Dogs, Butterflies and Reiki

I spent most of last spring "tutoring" Kino on yard etiquette - repeating over and over again "The butterflies are our friends" and "We don't eat the butterflies" - because my darling boy couldn't stop himself from trying to devour our lovely visitors each day.

Fortunately, by the time summer rolled around, Kino finally understood and for the rest of the summer and all through the fall, we peacefully co-existed with our daily butterfly visitors.

So, you can imagine my disappointment when the butterflies reemerged a few weeks ago and I found Kino chasing after them. Once again I was reminding him again and again to leave the butterflies alone.

Last weekend, we were out in the yard and Kino gave in to his instinct to go after one of our beautiful visitors but amazingly, before biting down on the butterfly, he suddenly remembered that he wasn't supposed to and he backed away from the butterfly and then looked at me as if he deserved a treat for remembering.  :-)

Unfortunately, he had already slobbered all over the poor thing and because his wing was bent, the butterfly wasn't able to fly away. Sitting down on the ground with the butterfly, I began to give him Reiki in the hopes that he could recover from his German shepherd encounter.

After about 10 minutes of Reiki, the butterfly climbed up on my hand.  He stayed there for a while and then he decided to walk up my arm, and eventually made it up to my shoulder.  He sat on my shoulder for another 10-15 minutes, which was fine with me, as it was much safer for him to be up there where Kino couldn't reach him.

Eventually he tried to fly off my shoulder but he didn't make it very far and ended up on the ground.  Putting my hand down next to him, I offered him some more Reiki and once again he climbed up on my hand.  When I looked at the clock and realized I had to leave soon for an appointment, I placed him in one of the flower pots in the yard so he would be safe.

When I got home, I was delighted to find that he was gone and since Kino was tucked away safely in the house while I was away, I know the only way the butterfly could have left was on his own. It was a really cool experience to give Reiki to a butterfly - and while I feel blessed to have had the opportunity, I don't want to have to do it again, so Kino's refresher course will have to continue.  :-)

Reiki and Seals

Last week, I decided to treat myself to an afternoon stroll on the beach.  It's one of the best ways for me to recharge my batteries and as luck would have it, it was about 70 degrees that day - perfect weather for walking along the ocean.

Shortly after I started out, I came across a young seal who obviously wasn't feeling well as he could barely hold himself up.  I sat down on the sand a little ways away from him and began sending him Reiki.  I wasn't sure what else to do and I hoped it would help him feel better.

A lady wandered over to me and inquired about the seal, wondering what we could do to help him. She asked if I thought we should call the Marine Mammal Center to get their help.  I asked her if she was familiar with energy healing and she said, "Yes, I am a Reiki master"  I smiled knowing I wouldn't have to explain what I was doing, and told her I was sending him Reiki. She said, "What a wonderful idea, I can tell he is soaking it up."  We decided it would still be a good idea to call the Marine Mammal Center.

About twenty minutes into his Reiki treatment, my new Reiki master friend, Christy, was attempting to take a picture of him so the Marine Mammal folks would know where he was and all of the sudden he sat up, looked around and then jumped in the water and began to swim.  We were both so happy - hoping the energy had assisted him. Since she was still on the phone with the Marine Mammal folks, she let them know that we didn't need them after all.

We said goodbye and I continued on my walk.  I hadn't made it very far . . . long enough to find a couple pieces of sea glass but not long enough to get more than ten yards down the beach . . . when I noticed two other gals we had met earlier trying to flag me down.  As I got closer to them, I saw our little seal friend, back up on the beach.

I ran back to Christy and asked her to call the Marine Mammal center again.  Then, for the next few hours, Christy and I stood on guard, one of us on either side of our little seal, protecting him from dogs, runners and walkers, and sending him additional Reiki.  After several hours, I had to go.  It broke my heart to leave without knowing if he was going to be ok but I couldn't wait any longer for the Marine Mammal folks to show up.  I met a nice gal as I was about to leave and asked her if she would be willing to keep watch over him and keep dogs away and she said she would.  Interestingly, her name was Christy also.

After saying goodbye to my two new friends named Christy, I headed back down the beach.  It made me sad to leave, but I held out hope that the energy assisted him.  If nothing else, I felt honored to be able to connect with him that way, even if it only resulted in giving him a little peace and comfort.

Reiki and Shingles

A few weeks ago, I noticed a strange rash on my right hip.  While it didn't itch, the skin did feel a bit tender.  I wasn't sure what it was.  The next day, I noticed the rash wasn't just on my hip anymore, it had moved around to the front of my thigh and around to my back and the bumps looked a little more like blisters.  By that night, I started to feel stabbing pain in every area where the rash was and that was when I knew for sure that I had shingles.

I was not happy with that realization.  I had shingles before, about nineteen years ago and I remember that it was a miserable experience.  Even though I went to the doctor right away and got the anti-viral medication, as well as medication for pain, I was still out of commission for weeks.

The nerve pain is awful.  If you've never had shingles before, it feels like you are being stung over and over and over again by a wasp.  Honestly, it is a horrible experience and one I wasn't looking forward to going through again.

I knew I wasn't going to see a doctor this time because my beliefs about western medicine have changed quite a bit in the last nineteen years.  I decided that this time, I would treat it with Reiki  (ok, I also broke down and took some advil those first few nights so that I could get some sleep, so I am not totally against taking some sort of medicine) but I wanted to try a different approach this time.

I gave myself Reiki treatments every day.  I wasn't sure exactly what it would do or how it would help, but I was wiling to give it a try and see what happened.

Much to my delight, seven days later, the pain was completely gone, the blisters had dried up and were forming scabs.  As I type this, eleven days after the initial onset, all evidence of my bout with shingles is almost gone.

Last time I went through it, it was several weeks before I could handle clothes touching my skin and several more weeks after that before the blisters healed.  I was excited to see how much the Reiki helped and incredibly grateful that the whole ordeal was over so quickly.  It has inspired me even more than before to rely on Reiki to assist with medical issues when they arise.

A Higher Purpose

I am on a community email list of animal lovers - where people post questions about vets and trainers, send out notices of lost pets and found pets, etc.  In recent months, several people have posted asking for help and advice for rehoming a pet and I have been surprised and disappointed at the reaction they have received.  These folks have been bashed for wanting to find a new home for an animal, pressured into finding a way to keep their animal, accused of not being loving guardians, etc.

It makes me sad that even though people are animal advocates, they don't fully understand that animals have a higher purpose.  Animals come into our lives to be our teachers - that they have a special purpose to fulfill, to assist us in learning and growing as human beings.  Sometimes their work is done in a short period of time and they can then move on and help someone else.  I can think of countless examples of how a "re-homed" animal made a remarkable difference in the lives of their new family.

I think about all the wonderful animals I have had over the years . . . from my childhood dog, Clancy to my current dog Kino.  If Clancy or Kino's families had been shamed into keeping them, I would have never experienced the joy or the lessons that I received from both of them.  I believe they were both meant to be in my life . . . and even though they didn't start their lives out with me, they left an imprint on me during the time they were with me. (and I have a feeling Kino's imprint is going to be pretty big by the time we reach the end of our journey)

Just a week or so ago, a had a session with a client and her foster dog Spanky.  Originally she was going to keep him but she had come to the difficult decision that she needed to find another home for him - primarily because he was fighting with and hurting her other dog.  She wanted me to explain to Spanky what was going on so he wasn't confused about what was happening.  She wanted him to know he was still very loved and that she wanted to find a home for him where he could be the only dog.

Spanky told me he was OK with finding another home because he knew there was someone else he was supposed to help.  He said while he would always love his foster mom, he also knew he had a purpose to fulfill in another humans life.

Just recently I wrote about a little darling named Corgi who had to be re-homed because of the health issues of a family member . . . and in her new home, she helped give a recently retired man a sense of purpose and a renewed interest in life.  If Corgi's mom hadn't re-homed her, Corgi wouldn't have been able to help that man so much.

I am writing this in the hopes that we can begin to trust that everything happens for a reason.  Maybe we can put our judgement down and have a little more compassion for folks who are forced to re-home a pet.  It is not an easy decision to come to.   Maybe there is a higher purpose at work and where the animal ends up is exactly where they are meant to be.

Trust Your Intuition

One of the things I love about the work I do is the opportunity I have to help guardians begin to trust their own intuition.  I remember early on telling a client what I was picking up from her dog and seeing her eyes light up when she told me that was what she thought her animal was feeling as well.  On the drive home that day, I recall thinking that an important part of my work might be helping guardians learn to trust their own intuition and over the years, that is how is had unfolded.

It always makes me smile when a client says "That's what I thought was going on" or "That's what I thought he was feeling."  Confirming what my human clients are sensing about their animals is a big part of what I do.  I love being able to help guardians begin to trust their own "knowing" so they don't have to rely on someone like me.

Just this past week, I spoke with a client whose dog was getting close to making her transition.  She had a list of questions she wanted me to ask her dog and for every single answer I got from her dog, she said "That's what I thought."  When I pointed out to her that she already knew everything I was picking up from her dog, she said "Yes, but I wasn't trusting it . . . now because you have validated all these things, I think I will start trusting what I am sensing."

It's not that I am trying to work myself out of a job, I just enjoy having the opportunity to help people tap into their own gifts.  I believe we are all intuitive - it's just a matter of learning to listen to what our inner guidance is telling us and quieting the voice in our heads that make us second guess ourselves.

We may call it a hunch or a gut feeling, or it may be a thought that pops into our mind.  The more we can trust what comes into our minds, the more confidence we can develop in the guidance we are receiving.  And the more we listen . . . the stronger our intuition can become.

Are you listening to your guidance? Are you trusting your knowing?  Or are you second guessing yourself?  Maybe it's time to ask the "second-guesser" to take a break and see what happens when you trust what you are sensing with your animals.

Reactions to Pain

I know that each animal is unique and that it is highly unlikely that the new animal you adopt will be anything like your previous animal when it comes to their personality.  I know this - and yet I still find myself surprised at sometime of the differences between Kino and my previous shepherd, Lucky.

For instance, Lucky was not very affectionate and did not give kisses while Kino will give me 20-30 kisses a day, whether I want them or not.  :-)  Lucky was rather independent and was happy to hang out in another room when I was home.  Kino on the other hand is glued to my side from the moment I get out of bed in the morning.  I have accepted the fact that if I am going to do the crossword puzzle or respond to emails, I will be doing it with his head in my lap.

Their reaction is pain is also the complete opposite, but not in the way you might expect.

When something hurt Lucky, whether it was a bee that stung her or she bonked her head on the table, she would immediately run to me to "make it better."  And fortunately for both of us, my instinct is to comfort and nurture, so I felt competent to help her when she was hurt.

When Kino gets hurt, he gets mad!   Initially I hear a yelp, i.e. if he runs into something or steps on something that hurts his paw, but then he begins growling and hopping around, usually grabbing a rope toy and flinging it about with such force that I fear he is going to make holes in the walls or knock himself out.  Even more interesting is that he will not let me touch him. In the beginning, if I tried to help him, he would attempt to bite me.  Fortunately, he doesn't turn on me anymore but still if I try to touch him or ask him to show me what hurts, the frenetic rope swinging lasts even longer.  It is a real challenge for me to sit back and do nothing when he has hurt himself since it is the opposite of my natural instinct.

I find his reaction so curious and I also believe that everything has a purpose.  Maybe I am meant to teach Kino that it is safe to let people help him when he is hurt.  Maybe he is meant to teach me that it's OK to back off and let people work things out themselves.  Who knows, maybe it's both.  It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Animals With a Purpose

A couple years ago, I wrote about a special dog named Corgi who had captured my heart.  She had been severely abused in her previous homes but was making wonderful progress with her new mom.

Over the holidays, I had the pleasure of getting an update on Corgi.  At first, the update didn't sound very positive.  Corgi's mom had been forced to find her a new home, at least temporarily, because a family member was battling a terminal illness.  Her heart was heavy over the decision because she had bonded so much with Corgi and didn't want her to feel like she wasn't wanted.

One of her best friends and her husband agreed to take Corgi in . . . and in this new home, something wonderful happened.  Corgi, who had still not fully gotten over her fear of men quickly developed a bonded with the husband.  Now she doesn't seem to fear men at all anymore.

And another wonderful thing happened . . . the husband, who had recently retired after 40 years in the medical field and had been struggling with how to fill his days now that he was no longer working suddenly had something very important to do.  :-)  He and Corgi have been going on about four walks a day and they have grown quite attached to one another.

I often talk about how animals come into our lives for a reason, that they have a purpose to fulfill and Corgi's update reminded me that their purpose may be greater than just us.  While the circumstances of Corgi having to go to a new home were very sad, the outcome had been incredibly positive.  She is helping her new dad find his purpose and she had been able to learn to trust men again.  The beautiful thing about this is that while the friends were just trying to help Corgi's mom, it is clear that they received a wonderful gift in return.

Only time will tell where Corgi's journey will take her next . . . if she is able to live with her mom again in the future, or she ends up staying with the couple who is caring for her now, I trust that she will end up wherever she is meant to . . . wherever she can continue to fulfill her purpose.