Marion Werner, MEd is a Reiki Master-Teacher, with professional training in mind-body practices for self-regulation and self-care from the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, DC. She is president of the Lloyd Symington Foundation, founded in 1986 to honor her father who died of lung cancer. The family foundation supports non-profit organizations that provide spiritually-based integrative healing practices for cancer care. Marion has taught mind-body-spirit practices and provided Reiki training and treatment to health and healing locations in the Washington DC area including: Circle Yoga, a center for yoga and mindfulness; Georgetown University School of Medicine’s Mind-Body Program for medical students; Walter Reed National Military Medical Center; CAUSE: Comfort for America’s Unified Services at Walter Reed; Suburban Hospital-Johns Hopkins Medicine, Oncology, and Smith Center for Healing and the Arts. In 2018, Marion collaborated with two colleagues to establish the Reiki Program for the cancer community at Sibley Memorial Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Oncology Survivorship Program in Washington DC. The program, now in its seventh year, offers education and individual Reiki self care instruction, free of charge, to cancer patients, survivors, family members, caregivers and providers, regardless of where they receive cancer treatment.
1. How would you explain Reiki to someone who’s never heard of it before?
Marion describes Reiki as a spiritual healing practice that has a calming effect on your whole being, body, heart, mind, and spirit. Marion teaches that Reiki is a meditative practice in which light hand placements rest in stillness on the head and torso, in a sequence of positions. The touch is gentle, comforting, and noninvasive. There are no known negative side effects. Reiki practice helps ease stress, pain, and anxiety, and almost always leaves people feeling calmer, more centered, and peaceful. This is what we notice to be the effect of placing hands, being still and quiet, and surrendering to the flow of Reiki.
“Practicing Reiki helps us walk in the world with love and compassion, gratitude and humility.”
2. What benefits have you observed for people going through cancer treatment who practice self Reiki?
Marion shares powerful testimonials from program participants. One person wrote: “My Reiki practice is a sacred space where I can tune out all the outside noise, if only for 30 minutes, and focus on being still and quiet. The energy from the group practice is palpable and powerful. The benefits I experience with Reiki is an inner peace and calmness that’s hard to describe. If you would have told me in my twenties or thirties that being still makes you strong, I would never have believed it. Now I do. What I enjoy most about practicing Reiki is that I remember to take time for myself, that self-care is not selfish, and that I matter.”
Another participant noted: “Reiki has been a life-changing experience for me. Every time I practice, I have consistent results: improved, slower breathing, pain reduction, calm nervous system, and warmth.”
Marion also points to emerging research showing that the nervous system self-regulates when practicing Reiki, moving from stress mode into relaxation, rest, and repair mode. “Nurses and physicians report that Reiki practice makes patients relaxed, calm, and cooperative; relieves acute and chronic pain; boosts the immune system; reduces stress; decreases the need for pain medication; improves sleep and appetite; accelerates the healing process; and has no side effects. In addition, Reiki treatments reduce many of the unwanted side effects of radiation and chemotherapy, including nausea and fatigue.” AMA, American Hospital Association
3. What are some common misconceptions about Reiki?
“Some people question Reiki’s legitimacy, thinking it is some kind of ‘New Age, woo woo practice’” with little scientific explanation or evidence, Marion says.
Another misconception or misunderstanding is that Reiki practitioners heal by channeling healing energy and transmitting it to recipients. While some people may be drawn to this belief and approach, Marion’s understanding and experience is that Reiki healing comes from within, from each individual’s commitment to spiritual practice and inner healing, rather than from an intervention by a practitioner from the outside. From a scientific perspective, Reiki can be understood as a somatic approach to self-regulating and self-care.
Marion describes Reiki as a spiritual practice where “the change comes from within, from a person’s own self-healing capacity. When I’m offering a Reiki session to someone, I’m not doing anything. I am not channeling energy. I am simply being present, placing my hands, and letting the subtle vibration, the subtle flow of Reiki do the rest.”
“I set a soft tone, and create the safe, comfortable space where a person can rest and go deep, and where their own self-healing capacity activates. We don’t know what the mechanism of action is. Is it the touch? Is it the tone of voice? Is it presence? What is it? One of the things I think is happening is ‘human connection.’ It’s not so much scientific, although there is some science that is beginning to explain it. The Reiki experience is beyond language really—it’s a human experience of deeply connecting to yourself and feeling connected with others.” Some describe the experience as feeling whole, being “at one” with themselves.
4. What would a typical Reiki session look like if someone visited a practitioner?
Marion emphasizes the importance of finding a practitioner you feel comfortable with. Choose an experienced Reiki practitioner who gives you a feeling of ease and trust. Pay attention to whether the person feels like a good fit or not. Understand that every Reiki practitioner is different.
During a session Marion welcomes you into her safe space and explains the process. “I invite the person to lie down on my treatment table. I describe what I’m going to do: where I’ll place my hands and what the touch feels like. I ask if there’s any part of the body they would rather I didn’t touch, and I honor that. I let them know that at any time they’re feeling uncomfortable, they can ask me to stop.”
Marion emphasizes the collaborative nature of the experience. “I’m experienced, but I’m not ‘the expert.’ I stand beside you. We enter the Reiki healing space together. The practice is fresh—we’re not attached to the outcome. We rest in the silence, the stillness, the spaciousness. I sometimes call Reiki a practice of doing nothing, because they’ll ask, ‘Do I have to breathe? Do I have to clear my mind?’ And the answer is, ‘You don’t have to do anything, just let yourself rest and receive.’ Come home to yourself, to your whole self, here… now… surrender… surrender to the gentle healing flow of the invisible, timeless, limitless, ineffable vibration we call Reiki.”
Healing comes from the old English word “haelen” which means coming back to wholeness, harmony of mind, body and spirit; a holistic and transformative process leading to wholeness and well-being.
5. How can people access Reiki services, especially those going through cancer treatment?
Marion explains that the Sibley Memorial Hospital program is quite accessible. Pam Goetz, Oncology Survivorship Program Manager, writes: “Reiki programs are open to cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers regardless of where they receive cancer treatment. All services are provided on Zoom and are free of charge to participants.” As Pam Goetz maintains, the primary aim of the Reiki Program is that anyone impacted by cancer is offered the opportunity to learn about and practice Reiki as a key component of their healing at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Here is the contact information:
Sibley Memorial Hospital
Johns Hopkins Medicine, National Capital Region
Reiki for Self-Care Program
To learn more, contact Pam Goetz, at pgoetz4@jhmi.edu.
For those looking to learn more about Reiki in general, Marion recommends resources from Reiki Master, Reiki Medical Expert, and author Pamela Miles. Her book Reiki, A Comprehensive Guide, is Marion’s top recommendation to her students as an excellent introduction to Reiki practice and an ongoing guide and resource. Pamela Miles also has a website with extensive information about Reiki practice and Reiki in medicine. www.reikiinmedicine.org
These words from a loyal Sibley Reiki participant beautifully summarize the impact of her Reiki self care practice: ”Daily Reiki practice has become integral to my life. What I most enjoy about practicing is the gratification of taking care of myself and feeling connected to our Reiki community. The benefits of Reiki are immense: freedom to let go, healing, calm, peace, body awareness, and the list goes on. I had always looked outward, but I’ve learned to look inward with my Reiki practice and find the safe, peaceful place I’ve always wanted. Quite simply, Reiki is wonderful.”
Christine has a dynamic background in the life sciences, public health, and program operations. Her career began at the lab bench with a Gates Foundation-funded HIV Vaccine research group, which led her to graduate studies in public health epidemiology at UC Berkeley. Her research experience spans clinical epidemiology research to evaluating the impacts of community nutrition programs in Los Angeles, the Central Valley, and Oakland. Most recently she has worked in executive operations for a seed-stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco. Personally, Christine is passionate about holistic health and wellness. She is a clinical herbalist and Reiki master, and she has been practicing yoga for 15+ years. She brings a breadth of experiences to her work leading the CancerChoices program.