Reiki Plus

Founder and early publications

The UK Reiki Council's list of Reiki styles describes Reiki Plus as a style of Reiki founded by David Jarrell. A Christian Research Journal article gives Jarrell's dates as 1946 to 2002 and reports that he claimed to have received his initiation into Reiki from a Tibetan master in 1981. The same article says he claimed to be the 24th Reiki master in Takata's lineage and to have received a second initiation from Takata's granddaughter. These are the founder's own claims as reported by a critical outside author, and the sources reviewed do not confirm them independently.

Jarrell's book Reiki Plus Natural Healing: A Spiritual Guide to Reiki Plus is listed by Google Books under the imprint Reiki Plus Publications. The catalog record gives 1984 and calls the copy a fifth edition, so the date of first publication was not established from the sources reviewed. The publisher's description presents the book as covering the techniques and spiritual philosophy of Reiki Plus and the life of Mikao Usui.

Stated lineage

The Reiki Council entry gives the lineage of Reiki Plus as passing through Hayashi and Takata, then Samdahl, McCullough and Furumoto, then Jarrell. This places the style within the Takata line described on the Western Reiki page, rather than in the Japanese line described on the Usui Reiki page. The Council adds a general caution that people practicing styles with the same name may nonetheless teach very different content, and that its list covers only some of the many styles taught to beginners.

The name Reiki Plus

Reiki Plus names a particular school's style, not a general category. In the Council's wording, the style teaches Usui Shiki Ryoho with additional metaphysical elements, so the word plus refers to material added to a recognized Reiki base. The sources reviewed do not define the added elements point by point, and the Council's own definition of Reiki, as a universal life energy working on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels, is general to the whole family.

Relation to other Reiki pages

Machipedia's Reiki page covers the family as a whole, including Reiki energy, attunement and the evidence for Reiki in general. Western Reiki covers the Takata-line system known as Usui Shiki Ryoho, and Usui Reiki covers the Japanese line. Energy Healing places Reiki among other biofield practices. Reiki Plus sits as a named style beside these pages, and claims made on them should not be carried over to it unless a source says so.

Base system and added teachings

According to the Reiki Council, Reiki Plus teaches Usui Shiki Ryoho, the hand-placement system with initiations, together with additional metaphysical elements. The Christian Research Journal article reports that second-level students learn more mystical aspects of Reiki, including distant healing and a subject called Esoteric Anatomy and Physiology. Google Books lists frequent terms from Jarrell's book, among them attunement, Mastership, Second Degree, etheric bodies and Christ Consciousness, which indicates the vocabulary of the teachings without describing how they are taught.

Training, ordination and sources not found

The same article states that students who complete the first and second Reiki Plus degrees can apply for ordination as ministers in the Pyramids of Light Church, which it describes as founded on a Universal Living God and the spiritual Christianity taught by Jesus. The Reiki Council says Reiki generally is taught by Master/Teachers through an in-person tradition with initiation. No current school curriculum, level structure or fee schedule was drawn from the sources reviewed, because school and vendor pages are not used as sources on Machipedia.

What the style's materials describe

The publisher's description of Jarrell's book says it offers explanations of how disease and healing manifest and guidance on how to treat oneself and others. The Reiki Council describes Reiki in general as supporting the body's self-healing and as used for healing, personal development and spiritual growth. These are statements of what practitioners and organizations hold, not findings, and the sources reviewed give no list of conditions specific to Reiki Plus.

Care boundary stated by the Council

The Reiki Council states that its practitioners are not trained in diagnosis and do not offer diagnosis or prognosis, that people worried about symptoms should see a doctor, and that Reiki is not a substitute for treatment although it can support other treatments. This is the Council's general position on Reiki, not a statement specific to Reiki Plus, and it is reported here as the care boundary that the organization itself draws.

The one study that carries the name

A 1985 article by Schlitz and Braud in PSI Research is titled Reiki-plus natural healing: an ethnographic/experimental study. Its abstract describes three mental healing practitioners who specialized in Reiki trying to influence volunteers with no particular health complaints. Skin resistance was monitored, and the healer sat in a separate room 20 meters away. Each session had ten 30-second influence periods and ten control periods. Overall results were not statistically significant, and the study supplied extensive qualitative data on Reiki healing.

The abstract does not say whether the practitioners were trained in Jarrell's school, so the title cannot be taken as evidence about the Reiki Plus style specifically. A nursing review of Reiki research lists the study with 15 participants and a non-significant quantitative result. It was a small laboratory study of an autonomic measure and does not address any clinical condition.

Searches run and Reiki research in general

No independent trial of Reiki Plus as a style was found. Searches of PubMed for Reiki Plus, and for Reiki Plus with Jarrell and trial, returned no study of the style; the broader query returned only records that used the words in other senses, such as Reiki combined with manual therapy. Searches of the open web found the Council list, a book record and one critical article, but no systematic review that treats the style separately.

Reiki in general has been reviewed, and those reviews are context only. A Cochrane review of Reiki for depression and anxiety found three small trials and concluded that evidence was insufficient to say whether Reiki is useful. NCCIH states that Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose, that studies are mostly low quality and inconsistent, and that there is no scientific evidence for the energy field thought to be involved. Neither source assessed Reiki Plus.

Harms and care boundaries

NCCIH reports that Reiki has not been shown to have harmful effects, and no source reviewed reports harms specific to Reiki Plus. Absence of reported harm is not a finding of safety. The Reiki Council advises people worried about symptoms to see a doctor and states that practitioners do not diagnose. Reiki Plus is complementary care and should not delay or replace necessary medical care.

Religious content and variation between teachers

The Christian Research Journal author argues, from a Christian apologetics standpoint, that Reiki initiation and its spiritual framework conflict with some religious views, and notes the link between Reiki Plus degrees and ordination in a church. Readers for whom this matters may wish to check what a given teacher includes. Because the Council warns that teachers of a same-named style may teach very different content, and because no training standard specific to Reiki Plus was found in the sources reviewed, courses can differ in content and cost.