Students ask me all the time how to heal their pets! I love my cat so I totally feel this question. The wonderful thing about animals is that unlike humans, if they need healing, they will move toward it without resistance. I've seen humans in dire need of healing talk themselves out of receiving the energy because they:
- don't feel worthy
- don't feel they should believe in energy healing
- don't know how to receive love or good will due to past trauma
- don't want to feel beholden
Animals on the other hand don't have any of these hangups. They are very sensitive to the vibration of Reiki, and if they are needing it, they will come towards the practitioner without hesitation. When they are done, they go away.
Reiki Healing For Cats
Some things to remember with regards to Reiki healing for cats:
Cats are independent animals that spend much of their time on the astral (non-physical) planes. They flow in a yin energy, and love to eat up negativity of those they love so as to create better balance and harmony in an environment.
Cats will act very needy if they sense a closed heart that needs to be opened. They will also help ground their loved ones who are too energetically extended into the astral planes. In other words, if you are a sensitive person with a lot of psychic feelers--even if you keep to yourself-- your cat will try to balance out your energy and protect you.
With regards to Reiki healing, you can not force a cat to accept the Reiki healing. Either a cat will take it or they won't. What I've found with most beginning Reiki students is that they try to give Reiki to their pets but believe they've failed because their sweet cat only sat still for a minute or two. That isn't failure! Cats work on their own timeline.
Here are some more tips:
Cats don't need a long energy healing time.
Healing on a human may take up to an hour, but healing on an animal may only take 5-15 minutes because they are so open to receiving. Most cats are selective about when they want healing. My cat loves to come into healing energy as much as possible. If I start to channel Reiki, he will come from across the house to look at me and share the space. My old cat wasn't like this at all, and often went in the opposite direction.
You can not control the nature of healing.
I once laid hands on a cat who was having kidney problems, and the cat willingly took Reiki for about a half hour. At that point, the cat pee'd all over the owner's couch. A few days later, it died. I thought this was pretty terrible and I felt badly, but the owner was so positive. She felt that the Reiki healing had helped to open up the energy pathways, and that the cat had been ready to "move on" but needed the permission and energy to do so.
Once the cat had pee'd on the couch, her owner was able to comfort her, connect with her, and together they came to peace around their long human-cat friendship.
We often think Reiki means rainbows and happy healing, but sometimes it clears and opens the way for adventures we didn't foresee.
Give Cats Healing Space.
Sometimes a cat wants both independence and healing. When I have laid hands on sick cats, or cats who are too afraid to come out of their cage, or cats who are dying, I will often begin by holding my hands up and transmitting the healing energy via distance into their aura, or the psychic space about 1 foot away from the cat.
My cat now loves hands on, but when he first came to me, he was too afraid of hands on because he was feral. Back in those days, he really enjoyed when I would just raise my hands and transmit towards him. At the outset of me doing this, he would relax and purr. And since he was still afraid of me, he would stop purring and shrink back if I tried to lay hands on. Just a reminder that healing doesn't have to be hands-on.
Ignore the Cat Chakra Charts.
There are a million and one super cool chakra charts out there that show you where the energy centers are in a cat. However, you don't need them. When you lay hands on a cat, they will move beneath your hands and reposition as needed. This is SO important because when you allow this, you are trusting your sweet cat to show you what they need most!
Your furry kitty gives you so much healing by helping to balance your lunar polarities and softening you into spaces of quiet and reflection. You can give Reiki healing in return, beaming it from your heart, through your hands, or voice.
You can also charge their food, their water, and their toys with healing energy. It works like a charm for airplane trips and long drives! I once took my cat with me on a family holiday with a house of 5 people. He was in the car for 4 hours each way, and was totally at peace. I believe it was because I talked to him before we left, ran Reiki flow, and covered the cage with a blanket.
To learn how to lay hands in healing, you can take a Reiki class with me! I even offer classes online! More information can be found on my classes page!
DAILEY LITTLE is a life and business coach, a Reiki Master Teacher, and ordained Priestess of the Goddess. She founded HEALING HEART REIKI to help others navigate life with joy. She teaches online Reiki healing classes, Goddess Mysteries, Shamanic healing, and Ancient Egyptian Metaphysics from a peaceful corner of the world in Northern California. For more info please join her newsletter: www.SantaRosaReiki.com