Can 10 Minutes of Reiki Make a Difference? What New Research Found

One of the questions I’m often asked about Reiki is:

“How much Reiki do I need?”

And when I offer shorter Reiki experiences at events, people often wonder whether a brief session can really make a difference.

It’s a great question.

Reiki sessions can vary greatly in length, and there isn’t one amount of time that’s “right” for everyone. But a recently published study gives us something interesting to consider.

Researchers looked specifically at what happened after just one 10-minute Reiki session among people living and working in high-stress environments.

Not an hour.

Not a series of weekly sessions.

Ten minutes.

And among more than 1,700 participants, researchers found substantial changes in how people rated their stress and pain immediately after those brief sessions.

So perhaps the more interesting question isn’t simply:

“How long does a Reiki session need to be?”

It’s:

“Can even a brief Reiki session make a meaningful difference in how someone feels?”

Let’s look at what the researchers found.

What Was the Study About?

The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology in November 2025, explored whether a single 10-minute Reiki session was associated with changes in people’s perceived levels of stress and pain.

And this wasn’t a small handful of people receiving Reiki in a quiet treatment room.

Researchers analyzed data from 1,724 participants across 59 community events in the Chicago area between September 2022 and December 2024.

Participants came from a variety of high-stress communities, including:

• Police officers and firefighters

• First responders in training

• Veterans

• College and university communities

• Community violence intervention and at-risk communities

• People connected with the correctional system

That diversity is one of the things that makes this study particularly interesting.

How Did the Study Work?

Each participant received one 10-minute Reiki session.

Before the session, participants rated their current level of stress and pain on a simple 1–10 scale. Immediately afterward, they rated those same things again and were invited to describe how they felt.

The sessions weren’t all conducted in peaceful wellness centers, either.

Reiki was offered in police and fire departments, training academies, colleges and universities, wellness fairs, nonprofit offices and a juvenile detention center. Some environments were quiet and relaxing, while others were busy, noisy and full of activity.

Participants were also given the option to receive Reiki through gentle touch or with the practitioner’s hands hovering above the body.

What Did Researchers Find About Reiki for Stress and Pain?

This is where the results become especially interesting.

Among participants who completed the before-and-after surveys, researchers reported an average:

72.62% reduction in self-reported stress

and

63.34% reduction in self-reported pain

following the 10-minute Reiki session.

Average stress ratings decreased from 4.31 before Reiki to 1.22 afterward.

Average pain ratings decreased from 3.11 to 1.10.

The pre-to-post changes were statistically significant.

And remember: That was after one 10-minute Reiki session.

What Did People Say They Felt?

The numbers tell one part of the story.

The participants’ own descriptions add another layer.

When researchers looked at the words people used after their sessions, recurring descriptions included feeling:

Forms of the word relax alone appeared hundreds of times in the participant feedback.

And I think that matters.

Because well-being isn’t only about what can be measured on a machine.

How we feel matters, too.

• Feeling calmer matters.

• Feeling less overwhelmed matters.

• Feeling a little less pain matters.

Especially for people who spend much of their lives under significant stress.

One of the Most Interesting Parts: The Setting

Here’s something I found particularly fascinating.

You might assume that people felt better because they were sitting in a peaceful room with dim lighting, soft music and a relaxing atmosphere.

But that wasn’t always the case.

During several events at Chicago Police Headquarters, Reiki sessions took place in a relaxing environment with dimmed lights, soft music and aromatherapy.

At another series of events, sessions were offered outside in a festival-like atmosphere—with a DJ, loud dance music and plenty of distractions.

And perhaps most surprising of all, at one police district, Reiki was offered in a conference room next to a shooting range, with gunshots repeatedly sounding nearby.

Yet participants in all of these environments reported reductions in stress and pain.

The researchers observed that the setting and ambiance appeared to have relatively little bearing on the reported outcomes, although this observation requires further study.

That certainly caught my attention.

Perhaps the “perfect” environment isn’t always necessary to give ourselves a few moments to receive, reset and reconnect.

Does This Study Prove Reiki Reduces Stress and Pain?

This is where it’s important to look carefully at what the research does—and doesn’t—tell us.

No, this study does not prove that Reiki caused these changes.

Everyone in this study received Reiki.

There was no control group, no pseudo-Reiki comparison group and no randomization. Participants simply rated how they felt immediately before and after their Reiki session.

The researchers themselves are very clear about this.

They describe the study as exploratory and specifically state that it was not intended to establish causality or clinical efficacy.

There were other limitations as well.

The findings were based on participants’ self-reported perceptions. The researchers did not collect demographic or baseline health information, and the stress and pain measurements used simple subjective rating scales rather than standardized clinical instruments.

So it would not be accurate to say:

“Reiki was proven to reduce stress by 72%.”

What we can accurately say is:

That distinction is important.

What Does This Study Tell Us About a 10-Minute Reiki Session?

This study can’t tell us that there is one ideal length for a Reiki session.

What it does tell us is that after just 10 minutes, a large group of participants reported feeling considerably less stressed and experiencing less pain than they had immediately before their sessions.

That doesn’t mean everyone will have the same experience.

And it doesn’t mean a 10-minute session is equivalent to a longer Reiki session.

But it does raise an interesting possibility:

And that makes brief Reiki sessions worthy of further research.

Why This Reiki Research Matters

What I appreciate about this study is its real-world simplicity.

These weren’t necessarily people attending a Reiki retreat or seeking out an hour-long healing session.

Reiki was brought directly into communities experiencing high levels of stress.

And it was offered for only 10 minutes.

The study doesn’t give us the final answer about why participants felt better.

But with more than 1,700 people participating and substantial changes in their reported experiences, it gives researchers another reason to keep asking questions.

• What happens during those few quiet minutes?

  
  

• Could brief Reiki sessions become another supportive wellness tool for people experiencing high levels of stress?

  
  

• Would these results hold up in a randomized controlled study?

Those are questions worth exploring.

And perhaps there’s a simpler reminder here for the rest of us, too:

Sometimes ten minutes is a place to begin. 💜

Heal • Grow • Transform

Curious About Reiki?

Have you ever wondered what Reiki feels like—or whether it might be something you’d like to experience for yourself?

Whether you’re curious about Reiki, interested in a private session, or simply want to learn more about this gentle complementary practice, I invite you to explore further.

💜 Learn more about Reiki and Reiki sessions: www.LiveYourYellowBrickRoad.com/reiki

About the Research

The study, Investigating Perceived Stress and Pain Reduction Following Brief Reiki Sessions in High-Stress Communities: An Exploratory Study, was written by Heather McCutcheon and Sana Kausar Habiya and published in Frontiers in Psychology in November 2025.

The researchers concluded that the study provides useful insight into how participants perceived the effects of brief Reiki sessions on their stress and pain. They also emphasized the need for more rigorous research into short Reiki sessions in non-clinical environments and repeated sessions over time.

Research citation: McCutcheon, H., & Habiya, S. K. (2025). Investigating perceived stress and pain reduction following brief Reiki sessions in high-stress communities: an exploratory study. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1625414. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1625414.

Reiki is a complementary wellness practice and is not a substitute for medical diagnosis, treatment, mental-health care or pain management. Persistent or significant stress or pain should be discussed with an appropriate healthcare professional.