Reiki - The Energy That Heals
— Why Science Is Finally Catching Up With What Ancient Wisdom Always Knew
If you have ever been told that Reiki is "just a feel-good therapy" — this post is for you.
We have known for decades that stress kills.
Not in a vague, abstract sense. In a measurable, physiological, documented sense. Chronic stress floods the body with cortisol. Cortisol, sustained over time, suppresses the immune system, drives inflammation, disrupts cellular function and creates the conditions in which disease takes hold. Medical science accepts this without question. We say it casually — "the stress got to him," "her body just gave out" — and nobody argues.
What we are accepting, in those moments, is that a negative energy field — because that is what stress is — can move through the mind, embed itself in the body, and cause measurable physical harm.
Here is what I want to ask you. If we accept that so readily, why is it so difficult to accept the reverse?
The logic we are missing
The body is not a closed, purely mechanical system immune to energetic influence. It never was. We have already proven that. Which means the question was never whether energy affects the body. The question is only whether we are willing to consider that positive energy might do so as well — with the same consistency and measurability that we have already attributed to the negative.
And if you sit with that for a moment, I think you will find you already know it to be true. You have felt it. The hug from someone you love that releases something you did not realise you were holding. The comforting hand on your shoulder that makes the world feel momentarily less heavy. The mother who kisses a child's sore spot — and somehow, it helps. These are not imagined responses. They are the body receiving positive energy and responding to it. We have simply never called it that.
The biofield — what it is and why it makes sense
The biofield is understood as an organising energy field of any living system that regulates and helps maintain the biological system. It is not a new age concept. It is a term accepted by medical and scientific institutions to describe something that Eastern healing traditions have understood for thousands of years — that the human body is not just a physical structure, but an energetic one.
Reiki originated in Japan. It is a non-invasive healing therapy that works with the universal life force believed to flow from the hands of a practitioner to a willing recipient, facilitating physical, emotional or spiritual healing depending on the needs of the recipient.
The laying on of hands as a healing practice is not uniquely Japanese. It appears across cultures and centuries — in ancient Egyptian medicine, in traditional Chinese healing, in Indigenous practices across the world. The understanding that one person's energy can positively affect another's is not fringe. It is ancient, cross-cultural and now increasingly evidenced.
Meditation is another form of energy work most people are already familiar with — and research is now showing why it works in ways that go far beyond relaxation. A 2025 University of California San Diego study found that meditation produces measurable neural and molecular changes, including shifts in brain network connectivity and markers of neuroplasticity. The body responds. The brain rewires. The energy of stillness is not passive — it is actively transformative. If you are curious about exploring this for yourself, The Listening Sanctuary offers a growing collection of guided meditations created for exactly these moments.
What the research is now showing
A significant study reviewed Reiki sessions provided to cancer patients receiving infusion treatments including chemotherapy across two major hospital centres. Patients completed standardised symptom assessments before and after each session. The results showed clinically meaningful improvements across every measure — pain, fatigue, anxiety, nausea and overall wellbeing — following Reiki received during their infusion treatments.
Read that again. Not before treatment. Not after. During chemotherapy infusion. Participants reported clinically significant improvements in pain, fatigue, anxiety and nausea, alongside a qualitatively positive healing experience.
Rising acceptance and availability of biofield therapies within cancer services in mainstream medicine has been noted, with positive outcomes extensively reported across multiple studies.
A separate 2026 study examining Reiki awareness among health professionals found something equally important — while Reiki is gaining recognition as a complementary therapy with clinical application, awareness of it remains lower than other complementary and alternative medicine practices. People who could benefit from it simply do not know it exists or that it is available to them.
That gap in awareness matters. And it is part of why I am writing this.
What this means in practice
Reiki is not a replacement for medical treatment. It is a complementary therapy — meaning it works alongside whatever medical care a person is receiving, not instead of it. It assists the body in finding balance. It assists in reducing the physiological burden of stress and fear. It assists in creating the internal conditions in which healing becomes more possible.
Biofield therapies reflect the concept that human health is connected to subtle forms of energy that surround and penetrate the human form — and Reiki, as one such therapy, is being explored as a complement to standard treatments across a growing range of health conditions.
For someone moving through cancer treatment, grief, chronic pain, anxiety or the accumulated weight of a life under pressure — that is not nothing. That is significant.
A closing thought
We live in a world that readily accepts the damage that invisible forces do to us. Stress. Cortisol. Anxiety. Fear. We cannot see any of these things. We cannot hold them in our hands. But we have measured their impact on the body, and we believe in them completely.
I am asking you to hold open the same possibility in the other direction. That the body — which has been shown to be so responsive to the energy of fear and pressure — might also be responsive to the energy of stillness, presence and care.
That is what Reiki offers. It always has.
If you are curious about experiencing a Reiki session — whether you are navigating something significant or simply feel called to explore — I would be honoured to hold that space for you.
Whenever you are ready. I will be here.
References
Büyükbayram, Z. et al. (2024). The effect of Reiki applied to cancer patients on pain, anxiety, and stress levels: A randomized controlled study. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749208124002912
Zadro, S. & Stapleton, P. (2026). Awareness and use of Reiki, Reiki research, energy healing, and complementary medicine amongst Australian health professionals and the community. Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health.https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/27536130261434249
Jinich-Diamant, A. et al. (2025). Neural and molecular changes during a mind-body reconceptualization, meditation, and open label placebo healing intervention. Communications Biology / University of California San Diego.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763425003975