Chidren on the Autism spectrum enjoying reiki and crystals

Children and Reiki

About a year ago, I was doing a reiki workshop with a group of kindergarten children. This was such a fun, fulfilling experience. They were bursting with energy and excitement and curious about energy.

I got all the children to form a circle standing up, so we could play a game. I gave each child reiki into their hands and we began to make energy balls. This beautiful child who stood beside me, tapped me on the leg and when I got down to his level, he had the most piercing bright blue, round eyes and was high functioning child with autism.

“ You know, we are energy and everything is energy. “

I was pretty astounded by his wise words.

“Yes , everything is made of energy.” I said to him

This 5 year old child was talking about things that were quite advanced. He stood beside me again and pulled something out from his pocket. It was a blue Lapis Lazuli crystal.

“This is my favourite healing crystal, Lapis helps me to be calm and I love the energy.” he said

I replied” It is a wonderful stone to use, very healing.’

He looked at me and said” I choose this one because it talked to me. “

“You have a strong connection to crystals,, thanks for sharing.” I said to him

“Yes, crystals are alive and they are surrounded by fairies.”

“That is so beautiful, thank you for letting me know.”

He ran off and began to give his Lapis some reiki healing energy, placing it between his hands. After giving the stone some reiki for a while he shared the stone with all the children in his class.

“Put the stone on the front of your head and relax.” He said to the children

He then went around each child , giving them reiki on their head.

“My hands are hot with energy and I can feel, the reiki energy coming from my hands, it tingles.” the child commented.

“I often get tingling hands when using the reiki energy, everyone experiences it differently.” I replied.

The child then sat in the middle of all the children and closed his eyes sending loving energy to everyone.

“ That is such a wonderful thing to do, to help people feel loved, thank you.”

The child was definitely an old soul, who was very wise and connected to the spirit realm.

I was so grateful to be in his presence and receive his loving energy.

Children with autism enjoying reiki and crystals

Children and Reiki

About a year ago, I was doing a reiki workshop with a group of kindergarten children. This was such a fun, fulfilling experience. They were bursting with energy and excitement and curious about energy.

I got all the children to form a circle standing up, so we could play a game. I gave each child reiki into their hands and we began to make energy balls. This beautiful child who stood beside me, tapped me on the leg and when I got down to his level, he had the most piercing bright blue, round eyes and was high functioning child with autism.

“ You know, we are energy and everything is energy. “

I was pretty astounded by his wise words.

“Yes , everything is made of energy.” I said to him

This 5 year old child was talking about things that were quite advanced. He stood beside me again and pulled something out from his pocket. It was a blue Lapis Lazuli crystal.

“This is my favourite healing crystal, Lapis helps me to be calm and I love the energy.” he said

I replied” It is a wonderful stone to use, very healing.’

He looked at me and said” I choose this one because it talked to me. “

“You have a strong connection to crystals,, thanks for sharing.” I said to him

“Yes, crystals are alive and they are surrounded by fairies.”

“That is so beautiful, thank you for letting me know.”

He ran off and began to give his Lapis some reiki healing energy, placing it between his hands. After giving the stone some reiki for a while he shared the stone with all the children in his class.

“Put the stone on the front of your head and relax.” He said to the children

He then went around each child , giving them reiki on their head.

“My hands are hot with energy and I can feel, the reiki energy coming from my hands, it tingles.” the child commented.

“I often get tingling hands when using the reiki energy, everyone experiences it differently.” I replied.

The child then sat in the middle of all the children and closed his eyes sending loving energy to everyone.

“ That is such a wonderful thing to do, to help people feel loved, thank you.”

The child was definitely an old soul, who was very wise and connected to the spirit realm.

I was so grateful to be in his presence and receive his loving energy.

Children and Reiki

Children and Reiki

I am so grateful whenever I get a chance to share reiki with children as I always learn so much from them.

One day I had a little boy around 6 years old  come to visit me  in the clinic with his mom for a reiki session. I could see this child had a glow of intense white energy around his head that seemed a little out of balance. His mother started chatting about him and said that the child has seizures and that he was on seizure medication to try and control them. I felt an instant connection to the beautiful soul. She wanted to try something to help him relax and to let go of anxiety and tension. The little boy got up onto the reiki table and immediately began to melt and let go of tension. As he was on the table I could sense and see a lot of energy above his head. I looked above his head and there was a lot of white light cascading down, but it seemed to be unable to be grounded through his head and out through his body, it seemed to accumulate above his head.His body started t become tense and rigid.

His mother said”He is going to have another seizure soon.”

I replied “ok, is it ok for him to be laying down..”

“Yes it may help him to relax.”she said to me.

“Is it ok , if I place my hands on your head.’ I asked the little boy

“Yes, please.”

I placed my hands on his head to help ground some of the excess energy above him. I felt a strong pulling sensation just above his head and then placed my hands on his crown. The child started to yawn away.

“Are you ok.” I asked him

“Yes, I can feel the energy moving in my head, it feels like water dripping down into my head.”

“The reiki energy can feel different for everyone, I am so happy energy is starting to move for you , there was lots of energy  built up around your head.”I said to him.

He opened his eyes and smiled then grasped my hands.

“It is healing energy, my head is feeling more relaxed and it feels warm.” He said to me

“Thanks for letting me know, the reiki energy is helping your energy to balance out and flow more freely.”

The little boy took both my hands and placed them on top of his head. I held them there for about 15 minutes. His head was starting to pulsate with energy. As my hands were on his head I could see the energy flowing down from his head , down his spine and out into the earth. It was so cute, after a few minutes of giving him reiki his body became very relaxed and heavy.

At the end of the reiki session, we had to wake him up. His mother was in tears.

“This was the most relaxed and content I have seen him for a long time”she said

She scooped him up into her arms and said a big thank you.

A few months later her son and herself took a reiki level 1 class together so she could give reiki to him whenever he needed it.

I had tears in my eyes as I was so touched by how relaxed and grounded this child was and what beautiful energy he had.

Improve your relationship with your autistic child

 It seems to be an  ongoing learning curve as how to improve your relationship with your autistic child.

There is no one right answer, as you know these children are quite unique and

 there may be a range of different techniques that could assist you and your child.

A few of the challenges that these special children may experience, include being unable

to express feelings, needs or emotions and some are even non-verbal.

 By connecting with these unique children on a level that they are functioning at, really can enhance and improve your relationship with them.

What this means is by connecting to their world, they may open up to you on a deeper level. Often autistic children have something they are really passionate or obsessive about such as trains, numbers, reading, drawing or nature. If you observe your child for a while you will find something they enjoy. This is a good opportunity of connecting with the autistic child and getting more access to their world.

They often seem to open as they trust you more and if you play with them at their favourite activity and listen to them they are often waiting for us to connect with them.

An example of this was when I worked with June. She was a grade 2 autistic child I supported as a student support worker. One of her passions was cats and another was nature. I am also very passionate about cats and nature.

When I was not supporting her academically, I would share stories and photos of my two cats. She really loved this connection time and her face lit up. It was so beautiful.

During recess and lunch I would check in on her to see if she was socialising with her friends. Quite often when the weather was not raining she would sit on the grassy hill with a group of her peers from her class. One time I approached her she was showing her girl friends how to make daisy chains. I was so touched by this. I sat down beside her and joined in making daisy chains. I commented about when I was a child I would make daisy chains and sometimes use yellow butter cups. She was elated that I connected with her about nature one of her passions. It was such an honour to be able to connect with her at this level and gain a deeper connection with her.

One thing I love about this special children they are all so different in their interactions.

Mick another autistic child who was a grade 3 student I supported at school was a very kinesthetic child. He loved to stroke and hug you and had a genuine love and concern for others. We were working on making sure Mick asked permission to touch or hug others .

One morning he approached me in class and asked“ Is it ok to give you a hug or hold your hand, you look tired.”

I replied “ I am tired, I did not sleep well last night and feel cranky, thank you for asking yes you may.” He sat down beside me , then responded in a caring voice

“Sit down, take it easy and take a deep breath in 1,2,3,4,5,”

I said to Mick” Thank you for reminding me to breathe.”

Mick looked at me “ May I rub your arm.”

I replied “ Thank you I would love it.” He began to massage my arm and the tension began to melt away.

He was a beautiful pure and gentle spirit and a joy to be around.

The autistic child has much to offer and teach us. Some of these children may not be as emotionally open. By providing a space and time in your day spending quality time connecting with them and allowing them to be accepted and appreciated then can you deepen your connection with them.

If we reach out to them and listen to their stories and understand their idiosynchronisities, they are more likely to form a relationship with us.

How The Autistic Child Can Be Gifted Spiritually

Sometimes, we can look at an autistic child and they seem to be in a far off world, very disconnected from the present moment and from this reality.

What I have discovered from working with these beautiful children over a span of 20 years in various school boards, that they actually have a strong connection to a Divine Source and to other realities. By other realities, I mean they are in direct connection with another level of awareness.  This is of great interest to me as one of my other passion is the Alternative Health field, primarily working with Autistic  children using energy medicine. So I am keenly aware of these aspects in children. From a spiritual perspective we are all energy beings and are connected to a Divine Source, a  lot of autistic children I have observed still retain this direct connection.

I found it really fascinating when working in different school boards, that frequently these children were not just communicating verbally, but were using alternative forms of communication. Many autistic children I have noticed are very visual learners, responding well to visual cues and often communicate using drawings and pictures.

I was working in a school as a student support worker with a kindergarten child who had not been integrated into school or left his mom before. I became very close to this child. This child was a runner ( as soon as he got a chance he would run off out through any open door) so I had to keep a keen eye on him. His name was  “ Simon” had many screaming tantrums and was pretty wild. My job was to integrate him into Kindergarten. His energy was full of joy, laughter and play in between his tantrums. Initially he stayed for an hour a day, gradually we were able to build that time up to staying all morning within a few weeks. Sometimes when he had a meltdown , I would take him to the gym and I would make a point of being in a calm peaceful place not even talking to him. I could see him calming down and his body relaxing and by the time we got to the gym, he would play with a ball and giggle throwing it into the basketball hoop.

Many autistic children are very sensitive to the moods and energies of other people and exude an energy of unconditional love and joy. Being also very sensitive to the energies of other people  after doing reiki for over 18 years, I now realize this is a blessing to have , but took me many years in the beginning to accept this. I now see them as spiritual gifts .I am so honoured to be in the presence of these amazing spiritually aware children.

Sometimes when I sat beside “ Simon”  when he was working in the classroom, he would look into my eyes and touch me on my forehead and then smile and send me a telepathic picture of his yellow circle. I would smile and look into his eyes and say thank you back to him verbally. He was obsessed with the yellow circle and on every picture he drew it, this was his trademark..like a signature..

I have found that many autistic children have very high vibrational energies. What I mean by this is quite often they are not grounded in their bodies and they seem to functioning at a higher mental level, they may be very abstract and sometimes quite cerebral. I’ve noticed many autistic children are not in contact with the more fluid, feminine, creative, right brain, but can be quite structured and logical and literal. This is what I love about these children, some people feel that autistic children are cold and unemotional, but I have experienced them form a far different perspective. These children in my experience can be very loving, compassionate and caring. I would like to share an experience about a teenager with autism and tourettes ,who assisted me in giving his mother a reiki session. Here is an excerpt  from my journal.  “ I saw it“ “Sam “ shrieked. I asked him “What did you see”. He said ” I saw a silver energy with blue coming from your hands and now it is on my mom” “ My mom has a silver blue light around her stomach”. I was astounded by his comments. It was so beautiful. He started to place his hands above his mom and did some form of energy work on her. Wow , it was a blessing and an honour to be in his presence. He looked me straight in the eyes and smiled, no need for words to communicate. At the end he beamed a smile and said to me:” I am here to look after my mom and heal her” She was very sick with heart disease. Tears welled up in my eyes, as I was so touched by his warmth, compassion and caring for his mom. Apparently “ Sam” is quite aggressive and has a hard time integrating at school, but in this situation was able to be himself. Even as I was writing this , my eyes welled up with tears, having been so profoundly touched by an autistic child.

I am always surprised by these wonderful children, how much love, care and compassion they can have for other people, animals and nature.

I would like to share with you an example I have experienced of an autistic child being very sensitive to another persons energy and then responding with care, concern and compassion. I was supporting “ Su” a grade 8 student, she was very sensitive to other people and how they felt. She was a beautiful girl, who was really blossoming at school. I was there to support her transition into high school. One day the English teacher was feeling a little fed with some of the behaviors from some of the grade 8s. “ Su” went up to the teacher and put her hand on her arm and asked “ Are you o.k?, you seem sad”. I was amazed how thoughtful she was. The teacher replied “ I am feeling sad, but it is not you” .Su said” I wanted to make sure you were alright and that I did not make you sad.”I was extremely touched by how much, emotion and compassion this child showed. She actually showed more concern than the rest of the children in the class. I am just so grateful and honoured to be working with these children as I can see sides to them that are so touching and I love connecting with these beautiful spiritual beings.

 

 

Autistic children are very senstive to the energy of others and what you can do to help...

Autistic children are extremely sensitive to other people’s feelings and energies and often very reactive to their environments.

Some of the challenges that I have observed these children face is that often they do not know how to self- regulate. What I mean by this is these children have a really hard time sometimes being able to manage different situations or losing control of their emotions and completely blowup, having little self control. They also may have difficulty connecting to and expressing different emotions.

I have observed when working in the classroom, as a student support worker, that one moment an autistic child can be calm and focused and centred, then completely explode with anger and frustration the next. Over the years I have learned much about how to read the autistic childs energy, I was learning to recognize the triggers and to try and prevent a meltdown, before it happened, they are very good at giving us signals. I love learning from these children, every child is so unique and different, that no single way of managing their behaviours works well for all of them, but often a combination of techniques.

Being aware of our energy and feelings is essential when dealing with autistic children. The way we feel and behave could make the difference between a child having a great day or a complete meltdown.

A really great example of this is a situation I was involved with as a student support worker for an autistic child in a low functioning learning room. “Michael “ was an autistic child who had very violent, aggressive, tendencies. He could be very loving and gentle, then his behaviours could escalate to being very violent, throwing tables and desks. I was working with him for a while. There were two teachers who ran the classroom. The first teacher had an amazing calm demeanor and treated ‘Michael” very calmly, respectfully and gently. He responded extremely well, by becoming, calm ,focused, sociable and happy .’Michael “ was also very sensitive to loud noises, he liked the environment to be quiet and peaceful. The other teacher was very different, very loud, scattered and hyper and got “ Michael” very wound up. He got really agitated, nervous and angry and frustrated around her. One day I was in the classroom and he started to bang the table and kick his feet. I could see he was getting triggered by the teacher, I calmly went up to “Michael” and whispered “ let’s go the sensory room” , “o.k” he said as he shuffled his feet. We left the classroom, his voice was starting to get louder, so we ran ran to the sensory room. “Michael” found a corner to relax and unwind. I laid on the floor calm and still, looking at a children’s book. After 10 minutes “Michael” laid down beside me and said” hello” very  quietly. I said “hello” back very softly and smiled at him, sending him love and calming energy to him

 I realized how valuable a skill it is to have an awareness of these children and to be able to try and pin point their triggers and manage it before it escalates.

I am so very fortunate to work with autistic children and learn so much from them. Sometimes their behaviours may not be so severe and may involve more anxiety, apprehension and an ability to express some feelings.

 

What we can do to assist in managing an autistic child sensitivity to their environment.

1/ Provide an environment that is calming for your child and not over stimulating such a making an area in your hose a haven where your child can relax and unwind and have time to be alone that can calm an over overstimulated child.

2/ If the child needs more stimulation or has to much energy and needs to burn some off, you can always get your child to exercise. skip, run play ball, trampoline, ride an bike

3/ Being aware of how you are feeling is really important to the autistic child if you are feeling calm and happy they will respond that way to you that way ,if you are feeling angry, frustrated, mad the autistic child will act out on how you are feeling..so trying our best to be conscious of how we are feeling.

4/ Give the autistic child an opportunity to self regulate by getting in touch with their own feelings and guide them in dealing with their feelings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

Children and Reiki

Children are natural born healers.. They are often very open and sensitive to the energies around them.

 

They have an openness and an awareness of the subtle levels of energy .We can learn so much from children.. Remember when you were a child and how much fun life seemed. .Everything was a new learning experience and seemed like we had no inhibitions. For some of us experienced and expressed emotions as they came up and many of us had imaginary friends.. It was a magical world

Many children seem to have a strong connection to their spirituality and connect really well to reiki, meditation, and activities that empower the child and increase self esteem.

There are quite a few children who are very psychic and are able to see aura's and energy ,sometimes will comment about seeing energy beings and imaginary friends

Once they have an opportunity to connect with you about reiki or energy , they may get very excited as someone understands and connect with them on a different level.

I have been honoured over the past 25 years of working with children of the invaluable lessons I have learnt and how inspiring it is to see that so many children and teens are still connected deeply to their spirituality and are very open to increase their awareness of the subtle level of energy and wanting to share their experiences about working with energy.

I always find it such an honour and a pleasure to work with them and really am passionate about working with children and reiki and connecting with them as they are so open, love to have fun and very much live in the moment..