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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s been nine years since I was last here. I\u2019m 73 now, and the landscape of my life looks quite different than it did nine years back. Then, as now, I planned to offer Reiki to these rescued farm animals. The sanctuary is Animal Place, situated in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada\u2019s in Grass Valley, California, and home to hundreds of animals, including cows, donkeys, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, and rabbits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I leaned against the pasture rail, closed my eyes, and let the warm breeze and the mist from the sprinkler delight my skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I came here with Beginner\u2019s Mind today to experience everything as new, without judgment or expectation. What has changed for me in the years between visits is more grief, more joy. That\u2019s life after my husband\u2019s stroke two years ago and caregiving seems to have mellowed my Reiki practice. Less determination (HEAL, damn you), and more acceptance and letting healing take place in its own time. I can\u2019t make the animals accept Reiki, any more than I can make my husband accept it, and that\u2019s something I am finally ready to accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reiki is a gentle<\/strong>, noninvasive, holistic energy healing system that yields powerful results for body, mind, and spirit. It is a wonderful healing tool for calming an animal\u2019s anxiety and fear, as well as easing the transition at the end of life.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What is beginner\u2019s mind?<\/strong><\/em> It is a release of our expectations and preconceived ideas, and seeing things with an open mind, fresh eyes, just like a beginner. Rachel Carson, the great naturalist, once said: \u201cA child\u2019s world is fresh and new and beautiful\u2014full of wonder and excitement.\u201d I think a beginner\u2019s mind is like that. We want to observe and accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I think the animals feel this acceptance. The sheep pushes her head into my hands for scratches, affection, and treats. Reiki flows while I bury my fingers in her lanolin-slick wool. She seems a bit disappointed at the lack of treats, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A large brown cow swings her head in my direction as I stroll past her pasture. She has a small bird riding shotgun on her back. She swings her head again and resumes her business with her symbiotic partner. She\u2019s not interested in me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I came to offer Reiki, yes, but I did not come as a healer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I came as a Witness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Beginner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each animal shows me what they want and don\u2019t want. No pressure\u2014I breathe, I soften, and I wait. Some who knew only abuse from human hands are wary, and that\u2019s fine. I\u2019m here to offer comfort and confidence, and I hope, with time, they\u2019ll learn to accept human touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each animal shows me what they want and don\u2019t want. No pressure\u2014I breathe, I soften, and I wait. Some who knew only abuse from human hands are wary, and that\u2019s fine. I\u2019m here to offer comfort and confidence, and I hope, with time, they\u2019ll learn to accept human touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hush here, even as the donkeys bray and the chickens sing to their eggs, enters my bones. The sun-warmed red earth, the scent of hay and manure tell me I\u2019m right where I need to be. I sit and listen and place my hands between the animals and myself. Reiki flows easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this time in my life, I can admit: I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know how close or far I am from my horizon. The last hurrah. The big D. I don\u2019t know what comes next in my life. Nor do I know, right now in this barn, why some animals come close and others turn away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Healing may never be visible, but we can feel it, like the sun on our arms and the sprinkler mist on our skin. Some might say that 73 years is in the last chapter\u2014a life wrap-up. But I think it\u2019s a settling into life\u2019s lessons and experiences. A return to learning and sharing with no expectations, save that of accepting myself for all I am now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the animals in their wisdom accept me as I am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And Reiki at a Farm Animal Sanctuary I walk through this farm gate with a beginner\u2019s mind. It\u2019s been nine years since I was last here. I\u2019m 73 now, and the landscape of my life looks quite different than it did nine years back. Then, as now, I planned to offer Reiki to these rescued…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reiki"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6975c82e-af6d-456f-bac0-8fddee4d202e_3264x1836-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mypurposepath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/5e1bc883-df2a-49cb-a42e-1399aaee8cce_4000x3000-768x1024.jpg\")
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