Review: Reiki for Dogs

When one of our animals is hurting, be it due to a physical ailment or emotional pain, we want to help.  We want to heal.  We desperately want to do something to ease the distress.

In Kathleen Prasad's wonderfully insightful book, Reiki for Dogs:  Using Spiritual Energy to Heal and Vitalize Man's Best Friend, we are humbled to discover that in truth, though we can offer the gift of spiritual energy to our dogs, it is up to them to accept it. And hardest of all, perhaps, is to set aside our own egos, and honor each dog's decision to participate in healing, or not, even though we may anxiously wish to fix or cure his problem.  It's not up to us; it's up to him.

That can be a difficult message for us humans, who are so used to being in control.  When it comes to Reiki, or other forms of spiritual energy that can flow through us, we can best serve our dogs by allowing what will be, to be.  But that doesn't mean that we are powerless to help an animal in his hour of need, whether that is to support him through a health crisis, release fears from former trauma or abuse, relieve sadness and depression, or be fully present with him in the days or months or moments before his last breath.  If we know how to work with Reiki, we can be a conduit for this universal energy to flow to our animals where it's needed, creating a perfect sense of balance and peace and harmony.

But as Kathleen explains, Reiki "is not something you give to someone else."  Rather:

    "Those of us who use the system of Reiki are called 'practitioners,' not 'healers,' since we do not manipulate the energy or healing of others.  Through our compassionate intention, we simply open more deeply to the universal flow of energy, creating an 'energetic space of healing,' and in so doing, facilitate the healing process of others.  Reiki can do no harm and is supportive of all other healing modalities and therapies, both allopathic and holistic."

While Reiki practitioners who work with people usually do so by putting their hands in prescribed positions on their client's body, those techniques may not always be effective or appropriate with dogs.  After offering thousands of treatments to dogs and other animals over a period of many years, Kathleen has learned that they may not always welcome such direct, hands-on contact, and may even shun it by literally walking away.

Dogs, in particular, "are more 'tuned in' to the energetic realm," she says, and are so sensitive that they may find hands-on Reiki to be overpowering.  Her advice to Reiki practitioners who want to work with dogs is to be quiet, calm, and nonthreatening.  "It's our job," Kathleen explains, "to hold a space of lightness and peace in our minds.  In this space, the dog is more likely to relax and open to an energetic connection."

Reiki for Dogs is about much more than Reiki.  Based on her own experiences, Kathleen writes movingly about how we can open our hearts and minds to connect with our dogs on a level we may never have imagined.  She offers a series of meditations and exercises to enhance our ability to do so, and to release our attachment to a particular outcome.  If we can learn to do that, Kathleen says, "we also find it easier to be open to the possibility that our dogs may be helping us just as much as we are helping them."

###

Animal Reiki expert Kathleen Prasad is making a rare visit from California to the Boston area to be one of the featured speakers at the upcoming Conference on Complementary Animal Healing in November.

Review: The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care, by Celeste Yarnall and Jean Hofve

Celeste Yarnall and Jean Hofve want to change your mind. In their bold new book, The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care, they challenge our notions about the appropriate care and feeding of our cats, and make a persuasive argument that most of us are doing it wrong.

Is there a cat person among us who has not lost a cherished feline friend to cancer, chronic renal failure, diabetes, leukemia, thyroid problems, or other ravaging diseases? When bad things happen to our cats, we fight the good fight and support them with drugs, prescription diets, surgical procedures, and love, but we may not have dared to ask the question: how could we have prevented this?

In The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care, authors Yarnall and Hofve affirm not only that most chronic diseases can be prevented, they also tell us how. And they offer health-affirming prescriptions which, if we follow them, will enhance our cats' daily happiness quotient, and add many years to their lives.

It all begins with feeding. With a Ph.D. in Nutrition, Ms. Yarnall is an ardent advocate of a carefully formulated raw food diet, but, as she takes care to emphasize, it's not enough just to feed your cat raw meat and think you're giving him all he needs:

"It's vital to remember that cats cannot live on meat alone. There are many case histories of unfortunate cats who suffered and died from being fed only meat (or fish or liver). As an example, there is virtually no calcium in meat. A cat fed on a meat-only diet must satisfy its calcium requirement by stealing from its own bones, and ultimately can fracture a leg just walking across a room."

One of the things I didn't know until I read The Complete Guide is that, contrary to what we've been led to believe, most fish is bad for cats. Yarnall and Hofve posit that "the fish used in canned pet foods usually includes bones and are high in phosphorus and magnesium, which can be an issue in cats with a history of urinary tract disorders or kidney disease." And, even more alarmingly, "there is a known link between the feeding of fish-based canned cat foods and the development of hyperthyroidism in older cats."

The book has an excellent guide to "anti-aging supplements," and, equally important, a list of commonly used foods, ingredients, and other substances that are highly toxic to cats. Ms. Yarnall and Dr. Hofve recommend that you look for products that carry the National Animal Supplement Council seal.

And that's just the beginning. It's not just what a cat ingests in the form of food that will shape his future, it's how he copes with stress. It's here that Yarnall and Hofve are at their best, with innovative tools and techniques to ease anxiety and boost our cats' immune systems. They advocate incorporating play therapy, massage, TTouch, Reiki, the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), flower essences, and even telepathy into your cat's routine. If you're thinking that you can't do any of those things because you don't know how, don't worry. The authors will show you.

While The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care breaks with many commonly held assumptions of conventional veterinarians, it does invite the reader to have a reasoned conversation with her own practitioner, armed with facts, rather than rhetoric. Perhaps the most controversial section of the book deals with the topic of vaccinations. Citing studies by researchers Ron Schultz and Tom R. Phillips, the authors contend that not only is there no solid evidence justifying annual vaccinations, but that they actually do more harm than good. Indeed, there are studies that suggest "a causal relationship between the panleukopenia vaccine and the development of CRF (chronic renal failure)." And there is little debate about the causative role of the rabies and feline leukemia vaccines in the development of "malignant, fatal tumors called fibrosarcomas."

What no one can question, though, is the recurring theme that runs throughout this revolutionary volume: it's critical that everything we do for, to, or with our cats, is done with love. At first blush, that sounds like a cliche, but there is actually scientific support for the idea that we shouldn't be feeding our cats (or ourselves) when we are unbalanced, upset, or in the wrong frame of mind:

"I recommend that you do not feed your cat (or eat your own meals) when he or you are stressed. Acute stress releases adrenaline, which shuts down the digestive system. When anxiety accompanies a meal, your food cannot be properly digested, so nutrients can't get into your cells and function properly. This can compromise the immune system, making you vulnerable to infection and degenerative disease. All of our digestive functions work best when conditions are pleasurable. It's a double-edged sword for you, the caretaker of your family and pets."

How many times have you ever rushed home from work and, still in a harried state from your commute, literally thrown down the food for your cat (or dog, for that matter!)? I know I have. But after reading The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care, I won't do that anymore. My animals' lives might depend on it.

The Animal Reiki Handbook, by Kathleen Prasad and SARA Members

As the leading Animal Reiki educator in the country for the last several years, Kathleen Prasad is a silent but very powerful revolutionary in the field of holistic healing for animals. Her previous book, Animal Reiki: Using Energy to Heal the Animals in Your Life, co-written with Elizabeth Fulton, was the first to address this cutting-edge topic, and it remains the best.

Kathleen's latest mission is to support animal-loving Reiki practitioners who would like to ease the fear, stress, anxiety, grief, and sense of aloneness and helplessness that is experienced by dogs, cats, horses, and rabbits who, for various reasons, no longer have a home of their own, and are confined behind bars. Most are scarred; virtually all are scared.

With a scarcity of financial and human resources, shelters and sanctuaries are usually able to offer little more than kindness and the rudiments of physical sustenance to the creatures in their care. The animals' emotional and spiritual needs are mostly unmet.

Until now.

With other like-minded colleagues, Kathleen has founded the Shelter Animal Reiki Association (SARA), to not only teach an understanding of energy healing, but to provide a standardized approach to implementing professional Animal Reiki programs in shelters and sanctuaries, and to document the effects of this gentle intervention, not only on the animals themselves, but on the people who devote their days to caring for them.

The Animal Reiki Handbook: Finding Your Way With Reiki in Your Local Shelter, Sanctuary or Rescue, is the group's down-to-earth primer on how to introduce the practice of Reiki into a shelter environment, and what to expect from both the captive cats and dogs and the volunteers and staff, many of whom will be unfamiliar with Reiki, and even skeptical of the usefulness of this modality, whose benefits flow unseen.

According to The Animal Reiki Handbook, Reiki "can maintain health and well-being on the physical, mental and emotional levels, induce deep relaxation and stress relief, accelerate healing in sick or injured animals, or animals recovering from surgery, help reduce pain and inflammation, help reduce behavior problems and aggression, help animals heal from past mental/physical trauma, complement conventional and alternative therapies," and even "support the dying process."

And perhaps most intriguingly, it is the animals themselves who control the Reiki treatment process, "taking only the amount of energy they wish to receive."

The challenges of bringing Reiki into a shelter environment are formidable, and The Animal Reiki Handbook addresses them with realism and compassion. Not only are there noises and interruptions that require the practitioner to stay centered and calm, but there are aggressive dogs, terrified cats, and suspicious horses who may initially want no part of what they perceive as unwanted and even threatening intervention. And in certain shelters, there is always the possibility that the animal who is receiving a Reiki treatment today may be euthanized tomorrow.

The Animal Reiki Handbook deals with all of these situations with grace, and ultimately, with a gentle reminder to the practitioner that, "You are there to create a healing and harmonic energetic space, not only for the animals, but also for anyone and everyone who is within that space and open to healing." It is wonderful to contemplate how the quiet clarity of those called to work in shelters or sanctuaries as Animal Reiki volunteers will truly transform the lives of everyone within the range of their healing intent.

Talk with Animal Reiki Expert Kathleen Prasad during the August 31st "Conversations with Animal Authors" Teleconference

The next "Conversations with Animal Authors" teleconference will feature Kathleen Prasad of Animal Reiki Source, who will discuss her new book, The Animal Reiki Handbook: Finding Your Way with Reiki in Your Local Shelter, Sanctuary or Rescue, during a free hour-long call-in event on Monday, August 31st at 9:00pm (EDT).

Kathleen Prasad has been a full-time Animal Reiki teacher since 2002. In addition to The Animal Reiki Handbook, she is the co-author of Animal Reiki: Using Energy to Heal the Animals in Your Life, and has written many educational articles on animals and Reiki for holistic publications around the world. Kathleen's work has been featured in The Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, Animal Fair, The Whole Dog Journal, Dog Fancy, Animal Wellness Magazine, Equine Wellness Magazine, and Natural Horse Talk Magazine.

From my own experience as a student of Kathleen's I can attest to her compassion and effectiveness as a teacher of how Reiki can be used to help and heal animals who are experiencing pain, discomfort, stress, or illness, or who are approaching the end of their lives. Kathleen's quiet presence unfailingly radiates a feeling of peace to both animals and people.

If you would like to learn more about Animal Reiki, and about the Shelter Animal Reiki Association, you can join the call by dialing 616-347-8100 and entering PIN #1063739. Long-distance charges may apply. If you can't be on the call but would like to hear the interview, I'll be posting a link to the audio within a few days after the event.