user6921: Is reiki practice (energy practice) harmful? Is it harmful to advancing in the path?  
I'm asking, not about getting a treatment, but about doing a course in it: and getting into this whole reiki thing and maybe treating others with it.

user-1: It's definitely a distraction.  There's something be said for the whole-hearted practice of a single path.  The more we pursue, the more scattered our attention, and inevitably the less directed our efforts.  I would also have to ask after your motivations.  Are they to heal or are they to simply to become someone who can heal?  Is what's driving you down that road curiosity, compassion, or perhaps something more sinister and insidious?  Lastly, just something is true for reiki practice doesn't necessarily mean it would transfer well into Buddhist practice.  Generally, the more ideas we have in our heads about what practice is, what it should look like, and how it should feel the more likely we are to run into dead-ends and obstacles.  

6921: <p>Is reiki practice (energy practice) harmful? Is it harmful to advancing in the path?  </p>

<p>I'm asking, not about getting a treatment, but about doing a course in it: and getting into this whole reiki thing and maybe treating others with it.</p>
 -1: <p>It's definitely a distraction.  There's something be said for the whole-hearted practice of a single path.  The more we pursue, the more scattered our attention, and inevitably the less directed our efforts.  I would also have to ask after your motivations.  Are they to heal or are they to simply to become someone who can heal?  Is what's driving you down that road curiosity, compassion, or perhaps something more sinister and insidious?  Lastly, just something is true for reiki practice doesn't necessarily mean it would transfer well into Buddhist practice.  Generally, the more ideas we have in our heads about what practice is, what it should look like, and how it should feel the more likely we are to run into dead-ends and obstacles.  </p>
