Does your animal companion struggle with anxiety? Whether it is trembling during thunderstorms, pacing nervously in the car, or incessant barking? These could be signs of fear, anxiety, or frustration – emotions that can be just as debilitating for pets as they are for us. Animal Reiki can be crucial in helping them overcome their fears and easing their anxiety by reducing stress energetically and emotionally. You can play an important role in their healing by becoming a source of unconditional love and support for their struggles.
This blog will assist you in gaining a deeper understanding of why an Animal Reiki can be essential to an animals needs when it comes to stress reduction and help your pet feel seen, heard and safe. Animal Reiki offers a gentle, natural approach to help your animal companion release these pent-up feelings and find a sense of calm and well-being.
Animal Reiki can help your animal companion release and rebalance energy flow while releasing blockages around fearful events or situations.
Common Anxiety Triggers in Animals:
Animals are incredibly intuitive creatures and understand energy better than humans do. Their innate ability to perceive and sense the energy around them, the energy of others and their own is how they keep themselves safe and alive. Animals pick up on our emotions, the energy in their environment, and carry the memories of past experiences that can leave them feeling unsafe, unheard and misunderstood.
This can manifest as:
Fear: Loud noises, new people, or unfamiliar situations can trigger fear responses in animal companions.
Anxiety: Separation anxiety, fear of storms, or even changes in routine can cause anxiety in animals.
Frustration: Animals who struggle to have their needs or desires seen or heard can become frustrated, leading to destructive behaviors.
How Animal Reiki Can Help
Reiki is a Japanese healing technique that channels universal energy to promote relaxation and well-being. In Animal Reiki, a practitioner gently places their hands near or on your animal companion, allowing the Reiki energy to flow intuitively. Animals have their own unique energy centers which, when addressed correctly, can really connect the human and the animal to achieve a bond of trust, understanding and compassion while supporting them on their terms.
Releasing the need to control how they feel and how they heal is a cornerstone of how animals can remedy their mental and emotional wounds.
Here are 5 ways Animal Reiki can help to calm anxiety while supporting your fearful or frustrated pet.
Animal Reiki can:
Promote Relaxation: During a Reiki session, the practitioner acts as a conduit for calm, peaceful energy. This can directly soothe your animal's nervous system, - the paraympathetic one known to be "rest and digest". This will be effective in reducing anxiety in the moment and promoting a feeling of safety for future encounters.
Releases Trapped Emotions: One of the biggest benefits of Animal Reiki is that it is able to help release stagnant energy that can be associated with past traumas or anxieties. This can allow your animal to move forward and feel lighter as well as safe.
Reduces Stress Hormones: Reiki healing sessions lower stress hormone levels like cortisol. This can help your animal companion to feel less overwhelmed in triggering situations. This can further improve their overall well-being and ability to cope with stressful situations.
Boosts Confidence: As your animal companion experiences the calming effects of Reiki and feels more in control of their emotions, their confidence can increase. This can make them more likely to approach previously anxiety-provoking situations with a sense of balance and detachment rather than seeming overly excited or unpredictable.
Breaks the Fear Cycle: Anxiety often builds on itself. Reiki can enhance relaxation and release trapped emotions for those animals experiencing stress and anxiety. It helps them find peace. Animal Reiki is a powerful tool that can help break the cycle of fear that your animal may be experiencing in certain situations. This is quite effective when working with rescue dogs or dogs in a shelter.
What to Expect During an Animal Reiki Session
Where Does It Take Place?
Animal Reiki sessions work best when they are tailored to your animal's comfort level. Sessions may typically take place in your home or a quiet, calming environment - where ever the animal feels most at ease to receive Reiki. The Reiki Practitioner will create a safe energetic space, with no expectations or judgement about how the session will happen and allow the animal to feel safe and supported on their own terms. The animal will often feel at ease and may come closer to the practitioner, if they wish.
No Touch Needed: Distant Reiki For Ultra-Sensitive Animals
An amazing component of the natural healing ability of Reiki is that it benefits the animals who do not wish to be touched, just as much as the ones who don't mind human contact. With the proper advanced training, a Reiki Practitioner is attuned to being able to send energy healing to a willing participant, wherever they reside with absolutely no physical contact. Reiki provides the healing energy and the practitioner can provide the channeling ability to offer a safe and consistent flow of grounded and balanced energies that many animals will naturally gravitate towards.
No Force, Just Flow: Reiki Works On An Animal's Terms:
Reiki is never forced on any being and it is imparative that we let animals decide to allow the Reiki healing session to take place at all. A practitioner is careful to ensure that their hand positions are non-threatening, their energy is clear, and that their minds are loving and peaceful.
Pets may experience that the energy a Reiki practitioner is holding to be too much for them, and back off or become slightly reactive. This is ok because it gives us information and is a sign communicating that the animal is indeed scared. This reaction also stresses the fact that whatever the animal is experiencing is about them, not us, and if we acknowledge their response with love and kindness and not invasiveness, they are shown that their right to have emotions is respected. This goes a long way in building trust between species.
In cases of extreme fearful aggressive behaviour, it is for the safety of everyone involved that the session be performed as a Distant Reiki session, which is when the practitioner sends Reiki from another physical place but still connects with the animal as though they are in the same room. This is done in agreement with the animals higher self, or soul.
Agency: Give animals a choice in all aspects of the Animal Reiki session.
The Reiki practitioner sets the stage for a calming space, observing your animal's body language to determine their comfort level. Their approach adapts intuitively to your animal's needs, ensuring a stress-free experience. Nothing is forced; the focus is on making your animal feel comfortable and receptive to the energy healing.
Some animals may enjoy gentle touches, while others may prefer to simply be in the practitioner's presence with no physical contact. The key to a powerful healing journey lies in creating a safe and relaxing space. Hand positions can be "beamed" towards the animal, allowing them to sense and absorb the supportive energy if they are open to it.
The animal will then communicate that the session is over in a variety of ways - some of which include getting up and not coming back, gentle kisses or nudges to the practitioner, falling asleep deeply and then calmly waking up. The Reiki practitioner will also have other ways of knowing that the session is complete for the day and will trust their intuition around that.
Ideas For When to Offer Reiki to Animals with Anxiety
Animal Reiki can be a wonderful support system for your animal during a variety of anxiety-provoking situations. Offer Reiki before stressful events like thunderstorms, car rides, vet visits, or separation from loved ones. It can also be helpful prior to surgery and after surgery, loading into a trailer, or during times with loud noises like fireworks or large gatherings. Additionally, Reiki can offer comfort and support during times of grief and loss, helping your pet navigate the emotional upheaval of losing a companion or experiencing the death of a human or animal family member.
Space: Give animals the emotional and physical space to step into their healing.
We all want to be the heroes in our pets' lives, the ones who swoop in and "fix" their anxieties. But sometimes, the greatest gift we can offer is space. This doesn't mean ignoring their struggles, but rather allowing them the emotional and physical room to process their experiences. Anxiety often stems from past traumas or confusing situations. By giving our pets space, we create a safe environment where they can work through these emotions at their own pace. Instead of forcing a specific healing timeline, we can show them we see them as individuals. Just like us, animals experience life events differently, and allowing them to grieve, be scared, or simply adjust in their own way will foster a deeper trust and pave the way for a more natural and lasting sense of calm.
Animal Reiki can be a powerful tool in supporting this process. The gentle, calming energy of Reiki can help reduce anxiety in the moment, creating a safe space for your animal companion to begin emotional processing. While Reiki doesn't erase past experiences, it can help your pet release any trapped emotions associated with them, allowing them to move forward with a lighter heart. Think of it as creating a foundation of peace that allows your best friend to heal at their own pace, within the space you lovingly provide.
Emotional Peace and Balance and a Sense of Well-Being:
Animal Reiki is a safe and complementary therapy that can benefit animals of all types, ages and conditions. If your animal is struggling with fear, anxiety, or frustration, it's definitely worth exploring because Reiki can help animals find relaxation around situations that used to cause them stress. Reiki is never harmful and Animal Reiki may show you how very intuitve and brilliant your animals are.
Remember, Animal Reiki is not a replacement for traditional veterinary care. Always consult your veterinarian if you have any concerns about your pet's health.
Ready to Help Your Pet Find Peace?
If you're interested in learning more about Animal Reiki and how it can help your animal companion, I am a Reiki Master who specializes in Animal Reiki and have the experience, training and know how to show you that Animal Reiki works wonders with animals in all sorts of situations. And yes, there is a certain amount of animal communication that goes along with Reiki energy healing and this training. It is my passion and my honour to share Reiki with animals, and through the power of Reiki, help them live the peaceful and happy lives they deserve with their human companions.
If you want to learn how to be an Animal Reiki Practitioner and more about how animals work with and understand energy, please check out my website www.momentoureiki.ca where I have more information about what Animal Reiki is all about. Or contact me at momentousreiki@gmail.com and I would love to answer your questions about how an Animal Reiki sessions work and if Animal Reiki would be beneficial for your animal companion.
By creating a safe space for healing and fostering a deeper connection with your pet, Animal Reiki can help your furry, feathered or hairy friend move from a place of fear to a place of freedom and well-being.
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