I'm also am a Reiki practitioner and this past year I was a chaplain resident at a hospital in Boston. I found that I just couldn't help but give Reiki treatments, if only by holding a patient's hand. I remember patients telling me that my "hands seemed so warm".  During my rotation I was assigned to the ER, Dialysis, Oncology, the intensive care units and I was the only male chaplain ever assigned to the maternity unit.  This included ante/post-partum, labor and delivery, and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Like you I was a bit reluctant to tell people that I was doing Reiki, but I eventually "came out". It was probably easier for a chaplain to speak about hands-on healing than for a physician or nurse.  Yes, there were some skeptics. 

I remember one night as I was making my rounds I walked past a patient's room and heard the sounds of struggled breathing.  I walked into the room and saw an elderly patient, a man, lying in the bed with an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.  His breathing was labored and he was actually rattling. His wife and daughter were sitting next to him. I introduced myself and then went to the side of the bed opposite to them.  I placed my head down on the pillow next to the patient's ear.  I held his shoulder and hand and immediately felt the Reiki energy flow.  I breathed regularly, quietly, into the man's ear and gradually his breathing started to match mine.  It became quiet and regular.  He fell asleep.  His wife looked at me and said, "He was struggling like that all afternoon.  We couldn't get him to calm down.  Thank you."  I quietly left the room filled with the energy that I had received while giving Reiki to this man.

The hospital now has a newly formed Wellness Committee and recently we had a Women's Health Day were I was able to participate in a small Reiki clinic. This is progress but we still have a long way to go!

John Pastor