The Center for Reiki Research invites you to take part in a study to better understand the personal, psychological, and spiritual qualities that may contribute to what is described in the research literature as the “healing presence” in Reiki practitioners. Healing presence refers to a state of awareness and relational engagement through which a practitioner may support physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being in others. While previous research has primarily focused on the outcomes of Reiki treatments, relatively little research has examined the inner qualities and lived experiences of the practitioners themselves. This study seeks to explore qualities such as empathy, compassion, mindfulness, spirituality, intention, and transpersonal awareness, as well as early life and childhood experiences, using validated questionnaires and structured survey items. By examining these factors together, the study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how personal history and inner qualities may relate to healing presence in Reiki practice and to inform future research in this area.

If you choose to take part, you will be asked to complete a one-time anonymous online questionnaire, which will take approximately 20–30 minutes to complete. The questionnaire includes questions about your demographic background, Reiki training and practice experience, and a series of standardized questionnaires that assess characteristics related to healing presence, such as empathy, compassion, mindfulness, spirituality, universal love, and related experiences. The questionnaire also includes questions about early life and childhood experiences, including adverse childhood experiences. Examples of these questions include whether, during your first 18 years of life, you experienced situations such as feeling unsupported or unloved within your household, or whether a household member experienced mental health difficulties. In addition, the questionnaire includes items relating to noetic beliefs and experiences and extrasensory perception (ESP), including experiences that may occur during Reiki sessions or in everyday life, such as sensing emotions, receiving sudden knowledge or insight, or perceiving information beyond ordinary sensory channels.

There are no intended personal benefits associated with taking part; however, the findings may help the researchers in determining how personal history and inner qualities relate to healing presence in Reiki practitioners and may inform future research in this area.

Take the survey here. 

CRR, in collaboration with World Reiki Research and Harvard University, has just published the results of a landmark study evaluating whether specific subjective Reiki experiences are associated with changes in health-related symptoms using regression and mediation analyses. Ninety-nine Reiki practitioners had clients complete a survey before and after 1,284 Reiki (60-minute in-person) sessions.

Linear regression analyses explored associations between subjective Reiki experiences and changes in well-being, pain, and anxiety, while controlling for age and gender. Mediation models tested whether pain and anxiety changes mediated the relationship between subjective Reiki experiences and improvements in well-being.

Experiencing positive emotions was significantly associated with higher well-being and reduced anxiety, and experiencing such body sensations as tingling or warmth was significantly associated with greater pain relief. There was a significant indirect effect of body sensations on well-being via pain relief, a significant indirect effect of positive emotions on well-being via anxiety reduction, and a significant indirect effect of emotional release on well-being via anxiety reduction.

The results suggest that the subjective experience of receiving Reiki is related to changes in different psychological and physical health symptoms. More work is needed to confirm these findings while addressing the limitations of the current study.

This study is a novel contribution to biofield therapy research in several ways. First, it explores how Reiki works through specific psychological and physical pathways through employing a mediation analysis to quantify both indirect and direct effects, providing robust empirical support for the underlying mechanisms. Second, this study integrates both psychological (anxiety) and physical (pain) mediators, offering a more holistic understanding of Reiki’s effects. Third, it offers a framework to provide evidence for Reiki’s acceptance in clinical settings by linking subjective experiences to measurable changes in physiological and psychological health. Importantly, by identifying how Reiki may exert its effects (e.g., through pain relief or anxiety reduction), this analysis begins to answer the “why” question often missing in complementary and integrative medicine research. Understanding not only whether Reiki improves outcomes, but also how and why it does so, is central to advancing the evidence base for complementary and integrative medicine. Most prior Reiki research has demonstrated symptom improvements without clarifying the underlying processes. By employing mediation analysis, the present study provides a step toward explaining the why. When participants experience physical sensations (such as warmth or tingling), this is linked to reductions in pain, which in turn enhances overall well-being. Similarly, when participants experience positive emotions or emotional release, these appear to lower anxiety, which then improves well-being. In this way, the “how” is represented by the mediating pathways (pain relief, anxiety reduction), while the “why” lies in the role of subjective experience as the active ingredient that drives those changes. This shift from describing Reiki’s effects to explaining them is a step toward building evidence and integrating Reiki into broader models of health care.

Congratulations to the authors: CRR Research Assistant Elisenda Cama i Gibernau, CRR Director Akleema Ali and CRR President Natalie Dyer.

Read the paper here.