Men Chho Reiki

The lineage and its name

Practitioners describe Men Chho Reiki as a Tibetan Buddhist form of Reiki. The sources opened for this draft do not document when the lineage was formed, who formed it, or what its founder taught. Searches for an official lineage website, an independent history and a founder's name returned no usable result. The lineage's own account of its origins therefore cannot be checked here, and this article does not name a founder.

The Tibetan wording of the name is also unconfirmed. No source opened for this draft confirms its transliteration or meaning, and the searches did not return a Tibetan-language or Tibetan Studies reference for the lineage. Any translation of the name should be treated as a practitioner claim until a specialist source confirms it.

Reiki as the wider family

Reiki is often traced to Japan in the early twentieth century, to a teacher whose name is usually given as Mikao Usui. The sources opened for this draft do not verify that account. The search tools returned only secondary accounts, timelines and encyclopedia mirrors, and their dates conflict, so none was used. Historical claims about Reiki should be checked against a scholarly account before they are repeated.

One Cochrane review describes Reiki as a '2500 year old' treatment. The review repeats that description from the field rather than documenting a history, and no source opened here supports it, so its date should be treated as unverified.

Reiki as a family name

Reiki is used as a family name for hands-on and hands-near energy practices, and many named lineages and styles sit within it. The Cochrane review by Joyce and Herbison describes Reiki as a vibrational or subtle energy therapy, usually given by light touch on or above the body. That is the review's summary of the field rather than a definition agreed by all lineages, and the sources opened here do not show how any single lineage uses the term.

The Medicine Buddha reference

Practitioners describe the lineage's practice as built around Bhaiṣajya-Guru, the Medicine Buddha. That claim cannot be checked against the sources reviewed. A translated Tibetan practice text from the Karma Chakmé tradition shows how this figure is invoked in one healing practice, with visualization of light, the twelve great aspirations of the Medicine Buddha and two mantras. That text is a separate practice and is not a source for Men Chho Reiki, so it shows only how the figure is used elsewhere in Tibetan Buddhism.

Hand positions and framing

Reiki sessions are usually described as light touch on or above the body, as the Cochrane review by Joyce and Herbison notes. The Medicine Buddha text uses visualization of light and recitation of mantra as its core elements. Practitioners report that the lineage keeps the hand positions familiar from Reiki and adds this kind of Buddhist practice, but no opened source confirms how the lineage itself uses these elements. The sources reviewed do not give a standard session length, the number of positions or the sequence taught, so none is described here.

Training and participant experience

The sources opened for this draft describe no training structure for Men Chho Reiki, including teaching levels, attunements or teaching hours. Training claims made by the lineage's own organizations could not be located, and this article does not reproduce any. No study of Men Chho sessions was found, so participants' experiences of this lineage are not documented, and no typical experience is described.

Claims made for Reiki in general

Reiki has been studied for pain, anxiety, depression, quality of life, pain after cesarean delivery and symptoms during breast cancer treatment. The NCCIH states that Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose, and that most of the research is not high quality and gives inconsistent results.

Practitioner accounts of Reiki describe subjective effects such as relaxation. These are not measured outcomes, and the sources opened for this draft do not test them for Men Chho Reiki.

Claims specific to this lineage

No claim specific to Men Chho Reiki, whether made by its teachers or by a third party, was verified for this draft. Any benefit attributed to the lineage should be treated as an unverified practitioner account. This article does not repeat such claims and does not present the lineage as a treatment for any condition.

Systematic reviews of Reiki in general

A 2008 systematic review by Lee, Pittler and Ernst searched 23 databases to November 2007 and identified 205 possibly relevant studies, of which nine randomized trials met its criteria. Two trials reported benefit over sham for depression and one for pain and anxiety, while other trials showed no difference. The authors described the trial data as scarce for any one condition, with small samples and poor reporting, and concluded that the evidence was insufficient to suggest Reiki is effective for any condition.

A 2008 Cochrane review of touch therapies, including Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch and Reiki, looked at adult pain. It found a modest pain effect, with the larger effects coming from Reiki trials and from trials run by more experienced practitioners. It found no significant placebo effect and said more trials of Reiki and Healing Touch are needed. Because the review pooled several touch therapies, its findings cannot be assigned to Reiki alone or to any lineage.

Anxiety, depression and pain

A 2015 Cochrane review of Reiki for anxiety and depression in people aged 16 and over found insufficient evidence to say whether Reiki is useful. Only small numbers of people with anxiety or depression, as defined by subgroups, were reported, so results were given narratively. The review found no evidence that Reiki is beneficial or harmful in that group, and it rated the risk of bias as generally unclear or high.

A 2017 meta-analysis from Brazil compared reiki and prayer with drug-based care for pain during hospitalization for cesarean. It reported lower pain scores, but the evidence was rated as high risk of bias, the trials combined reiki with prayer, and heterogeneity was very high. The authors could not separate the effect of reiki from that of prayer.

Quality of life and breast cancer symptoms

A 2025 meta-analysis of randomized trials with 661 participants found a small improvement in quality of life with Reiki (standardized mean difference 0.28, 95% confidence interval 0.01 to 0.56). Its subgroup patterns by number and length of sessions are exploratory and were not tested as a hypothesis.

A 2026 systematic review of Reiki in breast cancer patients included four studies with 339 participants, some of them quasi-experimental. The included studies suggested possible reductions in fatigue and improvements in comfort and well-being. The authors described the evidence as limited by the small number of studies, the small samples and methodological differences, and called for larger randomized trials.

Evidence for the lineage itself

PubMed searches for Men Chho Reiki, for Tibetan Reiki, and for Medicine Buddha combined with Reiki returned no records. Web searches did not identify a trial, review or registry entry on the lineage. The evidence on general Reiki therefore cannot be assumed to apply to Men Chho Reiki. Few or no studies address this lineage specifically, and any claim about its effects needs its own trial before it is accepted.

Reported harms

The NCCIH states that Reiki has not been shown to have any harmful effects. That reflects the low-quality research available and is not evidence that Reiki is harmless. The 2026 breast cancer review describes Reiki as safe and well tolerated in the small studies it included, but those studies were few and small.

The 2008 Cochrane touch-therapy review lists determining adverse effects among its aims, but the part of its abstract read for this draft reports no adverse-event result. Harms were not systematically reported in the sources opened, so this article does not state that the practice is free of harm. No reported harms specific to Men Chho Reiki are documented.

Suitability and care boundaries

The Medicine Buddha text states that its practice is expected to pacify illness other than illness caused by past karma. That is a claim within a religious framework and not a measured outcome. It should not be used to delay or replace medical assessment or prescribed treatment. People with a condition that needs care should consult a qualified clinician, and this practice is not a substitute for that care.

No training standard, professional register or code of conduct for Men Chho teachers was found in the sources opened for this draft. No statutory regulation or professional training standard was found for this lineage either. That absence reflects the sources searched and is not evidence of the competence or safety of any teacher.