Linda Gnat-Mullin Photo

Linda Gnat-Mullin, New York, New York

What does Mainstreaming Reiki mean to you?
Mainstreaming Reiki means recognizing that nearly the entire population can benefit from Reiki, and removing the barriers to providing it. In the corporate world, every individual in a company who meets the public can influence a consumer’s perception of the total company for better or worse. The same applies to Reiki.

Where have you practiced that you would consider mainstream?
New York City Hospitals (staff and patients); Cancer Care, Inc.; The New York Medical Examiner’s Office after 9/11; Packer Collegiate Institute; Doo-Wop Rock & Rollers at Madison Square Garden; Fortune 500 Companies; The New York Consortium for Youth Development; the United Federation of Teachers.

To mainstream Reiki, what steps can you suggest to the Reiki community?
I would suggest paying attention to the person in front of you and seeing how you can truthfully present yourself and Reiki in a way they can understand and appreciate.

For my Reiki Level I class, at times, I have hired actors who have experience portraying “standard patients” at medical schools to portray a mainstream individual such as “Susie in Accounting,” or “Arnie in Finance” and let my students learn to present themselves as practitioners.

Also, read the studies available on Reiki on the NIH site and be able to quote some outcomes. This is helpful to certain people and may make them more mentally and physically receptive to your work. And, think of new places to introduce Reiki. There are many new opportunities now in health care, particularly, as hospitals are becoming more accountable for patient satisfaction. In addition, we Boomers are all aging.:)

What do you see on the horizon for Reiki?
In my own experience at Cancer Care, Inc., where I’m on the Visiting Faculty, my students have gone in a little over a decade from: “What is this thing called Reiki? How do you pronounce it?” to “Yep, we’ve all had Reiki. We like it.” Everybody gets what it’s about.

I see in the next five to ten years that potentially Reiki will be as well accepted in the health care community as acupuncture is now. The time frame really depends on the individuals involved in the field and how we present this beautiful modality. It’s really up to us.

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