On the third day of my Animal Reiki 1 & 2 class, my students and I shared an experience that none of us will ever forget.
As part of our class, we visited Out of Africa Wildlife Park near my home in Cottonwood, Arizona. On this day, a white rhinoceros became our teacher.
HE CAME CLOSER
There was no agenda. No expectation as we sent him reiki, chanted our reiki symbols and played a small chime. No attempt to make anything happen. We were simply being present with this magnificent animal.
Then something unexpected happened.
The rhinoceros slowly walked out from beneath the tree and approached a large tire. He rested his enormous horn against it and stood quietly listening.
Before he ever answered us, he spent approximately ten minutes listening. His ears moved back and forth.
He stayed.
He listened.
He received.
THE WISDOM OF A RHINOCEROS
We later discovered that the rhinoceroses are among the largest land mammals on earth. Adult males can weigh more than 4,000 pounds. While their eyesight is relatively poor, they possess an excellent sense of smell and remarkably sensitive hearing.
THEN HE ANSWERED
After ten minutes of quietly being with him something remarkable happened.
He began to vocalize.
Not just once.
Not just a brief sound.
For well over 90 secounds. It was if he was singing back to us.
We were awe struck! One of the gifts of Animal Reiki is learning that we do not always need to explain an experience in order to honor it.
A LESSON IN RELATIONSHIP
Animal Reiki teaches us to move beyond seeing an animal as an object of our attention and instead meet them as participants in a shared experience.
To me, that response felt like we had reached coherence with him.
Connection.
Communication
Friendship
THE GREATEST GIFT OF ANIMAL REIKI
People often ask me what Animal Reiki is.
The deepest gift of Animal Reiki is much harder to describe.
Animal Reiki changes the way we experience the world.
Animals are no longer simply animals.
Nature is no longer something separate from us.
We begin to experience all living beings as part of a shared web of life.
THE RHINOCEROS’S LESSON
The rhinoceros became our teacher.
And his lesson was simple:
Before he ever answered us, he listened.
Perhaps there is wisdom in that for all of us.
When we slow down, become present, and listen with an open heart, connection becomes possible in ways we could never have imagined.
And that is something I will never forget.
Julie Russell
ICRT Animal Reiki Master Teacher, Interspecies Communicator
