Boots, photo courtesy Jolie Banks
Originally published in Earth Odyssey Magazine, February, 2010
Animal communication is part of a group of holistic modalities that can help animals and their people in times of emotional or physical difficulty. Frequently, communication alone is a powerful healing tool—the animal simply needs to tell her story, express her viewpoint and be understood, and the behavioral or physical issue will resolve. Sometimes, the situation requires other supportive help as well, including energy healing, other holistic modalities or a trip to the veterinarian.
One of the greatest joys in my work is seeing how simply understanding an animal and listening to them fully can facilitate deep emotional and physical healing, and help to guide people to the right additional help for their animal.
Many animal communicators have learned that the counseling and healing techniques used with humans are also very effective with animals, and often take much less time than with a human client.
A recent example from my practice was with a Border Collie/Aussie mix named Boots. Boots was a rescued dog, and although he had made a lot of progress in his new home with loving people, he had recently become more nervous, fearful and disoriented, not even wanting his person to touch him.
When I communicated with Boots, he told me of trauma from his previous life that had been re-activated, causing him great emotional and physical pain. I listened to his story and helped him to release the pain that was stored in his body from his past, particularly in his hindquarters, using distance Reiki (healing energy) and some basic counseling techniques.
As Boots poured out his story to me, I felt a tremendous release of energy and a deep “sigh” of relaxation from him. After our session, Boots’ person wrote to tell me that for the first time in a long time she was able to cuddle with him, rub and scratch him, and that she saw his soul in his eyes again and felt that she had her precious dog back.
A few weeks later, she wrote again to tell me that she had been able to groom him on his hind end, where previously he wouldn’t allow any touch, and that he continues to be much more relaxed and happy.
When a client consults with me about a physical problem with their animal, I always recommend that they consult with a veterinarian, if they haven’t already. Animal communication can often assist clients in determining which course of treatment or training is best for their animal.
I worked with a cat recently who had severe digestive difficulty and was consistently unable to make it to the litter box. The cat’s person had spent thousands of dollars on medical tests and treatment, which had found nothing, and it was suggested to her that the problem was either behavioral or that her cat was getting senile. Understandably, the situation was creating a great deal of stress in the household, and the person was reluctantly considering euthanasia for her cat.
When I communicated with the cat, he told me repeatedly, “This is not an emotional or behavioral problem. I cannot control my bowels and my body feels very uncomfortable. I love my people, I am happy with my life, there is nothing wrong with me mentally, but there is something very wrong with my body.”
Energy work helped to relieve his anxiety and discomfort, but it did not solve the problem. I encouraged my client to continue to seek the right medical treatment for her cat. After some time, a more sophisticated blood test that had been previously unavailable finally revealed a deficiency that led to the correct treatment for the problem.
In this case, clear communication from the cat helped to guide his person to further medical treatment, rather than continuing with “behavioral” solutions that weren’t helping the situation.
