Meet Mandy. She is an elder canine. She was recently welcomed into her forever home. Today was her Reiki session.
With Mandy, I practiced the Let Animals Lead® approach created by Kathleen Prasad of the Shelter Animal Reiki Association (SARA).
What does that mean? It means that I meditated, using a traditional Japanese Reiki meditation, creating a healing space for Mandy to come into, or not. It was her decision on whether to be open and accepting of the healing energy or not. It was her decision for hands-on Reiki, or not.
She was given the respect and freedom to do it “her way,” and she did. Mandy knew and showed me exactly what she wanted. With me sitting on the floor, Mandy first came to me and placed her ear in my hands. I massaged her ear for a couple of moments. Then one of her humans went into the kitchen, the room next to where our Reiki session was held. Mandy left the room in hopes of tasty morsels and I continued to meditate holding the healing space for Mandy. After her human left the room, Mandy came back to the Reiki space and me. She laid directly behind me, quietly, for a few moments. Then she got up and placed her head in my hand. I placed my other hand on a warm spot on her spine. We remained physically connected for a few moments. Mandy was very relaxed and the heat in her spine dissipated. She got up, stretched and yawned. She then chose to settle her body in between my legs; her hind end on her bed, her front end off the bed. With my arms by my side with my palms up, I continued to offer Reiki to Mandy, her way. She became more relaxed, breathing heavily. Beautiful.
Linda Crabtree
SARA Teacher
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