Category animals

Let Animals Lead®: A specialized form of Reiki rooted in meditation

Nancy Crowe
Dolly, left, and Maggie after a Let Animals Lead® session.

You may hear me talking more about meditation than Reiki these days. That’s because the animal Reiki method I practice, Let Animals Lead®, works through meditation. It’s different from what you may know as Reiki.

Let Animals Lead® was developed by Kathleen Prasad, founder of Animal Reiki Source and co-founder of the nonprofit Shelter Animal Reiki Association, to which I belong. Let Animals Lead® is a specialized form of Reiki, a Japanese stress relief modality: “Rei” stands for spirit or higher power, and “ki” (sometimes seen as “chi”) is the energy that animates every living thing.

Reiki was developed a century ago by Mikao Usui. It was essentially meditation; subsequent teachers added hand positions. These hand positions are used with a human client seated in a chair or lying on a massage table. That was how Kathleen and tons of other practitioners, including me, learned Reiki. Today, Reiki promotes relaxation and healing in spas, private clinics, hospitals and other settings.

As time went on, Kathleen found that “people Reiki” wasn’t always effective with animals … despite the best intentions of the practitioner. Because animals are much more sensitive to energy, touch generally isn’t needed. Animals who have experienced abuse, trauma or illness may even shy away from touch.

Kathleen saw this most acutely when her beloved dog Dakota was sick. He wouldn’t sit still for traditional Reiki, but when she sat quietly in meditation, he settled beside her.

Creating a peaceful space where animals are free to share on their own terms turned out to be a game changer. Thus Let Animals Lead® was born.

I had taken one or two of Kathleen’s earlier classes and practiced animal Reiki, but training with her as a Let Animals Lead® practitioner and teacher allowed me to offer animals and their people something better. It is my honor to see creatures from mice to rescued draft horses join with me and take the lead in their own healing — whatever that means for them.

Is it still Reiki? Yes. Is it more accurately and recognizably described as meditation? Also yes.

In a world where so much seems murky, talking about a discipline that makes animals’ lives better can be clear.

Straight from the retired race horse’s mouth

Nancy Crowe
Photo by Nancy Crowe

What do off-track thoroughbreds remember about their racing days? Belle, pictured above, once told me she used to run like mad without understanding why. One or two other OTTBs I’ve known have pictured a person that could have been a groom or jockey. One showed me a huddle of human decision makers.

What they tell me most often is how glad they are to have made it to a life beyond the track, because not all of their stablemates did. Horses are acutely aware of comings, goings and breakdowns.

Even with increased horse safety awareness, too many race horses suffer and die. Twelve horses died at Louisville’s Churchill Downs last year. That’s horrible anywhere, but having lived in Louisville and seen what the Kentucky Derby means to folks, it especially tears at my heart. Could horse racing survive if it put horses ahead of money?

I can’t answer that. But if you want to place a winning bet, make a donation to a horse rescue.

Reiki and religion don’t have to be at odds

Nancy Crowe

Some people may reject Reiki, a Japanese stress relief modality, as incompatible with the teachings of their faith tradition. Reiki is not a religion in itself; people of any spiritual stripe practice, teach and experience the benefits of Reiki. But how does that all work together?

I can only tell you how it works for me, a Presbyterian seminary graduate who found a path as an animal communicator and practitioner of Kathleen Prasad’s Let Animals Lead® meditation method. This method is a specialized form of animal Reiki.

In short: I say my prayers, show up, listen and get out of the way.

Any healing comes from God, whether that happens through me or in spite of me. My job is to create the conditions for healing by listening and holding a peaceful space for the animals and their people.

The Let Animals Lead® animal Reiki method I practice is meditation-based. It’s hands-off unless the animal wishes contact, and there is no manipulation of energy. I allow it to work however it needs to for the animal’s highest good. God knows that better than I do.

Watch me at work and all you’ll see is a middle-aged woman sitting quietly with a dog or cat, or standing in a barn or pasture. I might have Gregorian chant or other meditation music playing softly on my phone. I’m meditating but not in a trance — gotta move quick if a Percheron is about to step on my foot or goats need to be herded back from the neighbor’s field. (Those are two of many possible interruptions; the idea is to take them in stride and carry on.)

My theological grounding is Protestant Christian, but anything I believe or experience is only a tiny part of God’s big picture. Respecting your beliefs and experience is a core value in my life and practice.

I also know animals are deeply connected to a higher wisdom that sustains all of us. Whether their humans call that higher wisdom God, the universe or nothing in particular, the animals are OK with that. So am I.