What is animal Reiki?

Animal Reiki is an extremely popular and rewarding niche as more Reiki practitioners are adding it to their Reiki practice.

As Reiki energy opens us to the world from a grounded and centered place, animal Reiki can be viewed as a spiritual practice of compassion for all beings.

Practicing Reiki helps us connect to our inner wisdom of universal connection to all things. Reiki healing can be used on every living thing from healing, personal development to stress relief. The more we practice, the deeper our healing can go.

Animals by nature are particularly receptive to Reiki energy.

Reiki can be channeled to animals in a number of situations. Such situations include, but are not limited to, when the animals are:

•        Not feeling well: Reiki helps the healing process and works with any type of medical veterinary intervention.

•        Young or old: Reiki can help ease discomfort for an animal of any age or situation.

•        When the animals has been through trauma: Animals can use positive loving energy after they have experienced any type of abuse, loss, or move. It can be especially helpful for them if they seem to exhibit depression or other behavioral disorder.

Even if you do not know what the problem is, you can still use Reiki to help.

Rapport and Communicating with Animals

Animals respond differently to Reiki depending on their type of illness, personality, and how well they know and trust you. There a number of key indicators to look for so you can better understand and intuitively read if you are in rapport with the animal and it is safe to perform Reiki on the animal.

Some indications include, but are not limited to:

•        An animal may bark, growl, screech, fly, hiss, buck or run away as a way of indicating it does not want to be touched. If this happens and you know the animal is sick or in pain and needs Reiki, you can still treat the animal by using distant Reiki techniques.

•        An animal may let you perform hands-on Reiki but then after a while shift positions or look at you strangely. Move your hands a few inches above the body, scan the aura and other parts of the animal’s body and continue treating the animal with Reiki, if you intuitively feel that it is still needed.

•        An animal may tell you it wants Reiki by coming near you when you are giving Reiki to yourself or someone else. You may find the animal will move itself so you can perform Reiki on the exact spot or position it needs it. If the animal moves or appears to be fidgeting, simply keep your hands in the same position just above the animal’s body while it adjusts itself. Once its stops moving gently place your hands on the animal and continue the treatment.

•        If you at any time sense a change in the animal mood or energy and are concerned for your own safety, stop the treatment immediately and continue sending Reiki from a safe distance.

Remember all these suggestions are merely guidelines.

Got questions? Refer to the Reiki: Level I, II, and Master Manual here!

It is key that you use your intuition and just go with what you are drawn to do. The animal will sense your positive loving energy towards it and respond accordingly.

Preparing to Treat an Animal with Reiki

If you feel comfortable or get an intuitive message to get closer to an animal, you can then try performing Reiki with your hands hovering above the pet. Moving gradually into an actual hands on session.

Adapt the Reiki techniques used for humans for treating animals. As animals can’t express permission for you to perform Reiki, make sure you approach any animal in a slow manner when starting to give Reiki. Doing so gives the animal the opportunity to understand what you are doing and lets the animal make its feelings known.

•        You may want to start by channeling Reiki to the animal from across the room or sending distant Reiki. These distant techniques may be sufficient for treating an animal and the safest for you as a Reiki healer if you are treating large or exotic animals.

•        Intention as always is the single most important factor in the success of an Animal Reiki treatment. Your intention should be for the highest level of healing for the animal and that you can be used as a pure channel for the Reiki energy. Healing is not from you, but through you. Be clear about your role as a Reiki healer and why you are treating the animal.

Additional Animal Reiki Techniques

Distance Reiki: This type of Reiki can be performed from anywhere, so you do not need to be near the animal to do this. You can use this technique to address any trauma an animal might have suffered in the past or to help the animal with any event in the future.

Channeling Reiki from across the room: When you are working with an animal you don’t know, start with sending Reiki to connect with the animal from a safe distance. You and the animal then get a chance to connect with each other before moving closer. It can also be used as an effective method of working with animals in zoos, aquariums or the wild.

Reiki with hands hovering over the body: Some pets tolerate this type of Reiki for a longer period of time than hands-on Reiki. Especially smaller pets where the weight of your hands can be uncomfortable, and even painful if they are very ill or distressed.

Hands-on Reiki: You can adapt the standard Reiki Level I hand positions for your pets or other animals. While some animals are much smaller, the basic idea of anatomy is the same.

Group Reiki: For larger animals, especially horses or large dogs, a few people can perform Reiki simultaneously, channelling love and healing at once.

When you give Reiki to a sick animal, you will likely sense that you are also helping the owner or human companion. Animal lovers often treat their pets like their own children and get just as distressed when their “baby” is ill or suffering.

You may also find that by conducting a Reiki session with the owner that the pet’s condition improves. In some cases, animals can take on imbalances for their owners.

Similar to working with a person, Reiki can often help an animal to recover from an illness. When nothing else can be done for an animal such as in the case of just old age, Reiki can also help the animal to pass peacefully.

Reiki doesn’t change the natural order of events, but it can help the transition and can also be used to assist the animals’ owners with their loss and grief.

Accordingly, animal Reiki can be viewed as a spiritual practice of compassion for all beings. By tapping into our inner wisdom of universal connection to all things, Reiki healing deepens our spiritual growth as well!

Got questions? Refer to the Reiki: Level I, II, and Master Manual here!