This past Sunday, February 5, was our second-annual World Animal Reiki Day—and the day was a massive global success! Thank you to everyone who participated!
One of the ways we celebrated was with our Facebook photo contest of the World’s Most Adorable Reiki Animal. Our winner this year was Odin the hedgehog (pictured above)!! Odin was one of 45 entries this year and received 278 of the 878 votes cast.
Odin’s human is JulieAnn Lee, and she tell us this story about how they came to find each other:
“I took Odin home in November 2015. I got him from a pet store, and I know it’s not good to support selling animals in pet stores, but he was being kept in such a sad condition that I couldn’t help but bring him home. The pet store did not know how old he was but guessed ‘a couple of years.’ Hedgehogs are naturally defensive creatures, so they’ll hiss and pop and stick their quills up at the slightest sound or movement when they have not been socialized from a young age. Odin was no different, but I knew that Reiki was the perfect thing! It’s a big part of our bonding process. When I first took him home, he would curl up in a tight ball for about 10 minutes when I took him out of his cage. He would not relax if I was touching him, so I would let him cuddle up in a blanket and sit next to him while I sent him Reiki. It did not take very long until he was starting to snuggle up right next to me, or in the crook of my arm.
He still will jump when I move too quickly, and I think he will always be a little timid, but it has been a great journey. He never curls up in a ball, and now he will cuddle up in my hand when I begin to offer him Reiki, and then he will fall fast asleep. When he’s finished he will get up, stretch and then go search for food and water. When I give him Reiki, Odin takes control of the session. I set my hand down, and he will put whatever body part he wants into my palm. His favorite tends to be his bum, followed by his belly. I have a strong feeling that without Reiki, we would not have made the progress that we have. My favorite part of the day is when I settle down in the evening, set him on my lap, and we do his Reiki session.”
Aww, what a cutie pie! Big congrats to JulieAnn; she will be receiving autographed copies of three of my books: Heart to Heart With Horses: The Equine Lover’s Guide to Reiki, Reiki for Dogs and Animal Reiki, and Odin also got a free distant Reiki treatment from me (my first with a hedgehog!). Thanks again to all who entered!