Reiki is a Japanese word that combines the phrases “all knowing” (rei) and “life energy” (ki). It was rediscovered in 1922 by a Japanese man Mikao Usui as a technique for sharing healing energy. Although Reiki has no religious affiliations today, Usui discovered this way in ancient Buddhist manuscripts. Once reading about this healing art and becoming attuned to universal life force, Mikao Usui traveled around Japan, healing the poor, houseless, and people living with illnesses wherever they resided. Soon after, Usui’s devoted disciple, Doctor Hayashi, developed Reiki into a technique for learning how to share this unseen life force energy that flows through all of us. In 1937, Mrs. Takata brought Reiki to the west to begin teaching our younger cultures about this ancient healing technique. These three founders mastered the art of healing with vital life force energy, catalyzing the body’s natural healing abilities. Today, Reiki is learned and practiced world wide, helping to reduce stress and foster peace.

Notice how, when you bump your head, you immediately place your hand over the painful spot. When you feel nauseous in your stomach, do you place your hand there to soothe?  Or when you want to relieve your loved one’s emotional suffering, do you place your hand on their shoulder (i.e. heart chakra)? Many of us still have these unconscious instincts even though modern humanity has increasingly lost touch with this natural ancient way. Our early ancestors relied on these intuitive instincts and energetic healing abilities to thrive and stay well. But today, we have become disconnected from the universal life force energy which is all around us and runs through us. Instead we depend on modern drugs to treat set problems or particular symptoms, creating more imbalances in the mind body and spirit, hindering our own ability to heal. Reiki is a discipline developed to activate life force energy to greatly enhance the flow of all-knowing Ki energy in and around the body to promote health and restore energetic balance. The Usui Traditional of Natural Healing, (aka Reiki) stimulates a person’s own inherent natural healing abilities. 

Reiki goes where it is needed. Ki life-force energy knows how and where to travel to provide physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. It gives each recipient the most beneficial and appropriate healing for their unique system. This is particularly important for sharing Reiki with animals as they cannot communicate their needs verbally or express their symptoms.

Reiki is gentle, non-invasive, non-manipulative, and safe for your animal friend. Depending on the animal’s condition, initiation, and comfort, Reiki can be hands-on or off, but usually includes gentle touch. While Amie sets her intentions to work on a particular problem and dedicates more time to specific areas of the body known to be problematic, animals will naturally draw the exact amount they need to promote their highest good and restore optimal energetic balance in their body, mind and spirit. Human caretakers will also receive benefits of healing energy while their animal is being treated, and can sometimes receive brief hands-on treatment if requested or recommended at Amie’s discretion.

Hi I’m Amie, and I’m so happy you’re here. I first experienced the healing of Reiki in 1992 when I was 16 years old. After being thrown from a Jeep flipping through the air, two bystanders shared Reiki with me until the ambulance arrived. I was in a coma for twelve days, but when I recovered physically, I soon learned about Reiki and how it helped me survive. In 1999, I experienced my first official Reiki 1 workshop with Reiki Master, Lisa Davenport in Vermont. Two years later I took Reiki 2 with Usui and Karuna Reiki Master, Helen Sonobe on Oahu. Two years after that, I learned Reiki 3 from Usui Reiki Master Colin Kirsch while we both lived in Thailand. Since then, I have lived in India, across Southeast Asia and Central America teaching Reiki and sharing healing treatments in these global communities. I have also traveled extensively within the United States, living and teaching in six states.

I began practicing animal Reiki healing on dogs that I rescue from kill shelters, foster, and re-home. Reiki for non-human animals quickly became one of my favorite applications of this healing modality. I am currently becoming certified with SARA (Shelter Animal Reiki Association), creators of the Let Animals Lead method. In my Reiki workshops, I utilize my Masters Degree in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management alongside my daily practices of meditation, Ayurveda, and Tai Chi—with Reiki as the thread that connects all of these healing traditions together.