Being a SARA Teacher in the UK
Me with my SARA students
I am very proud to be a SARA teacher in the UK and work very closely with Remus Horse Sanctuary in Essex. I have a wonderful relationship with Sue Burton who is the founder of Remus, together we are aiming for Remus to be a SARA Reiki Centre of excellence. It has been journey of two people having a mutual respect of one another and also a love of animals.
Teaching the SARA Reiki manual to students is truly wonderful, the manual is amazing and the teachings follow traditional Japanese Reiki techniques as sourced by Frans and Bronwen Steine of the International House of Reiki. The manual is beautifully written and is the first Japanese Animal Reiki manual of it’s kind here in the UK. My students love the manual and there are lots of Animal Reiki articles too to help them in their Reiki practice. Being a SARA student means working on yourself with daily Japanese meditations, the precepts, hands on healing and a Reiju ( a spiritual blessing) which is what makes the whole SARA experience so special.
I meet with my students every two months at Remus Horse Sanctuary, where we talk about the precepts, we are working on at the moment ‘For today only I will not anger’ and Earth KI. We practice the Japanese Meditations for about half an hour and then I offer the students a Reiju if they would like one. It is a time for us all to discuss how we are getting on in our Reiki Practice and to air any worries or concerns. Reiki is not a race and it is important for us all to support each other and for me to be available to support my students in anyway I can. Kathleen and Leah are my teachers, if I can not answer a question from a student, I speak to my teachers, so I am often Skyping Leah, she is very patient with me.
Spending the afternoon with my students fills me with such pride, each one of them has grown in to a wonderful Animal Reiki Healer who has a love of animals and a lack of ego. Later in the afternoon is spent offering Reiki to the Remus animals, we go out into the fields and offer Reiki out to the animals instead of sending it to an animal. All of the animals at Remus have a choice. It is so wonderful to watch them come upto a SARA student and to place their body in the exact place that they want their hands on healing.
Twice monthly I meet with six of my students at Remus and we get to work with the animals in a more indepth manor. We practice our Japanese Meditations and Reiki precepts. I meet with Sue and we discuss which animals that we will be working with and what has happened to them during the past couple of weeks. Sue gives me a treatment card with the Species, name of the animal and age. This includes any problems they have had. As SARA teacher and students we then record the Reiki treatment onto the treatment card. Keeping records is important for a SARA Sanctuary as it means we can see any changes in the animal’s behaviour. The treatment card is also returned to Sue, so she can keep it updated with information on a regular basis.
I teach SARA classes at Remus too and donate 50% of my workshop fee back to them. This means that I am generating an income for Remus and that I am also establishing a functional SARA educational programme.
Being a SARA teacher in the UK has meant a commitment to both my Students and to Remus but I love it. I get to watch people blossom and to grow in confidence and I also get to see animals move forward with their health. My aim is for my SARA students to be the best Animal Reiki Practitioners they can be and to spread the word about SARA and Remus. Please check out my classes, as a SARA Reiki experience at Remus is a lot of fun.
This post has 3 comments
February 16th, 2012
This is a wonderful Carolyn! It is fantastic that you have such a great relationship with Remus! Having that on-going support and vision for having Reiki as a key part of Remus is so critical. I would love to know if you have any advice for the rest of us. The true support of and partnership with the shelter is so hard to achieve. Thank you for sharing.
February 17th, 2012
I think Ann, that for me, it was working quietly in the background and not making any judgements about the animals. Sue had worked with other holistic people in the past and they had stopped her from seeing some of her sick animals. Told her that they knew best when it came to the desicion of putting an animal to sleep and that Sue was wrong. They worked against the staff by getting the staff to work around them. It was a very bad experience and put Sue off. It is important I think to remember that a lot of Shelter owner’s don’t understand holistic therapies, so airy fairy language is not taken well.
I have been working with Remus for the over four years and have always been professional, reliable and have been honest with my commitments. I always work around the staff and give clear understandable feedback to Sue.
I have gained respect from Sue and the Shelter Staff. It has though taken a lot of hard work.
February 20th, 2012
I agree with Caroline. I’ve been working in the background at my organization for the past four years as well. I’ve been upfront in what the horses have to say then I let go of any outcome and let the organization make the decision. Because of this, I’ve gain respect as well as requests in me working with specific horses. I’m in the process in gaining interest in setting up classes there. Thank you Caroline for helping me gain ideas of how to incorporate that! I feel you are tremendously blessed to have Remus to volunteer at! As well as the SARA students are tremendously blessed to have you as their teacher!