The animals offer many teachings about presence and being in this season of fullness and the dance of life.  Simply by finding the silence within and observing them the teachings are available whether its a domesticated animal or a wild animal or insect.   Slow down and be in the moment and allow your whole body to be receptive listening and observing with your ears, eyes, smell, feelings. This is a place of remembering - remembering that your body already knows how to connect with nature and the animals you did it as a kid.  

Listen from this place and observe what stirs within you.    What sensations or thoughts or emotions bubble up? How does their wildness speak to your wildness?   Curiously ask a question and see if you can receive a response. Either a general question about being that particular animal.  Or perhaps a question about what is coming up for you. Then listen with your whole body - Animal Communication happens really quickly so be open and receptive to whatever you get.    It may be a taste, a feeling, a sensation, a word, a smell, an image.​

Humans express their love to their animal companions in so many ways.  Getting the best food possible, walking them, playing with them, brushing them, taking them to the vet, snuggling with them, training them, cleaning up after them,  making sure they have enough mental stimulation  and the list goes on and on.  Why do we put so much time, effort, attention and love into these furry beings? 

I believe its the unconditional loving presence that they hold for us. 
No matter which way you show up they are there to just be with you. You! You just as you are! They meet you where you are at:

• in your grumpy after work attitude
• in your pity party victim mode
• in your frenzy of trying to get everything on the todo list completed
• in your life is great
• in relaxing and chilling out mode
• or in your the struggle is real mode

They are not asking you to shake it off or change your attitude and yet being around them your energy may shift.  Scientifically this is because they are releasing oxytocin the bonding hormone.   

Animals are excellent teachers of being present.
They are present in the moment not thinking about the squirrel at the park that outsmarted them, or the hiss the neighbor cat threw their way.  They are in the moment.  Seeing you, being with you, loving your for being you in whichever way you show up.  Gifting you with a great template to love and accept yourself.

Since animals are teachers of being present and embodied.  I invite you to take a moment to allow your sweet one to show you how much he/she loves you. 
Pause... breathe.... settle into you body... taking a few deep breaths to connect with your heart.  Then gently imagine a beautiful river of love flowing from your heart to their heart.
Then ask them how much they love you? 
​Animal communication happens really quickly so be open and aware of the first feeling, thought, sensation, smell, image or emotion that appears. 
Allow that to be the answer without much thought. 
Sit with the sensation for a few breathes. 
Acknowledge your body for the great job listening and then you can send love back to them.

Enjoy being present and allowing in the expressions of unconditional love.

Last Thursday was a morning of fog, a good soft day, a fog that settles in for a visit.  On my walk, I was enjoying a visual delight: how the thick fog makes a brilliant  backdrop for the vibrant greens bursting forth in exuberance, a rich tapestry woven with greens of the leaves announcing the tulips, the lush green grass, the tender green of new growth on the dark evergreens and the rusty greens of the freshly unfurled ferns. All of this, a feast for the eyes. My nervous system quieted down bathed in this sensory delight which sparked a thought of. “Can I easily transmit these sensations of green telepathically?”

One of the exercises we practice in my  Animal Communication Basics class is sending colors back and forth to each other.  In the exercise I guide students to feel the color.  A student asked me “What does that mean to feel a color?”  As we explored what that could mean we came to the understanding that to feel a color is using all the senses and transmitting those sensations through our ever present telepathic tools –  our bodies.   
For example, when sending the color green instead of thinking  “Like walking in nature in spring”- imagine the forest focusing on the five senses – touch, sight smell, hearing, taste.  Send the sensation of how it feels touching grass or the tulip leaves, see the ferns, the tulips, and the grass; what does it sound like walking in nature – can you hear birds calling, dogs barking or a lawn mower. Can you taste green? A pickle, asparagus.  Send feelings like how your nervous system and body feel when walking in all this green – does it feel settled and peaceful?  
Taking this a step further, when sending a communication to the animals it is helpful to feel what you are trying to say by employing all of the senses to communicate to the animal; not just words.  For example, when walking I want to feel safe.  I tell my dog this because he has numerous nemesis in the neighborhood and they like to challenge each other which, in turn, doesn’t make me feel safe.  Or when he goes off-leash and he explores the homeless camps in the parks, I do not feel safe.  Just saying the word “Safe” was not getting through to him and then I realized  I wasn’t utilizing all of the senses.  

This began a fun playful game with my body understanding what it feels like to be “safe”.  The data I have collected so far from my body about what Safe feels like is: my nervous system and body are at ease;  I feel calm;  I am aware and alert. Safe for me is seeing nature – trees, the Puget Sound. I hear my regular breathing and birds singing. I taste a delicious cup of chicken soup. I am safe.  

So, before starting our walks I pause and conjure up all these feelings, sensations, images of “safe” and allow them to flow from me to him.  I verbally say, “Let’s go have a safe adventure.”  After this exchange, if we meet a nemesis or if he ventures into the homeless camp, I amplify the feelings of safety — broadcasting them from my body and he settles and walks past the nemesis or returns from scavenging at the homeless camps much quicker, not requiring me to go down there and retrieve him.

As you can see, animal communication is a full body experience.  The animals communicate on a variety of lines of communication also using all the five senses.  You may get the feeling of thirst, or get the image of your dog drinking water or feel excited for cold refreshing water  and then realize the water bowl needs filling,  and your dog is eagerly awaiting to drink.  Feeling is communicating with the animals by using all of your senses.
​Original Posted May 2017



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​As the holiday season is starting to get into full throttle with parties, events, and school breaks, often the dog or the cat is forgotten in the sense of being told what is going on. Having held space for hundreds of conversations for people, I know that the family pet is essentially the Family System Therapist.  They spend their lives in our worlds observing and responding to the energy, often taking on jobs within the family to keep the energy flowing, absorbing emotions of their people or acting out to get stuck energy moving. They know when something shifts energetically and disrupts their routine, especially holidays and big events.  If they are not told the details around why their routine will be disrupted, they often absorb the stress, overwhelm, and start acting out.

I have spoken with several animals this week who have specifically asked for more information about what is going on.  They asked for us to update them on plans as soon as they are made to help them understand this energetic shift. They actually want to be told what is happening day to day –  even it is the same old routine of a walk, work, home, walk, play, and sleep.  And they are requesting you to spice it up with information with details such as, “I have a big meeting today and I am tired and unprepared.”

Just you speaking about what is going on for you out loud helps them understand what they are energetically feeling. By speaking it, you own it, and they don’t have to worry about trying to absorb your stress.

Regarding the holidays, again, they want specifics such as; who is coming to dinner, the timing of it, what their job is during the dinner and to hear any other details more information the better.  They will be more relaxed and you have one less thing to worry about.

This might be a new for you to tell your animal beloved companion everything and it may feel strange, ridiculous, or silly. Don’t worry, you can do this because all of our thoughts automatically get turned into images which the animals can understand. 

I encourage you to try it consistently throughout the holidays and observe if there is a difference in their behavior as well as your stress level after telling them.  They are amazing therapists!


For more tips about planning for the holidays that includes traveling read this post Approaching the Holidays with your Animal. 

If you’re interested in learning more about what Animal Communication is, go here.

If you’re stressing about the holidays and your companion animal,
​book an Animal Communication session with me. 

In November I lead my first Animal Experiences.  It was two separate  Salmon Experiences with spawning salmon at Piper Creek in Carkeek Park.  I guided participants how to tune into their own innate intuitive abilities and listen for guidance from the salmon around a  certain question or their intention.  On both days all of the participants were able to receive wisdom from the salmon even when the amount of salmon present and the height of the creek was wildly different.


One day the creek was running clear and slow teeming with salmon and the other running high, fast and very murky with a few struggling salmon navigating their way upstream past many dead salmon.

The salmon’s  teachings and wisdom as well as how the messages were heard/received either as a thought, a feeling, a knowingness, an image or hearing words, was different for each person because we all receive messages in our own unique way. 
​
 Upcoming Animal Experiences 
I have mapped out more experiences with wild animals for the next couple of months.  I invite you to join me to play outside and learn from the animals. Nature is the gym to strengthen your intuitive muscle and learn how to be open and receptive to receiving messages. And besides, it’s good clean fun.   I have tentative dates and meeting locations which may change based on migration patterns and where the animals are showing up.  
Eagles experience – Rescheduled to January 13 –   Skagit River or Nooksack River 
Eagles offer wonderful insights in trusting in spirit and learning to see the big picture and the interconnection in your life, and much more.

As you are gearing up for the holidays and are making plans, to do lists, menus, guest lists, or travel plans please remember to keep your beloved animal companions in the loop of what is going on.
Here are some simple ways to make sure your animals know what’s happening…
If you are traveling and they are staying home – tell them the plans. Just like you are talking to a friend, tell them about the trip and why you are going, who you are seeing, what you are going to do. Then let them know the number of days until you leave by counting how many meals until you leave, how many meals you will be gone, and when you are returning home. You could even tell them who is taking care of them, how long they’ll stay, etc.
Are you staying home and hosting Thanksgiving? Maybe you are having guests stay overnight at the house?  Let them know in advance who the guests are that are staying, how many meals until these guests arrive, and how many meals they are staying.  Clue them in where the person will be sleeping and how having these people around may alter their daily routine. Start sharing with them the whole holiday plan: all the details, people, schedule, menu, etc.  Include, in the details, when they will be tended to as well as how you want them to behave when people come over.  The more you share and let them know what’s going on the happier they are.
If you will be gone away just for the day, let them know this and once again tell them where you will be going, what you will be doing, and when you will be coming home.
Remember animals read energy and live in our energy fields so they know when something shifts energetically and disrupts their routine, especially holidays and big events.  Talking with them as soon as plans are made the more relaxed they are – and the more relaxed you and your guests are!
​

Two things that feed and nourish my soul are ceremony and animals.  I also take delight in playing with people and animals in exploring animals communication and intuition.  Combining the three of them is heaven for me.  The past two weekends was a slice of this heaven as I  lead Salmon experiences which entailed opening sacred space for people to listen to the wisdom of the salmon as they returning home to Piper’s Creek to spawn.  The creek was wildly different each weekend.  The first weekend it was calm, clear and shallow we saw many salmon navigating their way up the creek.  The second weekend was fast, murky and high.  It was hard to see the salmon and there were not as many as the previous weekend, yet each participant got something from the salmon.
Listening to the wisdom required presence and being open and receptive while holding an intention to learn from the salmon.  Messages came in many ways such as thoughts, feelings, body sensations, knowingness, images and hearing words.  As humans, we are constantly sending and receiving messages and part of these experience was gaining understanding just how each person received messages differently thus strengthening their intuition and ability to speak with the animals.
For me after a ceremony, I have observed anything that is not in alignment with the information or messages or deep work I did during the ceremony presents itself to be dealt with.  Kind of like upgrading your wardrobe and having to get rid of all the old clothes that no longer fit or are your style.  My ceremonies also have an energetic container that offers support for three days after the ceremony with the intention of easy body integration and receiving other messages via dreams or guides.  Today when I was out of sorts I knew the teaching of the salmon of to continually return to my own deep river of inner knowing was stirring the pot of where I had not been listening to my own intuition, my own river.  I was so stuck the pull of the old story of the spaces and places I had not listened to myself and self-judgment had me spinning and flailing, I knew the salmon were offering me another teaching and I couldn’t hear it because I just felt like I was going under.  Leaning back into the container I listened for guidance on how to continue up the river and I heard “ASK FOR HELP.”
So I reached out for support from a mentor to navigate this river of life and she gently and wisely reminded me that  “Elemental awareness can give support: the light-filled sky and the water and earth below seen through the salmon’s eye.  They breathe and move and negotiate every obstacle one thing at a time because all we can be in is the present moment after all.  The salmon love to come home and they are focused on this and stay present.  They are transformed by the present moment allowing the creek to move them back when they need to rest, catching the undercurrent to move forward.  Honoring life, movement and the moment.”    This settled my nervous system and allowed me to refocus on the present moment.
The salmon continue to teach me about returning home to myself with compassion and tenderness and staying present in the moment.

In the middle of August, I made an agreement with Mother Nature and Great Spirit that I would share daily messages I receive from animals and nature to help get the word out about the interconnection of all of life – people, earth, animals, water, spirit. I receive most of the messages while walking and I post the messages on Instagram and Facebook. The messengers share their wisdom, compassion, and love with us.
Today while walking with ash falling from the sky from wild fires I was pondering, “How much more can we take?” There is so much going on in the world today with the natural disasters, the political strife, the talk of nuclear arms (just to name a few). Then, couple this with the full moon and mercury finally out of retrograde and it feels as if we are all in a pressure cooker, that has an extra helping of fear mixed in with everything else, and it is going to explode.
Then I heard Mother Nature extend an invitation to each and every one of us to come out into nature, in which every way feels comfortable to you and feel the earth under your feet.  Stop, breathe in, listen, look, drink in nature.
She also invites to set your intentions for the day or the moment to assist you in orienting to the truth within not the external noise. I did this yesterday as my head was swimming from paint fumes, smoke inhalation, Trump’s crazy ways, and influence of the full moon. I felt disoriented and downtrodden.  I went down to the beach and walked while praying and talking to Mother Earth and Spirit. When I put my feet in the water and set my intentions speaking them aloud and I also released that which no longer served me and stood in my way.  I left feeling invigorated, hopefully, and renewed. 
I advise you accept Mother Natures invitation she knows how to attend to her guests. Let her healing qualities reset you.  For she wisely counsels:
“When you are out in nature you can get in touch with your own true nature.”

​

When my dog is chasing a ball, or I am asking him to do something with a treat in my hand, his focus is like a laser. His focus always brings to mind the concept that energy flows where attention goes.  Focusing is one of the key components to animal communication.  To be able to give them a clear understanding of what you want is made easier by setting your intention and clarifying thoughts.  For example, if I am wanting him to get off the couch and stay off the couch, I will give him the command “off” and yet, I am thinking with a whole lot of frustration, “I know this rascal. As soon as I turn my back, he is going to jump right back on the couch.”  Well, guess who will be sitting on the couch all day? Because he was listening to the energy and there was more flow of energy to my thoughts of him jumping on the couch, Prince will be sitting on the couch. 
Who can resist those gorgeous brown eyes and black floppy ears? I must. I want him off. my. couch.

So, using focus, how would I communicate to him that the couch is off limits.  The first step is by taking some time to gain clarity about why I want him off the couch and where he is welcome to lounge instead.
 
To go through my thought process:  I want him off the couch because it is starting to smell like dog. I want him off the couch because he is dirty and he is making the couch dirty. I want him off the couch so every time I sit down I don’t go into the “Ahh, it smells like dog…I need to clean…I need to give him a bath…” and start to create a whole lot of frustration around this with a whole lot of energy. Basically, I want him off the couch because I want him off the couch. I observe I have a lot of frustration around it and I start beating myself up that I should have never let him on the couch or if I was a better dog trainer he’d never be on the couch, etc.  Basically, a lot of stuck energy around this couch and that stuck energy flairs up when I see him on the couch.

Now, where do I want him to lounge instead?  There are a variety of places he can lounge, his bed, the floor, the porch, the yard – just not on the couch.

How will I feel when he is lounging other places than the couch?  I will feel happy that my couch is no longer a dog bed. I feel comfortable when people come over that my house is clean.  I will feel more at ease when people are over that he will not jump up and join them on the couch.  I just realized by allowing him to lounge on the couch, the couch is basically his territory and having people sitting on it is invading his space.  Allowing him to lounge on it is a disservice to him by expecting him to be welcoming of people in his bed.

Having taken the time to clarify what I do want, I have a new focus with him and the couch – it is for him to learn to stay off the couch.  I will focus my attention and intention on letting him know his job is to find new places to lounge and I will back those thoughts of my feeling of happiness in seeing him comfortably sprawled out on the floor.  I can now firmly tell him “off” while I am thinking about him comfortably laying on his bed or laying on the floor.  Focusing on his new job will make it easy to re-orient his lounging and it is not fueled by the frustration and big energy of “GET OFF THE #*#@ COUCH.”  I can now firmly tell him “off” while I am thinking about him comfortably laying on his bed or laying on the floor.  

One of my million dollar ideas to accomplish the no-Prince-on-the-couch-rule is to somehow bottle my dogs’ focus and create an elixir. This elixir will increase focus and efficiency with minimum effort mixed in with a whole lot of fun.  I will use this magical elixir to create a routine when trying to get him off the couch. I will deliver this new routine with the same focus and attention he has on the ball when we are playing.  His intensity to find the ball is coupled with the enthusiasm of the game.  Now, can I make staying off the couch just as fun with my focus?  The opportunity is to focus and master the feeling he has when playing ball of “come on, come on, throw the ball!” to “come on, come on, on the floor!”  and coupling it with the excitement he has quivering through his body when he bounds off to find the ball.  I will couple my focus of “on the floor” with the excitement of seeing him lounging on the floor. Once I master this, you are invited over for a nice chat on my clean comfortable couch. 

At one of my Animal Communication practice group sessions, when the group was sharing reflections of what their takeaway was from the evening, one of the students shared in wonder, “I did not realize it could be that easy.  It is just like having a conversation with a friend.”

She had been conversing with one of her cats about an annoying, demanding behavior and she gained clarity through the conversation that her cat was asking for snuggles instead of treats.  When she understood this, guilt, as well as frustration, came up on how she had been responding to the tone of the meow.  I reminded her to be as compassionate with herself and invited her to reflect on if there was something she needed to ask the cat so that she could respond in a loving way instead of responding in frustration to the cats’ demand.  Taking her own needs into account, she was then able to request the cat to ask for the snuggles in a sweeter tone instead of the demanding NOW and it would be easier for her to respond compassionately.

This sentiment was then echoed within less than 12 hours when I met a friend on a walk and she said, “I did as my dog requested. When she was barking and barking at another dog I told her calmly there was no need and invited her to keep walking.”  And with wonder, my friend added, “It worked–she stopped barking and we walked on.  It was so easy.”  The dog had requested her human speak with clarity and tell her what she wants instead of yelling what she did not want.

Animals and kids are the greatest teachers — so honest and pure.  I remember when my son was 3 and we were on a walk with him in a stroller and two black labs on Flexi-lead leashes.  The dogs had this habit of what I called “circling the wagons”.  They would constantly be circling us and I would be high-stepping over the leashes, contorting my body in all sorts of way to keep the leashes untangled while moving forward.  My frustration level was off the charts and my voice and response to them matched it.  When, once again, they circled the wagons I screamed, “Zoe and Jetexas enough!” as I gruffly untangled the leashes and had ripples of waves of anger cascading off of me. From within the stroller, a sweet voice wisely suggested, “Mama, you know if you tell them calmly what you want they will listen.”

After much laughter, frustration, and gratitude I agreed to give it a try.  I sat both the dogs down and told them “Zoe and Jetexas I would like us to move along in a flowing manner with each of you staying on your sides of the stroller and no more circling of the wagons. ”  That walk was a turning point for the next three miles, as we moved as a flowing unit with ease and little corrections.  If there was a correction, I calmly told them what I wanted.  It was that easy and it can be that easy for you, too.

​Photo by Matheus Queiroz on Unsplash