THE ANIMALS – THE BEGINNING

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My life has been diverse and full of blessings, all of which have led me to Best Friends Reiki.  Loving and respecting animals began as a small child when I would bring wounded birds, cats, and dogs home to my mother.  We would sit up for hours with them while she taught me not only how to help and heal, but also to “see” their beauty and essence.  She would also wake up me and my sisters, in the middle of the night, to witness one of our many cats giving birth. She showed us the wonder, the mystery, and the natural beauty of how animals bring life into this world. Throughout my life I have continued to rescue innumerable animals and have continuously had family members which have included hamsters, rabbits, dogs, cats, horses, turtles, and birds.  

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Perhaps my experiences with horses will reflect the entirety of my affinity for animals.  As many young girls, I fell in love with horses and was eventually fortunate enough to have two of my own. Due to the generosity of two mentors I was able to grow into: doing ground up “soft training” of young “green” horses so that very young children could ride them; training polo ponies; showing Arabians for conformation; exercising Quarter Horse race horses; riding in parades and gymkhanas; working as a wrangler at summer camps for children and teenagers; horseback-packing for days into the Sierra’s; riding in working round-ups; and teaching western riding to young kids. In addition to “riding and training”, my experiences include: nursing horses with colic; facilitating in difficult birthing’s; treating for lameness; treating barb wire lacerations; treating hoof cracks and thrush; and standing in a stall for three days with a horse that had a gushing nose bleed. All of these experiences laid the foundation for the connection I have with horses, which is easily translated to animals in general.  I learned the power of gentleness and compassion in opening that connection, as well as the power of my own vulnerability.  I also learned to listen to them and ask for the teachings they had to offer me.

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FORMAL LEARNING & HANDS ON EXPERIENCE

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In college I took a deep dive into the subject of “consciousness” during my Master’s degree in Psychology. While working on my Master’s degree a classmate and I built a Kirlian camera and we were able to photograph human and plant energy fields. What we found was that we could concretely see varying “states of being” from the photographs of their energy fields - changing colors and shapes.  My interest and excitement were dramatically spiked by being able to see, first hand, how all energy fields are directly affected by both our external and internal worlds. 

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I also became certified as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and had a practice in Hypnotherapy for several years.  This expanded my knowledge and practice by working with the “conscious” and “sub-conscious” terrain for humans who, among other issues, desired to deepen their connection with their pets and farm animals.  Many also asked for a clearing of their animals environment. Being a participant on a Vision Quest opened up my heart as well as my ability to “see” so much more than our eyes are capable of. The Vision Quest experience led me to four years of training in the Lynn Andrews Center for the Sacred Arts and Training (energetic self-healing and healing for others, including animals) which culminated in my Ordination as a non-denominational Minister.  Because of all these experiences it felt quite natural to step into learning and practicing Reiki since it offered so much enrichment to what I had learned and practiced to this point.   I studied with a wonderful Reiki Master who taught us Reiki for both humans and animals. For 11+ years now I have been offering Reiki Practice and Energy Work for the balancing, quality of life, and well-being of both animals and their humans.

 

CURRENTLY

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Over the years my commitment to working with animals naturally expanded.  I have worked with many different animals and can validate that they will typically recognize the energy and readily accept it.  Their instincts are so strongly connected to the natural world in such a way that the “unseen” energy is simply a natural part of life for them. While animals do get blocked and out of balance and their energy can become stagnant, their innate attraction to the Reiki energy enhances and quickens their state of well-being.  The energy work that I offer for animals is always an equal exchange as they are always inspiring me.

 

Everything in my life has led me here - to Best Friends Reiki

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BEST FRIENDS REIKI

A common and deeply relevant question has been, “who speaks for the animals?”  Through Reiki Practice for animals I have now expanded that question into more questions: who authentically sees the animals; who listens to them; who learns from them; who can understand the messages they bring to us. And, as these questions intrigue us, perhaps the most salient question is - can we step outside of our conditioned perceptions of animals, enough, to authentically explore these possibilities?

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Perhaps our exploration will result in collectively seeing all animals as sacred sentient beings, so deserving of Quality of Life. Perhaps, collectively, we can honor and treat them as such. 

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