07/02/2026
Something came to mind recently that I had not thought about in a while, and I wanted to share it.
A few years ago, a nurse practitioner working on her graduate thesis reached out and asked if I would be willing to be part of her research. Her study was examining the effect of Reiki as a mind-body, holistic intervention on hope and self-efficacy in adults. I was genuinely touched to be asked and said yes without hesitation.
Over four weeks, I offered Reiki sessions to 13 participants, 20 minutes once a week. The majority were offered distant sessions, with participants in different cities and states. A few were in person.
Each participant completed assessments before and after the series, and because the study followed academic and ethical guidelines, participant information was protected by HIPAA, so there is a limit to what I am able to share publicly.
What I can share is that roughly 80% of participants reported feeling more hopeful after their sessions, with many noting that feeling grew stronger after completing all four. The study also examined self-efficacy, though I do not have the full results on that measure to share here. And because this is self-reported data, meaning participants described their own experience rather than being measured clinically, I want to say that clearly. I would rather be honest about that than gloss over it.
What I find myself thinking about is the word hope itself. Hope is about how you relate to what is ahead of you. When someone who is struggling can access even a small shift in their sense of possibility, that is worth paying attention to.
I am not sharing this as proof of anything. Just a personal experience I had almost forgotten about that felt worth passing along. Maybe it is something to contemplate now. Maybe it is something to file away for later. Either way, I am glad I remembered it.
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