When I created the first Reiki Kids program I sought the advise of experts. One of my colleagues, Alison Normore, holds a PhD. in Childhood Education. She has spent many years working in child development and program evaluation so she became a valuable resource. She also had her Level II Reiki and wanted to support my project. Another woman who I called in as a resource was, Heidi Klaming. She was a teacher and had spent many years teaching creative arts to children. Heidi had been practicing Reiki since the early 90’s and was a Reiki Master. Both Alison and Heidi wanted to be part of the first program and were an immense help to me when we put our creative minds together.
We decided that we wanted to direct the program to children aged between 6 and 12 years and so the first Reiki Kids program was in the works. I wanted a place that wouldn’t restrict the children in any way. A small retreat center where I often teach my Reiki Master classes was rented for the first workshop. There was plenty of room for the children both indoors and out. The wood plank floor would make it easy to clean up any of their creative endeavors and the furniture was well worn and comfortable.
Reiki Kids with Barbara McKell
Reiki Kids with Barbara and Heidi
Summer 2002
I created a manual for the children to use as a workshop guide. It was full of simple drawings that they could color as well as blank pages so that they could add their own drawings. We had eight children in the first Reiki Kids workshop and Claire, the one who had inspired me, was one of them.
We had created a program that kept them so busy and was so full of fun that they didn’t want to leave at the end of the day. Alison started the program with Brain Gym ® exercises that got them energized and alert. We told them a brief story about Mikao Usui using 21 stones to show them just how long he spent on Mount Kurama before he was given the information about Reiki. Children respond well to things that are stimulating and tactile rather than just words. They operate on so many levels at once. Having three dimensional objects, drawing, movement and sound, keeps them interested and excited about what they are learning. I found it was important to take the time to listen to each of their perceptions and questions as we moved through the program. I also began to notice was that even when the occasional child didn’t seem to be paying attention to what was going on, they were actually taking in the information anyway… almost by osmosis.
In that first class, I had done what I thought was a brilliant presentation on the chakras. I drew a large pyramid on the white board, colored the base red and we moved up through the energy centers. As I talked about the chakras, the children colored them in on their outline and talked about what they meant to them. We even let each child be a chakra so that they could communicate like one of the energy centers. There was one little girl who was just six years old. She did not appear to be taking any of this in or even listening. She was doing her own thing and would only participate with the rest of the group for brief moments. One of my teaching assistants was keeping an eye on her and I concluded that maybe she was too young or too preoccupied to follow along with what I was teaching.
At the end of the day as we were cleaning up Alison said to me, “Come here, you have to see this.” I walked over to see that this wonderful little six year old had commandeered the white board. She had drawn a pyramid and was filling in the colours for the chakras. She was teaching a couple of the other children the placement of the colours and telling them about the energetic properties of each chakra. It was in that moment I truly learned to let go of any preconceived ideas I had about how these children should be learning. I had to trust that just being in this workshop was giving then what they needed both individually and collectively.