<p>“and other ministers” would seem to include religion in general, not just Catholics. I also think that mini’s comment was clearly tongue-in-cheek.</p>
<p>I believe demons exist because the Bible says they do. Also, I lived in an area where Santeria was practiced and met disturbed people who were looking for deliverance from bad spirits they had allowed to enter their bodies through various odd practices, some of which involved animal sacrifices. They were absolutely tortured afterward–not possessed, but demonically oppressed. </p>
<p>I think there are other non-religious ways to learn to calm oneself. Why mess with this?</p>
<p>“Well Mini, one can always count on you to put in a slam to the Catholic Church…and get away with it…”</p>
<p>Are you are Catholic? If so, I presume you do believe in demons (as do the majority of Americans). So what do you think about what makes Reiki work? </p>
<p>(The quote, by the way, was not from me - I would have no idea whether nuns, priests, or other ministers practice Reiki. Perhaps you’d know better. Demon possession makes as much sense to me as the voodoo science that states - without evidence after 30 years of research - that “chemical imbalances” in the brain cause depression.)</p>
<p>I go to acutonics every Tuesday as part of my yoga class.</p>
<p>Great goodness. All this talk is sure to summon one.</p>
<p>I think that if you believe in demons, then a practice sometimes associated with demons will be unsettling enough to you that you wouldn’t want to try it. If you DON’T believe in demons, then the real question is, does it work or not? THEN, the question is, does it work because it has real healing benefits or is it all in the mind? </p>
<p>I don’t think reiki works on everyone-it had no effect on me. I don’t think reflexology does anything more than makes my feet feel great and relaxes me, but that’s cool because I don’t expect anything more of it. </p>
<p>But the mind is a powerful thing. If you’re convinced you’re being healed, you might feel better. If you’re sure you’re being treated for anxiety with a method that works, you might feel less anxious. On the flip side, if you believe in demons and you think demons are oppressing you following some practice, you probably WILL feel beleaguered. </p>
<p>That said, I learned self-hypnosis as part of a massage class. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but it worked REALLY well when I had my third child in terms of managing the pain, speeding up labor and recovery. Now, did it really work, or was I convinced it did? Who knows? But the point is, I thought it would work, and it did. </p>
<p>I don’t believe in demons. I believe the mind conjures up all kinds of crazy stuff and we become convinced of things we can’t explain. But we all have to work within our comfort zone. I also believe in western medicine for real ills and disease. But I’m going today in fact to get all relaxed with a nice, eastern medicine reflexology session.</p>
<p>I think anything can help a person relax. Exercise, meditation, rest, being rubbed, being told to relax, etc. </p>
<p>The difference between that and actual effectiveness is when a person has real need, like a painful condition or an illness. As I noted in post #22, reiki has not been found to be of value when it is really needed. If you want to use it for relaxation, fine. We do lots of things that don’t really work. Heck, even in the gym I see lots of stuff being done that’s essentially useless.</p>
<p>In that regard, I suggest looking up some of the “life hacks” that are tested and found wanting (and those that actually work). Lots of videos about those. Or some of the many ridiculous beliefs people have - like don’t use boiled water for plants (or that it can hurt you, which would only be true if your water is dangerous and you reduce it enough to concentrate chemicals that aren’t removed by boiling). </p>
<p>[As an aside: or even my favorite, that you should only make tea with fresh water. Yes, fresh water has some more dissolved oxygen in it - though any water left to sit will oxygenate, including boiled water. But the act of boiling removes the dissolved oxygen and I mean that literally the concentration goes to 0 at boiling, a point that you almost never find mentioned. Boiling water will tend to concentrate and maybe accentuate the taste of any minerals in your water but that’s about it. If there’s any dissolved oxygen left in boiling water, it’s such a tiny amount you won’t notice. But I love the idea that “you boil away the oxygen”. Think about it: you’d be left with hydrogen.]</p>
<p>People believe all sorts of nonsense. You can make your garage door opener work better if you hold it to your chin. Science is supposed to test nonsense to find what works. Reiki has some poorly designed, low quality - not double blind, small group, other problems - “evidence” that has failed when tested rigorously. That means it either doesn’t work at all or it’s effects are both small and highly personal, meaning how one perceives what is happening - which is not exactly the placebo effect.</p>
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<p>I believe in demon rum. </p>
<p>missypie. Do you still have a church? I read there is a big battle going on over HPP. How much do you think the land is worth?</p>
<p>I can’t express my current view of the existence of demons because we are prohibited from discussing politics.</p>
<p>I think there are many relaxation techniques that work in the sense that they help relax you. If that’s what you are seeking, I don’t think it matters too much that they can’t possibly work the way their practitioners think they do. The problem comes when additional health claims are made.</p>
<p>" Science is supposed to test nonsense to find what works. Reiki has some poorly designed, low quality - not double blind, small group, other problems - “evidence” that has failed when tested rigorously."</p>
<p>How do you “rigorously” test for demon possession?</p>
<p>I trust in Geraldine’s investigation that: " the Devil made me Do It!"</p>
<p>I suppose if you were actually testing for demon possession, you would need some physical evidence that the demon has been removed. A change in body weight, for example. If you find no physical evidence, then you would conclude nothing foreign has been removed from the body. That doesn’t exclude something mental. </p>
<p>Here’s an example, one of my favorites. After WWII, Thomas Mann was asked by figures in Germany to come back and be a leader in the intellectual reconstruction. Mann wrote a long public letter saying no. It included this thought: Germany sold its collective soul to the devil and it will not so easily be redeemed. He meant he would not be its redeemer. In Victor Klemperer’s diary, he describes young men standing on street corners shouting about “the Jews”. So yeah, there is demonic possession of one’s mental faculties. But if that happens to you, if you are twisted, it’s your fault and that of the people around you (up to the level of the entire culture when speaking of Nazi Germany). No one would describe this kind of possession as an actual “demon” which can be exorcised by movement of hands. </p>
<p>In a similar vein, there’s a terrific play from Canada called “Cherry Docs” in which a Jewish lawyer has to defend a skinhead who stomped an East Asian immigrant to death. The title refers to the boots preferred by his racist group. Over time the skinhead starts to realize what he has done. Not a movement of hands over the body but confrontation in the recognition that what’s coming is a lifetime behind bars.</p>
<p>The New Testament provides one pretty good test for demonic possession: the demon-possessed person knows something a normal person wouldn’t know. It also provides an example of evidence that a person really was possessed–when the demons came out, they entered a herd of pigs that stampeded and drowned.</p>
<p>All that being said, it’s hard to see how reiki has anything to do with demon possession.</p>
<p>I don’t believe in demons.
As for Reiki I have a friend who is a trained Reiki giver. (I don’t know what they call themsselves) She believes in healthy living, meditation and alternative medicine. She is not a kook. I have never had her do Reiki on me. I am a skeptic so I have my doubts if it works but I don’t think there is any danger in your D trying it.
I have friends who have tried all kinds of alternative treatments. Breathwork, rebirthing, crystal bowl healing, some type of therapy where you tap yourself in certain points on your body. Plus the more common chinese herbs, acupuncture and meditation.
If any of the above give your D some relaxation and anxiety relief they are preferable to anti anxiety meds.</p>
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Reikileaves? Reikivics? </p>
<p>Sorry – just adding a little levity. That or I am demon possessed. And if this is the definition
are all the people who charge thousands to guarantee they can get a kid into a top school demon possessed?? :)</p>
<p>I believe they are called Reiki masters. At least, that’s what I’ve heard used.</p>
<p>According to good ol’ wiki, there are 3 degrees of training and the masters are the ones who get the third degree (no pun intended) [Reiki</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiki]Reiki”>Reiki - Wikipedia) There are also “variations”.</p>
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I think there are people who would make an infernal deal to get their kid into certain schools.</p>
<p>I will attempt to summarize the “demon” theory, rather than link to an article. The idea of the articles is that the reiki master is calling on spirits to heal and the spirits aren’t God or of God. So if they are spirits and not God or of God, they must be demons. What these articles seem to admit is that serious reiki masters CAN heal. </p>
<p>I am reminded of Rasputin, who really seemed to be able to alleviate the pain of poor little Tsarevich Alexei. Tsarina Alexandria believed he was a man of God, but if one looks at the way he lived, his powers seem to have come from the other place.</p>
<p>I believe in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, angels, demons and Satan. I do not, however, believe that by practicing reiki (or yoga, or meditation), one can inadvertently invite the powers of evil into one’s life. I also believe that the Holy Spirit lives within us, so demons can’t enter. (Not to worry - I do not believe that demons cause mental illness.)</p>
<p>It’s not the devil. We all have an energy force, you can feel it when you rub your palms together and hold them about three inches away from each other.
We can use our energy and positive intention to help others heal.
I’ve experienced first hand both giving and receiving.
It’s a very healing experience, how someone can attribute that to something negative?
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<p>I agree with missypie–it’s possible to believe in evil spirits without thinking that they are hiding in every healing crystal.</p>