Original post: 12-18-07
So I was teaching Sunday School on Sunday, and we had some low attendance. My second period 6th grade class had all of 4 students present. Kind of nice, really. Anyway, I taught my lesson as planned, and was close to the end. In the last 10 minutes, one of the students, J., said he had a headache. I hesitated for a fraction of a second, asked him to point out where it hurt, and then quietly suggested that I might be able to help if he wanted to let me try.
He asked me what I meant, and the other kids were very curious. I said that I’ve been studying Reiki, a form of energy healing, and I could channel some energy to his head by simply laying my hands there for a few minutes, and it might help his headache. He said ok, and I placed my hands on his head, and I felt them get warm with Reiki. He said “Wow, that feels really good!” I said, “Good” and kept talking about the lesson as I stood there with my hands on his head.
A few minutes later, I removed my hands and asked him how he felt. He said, “That felt great – really relaxing and warm!” I asked him how his headache was, and he said it was totally gone! Then he asked me to write down the name of that technique, and so did another student. They took the papers with the word “Reiki” with them when they left. I felt great.
But my Reiki teacher said I have to be more cautious. That giving Reiki to a child without his parent’s permission is a bad idea, and they might not understand. Plus, if he had a headache because he is getting a virus, and the symptoms return in the middle of the night, his parents might think the Reiki caused him to be sick. They might not understand what Reiki is, and they might be furious with me and the school where I teach.
She had a point, though I only had the best intentions at the time, and felt like I did something good, caring and helpful. And the facts of the matter are that I put my hands on a kid’s head gently for 5 minutes, and he felt better. Is that something to get upset over?
The good news is that it’s Tuesday and as far as I know, there have been no phone calls. The kids are on winter break until mid-January. And I’ve been cautioned.
Do you think I’m naive? I sometimes seem to get myself into trouble by having the best of intentions towards people.