Reiki for Animals

What is Reiki?
According to Wikipedia, (and this really is as good a definition as any) :

Reiki is a spiritual practice developed in 1922 by Japanese Buddhist Mikao Usui, which has since been adapted by various teachers of varying traditions. It uses a technique commonly called palm healing or hands on healing as a form of alternative medicine and is sometimes classified as oriental medicine by some professional medical bodies. Through the use of this technique, practitioners believe that they are transferring universal energy (i.e., reiki) in the form of qi (Japanese: ki) through the palms, which they believe allows for self-healing and a state of equilibrium. 

Some say Usui was a Christian.... but that really has nothing to do with it in my opinion.
When offering this definition in so many words to the curious, I am met time and time again with the same response...
The furrowed brow of bewilderment and a resounding, "What?!"  

So let me tell you a story.... A beautiful story... That will if nothing else, give you a snapshot of the energy and nature of Reiki.

I'll begin this story in August of last year, and I will leave out many details.  Suffice it to say that my daughter's best friend and companion canine of 10 years was very ill.  We as a family are naturalists and prefer natural methods of doing everything. And.... while we may consider ourselves wealthy in spirit, we did not have "extra" money for vet visits at that time.  We literally had no money or we would've taken him. Our choice of a natural life is not a religion! So we did every natural thing we knew to do for him but he only seemed to get worse.  I feel that everything in life - EVERYTHING - is a direct reflection of some facet of our personal being, of our life.  Many times the things that manifest in front of us are very hard to understand, hard to accept and much less deal with. Nonetheless, I knew that much of this scenario was for my daughter, Leo being her dog, regardless of how little sense it made.  But it greatly impacted us all as we are a very close family.

One day while my daughter was at work I performed a Reiki session on Leo, along with the application of 

a natural poultice.  Every bit of this session was felt and intuitive and by no ones rule book.  I lit incense, I entered my calm state of spirit and I let the energy flow into Leo's body.  I followed a traditional chakra pattern, placing my hands on each chakra as Leo lay on his side very submissive to the energy.

In the process of Reiki, some sensitive or gifted practitioners often receive insights, images, or other intuitive knowledge about the subject of the session.  Sometimes the information is clear and precise, sometimes it is vague, metaphorical and mystical. Sometimes it immediately means something to the subject, other times it makes no sense whatsoever.  And yet other times when it makes no sense upon first hearing it, it will come to light and have great meaning later on.

I am one of the sensitive ones, and I tend to receive images in metaphorical, mystical imagery.
That's what happened when I did the session for Leo.

Now since Leo is directly connected to my daughter, I energetically linked my daughter into this session even though she was at work at the time.  Sometimes Reiki will reveal an "issue" or blockage or whatever else, that is the cause of an illness or situation. Some situations manifest simply to draw our attention to something that we would otherwise never notice.
Dogs are reflections of the people they are bonded closest to. Therefore I did the session for both Leo and my daughter. The point of the session, of all Reiki sessions, is to bring healing. And often times, healing comes in forms that seem very contrary.

What follows are my notes from that session.  They will most likely make no sense to you, but I will interpret the significant part afterwards.
ROOT - Base, water, primal, nature, reptilian
SACRAL - Owl in a tree - bare-ish, white sky, old small white barn/shed. Monkey climbs up tree, shakes tree, tree is now green, web covers tree, turns bare.
SOLAR PLEX - Modern, abstract, gray & orange, black bird, laborious, fire & molten rock, sinus pressure.
HEART - Deep, sea creatures & colors, vessels, chambers.
THROAT - Secret path right in plain sight, covered with leaves, leads to deeper secret garden = Leo walking healthy & happy - 
white beads/pearls, white flowers -  chocolate environment,head pressure, cheek tingle - smell rosemary.
3RD EYE - forest/jungle paradise - panning around, large round trees, water - lake - waterfall - low gentle green, very green.
CROWN - Purple infusion
lighted passageway - optional

Now the imagery in this session was very strong for me.  Sometimes it is faint and becomes too foggy to describe.  But this was very definite.  So I immediately set out to decipher the imagery's meaning.
In a nutshell, I remember the monkey shaking the tree violently!  Monkey's represent agility and therefore transition.  The violent shaking was telling us to "let go".  White owls represent wisdom, death, renewal. Before doing the research for this Reiki, I didn't really know these things.
A week later Leo passed.
The secret garden was my daughter's heart.  I still have a very vivid image in my mind of him walking into the secret garden with her.  He looked back at me strong and healthy.  All the waters and greenery was the peace and health of being on the other side.  He left that message for his beloved Jessi, and his family.  He became a window to the other side for that brief moment, in my opinion because he was so close to it. Animals have no agenda, no convoluted schemes and twisted ideals to cloud their lives.  Leo was pure love, and somehow I feel my daughter needed that "eternal" message.
We all know his energy, or his spirit, is still watching over us.

Losing Leo was the most difficult thing my daughter has ever experienced in her life.  He was not "healed" in a physical sense from the Reiki I offered.  But there was a beautiful message that resulted that my daughter and the whole family can cherish and be encouraged by.  It was as if Leo shared his glimpse of the other side to let us know he's still here and everything's wonderful!  And that has allowed much healing for us.
And honestly, I don't know what else may have been healed in the depths of my daughter's soul.

This is a snapshot of Reiki.
It is not a religion.
Its just energy.
And its sole purpose is to bring healing energy where it is needed.
It is not mine to control.
It belongs to all.

Yin-Yang-DOG T-shirt at this PG911 approved link! 

Diet & Exercise 2.0

To expound a bit deeper into an earlier blog, Diet & Exercise, I'd like to write a bit about food.
The FIRST STEP to good grooming is good food.  I'm not talking about tasty-good, I'm talking about nutritionally good.
The FIRST ISSUE I address with my clients who report any problem with their pets whatsoever is FOOD.

There are debates..... of course there are.
But there are also some basic truths that many today are completely oblivious to, because most of the only ones available to teach them, don't know the full story either.  This includes veterinarians.... yes!  Yes it does!  Ignorance proliferates like bunnies.  Not to worry, not to blame.  Let's learn.

The "packaged", "processed" dog or cat food I always recommend is Nature's Variety.  The reasons are 1) they are NOT a bandwagon company.  They're one of the first independent companies to do real nutrition for pets.  2) They have consistently produced a very high quality product, including thru the years of recalls because of bad meat.  They raise their own...!  3) And I hope this remains the case forever... At this writing, they are still independent!  Even Dick Van Patton's beloved Natural Balance was bought out by Del Monte - maker of more crap than a heard of buffalo! 4) Their recipe is raw, minimally processed.

My second choice is Halo Purely for Pets.  The reasons are basically the same.... 1) Not a bandwagon company. Another of the very first to do real, natural food for pets.  2) Consistent quality and no recalls.  3) Still independently owned!  A few years back Ellen DeGeneres bought into the company because she was so impressed with the results it produced for one of her pets.  Amen sister!  The stuff is good food!  4) Minimally processed. 5) Beautiful story of origin from a local Tampa area resident (Halo History)!!

And........... That's it.  Those are the only one's I really recommend anymore.
My family has used both on and off for over 10 years.

The only other option for feeding your pets is to make it yourself at home.  This is challenging.  So many different opinions on what you can and can't feed a dog or cat...!  All the things they say are dangerous and NEVER feed your dog.... Well they put the word out much too late!  Sorry but I already fed my dogs all that stuff....!  Oops!  And guess what...?  Didn't hurt them at all.  Not one bit.  Not one hair.  Not one ounce.  Not one iota. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grapes, raisins, chocolate, avocado, onion......
But that does NOT mean that "dangerous" foods will not hurt your animals!  Everyone is different.  Everyone pet parent is responsible.  Do your own due diligence.  Do some research.  Hear all sides of the discussion.  Open your heart to the truth regardless of cost, recipes, ingredients..... just desire the truth and you'll find it!

I was a firm believer in the concept that dogs aren't meant to eat grains, they're made to eat meat!  Well of course this has gotten more confusing for me on a spiritual level over the past several years as I am a vegetarian.  Again.... I've done new research just this past week into vegetarian diets for dogs and cats!  It can be done!  And very, very successfully.  NO, you shouldn't go into it blindly and ignorantly.
For that matter, you may find it interesting to know that all vegetarians are not healthy!  Just because vegers don't eat meat doesn't mean they eat healthy.
The point is complete, healthy nutrition!
I was convinced that grains were the cause of much of the epidemic skin allergy problem that most dogs suffer with these days.  But grains are not the whole story.
Grains are good!  For all animals, humans included.  What's horrible is how most commercial food producers - animal and human - process the grains.  The process totally destroys anything that was ever nutritious about the grain.  Its processing that is the cause of allergies.  Whole natural foods such as grains are INSANE in their nutritional profiles.  The key is that they remain whole and complete.

Another issue, portion size.  Many believe that pets, in particular cats, should be allowed to free-feed.  This is not good.  As a reference, think of wild animals.... What do they do?  Of course they free-feed.... after they hunt the food down.  This is true of carnivores, herbivores and omnivores alike.  So they only eat what they work off.  Pets rarely work these days.  Its a shame but its the current reality.  So they don't need much to eat!  What they need is high quality.  The more active they are, the more fuel (food) they require.

Quality over quantity.
You save money in the long run because you just don't need the vet anymore!

Money and cost is the biggest deterrent  to eating healthy, again - for pets and humans.  But I'm here to tell you that it can be done!  Regardless of what anyone may have ever told you, your pets can eat what you eat IF you eat healthy.  No processed foods, frozen foods, canned foods...
Whole, natural, organic foods.... Foods from the Earth.  Foods that God made to be eaten.  Same for beverages.  Filtered water is a must.  Tap water is not good.  Teas are good for people and pets on occasion.  Herbs and spices... all very medicinal.  Again, you should not feed ignorantly.  Do some research. There are local farmers, co-ops, farmers markets popping up all over!!!  Use them!

Don't buy corporate.  Buy small local organic and get healthy along with your pets!