David Kennedy, Contributor, Jakarta, david_t_kennedy@yahoo.co.uk
Eryca was in a lot of pain when she went to the hospital in October
1999 and was diagnosed with a tumor near her uterus. After a year-long
treatment, the 49-year-old was faced with the prospect of a major
operation.
Instead she decided to stop receiving medical
treatment and tried all kinds of alternative therapies. Then her sister
suggested reiki, a healing system which claims to use divine energy.
After five months of therapy, she says that all traces of her tumor
disappeared.
This is just one of many cases on the files at
Sanjiwani holistic health center near Central Jakarta's Cikini station.
Tucked away in a leafy residential street, the center offers a variety
of spiritual healing therapies and caters for patients suffering from
long-term illness to those who are simply curious or have minor
complaints. The reiki ""masters"" at the center are keen to not be seen
as witch doctors.
Reiki therapists believe that 80 percent of illness
originates in the mind. By focusing on the energy centers or chakras of
the patient they claim to able to unblock the pent up frustration,
anger and bitterness that makes a person sick.
""It works like
psychotherapy, things come out automatically,"" says Jeanny's colleague
Sumarsono Wuryadi. ""We use the energy to solve the trauma and to
address the primary cause of the illness. It's simple!""
Sumarsono belongs to the Jakarta based Yayasan Reiki Indonesia
(Indonesian Reiki Foundation) which has trained about 5000
practitioners. Ismail Ishaq, head of the foundation, regrets that the
practice has developed a mystical reputation.
""Often the public
is more interested in `power' aspects and they are attracted to groups
that claim to be the most powerful,"" he says.
He is worried
about this as he says the main aim of reiki, based on ancient Buddhist
texts interpreted by a Japanese spiritualist in the late 19th Century,
is enlightenment.
Born in the Philippines but half Sumatran,
Ismail is currently holding reiki workshops around Indonesia with his
teacher from the United States, Dolores George. He says this is the
first time masters from both America and Indonesia have taught together
in this country.
George discovered reiki in a chance meeting at a
business seminar in California in the mid 1990s. At that time she was
managing a wholesale plant and shrub nursery. She began talking to a
woman who offered to teach her reiki in return for some plants. After
six months of training she was teaching other people.
The core
principles of reiki, explained by George, would be familiar to readers
of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the bestselling self-help
book on personal change and management. She uses terms like ""intention,
integrity and impeccability"" which sound more like practical
guidelines for management and living than the basis of a highly
spiritual healing practice.
Describing herself as a maverick who
wants to bring people toward an awareness of themselves, George is
critical of those who treat reiki as a moneymaking scheme. ""Their
purpose is to teach someone how to do reiki so that they can heal or
teach others and make money. And they are charging a lot.""
But how can we tell if someone is a fraud? With much difficulty, says George.
""It's very hard unless you are someone who can feel energy,"" she
says, adding the worst that can happen is that the patient is not healed
and goes elsewhere for a cure. She believes people should take
responsibility for themselves when it comes to health care.
""You
go to a medical doctor and turn your life over to him without even
questioning. And he can give you the wrong operation.""
Ismail
argues reiki should be officially recognized by the government as an
alternative or complimentary therapy like acupuncture.
""All
metaphysicians are seen as dukun (shamans) here but many hospitals in
the U.S. recognize and use reiki. We have been looking to the West and
particularly the U.S as our guru for medicine and there is more and more
recognition of reiki there. How come we can't accept it in the
hospitals?"" he says.
The medical community is not convinced of
the merits of reiki and practitioners like Ismail admit there is a lack
of scientific proof.
""It's considered to be supernatural. We
cannot explain the effect from that activity,"" says Dr. Eka Putra,
Medical Director at the Metropolitan Medical Center in South Jakarta,
adding that despite the lack of medical evidence some doctors are
studying it.
""The Indonesian Medical Association says that it's not a branch of medical studies so we do not have any information.""
This has little effect on the growing interest among the public and the
mushrooming of alternative health centers offering reiki.
Some
even try it without being fully convinced. Achmad has been getting reiki
for a few months as a complimentary treatment for a liver complaint.
""It seems to be going well but I am also going to a medical doctor in
Singapore. My blood tests show good results but I cannot say it's
because of reiki. Physically I don't feel anything but it gives me a
psychological boost.""
At the Sanjiwani center, reiki master Sumarsono scurries out of his room as another patient drifts into a deep
sleep after a treatment. This is a common occurrence in cases where a
person has a lot of stress or lingering illness.
""Our soul,"" he
says, gesturing to the man snoring on the bench, ""knows how to heal
itself"". The man, obviously fast asleep, is moving his arms slowly
around his body drawing an oval shape in the air.
Source: 'Reiki' gains popularity as healing therapy
Photo courtesy of usnews.com