Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A Japanese form of alternative medicine believed to involve transferring chi through one's palms.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1970s, from Japanese modern (shinjitai) spelling 霊気 or katakana spelling レイキ, from older (kyujitai) spelling 靈氣, from Mandarin 靈氣 (modern simplified spelling 灵气 (língqì, "spiritual influence, spiritual atmosphere (speaking of mountains)").

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Examples

  • For instance, if you search for the term reiki on Dr. Oz's website, you'll find credulous articles by Lisa Oz (Dr. Oz's wife) saying things like this:

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science Orac none@example.com 2010

  • Now, does that not sound familiar to the meaning of the Japanese word reiki?

    The Jakarta Post Breaking News 2010

  • Now, does that not sound familiar to the meaning of the Japanese word reiki?

    The Jakarta Post Breaking News 2010

  • Astral traveling, or remote viewing as it is also called, is just one form of spiritual experience, like transcendental meditation and reiki, that is becoming increasingly popular in Lebanon.

    Astral travelers touch down in Beirut 2003

  • He holds hands, reads sacred texts, massages feet, performs aromatherapy and a relaxation technique called reiki, anything to soothe and comfort.

    Summit Daily News - Top Stories By BILL REED the gazette 2010

  • Yesterday, I expressed dismay at how Dr. Mehmet Oz, the protege of Oprah Winfrey who now has his own popular syndicated daily show, recently named the quackery known as reiki as number one in his list of "gone completely over to the Dark Side."

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science 2010

  • Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center began offering the massage treatment known as reiki

    unknown title 2009

  • You'd not guess this from the descriptions of vendors, who have adopted this as a claimed scientific demonstration of several forms of alternative diagnosis and therapies to "balance the energy field" (whether Mr Oldfield's own electro-crystal therapy or longer-standing systems such as reiki).

    Pseudocolour gives you the PIP Ray Girvan 2005

  • I recently did a post where they actually teach 'reiki' on their website.

    random thoughts for a Thursday night Dymphna 2006

  • a form of healing massage called reiki in which the masseuse usually doesn't even touch you.

    The Daily Iowan - Online Edition 2009

Comments

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  • Loose translation what you often see is 'universal life energy'. One form of energy healing.

    March 2, 2008

  • "The bishops said that Catholics should stop practicing Reiki, a healing therapy that is used in some Catholic hospitals and retreat centers, and which was enthusiastically adopted by many nuns. The bishops said Reiki is both unscientific and non-Christian." (Heh, I wonder which one the Vatican is more pissed off about. /snark)

    "Nuns practicing reiki and running church reform groups may have finally proved too much for the church’s male hierarchy, said Kenneth Briggs, the author of “Double Crossed: Uncovering the Catholic Church’s Betrayal of American Nuns,�? (Doubleday Religion, 2006)."

    —Laurie Goldstein, "U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny," New York Times, July 1, 2009

    July 2, 2009

  • Ha ha! I love that "unscientific and non-Christian" comment.

    July 2, 2009

  • That's actually the single sentence that drew me to post it here. The Vatican is protesting that something's unscientific? (I'm sorry if this comes off as offensive to any Catholics—I'm Catholic myself—but this statement, as well as the rest of the article, deserves consideration.)

    July 2, 2009

  • God's Rottweiler strikes again!

    July 3, 2009

  • Sionnach, doesn't that belong on one of your lists? ;)

    July 3, 2009