San Diego Reiki offers Reiki sessions with a board-certified Medical Doctor

With more and more patients being dissatisfied with the medical care they get from Western Medicine doctors, it is not surprising that Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is commonly utilized in the US.1  Despite high interest in CAM among the patients, most Medical Doctors continue to have very limited knowledge of Alternative and Complementary Medicine approaches. Fortunately, there is a trend of increasing openness to learning CAM among some physicians.2

One medical doctor in San Diego, California, has taken the path less traveled, by learning and utilizing Reiki in addition to practicing medicine. Reiki is a holistic complementary healing art from Japan, which utilizes a unique method of light touch that helps improve natural self-healing.  Dr. Danilychev, MD, is a board-certified Medical Doctor, medical consultant, geriatrician, a hospice Medical Director, and a clinical research physician. She has observed Reiki and other CAM modalities in action for over a decade while working at a hospice inpatient unit. Impressed with the effectiveness of some of these approaches, she decided to learn one of them. That decision, in part, came from Dr. Danilychev’s desire to offer her patients something in addition to her medical expertise. and from her drive to understand how a non-medical healing art can be as helpful as it is. Reiki is very gentle, yet it can be very powerful in helping people heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and often on profound level.

Learning Reiki did not come easy to Dr. Danilychev, as it is 100% opposite from anything doctors learn in medical school. Reiki, as a concept, is based on the idea that we have Ki3 or life force energy flowing naturally though us. This is a common notion in many Asian healing arts, but it is s a completely foreign concept in Western Medicine. Nevertheless, Dr. Danilychev did not give up on this mind-body healing art, and continued to pursue and practice it in its most authentic form – Jikiden Reiki4.

It took a few years for Dr. Danilychev to overcome the barriers of the traditional Western Medicine mindset in order to fully embrace the nature of Reiki. Modern medical science cannot explain how Reiki works, yet Dr. Danilychev, and many others who have witnessed its direct effects, find the benefits of Reiki undeniable. “Reiki is not a ‘magic bullet’ or cure-all treatment method,” says Danilychev, “but it can be incredibly powerful.” At this time, there is not enough scientific evidence to prove that Reiki works5, but in Dr. Danilychev’s experience, the positive effects go significantly beyond what one would expect from a placebo.

In 2014, Dr. Danilychev founded San Diego Reiki, an organization committed to providing Reiki services and classes in their most authentic form, while elevating the level of professionalism in the field. Clients describe Reiki sessions with Dr. Danilychev as “amazing” and they continue to be impressed with their Reiki experiences. “I have a few doctors as my clients, and I hope to share my Reiki knowledge with as many medical professionals as possible,” says Dr. Danilychev.

“It is like learning a new language,” says Dr. Danilychev, “I already spoke ‘Medicine’ and now I can also speak ‘Reiki’.” Because of the vast differences in the mental constructs behind science-based Western Medicine and Ki-based Reiki, it is not surprising that doctors and Reiki practitioners have a hard time communicating with each other. “I hope that I can become a bridge between the two worlds. The benefits of Western Medicine and of Reiki are so clear to me, and I am glad that I am able to do both,” shares Dr. Danilychev.

1. Clarke TC, Black LI, Stussman BJ, Barnes PM, Nahin RL. Trends in the use of complementary health approaches among adults: United States, 2002–2012. Natl Health Stat Report. 2015;(79):1–16.

2. Sejal J Patel, Kathi J Kemper, and Joseph P Kitzmiller. Physician perspectives on education, training, and implementation fo complementary and alternative medicine, Adv Med Educ Pract. 2017; 8: 499–503. 2017 Jul 25.

3. [Ki] Qi. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi#Concept

4. Jikiden Reiki Institute. https://www.jikiden-reiki.com/en/

5. Lee MS, Pittler MH, Ernst E. Int J Clin Pract. 2008 Jun;62(6):947-54. Epub 2008 Apr 10. Effects of reiki in clinical practice: a systematic review of randomised clinical trials.

About San Diego Reiki

San Diego Reiki is a holistic wellness practice and a Reiki Training Center in San Diego, CA. Founded by Dr. Maria Danilychev, MD, a board-certified Medical Doctor and a Hospice Medical Director, who saw the effectiveness of Reiki for her hospice patients, and have become a certified Reiki practitioner and teacher, in addition to practicing medicine. Reiki promotes natural healing on a physical, emotional and spiritual levels through a special process that involves a light touch. At San Diego Reiki we use the most authentic Japanese style of Reiki (Jikiden Reiki) to help our clients feel their best naturally. Our holistic center is one of very few in the world that provides Reiki services by a qualified physician, making it a unique wellness practice.