a REIKI Master Trainer, I am very happy to have Dr. Oz recognize the
amazing, loving experience which is very alive in REIKI.
I have experienced REIKI for over a decade now, I even have a REIKI finger
to prove it in my own body as a loving reminder of its incredible mind over matter energy.
Some of my very loving friends and spiritual sisters have become REIKI
Masters such as Maria Martinez.
Thank you Dr. Oz for coming out to the public and sharing the reality of REIKI
and how much it can help.
Namaste!
Rev. Barby Soliman
Why Dr. Oz has Embraced the
Healing Powers of Reiki
Recognized across the US for his approachable bedside
manner and extraordinary breadth of medical knowledge,
Dr. Mehmet Oz connects people to important health issues
on his syndicated television program, “The Dr. Oz Show,” one
of the highest-rated daily television programs in the nation.
Drawing an average of 4 million viewers a day, Oz’s voice is a
strong one in the American health community, and he has
spoken loudly and firmly: in addition to traditional medical treatment,
Oz has continually touted the benefits of a holistic healthcare approach.
One of the pillars of this integrative style is the inclusion of Reiki therapy.
“I know firsthand the amazing miracles we can achieve with modern
Western medicine,” Oz said on an episode of his program, “but I also
know that for centuries, people around the world have developed alternative
therapies to treat the body, mind, and the soul.”
Reiki energy healing, in particular, makes Oz’s list of effective medical
alternatives that boost overall health and wellbeing. Why? Put simply,
its ability to rebalance bodily and cognitive systems serves as not only
an instant potential pain reliever but also a long-term preventive therapy.
Offering a non-invasive complement to Western therapies, Reiki may help
ease conditions like headaches, arthritis, and high blood pressure. In the
hands of Reiki Professionals, a patient can experience an increase in
the flow of his or her qi life force by harnessing the power of universal energy.
Energy Medicine
Although the immediate reaction to a Reiki session differs from patient to
patient, Oz points out the healing properties of physical touch. “I actually
feel the heat,” he says, tying this warming sensation to a feeling of reduced
tension and body-mind harmony.
Oz’s wife, Lisa Oz, knows firsthand the benefits of Reiki and its great
potential as a catalyst for medical breakthroughs. As a Reiki master,
she wholly embraces energy healing, pointing out in a recent interview
that “the next wave of medical advances will be when we come to recognize
the body as an energetic system.”
Indeed, Reiki’s capacity for attunement represents a powerful possibility
for this ancient practice. Although the National Institutes of Health has
completed little clinical research, already certain studies from researchers l
ike Thrane and Cohen and DiNucci have noted significant outcomes of energy
healing used for wound healing, anxiety, and palliative treatment for those
suffering from mesothelioma or advanced AIDS. With near zero risk for negative
outcomes, Reiki becomes a viable treatment for a multitude of other ailments, too.
“We are embarking on this whole new vista of opportunities,” Oz says of energy
medicine. “It broadens dramatically the spectrum of where we might be able to
go in our bodies.”
Even while acknowledging the limitations of clinical research, many doctors grant
that Reiki has vast potential. In an interview with O, The Oprah Magazine, Dr. Erin
Olivo, the former director of the Integrative Medicine Program at Columbia University,
notes that Reiki may be helpful for heart conditions, stress-related symptoms, and more.
Balancing Act
Dr. Oz knows about balance. In addition to his illustrious career, Oz – a graduate
of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania medical school – has
authored hundreds of research papers, makes innumerable appearances on
television programs (in addition to his own), serves as a teaching professor at
Columbia University, operates in his original role as cardiothoracic surgeon
every Thursday at Columbia and New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York
City, and still finds time for his wife and four children. For Oz, stress-reducing,
health-fortifying techniques are absolutely essential.
Alongside very traditional, crucial health issues such as nutrition and sleep,
Oz considers Reiki as a vehicle for well-being in his own life and for the
population at large: an opportunity to reset, refocus, and de-stress. In a recent
interview in The New Yorker magazine, Oz contends that a positive state of
mind in a patient can link to a successful surgical outcome. When asked
about lacking research and data in regards to Reiki in particular, Oz was emphatic.
“This is one of the fundamental disconnects between Western medicine and
what people often refer to as complementary medicine,” Oz says in the interview.
“Not everything adds up. It’s about making people more comfortable.”
Oz and Beyond
Though this trusted doctor may be at the forefront of Reiki’s influence in
everyday health and culture, Oz is not alone. Athletes and celebrities have
come to understand the positive effects of Reiki practice, imbuing these
famous folks with a sense of calm in a chaotic world. From Christina
Aguilera’s use of Reiki for weight loss, to golfer Phil Mickelson’s Reiki-inclusive
treatment plan for psoriatic arthritis, Reiki has been used to treat a number
of celebrity ailments, and has even been said to prove a holistic therapy for
Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ellen DeGeneres, among other top
celebrities. The practice’s ability to strengthen determination is key for maintaining
focus and powering through stressful situations. In the case of Aguilera, whose
Reiki methods have been outlined in Women’s Health and elsewhere, Reiki
untangled the complicated spiral of weight gain: people eat when they feel
stressed; for Aguilera, regaining discipline through Reiki stopped the thoughtless
food intake, and unwanted weight shed naturally.
While weight loss is not a concern for Oz, a former football and water polo player
who exercises daily, he believes that Reiki offers a multitude of benefits worth sharing. Occasionally, Oz even invites Reiki masters into his operating room, allowing them
to tend to patients undergoing precarious surgeries like heart transplants. Drawing
on viable unseen energies, Reiki masters like Pamela Miles and Julie Motz have melded their expertise with Oz’s mastery as a heart surgeon.
Ultimately, even with the advent of awe-inducing improvements in medical technology and the treatment of disease, Oz yearns for a simpler time. “I would take us all back a thousand years,” he says in The New Yorker interview, “when our ancestors lived in small villages and there was always a healer in that village.” Through Reiki, Oz has tapped into that ancient past – and, without doubt, he is a healer.
This article appeared in The Reiki Times, Vol. 18, Issue .2
