This article first appeared in the August 2002 edition (issue 7) of the British 'Psychic Voice/Holistic View' and later reprinted in the 'BCA (British Community Association) Cairo Magazine' for October 2002 and also the UK's 'ASH (Association of Spiritualists & Healers) Magazine' for October 2002. It appears here in edited form.

Journeying with Reiki

Bringing an understanding and a sense of the spiritual into a child's life is fundamental if that child is to develop a sense of their place in the larger scheme of things. It doesn't really matter very much whether they are a Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu or of any other religious persuasion. Spirituality transcends all of these definitions, and through a developing inner awareness becomes an empowering and liberating force.

For this reason, I have always been very keen to reference my conversations with my daughter Marianne, to a spiritual perspective of life, whenever it was appropriate. As a teacher of Reiki this has naturally included many discussions about Reiki as a powerful healing method, both in terms of physical healing and healing on an emotional level.

Reiki is now the fastest growing complementary therapy in the world. Formulated by a Japanese lay-Buddhist, Mikao Usui at the start of the last century, Reiki is a form of spiritual healing that simply involves the laying on of hands and the channelling of powerful, universal healing energy to the recipient. Reiki literally means 'universal life force energy'.

What is unique about Reiki is that the method can be 'learnt' very quickly by anyone. This is through a process called an 'attunement': a sacred ritual performed with the Reiki student by a Reiki Master who has him or herself been attuned to the Reiki energy. This ritual facilitates the opening of the channel through which the energy will flow.

The aspect of Reiki that it is most known for is in its application as a self-healing method. Simply by laying one's hands on one's own body, and having the intention that the energy will flow is enough for the process to begin. It was this aspect of Reiki that Marianne and I often discussed with each other, with me being the more enthusiastic participant of the conversation. I was very keen that Marianne should allow me to attune her to bring this wonderful energy more fully into her life. However Marianne would persistently inform me "I'm not ready yet."

Shortly after her fifth birthday, Marianne, quite out of the blue, asked if she could 'do Reiki'. Seizing the opportunity I hurriedly prepared myself - not really the way to do it but I wasn't going to miss this chance - and performed the attunement process with Marianne. Through much squirming, talking and squinting through supposedly closed eyes, we managed to complete the process and Marianne was able to 'do Reiki'.

Since that day I have noticed a profound change in my daughter. Most noticeably she seems to have developed a much keener awareness of the spiritual side of life than had previously been apparent. As we walked past a man felling a tree one day not long after her attunement she observed that the tree must be feeling a lot of pain, and was it really necessary for the man to cut it down? In fact, had the man asked the tree if it was okay if he cut it down!

Some might find this childishly endearing but for Marianne who has always been taught to hold life in all of its forms as sacred, to ask these questions made perfect sense. But more than this it was her desire to do something about what she saw as a nasty and hurtful thing to do to the tree that was important. Her immediate reaction was to want to go and give the tree some Reiki. Unfortunately this was not possible at the time!

A child's desire to help in a situation like this is a reflection of a growing sense of compassion and thoughtfulness and these are qualities that Reiki can help bring to fruition. Reiki is often known as the 'energy of compassion'. To really engage with life in a meaningful way it is important to bring to bear this feeling of compassion for other beings - even trees - as often as possible. The real starting point for this is the ability to hold compassion for one's self. Compassion for oneself is at the core of the Reiki experience.

It is traditionally a part of Reiki teaching that the student should engage in a daily self-treatment regardless of whether or not there is any apparent 'imbalance' in their system; it being much better to prevent imbalance or illness than to try to fix it afterwards. With children you rarely have to tell them twice. They get such a warm feeling of being comforted and protected, that they love to do Reiki on themselves. I notice this whenever Marianne might happen to see or hear something that upsets her even a little. Her hands go straight to her chest and abdomen to give herself some Reiki. Within moments, she feels fine. Of course there is the added benefit for those sensitive enough to the energy of enjoying the 'little tickles' or tingles that go through their whole body.

If a fall occurs or a finger is cut, Reiki is there relieving the pain or helping the cut to heal. Before Marianne could do Reiki herself and following a cascade of tears I would be told "Daddy do some Reiki." This I promptly did. But when a child can do Reiki for itself it enables the child to take much more responsibility for its own healing process. This is part of the process of eventual liberation from the parent that is essential for any child's long-term survival. By knowing that what they can do with Reiki is just as powerful and feels just as good as anything their Reiki parent(s) can do helps to add to a child's sense of equality and final independence.

Reiki, like many other complementary health systems works in a holistic fashion; treating the mind, body and spirit of the recipient as one unified and inter-dependant whole. Through relaxing the whole system in an incredibly profound way, Reiki enables the body's own healing ability to come to the fore. This relaxation response, at least from a parent's perspective, is one of the most attractive aspects of the system. We all know those familiar phrases at bedtime; "but I'm not tired yet", or "I keep trying to go to sleep, but I can't". With Reiki, there is a solution.

Once a child becomes familiar with self-treatment, it takes very little encouragement to get them to lay their hands on themselves when they go to bed. Often within seconds they are sound asleep and flooding their systems with healing energy. The consequence of this is a much happier and well-rested child the next morning - even when they had perhaps gone to bed later than normal. Of course there are times when a child might point-blank refuse to do Reiki on him or herself at bed-time, simply because he/she doesn't want to go to sleep! Well, you can't win them all!

As adults through continued self-treatment Reiki can bring about a fundamental shift in the way that we interact with the world. This can sometimes be quite dramatic or it can be a very gradual process. The same thing happens with children when they come into contact with this energy. When the Reiki adult is the parent of the Reiki child, the unifying force of this energy, brings about a profound inner understanding and closeness to the relationship.

Someone once described Reiki to me as feeling like "God's Unconditional Love". In a parent/child relationship to have this Unconditional Love constantly in one's life and mediating in that relationship is a blessing of untold magnitude. It not only enhances one's every activity but can provide the basis of many games such as drawing what the Reiki energy might look like, or making 'tingles' travel up each others legs from the feet! Whatever way one works or plays with Reiki, it constantly reinforces the bond of love that exists between parents and their children. More than this however, whether as a practitioner or simply as a recipient, Reiki enables a child to start its young life with a profoundly spiritual sense of its place in the greater scheme of things.