What is Reiki, and How Does it Work for Animals?
Learn more about this Japanese energy healing practice, how it works, and what to expect in a professional Reiki session for your animal companions.
When we talk about Reiki, we’re actually talking about two things: Reiki itself and Reiki practice.
Reiki itself is the dimensionless, unified field in which everything exists. For ease of understanding, we can call it Reiki energy.
Reiki practice,* or the act of cultivating and using this universal energy, is often viewed as both a holistic healing art and a spiritual practice. General terms for Reiki practice include energy work or energy healing, and they’re often used interchangeably.
Every Reiki experience can be different, but generally, it’s known to ease pain, calm nerves, and soothe the soul. When practiced with animals, it can be a safe, gentle, and non-invasive complement to veterinary care and provide them with compassionate support through illness or difficult times. It can also help bring more peace and ease to their end-of-life transitions.
How Reiki Works for Animals
Trained Reiki practitioners may channel Reiki energy to themselves or others (including more-than-human animals) to gently restore energetic balance to the whole being and bring about the needed conditions for all types of healing—spiritual, emotional, and physical.
Because Reiki works on an energetic level, practitioners can offer it from any distance—just like how you can feel love for someone even when they're far away. Many animals are actually more receptive to remote Reiki because they can remain in their own comfortable space while receiving support and don’t have to worry about interacting with a person they don’t know very well.
When I practice Reiki remotely, I create a focused connection with your animal companion and invite them to receive and interact with the energy from wherever they are.
To practice Reiki with animals, we don’t necessarily need to communicate with them beyond getting their consent. However, I usually like to remain open to communication to better understand their wants and needs. Some animals just like to relax and receive, while others may offer some messages for their people.
What to Expect in Animal Reiki Sessions
Since Reiki practitioners work in different ways, I can only tell you what you can expect when working with me. It doesn’t necessarily apply to other people with similar offerings.
My private Reiki sessions typically start with a brief chat via Zoom or phone, where I'll also communicate a bit with your animal companion. Then, we'll end the call so I can send the Reiki energy. After the session, I'll share any messages that came through.
While offering Reiki, I act as a channel for the energy, allowing it to flow where it's needed most. Your animal companion is always in control of this process—they choose how much energy to receive and where to direct it. I’ll remain open to communication so they can let me know if they’d like to stop or if there’s anything they’d like to pass along.
I also offer people the opportunity to receive Reiki alongside their companion animals (a pretty unique offering). This can be especially helpful if you’re both dealing with a similar issue, such as anxiety. It’s also a great way to get more in sync with your animal companion or move through difficult situations together. And it can even help strengthen communication between you, as well.
For animals receiving frequent Reiki support, especially during challenging times, we can keep things even simpler. Once we've built that ongoing relationship, I can offer Reiki sessions without needing you to hop on a call—I’ll send Reiki during the session independently and follow up afterwards with any messages or information that might have emerged.
And for my Community Reiki offering, I send Reiki energy to a group of people and animals together. In this format, there’s no appointment required: I’ll set the intention for the Reiki energy to reach everyone whenever they’re ready to receive it, trusting that their bodies and souls will know what to do with it when it’s time. Because of the group nature of this type of session, I don’t communicate with the participating animals individually beyond getting consent.
If you’re interested in finding out how Reiki can help your animal companions—and maybe even yourself—then I invite you to book a session with me.
*Many types of Reiki practice exist. The one I was trained in is Usui Reiki Ryoho, which is said to have been developed by Mikao Usui in Japan in the 1920s and brought to the U.S. by a student of his, Hawayo Takata, in the 1930s.
Since then, Reiki has been appropriated for the Western world, and is often combined with other unrelated healing traditions, such as the Hindu chakra system.
Because of this, I feel it’s important to mention that although I’m writing about my own Reiki experiences here, I’m also continuously investigating what I’ve learned through a more critical and culturally aware lens.
