What is Reiki and How Does it Help Us in the Fight Against Cancer

Dear Patients, Friends, & Family, 

We rigorously and consistently scour the data looking for modalities and techniques that can offer true healing for our patients with the goal of optimal wellness. We love our oncologists, but our field is unfortunately not comprehensive enough when considering safe, non-toxic, and gentle therapies that can have profound long-lasting effects, during treatment AND in survivorship.

Here at AIM, we aren’t interested in survivorship, but thrivorship. We want to see our patients become optimally well. We believe that looks different for each individual and can be achieved, at every stage of life. 

Given the growing clinical evidence and the moving experience many have with body work, we have decided to include Reiki this year, and to add to it: essential oil therapy, flower remedies, infrared heat with crystals, pressure therapy, sound therapy, and guided visualization.

What is Reiki?

The word ‘Reiki’ comes from the Japanese word ‘Rei’ meaning “Universal Life” and ‘Ki’ meaning “Energy”. It is a subtle and effective form of energy work to balance physical and emotional energies and facilitate an environment for healing physically, mentally, and emotionally.

How does Reiki work?

Once referred by one of our AIM doctors, your medical team, or your mental health therapist, we will schedule you for a one-hour session. I will tell you a bit about Reiki and answer any questions that you may have, then we will spend 10-15 minutes on a consultation where we talk about your concerns and goals.

We plan to use multiple healing modalities that have growing evidence that they fight cancer on a deep level along with our reiki sessions. Our intention is to introduce a parasympathetic response and calm the nervous system while achieving the following health goals:

1. Restore Clarity of Thought

2. Reduce Stress

3. Reduce Anxiety 

4. Cope with Grief and Loss

5. Help release Resentment and Grievances

6. Help with trauma and PTSD

7. Help with systemic inflammation

8. Restore sleep

9. Reconnect and restore trust in the body and our internal ability to heal.

How will we accomplish this?

We will prepare the space using aromatherapy individualized to your specific needs. Aromatherapy is a healing treatment that uses natural plant extracts medicinally to promote health and well-being. Data shows that aromatherapy can improve sleep quality, reduce anxiety levels, and has the potential for improving cognitive function.

We will integrate a sound wave therapy called binaural beats, which are tones of specific frequencies to encourage healing. Listening to binaural beats can significantly decrease sympathetic response and increase parasympathetic response, meaning they improve physical and psychological indications of stress. Certain frequencies may improve cognitive function, sleep, and anxiety.

Depending on your needs and with consult from our mental health therapist, we may instead choose a weighted blanket that has evidence that it helps with introducing a parasympathetic response for some and guided visualization formulated to fight cancer, optimize immune function, treat anxiety, or address PTSD. Guided visualizations have been shown to be highly effective in improving sleep, reducing stress, and helping to process resentment, grief, and trauma.

Our therapeutic bed will be equipped with infrared heat to increase circulation, lower inflammation, and soothe muscles. Our infrared mat delivers a therapeutic level of deeply penetrative heat that can induce a healing response. If you are unable to lay flat on a table, we can modify using a seated method. Our infrared mats deliver heat with crystals: jade and tourmaline. To enhance the meditative and energetic experience, you may choose a crystal that you feel drawn to, to hold, or to place on your body to direct your attention and focus. 

During the treatment, and with your permission, I will place my hands in specific placements over the endocrine glands and nerve plexuses, hovering about 1-3 inches above your body. As you know, the body is made of energy; from the atoms that make up our being to the chemical and electrical impulses that keep us alive, there is a constant flow of energy at work throughout the body. I am trained to focus positive, healing energy through this exercise to support your body’s natural ability to heal. Reiki helps to restore homeostasis within the human energy field to cultivate a healing environment for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Reiki can help lower pain, anxiety, fatigue, and has data in improving these specific to oncology patients.

During our session, you may feel a subtle vibration, heat, pressure, tingling, something like magnets, or nothing at all. You may have an emotional release. You may suddenly cry, laugh, or want to talk. These are all OK and quite common. The most common experience is a feeling of deep relaxation and release of stress and tension. 

It is important to drink a lot of water after your Reiki treatment to aid in the cleansing process. You will be offered a clean glass of water enhanced with a flower essence remedy before and after treatment. These remedies can help process deeper emotions that may surface through the sessions.

In a study published in 2016, researchers divided 122 people into three groups: Massage + Rest (G1), Massage + Reiki (G2), and a Control group without intervention (G3). The groups were evaluated using scales to manage stress and anxiety after 2 sessions a week for 4 weeks. The researchers found a 33% reduction in stress and 21% reduction in anxiety, with the greatest gains being in the group that did both Reiki and massage. 

Stay posted because we plan to bring on massage next.

Want to know more?

Call Associates of Integrative Medicine at (248) 798-2942 or send us a message through the Contact Us page on our website, aimnatural.com to book your appointment.

Be Well,

Sydney, Certified Reiki Practitioner, Level II

PMID: 26211735

PMID: 20377818

PMID: 22171868

PMID: 28544507

PMID: 26163604

PMID: 24582620

PMID: 27901219

Whole Plants as Powerful Healers

By Sheba S. Roy, ND FABNO

WARNING: May contain triggers for those who have been a victim of personal violence

We are in the process of building an herbal dispensary. Our plan is to offer whole, organic, locally sourced, carefully curated herbs, in clinic. Dr. March and I are skilled in putting these herbs together into personalized blends tailored to each patient’s unique needs.

When I was a young adult, I experienced a traumatic incident at my first doctor’s visit without my parents. This resulted in high levels of stress which changed the way my immune system responded to the world around me. Unknown to me and to my doctors, my body stopped making a type of immune compound that was necessary to protect my gastrointestinal (GI) and genitourinary (GU) tract.

Like our patients who may be immunocompromised, I fell victim to all kinds of illnesses. Managed by well-meaning, excellent medical doctors with a 10-year cycle of antimicrobials, I experienced crippling side effects and that caused more damage to my fragile system for which I required more and more medication.

Private pain became my constant companion and my ability to form intimate relationships was impaired. I had always been on a conventional medical tract and worked hard to succeed despite my disability.

As God would have it, I met a naturopathic doctor who figured out what the medical doctors had missed. She listened differently to my history of trauma; her training as an ND mandated that she consider how our state of mind impacts our physical body and she tested my immunoglobulins. 

Sure enough, I wasn’t making an immunoglobulin integral to mucosal health. In addition to support for PTSD, she designed an herbal tea for me and had me drink 3 cups a day for 365 days. My body responded to these herbs. The integrity of my GI and GU tract were restored and my immune system came to life. I never experienced this illness again. The freedom from pain and the experience of true cure was transformative for me.

It is this level of liberation that I aim toward for all of our patients.

The interplay between plants and human health has been documented for at least 5000 years. Herbs delivered as a tea can be a powerful, healing force because they have an entourage effect. They gently shift a person’s health over months and years with little to no side effects.

Both pharmaceutical drugs and supplements are most commonly sourced from natural substances. 25% of all drugs in use today are derived from rainforest plants. Consider that some of the most common drugs we use in cancer care: aspirin, opioids, chemotherapeutics: Taxanes, Vincristines, Vinblastines, and the Irino-and Topo-tecans come from Willow Bark, Poppies, Pacific Yew tree, the Madagascar Periwinkle and the Chinese Happy Tree, respectively.

Many people feel that the most important difference between drugs and supplements is the way that they are regulated. That is an important difference but not a relevant issue for our patients as we are careful to direct you to supplements that are safe, well sourced and not contaminated.

The most important difference for us is that drugs are derived from a single constituent or portion of a plant. That compound is then usually synthesized or mimicked in a lab setting.

For example, the plant, Cannabis Sativa, has gotten a lot of recognition lately.

Cannabis has two main strains or daughters. One is THC (Tetra-hydro-cannabinol) and the other is CBD (cannabidiol).

The THC strain is what we refer to as the marijuana drug.

CBD, on the other hand has no psychoactive or hallucinogenic effects and has become popular as an anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) and analgesic (pain reliever).

CBD, because it is a whole plant, has an entourage effect. There are at least 100 chemical parts (cannabinoids) that act together to balance each other out, enhance each other’s effects, and help each other’s effects to shine. The plant itself is a tiny ecosystem in and of itself. Like a fine wine, the whole plant has textures, tastes, flavors, personality. So when we ingest whole plants we experience slow, gradual impacts that are long lasting and gentle.

Marinol is a pharmaceutical drug where scientists mimic a cannabinoid found in THC in a lab, suspend it in sesame oil and deliver it by capsule. Marinol, looks like THC and acts like THC. It helps with appetite, sleep and weight gain and is commonly prescribed in cancer care. The problem is because it’s a single agent, divorced from all of it’s other parts, it has a sledgehammer-like high, people feel heavy headed on it and wake groggy. Without it’s sister parts, it’s impact, like most drugs, is immediate, effective, short acting and does have side effects.

CBD is excellent as a therapeutic for anxiety but there are many other herbs in our arsenal. One to highlight is Chamomile. In the daisy family, it’s one of oldest herbs known to mankind. Interestingly, it was revered by ancient black and white peoples alike. There are papyri demonstrating that ancient African peoples believed the herb to be sacred. Among Saxon peoples it was used for religious ceremonies as the “Mother of all Herbs”. We know that spiritual healers, regardless of origin believed it powerful in purification and protection.

Medicinally, Chamomile, as a whole plant, has the best data in:
—Initiating Sleep
—Aiding in Digestion
—Helping with Anxiety
—Treating inflammation

In general, using chamomile as a tea, at bedtime, after dinner, and for at least 3 months, we can see powerful shifts: a sense of peace; an inner stillness, and an ability to stay present that may not have existed before.

You can experiment with Chamomile by purchasing the tincture through BewellwithAIM.com from Herb Pharm or Wise Woman Herbals.

Things came full circle and I recently testified in a large trial about that assault. I was one of 18,000 women in a class action suit brought against the institution that protected that predator for 20 years. Afterwards, I went for the longest walk, talked to Dr. March, took an Epsom salt bath with Lavender flowers, covered myself from head to toe in an oil mixture of castor, almond oil and lavender essential oil, and had a cup of very strong Chamomile tea.

I slept a dreamless, restful night.

Recipe for chamomile tea:

Equal parts:
—Chamomile
¼ part:
—Fennel
—Lavender
—Licorice Root (exclude if you have hypertension)

2 tsp of manuka honey
¼ tsp of vanilla extract

Can be made in a large mason jar and refrigerated for a week.
Do not steep herbs for longer than an hour or it can cause nausea.

References:
PMID: 21132119
PMID: 27790360
http://abc.herbalgram.org

A Letter from Raveena

To Our Patients:

For those of you who I have had the privilege to meet, it has truly been a pleasure. For those of you who I have not met yet, I am Raveena, AIM’s newest medical intern. I joined the team in June, and as we all know, these are strange times. It has been incredible to see how much this team does behind the scenes to make sure we are doing the best we can for all of you—our patients. 

When life seems to be at a standstill, we find ourselves deeply woven into the fabric of humanity. We sit in our separate, socially isolated homes, yet we are increasingly aware of our potential to impact one another. 

During my time here, I have seen that impact firsthand. Many of you have known the AIM team for much longer than I have. You have shared with me the difference they have each made in your lives, being there for you in ways that others could not. You have also shared with me how integrative medicine has touched your life. 

Getting to work with both you and our clinicians is a privilege. I have found myself resonating with the lasting human connection that is fostered in this practice. Whether you are seen in-person or through telemedicine, there is a deep commitment to serving you through both enjoyable and challenging times. 

In the future, I hope to be able to cultivate the same types of relationships with my patients. Like the team of clinicians at AIM, I strive to practice medicine that integrates nutrition, wellbeing, mental, and physical health to care for the whole person. If you have seen any of their public talks, you know they are committed to not only caring for individuals, but caring for their entire community as well. It is this desire to honor the complex humanity around me that fuels my pursuit of medicine--my pursuit to serve as a catalyst for hope and healing.

Not only am I grateful to our AIM team for the opportunity to gain exposure to this wonderful field of integrative medicine, but I am deeply grateful to all of you for trusting me enough to share your experiences and reflections with me. Despite the strange circumstances we are living under, I cannot wait to see what the year ahead holds. If you or one of your loved ones would like to see us, or just catch up, please do not hesitate to reach out. It is our honor to serve you. 

Thank you for the privilege to serve you, to learn from you, and to walk with you on your journey. 

Until we speak, be well, 

Raveena, Medical Intern In Training