Reiki: A Cancer Support Service That’s as Relaxing as a Summer Breeze

From its diagnosis through the many avenues of treatment, cancer typically causes extreme stress among those who are managing the disease. That includes patients’ family members and caregivers as well as the patients themselves. To make inroads into dialing down the anxiety and worry, Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute, part of Jefferson Health, offers a special service for patients involving the practice of Reiki. 

“We’re very proud to be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Reiki program in 2026,” says Charles Hartzel, Manager of Oncology Navigation, Social Work and Cancer Support Services with the Cancer Institute. “The program has grown significantly over the years. We’ve been able to bring on additional volunteer practitioners and expand services to other Cancer Institute locations, making Reiki easier to access and allowing patients to receive this service closer to home.”

Reiki is a Japanese relaxation technique. It’s based on the idea that we all consist of “life force energy." If someone's "life force energy" is low, they are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, they are happier and healthier.

The job of the Reiki practitioner is to help you channel that energy. Practitioners “give” Reiki to someone by floating their hands over the patient’s body or lightly touching it. In this way, they transfer energy to the patient, boosting the life energy they already have. A total of six trained master Reiki practitioners work with patients at the Cancer Institute, and they are all volunteers.

“I practice light-touch Reiki, which promotes profound relaxation and well-being,” says Ronnie Boyer, a volunteer practitioner who has been with the program since the beginning. “Patients say they feel like their bodies and their minds become light because distress has been lifted. Reiki creates a powerful but gentle energy field that balances mind, body and spirit.”

One patient who believes she has benefited from the Cancer Institute Reiki program is Bethlehem resident and mother of four, Irene DeZinna. She is walking every day now with her children after two lumpectomies for breast cancer in 2021 and 2025. 

She says she learned about the Reiki program after her second surgery and had not experienced the practice before. Now she says it’s a “huge blessing and a wonderful service.”

“I can feel it when Reiki is being performed; the energy flows through me differently,” Irene says. “I am lying down but it feels like I am floating, and my hands are not touching the table. I can feel a ‘mitten’ of energy around my hands, and my body is very relaxed.” 

Irene says before she attended her first session, she wasn’t getting any sleep, and that was disrupting her throughout the day. “I had a Reiki session and afterward, I couldn’t wait to go again,” she says. “It helped me recenter and refocus my energy so I could handle what was happening.” 

Ronnie says the program is currently facilitating about 80 people a month, with five new patients typically joining each month. She is not surprised, because in addition to taking away tension and stress, Reiki helps ease the pain associated with cancer and its treatments.  

“In our chaotic world, we often are running on empty with just enough energy to get through what we have to do every day,” Ronnie says. “There’s not a lot of energy left over for your body to work on maintenance, repair and deeper healing. Reiki can give your body that extra energy.” 

Fast facts:

• One-hour Reiki sessions are free to current and past Cancer Institute patients.
• Sessions are available Tuesday through Friday. Call 610-402-1082 to speak with a Reiki practitioner about scheduling a session.
• Sessions are held in a darkened room with soft music; there is no talking during the session.
• A half-hour is built in before and after the session for talking with the practitioner. 
• Reiki is offered at Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Cedar Crest, LVH–Muhlenberg and LVH–Hecktown Oaks.