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Traditionally, Reiki has been practiced and taught primarily for humans. In Reiki classes students were told that Reiki was good for plants and animals as well, but not told how to use Reiki on animals or plants. They assumed it was done the same way. More recently attention has been given to Animal Reiki and it turns out that it needs to be done quite differently. We tend to think of Reiki as a "hands on" healing modality, and with people it often is. But with animals it is best to offer "hands off" Reiki unless the animal makes it clear that it wants hands on. We let the animal decide how - and if - it wishes to receive Reiki. Margaret Dexter is an Animal Reiki Practitioner who agrees with the Animal Reiki Practitioner Code of Ethics developed by Kathleen Prasad. She has studied with Kathleen and is listed on Kathleen's website AnimalReikiSource.com as an animal practitioner. We offer Reiki to an animal, rather than giving or sending it, and make it clear to the animal that he or she may accept as much or as little of the healing as it wants, or decline it altogether. Offer is the operative word here. An animal is much more receptive to the energy when it understands that it is in charge of the session. Ideally, the session is given in a room that is familiar to the animal - a place where the animal is comfortable. The animal should have room to move around if it wishes to do so. The Reiki energy is made available and the animal accepts it in whatever way she or he chooses. An animal way choose to wander around at first then lie down and go to sleep, for example. Or it may not choose to accept the energy at all at that time. It is very important when working with animals not to have any expectation about how - or if - they will accept the Reiki offered to them. Animals are very perceptive and aware of energy and they often recognize the energy and are very open to it. Sometimes when offering Reiki to an animal, it is possible to communicate with the animal. The information received from the animal may be very important in its healing. For example, a cat may be worried because it knows it's person is moving and thinks it will be abandoned as it was when it was a kitten. Or another cat may not like its name, and be much happier if called a different name. Reiki Chattanooga now offers Reiki sessions to animals as a distant healing for animals anywhere. Because animals benefit more from Reiki when they are comfortable, animal Reiki sessions are done in the animal's home. Reiki can also be done as distant healing which can be as effective or at times even more effective since the animal is not distracted by having someone come to their home. Reiki Chattanooga also offers an Animal Reiki Workshop. This one day workshop is an introduction to Reiki focused on offering Reiki to animals. Check the Workshop Schedule for upcoming workshops or Register for an Animal Reiki Workshop now. |
Last modified: 10/15/2013 | ||||||
