Episode 23: Powerful Meditation-Based Animal Reiki: Spreading Love, Joy, Compassion and Peace, with Leah D'Ambrosio

In this episode, we dive into the world of meditation-based Animal Reiki with Leah D'Ambrosio, Co-Founder and Vice President of the Shelter Animal Reiki Association (SARA). With over 400 members across 85 shelters worldwide, SARA focuses on supporting rescued animals and their caregivers through the transformative power of meditation.

Leah shares her journey working with animals and tells us about her mission is to empower people to develop healing connections with their animals. We explore the inception and growth of SARA since 2008, emphasizing their commitment to respect and honor animals as individuals with agency.

We talk about the unique approach of meditation-based Animal Reiki and its benefits for shelter animals. Leah sheds light on the "Let Animals Lead" method, highlighting the importance of not viewing animals as "broken" and the role of agency in the connection.

Leah also shares insights on connecting with wild animals, even in zoo settings, and how acknowledging animals as teachers can impact our interactions with them. Throughout the episode, she emphasizes the significance of finding peace within ourselves for the well-being of animals and the natural world.

Tune in to discover how meditation and mindfulness can create healing connections with animals, and learn practical insights on connecting with our nonhuman companions in meaningful ways. Leah shares many heartwarming stories and examples of the power that we can each have when we create a shared space of tranquility and peace with an animal.

For more information about Leah D'Ambrosio and the Shelter Animal Reiki Association, visit:

https://shelteranimalreikiassociation.org/
https://www.animalreikisource.com/

Episode Transcript

Barbara (00:09):
Hi there and welcome.
You're listening to Animals andUs voices of a new paradigm.

Avantika (00:17):
My name is Avantika and I'm a researcher exploring
animal consciousness,environmental sustainability and
planetary health.
I want to help bring animalperspectives to the table and
transform our relationship withthe natural world, and I'm
Barbara.

Barbara (00:32):
I'm an animal communicator and retired
veterinarian.
My true passion is exploringthe hearts and souls of animals
and helping people come to amuch deeper understanding of who
the animals truly are at theircore.

Avantika (00:48):
This podcast is for anyone who loves animals and
nature and has an interest intheir own personal and spiritual
development.
We'll bring you powerfulconversations with fascinating
people about animal and nature,sentience, consciousness and
communication.

Barbara (01:05):
Thank you so much for joining us on this journey of
love, respect, understanding andcare for the fellow beings who
share our beautiful Mother Earthwith us.
Hello everyone, welcome toAnimals and Us, voices of a new
paradigm.
And today I am so thrilled tointroduce you to who's become a

(01:32):
really sweet friend of mine,leah Dan Brozio.
And Leah and I met many monthsago when she was speaking online
at a conference and she wastalking about how we can relate
to wild animals, and I've done alot of that kind of work too
and so I was just so excited tomeet a fellow soul who really I

(01:59):
really resonated with everythingshe said and it was so exciting
for me, so I called her up andwe've had many conversations and
have done some work together,and so I'm thrilled to introduce
Leah, and Leah is theco-founder and vice president of

(02:21):
the Shelter Animal ReikiAssociation, or CERA S-A-R-A,
and that is a community ofanimal reiki practitioners
supporting rescued animals andcaregivers through meditation.
It was founded in 2008 andcurrently has 400 members and

(02:45):
serves 85 shelters around theworld, including such places as
Italy, croatia, japan, colombia,australia, the UK, canada and
the US, which is kind of amazing, and what's so great about this
organization, cera, is theybelieve in respecting and

(03:08):
honoring all beings asindividuals who have their own
agency, and the focus is on love, peace and compassion, which is
such a beautiful thing.
Leah is a certified meditationand mindfulness teacher and has
taught animal reiki classes atmany places for all different

(03:32):
kinds of animals, includingshelters, rescue organizations
and sanctuaries.
She offers group training at abeautiful wildlife sanctuary in
Florida which I hope to get towith her someday and her mission
is to empower people to develophealing connections with their

(03:55):
animals and find happiness intheir personal lives through
meditation sessions, workshopsand private consultations.
Wow, that's pretty cool.
Welcome, leah.

Leah (04:09):
Thank you so much, barbara .
I really appreciate being herewith you and thank you for that
lovely introduction.
I love that you called me asweet friend.
I feel the same, so thank youso much.

Barbara (04:21):
So, Leah, tell us a little bit about your journey in
working with animals and whatled you to learn
meditation-based animal reiki.
What was that about?

Leah (04:37):
Well, I've always loved animals, you know, it's my whole
life.
When I was young I had a pony,a horse, dogs, cats.
You know I loved animals and welived out in the country, so I
got a lot of experience withanimals.
But as an adult I didn't reallyhave any time to dedicate to
animals other than just havingmy own dogs.
And when my son graduated fromhigh school I really wanted to

(05:00):
do something to give back.
But the problem was when I wouldgo into shelters you know,
because that's the easiest thinggo volunteer at a shelter to
work with animals.
I would just become tooemotionally brought with grief
and pain seeing them suffer andI just didn't know how to handle
it.
So I did some research and Iheard about animal reiki.

(05:21):
I knew about people reiki, butI didn't know anything about
animal reiki.
And I found Kathleen and Iremember emailing her and she
emailed me literally within fiveminutes.
So I felt that was a reallygreat sign that I was on the
right path.
And then, when I took the levelone with her, I really felt
like, oh my gosh, this issomething I want to be doing,
because it was all abouthonoring animals, tapping into

(05:46):
your own inner strength andrealizing that we can be of
service to shelter animalswithout going in and adopting
them all.
And Kathleen gave me somereally wonderful tips on how to
find my own inner strength.
And, of course, through herclass I learned as well, and so
I was able to start going to theshelter.
And through that experiencethat's where Sarah kind of came

(06:09):
around, because when I went totake Kathleen's level two class,
after having some experiencefrom volunteering in the shelter
, I told her shelter animals aremy love and my passion.
I want to do more.
And she said well, I'm actuallyI would love to start a
nonprofit that would bringanimal reiki to animals all

(06:31):
around the world in shelters.
And I'm like, oh my gosh,that's so exciting.
Why don't you?
And she said I have no idea howto start a nonprofit.
And I was working in the legalfield at the time and I'm like,
well, I know how to do this.
I can help us do this.
And so, through our love ofshelter animals, we created the

(06:51):
Shelter Animal Reiki Association.
And I think that you know we'lltalk about this in a minute
about the let animals lead way.
But the reason this wholemethod and the reason Sarah is
so successful is because we workwith shelter animals, who are
the most vulnerable group ofanimals out there.
Right, you know they've comefrom abusive situations.

(07:13):
They are in a scary place forthem.
It's like, you know, if we wentto prison or something.
It's a very scary situation forthem and they're very unsure.
So using the let animals leadmethod with them really taught
Kathleen and all of us who workwith shelter animals a lot about
honoring animals and seeingthem as individual beings.

Barbara (07:37):
That's so wonderful, and you know I've worked in
shelters and it's hard.
It's hard because you're justbombarded with this.
Well, in a dog, you know, whenthere's dogs, there's just
constant barking and you canjust sense their pain and how
they so badly want to get out ofthere.

(07:58):
So to have a tool that can helpin that situation is just
really really wonderful.
So thank you for doing that.
It's really amazing work.

Leah (08:09):
Well, and once you do it, once you learn the practice and
you do it and you see theresults and sometimes it's
immediate you think, wow, whywouldn't I do this?
Because not only are youhelping the animals, but the
surprising byproduct of this isthat you also start to get

(08:31):
healed.
You also start to feel an innerstrength and an understanding
and you know and you build yourcompassion muscle in a way where
it's not pity right.
People get compassion and pityconfused.
Compassion isn't pity.
Compassion is justunderstanding, empathy and love,
and the shelter animals reallyhelp grow that within you when

(08:54):
you start working with them.
So it's such an incrediblehonor to be with them.

Barbara (08:59):
Then what is pity?

Leah (09:01):
Pity is when you feel sorry for them, right?
So you're feeling sorry for theanimal and what does that bring
?
It doesn't bring a whole lot.
You're looking at the animal asless than it's just like.
When you look at a person withpity, like, oh, maybe if you
know they're in a bad situation,like a homeless person, oh, I
feel so sorry for this homelessperson.
We're actually kind of takingaway all hope and joy from

(09:26):
anything or, you know, theencouragement that they can do
better.
So we go into a shelter andwe're feeling pity.
We're like saying to theanimals this is so sad, this is
never going to change.
Whereas if we go into theshelter with I love you, I'm so
happy to be here with you, thatemotion changes everything.
That's compassion.
I see you, I understand, I'mhere for you.

(09:49):
That's different than pity.
And so when we go into theshelter, we always tell people
we go in there with love and joyin our heart.
And it seems counterintuitivebecause it's a sad situation.
But imagine if you were.
Let's say, you're in thehospital and you're sad.
You have two friends.
One friend comes to see you andthey're sad and they're pitying

(10:11):
you.
Oh my gosh, this is so horrible.
Oh, what are you going to do?
And then you have another friendthat comes in and says Afonica,
I'm here.
Oh my gosh, I love being withyou.
Oh my gosh, you know you'rehere now, but I know you're
going to get better.
You're so strong and justsitting there and laughing and
sharing that joy of my mutuallove for her and respect for her

(10:33):
.
That's a completely differentfeeling and the animals have
shown us over and over and overagain the power of love and joy
is so strong and so healing,whereas the power of pity,
sorrow, sadness, when you'rekind of putting yourself above

(10:54):
that like oh, I'm fine, butyou're not, you know that whole
where you kind of are elevatingyourself and looking down on the
animal or the person, thatchanges everything and it kind
of makes you feel heavy and icky, whereas joy and love makes you
feel light.
So when we do that with theanimals, when we share our love
and joy, we're actuallyamplifying them and giving them

(11:17):
hope.

Avantika (11:18):
Thank you so much for sharing that distinction between
compassion and pity.
I'm immediately thinking youknow you gave that hospital
example.
I'm immediately thinking abouthow this applies to us every day
and every situation that wewalk into and show up, for it's
so easy to walk into a situationwithout this type of awareness

(11:40):
of what feelings and vibes andenergy we're giving off to the
person we're interacting with,and just keeping this small
thing in mind, I think, can beso powerful.
So thank you for simplifying itlike that.
It's so true.
You know, if I was in any kindof situation, any struggle I go

(12:01):
through in life, I want to talkto people who can build me up
and help me feel empowered andhelp me see the positive aspects
of the situation and bring, whocan bring joy and light into
the situation instead ofdarkness and all those other
negative feelings that arealready going on.

(12:22):
You don't want those to beamplified.
So thank you for pointing thatout.
That's such a that's such animportant thing to distinguish
between.

Leah (12:31):
It really is, and it helps us, like you said, like that,
that realization.
When we go on with the animalsand we know we have to be better
and we have to share joy, westart to learn that we need to
do that with humans as well,that we're all beings doing our
best and we all need just thatuplift of love and joy and to be

(12:52):
made to feel good, becausethere's nothing better than when
you feel seen, heard andappreciated right, and that's
all that any being wants is justto be seen, heard and
appreciated, but we try, ashumans, to fix everything and
make everything better.
That's just from our ownperspective, though, right, and
we don't know what's going toreally make someone feel better.

(13:12):
So just coming from that placeof love and joy and respect is
really important.

Barbara (13:19):
I learned about that, too, some years ago by going to
a zoo and being with the animalsin the zoo and later talking
with the elephants, who shared avery similar message about if
we view these animals with ohisn't this terrible, I'm so sad,
I'm so sorry for you.

(13:40):
It just really brings theenergy down for everybody,
whereas if we go in and imaginethem just happy and free and all
that, it boosts us up, itboosts them up.
It's the same thing you'retalking about.
So anytime we're viewing ananimal like that or a person,

(14:03):
it's really, really beneficialto get our energy up so that we
can boost them as well.
So thank you.

Leah (14:11):
Yeah, I mean, it's my belief, and I think probably for
the two of you as well, thatanimals can transcend their pain
and where they are they canactually go up to that higher
level.
But we have a hard timereaching.
We have to meditate, we have toconcentrate, we have to.
You know we're not in touchwith it as well, and so they
show us how that by sharing joy,by sharing love, we can help

(14:35):
them transcend it and we canhelp ourselves transcend that as
well.

Barbara (14:40):
Yeah, that's so great.
And can you talk about thedifference between
meditation-based animal Reikiand hands-on Reiki?
That's more traditional, atleast in this culture.

Leah (14:58):
Yeah, definitely, and there's a lot of animal Reiki
schools out there that usehands-on feeling like it's more
human Reiki adapted for animals,whereas the Let Animals Lead
Method is its own system,created specifically for animals
and their sensitivities.
So the difference being thatwhen you're working hands-on,

(15:21):
you kind of I'm the healer, I'mgonna heal you, I'm focused on
what's wrong with you.
I'm focused on putting my handswhere I feel you need it.
So the human is really drivingeverything and they're not
necessarily I don't want to, youknow, this is just general
they're not necessarily takinginto the consideration of an
animal.
Also, with hands-on, you can'tdo hands-on with a wild animal.

(15:41):
You can't do hands-on with atiger, you can't do hands-on
with a crocodile.
So it's really limiting in someways, the hands-on, the
meditation-based that is the LetAnimals Lead Method, which is
what Sarah teaches and what wepractice, is based on us going
inward and when we go inward,there are certain tools that we

(16:04):
teach that help us let go of ouranger or worry, that help us
become more humble, that help usbecome more grateful and more
compassionate.
So in that space, really, whatwe're doing it's not, we're not
really even doing anything to orwith the animals.
We're just getting our ownbodies into balance.

(16:24):
When our energy is in balance,when we let go of our anger,
when we let go of our worry.
Now our energy is inviting tothe animals.
Now, when we're sitting there inmeditation, in meditation in
the meditative space, the animalhas the choice whether or not
to join us in that space, and wetell them out loud.
It's not animal communicationthat we practice.

(16:45):
We just say you know, I'm goingto be meditating.
We always tell the animalsexactly what we're going to do,
because they understand so much.
I'm going to be sitting here,I'm going to be meditating, you
can join me or not.
There's a few things that happenright away.
One, animals aren't used tohaving things explained to them.
They're just used to peopledoing things.
So that right there gets theirattention.

(17:06):
She's telling me what she'sdoing.
We give them the choice.
That's another thing they don'tget.
So we're telling them you havethe choice to join us or not.
Completely up to you.
We're not going to force thisand animals will test you.
I'm going to walk away.
I'm going to go do this.
Are you still going to be there?
You know, of course we are,because we set our intention.
I'm going to sit here for 30minutes, I'm going to meditate

(17:27):
whether you want to join me ornot.
I'm just going to create thisbeautiful energy and then we sit
and we don't demand anything ofthem so right away the animals
like.
This is different and, if youknow, when you go into a shelter
, sometimes and this isn'talways sometimes the animals are
a little more leery.
They might not calm down, butthere are times when animals
they really like that, thatenergy of just peace and calm.

(17:52):
So you'll get a dog or a cat orbunny and they just relax and
you can see they close theireyes and they'll give a big sigh
and then you can feel,especially after you practice
for a while, you can actuallyfeel your energy start to go
boom like you, go a littledeeper, because as humans, we
can go so deep with meditation.
I could be meditating with theDalai Lama.

(18:14):
I could go so deep.
But when an animal connectswith me now, the animal has
joined with me and is actuallyelevating.
So now I go deeper becausethey've joined me and now
they're assisting me.
So it's not really like withhuman Reiki or with hands.
On Reiki, it's I'm the human,I'm healing you.

(18:34):
With this method, we'reallowing the animal to actually
help us as well.
So it's more like this insteadof here I am beaming at you, I'm
giving, I'm not receivinganything, it's more a give and
take, because once they decide,okay, I'm going to join you in
this, now there's a flow, nowthere's a complete flow and you

(18:55):
start to feel just calmer andyou feel your meditation go
deeper and you start to feelthat deep peace that they are
connected with, because animals,they're born with this innate
skill to go deep, to relax.
You know, you think about I waslike thinking about a lion on

(19:15):
the Serengeti and they're sopeaceful.
You know, when they're nothungry, when they're not at
honey, they're just peaceful andthat's.
You know what animals bring.
Is this just deep peace?
They can easily access it.
Humans can't access it as much.
So when we're able to sit with ashelter animal in a meditative
space and start to feel thatpeace, that peace, it starts to

(19:37):
grow within us.
But then what's beautiful aboutthat in the shelter is the
peace starts to spread out.
So now you're in a noisyshelter.
Well, the noisy shelter startsto get quieter, quieter.
Quieter is all the animals thatwant to connect in that space
start to.
So you don't even have to besitting, you know, and

(19:57):
connecting with an animaldirectly, your energy is huge
and your energy goes out, andthe more the animals start to
connect with you and the otheranimal, it just compounds.
So now it's not just youanymore, you're just one of many
, and so I think that that'swhat makes this so powerful.
It's it takes away thatpressure of I'm a healer, I have

(20:21):
to heal, you have to make thisright.
Instead, it's very passive.
I'm going to meditate, and ifyou want to join me, great.
And then if, when the animalsconnect, that's where the magic
happens and that's what makes itso fulfilling, because you're
like, oh my God, I'm in this andit makes me emotional because
I'm in this shelter and theseanimals were so stressed.

(20:41):
And now, just because I decidedto let go of my own crap, my
own anger, my own worry, andjust get back to that, to my
heart, to where, you know, my,my true joy, my true love is
when I get back to that space.
Now look what happens.
That is really powerful.

(21:02):
You know that you have the powerto help bring peace in the
shelter and all you have to dois meditate.
And people want to make itreally confusing and really, you
know, oh, you got to do this.
This is no, you don't.
You just got to let go,meditate and we teach these
really simple methods to get youto that place.
And also, the animals help youand when your mind starts to

(21:23):
wander or you're having a hardtime, you just ask them for help
.
You just say you know I'mhaving a hard time, could you
please help me meditate?
And they're just like what youwant?
Wait, what You're asking me toteach you?
Yes, I would love to.
Nobody asked me that.
And it's amazing how manyanimals, time after time after

(21:44):
time, are like what?
Lift up their little head.
You want me to what?
Yes, of course, I will do that,at the zoo especially.
You know, I would love you know.
First of all, we always gogratitude with our hearts at the
zoo, so grateful for all thejoy you bring to these people.
I would love to sit with youand I would love if you would
help me meditate.
I had a tiger at the Oregon Zoo, very standoffish I think his

(22:08):
name's Tim or something cameright up as far as he could to
his little you know enclosure.
There's like a moat came rightup and I remember one guy going
I've never seen that tiger comeup, but it's like they want that
connection they're.
They're dying for us to let goof our crap and get back to who
we truly are, because that iswhat they see.

(22:30):
They see our true heart.
They don't see what's going onout here.
They see our true heart andwhen we come to them with that
humility and that compassion andthat love, they sense it
immediately and they respond.

Barbara (22:44):
Suddenly for people listening who may not be able to
take your classes or right now,and maybe intimidated, like
I've been to a lot with the wordmeditation, because I'm a
person that I have friends thatcan sit for hours in meditation.

(23:05):
That would not be me, and youhave mentioned before that
meditation isn't just sittingcross-legged on the floor for an
hour.
So are there ways to go in andessentially meditate without
doing a formal meditationpractice, just to get calmer and

(23:28):
to be present with the animals?
If that's what you choose to do, absolutely.

Leah (23:36):
So, first of all, there's a lot of easy breaths out there
that you can just Googlemeditative breath and so the one
I like the most is justbreathing in deeply through your
nose, expand your belly.
When we breathe in deeplythrough our nose and bring our
breath through our belly andexpand our belly, we're actually
making a connection to agrounded place within us, to

(23:56):
we're making a connection toearth.
We're making that connection tostability Because if you think,
if you look at your body, whereis your stomach?
It's right in the middle.
And you look at sumo wrestlers,where is all their weight?
It's right at their belly.
That grounds them.
So when we breathe into ourbelly, we're creating that
grounded stability within us.
And when we exhale, you alwayswant to exhale longer than your

(24:19):
inhale.
When you exhale, exhale outyour mouth, and it's helpful if
you act like you're blowing outa straw.
So make your mouth like kind oflike, so breathing in really
deeply, expand your belly as faras you can, even a little
farther, and then slowly, reallyslowly, breathe out your mouth

(24:42):
and you just do that for five,10 breaths and you can start to
feel your body calm because itconnects to your parasympathetic
nervous system.
So now you're getting calm.
That right there is helpful.
Another thing that's reallyhelpful to do is, before you
even go into the shelter or gowork in your you just think
about something that brings youjoy.

(25:02):
So for me, there's a word thatwill instantly bring a smile to
face, and that's bunnies.
I cannot say the word bunnieswithout laughing and bringing so
much joy in my heart.
So I will sit there, do mybreath and think about bunnies
and make myself feel reallyhappy.
So now I'm feeling calm, I'mfeeling happy, now I can go and

(25:24):
go to the zoo, I can go wherever, and if I start to feel out of
it, I can just go back to that.
Super simple.
You don't have to sit there,close eyes, you can be walking
and doing that breath.
You can be walking and thinkingof something joyful, but that's
the most important thing Justcalm your body, because we want
to be calm right.
Our energy we think our energyis like all right here in our
little body, but our energy ishuge.

(25:46):
It's going out, I think likesix feet, and so animals are
like they feel as way before.
Sometimes they even see usright, because we are this ball
of energy and we're like theTasmanian devil and then we're
like connect with you andthey're just like what Wait whoa
.
But if we come in that peacefulstate and that joyful state,

(26:06):
they're like oh, that'sdifferent, Okay.
And then they're more apt toconnect with us.
And connecting with us might beas subtle as just looking at
you.
They may not come up to anenclosure, they may just look at
you.
And one thing I love about thispractice is when we calm our

(26:26):
bodies and when we start toconnect to that feeling of joy,
we start to observe more and ourintuition starts to get
heightened.
So we can see more.
Because now, instead of beingin that rush, rush, rush, rush,
rush, rush, rush, rush, rush,rush, rush, where everything is
just like going, going, going,we now have space in our mind,
we now have peace.
So now things can kind of cometo us.

(26:48):
It's like, oh, I've nevernoticed that before.
Oh I, oh, wow, I can hear this,or maybe a solution to a
problem will come to you.
You know, meditation isn'tabout quieting all thoughts.
It's just about quieting yourmind so that important thoughts
can come through, so thatinformation can come through, so
that your intuition can beheightened and you can hear and
understand things.

(27:08):
So, yes, so just doing thosejust two simple things are
really powerful.
And then just being mindful whenyou're out and about, when
you're walking, being mindful ofoh, I'm out, the air feels so
good, the tree smells so good,the grass smells so good.
You know, oh, there's a dog.
Oh, you know, it's so funny.
When I'm walking I alwaysnotice dogs before I notice

(27:31):
people and it's crazy how manydogs will just like, connect
immediately, and then they'llstart pulling towards me.
It's like they're they'repeople.
My gosh, my dog doesn't evenlike people and you know it's
funny because they understandthat energy of peace.
And when we say, oh, you knowwe're walking, we're peaceful

(27:53):
and we're happy, oh, hi, hey,hey, dog, you know, in my mind I
say this oh, good, good you are.
Sometimes I say it out loud andthey immediately respond
because, you know, they're notused to human seeing them,
they're used to humansconnecting with their human and
they're just an afterthought.
But when you see them first,they're like, oh, hey, oh, my
gosh, she noticed me.
So it's, it's some.

(28:15):
It's really powerful when wecan stop and just go inward and
become, you know, and not becomemindful, because that's really
hard.
I mean, it's easy.
A lot of people say, oh, justbecome mindful, like it's so
easy.
It's not, it's hard, I have ADD.
It's hard to be mindful, butwhen we can constantly remind
ourselves yes, I'm out in nature, yes, I'm on a walk.

(28:35):
Oh, look at that dog.
You know that's being mindful.

Barbara (28:39):
That's great.
I think that's going to behelpful for a lot of people.
And I do have a question.
As an animal communicator, Iused to think when I was talking
with an animal, they would comeup and give me kisses.
Or a wild animal would comereal close and look me in the
eye, and you said that a lot oftimes that does happen.

(29:00):
However, what I've found withanimal communication and I don't
know if it's true, with whatyou do sometimes the animals
busy eating or walking around ordoing their own thing and
they're not paying any attentionat all to me and it's really
easy in that situation to thinkyou're not having any impact.

(29:23):
They're just.
You know I'm not affecting themat all, but that might not be
true.
So what's your experience withthat?

Leah (29:32):
Yeah, Can I think that when you first walk up and
they're busy, you know there'sthat time where you have to
settle down.
They have to settle down, butespecially the courses are a
really good example.
So let's say you're sittingthere, you're meditating 15
minutes and the horses areeating and they're not stopping.
But if you watch closely you'llnotice that they're starting to

(29:55):
eat slower.
They're starting to maybe lifttheir head, maybe they'll yawn,
maybe they'll just kind of hangtheir head for a minute.
There's subtle signs that themore you do this, the more you
start to understand and kind oftune in to their body language.
But there are signs thatanimals aren't accepting that

(30:18):
energy.
Also, you start to feel alittle heavier, a little deeper,
a little more relaxed, andthat's another sign that the
animals are connecting with you.
But if you don't even feel that, just watching the animals
Because we have to understandthat you know we think I've got
this beautiful gift.
I'm going to do meditation andyou should love it because it's

(30:38):
a really good thing.
It's like me walking into IvanaKiswasa and going hey, I'm
going to give you a massage.
No, you're going to love it.
I'm scared that you have to gouse the restroom.
I'm scared that you're hungry.
Just lay down, this is going tobe fantastic.
And then her going okay, allright, this isn't.
I'm not comfortable.
I need to use the restroom, Ineed to eat something, I need to
get a drink.
So it's the same thing.

(30:58):
We're walking into their house,we're coming up to them in
their world.
We have to respect that.
So we have to allow them thatspace to do what they want in
their own time and allow them tocome up to us if that's what
they choose to do on their owntime.
You know, it's all aboutrespect and about being aware of
ourselves, because we humansthink I've got something really

(31:22):
great.
I'm going to help you.

Avantika (31:23):
And it is great and it is helpful.

Leah (31:25):
But you're in their house, you're in their space and you
have to respect that and youhave to calm yourself down and
go.
Okay, you know I have to allowthem that choice.
And again, that's where theagency comes in right.
We have to really respect theiragencies, treat them as we
would a fellow human.

(31:45):
You would never walk intosomebody's house and start
dictating what's going to happen, and it's the same with animals
.
You never.
Even if they're in the shelter,their little enclosure is still
there.
So we have to be really mindful.
What is our body language?
What are we doing?
Are we standing over them?
Are we hovering over them?
Are we trying to manipulatesomething here?
Or are we being respectful andallowing them that space to come

(32:10):
and go and do what they want?
And if they drink or they eator they even leave, you know,
sometimes with horses they'llleave, they'll go out of the
barn, believe, but that doesn'tmean they're not still connected
.
You know, we think we have tobe right here to be connected.
If you don't, the horse can beclear across the pasture and
still be connected to you, and Ithink that's really important

(32:31):
to remember that.
You know to not be so needywhen we go in there, because
that neediness is also an energyand it's kind of an irritating
energy, like if something istickling you right, we don't
want to be needy with animals.

Avantika (32:43):
Yeah, I think what you just shared also speaks to the
savior complex that I think somany of us end up having, you
know, with.
Like, we have good intentions,and this isn't just with animals
, it's with each other too,right, with our family members
and friends, and wanting to,like you said, fix things or
control things or problem solve,and, especially with animals,

(33:08):
it's so easy probably to go intothese situations, especially
without the awareness of thecompassion versus pity and what
those, how different those twoenergies are.
To want to go in and expectthat you can change something.
You know so much of what wetalk about in this podcast too,
with animal consciousness andcommunicating with them and

(33:30):
connecting with them deeply isabout understanding that they
have, they can make their ownchoices and you know, whether
you're learning how to domeditation based Reiki or how to
communicate with animals or doanything else, to not have that
expectation that you're going tosee a result or a reaction
that's going to make you feelsatisfied and validated, right,

(33:53):
and to go into it just with theintention that you can share
something beautiful with themand create this space of love
and joy and light and connectwith them more deeply and not
expect anything else and thensee.
Just see what happens and beopen to what comes next.

Barbara (34:12):
I'm so glad you said that, avantika, because
something I've been working onpersonally is not getting
attached to the results of whatI'm doing.
You know, when you reallyreally want to help someone,
help an animal and make theirlife better, and you come in and

(34:33):
you have all these things youwant to offer, like both of you
are talking about.
You want, you so badly, want tohelp them, but it's up to them
whether they receive it or howthey receive it.
Even the people, even the petparents, it's up to them to do
things their way too.
So you can't go in with theseexpectations and assumptions and

(34:58):
expecting results and expectingacknowledgement.
It just doesn't work.

Avantika (35:04):
Well, that energy also is probably counterproductive
too, right?
So it's not even just aboutmentally having those
expectations, but just havingthat energy there in your field
is.
They can pick up on that andfeel that and it creates other
negative energies too, I'm sure.

Leah (35:23):
Oh yeah, definitely.
I mean you can you know the onething about that joyful, like
the joyful meditation, justthinking of something joyful.
What's really interesting to dois think about something joyful
that brings joy to your heartand you feel yourself being
lifted.
And then, if you think ofsomething that makes you sad and
you start to think that you canfeel the heaviness start to

(35:45):
come over your body and darkenyour heart, and so you could
feel the difference reallyeasily between when we're
feeling sad and thinkingnegative thoughts and when we're
feeling joyful and thinkingloving thoughts and happy
thoughts.
Huge difference in the energy,and you don't even have to be,
you know, sensitive to energy tofeel that.

Barbara (36:07):
Yeah, and you know you've talked about healing and
this is all connected with that,but your perspective, from what
I understand, is that you arenot the healer.
So what does that mean?
What is healing really aboutfrom your point of view?

Leah (36:29):
That's such a great question because, you know, when
we think about humans, a lot ofpeople are healers.
Like you go to a Reikipractitioner.
They're a healer and it'sdifferent for humans than it is
for animals Because, again, like, if I go to a Reiki
practitioner to be healed, a lotof what's happening is me, it's

(36:51):
my path to heal, or not thisperson.
So like, let's say, I go toAvantika, she's a Reiki
practitioner and I have a hurtshoulder.
She puts her hands on myshoulder.
My mind goes here, I feel herenergy.
I'm like, oh, she's a greathealer, she's healing my
shoulder.
I feel better.
Right, a lot of it is theplacebo effect.

(37:11):
My mind is making me heal.
We look at animals.
We think, oh, I'm going to healthis animals.
Everyone is on their ownhealing path, whether you're a
human or an animal.
So for animals, the placeboeffect doesn't work.
And if I go in there, I'm thehealer, you're broken.
I've already created adysfunction between us.

(37:32):
I've already told them you'rebroken and I'm here to fix you
because I'm a healer.
And now also, on top of that,if I don't heal this animal, am
I a bad healer?
If I do heal the animal, oh, amI a great healer it's really
the animals path.
What we do with the meditationis and this is true with humans

(37:54):
when you are relaxed, when youfeel supported.
That is when true healing canoccur, however that looks to you
.
So that's why we could see somereally phenomenal healing
experiences with animals whenyou just do one session with
them.
Right, because again, they feelsupported.
They feel that support to heal.

(38:14):
They feel I mean, who knowswhat they feel.
Right, because we can'tscientifically prove anything
that they're feeling.
But we've seen it.
You know, we have this practicalevidence that when we go in and
we said I remember when we wentto best friends there was a cat
, smokey.
He literally looked like he wason death's door.
He was like crawling, like this.

(38:36):
He was skinny and his fur wasmatted down and he was just so
dull in the eyes.
We sat and we offered a sessionin this little cat-ery thing
and the next day we went backand we were looking for Smokey,
thinking maybe he passed awaybecause it was that bad.
And we came in there and we'reasking the best friends people
wear Smokey.

(38:56):
Oh, he's up there in therafters.
And we're like, no well, thiscat could barely walk.
And so we're looking up at thiscat.
It's a gray, fluffy,bright-eyed cat looking down at
us and we're like you know theone we worked with yesterday.
Where's that cat?
That's him.
They're like irritated with us,like hello, there he is and
we're just like, oh my gosh,smokey took that beautiful

(39:22):
meditative space and had thiscomplete healing.
Whatever was making him feelthe way he was, it healed it.
But we couldn't go in there andsay I'm going to heal Smokey,
because what does that even mean?
We didn't even know what waswrong with him.
And even if we did know whatwas wrong with him, is that
really what's wrong with him?
I mean he could have a stomachissue, but is that really what's

(39:46):
wrong?
Or is it maybe mental?
And that's what the beauty ofthis practice is.
We support the emotional andmental issues of the animals so
that then they can heal.
But with humans it's acompletely different situation,
because we, our mind is reallypowerful and our mind can keep

(40:06):
us sick and our mind can make uswell.
And that's why the placeboagain works with humans.
And when we had the COVIDepidemic, there are so many
Reiki practitioners that arehealers.
Well, what happened?
They couldn't heal these people, because everyone is on their
own healing path, whatever thatlooks like.
So using this method of animalReiki not only helps us in our

(40:31):
connection with animals so thatwe let go of that I'm a healer
but it also helps us to let goof it with other people and with
each other and with ourselves,knowing that we are on our own
healing path.
And I remember when Kathleen wassick with cancer.
This is a big thing becausewhen she got cancer, first of

(40:51):
all what happened was and thiswas the big eye opener when it
came to animals so this wasyears ago, this was 2010 or 11.
And she was diagnosed breastcancer.
And the minute she wasdiagnosed with breast cancer,
she became Kathleen with cancer.
No longer was she Kathleen theanimal Reiki expert, the creator

(41:14):
of animal Reiki, a mother, awife.
She was Kathleen with cancerand that's how everybody saw her
.
And it was really shockingbecause overnight, people then
started to treat her with pityright, like you were talking
about, barbara.
You know what is the differencebetween pity and compassion.
It wasn't compassionate, it waspity.

(41:35):
Then it was also are you goingto eat that?
Are you going to do that?
All this advice from people whoare experts or who are healers
or who have all of thisinformation and it really opened
up a whole door to wow.
We do this to animals all thetime.
Our dog gets cancer oh, my God,my dog's got cancer.
No longer are they this happy,joyful dog.

(41:56):
They're the dog with cancer,but they're still this beautiful
, happy animal.
And animals show us all thetime that doesn't matter what's
happening to their physical body.
They're still joyful, happy,they're going to do their thing.
I remember I had a disabled dog.
I was so shocked at how one,how the other dogs treated her.
They treated her like shedidn't have anything wrong with

(42:19):
her and how she saw herself.
She saw herself as just thislittle warrior.
I mean, she would, she wouldmilitary crawl to get anywhere
she wanted to.
And I was just like you know,wow, she.
Nothing stopped that dog, andit was.
You know, these kind ofsituations help you to realize
that, okay one, we see sicknessas a really bad thing Instead of

(42:44):
okay, this is happening.
You're still the same person.
I'm going to focus on what Ican do for you to make you happy
, right?
So with Kathleen and I, Ifocused on making us laugh all
the time because I knew thatlaughter could help heal her and
we.
Even when she was in thehospital after her mast ectomy,
she called me and said you cancome, but you cannot make me

(43:05):
laugh because I am in so muchpain.
I'm like, sure, okay, I'm notgoing to make you laugh.
We literally laugh for two daysstraight and it helped her.
It helped her to feel better.
It helped her to get out ofthat.
I just lost my breath.
She wasn't even thinking aboutit.
You know it was.
We were laughing so much.
I spent the night with her atthe hospital.
We were laughing in the middleof the night because these

(43:26):
things kept happening and thatwas.
You know it was.
It was so amazing to have thatexperience with her and I'm so
grateful and honored that I wasable to be there with her
because that helped us withanimals, knowing that you know
what animals they don't look at.
Oh, I'm three-legged.
What happens when an animalloses a leg?
They're like I've got threelegs, I'm going.

(43:49):
But people are like what's mylife?
My whole life is over.

Avantika (43:53):
Right.

Leah (43:54):
And they want pity and they want you know they want
that, that, that empathy thatcomes with pity, and that's what
we try to give to animals.
But I was like I don't wantyour pity, I don't want your
empathy, I want your compassion,I want your love, I want your
joy, but don't bring the darkstuff, because I don't need it,
because I'm not feeling it.
So for Reba she had aneurological disease where she

(44:18):
could barely really walk when wefirst got her, and for her, you
know if I would have felt sorryfor all the time if I would
have tried to protect her fromthe other dogs, from playing.
That would have made her lifeeven smaller.
But instead I let her play withthe puppy next door and the
puppy drug her all around theyard trying to take a toy from

(44:38):
her, and she wasn't going to letthat toy go, and the minute he
lost her whole body would justwag.
She was so happy.
And so, as humans, we have tostop and really look at what are
we doing.
When one we see ourselves asprotectors or healers or trying
to change or fix something, it'sour ego that's really getting

(44:59):
in the way.
The most powerful medicine wehave is joy, love and compassion
and peace right To come into adifficult situation with love
and peace.
How healing is that In any?
For animals, humans, whateverthat is we have the power to
bring healing in a very organicand natural way.

(45:23):
That doesn't involve us being aquote healer, just our love and
our compassion for joy or peace.
Those are all healing.
So it's you know, yes, we'rehealers, but not in that I'm a
healer kind of way.

Barbara (45:37):
I love that.
Thank you, leah, and I love tolaugh.
So every day I'll usually watchsomething on TV.
I must say that makes me laughand I love to laugh and I think
that's so healing.
You know, and it's true thatthe, the animals, do not see

(45:58):
disability or illness in thesame way we do, and I think we
could learn a whole lot fromthose guys.

Leah (46:05):
So thank you for that.

Avantika (46:07):
Also this reminds me also, Leah, a few conversations
we've been having recently aboutthe wisdom and intelligence
that exists already within allof us, humans and animals.
We just had a conversation withDr Bradley Nelson, who founded
the Emotion Code and the BodyCode, and we were talking to him
about how intelligent ourbodies are and how they know

(46:30):
exactly what's going on, exactlywhat needs to change, what they
need.
They have all of thatinformation.
We're going to have a guest onour podcast soon, dr Jeff
Beinman, who also talks aboutyou know, what we really need to
do is boost that individual sothat those mechanisms can find
out, those mechanisms canfunction and work well, and he

(46:52):
talks about the happinessprotocol and how to bring that
love and joy into that animal'slife and the human's life.
So a lot of what we've beentalking about has reminded me a
lot of that that, like you said,we're not going in there and
fixing anything, but we'reincreasing and enhancing the
capacity of that individual,whether it's an animal or human,
to do what their body alreadyknows how to do, and the love

(47:15):
and joy and compassion justamplifies their ability to do
that the body's ability to italready knows what to do.
So you know, you give theexample of the cat.
Like you know, his body alreadyhas all the information and all
the answers, but he probablyneeded support, emotional,

(47:37):
mental support, to be in a stateof mind, to be in a place of
you know, in a place that hisbody could do what it needed to
do.

Leah (47:47):
Absolutely.
I love that and I love both ofthose men.
They're amazing and that's veryexciting that you have them
both on your show.

Avantika (47:54):
Yeah, there's just so much overlap, and with each
conversation we talk aboutdifferent things, but they're
all just.
They're all part of the samepuzzle.
You know, it's really nice tofind those threads that overlap
and weave together and it'sreally, at the end of the day, I
think all of our conversationsare about empowering the animals
, empowering ourselves, being ina state of joy and love and

(48:16):
compassion as much as possible.
So, and it's so easy to do,it's like I was saying watch
something funny every single.

Leah (48:26):
I always say that I mean, if you're feeling down, watch
something funny.
I went through a horrificsituation with my ex husband and
it was very, very bad and everyday I had to watch something
funny in order to bring myselfout of that and to.
And it was amazing how muchstrength you can get just from

(48:49):
laughing, and animals show usthat all the time.
You know, if we're feeling sad,they try to do something goofy
to make us laugh, to make usforget it.
You know they're always doingsomething silly running around.
They show us that you know it'sokay, don't take life so
seriously.
We don't need to.
So I love that.

Avantika (49:09):
So much of what we're talking about takes me back to
the beginning of my journey,which was just a few years ago,
with animals, and so muchchanged for me.
The more I got to know them,the more I connected with them
deeply.
They taught me so much aboutmyself, about the world we live
in.
They helped create this andthey helped me show up

(49:32):
differently in the world.
They made me more mindful, moreconnected, more aware.
So I'm curious, on a reallypersonal level, what has this
journey done for you?
Oh, how they impacted you,which I'm sure is you know.
We could have like we could goon for hours about how you're
doing, but it's exactly what youhave experienced, you know.

Leah (49:53):
They help us to tap into that better part of ourselves
and to amplify it and grow it.
And also, I think that they arejust amazing at showing us how
to be in the world, how to be,like you said, with each other
and with other humans, withother beings, with nature, with
everything in our world.
You know, just by starting withan animal, I think that you

(50:16):
know a lot of us.
We grew up with animals when wewere young and we had that when
we were close to that when wewere young.
But then we start to lose it aswe get older, because life
starts to happen and it startsto dull our senses and it starts
to teach us kind of a differentway of being, but as adults,
getting back and into thatconnection with animals and

(50:37):
allowing them to reteach us whatwe knew as children how to find
joy, how to find peace, how to,you know, interact with each
other in a respectful and lovingway.
I think that animals are reallythe key to finding peace in
this world.
It's really so simple.
Yet we think a lot of us andthis was me before I started you

(51:02):
know I'm the human, you're theanimal.
I know more, I can do more.
I have to feed you, I have tocare for you, so I'm obviously
the higher being.
But then when you step back andyou start to connect with them
on a more soulful level, yourealize oh wow, I am the student
, you're the teacher, you're somuch more involved than me, you
have so much to teach and I needto be a student and I need to

(51:26):
learn and and it's just reallylife changing in so many ways.
I mean, when you have a tiger Iwas just reading this that
tigers squint their eyes.
They close their eyes whenthey're feeling comfortable
because they can't purr.
They can chuff.
They chuff when they see afriend, but they close their
eyes and they squint.
And when you're with a tigerand you're sitting there and I
have so many pictures and somany instances of this and they

(51:50):
do that to you and they'reconnecting to you and that deep
and loving way, that'sincredibly powerful.
You know, yes, you can get itfrom cat or dog, but wean with
wild animals who don'tnecessarily want to connect with
people, especially if they'vebeen abused, and they do that

(52:10):
and they come up to you and theyand you feel that deep love for
this moment that you're sharingtogether.
You start to learn that thismoment is the most important
moment.
This moment is all that matters.
And wow, I'm really being seen.
Right, because a wild animalsees you and that's how they
feel when we sit with them andwe actually see them.

(52:32):
They feel that too.
So it's it's again.
It's this give and take.
It's not I'm giving to you andyou're receiving it's.
I'm opening my heart to you.
Oh, I'm opening my heart to you.
Now it's mirrored, and now itamplifies and it grows, and so
it's, I think, for me.
I can't imagine a life notsharing this, sharing this

(52:52):
method with people and notsharing it with animals.
I just wish that more peoplewould be open to this very
simple way of being with animals, because it's truly life
changing and one of the mostsatisfying things I get out of
life is teaching this to peopleespecially.
I do an animal Ricky for Rickypractitioners so Ricky

(53:13):
practitioners who want to workwith animals.
They take my class and havingthem go from oh, I'm used to
using hands, I want to do itlike this to ending with Wow.
I can't imagine interactingwith animals in any other way
than what I've learned in thelet animals lead way.
It's so satisfying and I justhope that everyone, at some
point in 10 years from now, thatwe're all you know

(53:34):
communicating in this beautifulway of just a heart open space.

Avantika (53:41):
I, you said that.
I think you said a few minutesago that you believe that
animals are the key toessentially, you know, changing
the world.
And I'm really biased, I mean,I think I think that too and I
it's funny you said that yougrew up with animals, so you had

(54:01):
this connection with them, andthen, as an adult, you, you know
, had to come back to that.
For me it was the opposite.
I did not grow up with animalsat all.
Barbara and I have talked aboutthis at length because it's like
a mystery to me.
It's like how come?
You know, how did that happen?
And here I am as an adult andmy whole life has completely
changed.
I've come to understand nowthat I think animals came into

(54:28):
my life, into at a point in timewhen I was ready to learn from
them and it just had to happenthis way.
But at this point now I feel sostrongly that, in some capacity
or another, that all humanbeings would really benefit from
having relationships withanimals.
And I know I'm slightly biasedin that because of the podcast

(54:51):
and the work I'm doing right now, but I so believe that you know
even people who are alreadyvery mindful and aware and
conscious beings.
I just think the animals canelevate that even more.

Leah (55:05):
No, absolutely Absolutely, and I think it's it's
interesting that you know yousaid that when the time is right
the animals came, and I thinkthat that's one thing, that
animals are infinitely patientwith us.
And you know it's like whenyou're ready, the teacher will
show, and sometimes that teacheris an animal teacher.
But I think for people that youknow it's it's a hard one

(55:25):
because there are some peoplethat just don't like animals and
I think that that's a reallyhard sell.
You really can't get thosepeople to change that much
because they have, for whateverreason they have a certain
feeling about animals.
But for people who love animalsbut maybe don't have their own,
going to the park, just walkingdown the street and just

(55:47):
looking and seeing the birds,the squirrels, just any little
animals, you know, even insects,they all have something to show
us bees, butterflies it'sreally interesting, I go out in
the yard and I'll meditate anddragonflies they're so funny,
they love to come close.
I noticed, out of all theinsects, dragonflies, spiders

(56:08):
like to come close to and Ialways have to tell them.
You know, let's, let's give a,let's give a boundary here.
Spiders I love spiders, theyhave a purpose, but, yeah, I
have a hard time with them, butit's, you know, when we can just
open ourselves or like thecrows.
I love crows, oh my gosh, Ilove crows so much and you know,
in my backyard, in my old house, I had four crows that would

(56:31):
always be there, and it's just.
I think that we can openourselves up to other animals
Doesn't have to be our own, itcan just be nature, and when we
do, nature responds.
So I think that those just likelittle baby steps, just sitting
outside, or when you're, ifyou're at an office and if
there's a bench outside that youcan just go take a small break
on and just do the breathingexercise and see what happens.

(56:55):
And it may not be immediate,but after a few times you might
start to see like a squirrelwill come closer, you know.
Or maybe some insects willstart to, or birds might come by
.
You know, birds are preyanimals, they're always in
flight.
But even if one stops and, youknow, just rest for a minute
close to you, that's a sign thatthere's a connection.

(57:15):
So, just doing something reallysimple, but knowing that your
energy affects your world, whatyou put out is mirrored back.
So if you're feeling stressed,intense, then that's what you're
going to get back, but ifyou're feeling open and loving
and joyful, that's also whatyou're going to get back.
So just sitting outsidesomewhere and practicing that

(57:37):
breath and think of somethingthat brings you joy and then
just see what happens.
And that's really easy to do.

Avantika (57:43):
And it only takes a minute or two.

Leah (57:45):
It's not like you have to meditate for hours and hours,
like I was saying she has read.
I can't do that.
My mind is too restless.
Like 30 minutes, 45 minutes,it's about my max, but really
for me, throughout my day.
I'm just doing many meditationsbecause it builds on itself.
You don't have to sit for along period of time.
You can wake up, think ofsomething happy, get your day

(58:05):
started.
You can, you know when youstart feeling down at work or
wherever you are, just startthinking of, do your breathing,
think of something happy andjust keep yourself going
throughout your day and itbuilds on itself.
And then pretty soon you'relike wow, I actually feel really
good and I don't normally, butdoing those simple things is
really powerful.

Avantika (58:27):
Thank you, that's really helpful.
Thank you for those tips.

Barbara (58:31):
Yeah, what I've learned is that if we can go in with
those animals in deepappreciation for the gifts they
offer, it really makes adifference.
You know it really does.
So what's your experience withzoo animals and how we can show
up for those animals?

Leah (58:53):
Yeah, well, with zoos, you know, a lot of times we get two
different camps of peoplepeople who don't like zoos
because they don't like the waythe animals are being treated.
Or you get people who like zoosand they go into the zoo and,
you know, they just kind of seethe animals as maybe an
attraction.
And I think that for the letanimals lead method, and so you

(59:13):
know, I didn't really say muchabout this.
So, kathleen Pristad, when shecreated the let animals lead
method, she took human Reiki andwhen she was first doing Reiki
with animals, she was doing thehands-on healing.
But then she started to realize, through shelter animals, zoo
animals, that you can't forceanything on an animal that's
taking away their agency, that'staking away their rights.

(59:33):
So zoo animals are a perfectexample of this.
So she created this systembased on meditation so that you
could share it with all animals,and really the shelter animals
and zoo animals are the onesthat really guided this.
I don't think that she notworked with these animals, we
probably wouldn't have thesystem that we have today.
So when we go in with zooanimals, it's really important

(59:56):
to see them, to see them right.
A lot of people go to the zoo,you're not seeing the animals.
Yes, you're seeing the animals.
You're like, oh, there's a bear, there's an eagle, there's this
.
But really seeing them, oh, wow, that is an eagle.
Wow, you are so beautiful, weare so blessed.
How many times do you get tosee an eagle in your life?
I'm so blessed to be here withyou.

(01:00:17):
That's a different energy and Ithink it's really important
because that energy for ananimal is powerful and it's
empowering, whereas, oh, yeah,look at the eagle.
Oh, wow, oh, he's in that smallcage, whatever that's not, and
animals are used to that they'reso conditioned by that energy

(01:00:37):
that when we come in with thedifferent energy, with the
energy of love, with the energyI see you, I hear you, I
appreciate you, now that changeseverything, now it shifts and
now the animal sees you, becausethat's a different energy, I
remember.
So we celebrate World AnimalReiki Day.
It's on February 5th and it's aday that Kathleen created in

(01:01:00):
honor of her dog, dakota, whobrought her to Animal Reiki, who
helped her create the system wehave today, and we take people
to the zoos and other places togo and give gratitude to the
animals, and I remember one timeI was there and I took some
people and we spread out aroundthe zoo and I was with this
little baby elephant.

(01:01:20):
She was in this pool and shejust started to play hide and
seek with me and I was theretelling her how much I
appreciated her and then prettysoon she started to pop up and
she blow water out and then shego down and she hide and she
look at me and I was thinkingare you doing this with me?
And there's nobody around me.
And she was.
She was just playing hide andseek with me and it was so
amazing and I was like, wow, andthat was happening throughout

(01:01:43):
the zoo with you know, when wego, it happens like you'll have
animals just lock in with youand see you and connect with you
and you think, oh, my gosh, isthis really happening?
But it is because they feel yourappreciation, they feel your
joy, they feel the love in yourheart and we think of it again

(01:02:03):
as like it's contained to ourbody, but it's not.
Especially our heart energy,our heart energy, goes out in
that feeling of love and theyare like, oh, wow, okay, I'm
going to mirror that back to you.
Thank you for that.
I mean, can you imagine if youwere an attraction and you're
just there and everybody's kindof not really seeing you, and
then one person says wow, I seeyou, thank you.

(01:02:25):
That's like oh, thank you.
And that makes it kind of worthit in a way, I'm sure, just
like, wow, okay, I feel seen, Ifeel hard, I feel appreciated, I
feel loved.
And animals, unlike humans, theydon't need to be told that over
and over and over and overagain.
They feel it and they're likethank you, and that can shift a
lot for them.
So I think it's reallyimportant if we do go to zoos

(01:02:49):
and that's a beautiful way, likeIvanka, you were asking how
they can do this Go visitsanctuaries, go visit shelters,
go visit zoos and just in yourheart say thank you, thank you,
thank you.
You don't have to say it outloud, just you know I see you,
thank you, I see you, thank you,I'm so happy to be here with
you.
And that really shifts theenergy of the entire place and

(01:03:10):
you'd be shocked at how yourenergy can change so much.
When we go to care, you know,there's usually maybe 10
students, maybe sometimes more,but like on an average of 10
students.

Barbara (01:03:23):
So excuse me, but care is the sanctuary Care?

Leah (01:03:27):
is a wildlife sanctuary.
It's not a zoo, it's closed,public, and she has tigers and a
bear and alligators and monkeysand snakes and lemurs and
skunks and foxes and all kindsof animals.
So there, you know, it's inPopka, florida, it's in a rural
area but there's a lot of wildanimals.

(01:03:48):
There's birds, there's snakes,there's lizards, there's all
kinds of wild stuff happening.
And then there's the animals.
And so when we go there it'svery loud.
She has farm animals too, shehas ducks and she has goats and
there's pigs and torches,there's all kinds of things
there.
So it's very loud when youfirst go there.
But it's interesting, by thesecond day of class everything
starts to become peaceful andquiet.

(01:04:09):
And that's not just the animalsthat are you know that we're
working with one on one, it'salso the wild birds, the snakes
out, you know, the lizards,everybody gets quiet.
And so then you were walkingaround the property and
everyone's quiet, everyone'speaceful.
And you start to realize, wow,you know, we're just meditating.

(01:04:30):
Yet that energy of peace is sopowerful and it starts to spread
out.
And it was really interesting.
One time we were there, thislittle possum had been picked up
by probably an eagle or somekind of raptor had a big
puncture in it and he didn'tsurvive.
But Kristen's not allowed to gooutside her own property and

(01:04:50):
save animals, and so this littlepossum came on to her property
and came up close like rightwhere we could all see it, and
it was really interestingbecause he did pass away but he
was loved and he got lots ofReiki and he was cleaned and he
got pain medication and he wasable to pass peacefully.
And I think that you know wehave to look at this as, yes,

(01:05:11):
it's sad that he passed away,but look at how much he got by
coming on to the property and Iknow he was attracted to that
energy.
Another time we had a bear come.
We didn't get to see the bearbut there were bear tracks and
Kristen saw the bear.
So there's animals, like youknow, into this space because
they're attracted to it and wehave to remember that even
though you're one person andyou're going to the zoo or

(01:05:34):
you're going to a sanctuary,you're going to the shelter,
your energy is huge and once theanimals start to connect with
you, it just compound and goesout.
So you have the power to createa huge amount of peace all on
your own.

Barbara (01:05:48):
Yes, exactly, and you know what this reminds me of,
especially our talk about zoosis.
Years ago I taught a workshopon animal communication at a
little zoo, happy Hollow Zoo inSan Jose, california, and there,
you know, I talked to some ofthe animals.
It was really amazing some ofthe shifts that happened for

(01:06:09):
people that worked in the zoo.
But I remember this one jaguar,this beautiful jaguar, that was
in a cage, and I talked to herand what I learned was that she
was a healer, if you want tocall it that, that she was
watching, she loved the children, she would watch the children

(01:06:30):
and send them energy, you know,and she just delighted in that.
And I've talked to other animalsthat serve, as there was a
beluga in an aquarium on theeast coast and I talked to him
and some of these animals comeas true healers and ambassadors.
They really do.

(01:06:52):
You know, we think they're somiserable and some of them
really are, but some of them arethere intentionally.
Their soul has put them inthese places and they're there
to not just teach us but send usenergy and to appreciate us and
to learn about humans.
And it's so incredible when youcan go to that level and let go

(01:07:15):
of this whole hierarchy that wehave as humans.
You know that we're superiorand they're inferior in some
ways, but, like you were sayingearlier, they are so wise and
they truly can be our teachers.
So when you get to that leveland really connect with them in

(01:07:36):
that way, just through thesilence, it's pretty amazing who
these guys really are.

Leah (01:07:42):
Yeah, I think that they all can be healers and teachers
to us in some way.
But I think that, like you said, there are some that come
through.
Like there's a crocodile at theCara Foundation named Ingozie
and he's very powerful and somany people when they go and sit
with him, they have a clearing,they are crying, they just feel

(01:08:03):
their heart healing from his,just his energy.
And you know, no one's evertalked to Ingozie, but I'm sure
that he is a healer because he'sreally quite amazing and as a
crocodile he fears nothing.
So he's also a really greatexample of, you know, just not
having fear, just going throughlife and and being, you know,

(01:08:25):
confident in yourself.
So, yeah, it's amazing what Joehas to teach us with for open
to it.

Barbara (01:08:32):
Oh my gosh.
So true, we could go on forhours and hours, and hours, I'm
sure, but is there anything else, leah, that you would love to
share with our audience beforewe close this?

Leah (01:08:45):
Yeah, I just encourage your audience to just you know,
you don't have to learn animalrakey, you don't have to learn
anything.
Just tapping into thatbeautiful space in your heart,
doing your breath work and thenthinking of something joyful,
and going and sitting with ananimal and seeing it's, just
testing it and trying it andpracticing it.
It would just really help allanimals right.

(01:09:07):
So it starts with one person,but it grows and it amplifies
and it's just like Kathleenstarted in 1998 as one person
and now she has thousands ofstudents.
So it's it's really incrediblewhat one person can do.
So I hope that all of you,individually listening to this,
just go out and open your heartto an animal today.

Barbara (01:09:29):
Oh, thank you, Leah.
This has been so wonderful andI'm just so appreciative of your
attitude about animals and how,how respectful you are and
compassionate and really, reallyteaching all of us about the
power of love, the power ofpeace and joy, and and just

(01:09:54):
going to our own inner world sothat we can connect with theirs.
It's a powerful, powerfulpractice.
So thank you very much.

Leah (01:10:02):
Well, thank both of you.
I mean what you're doing andspreading all of this wonderful
information to the world is soimportant and so valuable.
So thank you both.
So much Appreciate you.

Avantika (01:10:13):
You're very welcome.
Yeah, just to echo what Barbarasaid, I I'm feeling very
empowered, you know, to takethis with me wherever I go.
I've already started sharingwith my husband the
conversations we've had and I'mexcited for him to listen to
this episode because I think itgives us something really
tangible and concrete to justput our minds to and just be

(01:10:36):
extra mindful about wherever wego.
I'm also really excited becausewe're going to sign up for the
course to learn from you guys.
I just think it's something wecan channel our energy into.
He loves animals.
I love learning about them andconnecting with them more deeply
, so we're really lookingforward to just having something

(01:10:58):
to to build on some skills thatwe can develop, not just to to
go in and share that love andjoy with them, but also to help
ourselves show up better andstronger.
So thank you so much again andplease let our audience know
where they can find out more ifthey're curious about the work
that you're doing.

Leah (01:11:18):
Yeah so they can go to.
It's a really long website.
It's Shelter animal rakeyassociationorg.
That's one website they can goto.
They could also go toKathleen's website at animal
rakey sourcecom and rakey isspelled RE, I, k, I.
So both of those websites havea lot of really wonderful free

(01:11:39):
information.
Also, every Wednesday startingback up next week, I do a free
talk on animal rakey.
You don't have to have anyexperience.
It's at 1030 am Pacific time.
You can find the link on theshelter animal rakey association
website and you can get ourmailing list and we send out
emails with the link as well.
But it's a great way to getintroduced to animal rakey and

(01:12:02):
to talk about it and we welcomeall levels of animal rakey on,
whether you're experienced oryou're just beginning or you
have no experience, and we alsowelcome all any edges to amazing
.

Avantika (01:12:13):
Okay, well, make sure that all the links there are
available for people so they canfind you easily, and we'll
definitely share the weeklysessions on our social media as
well, so people can tune in ifthey're interested.
Thank you so much foreverything you do, leah, and all
the work that you've done andyou continue to do, and, before
we wrap up, we'd like to shareevery blessing for the animals.

Barbara (01:12:38):
We'd like to end this podcast by taking just a moment
to be quiet and we give thanksand blessings to these amazing
animals that we share our liveswith.
They give us so much and askfor so little in return.
We hope that you can keep theanimals and all living beings in

(01:12:59):
your heart and in your mind asyou go about your day.
Thank you so much for beinghere with us today.

Avantika (01:13:26):
Thank you.