October 22, 2025 • 44 mins
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The animal communication learning journey is a mysterious one from the outside looking in. But from the inside looking out, the journey begins just like any other - by building a firm foundation. In this episode, learn the key elements that set you up for a lifetime of success when talking with animals.
As you listen, you will learn....
- 3 key strengths that all the greatest pioneers, inventors, researchers and creatives have shared in common - and that animal communication requires
- 4 non-negotiable essentials that are like the four pillars of your animal communication learning foundation
- 3 listening styles and why the one you choose will determine whether the animals are willing to talk with you or not
- How to use your own body as a guide on your intuitive journey
- And much more
Are you animal communication curious? Have I got something special for you! My new Animal Communication Adventure to Mastery student learning program just launched! This program is designed to be a gentle, yet thorough, serious, yet lighthearted path to interspecies fluency that pairs beautifully with my ongoing live Animal Communication Adventure Practice Circle for developing student practitioners. Visit animallovelanguages.com and click on programs to join us.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
Welcome back to Let's Talk to Animals, the
podcast all species can enjoytogether.
My name is Shannon Cutz.
I am an animal sensitive andintuitive, a Reiki master
practitioner, and an animalcommunication teacher with
Animal Love Languages.com.
And for our purposes here today,I am also your friendly
neighborhood hostess and guidethrough the wild, wise, and
(00:27):
wonderful world of interspeciescommunication.
Call me crazy, but I trulybelieve that animal
communication has the power tosave, heal, and restore our
planet for all species to enjoyand share.
When we learn to communicatewith one another, we begin to
realize we are so much morealike than different.
We care about each other.
(00:48):
We become friends.
On this podcast, we talk aboutwhat the animals have to say and
share and why our pets truly areour partners, empathic friends,
and teachers.
I am so glad you have joined ushere for this fresh new episode
of Let's Talk to Animals.
So let's dive in.
(01:09):
Hi, Shannon here.
Welcome back to Let's Talk toAnimals, the podcast all species
can enjoy together.
And on the Docket Day, we aregoing to dive in to one of my
favorite topics.
And it is also the topic mostlikely to be asked if I am
(01:32):
chatting with somebody casuallyabout what I do, which, as you
can probably imagine, is aninteresting conversation.
You're just standing around,you're chit chatting with
people, and they happen to askyou, so what line of work are
you in?
And at the moment I say animalcommunication, I am likely to
(01:54):
get one of a few differentgarden variety responses, one of
which is kind of a blank stare,like, I didn't quite get that.
Could you repeat that?
Number two is some kind of ajoke.
Well, I ask my pet all the timewhat they want, and they always
say, feed me.
The third is a response ofgenuine curiosity.
(02:17):
It's also the rarest, but whenit happens, it makes my day.
Tell me a little bit more aboutthat.
What exactly does that mean?
How does it work?
And I can always tell whenthere's this upwelling of
genuine interest.
And that gives me just theopening I need to dive into one
of my favorite topics.
(02:38):
And so that's what we are goingto explore today here on Let's
Talk to Animals, is what I callthe fundamentals of animal
communication.
So, in other words, if you areeven the slightest bit animal
communication curious, if youhave had what I call
breakthrough moments where youhave maybe sensed or felt or
(03:01):
simply known that you wereengaged in some kind of a
two-way information exchangewith another being who didn't
happen to be a Homo sapiens,whether it's a wild animal or an
insect or a domestic animalbelonging to someone else, or
maybe one of your companionanimals.
(03:23):
But you didn't exactly know whyit happened or how it happened
or what to do to make it happenon purpose, or even what within
you had any kind of ability tobe receptive to some kind of a
communication like that.
And what's so interesting, thoseof you who have been listening
for a while, you may know alittle bit about my personal
(03:46):
path and story about how I wentfrom hiring animal communicators
and believing with every bone inmy body that it was a gift that
only a special few got, andthere was no way I could ever do
it.
And then one day woke up anddiscovered that this was
something I could do too, andthat set me on my path of formal
(04:08):
study and practice.
And here I am today hosting apodcast called Let's Talk to
Animals.
So if you're not familiar withthe details of my story, I've
recorded several episodes abouthow I became an animal
communicator professionally andthe unfolding of that process.
And I've talked in manydifferent episodes about some of
(04:30):
the things I've gone throughalong the way.
So you can have those episodesto look forward to after we
conclude our chat here today.
But one of the things that Inoticed looking back over my
history of how I went fromhiring animal communicators to
hosting animal communicationsessions for pet parents and
(04:50):
their animal loves is I noticedthat I actually started
preparing for my formal courseof study in animal communication
long before I started learninganimal communication, long
before I even had any inklingthat I might learn or study or
practice animal communicationone day.
I was already in the preparatorystages.
(05:14):
And I was doing very importantwork and laying a firm
foundation for a path that Ididn't even know was unfolding
yet.
And this is one of the reasonsthat I wanted to share this
episode with you, is because itcan be really hard for us
mentally to go from I can't dosomething to suddenly I can do
(05:39):
something.
And yet, for so many of us,there's already a natural
interest in or even formal studyin the general vicinity of
animal communication that makesus a lot more ready than we
realize we are to take that leapand embark and start talking
(06:00):
with animals.
And so I figure if you knowthis, if you start to recognize
this as something I did not knowwas happening in my life and I
did not recognize.
So if I can kind of give youthat insider information, then
it might help you feel a littlemore confident and actually
prepared and braver to say yesto learning animal communication
(06:26):
for yourself and for theconversations that you want to
have with your pets that trulyonly you can have.
So, what did I do?
What were the activities and thestudies and the hobbies that I
was already engaged in that werelaying this firm foundation for
me?
Well, number one, I happen to bea lifelong learner.
(06:51):
I am a book nerd.
I spent 10 years as a freelancewriter, much of which was in the
pet niche before I startedlearning animal communication.
So I was already expressing andacting on the three most
important fundamental traits ofany successful animal
(07:14):
communicator, which was I wasnoticing, wondering, and getting
curious about the world aroundme and the other beings I share
it with.
I was already so fascinated.
In fact, if I look all the wayback in my life to date, one of
(07:34):
my very favorite things to do asa child was watch nature shows.
The most well-known nature showthat was on the air at the time
when I was growing up.
I'm in my fifth decade of lifeto date.
So this is going to both date meand hopefully make me feel like
a new friend for some of you whohail from my era.
(07:55):
But one of the most popular andbest, in my opinion, nature
shows that was available when Iwas a girl was Mutual of Omaha's
Wild Kingdom.
And I watch that show every weekand I was just fascinated.
And I talk a lot more about whatwatching that show every week
(08:16):
taught me in the free webinarseries that I offer Intuitive
Development for Pet Parents.
So if you have not attended thatwebinar, that's kind of like the
next step after this episode.
And I offer them prettyregularly.
So you'll just have to head overto Animal Lovelanguages.com and
get on my email list.
(08:37):
And that will give you theupdate for when the next series
of webinars launches, if thereisn't one running at the time
you're listening to this.
So that show was really key forme in a lot of ways.
But for our purposes here today,what mattered most was that I
was naturally curious, not justabout my companion pets at the
(09:01):
time, but all animals.
I was also really curious aboutmy own species.
And I spent many a blissful hourhiding myself in the self-help,
self-improvement, and new agesections of our local library,
because I wanted to understandwhat made me tick.
And I was looking for some kindof manual to explain all the
(09:26):
different facets of me beyondwhat high school biology was
offering up.
My feelings, my thoughts, theintersection of the two, my
body, my mind, my heart, myconsciousness or soul.
I remember not even reallyknowing what to call it back
then, but just kind of sensingthat there was something that
(09:49):
made me breathe, that madeeverybody breathe.
And I didn't know what it was.
In fact, for those of you whoare Star Wars geeks, like I am,
the closest thing I could findto that was this concept of the
force, fundamentally benevolentor at least neutral energy
running through and connectingall being and all of life.
(10:12):
So I was constantly looking formy version of the force.
And I was pretty relentless.
But truthfully, I've always beenlike that.
I'm an introvert.
You don't have to be anintrovert to be an animal
communicator, to be intuitive.
But if you have a lot of freetime on your hands and you
happen to be an introvert, itcan make it a little easier to
just stick your nose in a book.
(10:33):
And there are lots of greatbooks out there, there are lots
of great movies out there.
I was such an insatiableadventurer, an explorer of the
inner landscape.
And I was always noticing thingsthat didn't seem important to
the adults around me or even tomy peers, subtle things like
(10:55):
body language and tone of voiceand expression and just all
kinds of little nuances that Icould sense they were there and
they were important, but Ididn't know why.
So I was on this constantsearch, noticing, wondering,
getting curious.
And I talk about this a lot moreinside my Animal Communications
(11:16):
Student program.
But it is a hallmark of allgreat adventurers, explorers,
engineers, inventors,researchers, groundbreakers,
pioneering thinkers, because itstretches us into the realm of
(11:37):
imagination, which is a gatewayto intuition.
So there is something to be saidfor recapturing the gift and the
skill of noticing, wondering,and getting curious, and
allowing our natural curiosityto lead us into new adventures,
(12:00):
into a rekindling of our abilityto imagine, not just so we can
manifest more money, a betterlife, a life partner, whatever
it is that we want that's on ourbucket list or our to-do list,
but as an exploration worthy ofembarking on simply for its own
(12:23):
sake.
Both imagination and intuitionshare a pathway through the
subconscious mind, which relatesto the right brain hemisphere,
which relates to an entiremodule inside my animal
communication adventure tomastery student program, where
we talk about why we have twodifferent brain hemispheres and
(12:45):
what each one is supposed to beused for.
And so for our purposes today,because that would take us down
a completely different path,just know that encouraging
yourself, giving yourselfpermission to notice, to wonder,
to get curious, to daydreamagain, to imagine as if, to play
(13:05):
with things like manifestingsomething small, like finding a
penny on the sidewalk or yourdog licking you right on the
nose when you get home.
Those are building blocks tosomething bigger and more
cohesive that in time can turninto a bona fide interspecies
(13:26):
conversation.
How cool would that be?
Maybe pause this podcast episoderight now for a moment and allow
yourself to wonder, notice, getcurious, and imagine as if
you're having a two-wayinterspecies conversation right
now.
That's excellent practice foractually doing it.
The next thing that has beenreally helpful for me, and
(13:48):
again, those of you who've beenfollowing my journey and this
podcast for a while, you may beaware that earlier in my life, I
had a significant struggle withmental health.
I had a very serious issue withan eating disorder and cyclical
depression and anxiety and evenpanic attacks.
(14:11):
And it took me a good twodecades to claw my way out of
that mess.
And along the way, I added ahuge variety of coping skills
and tools to my Homo sapien lifesurvival skills toolkit.
And one of those skills that wasso essential that serves me well
(14:36):
to this day is I had to learnhow to notice when I was having
an emotion, number one, and Ihad to be able to name what that
emotion was, number two.
And for most of us, just the waythat we are educated is we're
not encouraged to feel, we'reencouraged to think.
(14:56):
And again, I go through this ina lot more depth in my intuitive
development for pet parentswebinar series and the student
program for animalcommunication.
But for our purposes today, justunderstand that nothing in your
background, education andworkplace training, for most of
us, really encourages tappinginto tuning into our feelings.
(15:20):
In fact, for most of us,feelings are treated kind of
like an inconvenience.
And that's where we can even seemanifestations of things like
toxic positivity orcodependency, where we literally
give all of our power away toothers to shape our reality,
(15:40):
almost feel or think or act forus.
There's a lot of fear that comesalong with that.
From my perspective, there'szero judgment because, as I
mentioned, my recovery waspretty grungy, and I had to go
through a lot of self-cleansingand detox and adding a lot of
(16:01):
new skills to my toolkit just tosurvive myself.
And one of the most valuable hasbeen being able to notice when I
am having a feeling and to namethat feeling.
And this is vital for anyone whowants to boost your intuition
and especially for anyone whowants to have animal
communication conversations,because when we get into the
(16:25):
realm of communicating withnonverbal language, which is the
language that all of thenon-Homo sapiens in our world
use to communicate, then we mustbe able to feel, and even more,
we must be able to identify whatwe are feeling.
So this is a great place tostart, especially if you can
(16:48):
identify with some of my story.
And you feel like sometimesyou're either blocked in the
area of feelings, or you maybefeel like you only have a very
narrow spectrum of feelings,like you only feel really angry
or sad or numb, or you won't letyourself feel anything except
(17:11):
for positive, optimistic, happy.
And again, zero judgment.
I lived for years in theseplaces.
So you can especially notice ifyou feel like you only have
maybe a little bit of a narrowrange of even emotional
sensitivity.
Maybe you feel like you're justkind of flatlined, like you just
(17:32):
sure, you feel a little bit ofhappiness, maybe you feel a
little sadness, maybe you feel alittle anger, but there isn't
that intensity.
So that's something to notice,wonder about, and get curious
about and play with, and beginto feel where the feelings
happen, the emotions happen inyour body.
Emotion is nothing but energy inmotion.
(17:55):
So it's a form of vibration.
I had one animal communicationsstudent who was really
struggling to make progress inher depth of conversations with
animals.
And so she asked me if she couldset up a private coaching
session with me.
And when we started workingtogether one-on-one, she shared
(18:16):
with me that she didn't feel.
And I said, Oh, that'sinteresting.
Can you tell me why it is thatyou believe that you do not
feel?
And she said, Because emotionscome from your heart, and I
never feel anything in my heart,in my chest area.
And as it turns out, like somany of us, because our
(18:37):
emotional education is minimal,if not altogether absent as
we're growing up for most of us,she did not realize that
emotions can manifest anywherein the body, they can manifest
in the form of butterflies inyour gut, or a headache, or a
feeling of euphoria that floodsyour body, or nausea, or
(19:02):
backaches, or hunger.
For some of us, if you've everheaded to the refrigerator when
you sensed a feeling coming on,you can certainly relate to
that.
Some of us head away from therefrigerator when we can sense a
feeling coming on.
And that has a lot to do withour individual set point of
(19:23):
hormones, hormonal messengerslike serotonin and
norepinephrine and oxytocin anddopamine and all kinds of other
good hormones that regulate ouremotional lives and our attempts
to moderate and modulate those.
So feelings can manifest in theform of behaviors like stress
(19:45):
eating or not eating when youfeel stressed, or sleeping too
much, or manically exercising.
There are all kinds of ways thatour feelings can flood through
us and lead us right intocertain actions.
So that's a good way to startbecoming your own feelings
detective, is to notice what Icall patterns in the chaos.
(20:08):
You notice yourself doing acertain thing again and again
and again, and especially if youfeel like you're a little
feelings repressed or feelingsblocked, you can start to trace
that back and begin to notice,well, what happened just before
I went for my fifth dog walk ofthe day, or I took another nap,
or I headed to the refrigeratoragain.
(20:29):
Start to notice was there theinkling of a feeling there?
And if so, can I challengemyself to get curious enough to
notice what feeling might ithave been?
And to identify that, you cantake one more step backwards and
notice what happened just beforeyou felt that inkling of a
feeling that flooded through youin the form of energy and motion
(20:52):
and sent you right to therefrigerator or the bicycle or
Netflix to numb out with anotherbinge watching episode.
So backtracking a little.
This is something I did dailywhen I was recovering from my
eating disorder.
I didn't really have the optionof formal treatment.
So I had to kind of do ityourself with books and
(21:13):
mentoring.
And I kept a journal and I wouldtrack back what happened first
and the next and the next thatled to this unwanted outcome yet
again.
And as I started to get betterat catching myself in the act
before the pattern got rollingand took me for a ride yet
(21:33):
again, I started to notice myemotions and how my emotions
were triggering all the rest ofit.
So if you want to be able tocommunicate with animals, you
must be able to feel andidentify what you're feeling.
And this is the pre-work.
It's gonna be an awfully toughjourney if you embark on a
(21:53):
formal course of study andpractice in animal communication
and you're not able to identifywhat you're feeling.
So not only is it gonna justhelp you to feel better and
function better in your dailylife, but it's gonna make you a
much quicker study if you decidethat you want to learn animal
communication.
You also have to be in yourphysical body because
(22:14):
fundamentally animalcommunication is a nonverbal
language, as I mentioned.
And so if we are not in ourbodies in this present moment,
and then this next presentmoment, and then this next
present moment, we are not goingto be able to hold a
conversation.
So animal communication does nottolerate things like texting on
(22:35):
the side or looking around andnoticing who just entered the
room, who might be moreinteresting to talk to, or
getting lost in your head aboutwhether you need to stop at the
store on the way home to makethe kids dinner or what's
brewing at the office tomorrowmorning.
If you're not right here rightnow, your animal communication
(22:56):
partner will not tolerate it andthey won't stick around to have
a conversation with you.
One of the quickest hacks forhow to be in your body and stay
in your body, surprisingly,actually has to do with how you
listen.
So when we're trying to text onthe side or we're secretly
running through our to-do listin our head while we're engaged
(23:19):
in a conversation with someone,we've essentially left the
conversation.
We flatter ourselves, or atleast I flatter myself, that I
can multitask in that way, and Iactually really can't.
People that think they canmultitask and say they can
multitask, they just get really,really good at switching back
and forth between differenttypes of listening styles very,
(23:40):
very quickly, in the same waythat any animal communicator
that you work with who tellsyou, well, I hear the animals
talking to me just like you'retalking to me now.
That's not actually how ithappens.
They've just gotten really,really good at the art of
translating the nonverbal intothe verbal.
And that's why I take the timeinside Animal Communication
(24:03):
Adventure to Mastery to breakdown for you exactly how it does
happen for all of us, using astrategy that one of my mentors
calls slowing down to speed upso that you understand every
single step from start tofinish.
And then slowly but surely youcan start putting all those
(24:24):
pieces in place, practicing theprocess, and then you speed it
up over time as you get betterand better and braver and braver
and more and more confidentuntil, yeah, sure, it does feel
like the animals are talking toyou in your head in words, just
like people do, but they're not.
So we've got to be in our body,and there are five keys to being
in your body.
(24:45):
And I'm going to address themost important and the most
overlooked one first, which ishow we listen.
There are three main types oflistening.
The first two are societallyencouraged, if not outright
enforced.
This is what the Toltec shamanand best-selling author Don
Miguel Ruiz calls domestication.
It's how we're educated.
(25:06):
Again, it's also how we'retrained.
We're trained to either alreadyknow something, as in, I could
regurgitate that on a test andget an A any day of the week and
twice on Sundays, or we'reencouraged to either agree or
disagree with something.
And those are the two types oflistening styles that are
taught.
We're taught to listen until weidentify something that we know,
(25:29):
and then we're like, good, I'mgood.
Check, go on to the next lessonand we leave the conversation.
Or we're taught to identify whatwe do agree with and what we
don't agree with.
No surprise, our society is sopolarized today.
And then again, check.
Done with that, leave theconversation, go on to something
else.
The third listening style is theonly listening style that will
(25:50):
work if you want to have anactual conversation with an
animal, one where you're notmaking up the animal's side of
the conversation in your head.
And it does happen, and this isone of the handy hacks to work
around it.
You've got to actually listen,which means you have to actually
stay present in each moment,which means you actually have to
notice when your mind, your leftbrain mind, is trying to sneak
away and multitask and remindit, we can't multitask.
(26:14):
We can only do one thing at atime.
And right now we're having aconversation.
So let's do that.
The mind wants to think.
So if you tell it, think aboutthis right now.
It will.
If you don't tell it, it's gonnatry to sneak away and think
about something else.
That's just the nature of themind.
There's a whole nervoussystem-related reason for why
our minds act the way that theydo.
(26:36):
And that too is very importantto understand.
But right now we're just layingthe foundation.
We're just getting acquaintedwith what is needed before we
even embark on an animalcommunication learning journey.
And this is one of them.
Noticing how am I listeningtoday?
Am I listening to know somethingand check it off the list and
move along, as if that's theonly important thing that I'm
(26:58):
here for?
Am I noticing to agree ordisagree with what I think I
already know and then I'm goingto move along?
Or am I listening to learnsomething new?
Because if you're listening tolearn something new, listening
to learn more even aboutsomething you already know, then
you're a good conversationpartner.
And here's the real fun part.
You're not just a greatconversation partner for the
(27:20):
animals, but you are for yourfellow humans as well.
And that's the wonderful, themost wonderful out of many
wonderful things about learninganimal communication.
This is one of the most, one ofthe many most wonderful, which
is that it makes us a muchbetter human animal in so many
ways.
So listening is the fundamentaland it's the one that's most
(27:40):
overlooked.
But there are also four otherkeys to staying in your body.
Number one is how we breathe.
And you might be listening tothat going, oh yeah, I already
know that.
You might even be listening tothat and going, I don't agree,
or yeah, I agree with that.
Okay, next.
Let's stop and learn somethingnew because there are all kinds
of ways to breathe, aren'tthere?
(28:01):
It's one of the reasons Iincluded an entire animal-themed
breathwork mini course inside myAnimal Communication Adventure
to Mastery student program,because there are all kinds of
ways to breathe.
There are breathing styles thatwill keep us stuck in
sympathetic nervous system mode.
Fight, flight, freeze, tend, orbefriend.
(28:23):
There are breathing techniquesthat will move us into
parasympathetic nervous systemmode, rest, digest, and
reconnect.
There are breathing styles thatcan influence our emotions,
either extending emotions orsnuffing out emotions.
There are breathing styles thatcan lead us to optimal health
(28:46):
and breathing styles that canmake us sick, sick, sick, sick
in body, sick in mind.
So noticing how and how well youbreathe is key to being in your
body.
I always joke with my studentsthat oxygenated cells are
intuitive cells because cellsthat are struggling to get their
(29:06):
fair share of oxygen are notgoing to be interested in
sending and receivingneurotransmitters that help you
decode nonverbal intuitivemessages.
So if you are not breathingdeeply and fully and making sure
that every single cell in yourbody has plenty of air and is on
board to help you with yourlearning journey, you're
basically cutting short your ownpotential.
(29:29):
Needlessly.
Think about how you feel whenyou're struggling to breathe.
Are you interested in having aconversation about anything
other than oxygen?
Probably not.
And the same thing goes forhydration, which is number two.
Hydrated cells, as I remind mystudents, are happy cells.
We are anywhere from 60 to 90%water, depending on which body
(29:51):
part we happen to be looking at.
And our planet is, I'm notexactly sure the percentage, but
it's at least 75% water.
The animals we want to talk withare also largely made up of
water.
So if our cells are dehydrated,they're probably also struggling
to breathe at that point.
(30:12):
They're full of toxic waste.
And they have other moreimportant matters to attend to
than pay attention to our animalcommunication learning goals.
So staying oxygenated, stayinghydrated are the two most
important keys.
The other two, this is also notrocket science.
You need to move your body andyou need to rest your body
(30:34):
because our bodies have thisgroovy waste removal system
called the lymphatic system.
Lymphatic system is kind of likethe shadow side or the little
sister to the circulatorysystem.
And the circulatory system hasthis pump called the heart that
keeps all the blood flowing andideally the oxygen and the water
(30:57):
and all of the nutrients andeverything keeps it all flowing,
making sure every cell haseverything it needs to do its
job optimally.
The lymphatic system does thesame for waste removal, but
unfortunately, for whateverdivine design reason, it doesn't
have its own inbelt pump.
So if we want our lymphaticsystem to move, we need to
(31:18):
breathe, drink lots of purefresh water, and move our body.
When we move our body, ourlymphatic system gets pumped.
So we are literally the pump forour lymphatic system.
And after we pump, 20, 30minutes, five, six days a week
is usually pretty good.
There are all kinds of ways todo it.
I am not someone who isqualified to give lifestyle or
(31:43):
health guidance.
There's lots better resourcesfor that sort of thing than
listening to Let's Talk toAnimals podcast.
But just find a good set pointfor you where you're getting
some movement every day,ideally.
And then you need rest becauserest and sleep is when the body
repairs itself and sorts outyour short-term and long-term
(32:05):
memory and catches up on allkinds of processes that we don't
even know are happening.
And so you need a balance ofmovement and rest.
There is, even though we're notengaged in any kind of Olympic
sport here where we've got tobe, you know, muscled and toned
and all that good stuff, at somelevel, we have to have a
(32:26):
baseline of good self-care.
If we want to have the deepestand most beneficial animal
communication conversations, wecan have animal communication
conversations anytime in anystate of health.
So really, for our purposes heretoday, for this episode, I'm
talking about really optimizingeverything.
(32:48):
So don't listen to this andthink, well, if I'm not doing
all of this, I'll never be ableto have a conversation.
That is far from accurate.
What we're talking about, if youwant to optimize your
conversations and you want tohave consistency, and especially
if you're working your waythrough it and you feel like
you're struggling to haveconsistency, these are just some
areas to look at.
And if you're animalcommunication curious, but
(33:10):
you're really hesitant or youjust think I just can't do it,
these are some easy preparatorysteps to take that don't require
a whole heck of a lot of extraenergy or investment or courage
from you, that can very gentlyand naturally lead you up to the
starting gate.
So I just want you to think ofit like that.
So, in the same rate, the waythat we nourish our bodies, the
(33:33):
types of foods that we eat andthe quantities that we eat, and
paying attention to whether thefoods that we eat are agreeing
with us or not.
If you've ever had an upsettummy from something you ate
that didn't agree with you, andthen you went and tried to have
a conversation with anyone aboutanything, you might have noticed
it was a little hard toconcentrate.
Same thing holds true when we'rereally thirsty or we're really
(33:54):
tired.
So it's just about optimizingthe results, the outcomes of the
conversations that we're having.
The final thing that I want toshare in terms of ways that you
can start preparing forembarking on your animal
communication adventure,whatever that looks like for
you, is to notice how your bodymoves.
(34:16):
And here I'm not talking aboutphysical fitness or exercise.
This actually has more of atie-in to emotion.
And I'm going to share a littlestory that will explain what I
mean by that.
When I first met my soul birdPearl, Pearl was with me for 24
years.
I have recorded several episodesabout our amazing journey and
(34:37):
our amazing story.
I've also written a book calledLove and Feathers, What a Palm
Size Parrot Has Taught Me AboutLife, Love, and Healthy
Self-Esteem.
He was with me for the grungiestparts of my mental health
recovery journey.
He is the animal who led me intoanimal communication.
And he is now back with me inhis reincarnated body as Miss
(35:01):
Pettle.
And when I first met Pearl, Ihad just lost my three-year-old
cockatiel Jacob in the mostunexpected and catastrophic way.
And I was in deep grief.
Any of you who are listening whohave been through something like
this, you can just imagine how Iwas feeling.
And I did not want another bird.
(35:22):
What you need to know about meis I have wanted a bird in my
life since I was seven.
And I have kept company withbirds nearly nonstop since I was
eight.
I seem to just crave aviancompany the way I crave oxygen.
And so it was tearing me apartto be without Jacob, and it was
tearing me apart to be without abird, and I just did not want a
bird.
And one thing led to another,and my mother intervened and
(35:45):
dragged me to a PetSmart, and Imet Pearl.
And when I walked into that PetSmart and I saw all those baby
cockatiels, my heart almostbroke, and I was on my way to
turn my body around and leavewhen out of the corner of my
eye, I saw this miserable littleclump of gray and white
feathers.
And without even thinking, myright hand stretched out right
(36:09):
in front of Pearl's little body.
He jumped on my hand, ran up myarm, and hid under my hair for
almost an hour.
And I remember whispering tohim, You are the Pearl of Great
Price.
You are loved with wings.
And that was that.
I have a whole episode onexactly how that happened and
the whole story and the book andthe blog, and then how animal
(36:32):
communication was an actualoutgrowth of all of that.
So you can enjoy that episode atanother time.
But in that moment, my body knewsomething that my mind didn't,
that my heart was feeling butwasn't willing to accept, and my
mind didn't have a clue.
But my body knew, and of its ownaccord, it leaned forward,
(36:53):
reached out my right arm, andPearl jumped on and ran up my
arm and sat on my shoulder.
And it was that fast.
Today we might call that anexample of applied kinesiology,
muscle testing, or using yourbody as a form of dowsing or as
a pendulum.
So this is where I want to leaveyou today with something really
(37:17):
fun and interesting to playwith.
This is another precursor toformal animal communication, to
intuitive development.
Notice as you're makingdecisions, how your body moves.
Most of us, even as I'm juststanding here now recording this
episode for you, my heart isopen and calm, my energy is
(37:41):
high, I am enthusiastic, I amexcited, I'm having a good time
talking with you.
And my body is naturally leaningforward.
Now, my posture and my bodymovement look a lot different
when I'm not having a goodexperience in conversation or
when I'm experiencing difficultemotions.
(38:03):
I tend to naturally lean back,and I even tend to move my body
just like I was trying to dowhen I first met Pearl.
I was trying to move my body tothe side to minimize contact and
protect myself.
I was trying to move away, butmy body was trying to move me
forward.
And this is subtle, it'snuanced.
(38:25):
But if you can just start tonotice, wonder, and get curious
about how your body is movingitself as you're having
conversations, as you're makingdecisions, as you're meeting new
people.
You may have had experienceswhere you just felt like as you
were meeting someone new, thatyou just automatically liked
(38:46):
them and you wanted to get toknow them better.
Or maybe you have hadexperiences where you've just
decided I don't really want tosit next to that person for an
hour at this conference, or Idon't really want to get trapped
in a conversation with thatperson.
Well, in addition to noticingthose thoughts, start to notice
how your body is moving.
And you'll start to be able todetect simple things like a
(39:09):
physical yes and a physical no.
My physical yes is a forwardmotion with my body.
My physical no is a backwardmotion with my body.
If you're watching the videoversion of this podcast, you can
see me demonstrating it for youright on the video.
But you may have exactly theopposite, or you may notice that
your body moves to one side orthe other.
(39:30):
There's no one right or wrongway to detect your yes and your
no, but we all have them becausewe all extend energetically,
electromagnetically beyond theboundaries of our physical skin.
That's how many of us have hadexperiences of knowing someone
(39:51):
staring at us, even though ourback is to them.
We can sense their energy andtheir focus on us.
And there's lots more to be saidabout that.
But in closing today, for yourlittle fun homework assignment,
just start to notice how yourbody moves, how your body is
moving just before you make adecision, or as you're meeting
(40:12):
someone new, or when you'refeeling a little lost and
clueless, or when your energy ishigh versus when your energy is
low, or you're being given anopportunity.
Notice how your body moves.
And this is actually anothersimpler and subtler form of
communication.
(40:33):
Our bodies communicate with oneanother, our minds communicate
with one another, our heartscommunicate with one another,
our energy communicates with oneanother, our nervous systems
communicate with one another.
So this is where I'll leave youtoday.
I hope you will pop a note inthe comments or leave a review
(40:57):
and let me know what you'renoticing and what you're
learning and how these tips aresupporting you, whether you are
looking out onto the horizon andthinking, I'd like to learn
animal communication someday, oryou're inching yourself right up
to the starting gate right now.
I remember that day well myselfwhen I finally took the plunge
(41:19):
and enrolled in my first formalstudent class and how nervous
and excited I was.
Maybe you're already on yourpath.
I would love to hear how thesetips help and support you.
And I'd love to hear yourquestions.
What else are you curious aboutwhen it comes to the animal
communication learning journey?
Developing your whole bodypresent moment awareness,
(41:43):
unwrapping all of the gifts andpathways through which your
intuition can work,communicating with all different
kinds of animals from alldifferent walks of life in all
different life stages and evenin spirit.
What questions do you have?
And we can find a time to chatabout them together in a future
(42:05):
episode of Let's Talk toAnimals.
So thank you again for tuning intoday.
It's been my honor and joy to beyour guide through today's
episode, and I send you all mylove.
Okay, bye for now.
I have so enjoyed sharing thisepisode with you.
If you're new to the Let's Talkto Animals community and you've
(42:27):
enjoyed this episode, please doleave us a review on your
favorite streaming service ordrop a comment wherever you'd
like to listen.
I love to hear from you, andyour feedback truly helps me
shape future episodes based onyour interests and needs.
If you're not already in myweekly love letters community,
head over to Animal LoveLanguages.com to opt in.
(42:47):
Your welcome email will include$25 off your first pet session
with me, and you'll be the firstto know when a new podcast
episode drops.
If you're interested in learningmore about the work I do
communicating with animals,offering pet reiki, and teaching
animal communication, pleasevisit me at animal
lovelanguages.com.
Click on Schedule for PetSessions and Programs for all
(43:09):
the information about my newAnimal Communication Adventure
to Mastery Student Program andthe live animal communication
practice circle I run forstudent practitioners.
And I look forward to welcomingyou back here very soon for a
fresh new episode of Let's Talkto Animals.
Okay, all my love.
Bye for now.
Welcome back to Let's Talk to Animals, the
podcast all species can enjoytogether.
My name is Shannon Cutz.
I am an animal sensitive andintuitive, a Reiki master
practitioner, and an animalcommunication teacher with
Animal Love Languages.com.
And for our purposes here today,I am also your friendly
neighborhood hostess and guidethrough the wild, wise, and
(00:27):
wonderful world of interspeciescommunication.
Call me crazy, but I trulybelieve that animal
communication has the power tosave, heal, and restore our
planet for all species to enjoyand share.
When we learn to communicatewith one another, we begin to
realize we are so much morealike than different.
We care about each other.
(00:48):
We become friends.
On this podcast, we talk aboutwhat the animals have to say and
share and why our pets truly areour partners, empathic friends,
and teachers.
I am so glad you have joined ushere for this fresh new episode
of Let's Talk to Animals.
So let's dive in.
(01:09):
Hi, Shannon here.
Welcome back to Let's Talk toAnimals, the podcast all species
can enjoy together.
And on the Docket Day, we aregoing to dive in to one of my
favorite topics.
And it is also the topic mostlikely to be asked if I am
(01:32):
chatting with somebody casuallyabout what I do, which, as you
can probably imagine, is aninteresting conversation.
You're just standing around,you're chit chatting with
people, and they happen to askyou, so what line of work are
you in?
And at the moment I say animalcommunication, I am likely to
(01:54):
get one of a few differentgarden variety responses, one of
which is kind of a blank stare,like, I didn't quite get that.
Could you repeat that?
Number two is some kind of ajoke.
Well, I ask my pet all the timewhat they want, and they always
say, feed me.
The third is a response ofgenuine curiosity.
(02:17):
It's also the rarest, but whenit happens, it makes my day.
Tell me a little bit more aboutthat.
What exactly does that mean?
How does it work?
And I can always tell whenthere's this upwelling of
genuine interest.
And that gives me just theopening I need to dive into one
of my favorite topics.
(02:38):
And so that's what we are goingto explore today here on Let's
Talk to Animals, is what I callthe fundamentals of animal
communication.
So, in other words, if you areeven the slightest bit animal
communication curious, if youhave had what I call
breakthrough moments where youhave maybe sensed or felt or
(03:01):
simply known that you wereengaged in some kind of a
two-way information exchangewith another being who didn't
happen to be a Homo sapiens,whether it's a wild animal or an
insect or a domestic animalbelonging to someone else, or
maybe one of your companionanimals.
(03:23):
But you didn't exactly know whyit happened or how it happened
or what to do to make it happenon purpose, or even what within
you had any kind of ability tobe receptive to some kind of a
communication like that.
And what's so interesting, thoseof you who have been listening
for a while, you may know alittle bit about my personal
(03:46):
path and story about how I wentfrom hiring animal communicators
and believing with every bone inmy body that it was a gift that
only a special few got, andthere was no way I could ever do
it.
And then one day woke up anddiscovered that this was
something I could do too, andthat set me on my path of formal
(04:08):
study and practice.
And here I am today hosting apodcast called Let's Talk to
Animals.
So if you're not familiar withthe details of my story, I've
recorded several episodes abouthow I became an animal
communicator professionally andthe unfolding of that process.
And I've talked in manydifferent episodes about some of
(04:30):
the things I've gone throughalong the way.
So you can have those episodesto look forward to after we
conclude our chat here today.
But one of the things that Inoticed looking back over my
history of how I went fromhiring animal communicators to
hosting animal communicationsessions for pet parents and
(04:50):
their animal loves is I noticedthat I actually started
preparing for my formal courseof study in animal communication
long before I started learninganimal communication, long
before I even had any inklingthat I might learn or study or
practice animal communicationone day.
I was already in the preparatorystages.
(05:14):
And I was doing very importantwork and laying a firm
foundation for a path that Ididn't even know was unfolding
yet.
And this is one of the reasonsthat I wanted to share this
episode with you, is because itcan be really hard for us
mentally to go from I can't dosomething to suddenly I can do
(05:39):
something.
And yet, for so many of us,there's already a natural
interest in or even formal studyin the general vicinity of
animal communication that makesus a lot more ready than we
realize we are to take that leapand embark and start talking
(06:00):
with animals.
And so I figure if you knowthis, if you start to recognize
this as something I did not knowwas happening in my life and I
did not recognize.
So if I can kind of give youthat insider information, then
it might help you feel a littlemore confident and actually
prepared and braver to say yesto learning animal communication
(06:26):
for yourself and for theconversations that you want to
have with your pets that trulyonly you can have.
So, what did I do?
What were the activities and thestudies and the hobbies that I
was already engaged in that werelaying this firm foundation for
me?
Well, number one, I happen to bea lifelong learner.
(06:51):
I am a book nerd.
I spent 10 years as a freelancewriter, much of which was in the
pet niche before I startedlearning animal communication.
So I was already expressing andacting on the three most
important fundamental traits ofany successful animal
(07:14):
communicator, which was I wasnoticing, wondering, and getting
curious about the world aroundme and the other beings I share
it with.
I was already so fascinated.
In fact, if I look all the wayback in my life to date, one of
(07:34):
my very favorite things to do asa child was watch nature shows.
The most well-known nature showthat was on the air at the time
when I was growing up.
I'm in my fifth decade of lifeto date.
So this is going to both date meand hopefully make me feel like
a new friend for some of you whohail from my era.
(07:55):
But one of the most popular andbest, in my opinion, nature
shows that was available when Iwas a girl was Mutual of Omaha's
Wild Kingdom.
And I watch that show every weekand I was just fascinated.
And I talk a lot more about whatwatching that show every week
(08:16):
taught me in the free webinarseries that I offer Intuitive
Development for Pet Parents.
So if you have not attended thatwebinar, that's kind of like the
next step after this episode.
And I offer them prettyregularly.
So you'll just have to head overto Animal Lovelanguages.com and
get on my email list.
(08:37):
And that will give you theupdate for when the next series
of webinars launches, if thereisn't one running at the time
you're listening to this.
So that show was really key forme in a lot of ways.
But for our purposes here today,what mattered most was that I
was naturally curious, not justabout my companion pets at the
(09:01):
time, but all animals.
I was also really curious aboutmy own species.
And I spent many a blissful hourhiding myself in the self-help,
self-improvement, and new agesections of our local library,
because I wanted to understandwhat made me tick.
And I was looking for some kindof manual to explain all the
(09:26):
different facets of me beyondwhat high school biology was
offering up.
My feelings, my thoughts, theintersection of the two, my
body, my mind, my heart, myconsciousness or soul.
I remember not even reallyknowing what to call it back
then, but just kind of sensingthat there was something that
(09:49):
made me breathe, that madeeverybody breathe.
And I didn't know what it was.
In fact, for those of you whoare Star Wars geeks, like I am,
the closest thing I could findto that was this concept of the
force, fundamentally benevolentor at least neutral energy
running through and connectingall being and all of life.
(10:12):
So I was constantly looking formy version of the force.
And I was pretty relentless.
But truthfully, I've always beenlike that.
I'm an introvert.
You don't have to be anintrovert to be an animal
communicator, to be intuitive.
But if you have a lot of freetime on your hands and you
happen to be an introvert, itcan make it a little easier to
just stick your nose in a book.
(10:33):
And there are lots of greatbooks out there, there are lots
of great movies out there.
I was such an insatiableadventurer, an explorer of the
inner landscape.
And I was always noticing thingsthat didn't seem important to
the adults around me or even tomy peers, subtle things like
(10:55):
body language and tone of voiceand expression and just all
kinds of little nuances that Icould sense they were there and
they were important, but Ididn't know why.
So I was on this constantsearch, noticing, wondering,
getting curious.
And I talk about this a lot moreinside my Animal Communications
(11:16):
Student program.
But it is a hallmark of allgreat adventurers, explorers,
engineers, inventors,researchers, groundbreakers,
pioneering thinkers, because itstretches us into the realm of
(11:37):
imagination, which is a gatewayto intuition.
So there is something to be saidfor recapturing the gift and the
skill of noticing, wondering,and getting curious, and
allowing our natural curiosityto lead us into new adventures,
(12:00):
into a rekindling of our abilityto imagine, not just so we can
manifest more money, a betterlife, a life partner, whatever
it is that we want that's on ourbucket list or our to-do list,
but as an exploration worthy ofembarking on simply for its own
(12:23):
sake.
Both imagination and intuitionshare a pathway through the
subconscious mind, which relatesto the right brain hemisphere,
which relates to an entiremodule inside my animal
communication adventure tomastery student program, where
we talk about why we have twodifferent brain hemispheres and
(12:45):
what each one is supposed to beused for.
And so for our purposes today,because that would take us down
a completely different path,just know that encouraging
yourself, giving yourselfpermission to notice, to wonder,
to get curious, to daydreamagain, to imagine as if, to play
(13:05):
with things like manifestingsomething small, like finding a
penny on the sidewalk or yourdog licking you right on the
nose when you get home.
Those are building blocks tosomething bigger and more
cohesive that in time can turninto a bona fide interspecies
(13:26):
conversation.
How cool would that be?
Maybe pause this podcast episoderight now for a moment and allow
yourself to wonder, notice, getcurious, and imagine as if
you're having a two-wayinterspecies conversation right
now.
That's excellent practice foractually doing it.
The next thing that has beenreally helpful for me, and
(13:48):
again, those of you who've beenfollowing my journey and this
podcast for a while, you may beaware that earlier in my life, I
had a significant struggle withmental health.
I had a very serious issue withan eating disorder and cyclical
depression and anxiety and evenpanic attacks.
(14:11):
And it took me a good twodecades to claw my way out of
that mess.
And along the way, I added ahuge variety of coping skills
and tools to my Homo sapien lifesurvival skills toolkit.
And one of those skills that wasso essential that serves me well
(14:36):
to this day is I had to learnhow to notice when I was having
an emotion, number one, and Ihad to be able to name what that
emotion was, number two.
And for most of us, just the waythat we are educated is we're
not encouraged to feel, we'reencouraged to think.
(14:56):
And again, I go through this ina lot more depth in my intuitive
development for pet parentswebinar series and the student
program for animalcommunication.
But for our purposes today, justunderstand that nothing in your
background, education andworkplace training, for most of
us, really encourages tappinginto tuning into our feelings.
(15:20):
In fact, for most of us,feelings are treated kind of
like an inconvenience.
And that's where we can even seemanifestations of things like
toxic positivity orcodependency, where we literally
give all of our power away toothers to shape our reality,
(15:40):
almost feel or think or act forus.
There's a lot of fear that comesalong with that.
From my perspective, there'szero judgment because, as I
mentioned, my recovery waspretty grungy, and I had to go
through a lot of self-cleansingand detox and adding a lot of
(16:01):
new skills to my toolkit just tosurvive myself.
And one of the most valuable hasbeen being able to notice when I
am having a feeling and to namethat feeling.
And this is vital for anyone whowants to boost your intuition
and especially for anyone whowants to have animal
communication conversations,because when we get into the
(16:25):
realm of communicating withnonverbal language, which is the
language that all of thenon-Homo sapiens in our world
use to communicate, then we mustbe able to feel, and even more,
we must be able to identify whatwe are feeling.
So this is a great place tostart, especially if you can
(16:48):
identify with some of my story.
And you feel like sometimesyou're either blocked in the
area of feelings, or you maybefeel like you only have a very
narrow spectrum of feelings,like you only feel really angry
or sad or numb, or you won't letyourself feel anything except
(17:11):
for positive, optimistic, happy.
And again, zero judgment.
I lived for years in theseplaces.
So you can especially notice ifyou feel like you only have
maybe a little bit of a narrowrange of even emotional
sensitivity.
Maybe you feel like you're justkind of flatlined, like you just
(17:32):
sure, you feel a little bit ofhappiness, maybe you feel a
little sadness, maybe you feel alittle anger, but there isn't
that intensity.
So that's something to notice,wonder about, and get curious
about and play with, and beginto feel where the feelings
happen, the emotions happen inyour body.
Emotion is nothing but energy inmotion.
(17:55):
So it's a form of vibration.
I had one animal communicationsstudent who was really
struggling to make progress inher depth of conversations with
animals.
And so she asked me if she couldset up a private coaching
session with me.
And when we started workingtogether one-on-one, she shared
(18:16):
with me that she didn't feel.
And I said, Oh, that'sinteresting.
Can you tell me why it is thatyou believe that you do not
feel?
And she said, Because emotionscome from your heart, and I
never feel anything in my heart,in my chest area.
And as it turns out, like somany of us, because our
(18:37):
emotional education is minimal,if not altogether absent as
we're growing up for most of us,she did not realize that
emotions can manifest anywherein the body, they can manifest
in the form of butterflies inyour gut, or a headache, or a
feeling of euphoria that floodsyour body, or nausea, or
(19:02):
backaches, or hunger.
For some of us, if you've everheaded to the refrigerator when
you sensed a feeling coming on,you can certainly relate to
that.
Some of us head away from therefrigerator when we can sense a
feeling coming on.
And that has a lot to do withour individual set point of
(19:23):
hormones, hormonal messengerslike serotonin and
norepinephrine and oxytocin anddopamine and all kinds of other
good hormones that regulate ouremotional lives and our attempts
to moderate and modulate those.
So feelings can manifest in theform of behaviors like stress
(19:45):
eating or not eating when youfeel stressed, or sleeping too
much, or manically exercising.
There are all kinds of ways thatour feelings can flood through
us and lead us right intocertain actions.
So that's a good way to startbecoming your own feelings
detective, is to notice what Icall patterns in the chaos.
(20:08):
You notice yourself doing acertain thing again and again
and again, and especially if youfeel like you're a little
feelings repressed or feelingsblocked, you can start to trace
that back and begin to notice,well, what happened just before
I went for my fifth dog walk ofthe day, or I took another nap,
or I headed to the refrigeratoragain.
(20:29):
Start to notice was there theinkling of a feeling there?
And if so, can I challengemyself to get curious enough to
notice what feeling might ithave been?
And to identify that, you cantake one more step backwards and
notice what happened just beforeyou felt that inkling of a
feeling that flooded through youin the form of energy and motion
(20:52):
and sent you right to therefrigerator or the bicycle or
Netflix to numb out with anotherbinge watching episode.
So backtracking a little.
This is something I did dailywhen I was recovering from my
eating disorder.
I didn't really have the optionof formal treatment.
So I had to kind of do ityourself with books and
(21:13):
mentoring.
And I kept a journal and I wouldtrack back what happened first
and the next and the next thatled to this unwanted outcome yet
again.
And as I started to get betterat catching myself in the act
before the pattern got rollingand took me for a ride yet
(21:33):
again, I started to notice myemotions and how my emotions
were triggering all the rest ofit.
So if you want to be able tocommunicate with animals, you
must be able to feel andidentify what you're feeling.
And this is the pre-work.
It's gonna be an awfully toughjourney if you embark on a
(21:53):
formal course of study andpractice in animal communication
and you're not able to identifywhat you're feeling.
So not only is it gonna justhelp you to feel better and
function better in your dailylife, but it's gonna make you a
much quicker study if you decidethat you want to learn animal
communication.
You also have to be in yourphysical body because
(22:14):
fundamentally animalcommunication is a nonverbal
language, as I mentioned.
And so if we are not in ourbodies in this present moment,
and then this next presentmoment, and then this next
present moment, we are not goingto be able to hold a
conversation.
So animal communication does nottolerate things like texting on
(22:35):
the side or looking around andnoticing who just entered the
room, who might be moreinteresting to talk to, or
getting lost in your head aboutwhether you need to stop at the
store on the way home to makethe kids dinner or what's
brewing at the office tomorrowmorning.
If you're not right here rightnow, your animal communication
(22:56):
partner will not tolerate it andthey won't stick around to have
a conversation with you.
One of the quickest hacks forhow to be in your body and stay
in your body, surprisingly,actually has to do with how you
listen.
So when we're trying to text onthe side or we're secretly
running through our to-do listin our head while we're engaged
(23:19):
in a conversation with someone,we've essentially left the
conversation.
We flatter ourselves, or atleast I flatter myself, that I
can multitask in that way, and Iactually really can't.
People that think they canmultitask and say they can
multitask, they just get really,really good at switching back
and forth between differenttypes of listening styles very,
(23:40):
very quickly, in the same waythat any animal communicator
that you work with who tellsyou, well, I hear the animals
talking to me just like you'retalking to me now.
That's not actually how ithappens.
They've just gotten really,really good at the art of
translating the nonverbal intothe verbal.
And that's why I take the timeinside Animal Communication
(24:03):
Adventure to Mastery to breakdown for you exactly how it does
happen for all of us, using astrategy that one of my mentors
calls slowing down to speed upso that you understand every
single step from start tofinish.
And then slowly but surely youcan start putting all those
(24:24):
pieces in place, practicing theprocess, and then you speed it
up over time as you get betterand better and braver and braver
and more and more confidentuntil, yeah, sure, it does feel
like the animals are talking toyou in your head in words, just
like people do, but they're not.
So we've got to be in our body,and there are five keys to being
in your body.
(24:45):
And I'm going to address themost important and the most
overlooked one first, which ishow we listen.
There are three main types oflistening.
The first two are societallyencouraged, if not outright
enforced.
This is what the Toltec shamanand best-selling author Don
Miguel Ruiz calls domestication.
It's how we're educated.
(25:06):
Again, it's also how we'retrained.
We're trained to either alreadyknow something, as in, I could
regurgitate that on a test andget an A any day of the week and
twice on Sundays, or we'reencouraged to either agree or
disagree with something.
And those are the two types oflistening styles that are
taught.
We're taught to listen until weidentify something that we know,
(25:29):
and then we're like, good, I'mgood.
Check, go on to the next lessonand we leave the conversation.
Or we're taught to identify whatwe do agree with and what we
don't agree with.
No surprise, our society is sopolarized today.
And then again, check.
Done with that, leave theconversation, go on to something
else.
The third listening style is theonly listening style that will
(25:50):
work if you want to have anactual conversation with an
animal, one where you're notmaking up the animal's side of
the conversation in your head.
And it does happen, and this isone of the handy hacks to work
around it.
You've got to actually listen,which means you have to actually
stay present in each moment,which means you actually have to
notice when your mind, your leftbrain mind, is trying to sneak
away and multitask and remindit, we can't multitask.
(26:14):
We can only do one thing at atime.
And right now we're having aconversation.
So let's do that.
The mind wants to think.
So if you tell it, think aboutthis right now.
It will.
If you don't tell it, it's gonnatry to sneak away and think
about something else.
That's just the nature of themind.
There's a whole nervoussystem-related reason for why
our minds act the way that theydo.
(26:36):
And that too is very importantto understand.
But right now we're just layingthe foundation.
We're just getting acquaintedwith what is needed before we
even embark on an animalcommunication learning journey.
And this is one of them.
Noticing how am I listeningtoday?
Am I listening to know somethingand check it off the list and
move along, as if that's theonly important thing that I'm
(26:58):
here for?
Am I noticing to agree ordisagree with what I think I
already know and then I'm goingto move along?
Or am I listening to learnsomething new?
Because if you're listening tolearn something new, listening
to learn more even aboutsomething you already know, then
you're a good conversationpartner.
And here's the real fun part.
You're not just a greatconversation partner for the
(27:20):
animals, but you are for yourfellow humans as well.
And that's the wonderful, themost wonderful out of many
wonderful things about learninganimal communication.
This is one of the most, one ofthe many most wonderful, which
is that it makes us a muchbetter human animal in so many
ways.
So listening is the fundamentaland it's the one that's most
(27:40):
overlooked.
But there are also four otherkeys to staying in your body.
Number one is how we breathe.
And you might be listening tothat going, oh yeah, I already
know that.
You might even be listening tothat and going, I don't agree,
or yeah, I agree with that.
Okay, next.
Let's stop and learn somethingnew because there are all kinds
of ways to breathe, aren'tthere?
(28:01):
It's one of the reasons Iincluded an entire animal-themed
breathwork mini course inside myAnimal Communication Adventure
to Mastery student program,because there are all kinds of
ways to breathe.
There are breathing styles thatwill keep us stuck in
sympathetic nervous system mode.
Fight, flight, freeze, tend, orbefriend.
(28:23):
There are breathing techniquesthat will move us into
parasympathetic nervous systemmode, rest, digest, and
reconnect.
There are breathing styles thatcan influence our emotions,
either extending emotions orsnuffing out emotions.
There are breathing styles thatcan lead us to optimal health
(28:46):
and breathing styles that canmake us sick, sick, sick, sick
in body, sick in mind.
So noticing how and how well youbreathe is key to being in your
body.
I always joke with my studentsthat oxygenated cells are
intuitive cells because cellsthat are struggling to get their
(29:06):
fair share of oxygen are notgoing to be interested in
sending and receivingneurotransmitters that help you
decode nonverbal intuitivemessages.
So if you are not breathingdeeply and fully and making sure
that every single cell in yourbody has plenty of air and is on
board to help you with yourlearning journey, you're
basically cutting short your ownpotential.
(29:29):
Needlessly.
Think about how you feel whenyou're struggling to breathe.
Are you interested in having aconversation about anything
other than oxygen?
Probably not.
And the same thing goes forhydration, which is number two.
Hydrated cells, as I remind mystudents, are happy cells.
We are anywhere from 60 to 90%water, depending on which body
(29:51):
part we happen to be looking at.
And our planet is, I'm notexactly sure the percentage, but
it's at least 75% water.
The animals we want to talk withare also largely made up of
water.
So if our cells are dehydrated,they're probably also struggling
to breathe at that point.
(30:12):
They're full of toxic waste.
And they have other moreimportant matters to attend to
than pay attention to our animalcommunication learning goals.
So staying oxygenated, stayinghydrated are the two most
important keys.
The other two, this is also notrocket science.
You need to move your body andyou need to rest your body
(30:34):
because our bodies have thisgroovy waste removal system
called the lymphatic system.
Lymphatic system is kind of likethe shadow side or the little
sister to the circulatorysystem.
And the circulatory system hasthis pump called the heart that
keeps all the blood flowing andideally the oxygen and the water
(30:57):
and all of the nutrients andeverything keeps it all flowing,
making sure every cell haseverything it needs to do its
job optimally.
The lymphatic system does thesame for waste removal, but
unfortunately, for whateverdivine design reason, it doesn't
have its own inbelt pump.
So if we want our lymphaticsystem to move, we need to
(31:18):
breathe, drink lots of purefresh water, and move our body.
When we move our body, ourlymphatic system gets pumped.
So we are literally the pump forour lymphatic system.
And after we pump, 20, 30minutes, five, six days a week
is usually pretty good.
There are all kinds of ways todo it.
I am not someone who isqualified to give lifestyle or
(31:43):
health guidance.
There's lots better resourcesfor that sort of thing than
listening to Let's Talk toAnimals podcast.
But just find a good set pointfor you where you're getting
some movement every day,ideally.
And then you need rest becauserest and sleep is when the body
repairs itself and sorts outyour short-term and long-term
(32:05):
memory and catches up on allkinds of processes that we don't
even know are happening.
And so you need a balance ofmovement and rest.
There is, even though we're notengaged in any kind of Olympic
sport here where we've got tobe, you know, muscled and toned
and all that good stuff, at somelevel, we have to have a
(32:26):
baseline of good self-care.
If we want to have the deepestand most beneficial animal
communication conversations, wecan have animal communication
conversations anytime in anystate of health.
So really, for our purposes heretoday, for this episode, I'm
talking about really optimizingeverything.
(32:48):
So don't listen to this andthink, well, if I'm not doing
all of this, I'll never be ableto have a conversation.
That is far from accurate.
What we're talking about, if youwant to optimize your
conversations and you want tohave consistency, and especially
if you're working your waythrough it and you feel like
you're struggling to haveconsistency, these are just some
areas to look at.
And if you're animalcommunication curious, but
(33:10):
you're really hesitant or youjust think I just can't do it,
these are some easy preparatorysteps to take that don't require
a whole heck of a lot of extraenergy or investment or courage
from you, that can very gentlyand naturally lead you up to the
starting gate.
So I just want you to think ofit like that.
So, in the same rate, the waythat we nourish our bodies, the
(33:33):
types of foods that we eat andthe quantities that we eat, and
paying attention to whether thefoods that we eat are agreeing
with us or not.
If you've ever had an upsettummy from something you ate
that didn't agree with you, andthen you went and tried to have
a conversation with anyone aboutanything, you might have noticed
it was a little hard toconcentrate.
Same thing holds true when we'rereally thirsty or we're really
(33:54):
tired.
So it's just about optimizingthe results, the outcomes of the
conversations that we're having.
The final thing that I want toshare in terms of ways that you
can start preparing forembarking on your animal
communication adventure,whatever that looks like for
you, is to notice how your bodymoves.
(34:16):
And here I'm not talking aboutphysical fitness or exercise.
This actually has more of atie-in to emotion.
And I'm going to share a littlestory that will explain what I
mean by that.
When I first met my soul birdPearl, Pearl was with me for 24
years.
I have recorded several episodesabout our amazing journey and
(34:37):
our amazing story.
I've also written a book calledLove and Feathers, What a Palm
Size Parrot Has Taught Me AboutLife, Love, and Healthy
Self-Esteem.
He was with me for the grungiestparts of my mental health
recovery journey.
He is the animal who led me intoanimal communication.
And he is now back with me inhis reincarnated body as Miss
(35:01):
Pettle.
And when I first met Pearl, Ihad just lost my three-year-old
cockatiel Jacob in the mostunexpected and catastrophic way.
And I was in deep grief.
Any of you who are listening whohave been through something like
this, you can just imagine how Iwas feeling.
And I did not want another bird.
(35:22):
What you need to know about meis I have wanted a bird in my
life since I was seven.
And I have kept company withbirds nearly nonstop since I was
eight.
I seem to just crave aviancompany the way I crave oxygen.
And so it was tearing me apartto be without Jacob, and it was
tearing me apart to be without abird, and I just did not want a
bird.
And one thing led to another,and my mother intervened and
(35:45):
dragged me to a PetSmart, and Imet Pearl.
And when I walked into that PetSmart and I saw all those baby
cockatiels, my heart almostbroke, and I was on my way to
turn my body around and leavewhen out of the corner of my
eye, I saw this miserable littleclump of gray and white
feathers.
And without even thinking, myright hand stretched out right
(36:09):
in front of Pearl's little body.
He jumped on my hand, ran up myarm, and hid under my hair for
almost an hour.
And I remember whispering tohim, You are the Pearl of Great
Price.
You are loved with wings.
And that was that.
I have a whole episode onexactly how that happened and
the whole story and the book andthe blog, and then how animal
(36:32):
communication was an actualoutgrowth of all of that.
So you can enjoy that episode atanother time.
But in that moment, my body knewsomething that my mind didn't,
that my heart was feeling butwasn't willing to accept, and my
mind didn't have a clue.
But my body knew, and of its ownaccord, it leaned forward,
(36:53):
reached out my right arm, andPearl jumped on and ran up my
arm and sat on my shoulder.
And it was that fast.
Today we might call that anexample of applied kinesiology,
muscle testing, or using yourbody as a form of dowsing or as
a pendulum.
So this is where I want to leaveyou today with something really
(37:17):
fun and interesting to playwith.
This is another precursor toformal animal communication, to
intuitive development.
Notice as you're makingdecisions, how your body moves.
Most of us, even as I'm juststanding here now recording this
episode for you, my heart isopen and calm, my energy is
(37:41):
high, I am enthusiastic, I amexcited, I'm having a good time
talking with you.
And my body is naturally leaningforward.
Now, my posture and my bodymovement look a lot different
when I'm not having a goodexperience in conversation or
when I'm experiencing difficultemotions.
(38:03):
I tend to naturally lean back,and I even tend to move my body
just like I was trying to dowhen I first met Pearl.
I was trying to move my body tothe side to minimize contact and
protect myself.
I was trying to move away, butmy body was trying to move me
forward.
And this is subtle, it'snuanced.
(38:25):
But if you can just start tonotice, wonder, and get curious
about how your body is movingitself as you're having
conversations, as you're makingdecisions, as you're meeting new
people.
You may have had experienceswhere you just felt like as you
were meeting someone new, thatyou just automatically liked
(38:46):
them and you wanted to get toknow them better.
Or maybe you have hadexperiences where you've just
decided I don't really want tosit next to that person for an
hour at this conference, or Idon't really want to get trapped
in a conversation with thatperson.
Well, in addition to noticingthose thoughts, start to notice
how your body is moving.
And you'll start to be able todetect simple things like a
(39:09):
physical yes and a physical no.
My physical yes is a forwardmotion with my body.
My physical no is a backwardmotion with my body.
If you're watching the videoversion of this podcast, you can
see me demonstrating it for youright on the video.
But you may have exactly theopposite, or you may notice that
your body moves to one side orthe other.
(39:30):
There's no one right or wrongway to detect your yes and your
no, but we all have them becausewe all extend energetically,
electromagnetically beyond theboundaries of our physical skin.
That's how many of us have hadexperiences of knowing someone
(39:51):
staring at us, even though ourback is to them.
We can sense their energy andtheir focus on us.
And there's lots more to be saidabout that.
But in closing today, for yourlittle fun homework assignment,
just start to notice how yourbody moves, how your body is
moving just before you make adecision, or as you're meeting
(40:12):
someone new, or when you'refeeling a little lost and
clueless, or when your energy ishigh versus when your energy is
low, or you're being given anopportunity.
Notice how your body moves.
And this is actually anothersimpler and subtler form of
communication.
(40:33):
Our bodies communicate with oneanother, our minds communicate
with one another, our heartscommunicate with one another,
our energy communicates with oneanother, our nervous systems
communicate with one another.
So this is where I'll leave youtoday.
I hope you will pop a note inthe comments or leave a review
(40:57):
and let me know what you'renoticing and what you're
learning and how these tips aresupporting you, whether you are
looking out onto the horizon andthinking, I'd like to learn
animal communication someday, oryou're inching yourself right up
to the starting gate right now.
I remember that day well myselfwhen I finally took the plunge
(41:19):
and enrolled in my first formalstudent class and how nervous
and excited I was.
Maybe you're already on yourpath.
I would love to hear how thesetips help and support you.
And I'd love to hear yourquestions.
What else are you curious aboutwhen it comes to the animal
communication learning journey?
Developing your whole bodypresent moment awareness,
(41:43):
unwrapping all of the gifts andpathways through which your
intuition can work,communicating with all different
kinds of animals from alldifferent walks of life in all
different life stages and evenin spirit.
What questions do you have?
And we can find a time to chatabout them together in a future
(42:05):
episode of Let's Talk toAnimals.
So thank you again for tuning intoday.
It's been my honor and joy to beyour guide through today's
episode, and I send you all mylove.
Okay, bye for now.
I have so enjoyed sharing thisepisode with you.
If you're new to the Let's Talkto Animals community and you've
(42:27):
enjoyed this episode, please doleave us a review on your
favorite streaming service ordrop a comment wherever you'd
like to listen.
I love to hear from you, andyour feedback truly helps me
shape future episodes based onyour interests and needs.
If you're not already in myweekly love letters community,
head over to Animal LoveLanguages.com to opt in.
(42:47):
Your welcome email will include$25 off your first pet session
with me, and you'll be the firstto know when a new podcast
episode drops.
If you're interested in learningmore about the work I do
communicating with animals,offering pet reiki, and teaching
animal communication, pleasevisit me at animal
lovelanguages.com.
Click on Schedule for PetSessions and Programs for all
(43:09):
the information about my newAnimal Communication Adventure
to Mastery Student Program andthe live animal communication
practice circle I run forstudent practitioners.
And I look forward to welcomingyou back here very soon for a
fresh new episode of Let's Talkto Animals.
Okay, all my love.
Bye for now.
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