Illness, they say, is the blocking and depletion of body energy. Its practitioners say it is meant to supplement traditional healing techniques, not to replace them. Cancer patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York receive reiki. At least six doctors and 12 nurses at Sloan Kettering have taken reiki training. The Reiki Clinic at the Tucson Medical Center has a team of reiki practitioners, and hospitals in Cleveland are considering opening clinics.
Nobody really knows why reiki works.
Touch makes babies grow and cats purr and children calm down. Practitioners of these ancient healing arts claim that touch also makes people heal from illnesses and from physical and mental wounds. It opens the mind and spirit to the cause of disease. The cause of so many illnesses is emotional. When clients receive reiki, old things come to the surface to be released.