So, how does Reiki practice work? “The honest answer to that is: We don’t know,” Miles says. “Science does not yet know the mechanism of action.”

There are theories.

One popular theory involves a phenomenon known as the “biofield.” The biofield is an electromagnetic field that permeates and surrounds every living being. In humans, this field extends 15 feet or more from the body.

The heart, for example, produces an electrical field — measured through an electrocardiogram, or ECG — to regulate heartbeats. The brain also produces an electrical field, though at a lower level than the heart. In fact, all of the body’s cells produce positive and negative electrical charges, which then create magnetic fields, per the aforementioned past literature review.

According to this theory, the interaction between two human magnetic fields may explain the effects of touch therapies like Reiki. It is thought that the biofield is the energetic force that guides bodily functions, and that Reiki energy influences the biofield. “[The biofield] is thought to cause dynamic changes in its vibrational qualities that alter physiological and psychological functions in living beings,” Dr. Baldwin says.

Quantum physics, the study of how the incredibly small particles that make up matter — electrons, neutrons, protons, and photons — behave, and attempts to explain the interactions of energy and physical matter. 

Quantum physicists have found that these tiny particles of energy can be in more than one place at one time (both a wave and particle at the same time, depending upon how it is examined, and that thought or intention may change how the particles work. 

In essence, the Reiki practitioner may be able to gather and direct biofield energy to the recipient through thoughts and intentions.