Could Mitochondria Help Explain How Reiki Works?
I was driving home recently, listening to a fascinating interview on The Diary of a CEO. Steven Bartlett was talking with Dr Martin Picard, often referred to as The Mitochondria Doctor. Right at the beginning of the conversation, Dr Picard made a statement that immediately caught my attention:
"We are energy. We literally are the energy that's flowing through the body."
That got me thinking.
Could understanding mitochondria a little better help me understand how Reiki works?
Dr Picard went on to explain that, on average, every cell in our body contains around 1,000 tiny structures called mitochondria. They're often described as the cell's powerhouses, but they're far more remarkable than that.
Mitochondria take the food we eat and the oxygen we breathe and brings them together through an extraordinary series of chemical reactions. As electrons are released from the food, they flow through the mitochondria almost like an electrical circuit, producing the energy our cells need to function. Along the way they also generate electrical signals, heat and tiny particles of light known as biophotons.
That immediately resonated with me because it echoes ideas I've come across in several papers exploring the body's electromagnetic properties.
Over the past few years, research in cell biology, mitochondrial science and bioelectromagnetics has revealed that our cells are much more than tiny bags of chemicals. They are dynamic electrical systems that constantly communicate with one another. We also know that modern medicine routinely measures the body's electrical activity through technologies such as ECGs and EEGs, and that treatments including red-light therapy and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy can influence cellular activity through carefully controlled electromagnetic stimulation.
Could these seemingly separate discoveries eventually help explain some of the biological effects reported by people receiving Reiki?
The honest answer is that we don't know yet.
But for the first time, biology and biophysics are beginning to provide scientifically testable ideas that may one day help answer that question.
That curiosity led me down a fascinating rabbit hole of scientific papers exploring mitochondria, bioelectricity, biophotons and the human biofield. Rather than trying to prove how Reiki works, I've pulled together the current evidence, highlighted where the science is well established, and identified where researchers are still exploring possible mechanisms.
If you'd like to join me on that journey, you can read the full article here or explore my References and Research Page
If you're interested in listening to the podcast that inspired this exploration, you can watch Dr Martin Picard's interview with Steven Bartlett here: