Many people have never heard of Reiki. Others have heard the word but aren’t sure what it is. In simple terms, it is a gentle, traditional Japanese practice in which a practitioner rests their hands lightly on or just above the body, offering a space of deep rest. What surprises many people to learn is that this quiet practice is already part of care in some of the most respected hospitals in the world.
If you are just discovering Reiki, that is perhaps a useful place to begin: not with claims about what it does, but simply with where it is already offered.
Around the world
In the United States, Reiki is offered in many hospitals as part of integrative care, alongside conventional treatment. The International Association of Reiki Professionals describes it as one of the most popular complementary in-patient therapies in US hospitals.¹
Several of the country’s leading medical and cancer centres offer it to their patients – among them the Cleveland Clinic², Mayo Clinic³, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute⁴, and Memorial Sloan Kettering⁵. At the Cleveland Clinic, Reiki is offered free of charge to patients, families and staff through its Center for Spiritual Care, as one of several gentle touch therapies available during a hospital stay.²
Studied in the United States
In the United States, Reiki is not only offered but also formally studied. At Montefiore Einstein in New York, breast surgeon Dr Sheldon Feldman is leading a registered clinical trial⁶ examining whether Reiki before breast cancer surgery affects stress and wellbeing, measured in part through stress-hormone levels.⁷ The same centre offers Reiki to cancer patients through its wellbeing programs.⁸
In Australia
Reiki is offered in Australia too. In Western Australia, Solaris Cancer Care provides complementary therapies – including Reiki, massage and reflexology – free of charge to people living with cancer and their carers, at centres that include ones based within hospitals, at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and St John of God Subiaco.⁹ ¹⁰ The therapies are delivered largely by volunteers, and Reiki has long been one of the most used among them.
Solaris is a not-for-profit focused on supporting people through cancer – one example of how Reiki is already part of supportive care within Australian hospital settings.
Discovering Reiki
If you are coming across Reiki for the first time, perhaps the simplest takeaway is this: it is a gentle practice, it asks nothing of you but to rest, and it is already offered in respected hospitals around the world and here in Australia. Now you know it exists.
I write this as one of those people who had no idea what Reiki was. I came across Reiki almost by accident – not in a wellness studio, but on the website of a hospital ranked as one of the top hospitals in the world, Cleveland Clinic.
I have a background in data & analytics and a healthy dose of curiosity – I wanted to find out what it was. Having read it was offered in Cleveland clinic was enough to make me want to find out more about it. Sometimes that is all discovery asks of us: a little curiosity, and the willingness to look.
Everything reported in this article is drawn from the sources listed below. If you are curious, you are welcome to explore them yourself.
Larisa Sipek
Sources
- International Association of Reiki Professionals — Reiki in the Clinical Setting: https://iarp.org/reiki-clinical-setting/
- Cleveland Clinic — Patient Experience programs (Healing Services / Center for Spiritual Care): https://my.clevelandclinic.org/departments/patient-experience/depts/office-patient-experience/programs
- Mayo Clinic Integrative Medicine — Reiki study (Prasad et al., 2025): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11873885/
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute — Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies: https://www.dana-farber.org/patient-family/support-services/integrative-therapies
- Memorial Sloan Kettering — Bendheim Integrative Medicine Center: https://www.mskcc.org/locations/directory/bendheim-integrative-medicine
- ClinicalTrials.gov — Reiki Breast Surgery QOL Project (NCT06524895), Albert Einstein College of Medicine: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06524895
- Montefiore Einstein — Dr Sheldon M. Feldman (reiki research): https://montefioreeinstein.org/news/experts/sheldon-m-feldman-1942283742
- Montefiore Einstein — BOLD program (reiki among wellbeing offerings): https://www.curetoday.com/view/bold-program-supports-patients-with-cancer-at-montefiore-einstein-comprehensive-cancer-center
- Solaris Cancer Care at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (QEII Medical Centre): https://www.qeiimc.health.wa.gov.au/stakeholders/solaris-cancer-care
- Solaris Cancer Care — services / FAQ: https://solariscancercare.org.au/the-cancer-experience/resources/faq/