What Really Happens in an Animal Reiki Session...and Why Trust Changes Everything

There are moments with our animals when leaning into trust feels the most difficult.

Often, it’s when we’re sitting with our own animals, the ones we love so deeply. Their pain feels like our pain. We want so much to take it away, to fix it, to help them feel better as quickly as possible. And in those moments, it’s so easy to slip into a fix-it mentality, or even into emotional panic.

We start to worry. We feel fear. We feel urgency. And without even realizing it, those emotions take us out of the moment. We’re no longer fully present. And yet, that is exactly when our animals need us the most. So what do we do?

We pause, take a breath, and come back to our center: to our hara and to this moment right here.

Learning to recognize when we’ve been pulled out of presence, and gently returning, is one of the most important ways we can show up for our animals. Not by doing more, but by being here, now. This is where trust begins.

This understanding didn’t come all at once. It was something the animals taught me, step by step.

What Animals Taught Me About Trust

When I first began practicing Reiki, I worked with animals the same way I had been taught to work with humans. I focused on hand positions, directing energy to areas that needed healing. My attention was on what was wrong and how to help fix it.

Some animals accepted this. But many did not. And that stayed with me.

At the time, I didn’t yet understand why. I thought perhaps they didn’t realize they needed help. So I tried to gently ensure they would receive the session, closing a door so a cat couldn’t leave, keeping a dog on leash, cross-tying a horse so he had to stay. But something didn’t feel right. There was a quiet discomfort in my heart, a sense that I was overriding something important. So I began to make changes.

The first step was letting go of touch. This was not easy. I had been trained very clearly that Reiki was something you did with your hands on the body. Without touch, I wasn’t even sure if anything would happen, or if the animals would still benefit.

But when I sat quietly, with my hands resting in my lap, something surprising began to unfold. The animals started to relax. Some would approach slowly, sniff my hands, and then settle nearby. Others would remain across the room, yet soften in a visible way. And sometimes, to my amazement, an animal would come forward and place a part of his or her body directly into my hands. I began to see that the less I did, the more comfortable they felt. And even more than that, they began to lead.

But there were still some animals who would not connect, even when I stayed physically still. So I asked myself a deeper question. What else might they be sensing?

At that time, I was still mentally directing Reiki, focusing on what needed healing, sending energy to fix it. And I began to wonder if they could feel that. Could they sense my thoughts, my concern, even my subtle worry about what was wrong?

It felt like a stretch at first, but I was willing to explore.

So I made another change. Instead of focusing outward, I turned inward. I stopped directing energy. I stopped trying to fix anything. I let go of the mental effort and gently rested my awareness in a quiet inner space, holding the feeling that all is well.

At first, I could only do this for short moments. But in those brief spaces, I noticed something remarkable. The animals softened. There was a deepening of relaxation, a sense of ease that hadn’t been there before.

That was enough to show me I was on the right path. So I continued. Little by little, I learned to steady my inner world, to soften my thoughts, to release the impulse to do, and instead simply be present. And as that inner stillness grew, so did the animals’ trust. Even the most sensitive or uncertain animals began to relax, connect, and open in their own way, on their own terms.

This is the foundation of the Let Animals Lead® method. Not doing, directing or fixing. But creating a space so safe, so peaceful, and so free of expectation that the animal can choose. Through this journey, I began to understand that trust in Animal Reiki is not something we create through technique. It is something we invite by letting go.

What Trust Really Means in Animal Reiki

When we speak about trust in the Let Animals Lead® method, we’re not talking about believing that everything will turn out the way we want. Trust is also not about creating outcomes that we want and wish for. It’s about letting go of the need to control (or fix) what is happening in this present moment.

This means we’ve got to lean into something greater than ourselves. For each of us, that may look a little different. It may be the cycle of life and death. It may be a unified or higher consciousness. It may be God. It may be a divine order, or the wisdom of nature and her cycles. But whatever that “greater” is for you, lean into it. 

When you do, something will shift. Not just in you: you’ll soften, let go and come back into the present moment. But also in the animal: when they step into that space with you, they are walking through a powerful door of infinite healing possibility.

When we show up with an open heart, without judgment, without fear, and with a sense of peace and understanding, there is a deep feeling of trust in a higher process. Animals feel this. They feel when the space is safe. They feel when we are not trying to direct or control. They feel when we are simply present.

And in that space, they can relax. They can begin to open. They can connect with that same higher wisdom that lives within them, that connection to nature, to the divine. Animals already know how to do this, but it is we who are remembering.

When we create that space and invite animals into it, we are not directing anything. We are allowing the animal to lead, protecting their agency, and trusting that they know what they need. Incredible healing potential is available right here, in this present moment.

The Courage to Be Present with Animals 

When we think of courage, we often think of action, doing something, fixing something, stepping in and taking charge. But in Animal Reiki, courage looks very different. Courage is not pushing, not intervening. It is not using our minds to solve the problem in front of us. Courage is the willingness to be present, to witness, even when it’s hard, and to be able to stay.

Animal Reiki is not an active pushing of an outcome. It is a quiet, open-hearted holding of space. “I see you. I’m here.” As we sit with an animal in that way, our energy becomes calm and peaceful. We are not focusing on what is wrong. We are not worrying about the ailment or the trauma. We are sitting in a space that is bigger than that, a space of heart-to-heart connection, a space of the soul, a space that is vast, quiet, and filled with something deeper than what we can see on the surface.

The courage is this: to sit in that space, even when an animal is in discomfort, and to resist the urge to rush in and fix. At the same time, this doesn’t mean that we never take action to help our animals in their physical lives. Of course we do. We take them to the vet. We give medications. We support them with nutrition, training, and all the many ways we care for their well-being. Those actions are important, and they are part of our responsibility and love for them.

But Reiki time is different. Reiki is a time to rest from the doing.

It is a time to gently set aside all of the fixing, planning, and effort, and to simply be with our animals. To meet them not through the lens of their illness or what we think needs to change, but through who they are in this moment.

In this way, Reiki becomes the space where our relationship returns to its most natural state, not centered on doing, but on being. And it is often in this space of being that the deepest shifts begin to unfold.

Because when we try to fix, we are often resisting what is happening. We are trying to change it. But when we allow what is happening, when we step into that space with openness and ease, something shifts. It is as if healing begins to unfold on an energetic level in that very moment. 

We realign. We reharmonize. We step into something greater than ourselves.

And animals respond to our compassionate presence in profound ways. If we have the courage to let go of the inner chaos of fear, worry, ego and more, we’re able to step into the healing flow of the universe.

Meeting Makoto: A Lesson in Trust

One of the most powerful lessons I ever received about trust came from a black leopard named Makoto.

I met him in 2011 at the CARE Foundation in Florida. But the night before I met him, I had a dream. In the dream, there was a black leopard’s face with bright yellow eyes looking at me. It felt beautiful, powerful, and deeply healing.

The next day, as I toured the sanctuary, I eventually came to the leopard habitats. And as I approached, a black leopard looked at me. It was him: the exact face and eyes from my dream.

I was so excited. I walked closer and began speaking to him, “Oh, look at you. It’s you. I recognize you. I know you. Look how beautiful you are. I’m so happy to meet you in person.”

I felt a sense of recognition and joy rise up in me. I walked a little closer and began speaking to him softly, simply sharing what I felt in that moment. There was no effort, no intention, no trying to do anything. Just a natural feeling of connection.

And then something unexpected happened.

Makoto turned over onto his back, exposing his belly, and began to purr.

The sanctuary founder, Christen, stood beside me and began to cry. She shared that Makoto had been severely abused before his rescue. He had been taunted and starved, and had become so aggressive that he would try to attack anyone who came near him. He was considered extremely dangerous, and no one had ever seen him respond this way before.

But in that moment, there was no fear.

I wasn’t thinking about his past. I wasn’t trying to help him. I wasn’t wondering what he needed or how to fix anything. I was simply meeting him, just as he was, with an open heart.

And he met me there.

Looking back, I can see that what mattered most was not anything I did, but the space I was holding. A space shaped by years of meditation practice, where my thoughts were quiet, my heart was open, and there was no agenda.

In that space, something deeper was able to emerge. Not something I created, but something we shared.

Makoto showed me that animals are aware of far more than we often realize. They feel our inner world, our thoughts, our emotions, the way we hold them in our hearts. And when that inner space is calm, open, and free of expectation, they may choose to step into that space with us.

Moments like this are not something we can make happen. But they are something we can become open to receive. And this is why our practice matters.

Each time we return to stillness, each time we soften our thoughts and rest in presence, we begin to create a space that animals can trust. And over time, with practice, that space becomes more stable, more grounded, something that lives within us and stays with us, even when we are not “doing” Reiki.

Why Trust Can Feel Difficult in Animal Reiki

Letting go is not always easy. In human Reiki sessions, there is structure. The person lies on a table, and the practitioner moves through hand positions, often focusing on specific areas that need healing.

With animals, it is very different. We are the ones who become still. The animals are the ones who move. We have to let go of the ritual, the hand positions, and focusing on what is wrong. And that can feel uncomfortable.

Am I doing this right? I’m not doing anything. What if I don’t do enough? What if they don’t get better? What will others think? All of these thoughts arise. But they come from our attachment, from our ego, from our desire to control.

Reiki is not something we control with techniques or hand positions. Reiki is spiritual energy. It is vast, eternal, and far beyond our understanding. Animals invite us into this deeper understanding because they do not respond to ritual or control. 

So what does a session actually look like?

You might be sitting on the floor or in a chair in the animal’s space. You might be standing quietly in a pasture. You might be walking with your dog in nature. The animal is free to come closer or move farther away. They can lie down, relax, get up, walk away, and come back again.

Sessions often unfold like waves on the beach. Connection deepens, then the animal moves away, then returns again. This is the natural unfolding of a session. Our role is to remain steady, calm, and present through all of it. And when we lose our focus? It's never too late to return, with self-compassion, back to presence.

If an animal chooses to touch us or comes close, we may gently rest our hands, but only when they initiate. Our hands are tools of compassion, not control. There is no need for hand positions. The animal shows us if, when, and where touch is welcome.

There is a river of healing that is always flowing. But when we try to control, fix, or direct, it is like we are building a dam. Instead, we can step onto the river like a leaf and allow it to carry us. 

That is the practice, the challenge, and also, the gift.

Returning to the Reiki Precepts

The Reiki precepts guide us back to trust through mindfulness. 

For today only, do not anger, do not worry, be grateful, work diligently, be kind to others.

When we are not in a space of trust, we find ourselves in worry, in fear, in frustration. We forget gratitude. The precepts remind us to return. For example, “work diligently” asks us to stay mindful, and keep coming back to the present moment again and again. This is the real practice.

Mindfulness helps us go deeper into the present moment. And it is in that present moment that we access a deeper truth, a space where trust lives. A space where the Reiki river of healing flows freely.

So What Really Happens in an Animal Reiki Session?

We sit, stand or walk peacefully with animals. Our minds get quieter. We soften into presence. The animals lead.

Our connection ebbs and flows naturally in waves. And within that shared space of trust, healing unfolds in its own way, in its own time, and with the wisdom of the divine.

As you move through this month, I invite you to return to this again and again: Not to try harder, but to soften, to breathe and to trust. To sit with your animal, just as you are, in this moment, and allow that to be enough.

Because it truly is.