What I Learned About Addiction Through Reiki

This person I knew from the local sober community made it about 8 months before he fell off the wagon. Again.

He had been having trouble staying sober.

I didn’t know much about him or his journey. We knew each other peripherally and I saw this as an opportunity to run my own case study using Reiki since one of my texts in the subject matter included a section on overcoming “bad habits”.

Reiki is a spiritual healing technique that relaxes and stimulates your body’s ability to heal itself.

Upon hearing my offer, he accepted, citing that he was willing to try anything. I created interview forms for him to complete before and after Reiki sessions.

I was very naïve to the recovery community. I knew people, lots of people, in programs, and thought that they just had a substance abuse problem. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

As the case study progressed, my subject began experiencing less cravings for his drug of choice. This was hopeful news. We kept up with the sessions and as things developed, I discovered that this wasn’t a simple addiction to the drug because the drug is addictive. There was an underlying issue plaguing this man: he had a people-pleasing problem.

It was 2015 and don’t recall exactly how this detail came about, but I think it was because of some dialogue we had. He expressed feeling bad about letting people down, people who wanted his time when he wasn’t giving himself any. In order to get people to leave him alone or run away from this problem, he would use, disappear for a couple of days, reappear, and have to start his twelve steps all over again. This pattern cost him jobs along the way.

To get him practicing saying “no” to people and things, we began incorporating visualization. In practice people got upset that he wasn’t bending to their will but his refusal to give up his time and energy to others was a form of much needed self-care. Once he shook off the responsibility of catering to others, he witnessed personal improvement.

We kept tapering off the Reiki sessions. After many years of on-again, off-again substance abuse, he once again earned his one-year chip.

Since conducting such a study, I now know that substance abuse is more than just addiction to a substance. Addiction is a coping mechanism to run away from problems you don’t want to face. Addiction can be used to deny looking into yourself and doing the work. Addiction can take the form of drugs, alcohol, sex, social media, food, anything done in excess as a way of distracting from a problem.

I haven’t kept tabs on my subject since concluding the study. I do know he’s still alive and hope he’s doing well.