Published University of Utah Reiki Study

I had the incredible opportunity back in 2023 to be hired on as Master Reiki practitioner for the University of Utah’s first Reiki study.

It was a blind study done through (CMIIND) Center on Mindfulness and Integrative Health Intervention Development, and was a chronic pain study utilizing Reiki for pain relief. Volunteers were given four sessions over four weeks. This included being hooked up to brain monitors while receiving either Reiki from one of five real practitioners or “sham” reiki from one of the assistant professors. They did not know who was a real practitioner or which one they were receiving. The head of the study was Adam Hanley. Adam presented these results on the “Telepathy Tapes” podcast and in front of a board of his peers earlier this year.

Working on this research was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. It sharpened many of my skills and helped me realize I wanted to specialize in chronic pain and anxiety/depression cycles in people.

The study was published earlier this year in “Complimentary Therapies in Medicine.” View full study here. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2025.103278

Some of the highlights of the research findings included:

·       Reiki and mindfulness reduced knee osteoarthritis symptoms after four short sessions.


·       Reiki effects were comparable to mindfulness and superior to waitlist controls.



·       Sham Reiki showed short-term benefit but symptoms rebounded by follow-up.



·       Over half of Reiki and mindfulness participants achieved clinically meaningful relief.

·       Reiki may offer a safe, accessible, non-pharmacologic option for chronic knee pain.

·       Reiki showed to provide equal to or better pain relief than opioid medications.

The results are very exciting and hopefully will lead to more funding for continued research in Utah  I’m sharing the full study in case anyone is interested in reading through it. Please reach out if you have any questions or are interested in more details of how the study was done.