SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad SIT Digital Collections Capstone Collection SIT Graduate Institute Winter 2017 Reiki and Healing Touch: Implications for Trauma Healing Cynthia Ford SIT Graduate Institute Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones Part of the Alternative and Complementary Medicine Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, and the Somatic Bodywork and Related Therapeutic Practices Commons Recommended Citation Ford, Cynthia, "Reiki and Healing Touch: Implications for Trauma Healing" (2017). Capstone Collection. 3069. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones/3069 This Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by the SIT Graduate Institute at SIT Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Capstone Collection by an authorized administrator of SIT Digital Collections. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Reiki and Healing Touch: Implications for Trauma Healing Cynthia Ford A capstone paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Arts in International Education at SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA December 2017 Advisor: Bruce Dayton RUNNING HEADER: REIKI AND HEALING TOUCH: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAUMA 2 HEALING Consent to Use of Capstone I hereby grant permission for World Learning to publish my capstone on its websites and in any of its digital/electronic collections, and to reproduce and transmit my CAPSTONE ELECTRONICALLY. I understand that World Learning’s websites and digital collections are publicly available via the Internet. I agree that World Learning is NOT responsible for any unauthorized use of my capstone by any third party who might access it on the Internet or otherwise. Student Name: Cynthia Ford Date: November 10, 2017 RUNNING HEADER: REIKI AND HEALING TOUCH: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAUMA 3 HEALING Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………4 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..5 Personal Connection………………………………………………………………………...6 Energy Healing…………………………………………………………………………………7 Research Question……………………………………………………………………………8 Literature Review……………………………………………………………………..9 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………9 Trauma Healing………………………………………………………………………………10 Trauma and Community Building……………………………………………………..17 The Development of Reiki………………………………………………………………..19 The Development of Healing Touch………………………………………………….20 Reiki Versus Healing Touch……………………………………………………………..21 Reiki, Healing Touch, and the Chakra System…………………………………….21 Complimentary Approach………………………………………………………………..22 Trauma and PTSD…………………………………………………………………………..23 Controversy…………………………………………………………………………………….24 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………..25 Methodology……………………………………………………………………………26 Phenomenological Approach……………………………………………………………26 Data Collection Methods……………………………………………………………27 Interviews………………………………………………………………………………………27 Aesthetic Expression……………………………………………………………………….28 A Note on Selecting Participants……………………………………………………….29 Participant Observation…………………………………………………………………..30 Trauma Healing Framework…………………………………………………………….30 Limitations……………………………………………………………………………………..32 Findings…………………………………………………………………………………..33 Interviews………………………………………………………………………………………33 Holistic Effectiveness………………………………………………………………………35 Accessibility……………………………………………………………………………………37 Complimentary Modality…………………………………………………………………38 Community and Relationship Building……………………………………………..40 Artistic Expression………………………………………………………………………….43 Participant Observation…………………………………………………………………..44 Discussion……………………………………………………………………………….46 Practical Applicability and Recommendations…………………………….54 References……………………………………………………………………………….55 Appendix A: Interview Questions……………………………………………….58 Appendix B: Interview 1…………………………………………………………….59 Appendix C: Interview 2……………………………………………………………62 Appendix D: Interview 3……………………………………………………………70 Appendix E: Interview 4…………………………………………………………….75 Appendix F: Interview 5……………………………………………………………80 Appendix G: Interview 6……………………………………………………………85 Appendix H: Participant Observation…………………………………………87 RUNNING HEADER: REIKI AND HEALING TOUCH: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAUMA 4 HEALING Abstract This research explores implications for trauma healing through the energy therapies Reiki and Healing Touch. This is explored through the perspectives of women living in Tacoma, Washington who receive Reiki and/or Healing Touch and are also practitioners of Reiki and/or Healing Touch. In recent decades trauma healing has proved to be a holistic endeavor, and as the practice of energy therapies such as Reiki and Healing Touch are becoming more mainstream and even accepted in the medical community, these therapies boast a myriad of physical and psychological benefits that include trauma healing. A phenomenological approach is taken to explore this relationship while using a triangulation of methods to collect data, which include: interviews, artistic expression, and participant observation. Data collected is then transcribed, coded, themed, and interpreted through a trauma healing framework to explore implications for trauma healing, women, and community building. RUNNING HEADER: REIKI AND HEALING TOUCH: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAUMA 5 HEALING Introduction Everyday women are subjected to physical and psychological violence. While this is unfortunately not a surprising fact the statics are especially severe. The United Nations has noted national statistics as high as seventy percent of women experiencing physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime (facts and figures, 2016), and worldwide one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence found that one in five women have been raped in their lifetime and every nine seconds a woman is assaulted or beaten in the United States. Not only are these unfortunate statistics relative to physical violence but also to mental violence as well: depression and suicidal behavior are linked to domestic violence (Statistics, 2017). For women the world over, these statistics represent not only past incidences but the difficulty of living with the trauma of these events. The American Psychological Association found that women are twice as likely (compared to men) to struggle with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), be more sensitive to stimuli that set off traumatic memories, and experience the negative symptoms of PTSD for longer durations. Policy recommendations are even given specifically for helping lower the prevalence of PTSD in women (Facts About Women and Trauma, 2017). The implications of trauma are detrimental not only to an individual woman but also to society as a whole. On an individual level trauma causes various psychological disorders such as: high levels of anxiety, depression, terrifying nightmares, alcoholism, drug use, rage, and self-harm. Trauma can RUNNING HEADER: REIKI AND HEALING TOUCH: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAUMA 6 HEALING even manifest through out the physical body in various ways: pain, severe numbness, mutism, and sickness (Van Der Kolk, 2014). The list goes on and on for both mental and physical symptoms, while also affecting families, neighborhoods, communities, and also extends to society as a whole. Trauma perpetuates the cycle of violence if it is not managed. Children of abused mothers are at risk of developing numerous psychological and behavioral problems as well: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, discipline issues ranging from preschool time-outs to incarceration, and run the risk of continuing the cycle of violence by perpetuating violence. Similarly, PTSD affected women struggle with maintaining a career and therefore become victim to poverty which adds to their current struggles with PTSD as well as affects their possible child or children’s prevalence of experiencing trauma and developing PTSD themselves (Van Der Kolk, 2014). While the examples provided here do not represent all the negative ways trauma can affect individual women and society as a whole, the impact of women experiencing high levels of violence and PTSD prolong the cycle of violence and should be proactively managed. Personal Connection During my practicum my interest in women and trauma was further realized. While on-campus at SIT I studied trauma and the negative effects and challenges it poses for peacebuilding during Professor Arai’s Post-War Development and Peacebuilding class. For my final I researched the organization Project Air. This non-profit uses yoga as an outlet to heal trauma in HIV positive women who were raped during the Rwandan genocide. Since then I have been developing my overall knowledge of trauma; my practicum organization has RUNNING HEADER: REIKI AND HEALING TOUCH: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRAUMA 7 HEALING challenged me to further explore this interest. My practicum was with Catherine Place, a small local non-profit in Tacoma, Washington. Catherine Place’s mission statement is as follows: “Catherine Place promotes long-term healing and social change in our mission to improve the quality of life for women.” Catherine Place uses several programs to encourage healing, promote empowerment, and better the lives of women. One such program that Catherine Place offers women is energy healing in the form of Healing Touch. Energy healing caught my eye in particular because I have seen energy healing services as a trauma healing technique on various websites along with powerful