Reiki as situated practice – part 4

Representation, images, and responsibility in the public space

by Federico Scotti, President MyReiki Italy, anthropologist

This is the 4th and last part of the full article Reiki as Situated Practice

Every practice that enters the public sphere is also represented through images, symbols, and narratives. Reiki is no exception. Websites, brochures, social media posts, and teaching materials all participate in shaping how the practice is perceived, both by practitioners themselves and by wider audiences. An anthropological perspective invites careful attention to these representational layers, not as secondary embellishments, but as active elements in the social life of Reiki.

Images and language never operate in a vacuum. They draw on shared cultural repertoires, aesthetic conventions, and implicit associations. Certain visual motifs or symbolic references may appear self-evident to some audiences, while carrying very different meanings in other contexts. Anthropology approaches representation as a field of responsibility: choices about how Reiki is shown and described contribute to defining what is considered legitimate, desirable, or meaningful within the practice.

This does not imply that representation should be tightly controlled or standardised. Rather, it calls for reflexivity. Simplified or idealised portrayals can unintentionally obscure the diversity of practices and experiences that exist across Europe. They may also reinforce assumptions that are not universally shared, narrowing the space for dialogue. Becoming aware of these dynamics allows practitioners and organisations to communicate more thoughtfully, without reducing complexity to easily recognisable clichés.

From this perspective, representation is closely linked to ethics. The question is not whether certain images or narratives are allowed or forbidden, but whether they are used with awareness of their effects. Anthropology encourages asking how representations travel, how they are received in different cultural settings, and how they interact with existing power relations and expectations. This kind of questioning supports a more mature and credible public presence of Reiki.

For a European network, reflecting on representation is also a way of supporting inclusivity. Attentiveness to language and imagery helps ensure that communication remains open to multiple interpretations rather than prescriptive. It acknowledges that what feels familiar or appropriate in one context may require translation or explanation in another. In this sense, responsibility in representation becomes a shared practice, aligned with dialogue rather than regulation.

Reiki as a practice, not a religion

One of the recurring ambiguities surrounding Reiki in public discourse concerns its relationship to religion. In some contexts, Reiki is implicitly framed as a spiritual path; in others, it is treated as a belief system or associated with specific religious traditions. An anthropological perspective helps clarify this terrain by introducing a crucial distinction: Reiki can be understood primarily as a practice, rather than as a religion or a doctrinal system.

From this point of view, what defines Reiki is not adherence to a set of beliefs, but engagement in a series of embodied and relational activities. These activities involve attention, presence, touch or proximity, and specific modes of interaction. While practitioners may interpret their experiences through spiritual, philosophical, or secular frameworks, these interpretations are not constitutive of the practice itself. They coexist with it, vary across contexts, and remain open to negotiation.

This distinction is not merely theoretical; it has practical implications. When Reiki is presented as a religion, it risks being confined to a private or confessional sphere, making dialogue with public institutions, healthcare settings, or educational environments more difficult. Framing Reiki as a practice, by contrast, allows it to be discussed in terms of training, responsibility, experience, and context, without requiring shared beliefs or metaphysical commitments.

Anthropology has long established that practices can be meaningful without being religious, and that spirituality, where present, does not necessarily imply institutional religion. Applying this insight to Reiki helps avoid unnecessary polarisation. It also respects the diversity of practitioners’ positions: some may describe their engagement in spiritual terms, others in experiential or relational ones. An anthropological approach does not seek to homogenise these interpretations, but to situate them within a broader understanding of practice.

For European Reiki Group, this clarification supports a balanced and inclusive public stance. It allows ERG to articulate Reiki in ways that are accessible across cultural and institutional boundaries, while leaving space for individual meanings and motivations. Emphasising practice over belief contributes to a form of legitimacy grounded in responsibility, dialogue, and lived experience, rather than in doctrinal claims.

Conclusion: what an anthropological perspective offers to ERG

An anthropological perspective does not seek to define Reiki once and for all, nor to provide normative guidelines for how it should be practised. Its contribution lies elsewhere: in offering tools to observe, describe, and reflect on how Reiki takes shape in lived experience, across different contexts and social environments. By focusing on practice rather than abstraction, on embodiment rather than doctrine, and on plurality rather than uniformity, anthropology helps make visible dimensions of Reiki that are often taken for granted.

For European Reiki Group, this perspective can support its role as a space of dialogue and shared responsibility. In a European landscape characterised by cultural diversity and institutional complexity, the capacity to hold differences together without reducing them is a strategic strength. Anthropology contributes to this capacity by providing a language that makes diversity intelligible and by encouraging reflexivity around language, representation, and public presence.

The situated practice approach also offers pragmatic value. It allows ERG to speak with clarity to different interlocutors—practitioners, institutions, and the wider public—without relying on simplified narratives or universal claims. It fosters a form of legitimacy grounded in attentiveness to context, in respect for lived experience, and in ethical awareness of how Reiki is taught and communicated.

This article serves as a starting point rather than a conclusion. An anthropological lens is not a separate domain within ERG, but a companion to ongoing practice, teaching, and institutional dialogue. By integrating reflection into its activities, ERG can continue to develop as a network that not only connects practitioners across Europe, but also cultivates a thoughtful and responsible public understanding of Reiki in contemporary society.

Mini Glossary – Key Concepts

Situated Practice

A way of understanding Reiki that emphasises how it takes shape within specific historical, cultural, social, and institutional contexts. From this perspective, Reiki does not exist independently of where, how, and by whom it is practised.

Embodied Practice / Lived Body

The idea that Reiki is learned, transmitted, and experienced through the body understood as lived and experiential, rather than merely biological. Attention, presence, touch, posture, and sensitivity are central to how the practice is enacted and remembered.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)

A broad category referring to healing practices that exist alongside or outside dominant biomedical systems. Anthropology examines CAM not in terms of efficacy alone, but through the meanings, relationships, and power dynamics that shape its use and recognition.

Meaning-Making

The process through which experiences of Reiki become intelligible and meaningful over time, often through language, narration, and shared interpretive frameworks. Meaning-making is understood as an active and ongoing practice rather than a passive reflection of experience.

Narrative

The stories practitioners and recipients use to describe, interpret, and communicate their experiences of Reiki. Narratives do not simply report what happened; they shape expectations, guide attention, and contribute to how Reiki is understood and taught.

Embodiment

In anthropology, the concept of embodiment refers to the way knowledge, experience, and meaning are produced through lived bodily engagement rather than through abstract cognition alone. Applied analytically to Reiki, embodiment draws attention to how the practice is learned, enacted, and interpreted through bodily presence, sensory awareness, and relational interaction, without presuming any fixed or essential qualities of the practice itself.

Plurality

The coexistence of multiple ways of practising, understanding, and representing Reiki across different cultural, national, and institutional contexts. Plurality is treated as a constitutive feature of Reiki in Europe, rather than as a problem to be resolved.

Medical Pluralism

The simultaneous presence of different healing systems within the same social context. Anthropology stresses that pluralism does not imply equality, but involves ongoing negotiations of legitimacy, authority, and recognition.

Representation

The ways Reiki is presented in public spaces through images, language, symbols, and narratives. Representation is understood as an active dimension of practice, shaping perceptions, expectations, and forms of legitimacy.

Reflexivity

A critical stance that involves reflecting on one’s own assumptions, language, practices, and modes of representation. In this series, reflexivity is treated as a shared responsibility rather than as an individual exercise.

Practice (as distinct from Religion)

Reiki is approached primarily as a set of embodied and relational activities rather than as a belief system or religious doctrine. While spiritual interpretations may be present, they are not considered constitutive of the practice itself.

Wellbeing (Relational and Processual)

Wellbeing is understood not as a fixed outcome, but as something that emerges through relationships, practices, narratives, and contexts over time. This perspective moves beyond individualised or purely technical models of healing.

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