Reiki helps Bernadette's fear of fireworks.

Bernadette (aka Birdy) is a somewhat chubby and intractable older cat who has a deep fear of thunder and fireworks. At the first boom, she trudges down the hallway to the bedroom and crawls into the darkest corner under the bed and stays there. The space is really too small for her body, but despite the discomfort, she won't come out until hours after the noise stops. So this year, Bernadette's person asked me to send a distant treatment to help her get through the 4th without the usual stress and fear. A tall order for Reiki, indeed!

On the evening of the 3rd, I sent Reiki to Bernadette. As I offered Reiki, I also sent affirmations of peace and courage, and told her that these loud noises that happened every year were just a strange tradition that people liked to keep, but were nothing to fear. I reassured her that she was safe inside her home.

Bernadette's person called me the morning of July 5th, very happy to give a positive report: "Reiki is really interesting," she exclaimed. Bernadette didn't go under the bed this year at all! In fact, for most of the evening, she stayed in the living room with her person. She was noticeably more relaxed late in the evening of July 3rd, lying happily on her back with her feet up in the air. She slept soundly most of the day of July 4th, even snoozing through occasional fireworks explosions in the neighborhood that normally would have caused her to retreat at least into the hallway.

Around 9 p.m. when the steady barrage began along with whooping and hollering outside, she moved away from her spot near the window and lay down near her person, who gave her frequent verbal encouragement. Bernadette was clearly uneasy, but instead of going into hiding she steadfastly held her ground. Several times she looked very intently at her person as if she were trying to communicate something of her struggle. One exceedingly loud boom caused her to go into the hallway, but she came back to the living room in a few minutes. All in all, a very positive change in behavior thanks to Reiki.