Can Reiki be used alongside conventional medicine in Ontario? Learn how energy healing can complement medical care, what research says, and how to combine both approaches to support your overall well-being.
The False Choice Between “Natural” and “Medical”
One of the most persistent myths in healthcare is that you have to choose: either you pursue conventional medicine, or you go “alternative.” As if caring for your body holistically requires abandoning the benefits of modern medicine — or vice versa.
This false dichotomy is gradually dissolving in Ontario’s healthcare landscape. Integrative health — the thoughtful, evidence-informed combination of conventional and complementary approaches — is gaining ground in hospitals, cancer centres, palliative care, and primary care settings across the province.
Reiki is one of the complementary practices you’ll find in some of these settings, especially hospice and palliative care. Understanding why — and how to do it well — is the focus of this post.
Reiki in Ontario’s Healthcare Landscape
Reiki is already being used in healthcare settings across Ontario and Canada. While the landscape continues to evolve, here are some of the contexts where Reiki is currently being offered or explored:
Palliative and Hospice Care. Reiki is offered in many end-of-life care settings in Canada. Its gentle approach can help people relax and feel cared for, which is why many hospices include Reiki or other complementary therapies in their comfort care.
For example, I volunteer at Hospice Wellington, where I offer Reiki sessions to residents and their family members.
Cancer Support Centres. Some cancer support programs in Ontario include complementary therapies — including Reiki — as part of their patient support programs. The focus is not on Reiki as a cancer treatment, but as a support for the physical and emotional challenges of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.
Alongside Counselling. Some people find Reiki a calming thing to add alongside counselling or therapy. It isn’t a mental health treatment, but a quiet, restful hour can be a nice complement to the work they’re doing with their therapist.
Pregnancy and Postpartum. Some people enjoy Reiki as a way to rest during pregnancy and after birth. If you’re pregnant, check with your midwife or doctor first, and let me know before your session so I can make sure you’re comfortable.
What the Research Says
Research on Reiki is still at an early stage, but it’s growing. A 2024 review published in BMC Palliative Care looked at 13 randomized controlled trials with 824 participants and found that Reiki helped reduce anxiety, especially for people living with chronic conditions and for healthy adults. The effect was smaller for people preparing for surgery and for people with cancer, and the researchers recommended more studies with those groups.
A smaller study on older adults living in the community also found improvements in pain, anxiety and depression after Reiki sessions.
The research is still growing, and larger studies will help us understand Reiki even better. But the results so far are encouraging, especially for anxiety, and they match what many people feel after a session: calmer, lighter and more at ease. That’s why more hospices, hospitals and care settings are making room for Reiki alongside medical care.
How Reiki Complements (Not Competes With) Medical Care
Reiki is not a treatment for any specific medical condition. It does not diagnose, cure, or replace medical care. What it can do is give you time to rest and relax, and many people find that helps them feel more at ease while they go through medical care.
Here’s how Reiki typically complements medical care:
Managing Treatment Side Effects
Chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and many medications come with significant side effects like fatigue, nausea, anxiety, pain, and sleep disruption. Reiki doesn’t treat these side effects, but some people find a session helps them rest and feel more comfortable on hard days.
Supporting the Nervous System
Being sick or going through treatment is stressful. A Reiki session is a calm, quiet hour where all you need to do is lie down and rest, and many people find it helps them relax.
Addressing the Emotional Dimension of Illness
Conventional medicine is understandably focused on the physical. But illness has profound emotional dimensions — fear, grief, identity disruption, relational strain — that standard medical appointments rarely have time to address. Reiki creates a dedicated space for these dimensions to receive attention and care.
Providing Agency and Participation
One of the most challenging aspects of serious illness is the loss of agency: the sense that things are happening to you and you can do very little about them. Choosing something just for your own comfort can help you feel a little more in control at a time when a lot feels out of your hands.
Having the Conversation with Your Doctor
Many Ontarians are hesitant to mention complementary therapies to their healthcare providers, fearing judgment or dismissal. Here’s our honest advice:
Be transparent. Your healthcare team needs complete information about everything you’re doing to support your health. Reiki is gentle and non-invasive, but your providers should still know you’re receiving it.
Frame it as complementary. Rather than presenting Reiki as an alternative to your medical care, introduce it as something you’re exploring alongside your medical care. This framing is accurate and typically less threatening to conventional providers.
Listen to their concerns. If your provider has questions about Reiki, hear them out. They know your medical history, and a good care team will want to talk it through with you.
Seek integrative practitioners. In the Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo region, naturopathic physicians and integrative health practitioners are often familiar with Reiki and can serve as a bridge figure on your care team.
If You’re Living With a Health Condition
If you’re recovering from surgery, living with chronic pain, going through cancer treatment, or managing any other health condition, you’re welcome at My Reiki Connection. Just let me know beforehand so I can adapt the session to your energy and how you’re feeling that day. Reiki is meant to sit alongside your medical care, never replace it, so please keep following your care team’s advice.
Working with My Reiki Connection Alongside Your Ontario Healthcare Team
At My Reiki Connection, we take our role as a complementary practice seriously. We:
- Always position ourselves as a complement, not a replacement, to medical care
- Encourage clients to inform their healthcare providers of their Reiki work
- Will not advise clients to discontinue or modify medical treatment
- Adapt sessions for clients with specific medical needs or limitations
- Welcome collaboration with other healthcare providers when clients consent
We offer both in-person sessions in Guelph and distance Reiki for clients who prefer to receive a session from home.
We also offer Reiki certification training. It’s open to anyone, including people in caring professions like nursing, social work and counselling who want to use Reiki for their own self care.
Whole-Person Care Is the Future
The division between “alternative” and “conventional” medicine is a relatively recent and artificial one. Throughout human history, and across virtually every culture, healing has been understood as a matter of the whole person — body, mind, emotion, spirit, and community.
Modern medicine’s extraordinary technical achievements deserve to be celebrated and used. And there’s room alongside them for practices that help people rest, feel cared for, and stay connected to themselves. For many people, Reiki is one of those.
Book a session with My Reiki Connection in Guelph — in person or via distance healing — and explore what integrative wellness can mean for you.
Reiki is a complementary practice. It does not diagnose or treat any medical condition and is not a substitute for medical care.
My Reiki Connection is a holistic wellness practice based in Guelph, Ontario. We offer in-person and distance Reiki sessions, Reiki certification training, sacred geometry artwork and workshops, and healing tools to support clients across Ontario and beyond.