Animal Reiki – A Holistic Approach to Animal Healing

Posted on by violetbreathreiki

Reiki can offer benefits to animals as well as humans. It is a gentle technique that promotes relaxation and healing. It is non-invasive, and can never cause harm, and is a wonderful complement to traditional veterinary medicine (not a replacement for), as well as other holistic healing methods. This technique is used in the hospital setting (for humans) across the country, including Memorial Sloan Kettering. It helps support cancer patients as they recover from surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Minimally, a recipient of Reiki feels a flow of relaxation and peacefulness during the session. More significant benefits include pain reduction and an acceleration of recovery time.

For animals, Reiki is an ideal method, since it is energy-based and does not have to be given “hands on”. It is effective at a distance, so it is helpful for feral or aggressive animals and can be offered near their cages, or in an outdoor setting. It is incredibly beneficial for shelter animals, who most often have kennel anxiety and may have suffered through abusive pasts.

I have had the experience of offering Reiki sessions to a multitude of different animals over time, including those in shelters, clients’ animals, as well as to my own pets. This method is useful for a range of ailments and is not limited to helping any specific condition. Reiki can also ease the situation in the home of a sick or old animal who is ready to pass. In this case, it often serves to improve the quality of life in an animal’s final days, as well as bringing a measure of peacefulness and acceptance to the animal’s human family. I even participated in bereavement sessions for a dog who had lost her canine sibling and was showing signs of grief. The sessions helped her visibly relax and heal from her loss.

I always consider any animal as a partner in healing in the sense that I make it clear the animal has the choice of accepting Reiki, and how much energy he/she wishes to take, as well as choosing from a distance or close-up with “hands-on” touch. Most animals have an intuitive sensitivity to energy and are quite receptive. I have always felt a special connection to our furry friends and so have included a special focus on animals in my Reiki practice. As a Reiki teacher, I offer classes to students who want to practice on people, but additionally have incorporated a specific curriculum targeted toward those who wish offer Reiki to animals, whether for their own pets or possibly at shelters on a voluntary basis.

In the near future, I hope to see complementary and alternative methods, such as Reiki, Naturopathy, Acupuncture, Acupressure, and herbal medicine become more available and accepted in the veterinary world. I firmly believe that combining holistic methods with traditional medicine to achieve a blend of both “Eastern and Western” systems will result in better overall care, healing, and longevity for the animals in our lives.

Interested in finding out more about Animal Reiki? Check out http://www.reikiforyourlife.com and click on the Animal Reiki tab. Subscribe to the monthly newsletter, featuring an Animal Healing column!

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The Benefits of Reiki During Pregnancy

Posted on by violetbreathreiki

While I cherish all my clients, I hold a particularly special place in my heart for prenatal and pediatric. Babies, inside or outside the womb, love Reiki. They respond immediately to the touch of the Reiki practitioner’s warm hand. It is an incredible feeling to be administering Reiki and feel the baby moving and kicking as if to say, ‘Give me more, please’. Each time, I’m like a kid in a candy store on Christmas morning. Reiki is safe throughout pregnancy and the delivery process. Its’ benefits extend to both mom and baby. While working all seven chakras during a Reiki session, there are a couple of chakras I give particular attention:

Third Eye-Between the brow. Governs the pineal gland, brain,eyes, ears and nose. Intuition, extrasensory perception and psychic abilities.

Solar Plexus-Below the rib cage. Stomach, liver, pancreas. Willpower,self respect, self confidence

Sacral-Sits below the belly button (navel). Regulates our reproductive organs, kidneys,adrenals, bladder and lymphatic system. Emotions are also seated in the sacral.

It has been my experience that imbalanced energy tends to sit in the above mentioned chakras. During the treatment process, administering additional Reiki along with other tools such as crystals, sound and guided imagery allow the client to have a more complete healing experience.

Women who are pregnant for the first time often display new pregnancy jitters. They are both ecstatic yet at times, feel they are traveling into the unknown. In the first trimester of pregnancy, the most common complaints are morning sickness and fatigue. The stress this places on the body can cause imbalance to mom and baby. Reiki can provide assistance in calming feelings of nausea and tiredness. During the second trimester is when women report that any morning sickness has subsided, and they are noticing an upsurge in their energy levels. Once they move into the third trimester, some of the aches and discomforts along with fatigue may return. I find that administering Reiki to areas such as low back, hips, knees and ankles provide extra relief. Swelling can occur, and the joints overall seem to take on more with the ever changing pregnancy body. Releasing the energy that has pooled reduces swelling and allows more flexibility and ease of movement. One client came in with swelling in her ankles. She was unable to wear shoes and was quite uncomfortable ( she used the word miserable).

As part of her Reiki session, I placed extra focus on her joints. I followed up with her 2 days later, and she reported that her swelling had all but gone, and was back to wearing her favorite shoes. As we near ‘D day’, women will come in more frequently for Reiki sessions. They are becoming anxious about delivering, and are ready to meet their bundle of joy.

Because I’m based in a chiropractic setting, we’ve had many moms come in for their adjustment, a Reiki session and soon after labor begins. Reiki can help smooth over any anxieties and provide a reduction in low back and pelvic pains. Also, labor time is reduced. For women who have had multiple pregnancies, Reiki provides relief at home when dealing with other family members. They are not as stressed or irritable.

One of my clients came to see me for Reiki during her pregnancy with her sixth child. A military wife, her husband was serving overseas. Her consistent Reiki sessions gave her increased inner peace. She was also able to manage things at home with more focus and patience. I often say that if you are on your second or more pregnancy, your connection to that child will be different. The bond between mom and baby is extra special and unique. Now, I am not stating that the mother is going to favor this child over the others. In my experience, I find that when babies receive Reiki in the womb, it’s as if both share a special, little secret. Once baby arrives, and the mother experiences first hand what I meant, she wishes she knew about Reiki sooner!

I’d like to point out that Reiki is also beneficial for expectant fathers. Having Mom, Dad & Baby absorbing all the Love & Light is surely a winning combination!

Blessed Be!

Amy Barilla is a Usui Reiki Master Educator, Author & Intuitive. Her practice focuses on pregnancy, pediatrics and women with reproductive health issues. For more information on “The Reiki Gal”, visit: http://www.TheReikiGal.com Sign up for the monthly newsletter to receive Reiki tips and insights.

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Using Reiki to Manage Pain: Two Canadian Studies Pioneer Reiki Medical Research

Posted on by violetbreathreiki

Karin Olson, a Registered Nurse and Ph.D., has coordinated two studies of Reiki’s effect on cancer pain. Results of the pilot study were published in Volume 1, Number 2 of the journal,Cancer Prevention and Control, in 1997. A manuscript   outlining the findings of a Phase II trial has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. Both reports indicate that Reiki is effective in reducing pain.

Dr. Olson was employed at the Cross Cancer Research Center in Edmonton, Alberta when she met Lisa Fontanella and learned about Reiki. Her purpose in engaging in this research is stated in the pilot study report. “To date, most research on cancer pain has focused on the use of opioids,” the paper begins. “Since high doses of opioids frequently aggravate other common symptoms of cancer,” she and co-researcher John Hanson were interested in exploring therapies that “may allow control of cancer pain with lower doses of opioids.”

The research team first combed through extant research literature but found no study of this kind. They then designed a pilot study to see whether Reiki is beneficial in managing pain in general.

 

Preliminary Study

The pilot study recruited twenty volunteers who were experiencing pain at fifty-five sites for a variety of reasons, including cancer. Each volunteer received a full Reiki treatment of one and a quarter hours duration, administered by a second degree Reiki practitioner (Fontanella) in her office. The environmental factors were the same for each treatment. Two different scales were used to measure pain: a visual analogue scale (VAS) ranging from 0 to 10 and a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 5. Volunteers completed both scales immediately before and after the treatment. The results showed that eighty-five percent of the volunteers had less pain after the Reiki treatment, called a “significant reduction” in the paperπs summary.

The results of the pilot study were encouraging but not conclusive. Since there was no placebo control group in the trial, the researchers couldn’t rule out the possibility of a placebo effect. Secondly, the length of the pain-reducing benefit wasn’t measured, so the researchers had no way of knowing the long-term benefit of a treatment. The touch itself may also have been a contributing factor to the results, but they had enough information to design and carry out a second study.

Phase II

The Phase II Trial of Reiki for the Management of Pain in Cancer Patients compared pain, quality of life, and analgesic use in two groups of cancer patients. One group received standard opioid pain management plus rest; the other used standard opioid management plus Reiki.

The study followed twenty-four patients for seven days. The patients kept diaries that recorded their use of medication and other activities used to relieve pain. A Reiki group received a full treatment one hour after their first afternoon analgesic dose on day one and again on day four of the study period. The other group rested for one and a half hours after their first afternoon analgesic dose on days one and four. VAS pain ratings, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration were taken before and after each treatment/rest period. Quality of life was assessed on the first and last days (day one and day seven) of the study period.

Complete findings of the Phase II trial can’t be released before publication of the report, but the results encourage further study, both in Reiki’s effect on pain and on quality of life. Dr. Olson, Lisa Fontanella, and the rest of the team plan to seek funding for the next trial in the near future.

(You’ll find an interview with Lisa Fontanella about the process of developing this Reiki research in Wonderful Reiki Stories, available by signing up for Reiki Healing Arts’ monthly eZine on any page of our website, www.reikihealingarts.com.)

This story first appeared in Reiki Magazine International, August/September 2003, ©Barbara McDaniel 2003. This story may be printed and shared with others, but may not be reproduced in any magazine, newspaper, or web site without specific permission of the author. Contact Barbara at barbara@reikihealingarts.com. Contact Reiki Magazine at www.reikimagazine.com.