As September approached, I started to get really excited about the upcoming visit of Kathleen Prasad to Remus Horse Sanctuary. Two weeks before, I met 
with Sue, who is the founder of Remus and we prepared in great depth how we could support Kathleen’s visit so it ran smoothly. Therefore everyone was able to benefit from her amazing teachings.
Having being given the huge opportunity to learn Animal Reiki again with Kathleen this year, was like being a kid in a sweet shop; this was the biggest gift I could ever have. Last year I learned the lessons of being Reiki and how to hold a Reiki space for the animals. This may sound very simplistic and easy but it is in fact difficult as you have to be disciplined in holding the ‘space’ also to let go of all ego and expectation. By holding the Reiki space, you may feel that nothing is happening and it is here that our ego kicks in telling us to move on. Don’t be fooled, as it is here where the magic happens. It allows animals who would not usually come up for Reiki, to now enter the Reiki space that you have created. By letting go of our ‘ego’ that something should be happening, we are able to offer a space that has no conditions or expectancy which will give the animal their power back by giving them choice.
I met with Kathleen and Leah, Kathleen’s business partner, on the Wednesday and took them to meet the Remus animals. Kathleen was giving a talk about her book and also about Animal Reiki. People turned up from afar to hear Kathleen speaking. I was taken aback, as someone I’d had a huge disagreement with turned up. It had been a painful episode in my life and as they walked towards me to be shown where the talk was ‘I felt ok’, the hurt had moved on and I was able to be very gracious.
Kathleen’s talk captured the attention of the whole audience; I listened to her say ‘What is Reiki?’ The room was silent as we waited on her every breath for the answer. ‘Reiki is Compassion and Wisdom’ When you think about it, what could be more powerful than these two words? Realising that I was sitting next to this soul who had just come back into my life I was able to understand with certainty what Kathleen had just said. We may think we are compassionate, we may think that we understand compassion but at the deepest level what do we truly feel? I showed some people to their cars and on my return I was able to offer this beautiful person back into my life. It was not a gesture of me taking the higher ground; it was definitely one from my heart. To me it showed how much I had moved on in a year with my own Reiki practice. I was genuinely able to be compassionate; Kathleen’s teaching from last year had given me the tools to be grounded and to work with my heart energy.
The next morning, I collected Kathleen and Leah, as this was the day for the Equine Reiki class, it was a gorgeous day. We started off in the beautiful new teaching room that Remus had just built. We were taught 4 exercises that would help us to connect to ‘horse energy’. We worked on each exercise separately, meeting back at the training room to discuss how we got on. To be able to stand in a field of horses, to a point where you become part of the herd is breathtaking. Each student was able to learn a new lesson from the horses; they were very polite in offering their time. Horses are amazing spiritual teachers who are very patient in helping us to understand the many lessons that they have to teach. Thomas who is a horse who helped last year and is on Kathleen’s Equine manual; eagerly let Kathleen demonstrate Reiki hand positions, he turned his head towards us each time a new hand position was shown, to make sure we were listening. Astonishingly, what happened next was that he left Kathleen, walked over to the group of students and stood in the middle of us, so we could all place a hand on him. He wanted to make sure that we really understood what Kathleen was showing us. Even Kathleen said she had never seen a horse do this before, I secretly felt so proud of Thomas that my heart could burst. The day went by so quickly and we had all learnt so much.
The last 3 days consisted of the Level 3 Animal Reiki workshop; it was here that we were able to deepen our own Reiki practice. At Level 3, we learned how to 
teach Reiki to other students and the difficulties that a Reiki teacher may encounter. We were introduced to the fourth symbol and had many more opportunities to offer Reiki to the Remus animals.
The teachings in Kathleen’s Level 3 class expand your knowledge and understanding of Animal Reiki; it is a very spiritual experience. We learnt how to do an attunement and a Reiju. My favourite part of the workshop was where we all chanted the different symbols, so we could feel the differences in ‘earth’, ‘heart’ and ‘heaven’ energy. I have set myself a challenge to chant the ‘earth’ symbol each day for the next year. It is the commitment and dedication to our own Reiki practice, which is the strongest message from Kathleen. The more that you practice Reiki, the more layers of Reiki there are. We owe it to the animals that we work with to have a daily Reiki practice.
The 3 days were filled with lots of Reiki messages, which the animals were able to share. On the final hour of the last day, we chanted around the perimeter of each field of Remus. We were able to thank each animal in turn. This was a truly beautiful way to finish and is one memory I will never forget. Thank you Kathleen for another wonderful week of Reiki.
For more information, visit www.remussanctuary.org and www.animalreikisource.com
