01/30/2026
✨ The Science Behind Subtle Healing Work with Animals ✨
Did you know the human and most animals brains contains tiny calcium-based structures that help us sense movement🤸🏻♂️, balance🧘🏻♀️, and subtle changes in our environment?
Inside the inner ear are microscopic 🔬calcium carbonate crystals called otoconia. Their job is to help the brain 🧠 detect motion, gravity, and spatial orientation. These crystals are part of how the nervous system constantly gathers and processes extremely fine sensory information—often below conscious awareness.
While these structures don’t “store” or “emit” energy, they highlight something important: the nervous system is highly sensitive and responsive to subtle signals.
In practices like Reiki and Craniosacral therapy—especially when working with animals—the focus isn’t forcing change, but supporting the nervous system in shifting from stress into regulation. Animals are incredibly attuned to calm presence, gentle touch, breath, and intention. When a practitioner is grounded and relaxed, the animal’s nervous system can mirror that state through a process called co-regulation.
Research shows that calm, focused human interaction can influence:
• Heart rate variability
• Stress hormone levels
• Muscle tension
• Behavioral regulation
This is why many animals visibly relax, soften, or fall asleep during sessions. Their bodies are responding to safety, stillness, and nervous system support.
Reiki and Craniosacral therapy are considered complementary practices—not replacements for veterinary care—but they work by encouraging the body’s natural self-regulating and healing processes, which science increasingly recognizes as central to wellbeing.
For me, animal Reiki is about listening, observing, and offering a calm, supportive presence—allowing the animal’s own system to do what it knows how to do best.
Healing doesn’t always have to be forceful to be powerful 💚
Sometimes, safety and stillness are the medicine.
