An Unfolding TikTok Adventure

Students have been telling me for a few years that I should be on TikTok. Maybe you’re one of those students who offered to help me get started. Now in my mid-50s, I thought I was outside the demographic, so I demurred. Still, I had to take a peek, and naturally I searched TikTok for the topic Reiki. At first, I was delighted to see thousands of videos about Reiki pop up in the search.

On closer inspection, I was shocked to see that almost all the videos were of young women waving their long fingernails hypnotically at the camera performing what they call “Reiki Plucking,” often accompanied with words like “I’m plucking all the negative energy out of your aura.” What I saw did not match what I know of Reiki. I sat with this discomfort about the lack of accurate Reiki information on TikTok for a long time.

On September 17, 2022, the New York Times published secret findings from Google in an article titled: “For Gen Z, TikTok Is the New Search Engine.” Among the explosive findings was Google’s own internal report that people under the age of 40 increasingly no longer use Google to search the internet. When they want to know about something, they prefer to open the TikTok app and use its search tools instead to find video content that answers their questions.

I knew I couldn’t let future generations learn about Reiki by watching “Reiki Plucking” from the perfectly manicured fingernails of women on TikTok. I could feel a calling forming within me, and Reiki filling me with energy to make my own educational videos. And that’s when a student of mine offered to help me make a TikTok account and record some videos. We started November 1^st, and so far, have recorded 28 videos that have been uploaded to TikTok under the username @nyc_reiki_center.

The next step in my adventure on TikTok (and Instagram) requires help that only younger and smarter people than me can imagine. I need a few visionaries and social media mavens who are willing to help me share in impactful ways the many true stories of Reiki that we carry in our lineage. I’m great at talking and telling stories, but I don’t know how to reach younger audiences on these platforms. And my stories alone are not enough. I’d love to share stories from any student of NYC Reiki Center who wants to tell their Reiki story.

If you have a passion for social media and video, or if you want to share your own amazing Reiki stories, please text me at (212) 660-9918 to volunteer with the Reiki Storytelling Team. Let’s work together to make sure accurate information about Reiki is available for online audiences.