In the Baltimore Sun on Sunday, October 7, 2007, the lead article revealed that
Reiki is being offered at University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center. The article, "From a curiosity to a
cure", featured a woman, Kim Holland, who suffered from a motorcycle accident. Her Harley smashed into a guardrail
in Elkridge causing severe damage to her right leg. According to the Sun, Ms. Holland received Reiki after "a week
filled with operations and skin grafts, narcotics by pill and by pump". "The lights down low, soft music playing
to drown out the buzzing and beeping and ringing that make up a hospital's soundtrack, two women slowly waved their arms
over Holland's broken body, as if trying to push away the pain." "Officials
at the University of Maryland say this is the first time that alternative medicine has been used in a trauma center in the
U.S., a sign of the growing acceptance of this booming field."
Dr.
David Tarantino, "an anesthesiologist who runs Shock Trauma's pain management service", was skeptical
at first but states "the more I have become involved with this and seen firsthand what it does for our patients, the
more it has piqued my interest."
As for Ms. Holland she explains
that "her whole body is relaxed ... which allowed her to get a good night's sleep by shedding some of the emotional
damage of the crash." In addition, she explains that Reiki helped reduce a shooting pain in her leg and the pain
from her broken ribs and punctured lung. According to the Sun, "she says she feels the good energy coming in and
the bad flowing out."
Donna Audia, Reiki Practitioner, states,
"at Shock Trauma, we've been healing the physical body for years and we do it extremely well.... What we're
trying to do now is heal the mind and spirit."
Source: Desmon, S. (2007).
From a curiosity to a cure, The Sun
