Part 2: Animals Understand Reiki

Anybody who has ever loved an animal has already connected energetically because that is the way animals connect. That is who they are. 

Those of you who have horses, you know they are so in tune and so sensitive that they may sense and know something that you don't even see or sense because we have a harder time with our senses as human beings. So, the animals are much more aware of their environment and all things (even energy) that are in their environment.

You may see a horse come up to another horse; they don't touch, but they are reacting with subtle body language. You can feel that interaction between them if you sit and observe, although there is no physical contact happening.

Those of you who have dogs, you will notice that dogs assess a person before they go up to them. They already know so much about the person. Once they have sensed and understood the person, they may say, "Okay, I am going to come up and greet this person now." They can read us energetically, whereas humans need verbal interactions -- we have to have a conversation, and it is much harder for us to connect on that deeper level. But since animals don't talk, they have all these other ways to communicate.

Those of you who have cats know that there are certain people your cat gravitates toward while they may hide from other people. Your cat is so sensitive and is making these assessments not based on any kind of verbal conversation or any action. How are they coming up with the evaluation? From energetic communication.

All of our animals speak with us energetically every single day, and that is how we connect to them. The problem is that most of the time we don't get it -- we are so busy and have so much chatter in our minds, things we have to do, etc., and we miss all this subtle communication that is happening with our animals. But it is there, it is there all the time -every day. We only need to learn to stop and listen.

This is one of the reasons I love working with Reiki and animals. I can say to my animals, "Hey, I am a lowly human being who has a great deal of trouble sensing energy -- I cannot wrap my brain around it, but I know that you are the master of the energy. I will just sit here with you and maybe you will teach me." So another way that Reiki is so different from other modalities is that the animals take over and they show you -- they show you exactly where they want Reiki. For example, many times, they will put a body part that is bothering them right into your hand during a treatment. 

Other animals like a horse in a pasture might stamp his foot, and you may realize that foot might be bothering him. You could be working with a much older, fragile animal, and he might just crawl into your lap and fall asleep. And maybe he had not been able to fall asleep until that Reiki session.

At my non-profit, SARA, we volunteer at sanctuaries and shelters, and members are located all over the world working with many different organizations. Time and time again, the staff and volunteers tell us, "You are providing much needed stress relief."

The animals are brought in and who knows what their backgrounds are, and they are in a strange place. They are surrounded by other animals they do not know. While we don't know what is going on for each animal internally, we do know it is a very stressful time for them. And over and over again, we have our practitioners going in and offering Reiki. And these animals will lie down, take a deep sigh and go to sleep. These are animals who have been completely stressed out, shaking, perhaps dogs who have been pacing and barking incessantly. Don't lose hope; it doesn't matter how stressed the animal is. In most cases, the Reiki state is so irresistibly peaceful that even highly traumatized animals will show these behaviors. 

So, we don't have to understand or know much about the energy. It's okay because the animals will take over -- they will step into that space and take what they need and show us it is working. They can show us more about the energy, and in this way, we are able to grow and deepen our own spiritual connections.