Non- Physical Beings Assisting in Reiki Sessions: is this the most impressive BS of the year?

In the realm of so-called alternative medicine, one often comes across weird articles. Some are clearly weirder than others. This paper belongs into the former category. Here is its abstract:

The belief in non- physical beings playing crucial roles in illness and healing is widespread across diverse cultures. Our previous study found reports of alleged non- physical beings during energy medicine sessions. To evaluate the perceived presence and characteristics of non- physical beings mentioned during Reiki sessions. Six seers observed 40 Reiki sessions, and quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the seers, participants, and Reiki practitioners. The presence and function of the non-physical beings during the sessions and the correspondence between quantitative and qualitative data types were evaluated. All sessions had reports of alleged non- physical beings, with angelic beings, spirit guides, and possession/spirit attachments most commonly noted. The reported entities mainly aided the healing process, but some were also linked to pathology. While this study did not explore the effectiveness of treatment, the findings do highlight the potential importance of ostensible non- physical entities in Reiki, warranting further investigation.

The authors concluded that “this report presents exploratory data analyses from a parent study in which six seers observed 40 Reiki sessions. The analysis shows that seers reported perceptions of non- physical beings, such as RM’s and Participant’s Guides, Unspecified Spiritual Beings/Helpers, Angelic Presences, Unhelpful Beings (e.g.,
spirit attachments), ETI, and Animal Spirits during all of the sessions. However, other than for ETI and Unhelpful Beings, agreement between raters regarding the type of non- physical beings reported was low, suggesting that caution should be exercised when reviewing these reports. Most of these beings were perceived as aiding the Reiki session by grounding, supporting, and healing. On the other hand, Unhelpful Beings were mentioned as contributing to pathology by blocking or attaching. Although many sessions showed alignment between the coded
data and textual data, the correlations were not significant when individual seer scores were retained; multiple comparison corrections were applied. This study is unique and significant in its systematic approach to quantifying and analyzing the correspondence of observers’ perceptions of non- physical beings in healing sessions, especially given the limited research this topic has received. However, this study also highlights the need for future research into the role of non- physical beings in energy medicine healing, including control conditions, to ensure that the reported perceptions are specific to the healing process and not to other factors. Future research prompted by these results includes exploring the potential differences in healing outcomes for individuals who report encounters with various non- physical beings during Reiki energy medicine sessions. Investigating this could provide support for the argument that, as physical and mental health practitioners increasingly recognize the impact of spiritual connections on disease and pathology, it becomes crucial to reframe traditional understandings of conditions like psychosis to include the influence of non- physical beings (Pederzoli et al. 2021)”.

The authors discuss that energy healing practitioners often assert that they must connect with a source of healing, such as God, spirit, or the Earth’s energy, and then channel or facilitate that energy to the client. Others describe a more direct intervention of God, spirits, or other external agents. This connection with non- physical sources is believed to be crucial for effective healing.

Wow!

Who can publish such weird stuff pretending this is science?

And to what institution does the author of this paper belong?

I am tempted to start a competition for ‘THE MOST IMPRESSIVE BULLSHIT OF THE YEAR’.

The article originates from the “Research Department, Institute of Noetic Sciences, Novato, California, USA“. This seems to be a well-funded institute with ~ 20 staff. They state: “At the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), we are inspired by the power of science to explain phenomena not previously understood, harnessing the best of the rational mind to make advances that further our knowledge and enhance our human experience.”

They have an impressively long list of publications. The very first in the list rang a bell; they cite it as follows:

Astin et al (2000). The efficacy of “distant healing”: A systematic review of randomized trials. Annals of Internal Medicine. pdf

It rang a bell because I and a co-worker of mine are 2 of its 3 authors:

The efficacy of “distant healing”: a systematic review of randomized trials. J A Astin ¹, E Harkness, E Ernst

The 1st author, John Astin worked at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.

As far as I can make out, none of us had or have any connection to the Institute of Noetic Sciences!

How come then that they list our paper as one of their own?

Fraud?

No, I imagine that an angelic being or perhaps a spirit guide must have mis-filed it … got to prove that “non-physical beings”can make mistakes too! To err is not just human; it’s also super-human.