Should You Get Reiki for Your Pet?

Pet adoptions have been soaring during the pandemic, as our newly at-home lifestyles make animal companionship possible — and a major source of comfort. For many of us, our dogs and cats are our best friends; millennials, in particular, have no qualms about admitting that. Considering how much we love our pets and the endless devotion and unconditional love they provide us with, investing in their wellness somehow feels completely warranted.

Some of our pets need monthly groomings anyway, and as devoted pet-parents, this can include add-ons like blueberry facials, warm towel wraps, pedicures, and bandanas. In our experience, our pets love their pampering and spa treatments just as much as we love ours. So if it’s possible that they could appreciate an energy healing session for some extra TLC, we are game to try.

“Reiki is the universal life force energy that flows through all living beings on the planet,” says Master Reiki Healer Leah-Vail Soloff. “It can move energy throughout the body and clear potential blockages that can present themselves as physical, mental, or energetic issues that need clearing or reset. It’s like when a computer hasn’t been restarted in a long time, and it needs a reset to better function at its optimal potential.”

When there is a pattern, self-sabotaging behavior, or even a physical ailment that you would like to address, certain belief systems attribute these imbalances to psycho-spiritual causes relating to the functioning of the chakra system. For example, sometimes chakras — energy centers located along with the body’s major nerve clusters representing various domains of functioning and experience — become blocked open or closed due to energy blocks. Reiki can help clear these blockages.

It is not uncommon to notice pets or animals respond positively to energy healing modalities from reiki to acupuncture. “Reiki is very powerful for animals; they also have the ability to be present enough to provide energetic support to humans. It’s a beautiful, symbiotic relationship of give-and-take,” Soloff says. “The animal will surrender in such a deeply passionate ‘sleeping state’ that you can feel the sense of bliss in their bodies. Balancing the pet’s energy can lead to better digestion, a new schedule, a renewal of joy/love, or complete rededication to the owner.” (The idea of our pets loving us any more than they already do is almost heartbreakingly sweet, isn’t it?)

To learn more about reiki healing for pets, we reached out to Animal Reiki Practitioner Maggie Mattuchio Flynn, who decided to specialize in reiki healing for pets after her beloved pup had a near-death experience, and energy healing helped him recover. As she points out, animals are hypersensitive to energy, and it is ideal for pets and owners to be on the same frequency; energy work while present with your pet is one way to sync and facilitate this parent-pet synchrony.

Mattuchio Flynn volunteers with rescue pets through the organization, A Purposeful Rescue (APR), often working with animals suffering from medical problems, troubled pasts, and challenges related to old age. “I have worked with anxiety, aggression, releasing trauma, depression, separation anxiety, as well as physical ailments like dermatitis, arthritis, cancer, birth, and death, or as we like to call it, transitioning.”

She describes how dogs are among the most generous beings whose ability to release emotional blockages helped her decide to transition from working with humans to animals. “I believe that because of an animal’s ability to live truly in the moment, coupled with their pack mentality, [that it] makes it very easy to witness the emotional and mental shift. It’s absolute magic.” Moreover, the subtle-level healing it imparts boasts results that sound a lot like therapy, including behavioral changes that seem to indicate improved peace of mind.

For example, Mattuchio Flynn recalls a newly adopted dog that survived abuse and then separated from her puppies. As a result of the trauma, she refused to leave her new owner’s closet. “During our session, she would come toward me and then go back to her corner. She did this about five or six times, and then she moved towards me and relaxed,” Mattuchio Flynn says. “Once I felt that she was no longer taking energy, I went to find her owner and left her in the closet. While sitting and talking with the owner, the dog made her way out of the closet — and out of the doggie door, which she had never done before, despite working with multiple trainers.”

“Better being takes being better — a healthy diet, lots of water, exercise, self-care,” Mattuchio Flynn says. “Reiki promotes energy to flow in our bodies. Flowing means the body can do its job more efficiently. So, more energy, less anxiety, and a better quality of life.” If you’re still on the fence about whether reiki healing for your pet is worth it, look at your pet’s life in terms of the holistic components: Physical, mental, and, depending on your belief system, etheric. In our lives, improving any of these domains tends to impact the rest for the better. So, why should it be any different for our pets?