Reiki with Deuce - Open Your Heart to Hear What the Animal Has to Say

I have been working with Deuce for some months now.  He has arthritis which is progressing, but Reiki and TTouch helps to put him more at ease, and can help his body to be in better balance.
Today he was laying in one of his favorite spots, an easy chair in the living room.  I had recommended that his person, Alice, put something of intermediate height near this chair and other places he likes to go that may be a bit of a challenge for him to jump to now.  So now there is a lovely step stool by the chair - perfect, as it is very stable and the surface is rough so he can get traction and not slip.
Most of the time, he was laying on his right side so that the left side was exposed to me, which makes sense, as it is the front left leg which is giving him trouble at this point.  He is now generally not using that leg when going up stairs.
I started out with my hands a foot or so away from his body, with my arms sort of forming a circle around him.  I pictured a sphere of light encompassing him and soothing him.  One hand was near his neck, the other near his back end.  I told him he need only take as much or as little energy as he wanted.
The first part of the session, I did what in Reiki is called a healing attunement.  In my Reiki master training, I was taught how to do this process for people, and I have recently been adjusting this process so that it will work well with animals.  It is different when I do it with an animal than it is with a person, as a lot of it I accomplish through visualization and intention, rather than the version for humans which involves more physical contact.  It brings in high frequency healing energy that is more intense than a regular Reiki treatment, and can be a very good addition to a Reiki treatment to assist in very deep healing.
As the session progressed, he shifted his body every so often so that my hands would be in a different place.  Each time my hands changed place, I would imagine any blockages disappearing, a feeling of opening.  I felt more and more energy and heat from my hands as time went on. 
I think it is very important to be open and receptive to whatever you might hear from or feel from the animal, to open your heart, let go of your own expectations and let these feelings in.  The animals very often will show me where they need my hands to be by shifting and changing position until you are where the energy is most beneficial for them.  It is possible to feel this, it feels as if you are plugging into a socket, and the energy flow can become very strong when you arrive at these places on their body where they want your hands to be the most.

During a Reiki session, I often feel the animal and I traveling together into a very dreamlike state, where I feel like we are inside of a bubble of energy and light, which is warm and very soft.  And this is where we went today for much of the session, though at times we would come up more to the surface and feel present in the room and in the apartment.
















In the earlier parts of the session, I often had one hand around his shoulder area, sending him energy there, which will help to ease whatever pain or discomfort may be happening in that area. The other hand was near the base of his spine.  I kept feeling the connection from his upper spine to the lower spine, feeling the energy going from the upper back down to the base of the spine.  I was feeling a lot of energy particularly in the upper back at this point, especially as that is the area where he is having difficulty.
Towards the end of the session, Deuce put both of his back paws on one of my hands, as if he was asking for the energy there.  This makes sense, as it will help him to really feel his feet, and he will need his back legs more now that the front ones are starting to be more compromised.  His front paws do need the energy even more, of course, but at this point he had them kind of curled up - so I will have to focus on that next session!
At any rate, at this point in the session he moved into a position which helped to really focus on the connection and power in his back legs.  My left hand had both back paws touching it, and at times I would do little TTouches on one paw and then the other, and put my hand around one paw (about an inch away) and then the other.  My other hand was on his pelvic area.  So I really felt the energy going all the way down from his hips to his feet, making that connection there.  My right hand felt nearly as though it was inside body on his lower back, and I felt the energy coming down to his paws.
After we finished, I watched him walk and he was walking quite well on a flat surface.  The stairs are more of a challenge, but hopefully all of this connecting energy will help him to be at his best, given his situation.

 
Near the end of the session, his "brother" Gruffy settled down a ways away, as he often does, taking in some of the energy.
Look forward to seeing you soon, Deuce and of course you too, Gruffy!!

Appreciating the Moment with Monk: Comfort, Peace, and Optimal Balance for Chronic Renal Failure, Part Two

I have been even busier than usual, so it's been hard to squeeze in time to write! 

I had been out of town for about a week after my first few sessions with him and at that point was not sure whether he would pass while I was gone, especially as his person Suzanne had texted me that he was not eating much while I was gone. 

Fortunately Monk was here on earth and ready to resume his sessions when I returned.  I have been working with him at least several times a week, sometimes more.  Since my previous post, his energy and appetite have continued to improve, which is great.  He is still a frail cat, but his life force energy feels so much stronger since I began to work with him.  And he really seems to enjoy his food, which is a huge change.  I am so happy that Suzanne is able to have more time with him.  She and Monk are so deeply connected, and have such a sweet bond with each other.

It also is interesting to see how things are evolving with his general habits.  When I first began to work with him, he wanted to be out on the terrace 24/7, but in the couple of weeks or so he has been content to be inside more of the time.  Of course, some of that is influenced by the weather, as we have been having some tropical-like rainstorms, but his need to be outside doesn't seem urgent as it was with him initially. 

He seems to really welcome my visits, and settles into the Reiki sessions with me very quickly now.  Sometimes we are completely hands-on, other times I need to have my hands maybe about 6 inches or sometimes more off his body.  I always follow his cue as to what he would like.  Quite often he will settle right in my lap or with his head resting on my leg or hand.  It feels that as we go, his body trusts me more and more, so that the energy is absorbed in an increasingly deep way. 

During a Reiki session, when things are really flowing, it feels as if my energy merges with that of the animal.  Sometimes it is as though my hands are actually inside of the animal. 

I use a lot of positive visualization at the same time I am offering him Reiki energy.  Lately, it seems his skin is irritated or itchy, as he is pulling off chunks of fur.  Apparently this is something that can happen with cats with Chronic Renal Failure.  So I imagine cool blue energy soothing his body.  I imagine I'm inside of his skin, and am feeling comfortable inside of the skin, feeling a coolness soothing from the head down to the feet.  I imagine relaxation, and see his fur growing back in the areas where he has pulled the fur off. 

I also do TTouches with him which feel like they should be soothing.  I do little hair slides going down his body, using a light touch.  I also do abalone TTouches, which are TTouches using the whole hand, to try to calm the whole body. 

Another interesting aspect of working inside with Monk is that his cat "sister" Jade is around him more and Reiki seems to be helping them to have some peaceful moments of connection.  Often Jade will curl up right next to where we are working. 

There is something so special about my time with Monk.  He is a dear, gentle little soul.  I know that I am traveling with him on this last part of his road on earth, realizing that we don't know how short or long it will be.  I appreciate these sweet times of love and connection with him.  When I work with him I feel there is light all around us, that we are sharing our hearts.  I am so honored to have these moments with this sweet being.

Connecting with Krishna: Moving Closer than Ever

 

 

Krishna is a beautiful, soulful cat who I have worked with and cat-sat for over the past couple of years or so. He is generally very fearful of everyone other than his human caretakers, Rebecca and Tim, but Krishna has come to trust me more and more every time I see him.   

I had not seen Krishna for some months, and went to work with him yesterday.  Krishna is extremely sensitive, so I need to enter with an extremely quiet energy, even more so than I usually do with most cats.  On the way to the appointment on the subway, I began to center and calm myself, and to send him Reiki energy.

He always seems to recognize me, and that was the case yesterday as well.  When I entered, he was resting in his bed, which was about halfway across the living room.  I lowered my body posture into a less-threatening kneeling position, and quietly said hello to him.  He responded by walking right up to me, sniffing me, and then sitting a couple of feet away from me.  When he came to sniff me, I stayed perfectly still - not rigid, but breathing and still.  If he tried to stare right at my eyes, I looked down a bit or away a bit, so as not to scare him.

In the last few appointments with him, a soft paintbrush like a makeup brush, tied to a thin dowel with string, has been a great tool to work with him.  This time, I used a longer dowel than I had in the past, since I felt that sometimes I wanted to give him more space, as he can get suddenly startled sometimes when he gets close.

Generally, I have found that TTouch circles and strokes are what work with him best, but because of where his body was positioned yesterday, which was sideways to me, just a couple of feet away, with his head further away, I tried doing some TTouch circles with the tool going down the side of his body.  I did the circles very slow, with a "snail's tail" at the end, which means doing the usual circle and a quarter, followed by a pause, and then reversing the circular path for a quarter circle.  This can provide an extra release. 

It is very important, especially with a fearful cat, to come towards them in a sort of diagonal path, rather than directly towards their face or head.  Even when I am going to do TTouches on the head with the tool, I come from a diagonal direction and first touch him on top of his head, but coming from the side, not straight on.

He started to look more and more relaxed, with his eyes getting more sleepy, but still his tail was twitching back and forth, so I was careful to pause every so often, to give him a break. 

It was very interesting that yesterday, in the pauses, he would generally shift his body posture in a manner and direction that was coming closer to me, rather than further away. 

Below you can see the tool I was using.  At one point, I did have to tuck the string in!

 

 

The TTouch circular touches and strokes were helping him to increasingly relax, and intermittently he would do a somersault, stretch and get a bit closer to me.  A couple of times during the session, he did go to his "mom" Rebecca for a few pets, but then he came back to me.  So he really was making a choice about where he wanted to be.

At the same time as this was going on, and for the whole session, I was also sending him Reiki energy.  I felt quite a lot of energy coming out of my hands.  And, as I have recently been learning about color therapy, I decided to visualize a turquoise blue color surrounding him.  Turquoise, as it is a mixture of green and blue, which are both very calming, healing colors, can be a very calming and healing color, and just felt right for Krishna at this moment.

After the TTouches on the body, I decided to go back to what has usually been more his comfort zone, which is the forehead, in between the ears, and at the base of the ears.  Sometimes I would work in a few TTouches on the body, then go back to the head.  Below you can see that he was quite relaxed, with his hind leg sticking out.  And at this point the tail was quieting down too.

And, I had started quietly working my hand down the tool.  As you can see, my hand is much closer to his body than the photo above.  As I did this, I made sure to check in on my breathing, as I could feel myself start to get a little bit nervous as I got closer to him.

 

 

 

 

What was interesting, too, that had happened during this process was that Krishna had pivoted his body around so that he was not only closer to me but had his head facing directly towards me.

I kept doing the circular TTouches and strokes, pausing every so often to give him space.

And..... when it seemed the right moment, I carefully took hold of the dowel with my fingers, and did a few TTouches and strokes on his forehead with my thumb.  And then after a few TTouches like that, I went back to touching him with the brush.  At a couple of points, he seemed a little surprised, but not terribly, and then he would go back to being relaxed.  This was certainly a far cry from the sudden panic that can happen, usually followed by a yell or a swat.  And each time I went from my thumb (or sometimes I used a finger) back to the brush, he seemed to get more comfortable, getting his body in a more and more comfortable position.



 

 

He is extremely attached to Rebecca, and at various points during the session, he looked over at her, as if to ask if it was ok that he was getting so close.  Rebecca said, and I agree, that it felt as though he wanted to really get even closer to me, but was still a bit hesitant to do that.
Each time he got closer to me, it was as though I could feel our hearts more closely connected, like a band of love and energy was traveling back and forth between my heart and his. 
The session had flowed very natural, and seemed to have its own natural ending place.  I quietly thanked him, and he walked to a cozy spot to rest.
Thank you Krishna!  It is such an honor to work with you, connect with you and learn from you.  I look forward to seeing you soon!!