Our Animal (and Business) Code of Ethics
Kathleen Prasad created the Let Animals Lead® method of Animal Reiki over the course of 24+ years practicing both human and animal Reiki. She learned Reiki as a hands-on healing modality focusing on a specific ailment or area of the body that required healing. For years, Kathleen applied tactile human techniques and rituals to the animals she worked with and found that many animals would not engage or would actively walk away.
Over time, Kathleen chose to focus on the Japanese Reiki meditations at the heart of Myako Usui’s teachings. She noticed the shelter animals she worked with responded with relaxation and calm, and she learned from the animals that they preferred to connect through a non-judgmental, expansive heart space, rather than through hands-on, directed energy. The animals served as her teachers in leading the way to a new way of practicing Reiki across species. She was reminded that Reiki - spiritual energy - lives within all of us and can be accessed and shared through our hearts. There is no need to beam or direct energy from our hands when we can openly share it from our hearts.
As Kathleen co-founded and took on the role of president of the Shelter Animal Reiki Association (SARA), she created the Animal Reiki Practitioner Code of Ethics as a guidepost for all animal Reiki practitioners. The code of ethics is applicable to anyone who chooses to work with animals from a place of connection, respect, agency, and wholeness. It addresses our inner commitment to healing and acknowledges the ripple effect that healing has as we share our unconditional love and compassion with our animals, their families, and our communities at large.
When we heal ourselves, we heal our world.
The Empowered Companion brings these guiding principles to all animal care modalities, adapted from Kathleen Prasad’s Animal Reiki Practitioner Code of Ethics:
We believe all animals are equal partners in the healing process.
We honor animals as being not only our clients, but also our teachers in the journey of life and healing.
We understand that all animals have physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects, to which a Reiki presence can bring profound healing responses.
We believe that bringing a Reiki presence to the human/animal relationship is transformational to the human view of the animal kingdom.
We dedicate ourselves to the virtues of humility, integrity, compassion and gratitude in our Reiki practice and across all animal care modalities.
In our work on ourselves, we follow these practices:
We incorporate the Five Reiki Precepts and the Let Animals Lead® Code of Ethics into our daily lives and into all we do to support you and your precious family.
We commit ourselves to a daily practice of self-healing and spiritual development so we can be a clear and strong channel for healing energy and animal awareness.
We nurture a belief in the sacred nature of all beings, and in the value and depth of animalkind as our partners on this planet.
We listen to the wisdom of our hearts, remembering that we are all One.
We've chosen to share a section of the Animal Reiki Code of Ethics above for ease of digestion. Please visit the Code of Ethics page at Shelter Animal Reiki Association for a full listing of the complete code of ethics that we follow in our own work with animals, regardless of modality.
This article is brought to you by The Empowered Companion, a platform dedicated to enriching family life through mindful and compassionate practices with our animal friends.
