What is energy healing for animals and how does it work?

Recently, a colleague asked me what I do when I "heal animals." Her great question led to a much longer discussion about the role of the healer in energy healing for animals. 

In this episode, I share my response to her, explaining exactly what happens when a pet parent or animal guardian reaches out to me to schedule a healing session for their animal. 

You will learn what works best to ensure your pet receives the most benefit from any healing session, some tips to choose the right modality that will best serve your pet's needs, how to prepare your pet and yourself, signs to watch for that the healing session is taking effect and so much more.

If you have a pet who could benefit from energy healing, you definitely do not want to miss this episode!

Also be sure to revisit Seasons 1, 2, and 3 of Let's Talk to Animals podcast to learn more about specific energy healing methods mentioned in this episode.

If you would like to learn more about Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) I highly recommend this free 4-part resource guide: https://www.animallovelanguages.com/eftpetsoptin

Transcript

Shannon Cutts : 0:12

Welcome to let's Talk to Animals. My name is Shannon Cutts. I'm an animal intuitive and sensitive and a Reiki master practitioner, as well as an animal communication teacher here at AnimalLoveLanguagescom. And this, if you're watching the video, squirmy worm, my cockatiel, Miss Petal Cutts, who is almost one year old now. She's my precious and perfect cockatiel angel and I'm so delighted to be back with you here on let's Talk to Animals for another fresh and fun episode.

Shannon Cutts : 0:43

This week I'm going to tackle a question that a colleague asked me a few weeks ago when we were recording for her podcast. She asked me how exactly do you heal animals? Because, of course, as a Reiki master practitioner for pets and their people, frequently I do offer the Reiki energy for the highest good of my animal clients and their humans. So this is a really vital question to explore. I was really excited when my colleague raised the question and I wanted to bring it to you here on the podcast as well, because just the question itself in a way shares a common misperception, or a misconception about what it means to heal. The first thing I want to share is that, as a practitioner, it's not my job to heal anyone except myself, and that I'm always working on actively behind the scenes because, of course, the healthier and more balanced and more self-aware and more in tune we are as human animals, the more we can be of unbiased, objective and high vibration service to others, no matter what species. So that's my constant, ongoing opportunity and sometimes challenge behind the scenes is to take the very best care I can of myself, and if I'm filling my own cup first and I'm able to show up from that full and empowered space, then I can be of much greater service to anyone who may have need of anything I have to offer for their own highest good. But I cannot, nor should I ever attempt to heal or impose healing on any other being. So my role begins and ends in the offering and it is up to that other being human or nonhuman animal or plant or landmass or water body or any sentient life. It's up to that other being whether they choose to make use of it and how they choose to make use of it. And I'm choosing my words very carefully here and hoping that the meaning does come across clearly. Of course, if you have any questions, please do drop a comment and let me know, because this is a really vital, important aspect of conversation that we should all be engaged in.

Shannon Cutts : 3:43

Ultimately, I bring this awareness, this understanding, with me into any type of interaction, any kind of session, any kind of healing that may be requested of me. So let's say you have a beloved companion animal and you feel like, for whatever reason, whether they're recovering from something, whether something seems off and you're not sure what's causing it, whether you know that there's a change coming up that they could use some extra support for, whatever the case may be, whether they're going through their end of life transition, or they're trying to adjust to a new family member or whatever's going on or changing your own schedule Perhaps you would approach me and request a Reiki healing or an energetic session for your animal. So then I'm going to actually walk you through what this looks like, right pedal. I'm going to walk you through what it looks like from my end and then walk you through what it may look like from your animal's end, and that way I'm very hopeful that you'll get a clear and accurate picture of a healing interaction at the highest level for the highest and best good of all involved. So the very first thing that would happen after I received your request is, of course, I gather some information about your animal their name, their age, where you are in the world and any impressions, thoughts, information that you feel moved to share that you think might be supportive or helpful for the session with your animal. And the next thing I would do to prepare for the session is I would get very grounded in the ways in which I have cultivated in my energetic and my healing practice and invite my light team.

Shannon Cutts : 5:58

In my case, I work primarily with Reiki Energy. I also work with Scaler Wave and the Chakra Energy Fields and energy balancing techniques that I have learned, but my primary medium is to channel the Reiki energy, and so I would invite my energetic light team, my highest vibration healer guides and support team, my Reiki guides and set up the healing interaction so that I am the purest vessel and vehicle to share energy for your pet's highest and best good. The very next thing I do and this is critical, this is very important, this is something that, if the healer that you wish to engage does not do this and you become aware of it, you should run, not walk in the other direction is I always reach out to the animal, so I would be reaching out to your animal energetically and asking their permission, may I transmit high vibration energy for your highest and best good. Do I have your permission to proceed, and I feel for that permission, and when I have received it and if I do not receive it, then I do not proceed. But when I have received it, then I return to my intention to share healing energy for your animal's highest and best good, factoring in all of the information that you've given me, but not limiting what may transpire to that information, because of course our animals may have other information of their own or they may not even know exactly what's going on, but the energy itself does. This is a very high, very pure energetic frequency that we're working with, and so my job again as a healer is not to control or impose in any way on what happens next. That means I do not try to use my own energy, my own limited source energy, to facilitate any kind of positive change in your animal. I do not try to direct or backseat drive the energy itself in any way and say what I want the outcome to be. I simply offer the highest intention, which is that your pet benefits in every way from the healing session, and then I allow the energy to flow through me. So I am a vessel, I am a channel, if you will, I am a portal, I am a facilitator of the healing energy's ability to reach through me to your animal for their highest and best good.

Shannon Cutts : 9:04

I usually do healing sessions in half hour or hour increments, so this may be something where you reach out to me and you say I'd like a half hour session or I'd like a full hour session for my animal and you explain everything and that's a great guideline for me to receive. However, again, I am always feeling for the animals and of our interaction and see how it's landing with them. It's part of my role as an animal sensitive and intuitive. I am sensitive to animals energy. I am able to intuit, based on their energetic signature and vibration, what's going on with them, and I use that as my ultimate guidance as far as when to if I should begin a session and when that session is at its conclusion, and the animals will let me know. So your animal may feel like they've received enough after 15 minutes, after half an hour, they may request a little bit longer, and I use these as my guidelines for how to proceed when I'm connecting with your animal, and this is a very important aspect of an energetic conversation, and I go over this a lot more when I'm actually teaching animal communication, because the essentials of the conversation don't really change.

Shannon Cutts : 10:45

We're still constantly engaged in conversation. We're engaged in an interaction. We're always striving to be fully present for and feeling into the other being side of the conversation. What's going on for them, what's going on within them, and when have they had enough? When are they done? When are they cooked? When are they ready to digest and integrate the benefits of what they've received?

Shannon Cutts : 11:20

Animals are impressive in this capacity, especially when I compare them with myself and with my own species in general, and that animals aren't greedy in the sense of lack that many of we human animals. We tend more towards that aspect. We're always imagining as if we don't have enough and therefore striving to gather even more than we need now. Animals non-human animals are more. They have a higher ability to stay grounded in the present moment. What do I need right now? How much do I need right now? When have I reached the fullness of what I need right now? And then they're good.

Shannon Cutts : 12:13

I've always felt in my interactions with animals that one of the big gifts and the big messages that they're trying to convey to our species is that trust that if my needs are met right now, there's no reason to believe that otherwise, then that my needs will be met in the next moment as well. And so if I have enough right now, I carry that trust forward with me into the next moment. I hope that makes sense, sometimes even as long as I've been doing this work. There's a challenge that comes when trying to translate it into words, especially if you're watching the video version, especially if you have a cockatiel nibbling on your toes while you're trying to say it right, petal, of course, we're very pet friendly around here, so I want to stop here for a minute and just press pause here for a moment and explore what your animal, of course on your end.

Shannon Cutts : 13:13

Often these sessions are done remotely, on Zoom or on the phone or just remotely, where we connect on email afterwards, and so you're there with your animal and I'm somewhere else and you might wonder what is it like? How will I know when my animal is receiving the energy and how will I know when the session is done and what do I need to do to prepare my animal to receive the healing energy, and should I watch for anything in particular, or do I need to have my animal in a specific place, or do they need to be awake, or should they be fasting All these different questions that we typically walk through in great detail when we're doing any kind of physical, medical or veterinary or that type of Western medical healing type of session. We spend a ton of time talking about those details, and so it's probably going to sound extremely counterintuitive when I share that none of that really matters. The animal can receive, and will receive, to the fullest extent that they are willing and able, the benefits of the healing session, whether they are awake or asleep, or ready for their next meal, or they've just eaten their next meal, or they're at home or they're traveling, or they're on the floor or they're on the couch, or they're on the ceiling somewhere.

Shannon Cutts : 14:58

If you have a bird and it can be beneficial to provide a place or a space, if you will, or to simply set up your personal space so that there is more calm there is the opportunity for peace and quiet, just because we all fare much better when there's nothing tugging at our sympathetic nervous system asking us to pay attention to it, but those preparations are actually the most beneficial for you rather than just for your pet, because the biggest thing, if you will, that's tugging at your animal's attention is actually not a thing at all, it's you. So anything that you can do to put yourself into a quiet, receptive space perhaps making sure that you've had a nice glass of water, that you've done some stretching, that you have set an intention for your pet's highest and best good because this will help to focus your mind. And since many of us reach out for healing sessions and healing work of some kind when we're not feeling well or when we're worried about someone we love that we suspect may not be feeling well or may need a little extra support, well, we tend to be worried, we tend to be anxious, and so setting an intention can really be focusing and grounding and calming for our mind, which influences our emotions, which influences our energy, which is what our pets pick up on. I see this a lot with my animals, especially with Miss Petal.

Shannon Cutts : 16:52

If I'm worried or anxious or stressed out about something and I don't realize it maybe I'm worried or stressed out and anxious and I'm focusing on that she will act out. Petal will start screaming, she'll start throwing things around and if I can't find anything that appears to be the cause of it, and if I can't, if nothing I try to calm her is working. That's typically what prompts me to look back to myself and go oh, I'm the thing that's causing her to freak out. I come back to home, to myself, and I take a deep breath and I move my body and work out any kinks, the tension and the stress of the stuck held muscles, and I set an intention for the next moments of my day to be calm, to be centered, to be quiet within, to be in communication with my light team and my spirit guides and to be guided. Well then, like magic, petal typically will quiet down, will calm down, and so this can be a huge aspect of allowing your pet, allowing your animal, to be fully receptive and fully present for their own healing session is, if you are not providing any kind of distraction that could possibly interfere, again, the way of that. So let's talk about something fun, which is well, hopefully all of this is fun, but let's talk about something extra fun, which is what might you notice when I begin the healing session, when I begin transmitting Reiki energy, or working with the scalar wave, or working with your pets chakras and balancing them.

Shannon Cutts : 18:50

What might be some signs to watch for that your animal is receiving and is benefiting. Sometimes you won't see anything. So if you don't see anything that's not nothing to worry about, especially if your animal is sleeping at the time that we're doing the session or if your animal is eating. That tends to be a full contact sport for most animals and they may not show any visible signs. But if you watch closely you may see things like yawning an animal yawning. They're relaxing. You may see them. They might lick their lips, they might move their body. You might see something like a shiver or a shake. Again, that's releasing stuck tension and loosening up areas where toxins may have accumulated and kind of prodding the lymphatic system. Hey, buddy, do your job. Move the stuck, the cortisol, the excess stress hormone and the tension and the stuck places and if your pet is recovering from some kind of surgical procedure or injury stuck toxins from anesthesia or from internal bleeding or things like that to just start moving that out of the body. So you may see body movements. You may notice that your active pet suddenly gets sleepy and goes and takes a little nap. That's a wonderful sign. You may notice that your animal starts to groom themselves or just stretches, and it's just they're stretching their body or they're moving around. You may notice that your animal goes and takes a drink of water, which, again, these can all be signs that everything in the body system is waking up and remembering its job description to heal and cleanse the physical organism and that helps to heal and cleanse the higher level bodies as well the mental body, the emotional body, the heart body, the soul body where your relationship, karma exists, and the reconnection to spirit which is the body of all. So these are all signs that you might see. If you've ever looked at your pet and you've thought to yourself my dog or my cat or my horse or my parrot or my turtle or my dragon is smiling. You may see a smile and again, you may also see nothing, and that is absolutely okay.

Shannon Cutts : 21:48

Often, when I speak with my human clients after a session, they notice subtle changes in the hours and days that follow. They notice their animal is more relaxed. They notice their animal seems to have more energy, and the good kind, not the frenetic, anxious kind. They notice that their animal is eating and drinking more regularly and is not appearing either dehydrated or reluctant to drink or overly hungry or reluctant to eat, that things are starting to level out and balance out. These are all really good signs. They may notice that an animal that was exhibiting signs of pain is no longer doing so, or that those signs and symptoms have lessened. They may notice that an animal that was struggling to sleep through the night is having more restful sleep and fewer dreams. They may notice that an animal that was stiff and experiencing discomfort or pain when getting up or sitting down or moving around, that those symptoms and signs have eased. So these are all small, subtle signs to watch for that indicate that the healing energy is taking effect.

Shannon Cutts : 23:14

And again, remembering that, even though I am the vehicle, I am the vessel, in this case for Reiki energy or scalar wave rebalancing or chakra balancing or whatever I happen to be working with, I also use emotional freedom technique quite a bit during my energy transmissions and healing sessions, whether I'm in person or remote. These are all simply at my end offerings and your animal will always choose and may pick and choose what to make use of. And so whatever you see unfolding in your animal over the length of the session itself, in the hours or perhaps the days to come. Those are all the direct benefits of whatever your animal, in their highest and best infinite wisdom, decided they wanted to receive from me. So you don't have to make any special preparations. You don't have to look for anything in particular. The very best thing that you can do to prepare, other than simply offering your animal a quiet space, if that is needed or desired, is to offer yourself the same and prepare yourself to be in the highest vibration, the calmest state, so that your animal will be willing to focus completely on the opportunity to receive healing, should they choose to do so. Now I want to talk a little bit and I've just kind of briefly mentioned it here and there, but I want to talk just a little bit about some of the different types of healing options that you, as an animal guardian or a rescue worker or a pet parent, may have to choose from. And keep in mind that, even if these are not in your local area, today we have the wonder of the worldwide web and it's pretty easy to find opportunities just by doing a quick search. So, to conclude today's episode, I just wanted to walk you through some of the many different energetic or remote healing options that you may want to take advantage of for your companion animal or an animal who's in your care right now.

Shannon Cutts : 25:37

My primary modality is through the Reiki energy. Reiki really found me twice, not once and that's a whole other story, and so with everything I do, I'm always wrapping in the support and assistance and the guidance of my Reiki Light team, whether I'm communicating with the animals, I am teaching animal communication and are facilitating a healing session. I also work quite a bit with crystals and essential oils. I'm also a huge proponent of emotional freedom technique and I actually have a free four part series on my website that I will link to below in case you're interested in learning more. I also use Scalar Wave, which is a rebalancing of the purity of the physical organism, so I'm always expanding my toolkit. I'm always learning more about what's available to study and offer.

Shannon Cutts : 26:29

There are so many additional modalities and you may find that, rather than getting overwhelmed mentally by all of your choices, you may simply prefer to just notice what intrigues you, notice what calls to you, notice if you keep seeing a reference to a particular modality. Maybe you are thumbing through a magazine while you're waiting in line and you see an article about a specific modality like acupressure or chronic healing or quantum healing or healing touch, or you see something about Qigong or shamanic healing, or you feel like you want to give holistic modalities like acupuncture or acupressure or chiropractic a try. So just notice what is crossing your mental landscape. For me, usually if I am getting a hint, two, three, four times, that's about all it takes for me these days, because I've built up kind of a body of trust in the way that my light team likes to get my attention. So if you notice that something repeatedly crosses your path, it might be time to stop and pay attention and see what there is to be seen or what benefits there may be to be had from pursuing your interest a little further.

Shannon Cutts : 28:00

It's also really important to remember that we have some fundamentals that we can always turn to. Food is medicine, movement is medicine, the breath is medicine, hydration is medicine. So simply returning to the basics and tending to is my pet. Getting enough hydration is my pet. Getting enough movement and that's not just exercise but activity, enrichment, play something to engage the mind, engage the heart, engage in your relationship with one another, engage the emotions. And food is medicine. If you're feeding, for instance, a dry kibble diet. It may be time to look farther afield and adding in some more fresh foods, adding in some more variety. Maybe work with a holistic pet dietary practitioner or a holistic veterinarian who may be able to give you some guidance. And breath is medicine. So taking deep breaths and encouraging your pet to do the same and tending to yourself this is the part that is the most overlooked, in my personal opinion, in holistic pet health care is the health of the carer, the health of the parent.

Shannon Cutts : 29:19

For me, as a healer, as I mentioned at the start of this episode, I'm tending to my own health, my own wellness, my own inner balance, my own needs for rest and hydration and oxygen and food and movement and all the rest and fun, of course. Let's not forget fun. The close of this episode, I just want to leave you with an encouragement that whatever you do for your pet or whatever you try for your pet, consider trying it for yourself as well. There's a very, very powerful healing component when something is shared, and especially with these very close pet people relationships that we foster today. Often, when your animal needs something or could benefit from something, you can, too, becoming, willing to give it a try for your own self-sake, for your own growth's sake, for your own wellness and healing's sake, as well as for your animal, and then that just gives you one more wonderful experience that you can share together. So I hope this episode has been enlightening, helpful, maybe fun for you to get a better sense of what it means when you hear the phrase energy healing or healing animals, healing for animals.

Shannon Cutts : 30:40

Even a traditional Western veterinary medical professional can only do so much to heal an animal that's sick or hurt or in distress. That animal still always retains the free will to meet that professional halfway, and the same holds true with these settler energetic healing techniques. We are in the role of offering. We are in the privileged role of offering healing to our higher vibration, non-human planet mates, and it is their choice what to do next. So, as for you and your beloved animal companion, thank you for sharing a little bit of your precious time and energy with us, with me and with Ms Petal and Malty and Io and Flash Gordon here at let's Talk to Animals.

Shannon Cutts : 31:34

If you have any questions about how to work with me in energetic healing for your pet, you can head over to animallovelanguagescom If you'd like to learn more about some of the many energy healing modalities and the holistic health modalities for pets that I've mentioned today. I strongly encourage you to check out seasons one, two and three of let's Talk to Animals. I've interviewed nearly a hundred amazing practitioners from all over the world, so you'll get to learn a lot more about shocker healing and crystal healing and essential oils and acupressure for animals and emotional freedom technique. There are so many great episodes that you can use as resources for your own pet parent learning library. If you have additional questions about anything I mentioned today, you can send them to me at chanenatanimalovelanguagescom or post a comment. I will include some resources for you as well in the show notes, and I always look forward to being with you.

Shannon Cutts : 32:36

We're doing these episodes every two weeks. We've had a little break, a little gap here. I was out of town and doing some continuing education for the past month, so apologies there, but excited to be back with you, always eager to hear from you if you have any suggestions about what I should talk about next. Okay, we're sending you all our love. See you soon. Bye for now. 住を行う 存在第一の miofu.