The business of Reiki is interesting because it is based on undetectable energy, so practitioners have to claim to have received it from a Reiki practitioner or trainer, or even Master. Based on their personal statement that it has happened, anyone assessing them can do nothing other than go along with it. If the paying customer says they've received energy (because that's what they just bought), the seller will obviously accept the money.
That form of self-assessment is the basis of Reiki qualifications. The way it works is this. There are three levels (which they disingenuously call degrees) of supposed Reiki training and the first is supposed to be about self-healing. You can get that by just attending a one-day session and paying a fee. You won't have to be assessed other than by being asked what you feel and as long as you give the expected answers, you're in. You're now qualified at the first level and that's a necessary precondition for getting to the second level, where you make money.
The second level is supposed to be about you being able to download energy so that you can then pass it on to someone else, friends, relatives, or customers, through a process called empowerment. Again, give the right words and pay the money, and you're in. That entitles you to set yourself up officially as a practitioner. In many places, to get business insurance you have to provide some kind of written certificate to show you've been trained and that arbitrarily means level two. Sometimes there are associations which sell the insurance, and you have to join them first.
So how does the Reiki pyramid selling business work? First you get yourself joined up which involves an outlay of around £740 - around £130 for the first level, £160 for the second level, and a massive £450 for the third level. The first two levels are normally each one-day courses, and the third one is generally a two-day event. All of the sessions typically involve self-treatment as well so there won't be any stressful learning involved.
Now you've paid your money and joined the pyramid, you can start transferring the financial risk to others by charging for treatment sessions. You can officially do that once you've done the second day session. Once you are up to level three, you can start charging people learning Reiki by running the courses yourself, pretending to be training others.
All you need to do to get your money back is to be able to maintain the delusional marketing activity, say the right things about downloading energy, and empowerments, ride on the wave of Woo publicity, and attract customers. Once you've recovered your outlay, you can begin to collect the profit, perhaps spending some of it on getting more non-qualifications which you can use to boost your marketing message. As long as you don't care about how things work in the real world, as long as you don't think about whether it is even credible that this energy exists, you can submerge yourself in Woo nonsense.
During the process you have to go along with the mumbo-jumbo but it's a small price to pay for inclusion in a very lucrative pyramid selling scheme.
The interesting question is how any Reiki trainer could ever tell whether the undetectable energy has been transferred anywhere, given that the customers could just be playing the game to get the piece of paper, to join the club. Someone claiming to receive the empowerment is just as untestable as someone claiming to provide it. Boths sides of a consensual fraud aim to gain by perpetuating the pyramid selling. If you try not to think about that, you might even delude yourself into thinking that it's not really fraud.
The real losers are those who pay for the treatment without joining the pyramid. The real con artists are those perpetuating the delusional business, by doing the courses and conning gullible customers into paying them.
Comments (3)
I consider, that you commit an error. I can defend the position. Write to me in PM, we will discuss.
S: You can easily post your argument as a comment for all to see. No-one has so far offered any evidence at all that Reiki works.
Posted by affiliate network sites | January 22, 2010 2:02 PM
Posted on January 22, 2010 14:02
David, the problem with Reiki is that the energy is undetectable, unmeasurable, and has no detectable consequence. When you say "Reiki is actually the energy that is connected with in the system" you are doing nothing more than expressing a faith in the existence of this energy.
I am well aware of the articles of the faith of Reiki and alas it is nothing more than a story of how the world works. It isn't factually correct. It isn't even demonstrable that there is any reason to take the assertion seriously.
Even supposing that you really were able to diagnose when heart monitor and blood pressure readings were becoming more normal (and there are very many circumstances in which those readings might be a response to non-normal conditions), this would constitute only untrustworthy anecdotal evidence of a correlation. In no way does it imply a causal connection to your own activities.
For there to be a trustworthy causal connection, Reiki practitioners would need to do the following:
- demonstrate a consistent and measurable effect of Reiki energy, that is, show an effect under controlled conditions.
- be able to demonstrate the detection of this energy in a manner that can be confirmed, rather than needing to be accepted as an article of faith.
- allow other skeptical people to repeat the same activities and make the same measurements successfully.
- demonstrate a tangible link between their own activities and some physical change, this being a consistent and controlled trial.
No Reiki practitioner has ever been able to do any of these things. Their practice draws on the well-established placebo effect, and their claims to be able to manipulate undetectable energy is indistinguishable from fraud.
The Reiki-sponsored research in academic institutions has consistently failed to employ the standard criteria for unbiased research: controlled, double-blind, randomised trials. They have instead consisted of reports from believers. Independent controlled research has consistently shown Reiki to be no better than placebo.
The initiation into Reiki is a classic pyramid selling scheme favoured by franchisers wanting to recover their capital and transfer risk to others quickly. That's why only believers can pass on the so-called energy.
One curious question arises: if those training in Reiki are lying, and those buying in are going along with the story, how will the customer ever know the difference? By not getting better? By only having the placebo effect?
The Quacklash is coming, and all these questionable therapies are going to be asked for the evidence and without that, your claims are going to look very feeble indeed. By way of an indication of how easy it is to demonstrate that Reiki is a non-phenomenon, you might like to look up the research conducted by a 10-year-old, Emily Rosa, who conducted a double-blind, randomised trial as a classroom project. Try finding a credible objection to her methodology and results.
Posted by Synogenes | November 26, 2009 10:01 AM
Posted on November 26, 2009 10:01
I saw your blog relating to Reiki and thought I would explain my experience with the system, having worked with it since 1998.
Reiki is actually the energy that is connected with in the system. The actual system is called the Usui System of Natural Healing, named for the founder of the system in the early 20th century.
The system uses the energy called Reiki to heal the body, mind, and spirit. It is a system of touch, hand positions, and energy sensing that stimulates the body's ability to heal itself. Research with the system is being done in several academic institutions, but at present most people use their own hands for measurement, similar to what western medicine did not too many years ago.
One of my most fascinating sessions was working on someone in a hospital bed who was on a heart monitor and watching the heart and blood pressure readings move into balance as I worked.
I believe that your description of Reiki as a pyramid scheme does a disservice to the community at large. As with other types of information (karate, Kung Fu, Qi Gong, law, economics), Reiki is taught in levels or degrees. There is nothing imaginary about Reiki; it is a teachable healing art. I would be glad to answer any questions you may have.
Posted by David Gleekel | November 25, 2009 8:07 PM
Posted on November 25, 2009 20:07