Since the time I was introduced to Reiki and took the classes I & II, I was investigating Reiki energies. Early on, my then 6-year-old grandson became interested in what I was doing. He began doing the things he saw me doing such as placing my hands over areas to receive Reiki energy. He also began speaking of balancing the chakra energy systems.
I knew then that I needed to become a Reiki Master in order to give him the Holy Fire III energy. Then, after a magnificently healing Reiki Master class in Glastonbury England, with William Penn as our 
superb teacher, I returned home to find my grandson eager to have his Reiki placement. He was 7. He was to be my first student!
Just months before, he was having an acute asthma attack. We were alone and his mom would soon return. However, in a short time, I realized his condition had grown worse as I heard him trying to gain his breath. He was also coughing in between each breath. It seemed like an impossible situation. I was alarmed and considered calling for immediate help. I also knew his mom would soon return and I wanted her to make the decision. Just as I was thinking this through, my grandson called out to me, saying, “Shannon, Reiki please!” Here’s what happened…
I brought him to the couch and laid him down, listening to his gasping for air and the coughs in between. I felt Reiki energy surging within me as I laid my hands on him. He told me my hands were extremely hot and indicated I needed to stand a distance from him. We quickly discovered that about 4 feet was as close as I could get. In that moment, I became a Reiki channel. It was all I could do. Just let Reiki flow!
Slowly, his twisting and struggle to breathe turned into a calmer situation. His coughing stopped entirely. He was much more peaceful. Soon his mother appeared, and we were able to get him to the pediatrician for immediate help. The doctor diagnosed him with an acute asthma attack and said he may need to be hospitalized. We continued to do Reiki and he was able to go home. When we left, the doctor said he would be better in 5-7 days and would not be able to return to school until then.
However, something extraordinary occurred. The next morning, my grandson announced he was ready to go back to school. He was well on his way to being healed. His breath had returned as well as his joy and energy. His mom shared what had happened with his teacher and they agreed if there were any change during the day, she was to be called. The day went fine. So did all the days thereafter. It seemed normal for him to be well, although why would we even think that we could expect normalcy, since just 24 hours earlier the doctor had pronounced a serious diagnosis of an acute attack of asthma and explained the period he would require for healing. Yet, here we were, as though we had skipped several days required for the healing. My grandson knew it was Reiki that had contributed in a big way towards making him better.
Upon returning from Reiki Master class in Glastonbury, I went through my entire class manual to begin preparing to teach my grandson Usui Reiki I. I really loved the teaching points and wanted to include all of them. I recall saving a Reiki Magazine article where an artist, Barbara O’Dell, who is also a Reiki Master, explained how she loved to teach Reiki to kids. Her “Reiki for Kids” book had a lot of appeal because it was illustrated using a picture of a kid who was having the Reiki experience. There were pictures of the auras and chakras, and a rainbow overhead. I knew that would help my grandson to see things in terms of energy and color.
I was nervous and wondered if the simple Reiki I Holy Fire III placement I had received in class would work for a young person. I was assured by William Rand that it would work.
When it came time to teach my grandson, here’s what I did and how it went.
He arrived at my house and I had set up a fragrant candle on the table where we would be starting the training. I followed the Reiki for Kids training book and I elaborated on it. The kids manual introduces Reiki as an energy that’s in everything – plants, people, animals. I also added healing sounds and asked him to hear these as energies. Crystal singing bowls, a Tibetan singing bowl, an Om tuning fork, and perfect pitch metal chimes were introduced. He was quietly listening.
Before we began the placement, I set up a large roll of white paper, which we rolled out large enough for his height, on our garage floor. He then laid down and I outlined his body. He drew 7 circles to represent the place of each of his chakras, as the Reiki for Kids instructed. He clearly loved the interactive drawing. And he was fascinated by the outline of his body and what we would be doing with it!
Then I did the placement. Prior to giving him the placement, I prepared myself through prayer and the use of Reiki symbols to support my intention that it would be Reiki energy that would be teaching him.
I gave him the Reiki placement. Within a minute, he announced he was done. I wondered if it had worked in such a short time! I asked him to please share with me his experience. He said that the light became a sun and it came down and inside him. And he felt it enter his body.
I then asked him to give Reiki energy to himself. He placed his hands over his stomach, and then various other parts of his body. He commented on how hot his hands were at first. Then they became just warm. He was very excited.
He placed his hands over my hands to see if I felt the warmth. And he asked if I was feeling Reiki flowing from his hands. I told him that I did. I was thrilled!
I asked him if he had ever felt this from his hands before now. He answered, “No.”
We discussed additional uses of Reiki energies. I continued to follow Barbara O’Dell’s book and handed him a blank page asking him to please draw another use for Reiki. He quickly drew a tiny figure at the top of the page. The figure stood on a large circle with a large portion colored in. The tiny figure represented him, on top of earth, giving Reiki to earth. The colored place was the ocean.
Here’s the exciting part. Once he drew the first circle, he described Reiki energies radiating out from it. There were other circles representing the moon, the sun, and Mars, which also had the Reiki energies radiating out. He ran out of space because I knew he wanted to draw in all the planets. This was so exciting to us both!
As I was gathering the art supplies, I asked him to meet me in the garage, where we had the large drawing of his body outline.
When I arrived in the garage, he was standing there quietly with his hands up. I asked what he was doing. He said he was giving Reiki to his best friend to help him.
We went to the drawing outline of his body where the chakras were represented, which he’d drawn earlier. I provided colorful magic markers, sparkling, colorful tubes of glue, paste, and more glitter. I asked him to please paint the way his energies feel. He went right to work on his masterpiece.
He first picked up the red glitter. He drew it darting out of every area of his body. Then, he applied the the blue, the green, the yellow, the purple glitter. It was gorgeous!
I asked him if this represented how he felt in his body and if the energy was shooting out of him like this. His answer was, “Yes!” I asked him if he had ever felt this way before. His answer was, “No.”
He carefully chose each color to draw the lines radiating from his body. I noticed he was using an enormous amount of color coming out of his hands. But at his feet, there was only the color red. I asked if there were no other colors coming out of his feet. He said, “No.” The feet only had the red energy and lots of it!
His mom reported that once he was home, he gave her Reiki using a clear crystal, which I had given him. We had given Reiki to the crystal. She said he also did Reiki on the dinner food. And he gave Reiki to help sell his granddad’s home. She said, “He loves it!”
Here’s what I learned from teaching Reiki I to my grandson, my first student:
- I could trust my Reiki training.
- I learned how powerful it was to release myself as a teacher and allow the Reiki energy to do its work.
- I learned how empowered I felt preparing to teach my grandson, following the manual.
- I felt the immense joy of seeing someone, my beloved grandson, receiving Reiki as a life tool! It’s beautiful to see a child so empowered!
