REIKI ON CHILDREN AND PETS

Doing Reiki on children, especially very young children is very different from doing Reiki on an adult or even a teenager.  The obvious being there is no way an infant, toddler or even a 5-10 year old is going to lie down on a massage table for an hour or longer and be still while the practitioner gives them a Reiki treatment.  Interestingly enough, this applies to animals as well in a way.  You can’t expect a dog or cat, especially one who doesn’t even know you, to hold still while you go through a set of hand positions on it for even a few minutes.

I see newborns as coming in with a clean slate (no emotional baggage yet), so why would they need a full hour treatment in the first place.  Granted there may be birth trauma, or some kind of congenital issue that immediately needs to be addressed at birth (preemie, heart issue, spina bifida, etc.),but a healthy, normal baby as the result of a healthy, normal delivery is not going to require very much Reiki unless it catches a cold, flu, has had a shot or incurred an injury of some sort. 

So in most cases we’re talking about “spot” treating around infants and small children (hands on face for toothache, hands on tummy for a tummy ache, hands on knee for an “owie”, etc.),  or maybe just intending that Reiki is flowing to them as you breast feed them (through your hands).  I know of one mother who would hold her hand up to the side of the breast she was nursing out of while the baby was nursing, intending that Reiki flow out of it into the breast, into the milk, and into the baby. 

I instruct mothers to send distant Reiki to their children  while lying in bed, who are having trouble settling down for the night, or who wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep.

As for pets, mostly I will be referring to cats and dogs.  A bird can be given Reiki by placing your hands on either side of it’s cage or just sending it Reiki, same with a gerbil, hamster, fish, turtle, etc. Cats reactions to Reiki however seem to differ from those of dogs.  There is a story I tell my students about cats – if you have more than one cat at home, when you get back home after a Reiki attunement you might have two different reactions – one cat might rub up against you and want Reiki all the time, and the other might get it’s back up and run away from you as if you've grown two horns and a tail.  The later does eventually come around when it’s gotten used to the fact that whatever is different about you now is OK, and sees the other cat getting all that marvelous Reiki, especially when it cuddles up with you while you’re doing your daily self-treating.

Dogs are so into pleasing us that they could care less that you’ve just been attuned to Reiki and just like some cats, will be all over you when you are doing your daily Reiki self-treating, or may even come up to you and ask for Reiki, giving you a paw, presenting a hip, etc. THEY JUST LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE REIKI!  They’re like “Reiki Sponges”.

There are marvelous books out on Reiki with animals by Kathleen Prasad and Elizabeth Fulton if you are interested in taking that route with your Reiki hands. They explain in great detail, how to approach the animals and have diagrams of hand positions for multiple types of animals.  I like the fact that they come from a very respectful position with the animals, meaning that we have forced so many animals into domestication, controlling what they are allowed to eat, where they are allowed to evacuate, sleep and so on.  So that it might be perceived by an animal that we are just forcing one more thing on them when we try to give them Reiki.   I just love how they handle this! 
 

ASKING PERMISSION BEFORE SENDING DISTANT REIKI HEALING

There’s a lot of controversy in the Reiki world about “ asking permission” when sending Distant Reiki Healing to someone.  If  you don’t know what Distant Reiki Healing is, it can be thought of as a form of prayer, except that we send Reiki healing energy to whomever is in need of healing.  Sending Distant Reiki Healing is a process that Reiki Practitioners perform in a ritualistic way using particular Reiki symbols whose vibration and purpose are to do specific things that have healing frequencies, or open a portal of sorts that allows the energy to flow to the intended person or recipient.

It is necessary for us to ask permission telepathically or energetically  from the person we are sending the healing energy to unless they have requested it.  Many times a family member or friend will ask us to send Distant Reiki healing energy to someone who has no knowledge of the request, or even what Reiki is. Their belief system may not be aligned with Reiki, and that’s why asking permission is so important.

 When we pray for someone, we can ask for whatever outcome we wish, knowing somewhere deep inside that God/the Creator/Great Spirit (whatever you want to call him/her) knows what’s best for the person with the issues,  so what’s best for them will take place, no matter what outcome we desire. 

                                                                               

One issue that comes up around this however is their soul contract.  A person may have a soul contract that this lifetime they will contract some form of cancer and die from it, experiencing all that there is to experience from having this disease and going through the death process of having it as a way to grow their soul.  We come on to the Earth Plane to learn lessons to grow our soul.  We will experience every form of disease and death and be every race, religion and gender and so on, in endless cycles of death and rebirth for this purpose.  Reiki will not interfere with their contract, no matter what we intend.

Reiki cannot interfere with someone’s contract and heal them of cancer, or horrific damage to the body after a near fatal car accident, or a heart attack so severe that there is no way their heart in that state can become whole again, if it is not in their contract to do so.  Some practitioners may say something like “ I am sending Distant Reiki Healing to _______  for  (whatever issue it is they have) with their permission, intending that Reiki flow for their highest and greatest good.”   Others  feel  that we can ask permission from their higher self or soul, Ex: “with permission from their higher self or soul”, in order to bypass the ego mind.  However, many practitioners feel  that asking permission of ones soul this way is a violation and therefore feel it‘s improper or cheating in a way. I’ve also heard  that it  can produce some form of negative karma for the practitioner.

I think it’s up to the individual Reiki Practitioner how they want to handle this issue.  I personally  say “with their permission”, and that’s what I teach my students.