Thank you, Horses, for giving us all a sense of wonder as we enjoyed your importance in the lessons that you share simply by just being a horse! My company, Animal University, hosted the First in a Series of Symposiums in beautiful Colorado between Denver and Colorado Springs on September 19th, 2009, Honoring the Soul of the Horse – Celebrating the Horse/Human Connection. The venue had eight exceptional presenters who shared their wisdom, experience and love for their work with 74+ attendees. The feedback was terrific with requests for more – please! Needless-to-say, I am still reeling in the euphoria of the day. How lucky to have such great people all gathered in one location, Front Range Equine Rescue, to honor and celebrate our mutual connections. Susan Schachterle, author of the book, The Bitch, The Crone and The Harlot, was one of our presenters. Please take a look at a snippet of her presentation ‘The Feminine Connection to Horses.’ And, stay tuned for more as the rest of our presenters will also share their snippets on YouTube under AnimalUniversity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BbFqpPYUHM
Communicate with the Leading Animal Communicator
Honoring the Soul of the Horse Symposium
October 6th, 2009Reiki See Reiki Do
August 26th, 2009Carly and Tootsie are at it again. You’ve read about them in my previous Animal Communication blogs posts. These two are amazing me once again. Carly woke up with considerable pain in her shoulder. She asked her friend, a Reiki Master, to Reiki it to help ease her discomfort. Hands on, energy flowing, Tootsie, Carly’s ever inquisitive dog, looks the situation over, jumps up on the couch on the other side of her and puts a paw on her shoulder. Tootsie then looks up at Carly as if to say, “is that better?”. They finished the session together.
Who says dogs can’t Reiki? I never said that, did you ever say that? Don’t ask Tootsie because we know that she’ll say, “Reiki see, Reiki do.” I say, “Wow!”
Animal Communication – Striking Up A Conversation
August 14th, 2009A First Level student in Animal University’s Interspecies Communication Certificate Program was recently completing an assignment required to move on to the next Level. She was having difficulty ’striking up a conversation’ with a reticent therapeutic riding horse. She felt that her questions were not compelling enough for the horse to answer and her frustration ended in thinking that her skills were not improving. She asked for some suggestions from me and here’s what I wrote to her…
Hi Terri: Wow! Those are excellent questions. I think that my suggestions would be along the same lines that you have already asked, however, here are a few to consider:
- Would you mind sharing a few things about your favorite rider
- How does he feel on your back
- Do you have suggestions to help him ride you better
- What do you feel is his most pressing issue that he wants to share with his people (I realize we are asking about the person but it does stir interest in that the horse feels he is more of an assistant than being for a passenger only)
- What’s your favorite time of day
- Do you listen to the birds
- Does the tractor bother you
- How do you feel about the folks who tend to you
- Does this responsibility meet your expectations of what you had thought your life would be
- Do you feel satisfied with your life/frustrated/stifled
- Do you spend your time in the now or do you ponder wishing you were ‘doing what you used to be doing’
I have learned that animals are like people…some prefer surface conversation while others want to get to a meatier discussion. Tailoring your questions to meet their needs and interests sometimes means being a little nosier/digging deeper to figure out what their style and interests are. It’s a little tricky, I know, but leaning on our own experience, talking with people, can give you confidence to ‘talk with animals’.
So if you find your communication with animals a little lacking, expand your communication repertoire and ‘just talk’! You’ll be surprised how that closed dog, cat or horse will open up to your inquisitive invitation.
Animal Communication Helping a Dog in Pain
July 22nd, 2009My friend, Carly, called me asking for help with her Jack Russell terrier. As she described her dog’s actions, I could ‘feel’ a rush of heat course up the back of my neck. What an odd sensation. Within a few seconds I ‘knew’ that there was something wrong with this little dog. What I was feeling was significant pain. According to Carly, her dog would scream at odd times and without apparent reason. In my years communicating with animals, I have discovered that rarely do animals show emotion, especially a scream, without exhibiting a clue leading up to it. We just have to ramp up our observation skills and tune into their signals of distress. After a few more minutes of conversation with Carly, she shared that she had observed her tail wags and could distinguish between a happy wag and a disturbed wag. And furthermore, she could even recall when ‘just prior to a scream’ her dog’s tail wouldn’t wag but shiver. Ah ha! Good job, Carly. Your skills are tuning to a ninth degree of accuracy. With that word of support, Carly can now ‘take her evidence’ to the veterinarian to help diagnose the problem. Our dogs, cats, horses and more are always finding ways to communicate with us. It’s just that their method to do so is obviously – different from ours. The language barrier doesn’t have to be if we will just take the time to tune in and watch for the communication signs. Isn’t it neat? We really do have skills to communicate with our dogs, cats, horses and more. All we have to do is use them.
Missing Persons – Ah, Horses
July 15th, 2009Last night after my riding lesson on Hank, it was Tanner’s turn. He’s a 4 year old, line-back, red dun, quarter horse with a sweet personality and plenty of want to. Our plan was to leave Tanner with my instructor, JG, for a while to catch up to Hank’s expertise. Those who are not in the know regarding Animal Communication would probably pooh-pooh what I’m going to write next but for those of us who are in that inner circle, we get it. Instead of just handing over my horse and walking away, I took a few moments and reiterated to Tanner that he was going to stay with JG to learn and progress so he could be a good cow horse too. He needed to be reassured that he wouldn’t be left forever, just for a while, sorta like talking to a little kid who is going to camp for the first time. And besides, I reassured him, we’ll be back every few days to visit, watch and ride him as he progresses. I could tell after those comforting words that Tanner relaxed. He breathed a sigh of relief and quietly lead along JG’s side to his paddock where he munched on hay seemingly oblivious that we were actually going away. When I loaded up Hank to return home and drove past Tanner’s paddock, he looked up at us, had a brief look of panic on his face, whinnied twice and then paused. It was as if I could actually ’see’ him recalling our conversation and coming to the conclusion that it was going to be all right and he wouldn’t miss us – too much. Since then, I’ve ‘checked in’ with him from a distance, and he’s doing okay. I’ll see him tomorrow night, as promised. So, if you wish to or have to leave your guys behind or elsewhere, tell them. Leaving them in the dark would be a very worriesome experience. Just think how’d you feel if someone did that to you. Communicate with your animals, dogs-horses-cats, always! It really means a lot to them.
Animal Communication – What’s in a name?
July 2nd, 2009Can talking with animals fix a name mix-match? Julie shared that her male cat is named Gloria and her female dog is Larry. She ended up naming them these reverse gender names because her granddaughter intervened when she brought home the new family members. The little girl said in no uncertain terms that she had always dreamed of her cat and dog having those precise names. Apparently she didn’t check the genders in her dream first. Well, the doting grandma that Julie admits she is couldn’t resist her little granddaughter’s pleas to ‘keep the names as is’, hence the opposite – yet permanent – names! Do cats and dogs mind if we tamper with their gender with a name mix-match? In asking them, intuitively, of course, their answer was a definitive ‘yes’ – change the names – please! The granddaughter, set in stone, her definitive answer, ‘no!’ So, regardless of gender, the names stick. Maybe that can help people who have interchangeable names, too, such as Charlie, Shaun, Robbie, Stevie, Alex. For these two pets, it makes a difference. Maybe before choosing a name taking the time to really get to know your dog, cat or horse FIRST will help you define just what to call him/her. Another application for the very versatile Animal Communication.
How to Communicate with Animals – on Your Terms
June 26th, 2009An Animal University student shared a common issue when communicating with animals. Her experience is when she is in the vicinity of dogs, cats, horses and other animals. She feels bombarded with their input. It’s like they know I’m a receptical for all their pent up emotions and issues and they see me as an easy target to let it all out. Her question is, “How do I protect myself from all the emotions that they want to spew out on me? I’m willing to listen but gosh, I have a hard time saying ‘no’ when I really want to.” My question in answering her question is, “Who’s in control here, you or them?” As an animal communicator, you are allowed to ’say no’ when you want to. No different from when you are in a room filled with people. You don’t have to talk to everyone. When and if you are in that similar situation and you are feeling pressed to listen or talk to all, consider a tip from another AU student, Paticia, and take a Conscious Pause. A Conscious Pause gives you back your control of the situation. It provides you a time, a ‘pause’ to relax, breathe and consider if this invitation to enter into a conversation or just be a listener is what is right for you in that moment? It gives you the chance to consider and then react accordingly. Great tip from Patricia and terrific question from our AU student. It happens to all of us who are sending out signals that we are a clear channel, well, almost. Talk with animals when it is right for you. You’ll be a sharper and more accurate participant. All will appreciate it, especially the animals who really do want their voice heard, again, accurately. Communicating with animals doesn’t follow one set pattern or have a certain set of rules. You make what is right for you, right for you.
Stop Barking! Who Me?
June 19th, 2009
I said, “Stop Barking!”. Whew, the pitch of the lady’s voice shrilled those words as she was describing how much her dog barked, and according to her, over nothing. I almost agreed with her because I didn’t see anything that would prompt the dog’s high-pitched sounds and intuitively, while communicating with him, it was hard to locate a ‘reason why’ until I caught that ’shrill sound’ in my ear canal. I got it. Further questioning of the dog confirmed that the noise volumn in the house was enough to make anyone shout. Once answered, I started to notice that the rest of the noise in this house was in the ’shrill’ range. The TV was blarring, the kids were screaming, the back door slammed and the phone kept ringing, ignored, of course, but the answering machine message chimed in loudly so as not to be missed. This was exhausting to say the least. I started to smile, what else could I do in the midst of all this chaos, and caught the attention of the little dog. He ‘knew’ that I got ‘his reason why’ and quietly sat down right in front of me and said, “See what I have to put up with here? How else can I compete?” Boy, he was right. Now not all barking problems are for this reason, but it was a wake up call to remind me that sometimes we people are just too noisy. No wonder we have the need to get back to nature. The next best thing to nature should be our dog and a little R&R in the back yard. But with noise competition, no wonder this little guy felt he had to make a big statement, maybe just to keep up with the rest of his family. Communicating with animals doesn’t have to be this loud.
Animal Communication = RESPECT
June 16th, 2009
photographer Sherry Slade
Animal Communication is a tool to gain R-E-S-P-E-C-T with our dogs, cats, horses and more. Isn’t it interesting when we stop to ’see’ what our animals tell us?
Last night while riding my horse, Hank, I noticed that every time I stopped him he would bend to the left and put his nose on his cinch. Now, if I wasn’t paying attention to his messages, I would have probably passed that off as being pushy, avoiding or something else. However, I do understand his methods to share with me at which I bent down and felt where the cinch was curled under just enough to make it uncomfortable for him. He was heard, it was fixed and problem solved.
That’s what my message is to you. Take each ‘out of the ordinary’ as an opportunity to tune into your horse, dog and cat. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, just a ’something’ that we’re supposed to ‘do something about’.
I promise that when you take that step, your relationship catapults to a level that no one can take away from you and your partner. It is basic respect – adding value to the recipient and ultimately to ourselves and what we want from it.
Happy Animal Communicating.
Health Intuition when Communicating with Animals
June 11th, 2009My friend Carly wrote me a followup from her last revelation about how she intuitively ‘knew’ what her dog, Tootsie, was needing for her pain issues. Yesteday, I received an email sharing even more of Tootsie’s hints to work with in figuring out how to help her. When Carly applied TTouch to Tootsie’s shoulders, instead of her being receptive to the touch, she quickly gave Carly a funny look, got up and moved away from her side. Carly, a little perplexed, ‘thought’ for just a moment and without hesitation, realized that Tootsie was telling her, ‘no, that’s not what I want you do to in that spot.’ Carly got it. She then went to Toostsie and started her TTouch procedure in another spot, one she never would have selected to begin with. Tootsie drew in a deep breath, sighed relief and went to sleep, almost purring! So, the next time your pet, despite your good intentions to help them, gives you a look or just moves away, don’t be offended. Take that as a hint that what you may be doing to help them may not be ‘just exactly what they need or want’. Adjust to their actions and you may be surprised, just as Carly. It’s all part of being open and using your intuition for their health and well being. Just another benefit of learning how to communicate with animals.