SHELTER REIKI

Another wonderful use of Reiki for animals is to help animals in shelters.

I can speak from experience, as I work full time in a shelter. I have seen the problems that can result from stress in animals, from gastrointestinal to depression to shaking from fear. An animal shelter is not a calming environment and it does bother many animals, some more so than others. Even for the most social animal, it is noisy. It has scents of other animals, cleaning products, people walking by and oftentimes, depending on the shelter, they will let you hold or play with a pet. Sometimes it's to see if the pet and person "click" well enough for an adoption to take place, sometimes it's just for fun. It provides socialization for the animal, but he or she must wonder, what's going on, who is this person and what are the person's intentions.

It all creates stress for a pet, and one of Reiki's best-documented uses is for the relief of stress.

How do you give Reiki to shelter animals? There are several ways.

1. Set the intention to be a channel of Reiki for any shelter animals who need it. This is what I do most often, as a member of the shelter staff. Much of the job deals with potential adopters and other duties. There doesn't tend to be a lot of time to just stop, stand or sit before a cat condo or dog run, and send Reiki. It may unnerve some pets to do that. Now, if you try this method if you're shelter staff, a volunteer, or visiting a shelter, be prepared to feel quite a rush of energy going through you! As mentioned, animals in a shelter environment can have so much stress and uncertainty the Reiki will be enthusiastically accepted.

Reiki energy is channeled through you, remember; it is not your own energy. You shouldn't feel depleted after sending to shelter animals. If your emotions are stirred up by the pets, if it makes you feel very sad, try meditating before you go. Shelter animals need calm energy, and you can do more for them if you're in a calm, meditative state when you come to them.

2. If you work or volunteer at a shelter where Reiki is understood and accepted, and you actually can take the time to focus on certain animals, here's what I would do. I would sit or stand near but not directly in front of the cat or dog. I mentally would ask or pray that my Reiki be sent for the highest good of that particular pet, and start sending. I would pay attention to how the cat or dog reacts. Often I find they will look up, perhaps come over, curious about this lovely energy they're feeling. I've seen cats and dogs just roll over on their backs and snooze, or come over to me, sniff my hand and stay there to absorb the Reiki.

3. Send a healing attunement. This differs from the initiatory attunement a person gets when they want to start practicing Reiki. The healing attunement is done to make more healing energies available for the person's (or in this case the animal's) own health. It is a bit controversial since pets can't come out and say yes, I want that or no, I don't. I believe if you set the intention, or pray, for the healing attunement to be in the animal's highest good and only if the animal and its guides are in favor of it, then it is fine.

You can send the attunement at a distance, using a photograph or perhaps a stuffed toy animal as your proxy. That might be best, if you can't have a quiet, private space to do the attunement.

One has to be a Reiki master to perform attunements, of course, so this option is for those who have gone to that level. Doing a healing attunement should be part of the Reiki Master training you receive. If you're at Reiki II, you can still do a lot just sending the energy to the animals.

#bird #nature #Photography #art