Dear Friends,
We are inaugurating a new feature on the Animal Healing Institute website this month: a photo gallery which will have exhibits of animal photographs and will change every few months. In honor of Valentine’s Day, the first exhibit will be “Animal Love,” featuring photos of romantic love, family love, and friendship among animals. Click here to view the new gallery!
2006 News: I am the co-author of the new book Animal Reiki: Using Energy to Heal the Animals in your Life, which will be available in bookstores soon and can be pre-ordered now from www.amazon.com and other online booksellers! The book provides a thorough introduction to Reiki, including step-by-step instructions for treating animals. It shows how Reiki treatments allow animals to be active partners in the healing process, how Reiki helps to develop the healer's intuition, and how Reiki deepens the bond between humans and animals. It has a wonderful foreword by Cheryl Schwartz, D.V.M., a pioneer in bringing traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture to animals and author of Four Paws, Five Directions and other books and many stories from the authors' experience.
For those of you with whom I have not had contact for some time, the Animal Healing Institute is dedicated to the deep healing of animals and of our bond with them. As I’ve healed animals with Reiki and flower essences, the animals have given me many wonderful gifts in return, including the gift of being able to communicate with them. Over time animal communication has become an increasingly important part of my work with animals and now makes up the majority of the work I do.
Communicating with animals is a natural complement to healing with Reiki and flower essences. I have found that practicing the three methods together greatly enhances the power of the healing available to animals and their companions. In communicating with animals, I’ve learned so much from them about their sentient, spiritual natures and the depth and complexity of their feelings and thoughts. As a result, the focus of my work has increasingly become writing about the nature of animals and the potential of our bond with them.
Thank you so much for your support in the past, and I look forward to working with you in the future!
With warm wishes,
Elizabeth Fulton |
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Reflections on the Book and Movie, “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”
If you get a chance to see a wonderful film called “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill,” which recently came out on DVD and video, or to read the book (by Mark Bittner), it’s well worth taking the time to do so. It’s the story of a flock of wild parrots who have lived free in San Francisco for 20 years and a man, Bittner, who became their friend and protector. Bittner was homeless for 15 years, and his story of finding meaning and purpose in his life through his association with the flock is as moving as the stories of the individual members of the flock.
What I particularly loved about the film was that it demonstrated some of things that I see over and over again in working with people and their animals and in healing wild and exotic animals.
1) Animal easily recognize kindness and compassion and are quickly drawn to it. Bittner's small acts of kindness and sincere interest in the parrots drew them to him and initiated a deep and life-changing relationship.
2) Animals give as much as they receive. They give extraordinary gifts in return for the love and compassion shown them and can transform human consciousness. Bittner had studied philosophy and Buddhist teachings for many years; however, his interactions with the flock gave him a new understanding of the meaning of much of what he had read.
3) Respect for animals' wisdom, autonomy, and freedom of choice is vital in establishing an authentic and intimate relationship with them. Bittner honored the individual members of the flock as valuable beings and tried to understand their life from their perspective. In doing so, he gained their trust and learned enormous lessons about the deeper meanings of life and death. In teaching healing, I always stress that this kind of respect is vital in establishing a relationship for healing.
4) Personal transformation and growth are often possible for both people and animals around the time of an animal’s transition, and animals often give their people wonderful gifts of insight through their transitions. Through the transition of Tupelo, one of Bittner's closest friends in the flock, he came to understand that "wordless transmission of meaning" (what I would call animal communication or intuitive listening) occurs between beings and between species. For instance, speaking of watching the flock in flight, he says, "Scientists look for an outer signaling system, but I think the birds have such a 'flock sense' that at times they are of one mind. I picked up some of that flock sense, and at times it was uncanny. I almost always knew when there was a major development in the flock."
5) The richness and complexity of animals’ emotional lives, relationships, and intelligence is much more like ours than most people understand. Our preconceptions often stand in the way of understanding this. Bittner learned much about the depth and complexity of the parrots' emotions and relationships through his close interaction with them and ultimately understood that "All living creatures are personages, and the issues among us are similar." He says:
"In Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Sukoshi-roshi tells a story about a trip he took to Yosemite. While there, he stopped to watch a waterfall. It was one of the very tall ones, and he noted that when the stream at the top of the ridge hit the cliff, it split into many individual droplets on its way to the bottom. There the individual droplets came back together into one stream. I'd read that story many times without comprehending his point. At a basic level, it's quite simple: There is one river until it hits that cliff, which is life. The one river then breaks up into many individual living beings-humans, animals, and plants-until we hit the bottom of the cliff and become one river again. Each droplet loses only its identity as a single drop. But nothing is really lost. It's all still there. I'd encountered this in different ways many times over the years, but I'd never grasped it. It's an elementary idea, and not so difficult to understand. But my problem was that I'd been thinking about consciousness solely in human terms. It wasn't until I considered the minds of parrots that my outlook broadened. So my problem was not with anthropomorphism; rather it was with anthropocentrism, which is seeing human beings at the center of the universe. The parrots broke through that delusion. The understanding that ultimately came to me from looking in the parrots' eyes was that their consciousness is one with mine. We are all one consciousness, and each finite being embodies a little piece of it. This is the preciousness of all that lives."
 The book contains much information that was not included in the film, and I highly recommend it, but the visual images in film are so great-very intimate and personal- that I recommend trying to see the film as well, if at all possible.
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What is Reiki?
The word “Reiki” (pronounced Ray-key) is Japanese and is usually translated as “universal life energy.” It is a gentle yet powerful energy healing method that treats the whole individual, not just the symptoms of a disease. The practitioner acts as a conduit for the healing energy of the universe to flow through her hands to the animal or human client, causing a shift towards health at the deepest levels. It restores balance and harmony to the patient’s entire being: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Reiki is also a powerful tool for personal growth and transformation. Until recently, Reiki healing was available only to humans, but increasing numbers of practitioners are establishing practices devoted exclusively to animals. |
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Reiki and Animal Communication
One of the lesser known facts about Animal Reiki is that, for many people, practicing Reiki is an effective way to expand their intuitive capacities so that animal communication can take place. The following article is from the August/September 2005 issue of Animal Wellness magazine and describes in greater detail how Reiki can help people to learn to communicate with their animal companions and other animals they may come in contact with:
Reiki is a Gateway to Animal Communication
by Elizabeth Fulton
As animal communication becomes more widely known and accepted within our culture, a growing number of people are interested in learning how they can talk to their four-footed companions. One effective way to open the intuitive channels necessary for animal communication is through the ancient healing art of Reiki. Like acupuncture, homeopathy, Qi Gong and flower essences, Reiki is part of the emerging field of energy healing, an ancient practice that is being rediscovered for use in modern times. If you look into the backgrounds of many professional animal communicators, you will often find they are also Reiki practitioners, and the two skills are frequently practiced hand in hand.
The following story describes my introduction to animal communication through my Reiki practice. At the time, I had been healing animals with Reiki for about a year, but this was the first time I was aware that I was communicating easily and naturally with a member of another species.
A doe at the door
Early one morning, my husband burst into the bedroom, astonished and upset. He said that each time he tried to take our dog out for a walk, he was charged by a doe outside our front door. Unbelieving, I went to the window and looked out. Indeed, there was a very agitated-looking doe standing just outside the door, eyes wide, nostrils flaring, breathing rapidly.
As I looked at her, the word “baby” formed in my mind. At first I thought she was pregnant and about to give birth. I told her it was all right, that no one would hurt or disturb her, and that she was safe. As I spoke, she visibly relaxed, and the thought that the baby had already been born came into my mind, with a very blurry image of a small, curled-up being. I looked around our yard and saw a fawn, still covered with amniotic fluid, lying curled up in the wood chips a short distance away. I realized that these ideas and images had come from the doe, and was incredibly excited by this brief exchange with such a glorious creature. We left the doe and her fawn undisturbed, and my husband and our dog left by the back door.
The next morning, I ventured outside to see if I could have another encounter with the doe. I roamed the area near our house, sometimes calling out softly to the doe, sometimes calling her internally. After a while I gave up, but as I turned abruptly back onto the sidewalk, I almost knocked the doe over. She had heard me and was standing right behind me! We gave each other a tremendous scare, and she leaped to the other side of the street. We stood looking at each other for a long time. No words or images passed between us, but a gentle, vibrant energy connected us and feelings of love passed back and forth along this connection. I felt that both of us were re-evaluating our ideas about inter-species relationships, and a bond was being forged between us.
Deepen your intuitive communication with Reiki
Animal communication, or telepathic communication, can also be described as deepened intuition. All of us have intuitive capabilities, and these can be deepened and expanded to become telepathic communication. Two of the biggest obstacles many people face when developing their telepathic skills are learning to access the energetic or intuitive “frequency” of animal communication, and putting aside their preconceptions about animals so they can “hear” what the animals have to say. People who meditate are already able to enter the quiet inner state where animal communication can take place. For others, Reiki training and practice is an effective way to begin to access that inner space. For many Reiki practitioners, finding the “frequency” at which animals communicate evolves as an integral part of giving treatments.
The Reiki practitioner is naturally drawn inward as part of the treatment, and her mind quiets in a way similar to meditation. By letting her mind remain still and unattached, the practitioner allows the animals the space and opportunity to be heard. What the practitioner hears will be different for each animal since, like people, they each have an individual communication style. Some communicate more often through visual images while others use feelings, sensations, thoughts, or ideas. Many communications will combine several of these aspects.
In addition to accessing a quiet inner space, the successful use of both Reiki and animal communication involves learning a new “language” of energy. In the process of learning and using Reiki, people begin to feel subtle physical sensations of energy in their hands or bodies and then to perceive subtle phenomena on other levels as well. They find that visual images, feelings and thoughts arise in their consciousness during a Reiki treatment, and gradually they understand that these images, feelings and thoughts often are not their own but come from the being they are treating. If people develop this awareness, it can become full-fledged telepathic communication.
My relationship with the doe has grown and deepened over time and has led to relationships with other deer in the area. They have become my friends and guides in developing my intuitive communication skills and in deepening my understanding of animals and healing. Both the deer and other animals have demonstrated to me again and again that the assumptions we make about them are erroneous, and that animals are far more similar to us than most of us think.
The rewards of animal communication
The culture of animals differs from ours, and their communication is more exclusively telepathic. But, in so many ways, their intelligence, emotions, and spiritual lives are similar to our own. If we put aside our preconceptions about the intelligence of animals and what they are capable of feeling and communicating, they are freed to share with us.
Communicating intimately with animals is immensely rewarding and exciting. Their insights reveal a beauty, depth and generosity far beyond what most humans are conditioned to believe is possible. People who learn to use Reiki with animals find that many animals that are right for their unique paths come forward to guide them. Through learning and practicing Reiki, your intuition and sensitivity to subtle, energetic phenomena can be heightened and refined, along with your ability to rest inwardly so the voices of animals can be heard. Reiki and animal communication are natural allies, each contributing to the other to bring deep healing and to strengthen the bond between animals and humans.
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