July 23, 2011

Reiki is a form of energy work that supports harmony among body, mind a spirit, and according to a recent article in the Spring 2011 issue of Columbia University Medical Center’s healthpoints newsletter, “healers” such as energy workers and reiki practitioners are now welcomed in the operating room during breast surgery at New York Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital.

The article states that the program is spearheaded by Sheldon Feldman, MD, Chief of the Breast Surgery Section, who strongly believes in the importance of patients’ overall well-being. As part of the program, energy workers and reiki masters may be present while a patient undergoes mastectomy or other surgical procedures.

Dr. Feldman was quoted in the article as saying, "Patients may be going through very difficult problems, such as accepting the loss of a breast or the ability to breastfeed. Healers can help patients on the emotional level, which helps on the physical level. The positive impact on healing after surgery can be potentially huge."

According to the article, “Physicians, surgeons, and nursing staff at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia understand that emotional well-being plays an important role in healing, and they do as much as possible to address the full scope of patients' needs before, during, and after surgery.”

The breast surgery program takes the baton from New York Presbyterian/Columbia’s Integrative Medicine Program, which was led by Dr. Mehmet Oz for fifteen years, and first welcomed energy work and reiki practitioners into the operating room for patients undergoing heart surgery.

"Before surgery, patients always ask what they can do to get ready, to be prepared. Working with a healer can be very helpful," says Dr. Feldman in the article. "We instituted this program so that this option can be available to everyone who wants it, not just the exceptional patient."

Source: healthpoints E-Newsletter, Spring 2011, Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Surgery, p. 3.



Dave Gorczynski is president of SPARK, a non-profit organization that has provided free energy work sessions and workshops across New York City since 2002. He writes a regular column about energy work and meditation for the Compact News in New York City's Chinatown. E-mail him at dave@sparkenergy.org.