Reiki therapy is a way of guiding energy throughout the body to promote the recipient’s self-healing abilities, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). (5) The Reiki practitioner doesn’t cause the healing, nor are they the source of that healing energy; they’re a channel for the energy — similar to the way a garden hose acts as a channel for water, according to a review published in December 2014 in the journal Pain Management Nursing. (6)

“I’m an open channel, and [the Reiki recipient’s] body takes that energy and does whatever it needs with it,” explains Vickie Bodner, a licensed massage therapist and Reiki master at the center for integrative medicine at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

The word “Reiki” is a combination of two Japanese words: “rei,” which means “God’s wisdom,” or “the higher power,” and “ki,” which means “life force energy.” (2)

“Ki is the life force energy that animates all living things,” says Joan Maute, a licensed Reiki master teacher who practices in Waikoloa, Hawaii, and Charlottesville, Virginia. Put together, “rei” and “ki” mean “spiritually guided life force energy.” (2)

Reiki is taught according to the Japanese tradition of the “sensei” (teacher) who passes the knowledge to the student through attunement, an initiation ceremony that is thought to open the student’s energy channels to facilitate the flow of healing energy, according to an article in the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology. (7) Once open, these channels remain open for the rest of your life. (8)