Corroboration Among Clairvoyant “Seers” During Reiki Energy Medicine Sessions

Introduction: Reiki is a type of energy medicine with growing evidence for its benefit for various conditions and populations. The “energy” in energy medicine implies a life force rather than a conventional physics definition, and many people feel they can perceive this energy through extended perception beyond their traditional five senses.

Methods: This study evaluated clairvoyant perception during Reiki energy medicine sessions. Six expert Reiki Masters gave 30-minute sessions to 40 participants. Participants had one or more of the following conditions: acute physical injury (such as broken bone), mental impairment (memory issues), and psychological symptoms (anxiety and/or depression). Six people vetted for clairvoyant perception made observations before, during, and after sessions using quantitative and qualitative measures. Participants and Reiki Masters also recorded their observations. Data were analyzed for corroboration: 1) within-seers, 2) between the Reiki Master and seers, 3) between the participant and Reiki Master, and 4) between the participant and seers. Participants’ well-being outcomes and potential predictors were also evaluated.

Results: Well-being improved after the sessions (F(3,159) = 12.3, p <0.00005; baseline: 55.7 ± 18.8, before: 58.9 ± 18.1, after: 73.2 ± 16.2, one-week later: 64.3 ± 20.3; effect size was 0.61, 95% confidence interval [0.39 to 0.59]). The seers generally reported similar information in free-form drawings and free text. Seers’ observations about the participants’ health were highly corroborated and matched participants’ self-report. No predictors revealed themselves, supporting the tradition that Reiki applies to anyone regardless of health condition. Furthermore, the symbols seers noted were meaningful to the participants, but seers did not see the same symbols nor ascribe the same meaning to them that the participants did. There were, however, numerous instances where the seers mentioned angels. In these instances, the participant also thought of them as guides and helpers. Angels were explicitly mentioned in 23 sessions of the 40 sessions. In these cases, the meaning ascribed to angels by seer and participant was the same.

Discussion: Participants’ well-being improved from a 30-minute Reiki session, maintaining improvements one week later. There was evidence from multiple data and analyses that seers observe similar information during Reiki sessions. Furthermore, there was correspondence between the seers’ observations of the participants’ health condition and participants’ self-reported health. Future studies are needed to refine the methods developed here to continue the exploration of extended perception, including its validity and its practical application in healthcare.