Tag cats

How a Let Animals Lead® session works

Nancy Crowe 1 Comment

If you are considering Let Animals Lead® to support a beloved animal’s well-being, it may help to know more about what happens during a typical session. Let Animals Lead® is a meditation-based form of Reiki, a stress relief modality that also promotes healing.

Getting there

For in-person appointments in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, which last about an hour, I come to your home, barn, or clinic. When I arrive, we can get acquainted and talk about whatever concerns you may have. Then I’ll find a comfortable place to sit or stand near the animal. After I say a silent prayer and gain the animal’s permission to share energy, I will enter a peaceful, meditative state. The animal is free to lie still, stand, move around, eat, get a drink of water, go out for a pit stop, etc. The energy, which means the force that animates all living things, will go to work wherever it is needed.

Why it works

It works for two reasons. First, the energy comes not from me but from a higher power: God, the Universe, All That Is. There are many names. I’m the conduit, not the source. Reiki is not affiliated with any particular religious tradition, but at the same time, it is based on the notion that the energy comes from a safe, loving place where all living beings are connected.

Second, I am sharing the energy with the animals rather than doing something to them. During a session, cats or dogs will often come closer, curl up next to me, or settle in my lap, but they sometimes prefer to be a few feet away or even leave the room. That’s OK; I won’t chase after them. However they want to participate in a Let Animals Lead® session, or not, is up to them. It’s really not the same model of the Reiki client lying on the table and the practitioner moving around him or her using the hand positions.

That’s why it works. More often than not, we don’t know how, and that can be hard to get our heads around. I’m a skeptical journalist who never expected to be doing anything like this, and I wouldn’t keep doing it if I didn’t see the benefits.

Peaceful presence

A Let Animals Lead® session is not about fixing the animal or getting rid of what’s wrong. It’s about creating and sharing a peaceful space that promotes whatever healing needs to happen. The animals usually have a better sense of that than we do, which is all the more reason to let them lead.

You and any other humans or animals present are welcome to participate and may also benefit from the session, but I generally keep conversation to a minimum during the meditation. After about 30 minutes, I will gently bring the meditation to a close and we can talk about any feelings, questions, or impressions that arose. Most animals (and humans) feel relaxed and rejuvenated after a Reiki session.

We can then discuss and/or make an appointment for further sessions. The benefits are cumulative and it helps the animal to get to know me over multiple visits, so I generally recommend a series of three sessions over 10 days to three weeks, depending on the animal’s circumstances and needs. Then I’ll be on my way, and you are encouraged to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Let Animals Lead® and animal communication

I sometimes send distant Reiki energy as part of an animal communication session. However, a Reiki session is a time of meditation and quiet healing, and an animal communication session is about gathering information and insight. So, while there is some overlap between the two, the objectives are different enough that I handle them separately. Please see my animal communication page for more information.

‘How to Speak Cat’ cards help decipher feline behavior

Nancy Crowe
A sampling from the “How to Speak Cat” card deck.

This 100-card deck, given to me for Christmas by someone dear, is a treasure trove of tips about twitching tails, different meows and more. Animal communication has many facets, especially where cats are concerned. Though cats have a reputation for being mysterious, they’re actually not if you learn what to look for.

While I’m no stranger to cat language of all types, I found new info here. For example, when a cat lies on his back and rolls from side to side, that is called “the social roll.” It has a name and indicates a willingness to interact. “It’s safe to pick up the cat, just don’t go for the belly!” the caption explains. 

According to another card, a stretch means the cat has been stressed but is now relieved. I’m less sure about this one, as most of my cats’ stretches follow naps. There’s always that one cat who does things differently. Like my calico, who this morning did a stretch followed by a social roll. Then she declined to play with the dangle toy I offered. When I asked what she actually wanted, she went to get a drink of water. 

As a proponent of indoor cat living, I disagree with the card that suggests letting your cat out. Double ditto for the one that suggests searching after she’s been gone for three days. (Um, try three hours. Max.)

The record for the loudest cat purr, by the way, is held by a cat named Merlin who could purr at 67.8 decibels. That’s about as loud as a shower.

Lovers of cats and fun facts will find this a great conversation piece to keep on a bookshelf or coffee table. You can pull one a day to see what new insight you might find about your feline friend. It might be spot on, or it might make you wonder if only their creator truly has cats figured out. 

Animal health info: what I do (and don’t do) with it

Nancy Crowe

As an animal communicator, I sometimes get information about sore hips, tummy discomfort and more.  

The animal’s human caretaker often tells me about any health issues going in, and I always want to make sure any potential medical reasons for behavioral changes have been addressed by a vet. Other times the animal himself will tell me, or show me through images or feelings, during a communication session. 

One horse I’d worked with for a while showed me some pain in his hips and along the left side of his torso. The next thing I knew he was backing up to the fence and asking me to place both hands on his hips. I did and began a Let Animals Lead® meditation to help him relax. After a while he began licking and chewing, then walked off to rejoin the herd. 

I passed all of this along to his person and to the equine bodyworker who also worked regularly with him. After her session with him a day or two later, she sent me a diagram to show how she adjusted a misalignment on the left. The horse knew what he needed from each of us.  

The codes of ethics I follow for both animal communication and Let Animals Lead® are clear about not dispensing medical advice or treatment. They’re also clear about showing up and doing what we can do.