Reiki does not act on dementia, Parkinson's, arthritis or any other illness, and it replaces no treatment or medical follow-up. What it can offer an older person is kind contact, a stretch of calm and company without demand — in shorter sessions adapted to their body.
Who usually books this session
Often it is not the older person.
It is a son or daughter who lives far away and calls on Sundays. It is a granddaughter who notices her grandmother has gone quiet. It is a carer who has been in the house for years and has run out of things to offer.
And the request, once said out loud, is usually quite specific: that he be calmer, that she sleep a little better, that there be something different in the week, that someone treat them gently.
That is a legitimate request. It is also worth saying at the outset where its limits are.
What Reiki does not do
Plainly:
- It does not act on Alzheimer's disease or any form of dementia. It does not slow cognitive decline, improve memory or reverse anything.
- It does not act on Parkinson's, on tremor, rigidity or gait.
- It does not treat arthritis, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, diabetes or any chronic condition.
- It does not replace medication, check-ups, physiotherapy or mobility aids.
- It is never a reason to reduce or stop any medicine.
- It does not diagnose anything.
If anyone hints to your father or mother that energy will "bring the memory back" or let them "come off the blood pressure tablet", that person is doing something serious. I put it that bluntly because there is real vulnerability in this age group, and some people trade on it.
What it can offer
Here the task is neither to exaggerate nor to undersell.
Kind contact. Many older people go weeks without being touched gently. They are touched to be helped up, to be washed, to have their blood pressure taken. Half an hour of calm hands on the shoulders or the hands is a different experience, and it is not a small thing.
A stretch of calm. No television, no noise, nobody asking for anything.
Rest. Many older people fall asleep during a session. Good. Let them sleep. If the trouble is night-time sleep, Reiki for insomnia is worth reading too.
Company without demand. Someone who sits beside them and does not ask about the aches, review the medication list or correct what was forgotten.
The sense of being cared for, rather than attended to. They are different things and it shows.
None of those is a treatment. Together, they can improve how a week feels.
Loneliness, which is not a diagnosis but weighs
I see this constantly and it deserves its own section.
Many older people have their medical care reasonably covered and still spend most of the day without conversation. The children work. The friends have died. The house has grown too big.
Sustained loneliness is associated with poorer wellbeing, and no energy practice fixes that. What fixes it is connection: visits, activities, groups, a phone that rings.
What a session can be is a fixed hour in the week when someone comes, sits down, and there is a reason to tidy up a little. Often that is half the benefit, and I would rather say so than pretend it is something else.
What the evidence says, with its limits
I set it out as it stands, because in this age group exaggeration turns easily into exploitation.
The NCCIH, part of the US National Institutes of Health, holds that Reiki has not clearly been shown to be effective for any health-related purpose, and has not been shown to be harmful: nccih.nih.gov/health/reiki.
The Cochrane review (Joyce and Herbison, 2015, CD006833), on anxiety and depression, found only three randomised trials with around 62 participants in total and concluded there is insufficient evidence.
The meta-analysis by Liu and colleagues (2025, Systematic Reviews 14:72), with 11 trials and 661 participants, found a small, statistically significant improvement in quality of life (SMD = 0.28; 95% CI 0.01–0.56), with high heterogeneity (I² = 65.1%). The best-performing subgroups had eight or more sessions of sixty minutes or longer — though for an older person the second of those is not always realistic.
The meta-analysis by Demir Doğan (2018) on pain found a positive signal, with acknowledged methodological limitations.
In short: nothing allows anyone to claim an effect on an illness. There is limited-quality evidence of small improvements in quality of life and in perceived pain and anxiety, and broad agreement that the practice is safe as long as it does not replace treatment.
How the session is adapted
This is the practical part.
| Situation | How it adapts |
|---|---|
| Difficulty getting onto a table | Seated session, in an armchair, feet supported |
| Fragile or thin skin | Very light contact or none at all, hands a few centimetres away |
| Bruises, pressure sores, wounds | That area is not touched; work stays off the body |
| Joint pain, arthritis | No joint is moved; no pressure at all |
| Hearing difficulty | Speak face to face, slowly, without shouting; explain before touching |
| Cognitive decline | Short explanations, calmly repeated; companion present |
| Long sessions uncomfortable | 20–30 minutes is plenty; the body decides when it ends |
| Difficulty travelling | Distance session, or arranged at home |
Two more rules I always apply.
Everything is explained before any touch. A hand appearing unannounced on the shoulder of someone who hears poorly or is disoriented can frighten them. You say it, you wait, then you touch.
The companion stays. Where there is cognitive decline, difficulty expressing themselves, or simply a preference, the relative or carer remains in the room. That provides safety and avoids misunderstandings.
Multiple medications: why it has to be mentioned
An older person may be taking five, eight or ten different medicines. Anticoagulants, antihypertensives, diabetes medication, painkillers, something to sleep.
Reiki does not interact pharmacologically with any of it: no substance is administered. But the conversation still has to happen, for two reasons.
The first is that the medication picture explains things about the session. Dizziness on standing up may have to do with a blood pressure medicine, not with "energy moving". Knowing that leads to better handling: get up slowly, allow time, say something.
The second matters more. No session, no feeling of improvement and no practitioner is ever a reason to touch a prescription. Only the prescribing doctor changes a dose. I set this out in full in Reiki and medication, and for an older adult on many medicines the rule is even less negotiable.
When to talk to the doctor
It is always worth telling the treating doctor that Reiki is being received. And there are situations that should be checked without waiting for the next appointment:
- A fall, even a minor one, even if nothing hurts at the time.
- New confusion or sudden disorientation, which in older people can have acute and treatable medical causes.
- New or changing pain, in the chest, the back or anywhere.
- A marked change in mood, appetite or sleep.
- Any wound or skin ulcer.
The rule I repeat to families is simple: if you are hesitating between calling the doctor and waiting, call.
What a session with an older person looks like in my practice
I start by asking two things: how they would like me to address them — many older Colombians find first-name informality from a stranger discourteous — and what is bothering them in the body today.
I almost never use a treatment table. It happens in an armchair, feet supported, with a blanket, because many older people feel cold even in Medellín. The session runs twenty to thirty minutes.
I work mainly on the hands, shoulders and head, with very little pressure. On arthritic hands, no pressure at all: just resting contact. On persistent pain and what a session can and cannot accompany, see Reiki for chronic pain; the general framework of how I work is on the therapy page.
What has struck me most over the years is how much people talk. Someone arrives quiet and ten minutes later is telling me their life: the town they left, a brother who died forty years ago, the house they sold. I do nothing special to prompt it. There is simply someone sitting there in no hurry, and that is scarce.
In Santa Elena — the cloud-forest village in the mountains above Medellín — I have accompanied older adults who came up with their families at the weekend. The cold air and the smell of the mountain do something no technique does.
And if travelling is difficult, distance sessions require nothing at all: the person rests in their own bed or armchair, at home. Sessions can be held in English.
Frequently asked questions
Can Reiki help my mother, who has dementia? It does not act on dementia or on its course, and I want to be very clear about that. What is sometimes observed is that a while of calm contact is pleasant and that the person stays settled for a time afterwards. The session should be short, with simple explanations and a relative present. All management of the illness stays with the medical team.
Is it safe if they take anticoagulants or many medicines? Yes, in the sense that no substance is administered and no pharmacological interaction is possible. What is needed is for the practitioner to know the situation so the session can be adapted — fragile skin, bruising risk, dizziness on sitting up — and for the treating doctor to know it is happening. The medication is not touched for any reason.
My father lives alone and rarely goes out. Would this help? It can be a good hour in the week and a reason to receive someone, and that has value. But it would be dishonest to sell it as a solution to loneliness. What helps most there is sustained connection: frequent visits, a group, an activity, someone who calls. A session can be a small piece of that, not the whole of it. And if a recent loss sits behind it, Reiki for grief may be more useful.
Can it be done at home or in a care home? At home it can be arranged. In an institution it requires permission from the management and the centre's health team, and respect for their rules and timetables. Nothing is ever done behind the backs of the staff caring for the person.
How long should a session for an older adult last? Less than people assume. Twenty or thirty minutes is usually enough, sometimes less. Staying in one position for a long time is tiring and uncomfortable, especially with joint pain. I would rather give a short good session than a long one that has to be endured.
Disclaimer
This article is for educational purposes and does not replace diagnosis, treatment or follow-up by a healthcare professional. Reiki is a complementary practice: it accompanies, it does not substitute. If you are under medical or psychological care, continue it and talk to your treating professional before adding any complementary therapy.
If you are considering this for your mother, your father or someone you care for, write to me on WhatsApp at +57 314 811 7561. I will tell you honestly whether it makes sense in their situation.
Share this read
Written by
Sananda Reiki
Spiritual support and Reiki therapies in Medellín and online.
Learn more about Sananda
