October 8, 2025 • 64 mins
Share your thoughts & ideas! ✨
What really happens during an animal communication session with your pet? How can you prepare to have the most positive and successful experience? In this episode, animal intuitive and animal communication teacher Shannon Cutts unpacks the anatomy of a typical animal communication session to demystify the process and help you prepare for your pet's session.
As you listen you will learn:
- The basic parts of an animal communication session
- Why choose to have an animal communication session for your pet
- What animal communication can and cannot help with
- How the process of translation occurs when I talk with your pet
- Your essential role in the animal communication conversation
- How to prepare for the most successful pet conversation
- And so 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 that all
species can enjoy together.
And this week for our fresh newepisode, I'm almost embarrassed
that it's taken me this long torecord this episode for you.
It's got to be the mostfrequently asked question that I
(01:32):
get.
Oh, you're an animalcommunicator.
What happens during an animalcommunication session?
If you are a fellow communicatoror a student communicator who is
listening, you are probablyfamiliar with these kinds of
questions.
And if you are a listener who isanimal communication curious and
(01:55):
you have yet to have your ownpersonal firsthand experience of
working with an animalcommunicator such as myself, I
hope that this podcast episodewill shed some light on how one
communicator approaches the artas well as the science of
(02:16):
communicating across speciesboundaries.
Now I am going to be presentingthe information from my first
hand perspective.
So if you are listening todayand perhaps you've had
experiences working with otheranimal communicators, then they
might approach the discipline alittle bit differently.
(02:38):
They might structure theirsessions a little bit
differently.
We all find our way ascommunicators, and it's as
unique as our thumbprints.
Those of you who have been withthe Let's Talk to Animals
community for some time, youprobably know my story that
before I hung out a shingle andwent pro and became an animal
intuitive for real, I spentyears hiring animal
(03:01):
communicators.
I didn't come into this fieldwith all guns blazing, believing
that I could do it.
I came into this field wobblyand curious because an animal
communicator I had hired toldme, you know, Shannon, you can
do this too.
And that was such a revelationfor me.
And I had never had anybody sayanything like that to me before.
(03:23):
So I've been on both sides ofthat conversation for many, many
years now.
And my way is also infused byall of the wonderful teachers,
coaches, and mentors who haveguided me both within the direct
field of animal communicationand in related fields like
(03:44):
intuitive development and evenmediumship.
So that is where I'm headed andwhat I mean by we each find our
own way.
So, especially for those of youwho are listening who may be
practitioners yourself, or youmay be student practitioners and
you're working through yourprocess of finding your way, I
(04:04):
encourage you to listen from theperspective of genuine openness,
wondering, getting curious,noticing.
These are the hallmarks, theseare the foundations I teach all
of my students within AnimalCommunication Adventure to
Mastery, which is my signaturestudent learning program.
And that is what we practiceinside Animal Communication
(04:25):
Adventure practice circle everysingle week.
So take what resonates or atleast what sparks your curiosity
and maybe take it one stepfurther and leave the rest.
It's all simply food forthought.
And for pet parent listeners, asyou listen, just consider that
if reaching out to me personallyversus a different communicator
(04:48):
to schedule your experience ofanimal communication with your
pet here or in spirit, just takethis as some pre-preparatory
food for thought, contemplation,how you might begin to prepare
for the experience, some thingsthat you might want to think
through as you're crafting anyquestions that you might have
(05:08):
for your personal pet here or inspirit.
And also just thebehind-the-scenes philosophy of
how I approach the service thatI offer as an animal
communicator or animalintuitive, how I view it and
what I have experienced, it isextremely useful for, as well as
(05:28):
what I have experienced, itperhaps is not ideally suited
for.
So just take that all intoconsideration as you listen
today.
So let's dive in and start withwhat is animal communication
itself?
When you say, I want an animalcommunication session for my pet
(05:50):
or with my animal, and again,this can be for an animal who is
embodied, who is alive here onthis earth plane in this 3D
dimension right now.
This can be for a pet who haspassed or crossed over or
transitioned out of theirphysical body into the etheric
or the light or the soul realm,however you prefer to think of
(06:15):
it.
Then what is animalcommunication?
What are we really doing here?
What are you registering for orsigning up for?
What is it?
So I'm going to share myperspective.
And this is what I tell each petparent client that I personally
work with in one-to-onesessions, and is what I share
with my animal communicationstudents when they ask me about
(06:39):
my perspective, approaching theart, the science, and the
discipline of interspeciescommunication.
And what I share is that I viewmy service, the service I'm
providing to you and youranimals, as that of an
interspecies translator.
And you might also have thefollow-up question, okay then,
what language are youtranslating?
(07:01):
Because typically, when we thinkabout a translator, a language
translator, we think of atranslation from one verbal
language to another verballanguage.
For instance, when I traveled toEcuador and then Galapagos last
year, and I did not speak anySpanish.
And despite a full year oftrying to learn and never really
(07:25):
being able to fit it in, Ineeded a lot of help.
And I would have to either useapps when I was able to get
internet service or find awilling human who was bilingual
to help me communicate.
So essentially, at itsfoundation, at the core, this is
how I approach my work, myservice in this world as an
(07:47):
animal communicator.
We take it one step further, ifyou will, when we look at the
type of language beingtranslated.
This is where it just gets sofascinating to me.
Because we are essentiallytranslating your animals'
language.
This is actually the universallanguage that all species have
(08:07):
access to, ourselves included.
And it is how humans too canlearn to communicate with
non-humans, with pets, with wildanimals, with animals here and
in spirit, with Miss Paddlehere.
If you're watching the videoversion and you see a very,
very, very cute cocktail.
But essentially, your pet'slanguage is nonverbal, which
adds an extra wrinkle ofexcitement to the whole picture.
(08:31):
So I am translating emotions,energy and motion.
(09:35):
That's emotion.
I'm translating sensations thatcan be tactile sensations.
It can be physical or emotionalor mental sensations.
I am translating pictures,images that I see with my inner
eye, audio messages, they can besounds, they can be words or
(09:56):
phrases sometimes that I'mhearing with my intuitive or
inner facing ears.
I am translating deep gutknowing.
That's that clear cognizance.
That's how we suddenly knowsomething.
If you've ever had a hunch or avibe, or you've just known
something without knowing how orwhy you know it, and nothing
(10:19):
that your mind says to you cantalk you out of what you now
know.
So that's another example.
Essentially, these are allnonverbal forms of
communication.
If you've ever had a speechclass and you've listened to a
professor or a coach talk withyou about how a certain
(10:39):
percentage of humancommunication is verbal and the
rest of it is nonverbal, I'mtalking about the nonverbal
part.
So I am taking all of that datathat's flowing from the animal
through me and I am turning itinto words that then become
shareable with you.
(11:00):
So if I just wanted to talk withanimals in the safety and
comfort of my bedroom and Inever planned to share our
conversations with anotherhuman, I would not need to
translate them into words.
But if I want to share youranimal's side of the
conversation with you, I need tobe able to translate what your
(11:21):
pet is saying to me using thisshared language of nonverbal,
intuitive, interspeciescommunication into words so I
can share with you what your petwants you to know.
So that is how I view theservice that I am providing.
I am showing up to the absoluteutmost of my ability to be the
(11:45):
intermediary to support you andyour pet to communicate
directly.
As such, I personally, for myown ethics, need to bring a
degree of impartiality andobjectiveness to the
conversation.
Obviously, 100% confidentialityto the conversation to create a
(12:08):
safe space where no matterwhat's on the table for
conversation that day, this is aplace where we can have those
conversations in total privacyand confidentiality.
I also need to bring to thetable an awareness of what a
conversation between two beingswho are closely bonded can and
(12:30):
cannot potentially accomplish.
And that's where we have the funof the disclaimers that I use.
I only use two primarydisclaimers for the majority of
my session, because that is whatseems to be the most relevant
for our purposes together andthe most informative and
(12:53):
instructive for you as the petparent.
So we keep expectationsreasonable.
So my first disclaimer, if youwill, which is really more like
an invitation, is that in myworld, interspecies translation
is a team sport.
And what do I mean by that?
I mean that I am showing up witha skill I can translate your
(13:17):
animal's nonverbal language intoyour verbal language back and
forth so you can communicatewith one another.
And yet I don't have thecontext, the bigger picture of
your time together, yourday-to-day life together, the
inside jokes, the special quirksthat only the two of you are
(13:39):
privy to.
And as a translator, if you'veever used a translation app or
you've taken a class to learnanother language, or you've
worked with another human whohas served as a translator,
maybe a tour guide for you,well, mistranslation, it
happens.
It is a career hazard.
And so when we combine togetherthe fact that I will not have
(14:02):
the context, I can gather someof that as I'm speaking with
pets over a period of time.
Many of my clients are returningto me to continue the
conversation.
And so I can build arelationship and a rapport with
both you and your animal overtime, and that'll give me a
little bit more context, but I'mnever going to be there day to
day to have the full experience.
(14:23):
And so if there is somethingthat I translate that your pet
wants to share and it doesn'tmake sense to you, it doesn't
land, you're like, huh, I don'tunderstand what they're trying
to say, or no, that doesn'tsound like my animal, or no, I
don't remember him or her everdoing that.
Well, that's when it becomes ateam sport and you have to let
me know.
(14:44):
And often pet parents are veryreluctant to say anything.
And there's a few differentreasons for that.
One, it's nerve-wracking,especially when we're having
these deep conversations and youmay be feeling a little
vulnerable.
Often my pet parent clients willreach out during times that feel
emotionally tender when theirpet is in some kind of health or
emotional crisis, or they'reworking through past trauma, or
(15:08):
they're recovering fromsomething, or they're
approaching the end of life, orthey've transitioned to spirit.
And so you can feel a little bitraw.
And it can be hard to just bewilling to step up to the plate
and say, no, that doesn't makesense.
There's another little part ofus that, well, we want to
believe that the investment isworth it that we're making.
We want to trust that it istruly our pet talking with us.
(15:30):
And so there can be a part of usthat wants to gloss over things
that aren't fully understood.
So what I like to share with mypet parent clients is we're not
trying to poke holes in everycommunication that your pet
shares, but it is important ifwe're talking about a topic of
some significance and the pet'smessage, your pet's message to
(15:51):
you isn't landing or you're justnot understanding, it's
impossible for me to know.
So the expectation that I willsomehow just know that doesn't
typically work out very well.
So it is important to be willingto speak up and say, could you
ask my pet for a little moreclarity?
I'm just not reallyunderstanding what they're
sharing yet.
(16:12):
Or no, I don't remember myanimal doing that.
Or no, I don't remember a toylike that.
I'll give you an example.
This is a great example from oneof my very recent pet parent
sessions where I was talkingwith a dog who was getting ready
to transition.
And I tuned in and asked herwhat her favorite toy was
because I was just getting toknow her a little bit.
(16:33):
I wanted to know how she played.
I wanted to know what herpersonality was like outside of
the transition that we werethere to talk about.
I wanted to know who she is as abeing.
And so sometimes I'll askquestions like, what was your
favorite toy, or what did youlike to eat, or who's your best
friend?
Getting to know you questions.
(16:54):
And she showed me this oval,kind of large oval flat thing.
And I just took one look atthat, and automatically the
closest thing that my mind couldmatch up with from my personal
experience was that must be aslipper, like the house shoes
that you wear.
And so I said to Dad, I thinkyour dog is telling me that they
(17:16):
really loved your slipper andthey would carry your slipper
around with them.
No, it wasn't a slipper.
Thankfully, dad was on board.
I had delivered the disclaimer,and dad was on board to let me
know.
No, I don't, I don't rememberanything.
And I said, All right, my bad.
Do you know of anything thatmight have been a toy or
something comforting that yourdog really liked to carry around
(17:36):
that was white or off-white andit was oval and it was slipper
sized?
And he thought for a minute andhe said, Yes.
And I found that in our garagejust a few weeks ago.
That used to be her favoritetoy, and I had forgotten all
about it.
Well, it turns out that this dogwanted to be buried with that
(17:57):
favorite toy.
And if dad hadn't let me knowthat slipper wasn't the most
precise translation, that reallywasn't what his dog was trying
to communicate to me, we wouldhave missed that.
So that's what I'm talking aboutwhen I share that animal
communication is a team sport.
(18:17):
I'll share another example withyou.
This was from my student days,and all of my animal
communication students know thisstory.
One of my teachers was in classtalking with a dog as part of
their group practice.
And when she asked this dog,what is your favorite toy?
The translation, as best as shecould match up what she was
(18:41):
seeing and how she was feeling,was your dog says her favorite
toy is a yellow bird.
Well, mom was horrified.
She said, No, I do not give mydog yellow birds to play with.
But my teacher being expert, shesaid, Well, why don't you just
(19:01):
sit with it?
Because they tried to workshopit, like the slipper example I
just gave you, and nothing wasreally coming up.
And then a few weeks went by,and mom was out one day with her
dog throwing the yellow tennisball.
That was this dog's favoritetoy.
And she took a look at it andshe remembered back to that
practice session, and she sawthe yellow tennis ball whizzing
(19:23):
by overhead, and she contactedmy teacher and said, I know what
the yellow bird is.
It's the yellow tennis ball.
So when we're translating, thegoal is to take any images, any
sounds, whether they're words orother types of sounds,
sensations, emotions, and evendeep gut knowings, and match
(19:45):
those up with memories,experiences, associations, ideas
from our own lexicon of lifeexperiences.
And that doesn't always resultin a direct translation.
If you've ever had an experienceof living or traveling through a
different country that speaks adifferent language and learning
(20:09):
a word in that language that hasno direct translation in your
native language, coming home andtrying to share the experience
you've had in this othercountry, and finding yourself
saying something like, ah, inFrench or German or Bulgarian or
whatever it is, Spanish in mycase, when I was in Ecuador,
(20:29):
there's a word for this, butthere's no direct translation.
So you're finding yourselfpulling a few words from your
own native language together totry to give the person you're
talking with a better sense ofwhat you're referring to.
So it can be like that.
Any type of language-to-languagetranslation can be like that.
And animal communication is noexception.
(20:53):
So going in looking for 100%precision accuracy, it happens.
And some animals are better atcommunicating than others, just
like some human animals arebetter at communicating than
others.
And if I'm talking with ananimal that is experiencing,
(21:16):
let's say, residual trauma, oris coming out of a heavily
medicated state, or isexperiencing a loss or grief, or
is preparing for theirend-of-life transition, is all
of their focus necessarily goingto be on me and even their pet
(21:38):
parent and the conversation athand?
Maybe not.
And in addition, when I teachanimal communication, one of the
most fun modules that we coveris animal conversational styles.
So what's so interesting, and Ithink one of the things that I
love the most about being ananimal communicator and getting
to do this each and every day.
(21:59):
Of course, there are easierdays, there are more challenging
days, but no two days are alikebecause no two animals are
alike.
And I don't ever know when Iwake up in the morning who I'm
gonna meet that day and whatthey're gonna teach me and how I
might have to stretch and growto meet them where they are.
They might be more advancedcommunicator than I am.
Of course, I'm speaking withbeings who are for them,
(22:23):
interspecies communication istheir native language and
English is my native language.
So I'm always going to belearning from them.
Every communication I have, Ilearn.
And that's something else Ishare up front.
Your animal is teaching me rightnow, right here.
And I'm always going to be thestudent.
The animals are the mastercommunicators.
(22:44):
But within that umbrella contextof recognizing that for them,
animal communication is theirnative language.
We still have a number ofdifferent animal communication
styles.
And some are what I could onlydescribe as chatty cappy, while
others are more stoic.
And there's a need to adapt tothe pace and the openness and
(23:06):
the life stage and all kinds ofvariables that crop up when
you're initiating a conversationwith somebody new.
And I even see theconversational willingness and
fluency vary in animals that I'mvery familiar with based on what
they might be going through, howopen they are, how willing they
are to talk, and how willingtheir human is to hear them.
(23:29):
That's the other side of thecoin.
Non-human animals, pets, wildanimals, are very emotionally
sensitive.
They're very sensitive tofrequency and vibration.
And I have had the odd client,the odd pet parent client who
comes in very distrustful, verydisbelieving, but wanting to
(23:49):
believe and planning to test meto see if animal communication
itself is legitimate.
Is this real?
And when that happens, not onlycan I feel that vibration of
okay, I can tell even by thetypes of questions that are
(24:10):
being asked, as well as thefrequency or emotion attached to
those questions, but even worsethan that, the animal I'm trying
to talk with can pick up onthat.
And while they might notunderstand that this human, this
pet parent, doesn't reallybelieve in this stuff or
actively disbelieves but wantsto believe, and has decided to
(24:33):
test me as a communicator to seeif I can prove to them that this
stuff works.
Sometimes I can, but often whathappens is that the pet that I'm
there to talk with is picking upon the distrust that their
parent has for the wholeprocess.
And they may not know that it'sdistrust for animal
communication.
(24:54):
They just know that their humandoesn't trust me.
There's something untrustworthyand thus unsafe about this
conversation.
And guess what tends to happen?
Pet tends to clam up, and thenI'm stuck trying to navigate
between two people who aren'treally there transparently to
have an open and honestconversation with one another,
(25:16):
but are there to work throughsome level of doubt or disbelief
or distrust that that human hastowards the work that I do.
And unfortunately, that doesn'ttend to produce the desired
outcome.
I've been surprised at times,but I find that when I am
pleasantly surprised, it'sbecause there isn't a huge level
(25:40):
of distrust.
There's just a healthy degree ofskepticism.
And I welcome skepticism.
I was a skeptic myself.
And the only reason I kepthiring animal communicators is
because the process keptworking.
But I think where I wasfortunate going in is that I was
pretty open-minded.
I didn't have any previousnegative experiences.
(26:03):
And sometimes I find that someof my pet parent clients come in
and they maybe have had a reallybad experience.
And maybe not with an animalcommunicator, maybe it was with
a medium or with a psychic forhumans or a mentor or a coach or
a counselor.
And so that's just closed themup a little bit.
And we can work with that.
I love what the telepathy tapespodcast creator Kai Dickens says
(26:24):
about skepticism.
She says, remember, to be a trueskeptic requires an open mind.
And so I really don't mind thatbecause my job is to be the
translator.
So it's not my job to prove ordisprove.
And I've got no skin in the gameas far as whether others believe
that it's real or not.
I have trust that I've seenpositive benefits to my pet
(26:48):
family over many, many years,decades now.
And that's why I keep showing upto learn and grow.
But that's my own learnedexperience.
So I've got no vested interestin proving or disproving, but it
does make my job easier when thehuman in the mix, the pet parent
that I am translating for, atleast is able to come with that
(27:11):
truly skeptical mind, beingopen.
Let's just see, having thatspirit of noticing, wondering,
getting curious, learningsomething new, giving themselves
permission to have anexperience, good, bad, or
indifferent, but not necessarilystacking the deck for or against
(27:33):
either outcome.
Because just as not every pet isright for every person, not
every communicator is right forevery pet parent.
My way is very different thanthat of many other communicators
out there.
We all have our own way, and weare all given the opportunity to
find our own unique way.
(27:55):
So how I ask questions, how Itranslate, how I deliver
information can be verydifferent.
And I've had enough feedbackover the years from my pet
parent clients and my animalcommunication students who may
have worked with or studied withother professional animal
communicators, and they haveshared with me that I am
(28:16):
different than othercommunicators they have worked
with.
And that's not to say that oneof us is better or worse than
the other, but we are different.
And sometimes it's just anenergetic mismatch.
And so it's important to beaware of that.
And that's why I always share,especially with pet parent
clients who hire me after havinga bad experience with someone
(28:37):
else, I always share with themhow brave they are to give it
another chance, to give itanother try, because it might
just be that there was anenergetic mismatch.
And here's an example of that.
One of my clients last week,whom I have worked with several
times.
I've spoken with several of heranimals, and she had hired a
(28:58):
different communicator to getessentially a second opinion,
which I have no problem with.
But she had come back and saidthat the delivery method that
the other communicator used justfelt harsh to her, felt blunt to
her.
And we can't possibly ever knowwhy that might be happening.
We communicators, first andforemost, we're human, we're
(29:20):
human beings, we're humananimals.
We have days that are better andwe have days that are not
better, not so good.
I love what Don Miguel Ruiz saysin The Four Agreements, the Toll
Tech Wisdom book.
He talks about always do yourbest.
Your best will change from dayto day.
So maybe we'll never know ifthat other communicator was just
(29:41):
having an off day, or maybe itwas an energetic mismatch
between herself and my client.
But having an off experience oran experience that doesn't
resonate with a particularcommunicator doesn't mean that
the field itself is broken.
It means that you just had anoff day or a bad vibe or
whatever it is.
And so choosing to go forwardand give it another try is to
(30:04):
your pet's benefit, because I'vecertainly over the years
facilitated enough sessions,both my private practice clients
and group sessions with mystudents, where we're bringing
in pet parents with theiranimals to have experienced over
and over and over again that thetranslation itself works.
And the underlying reason forthat, which I go into fully in
(30:27):
my Animal CommunicationAdventure to Mastery program, is
because we too can speak thislanguage.
We just aren't taught.
It's not emphasized, it's notconsidered a valuable life
skill.
Whereas once upon a time, whenwe were out in the greater food
chain of life, out in the forestor the grasslands or the desert
with everyone else trying tocarve out a living eat and not
(30:50):
be eaten, we needed thislanguage just as much as
everyone else.
And if you haven't attended oneof my free intuitive development
for pet parent webinars, I gointo the basics of that in that
webinar.
And that might be somethingreally fascinating for you to
attend.
And if you'd like to be notifiedthe next time I do a webinar,
(31:12):
what you'll want to do is goover to Animal Lovelanguages.com
and look for the little pink barup at the top and click on that
and join my weekly love lettersemail list.
And that is where I send outnews when I've got new freebies,
new offerings, new podcastepisodes, new workshops, etc.
(31:33):
So get on that list and I cannotify you the next time I am
offering one of those freeworkshops.
But continuing forward, theother disclaimer that I always
use when I am about to launchinto an interspecies
conversation with a pet andtheir person is I say this is
(31:56):
not meant as a replacement or asubstitute for veterinary or
medical input, guidance, exams,diagnosis, animal communication
is not a vet visit.
And it's so important torecognize this.
I know communicators who do notwork with disclaimers, they do
(32:16):
not believe in disclaimers.
I know communicators that theyprotect themselves with maybe
even too many disclaimers.
For me, it's pretty simple.
I explain that I'm essentiallyserving as a translator, what
we've just talked about.
And then I explain that I am thefirst person to say, run, don't
walk to your veterinarian,fellow pet parent here.
(32:37):
If you have any questions of amedical nature, now I do seem to
have a medical intuitive bent.
So I went and got medicalintuition training.
And that is an adjunct servicethat comes in handy sometimes
when an animal I'm talking withwants to share how they're
(32:57):
feeling in their body orsomething that maybe is going on
in their body, or even whatcaused them to feel like they
needed to leave their body andtransition to the soul or the
light space.
And so I can do something thatreally harkens back to Dr.
Stephen Porges and Polly Vageltheory.
(33:18):
And if you're not familiar, thattheory basically summing it up
says that social animal species,such as Homo sapiens and many of
the pet species we accompanywith today, have evolved over
millennia to have very similarnervous system structure and to
be able to sync nervous systemsto share vital information to
(33:42):
specific kinds of messages,messages of danger and messages
that we might consider eithersafety or opportunity.
And so we have this ability tosync our nervous systems.
So as a communicator, I havelearned how to fine-tune my
awareness as I invite the animalI'm speaking with to sync their
(34:07):
nervous system with mine so thatthey can more easily transmit
information that they might wanttheir human to know about their
body, about what's going on intheir body, about how they feel
living in their body, andsometimes why they felt like
their body was no longer a safehome and they had to leave it.
(34:27):
Because of the nature oftranslation, sometimes when I'm
trying to translate thosesensory nonverbal messages into
words, what comes out mightsound kind of veterinary or
medical.
And I might end up talking aboutpain or discomfort or other
kinds of physical or evenemotional sensations that might
(34:51):
make it sound like I amdiagnosing, might make it sound
like I have a medical degree ora veterinary background, which I
do not.
I faint at the sight of allblood, including my own.
So that is why I use thatdisclaimer.
And so anybody who comes to meand wants that particular aspect
(35:13):
of animal communication, andoften I can tell by the nature
of the questions that are beingasked.
What caused my pet to leave soquickly?
Or I feel like something's wrongwith my pet, and yet the vet
tells me everything is fine.
And we cover that again indeveloping your pet parent
intuition.
(35:34):
That's a pretty common requestthat I get where a pet parent,
they're ding ding-ding, theirspidey sense, their gut is just
telling them something's off,but it's so subtle where there
is no test for it yet thattraditional vets just can't find
it.
And so that's when that tool cancome in handy, but we still want
(35:54):
to follow up and take a lookunder the hood and see if
perhaps there is some way todetect the accuracy of what the
pet is sharing with me.
So it all boils down to what isthe impact of the information
that comes through?
Is it usable?
Is it useful?
Does it contribute to peace ofmind, to better quality of life,
(36:20):
to continued learning andgrowth, to perhaps pursuing new
avenues of care when what we'vealready tried hasn't worked?
And there are all kinds of otherdisciplines that I can wrap in:
applied kinesiology, muscletesting, Reikian, energy work,
chakra balancing.
And those modalities are adifferent type of session.
(36:44):
So I'm very clear.
We're gonna have a conversation,and then we might choose to
schedule something as afollow-up, like an energy
session, and just making surethat I'm very clear with each
pet parent I work with and withyou.
If you decide you want to have asession with me, I'm very clear
about which hat I'm wearing.
Am I wearing my interspeciestranslator hat?
(37:05):
Am I wearing my Reiki Masterhat?
Am I wearing my energy worker ormy chakra balancing hat?
Am I wearing my here?
Let me dip into my Rolodex andrefer you to a specialist in XYZ
area hat.
And that's part of the servicethat I provide as well.
So just understanding whenyou're registering for a pet
(37:25):
parent session, what are youregistering for?
What is it designed to be usedfor?
And what might be pushing pastthe boundaries of what animal
communication as a languagetranslation service is designed
to do and is best suited for.
So at this point, you mightwonder, well, when I do register
(37:47):
for a session, what happens?
What do you do?
What's gonna happen?
And again, I'm gonna prefacethis by saying, This is my way.
If you schedule a session withme, this is most likely what is
going to happen.
Of course, my way continues toevolve.
So at time of recording thisepisode, this is what is likely
(38:10):
to happen when you schedule yoursession with me as a
communicator.
The first thing that I do is Iwill spend about 15 to 20
minutes with your pet, justtuning in with their energy and
allowing them to get to know myenergy.
And this happens before I startthe formal communication,
whether you have chosen myremote sessions where I send you
(38:34):
an audio file of my real-timetwo-way conversation with your
pet, or we're jumping on thephone or Zoom to connect in real
time.
And I call this initial periodthe say anything period.
So as I'm just connecting inwith your pet's energy and
(38:55):
introducing myself and lettingthem attune to my energy and
decide if they want to talk withme.
And if yes, is now a good time.
It's always good to check inadvance before I'm jumping on
the phone or Zoom with a petparent and explaining why I'm
reaching out.
If you think of it like anintuitive phone call, why are
(39:17):
you calling me?
So I'm explaining.
And typically my explanation isalong the lines of well, your
human, your mom, your dad, yourcarer, your guardian.
They have asked me to reach outto you because they want to have
a conversation.
And they have some questionsabout XYZ.
Are you willing to talk aboutthat?
And definitely recruiting thepets permission and willingness.
(39:42):
That 15 to 20 minute period canbe and typically is the most
information-rich time I spendwith your pet, which is why I
always keep a little notepadnearby and I jot down anything
that comes through.
And the reason I call this thesay anything period is because
(40:03):
if your pet has anything theywant to talk about, to share
with you, to get off theirchest, whatever it is, messages
of wisdom, anything, want tocapture that first.
Of course, as humans, we alwayshave our agenda.
I remember spending hours,sometimes days, coming up with
(40:26):
my short list of 20 questionsthat I had for each animal in my
family that I hope to cover in15 minutes with the communicator
and revising them and reworkingthem and just really having
absolutely no idea what wasgoing on behind the scenes of my
inquisitive mind and my worryand concern as a pet parent and
(40:49):
wanting to just know everythingabout everything in my pet's
life.
And one thing I have learned asa communicator since then is
that if my conversation partnerhas something that they want to
talk about, they're probably notgoing to be all that interested
in or invested in talking aboutwhat you want to talk about
(41:09):
until they've had a chance totalk about what they want to
talk about.
And considering that our petsare giving up almost total
autonomy, authority, and controlover their own lives to live in
our worlds by our rules,governed by our language, that
they're constantly struggling tounderstand and decipher for
(41:31):
themselves.
If somebody walks up to your petand gives them a free
opportunity, free forum toshare, heck yeah, they want to
take it.
And I find that once I've givenyour pet this time to share
freely, rest of the conversationand addressing your questions
comes pretty naturally.
(41:52):
And what's so cool about this,and this gets into quantum
entanglement and goes way beyondthe constraints of what we're
talking about in today'sepisode.
And I talk about all of thisinside my student program, but
what's really cool is often Ifind that just by giving your
pet this open-ended time periodto share freely, often your
(42:15):
questions are answered quitenaturally before I ever have to
ask them.
It is the coolest darn thingever.
And it happens again and againand again.
And it happens even in our grouppractices with students.
So often when we bring a petparent and their animal in and
we just get to know the animal,just total free form, let the
(42:38):
animal share whatever they wantto talk about.
They already know what you wantto ask and quite naturally will
answer it as a part of this openperiod of sharing.
So that is something I haveincorporated into every single
session that I do.
And it just works.
And my philosophy is if I trysomething new and it works, I
(42:59):
keep it until proven otherwise.
So I'm spending, if you sign upfor a half hour session with me,
you're getting an houressentially.
If you sign up for an hoursession with me, you're getting
an hour and a half because I domy own preparations for the
first 10 minutes or so.
And then I spend about 20minutes, 15 or 20 minutes with
your pet in this open-endedcommunication, pre-form
(43:21):
communication period.
And then I connect in with you,whether that's pressing record
on my audio app or it's jumpingon the phone or Zoom with you
for the formal conversation.
And I can share this as well asa pet parent who was once upon a
time brand new to hiringcommunicators and to having
sessions as a pet parent, eagerand worried and nervous and
(43:44):
expectant about what my pets hadto say and share with me.
I did not see anything beyondthe questions that I had for
them.
So I had no idea that part of apet communication session was
getting to know that animal,finding out who they are in the
world, what they're like, howthey like to be with others,
whether it's other animals orother people, how they react and
(44:09):
respond to different events inlife, how they're feeling in
their body, even why they chosethat species body.
That's one of the topics insidethe world of animal
communication that I amperpetually the most fascinated
about.
Why did you choose to be a dogor a horse or a skunk or a
cockatiel?
And how does that serve?
(44:30):
So there's this period of justgetting to know the animal,
which gives so much context thatmight otherwise be lost or would
be a perpetual struggle tounderstand the flavor of the
animal's side of theconversation because I don't
have any idea who they are inthe world.
What is their temperament andpersonality like?
(44:51):
And there are so many tools thatI've learned and that I teach my
own students for how to do this.
When I've had pet parents whoare new to registering for an
animal communication session,and they say, Well, why can I
only ask three questions in ahalf hour session?
And my response is, well, youcan ask more, but then we'd have
to skip these other parts.
(45:13):
And that, in my experience,tends to produce less rich
conversation because we lackcontext.
So why can I only ask sixquestions in an hour-long
session?
Same reason.
And so many other reasons.
So we want to get to know theanimal if they're in their body
or there's any question aboutwhy they left their body.
(45:33):
We want to do a body syncing,which I talked about earlier.
And questions themselves oftenrequire unpacking before they're
asked.
Now, what do I mean by that?
Here's a very common example.
And you might have even workedwith an animal communicator
yourself, or even worked with meon this very question for your
pet.
(45:54):
Why are you so nervous?
So, on the surface, that seemslike a pretty normal question.
Unfortunately, the nuance that'smissed that animal communication
requires that we address is whatare you calling nervous?
I need to know what you, as thepet parent, are seeing, hearing,
(46:14):
smelling, tasting, feeling,sensing, or knowing that you are
labeling as nervous.
Now, why is this so important?
Because yes, we might find outafter I gather that information,
what we call context for thequestion from you.
We might find out that yes, infact, your pet is actually very
nervous.
Or we might find out that whatyou're calling nervousness is
(46:38):
really high sensitivity or pasttrauma rearing its head, or it's
just a naturally high preydrive, or it's got some other
reason that we would never havedreamed of, like another animal
in the family is bullying them,or that they can see a wild
(46:58):
animal outside the window that'sdriving them nuts, or fill in
the blanks.
The reasons are as numerous asthe animals in this world, but
we're only going to get to themif I am able to ask a question
that captures what you'reactually seeing that you're
labeling as nervous.
(47:19):
So let's say, just as anexample, that you've come to me
and you've said, My animal isvery nervous.
Can you please ask them, why areyou so nervous?
And I say, I trust youimplicitly.
If your Spidey Sense is tellingme that they're nervous, we may
very well discover that that isthe case.
But can you, just to make surethat I'm asking the most
(47:41):
accurate question, especiallysince I'm translating your
question into nonverballanguage, pictures, sounds,
sensations, emotions, can youdescribe what you're seeing?
And you might say to me, Well,he paces and he does it at a
specific time of day and hehowls.
And I look out the window and Idon't see anything.
(48:02):
Well, I am not going to ask yourpet, why are you so nervous?
I am going to ask him, why areyou pacing and howling?
I am going to ask, is there someconnection with the window and
something that you're seeing orsensing outside?
So do you see how asking threequestions?
(48:23):
If it's just as simple as, whyare you so nervous?
Why don't you like your food?
Would you like a pet friend?
Then yeah, sure, it sounds likeit's going to take five minutes.
But we have to unpack thequestion so that I can send the
full translation of yourquestion to your pet to make
sure they understand what you'rereally asking about.
(48:45):
Because if all I said was, whyare you so nervous?
and just sent through theemotion of nervousness, we might
get an answer, but your petmight not have any idea that
what you really want to knowabout is the pacing and the
howling.
They could be in pain.
You could be anxious.
Sometimes I find what I call afeedback loop where your pet is
(49:06):
mirroring, which is showing youhow you're acting by acting it
out like charades right in frontof you.
Sometimes your pet is modeling.
You might be the soul of calm ina situation where it would serve
you to get a little ramped upand take some action and make
some changes.
And they're modeling to you.
So only by understanding whatyou are calling nervous or
(49:30):
antisocial or shy or fill in theblanks and asking that question,
am I able to be of service toyou and having a really deep and
open conversation about what'sactually happening in your home
between the two of you to helpyou openly and honestly talk
(49:50):
through it and identifyproductive solutions that will
serve you both.
So that's why for me, when I dosessions, I do have a question
limit based on the amount oftime that you register for,
because we can only do so muchin a certain period of time.
And again, not all communicatorswork the way that I do.
(50:13):
Some just offer here's yoursession.
If it's half an hour, if it'sfour hours, it's the same price.
There are as many differentflavors of how sessions are
structured as there arecommunicators in the world.
And so it's important to beaware of that.
It's also important to ask ifyou have a question about, well,
why is this constraint in place?
(50:36):
Just trust, at least if you'rehiring me, that it's because I
have enough experience to haveworked through what seems to
work best and allow me toprovide the deepest type of
service and the most supportiveenvironment for an open and
honest conversation as possible.
(50:57):
And again, everything I justdescribed is relevant as of the
time I'm recording this for you.
Things are always subject tochange as I continue to learn
and grow.
But that is basically whathappens behind the scene.
And that say anything, period.
Often special messages for youwill come through.
Sometimes your pets will tell methings that they know about what
(51:20):
you are going through just tolet you know that they're with
you and they're for you andthey're encouraging you.
Sometimes pets will sharerequests.
Sometimes pets have questions oftheir own.
For instance, I was talking withone reincarnated cat, and this
cat had rejoined the family andthen proceeded to go through a
(51:42):
number of medical issues.
And mom hired me to talk withher cat, her reincarnated cat,
who she had spent months lookingfor and had joyfully reunited
with, only to discover therewere some medical issues that
needed to be attended to.
And this had sent mom into kindof a tailspin of anxiety and
(52:04):
overwhelm, which is extremelynormal.
But when I talked with her cat,the first question that this cat
asked me was, why is mom soanxious?
Doesn't she want me?
I thought she wanted me.
So it turns out this cat justdidn't understand what was
driving mom's anxiety, that momwas just worried about finding
(52:27):
the right type of veterinarycare and identifying the best
solution and financing it andall the rest that goes along
with being a pet carer or petparent.
And so this cat hadmisunderstood it as she doesn't
want me anymore.
I make her anxious.
So often I'll get questions fromyour pets and we can sort things
(52:49):
out and clear the air so we cancontinue to deepen that bond.
And then there's typically aperiod of time at the end where
if we need to unpack any nextsteps, I spend my days and often
my evenings doing this work, andI'm immersed in this world.
I'm always taking classes andfurthering my own knowledge.
(53:10):
I've got plenty of coaches andmentors who help me to learn and
grow.
And a rolodex of trustedreferrals that I dip into every
week to support pet parents whocome through a conversation with
their animal where we'veidentified some issues and they
say, Well, what do I do now?
Okay, we know that we need someguidance on diet and nutrition,
(53:33):
or we know that there is somephysical discomfort in the body,
or we know we have some needsfor new social skills or
whatever it may be, or calmingprotocols or managing genetic
high sensitivity.
Now what?
And so we need to allow for alittle bit of time to put a plan
together.
And so that's what happensbehind the scenes from start to
(53:57):
finish in one of my animalcommunication sessions.
And it comprises thefundamentals of the structure I
teach as well.
Although it is taught as witheverything I do, with the flavor
of try it on for size.
At worst case scenario, you canuse it as a complimentary form
of opposition to feel into,well, this doesn't quite fit for
(54:20):
me, but I can now rule that outand move forward and try
something different.
Best case scenario, you'll findit will work really well for you
too, and you can add it to yourtoolkit.
Either way, it's time wellspent.
And so I'm always encouraging,yes, expose yourself to
different perspectives,different ways of doing things.
Try on different things forsize, remain curious and
(54:41):
open-minded.
We don't ever want to fall intothat.
I've become the expert mentalitywhere we start to shut ourselves
down and cut ourselves off fromlearning anything new and from
growing and recognizing thatevery conversation that we have
as communicators with animals,we are in the presence of the
master teacher.
And they can teach us right inthat moment if we simply remain
(55:04):
open to learning, to bring thathumility to the conversation and
that empty cup ready to befilled up with insight and
guidance and wisdom andencouragement.
So you might be wondering atthis point, outside of sitting
with your short list of 20questions, like I used to do,
(55:27):
how can you prepare for ananimal communication session of
your own with your pet, embodiedhere or in spirit?
And my best guidance to yououtside of trying to cut your
list of 20 questions down tobetween three and six, depending
on how much time you want toschedule for and what the nature
(55:50):
or the flavor of your questionsactually is, is to arrive in
that calm, well-hydrated,oxygenated, quiet listening
state.
As we talked about earlier, yourpet, in most cases, will only
open up to me as the translatorin the mix to the degree in
(56:13):
which you are open to theexperience itself and the
process itself.
And so one of the preparationtips I like to offer is to be
aware of any sensitivity thatyou might have.
For instance, I for a long timedidn't want to hire animal
communicators.
And when I finally got braveenough to hire animal
(56:35):
communicators, I would be sonervous the night before I could
barely sleep because I was soafraid that they were going to
tell the communicator that theyhated me.
They didn't like anything abouttheir food, their environment,
their daily life with me.
They wanted to go to somebodyelse.
And that pointed to fear and uhvulnerability within me.
(56:57):
I was worried they didn't loveme the way that I loved them.
And I was shy to admit that toanother human, in this case, the
communicator who I was trustingto help me have a conversation
with my beloved pet.
So that's an example of an areawhere you might feel like you
feel a little guarded, you feela little sensitive, and just
(57:19):
know that animal communicationas a translation service, done
well, at least from myperspective, provides a very
safe container of confidentialspace to explore things like
this.
If you are afraid of what youranimal is going to say, and
they're done that, and I amprepared to hold space for you
and your animal to walk throughthat together.
(57:41):
Something else I have learnedover the years, talking with
hundreds upon hundreds uponhundreds of animals in all ages,
species, life stages in spiritas well as in body, is that even
the toughest messages, they havea knack.
Our animals have a knack fordelivering them wrapped in a
package of unconditional lovethat makes us able to receive
(58:03):
even constructive guidance in away that we might not be able to
receive it from our fellow humananimals, for what comfort, if
any, that may be worth.
But the number one mostimportant guidance that I might
be able to offer you to prepareis simply to take those deep
breaths and do what I callparasympathetic breathing, which
(58:25):
is extending your exhale pastthe length of your inhale.
So I like to start my sessionswhen I jump on the phone with
you.
We always start with a round ofparasympathetic breathing and
setting a big picture intention.
And that is just how I start mysessions with everyone.
And so what I guide you to do isto exhale all the air out of
(58:47):
your lungs, take a deep, deep,deep, full-in breath that
requires your body to move,pause at the top, take a deep
exhale and try to extend thatexhale longer than the time you
spent inhaling.
Pause at the bottom, do two morerounds of that, and then breathe
naturally.
And by extending your exhalepast the length of your inhale,
you are telling your nervoussystem that all is safe.
(59:09):
So you are basically switchingfrom sympathetic nervous system
mode, fight, flight, freeze,tender, befriend, over to
parasympathetic nervous system,which is rest, digest,
reconnect.
When you're in parasympatheticnervous system mode, your animal
will end train to thatvibration.
They will sense that and theywill be more willing to open up
(59:29):
to me.
And you will be more likely toreceive the depth and the type
of information that you'rehoping will come through the
communication service that Iprovide.
So whatever you can do to arriveoxygenated and hydrated, we
don't drink enough water, mostof us.
Most of us only use about 40% ofour lung capacity, and most of
(59:52):
us do not drink enough water.
So if you can arrive rested,nourished, hydrated, and
oxygenated and open andtrusting, set an intention of
your own.
Set an intention for what youhope the session experience will
provide for you.
My big picture intention that Itypically set with each pet
(01:00:13):
parent client and pet that Iwork with is to get your
questions answered, to provide aspace where your pet can share
anything with you through me tohelp you deepen your bond.
And if needed, chart a courseforward for happy, healthy
interspecies family.
And that is typically theintention that we set going into
(01:00:37):
every single communicationsession.
And you can take that as atemplate, customize it, and use
your own words.
You don't have to share it withme, although you're welcome to
when we meet, but it will helpyou focus your attention.
Intention stems from a decision,making a decision about the way
(01:00:59):
that you.
want things to go and the worddecision essentially translates
to mean to cut off all otheroptions.
So setting an intention todirect your attention in a
specific direction is a verypowerful practice that your pet
can then train to and focus on.
And I have found over time thatit just tends to produce deeper
(01:01:23):
conversations with more mutuallysatisfying outcomes.
So that is what I have to sharewith you today.
I truly hope from my heart thatthis has been useful for you.
If you have questions for meabout anything that I've talked
about today, if you are unclearabout any part of the process
(01:01:45):
and would like a follow-upepisode on that, you can pop a
note in the comment section.
You are welcome to reach out tome via animallovelanguages.com,
my website, go find me over onInstagram at Love and Feathers
and Shells.
And I have a backup account atAnimal Love Languages.
(01:02:06):
It has been my honor and delightto share this podcast episode
with you.
This is my passion in life andmy life's work.
Obviously I can talk and talkand talk about it.
But as with all episodes, thetopics are always shaped by you
what you're interested in, whatyou're curious about, what you
(01:02:26):
want to hear more about, yourneeds, your questions.
So don't be shy.
Reach out to me, let me knowwhat you'd like to hear about
next.
And I will get it on the docketand look forward to unpacking
and exploring that with you in afuture episode of Let's Talk to
Animals.
So I send you and yourinterspecies family here and in
(01:02:49):
spirit all my love.
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
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 and yourfeedback truly helps me shape
(01:03:11):
future episodes based on yourinterests and needs.
If you're not already in myweekly love letters community,
head over to Animal LoveLanguages.com to opt in.
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
(01:03:32):
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
the information about my newanimal communication adventure
to mastery student program andthe live animal communication
practice circle I run forstudent practitioners.
(01:03:53):
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 that all
species can enjoy together.
And this week for our fresh newepisode, I'm almost embarrassed
that it's taken me this long torecord this episode for you.
It's got to be the mostfrequently asked question that I
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get.
Oh, you're an animalcommunicator.
What happens during an animalcommunication session?
If you are a fellow communicatoror a student communicator who is
listening, you are probablyfamiliar with these kinds of
questions.
And if you are a listener who isanimal communication curious and
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you have yet to have your ownpersonal firsthand experience of
working with an animalcommunicator such as myself, I
hope that this podcast episodewill shed some light on how one
communicator approaches the artas well as the science of
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communicating across speciesboundaries.
Now I am going to be presentingthe information from my first
hand perspective.
So if you are listening todayand perhaps you've had
experiences working with otheranimal communicators, then they
might approach the discipline alittle bit differently.
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They might structure theirsessions a little bit
differently.
We all find our way ascommunicators, and it's as
unique as our thumbprints.
Those of you who have been withthe Let's Talk to Animals
community for some time, youprobably know my story that
before I hung out a shingle andwent pro and became an animal
intuitive for real, I spentyears hiring animal
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communicators.
I didn't come into this fieldwith all guns blazing, believing
that I could do it.
I came into this field wobblyand curious because an animal
communicator I had hired toldme, you know, Shannon, you can
do this too.
And that was such a revelationfor me.
And I had never had anybody sayanything like that to me before.
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So I've been on both sides ofthat conversation for many, many
years now.
And my way is also infused byall of the wonderful teachers,
coaches, and mentors who haveguided me both within the direct
field of animal communicationand in related fields like
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intuitive development and evenmediumship.
So that is where I'm headed andwhat I mean by we each find our
own way.
So, especially for those of youwho are listening who may be
practitioners yourself, or youmay be student practitioners and
you're working through yourprocess of finding your way, I
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encourage you to listen from theperspective of genuine openness,
wondering, getting curious,noticing.
These are the hallmarks, theseare the foundations I teach all
of my students within AnimalCommunication Adventure to
Mastery, which is my signaturestudent learning program.
And that is what we practiceinside Animal Communication
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Adventure practice circle everysingle week.
So take what resonates or atleast what sparks your curiosity
and maybe take it one stepfurther and leave the rest.
It's all simply food forthought.
And for pet parent listeners, asyou listen, just consider that
if reaching out to me personallyversus a different communicator
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to schedule your experience ofanimal communication with your
pet here or in spirit, just takethis as some pre-preparatory
food for thought, contemplation,how you might begin to prepare
for the experience, some thingsthat you might want to think
through as you're crafting anyquestions that you might have
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for your personal pet here or inspirit.
And also just thebehind-the-scenes philosophy of
how I approach the service thatI offer as an animal
communicator or animalintuitive, how I view it and
what I have experienced, it isextremely useful for, as well as
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what I have experienced, itperhaps is not ideally suited
for.
So just take that all intoconsideration as you listen
today.
So let's dive in and start withwhat is animal communication
itself?
When you say, I want an animalcommunication session for my pet
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or with my animal, and again,this can be for an animal who is
embodied, who is alive here onthis earth plane in this 3D
dimension right now.
This can be for a pet who haspassed or crossed over or
transitioned out of theirphysical body into the etheric
or the light or the soul realm,however you prefer to think of
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it.
Then what is animalcommunication?
What are we really doing here?
What are you registering for orsigning up for?
What is it?
So I'm going to share myperspective.
And this is what I tell each petparent client that I personally
work with in one-to-onesessions, and is what I share
with my animal communicationstudents when they ask me about
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my perspective, approaching theart, the science, and the
discipline of interspeciescommunication.
And what I share is that I viewmy service, the service I'm
providing to you and youranimals, as that of an
interspecies translator.
And you might also have thefollow-up question, okay then,
what language are youtranslating?
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Because typically, when we thinkabout a translator, a language
translator, we think of atranslation from one verbal
language to another verballanguage.
For instance, when I traveled toEcuador and then Galapagos last
year, and I did not speak anySpanish.
And despite a full year oftrying to learn and never really
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being able to fit it in, Ineeded a lot of help.
And I would have to either useapps when I was able to get
internet service or find awilling human who was bilingual
to help me communicate.
So essentially, at itsfoundation, at the core, this is
how I approach my work, myservice in this world as an
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animal communicator.
We take it one step further, ifyou will, when we look at the
type of language beingtranslated.
This is where it just gets sofascinating to me.
Because we are essentiallytranslating your animals'
language.
This is actually the universallanguage that all species have
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access to, ourselves included.
And it is how humans too canlearn to communicate with
non-humans, with pets, with wildanimals, with animals here and
in spirit, with Miss Paddlehere.
If you're watching the videoversion and you see a very,
very, very cute cocktail.
But essentially, your pet'slanguage is nonverbal, which
adds an extra wrinkle ofexcitement to the whole picture.
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So I am translating emotions,energy and motion.
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That's emotion.
I'm translating sensations thatcan be tactile sensations.
It can be physical or emotionalor mental sensations.
I am translating pictures,images that I see with my inner
eye, audio messages, they can besounds, they can be words or
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phrases sometimes that I'mhearing with my intuitive or
inner facing ears.
I am translating deep gutknowing.
That's that clear cognizance.
That's how we suddenly knowsomething.
If you've ever had a hunch or avibe, or you've just known
something without knowing how orwhy you know it, and nothing
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that your mind says to you cantalk you out of what you now
know.
So that's another example.
Essentially, these are allnonverbal forms of
communication.
If you've ever had a speechclass and you've listened to a
professor or a coach talk withyou about how a certain
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percentage of humancommunication is verbal and the
rest of it is nonverbal, I'mtalking about the nonverbal
part.
So I am taking all of that datathat's flowing from the animal
through me and I am turning itinto words that then become
shareable with you.
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So if I just wanted to talk withanimals in the safety and
comfort of my bedroom and Inever planned to share our
conversations with anotherhuman, I would not need to
translate them into words.
But if I want to share youranimal's side of the
conversation with you, I need tobe able to translate what your
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pet is saying to me using thisshared language of nonverbal,
intuitive, interspeciescommunication into words so I
can share with you what your petwants you to know.
So that is how I view theservice that I am providing.
I am showing up to the absoluteutmost of my ability to be the
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intermediary to support you andyour pet to communicate
directly.
As such, I personally, for myown ethics, need to bring a
degree of impartiality andobjectiveness to the
conversation.
Obviously, 100% confidentialityto the conversation to create a
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safe space where no matterwhat's on the table for
conversation that day, this is aplace where we can have those
conversations in total privacyand confidentiality.
I also need to bring to thetable an awareness of what a
conversation between two beingswho are closely bonded can and
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cannot potentially accomplish.
And that's where we have the funof the disclaimers that I use.
I only use two primarydisclaimers for the majority of
my session, because that is whatseems to be the most relevant
for our purposes together andthe most informative and
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instructive for you as the petparent.
So we keep expectationsreasonable.
So my first disclaimer, if youwill, which is really more like
an invitation, is that in myworld, interspecies translation
is a team sport.
And what do I mean by that?
I mean that I am showing up witha skill I can translate your
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animal's nonverbal language intoyour verbal language back and
forth so you can communicatewith one another.
And yet I don't have thecontext, the bigger picture of
your time together, yourday-to-day life together, the
inside jokes, the special quirksthat only the two of you are
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privy to.
And as a translator, if you'veever used a translation app or
you've taken a class to learnanother language, or you've
worked with another human whohas served as a translator,
maybe a tour guide for you,well, mistranslation, it
happens.
It is a career hazard.
And so when we combine togetherthe fact that I will not have
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the context, I can gather someof that as I'm speaking with
pets over a period of time.
Many of my clients are returningto me to continue the
conversation.
And so I can build arelationship and a rapport with
both you and your animal overtime, and that'll give me a
little bit more context, but I'mnever going to be there day to
day to have the full experience.
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And so if there is somethingthat I translate that your pet
wants to share and it doesn'tmake sense to you, it doesn't
land, you're like, huh, I don'tunderstand what they're trying
to say, or no, that doesn'tsound like my animal, or no, I
don't remember him or her everdoing that.
Well, that's when it becomes ateam sport and you have to let
me know.
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And often pet parents are veryreluctant to say anything.
And there's a few differentreasons for that.
One, it's nerve-wracking,especially when we're having
these deep conversations and youmay be feeling a little
vulnerable.
Often my pet parent clients willreach out during times that feel
emotionally tender when theirpet is in some kind of health or
emotional crisis, or they'reworking through past trauma, or
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they're recovering fromsomething, or they're
approaching the end of life, orthey've transitioned to spirit.
And so you can feel a little bitraw.
And it can be hard to just bewilling to step up to the plate
and say, no, that doesn't makesense.
There's another little part ofus that, well, we want to
believe that the investment isworth it that we're making.
We want to trust that it istruly our pet talking with us.
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And so there can be a part of usthat wants to gloss over things
that aren't fully understood.
So what I like to share with mypet parent clients is we're not
trying to poke holes in everycommunication that your pet
shares, but it is important ifwe're talking about a topic of
some significance and the pet'smessage, your pet's message to
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you isn't landing or you're justnot understanding, it's
impossible for me to know.
So the expectation that I willsomehow just know that doesn't
typically work out very well.
So it is important to be willingto speak up and say, could you
ask my pet for a little moreclarity?
I'm just not reallyunderstanding what they're
sharing yet.
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Or no, I don't remember myanimal doing that.
Or no, I don't remember a toylike that.
I'll give you an example.
This is a great example from oneof my very recent pet parent
sessions where I was talkingwith a dog who was getting ready
to transition.
And I tuned in and asked herwhat her favorite toy was
because I was just getting toknow her a little bit.
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I wanted to know how she played.
I wanted to know what herpersonality was like outside of
the transition that we werethere to talk about.
I wanted to know who she is as abeing.
And so sometimes I'll askquestions like, what was your
favorite toy, or what did youlike to eat, or who's your best
friend?
Getting to know you questions.
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And she showed me this oval,kind of large oval flat thing.
And I just took one look atthat, and automatically the
closest thing that my mind couldmatch up with from my personal
experience was that must be aslipper, like the house shoes
that you wear.
And so I said to Dad, I thinkyour dog is telling me that they
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really loved your slipper andthey would carry your slipper
around with them.
No, it wasn't a slipper.
Thankfully, dad was on board.
I had delivered the disclaimer,and dad was on board to let me
know.
No, I don't, I don't rememberanything.
And I said, All right, my bad.
Do you know of anything thatmight have been a toy or
something comforting that yourdog really liked to carry around
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that was white or off-white andit was oval and it was slipper
sized?
And he thought for a minute andhe said, Yes.
And I found that in our garagejust a few weeks ago.
That used to be her favoritetoy, and I had forgotten all
about it.
Well, it turns out that this dogwanted to be buried with that
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favorite toy.
And if dad hadn't let me knowthat slipper wasn't the most
precise translation, that reallywasn't what his dog was trying
to communicate to me, we wouldhave missed that.
So that's what I'm talking aboutwhen I share that animal
communication is a team sport.
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I'll share another example withyou.
This was from my student days,and all of my animal
communication students know thisstory.
One of my teachers was in classtalking with a dog as part of
their group practice.
And when she asked this dog,what is your favorite toy?
The translation, as best as shecould match up what she was
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seeing and how she was feeling,was your dog says her favorite
toy is a yellow bird.
Well, mom was horrified.
She said, No, I do not give mydog yellow birds to play with.
But my teacher being expert, shesaid, Well, why don't you just
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sit with it?
Because they tried to workshopit, like the slipper example I
just gave you, and nothing wasreally coming up.
And then a few weeks went by,and mom was out one day with her
dog throwing the yellow tennisball.
That was this dog's favoritetoy.
And she took a look at it andshe remembered back to that
practice session, and she sawthe yellow tennis ball whizzing
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by overhead, and she contactedmy teacher and said, I know what
the yellow bird is.
It's the yellow tennis ball.
So when we're translating, thegoal is to take any images, any
sounds, whether they're words orother types of sounds,
sensations, emotions, and evendeep gut knowings, and match
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those up with memories,experiences, associations, ideas
from our own lexicon of lifeexperiences.
And that doesn't always resultin a direct translation.
If you've ever had an experienceof living or traveling through a
different country that speaks adifferent language and learning
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a word in that language that hasno direct translation in your
native language, coming home andtrying to share the experience
you've had in this othercountry, and finding yourself
saying something like, ah, inFrench or German or Bulgarian or
whatever it is, Spanish in mycase, when I was in Ecuador,
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there's a word for this, butthere's no direct translation.
So you're finding yourselfpulling a few words from your
own native language together totry to give the person you're
talking with a better sense ofwhat you're referring to.
So it can be like that.
Any type of language-to-languagetranslation can be like that.
And animal communication is noexception.
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So going in looking for 100%precision accuracy, it happens.
And some animals are better atcommunicating than others, just
like some human animals arebetter at communicating than
others.
And if I'm talking with ananimal that is experiencing,
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let's say, residual trauma, oris coming out of a heavily
medicated state, or isexperiencing a loss or grief, or
is preparing for theirend-of-life transition, is all
of their focus necessarily goingto be on me and even their pet
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parent and the conversation athand?
Maybe not.
And in addition, when I teachanimal communication, one of the
most fun modules that we coveris animal conversational styles.
So what's so interesting, and Ithink one of the things that I
love the most about being ananimal communicator and getting
to do this each and every day.
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Of course, there are easierdays, there are more challenging
days, but no two days are alikebecause no two animals are
alike.
And I don't ever know when Iwake up in the morning who I'm
gonna meet that day and whatthey're gonna teach me and how I
might have to stretch and growto meet them where they are.
They might be more advancedcommunicator than I am.
Of course, I'm speaking withbeings who are for them,
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interspecies communication istheir native language and
English is my native language.
So I'm always going to belearning from them.
Every communication I have, Ilearn.
And that's something else Ishare up front.
Your animal is teaching me rightnow, right here.
And I'm always going to be thestudent.
The animals are the mastercommunicators.
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But within that umbrella contextof recognizing that for them,
animal communication is theirnative language.
We still have a number ofdifferent animal communication
styles.
And some are what I could onlydescribe as chatty cappy, while
others are more stoic.
And there's a need to adapt tothe pace and the openness and
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the life stage and all kinds ofvariables that crop up when
you're initiating a conversationwith somebody new.
And I even see theconversational willingness and
fluency vary in animals that I'mvery familiar with based on what
they might be going through, howopen they are, how willing they
are to talk, and how willingtheir human is to hear them.
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That's the other side of thecoin.
Non-human animals, pets, wildanimals, are very emotionally
sensitive.
They're very sensitive tofrequency and vibration.
And I have had the odd client,the odd pet parent client who
comes in very distrustful, verydisbelieving, but wanting to
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believe and planning to test meto see if animal communication
itself is legitimate.
Is this real?
And when that happens, not onlycan I feel that vibration of
okay, I can tell even by thetypes of questions that are
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being asked, as well as thefrequency or emotion attached to
those questions, but even worsethan that, the animal I'm trying
to talk with can pick up onthat.
And while they might notunderstand that this human, this
pet parent, doesn't reallybelieve in this stuff or
actively disbelieves but wantsto believe, and has decided to
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test me as a communicator to seeif I can prove to them that this
stuff works.
Sometimes I can, but often whathappens is that the pet that I'm
there to talk with is picking upon the distrust that their
parent has for the wholeprocess.
And they may not know that it'sdistrust for animal
communication.
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They just know that their humandoesn't trust me.
There's something untrustworthyand thus unsafe about this
conversation.
And guess what tends to happen?
Pet tends to clam up, and thenI'm stuck trying to navigate
between two people who aren'treally there transparently to
have an open and honestconversation with one another,
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but are there to work throughsome level of doubt or disbelief
or distrust that that human hastowards the work that I do.
And unfortunately, that doesn'ttend to produce the desired
outcome.
I've been surprised at times,but I find that when I am
pleasantly surprised, it'sbecause there isn't a huge level
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of distrust.
There's just a healthy degree ofskepticism.
And I welcome skepticism.
I was a skeptic myself.
And the only reason I kepthiring animal communicators is
because the process keptworking.
But I think where I wasfortunate going in is that I was
pretty open-minded.
I didn't have any previousnegative experiences.
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And sometimes I find that someof my pet parent clients come in
and they maybe have had a reallybad experience.
And maybe not with an animalcommunicator, maybe it was with
a medium or with a psychic forhumans or a mentor or a coach or
a counselor.
And so that's just closed themup a little bit.
And we can work with that.
I love what the telepathy tapespodcast creator Kai Dickens says
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about skepticism.
She says, remember, to be a trueskeptic requires an open mind.
And so I really don't mind thatbecause my job is to be the
translator.
So it's not my job to prove ordisprove.
And I've got no skin in the gameas far as whether others believe
that it's real or not.
I have trust that I've seenpositive benefits to my pet
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family over many, many years,decades now.
And that's why I keep showing upto learn and grow.
But that's my own learnedexperience.
So I've got no vested interestin proving or disproving, but it
does make my job easier when thehuman in the mix, the pet parent
that I am translating for, atleast is able to come with that
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truly skeptical mind, beingopen.
Let's just see, having thatspirit of noticing, wondering,
getting curious, learningsomething new, giving themselves
permission to have anexperience, good, bad, or
indifferent, but not necessarilystacking the deck for or against
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either outcome.
Because just as not every pet isright for every person, not
every communicator is right forevery pet parent.
My way is very different thanthat of many other communicators
out there.
We all have our own way, and weare all given the opportunity to
find our own unique way.
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So how I ask questions, how Itranslate, how I deliver
information can be verydifferent.
And I've had enough feedbackover the years from my pet
parent clients and my animalcommunication students who may
have worked with or studied withother professional animal
communicators, and they haveshared with me that I am
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different than othercommunicators they have worked
with.
And that's not to say that oneof us is better or worse than
the other, but we are different.
And sometimes it's just anenergetic mismatch.
And so it's important to beaware of that.
And that's why I always share,especially with pet parent
clients who hire me after havinga bad experience with someone
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else, I always share with themhow brave they are to give it
another chance, to give itanother try, because it might
just be that there was anenergetic mismatch.
And here's an example of that.
One of my clients last week,whom I have worked with several
times.
I've spoken with several of heranimals, and she had hired a
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different communicator to getessentially a second opinion,
which I have no problem with.
But she had come back and saidthat the delivery method that
the other communicator used justfelt harsh to her, felt blunt to
her.
And we can't possibly ever knowwhy that might be happening.
We communicators, first andforemost, we're human, we're
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human beings, we're humananimals.
We have days that are better andwe have days that are not
better, not so good.
I love what Don Miguel Ruiz saysin The Four Agreements, the Toll
Tech Wisdom book.
He talks about always do yourbest.
Your best will change from dayto day.
So maybe we'll never know ifthat other communicator was just
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having an off day, or maybe itwas an energetic mismatch
between herself and my client.
But having an off experience oran experience that doesn't
resonate with a particularcommunicator doesn't mean that
the field itself is broken.
It means that you just had anoff day or a bad vibe or
whatever it is.
And so choosing to go forwardand give it another try is to
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your pet's benefit, because I'vecertainly over the years
facilitated enough sessions,both my private practice clients
and group sessions with mystudents, where we're bringing
in pet parents with theiranimals to have experienced over
and over and over again that thetranslation itself works.
And the underlying reason forthat, which I go into fully in
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my Animal CommunicationAdventure to Mastery program, is
because we too can speak thislanguage.
We just aren't taught.
It's not emphasized, it's notconsidered a valuable life
skill.
Whereas once upon a time, whenwe were out in the greater food
chain of life, out in the forestor the grasslands or the desert
with everyone else trying tocarve out a living eat and not
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be eaten, we needed thislanguage just as much as
everyone else.
And if you haven't attended oneof my free intuitive development
for pet parent webinars, I gointo the basics of that in that
webinar.
And that might be somethingreally fascinating for you to
attend.
And if you'd like to be notifiedthe next time I do a webinar,
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what you'll want to do is goover to Animal Lovelanguages.com
and look for the little pink barup at the top and click on that
and join my weekly love lettersemail list.
And that is where I send outnews when I've got new freebies,
new offerings, new podcastepisodes, new workshops, etc.
(31:33):
So get on that list and I cannotify you the next time I am
offering one of those freeworkshops.
But continuing forward, theother disclaimer that I always
use when I am about to launchinto an interspecies
conversation with a pet andtheir person is I say this is
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not meant as a replacement or asubstitute for veterinary or
medical input, guidance, exams,diagnosis, animal communication
is not a vet visit.
And it's so important torecognize this.
I know communicators who do notwork with disclaimers, they do
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not believe in disclaimers.
I know communicators that theyprotect themselves with maybe
even too many disclaimers.
For me, it's pretty simple.
I explain that I'm essentiallyserving as a translator, what
we've just talked about.
And then I explain that I am thefirst person to say, run, don't
walk to your veterinarian,fellow pet parent here.
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If you have any questions of amedical nature, now I do seem to
have a medical intuitive bent.
So I went and got medicalintuition training.
And that is an adjunct servicethat comes in handy sometimes
when an animal I'm talking withwants to share how they're
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feeling in their body orsomething that maybe is going on
in their body, or even whatcaused them to feel like they
needed to leave their body andtransition to the soul or the
light space.
And so I can do something thatreally harkens back to Dr.
Stephen Porges and Polly Vageltheory.
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And if you're not familiar, thattheory basically summing it up
says that social animal species,such as Homo sapiens and many of
the pet species we accompanywith today, have evolved over
millennia to have very similarnervous system structure and to
be able to sync nervous systemsto share vital information to
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specific kinds of messages,messages of danger and messages
that we might consider eithersafety or opportunity.
And so we have this ability tosync our nervous systems.
So as a communicator, I havelearned how to fine-tune my
awareness as I invite the animalI'm speaking with to sync their
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nervous system with mine so thatthey can more easily transmit
information that they might wanttheir human to know about their
body, about what's going on intheir body, about how they feel
living in their body, andsometimes why they felt like
their body was no longer a safehome and they had to leave it.
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Because of the nature oftranslation, sometimes when I'm
trying to translate thosesensory nonverbal messages into
words, what comes out mightsound kind of veterinary or
medical.
And I might end up talking aboutpain or discomfort or other
kinds of physical or evenemotional sensations that might
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make it sound like I amdiagnosing, might make it sound
like I have a medical degree ora veterinary background, which I
do not.
I faint at the sight of allblood, including my own.
So that is why I use thatdisclaimer.
And so anybody who comes to meand wants that particular aspect
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of animal communication, andoften I can tell by the nature
of the questions that are beingasked.
What caused my pet to leave soquickly?
Or I feel like something's wrongwith my pet, and yet the vet
tells me everything is fine.
And we cover that again indeveloping your pet parent
intuition.
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That's a pretty common requestthat I get where a pet parent,
they're ding ding-ding, theirspidey sense, their gut is just
telling them something's off,but it's so subtle where there
is no test for it yet thattraditional vets just can't find
it.
And so that's when that tool cancome in handy, but we still want
(35:54):
to follow up and take a lookunder the hood and see if
perhaps there is some way todetect the accuracy of what the
pet is sharing with me.
So it all boils down to what isthe impact of the information
that comes through?
Is it usable?
Is it useful?
Does it contribute to peace ofmind, to better quality of life,
(36:20):
to continued learning andgrowth, to perhaps pursuing new
avenues of care when what we'vealready tried hasn't worked?
And there are all kinds of otherdisciplines that I can wrap in:
applied kinesiology, muscletesting, Reikian, energy work,
chakra balancing.
And those modalities are adifferent type of session.
(36:44):
So I'm very clear.
We're gonna have a conversation,and then we might choose to
schedule something as afollow-up, like an energy
session, and just making surethat I'm very clear with each
pet parent I work with and withyou.
If you decide you want to have asession with me, I'm very clear
about which hat I'm wearing.
Am I wearing my interspeciestranslator hat?
(37:05):
Am I wearing my Reiki Masterhat?
Am I wearing my energy worker ormy chakra balancing hat?
Am I wearing my here?
Let me dip into my Rolodex andrefer you to a specialist in XYZ
area hat.
And that's part of the servicethat I provide as well.
So just understanding whenyou're registering for a pet
(37:25):
parent session, what are youregistering for?
What is it designed to be usedfor?
And what might be pushing pastthe boundaries of what animal
communication as a languagetranslation service is designed
to do and is best suited for.
So at this point, you mightwonder, well, when I do register
(37:47):
for a session, what happens?
What do you do?
What's gonna happen?
And again, I'm gonna prefacethis by saying, This is my way.
If you schedule a session withme, this is most likely what is
going to happen.
Of course, my way continues toevolve.
So at time of recording thisepisode, this is what is likely
(38:10):
to happen when you schedule yoursession with me as a
communicator.
The first thing that I do is Iwill spend about 15 to 20
minutes with your pet, justtuning in with their energy and
allowing them to get to know myenergy.
And this happens before I startthe formal communication,
whether you have chosen myremote sessions where I send you
(38:34):
an audio file of my real-timetwo-way conversation with your
pet, or we're jumping on thephone or Zoom to connect in real
time.
And I call this initial periodthe say anything period.
So as I'm just connecting inwith your pet's energy and
(38:55):
introducing myself and lettingthem attune to my energy and
decide if they want to talk withme.
And if yes, is now a good time.
It's always good to check inadvance before I'm jumping on
the phone or Zoom with a petparent and explaining why I'm
reaching out.
If you think of it like anintuitive phone call, why are
(39:17):
you calling me?
So I'm explaining.
And typically my explanation isalong the lines of well, your
human, your mom, your dad, yourcarer, your guardian.
They have asked me to reach outto you because they want to have
a conversation.
And they have some questionsabout XYZ.
Are you willing to talk aboutthat?
And definitely recruiting thepets permission and willingness.
(39:42):
That 15 to 20 minute period canbe and typically is the most
information-rich time I spendwith your pet, which is why I
always keep a little notepadnearby and I jot down anything
that comes through.
And the reason I call this thesay anything period is because
(40:03):
if your pet has anything theywant to talk about, to share
with you, to get off theirchest, whatever it is, messages
of wisdom, anything, want tocapture that first.
Of course, as humans, we alwayshave our agenda.
I remember spending hours,sometimes days, coming up with
(40:26):
my short list of 20 questionsthat I had for each animal in my
family that I hope to cover in15 minutes with the communicator
and revising them and reworkingthem and just really having
absolutely no idea what wasgoing on behind the scenes of my
inquisitive mind and my worryand concern as a pet parent and
(40:49):
wanting to just know everythingabout everything in my pet's
life.
And one thing I have learned asa communicator since then is
that if my conversation partnerhas something that they want to
talk about, they're probably notgoing to be all that interested
in or invested in talking aboutwhat you want to talk about
(41:09):
until they've had a chance totalk about what they want to
talk about.
And considering that our petsare giving up almost total
autonomy, authority, and controlover their own lives to live in
our worlds by our rules,governed by our language, that
they're constantly struggling tounderstand and decipher for
(41:31):
themselves.
If somebody walks up to your petand gives them a free
opportunity, free forum toshare, heck yeah, they want to
take it.
And I find that once I've givenyour pet this time to share
freely, rest of the conversationand addressing your questions
comes pretty naturally.
(41:52):
And what's so cool about this,and this gets into quantum
entanglement and goes way beyondthe constraints of what we're
talking about in today'sepisode.
And I talk about all of thisinside my student program, but
what's really cool is often Ifind that just by giving your
pet this open-ended time periodto share freely, often your
(42:15):
questions are answered quitenaturally before I ever have to
ask them.
It is the coolest darn thingever.
And it happens again and againand again.
And it happens even in our grouppractices with students.
So often when we bring a petparent and their animal in and
we just get to know the animal,just total free form, let the
(42:38):
animal share whatever they wantto talk about.
They already know what you wantto ask and quite naturally will
answer it as a part of this openperiod of sharing.
So that is something I haveincorporated into every single
session that I do.
And it just works.
And my philosophy is if I trysomething new and it works, I
(42:59):
keep it until proven otherwise.
So I'm spending, if you sign upfor a half hour session with me,
you're getting an houressentially.
If you sign up for an hoursession with me, you're getting
an hour and a half because I domy own preparations for the
first 10 minutes or so.
And then I spend about 20minutes, 15 or 20 minutes with
your pet in this open-endedcommunication, pre-form
(43:21):
communication period.
And then I connect in with you,whether that's pressing record
on my audio app or it's jumpingon the phone or Zoom with you
for the formal conversation.
And I can share this as well asa pet parent who was once upon a
time brand new to hiringcommunicators and to having
sessions as a pet parent, eagerand worried and nervous and
(43:44):
expectant about what my pets hadto say and share with me.
I did not see anything beyondthe questions that I had for
them.
So I had no idea that part of apet communication session was
getting to know that animal,finding out who they are in the
world, what they're like, howthey like to be with others,
whether it's other animals orother people, how they react and
(44:09):
respond to different events inlife, how they're feeling in
their body, even why they chosethat species body.
That's one of the topics insidethe world of animal
communication that I amperpetually the most fascinated
about.
Why did you choose to be a dogor a horse or a skunk or a
cockatiel?
And how does that serve?
(44:30):
So there's this period of justgetting to know the animal,
which gives so much context thatmight otherwise be lost or would
be a perpetual struggle tounderstand the flavor of the
animal's side of theconversation because I don't
have any idea who they are inthe world.
What is their temperament andpersonality like?
(44:51):
And there are so many tools thatI've learned and that I teach my
own students for how to do this.
When I've had pet parents whoare new to registering for an
animal communication session,and they say, Well, why can I
only ask three questions in ahalf hour session?
And my response is, well, youcan ask more, but then we'd have
to skip these other parts.
(45:13):
And that, in my experience,tends to produce less rich
conversation because we lackcontext.
So why can I only ask sixquestions in an hour-long
session?
Same reason.
And so many other reasons.
So we want to get to know theanimal if they're in their body
or there's any question aboutwhy they left their body.
(45:33):
We want to do a body syncing,which I talked about earlier.
And questions themselves oftenrequire unpacking before they're
asked.
Now, what do I mean by that?
Here's a very common example.
And you might have even workedwith an animal communicator
yourself, or even worked with meon this very question for your
pet.
(45:54):
Why are you so nervous?
So, on the surface, that seemslike a pretty normal question.
Unfortunately, the nuance that'smissed that animal communication
requires that we address is whatare you calling nervous?
I need to know what you, as thepet parent, are seeing, hearing,
(46:14):
smelling, tasting, feeling,sensing, or knowing that you are
labeling as nervous.
Now, why is this so important?
Because yes, we might find outafter I gather that information,
what we call context for thequestion from you.
We might find out that yes, infact, your pet is actually very
nervous.
Or we might find out that whatyou're calling nervousness is
(46:38):
really high sensitivity or pasttrauma rearing its head, or it's
just a naturally high preydrive, or it's got some other
reason that we would never havedreamed of, like another animal
in the family is bullying them,or that they can see a wild
(46:58):
animal outside the window that'sdriving them nuts, or fill in
the blanks.
The reasons are as numerous asthe animals in this world, but
we're only going to get to themif I am able to ask a question
that captures what you'reactually seeing that you're
labeling as nervous.
(47:19):
So let's say, just as anexample, that you've come to me
and you've said, My animal isvery nervous.
Can you please ask them, why areyou so nervous?
And I say, I trust youimplicitly.
If your Spidey Sense is tellingme that they're nervous, we may
very well discover that that isthe case.
But can you, just to make surethat I'm asking the most
(47:41):
accurate question, especiallysince I'm translating your
question into nonverballanguage, pictures, sounds,
sensations, emotions, can youdescribe what you're seeing?
And you might say to me, Well,he paces and he does it at a
specific time of day and hehowls.
And I look out the window and Idon't see anything.
(48:02):
Well, I am not going to ask yourpet, why are you so nervous?
I am going to ask him, why areyou pacing and howling?
I am going to ask, is there someconnection with the window and
something that you're seeing orsensing outside?
So do you see how asking threequestions?
(48:23):
If it's just as simple as, whyare you so nervous?
Why don't you like your food?
Would you like a pet friend?
Then yeah, sure, it sounds likeit's going to take five minutes.
But we have to unpack thequestion so that I can send the
full translation of yourquestion to your pet to make
sure they understand what you'rereally asking about.
(48:45):
Because if all I said was, whyare you so nervous?
and just sent through theemotion of nervousness, we might
get an answer, but your petmight not have any idea that
what you really want to knowabout is the pacing and the
howling.
They could be in pain.
You could be anxious.
Sometimes I find what I call afeedback loop where your pet is
(49:06):
mirroring, which is showing youhow you're acting by acting it
out like charades right in frontof you.
Sometimes your pet is modeling.
You might be the soul of calm ina situation where it would serve
you to get a little ramped upand take some action and make
some changes.
And they're modeling to you.
So only by understanding whatyou are calling nervous or
(49:30):
antisocial or shy or fill in theblanks and asking that question,
am I able to be of service toyou and having a really deep and
open conversation about what'sactually happening in your home
between the two of you to helpyou openly and honestly talk
(49:50):
through it and identifyproductive solutions that will
serve you both.
So that's why for me, when I dosessions, I do have a question
limit based on the amount oftime that you register for,
because we can only do so muchin a certain period of time.
And again, not all communicatorswork the way that I do.
(50:13):
Some just offer here's yoursession.
If it's half an hour, if it'sfour hours, it's the same price.
There are as many differentflavors of how sessions are
structured as there arecommunicators in the world.
And so it's important to beaware of that.
It's also important to ask ifyou have a question about, well,
why is this constraint in place?
(50:36):
Just trust, at least if you'rehiring me, that it's because I
have enough experience to haveworked through what seems to
work best and allow me toprovide the deepest type of
service and the most supportiveenvironment for an open and
honest conversation as possible.
(50:57):
And again, everything I justdescribed is relevant as of the
time I'm recording this for you.
Things are always subject tochange as I continue to learn
and grow.
But that is basically whathappens behind the scene.
And that say anything, period.
Often special messages for youwill come through.
Sometimes your pets will tell methings that they know about what
(51:20):
you are going through just tolet you know that they're with
you and they're for you andthey're encouraging you.
Sometimes pets will sharerequests.
Sometimes pets have questions oftheir own.
For instance, I was talking withone reincarnated cat, and this
cat had rejoined the family andthen proceeded to go through a
(51:42):
number of medical issues.
And mom hired me to talk withher cat, her reincarnated cat,
who she had spent months lookingfor and had joyfully reunited
with, only to discover therewere some medical issues that
needed to be attended to.
And this had sent mom into kindof a tailspin of anxiety and
(52:04):
overwhelm, which is extremelynormal.
But when I talked with her cat,the first question that this cat
asked me was, why is mom soanxious?
Doesn't she want me?
I thought she wanted me.
So it turns out this cat justdidn't understand what was
driving mom's anxiety, that momwas just worried about finding
(52:27):
the right type of veterinarycare and identifying the best
solution and financing it andall the rest that goes along
with being a pet carer or petparent.
And so this cat hadmisunderstood it as she doesn't
want me anymore.
I make her anxious.
So often I'll get questions fromyour pets and we can sort things
(52:49):
out and clear the air so we cancontinue to deepen that bond.
And then there's typically aperiod of time at the end where
if we need to unpack any nextsteps, I spend my days and often
my evenings doing this work, andI'm immersed in this world.
I'm always taking classes andfurthering my own knowledge.
(53:10):
I've got plenty of coaches andmentors who help me to learn and
grow.
And a rolodex of trustedreferrals that I dip into every
week to support pet parents whocome through a conversation with
their animal where we'veidentified some issues and they
say, Well, what do I do now?
Okay, we know that we need someguidance on diet and nutrition,
(53:33):
or we know that there is somephysical discomfort in the body,
or we know we have some needsfor new social skills or
whatever it may be, or calmingprotocols or managing genetic
high sensitivity.
Now what?
And so we need to allow for alittle bit of time to put a plan
together.
And so that's what happensbehind the scenes from start to
(53:57):
finish in one of my animalcommunication sessions.
And it comprises thefundamentals of the structure I
teach as well.
Although it is taught as witheverything I do, with the flavor
of try it on for size.
At worst case scenario, you canuse it as a complimentary form
of opposition to feel into,well, this doesn't quite fit for
(54:20):
me, but I can now rule that outand move forward and try
something different.
Best case scenario, you'll findit will work really well for you
too, and you can add it to yourtoolkit.
Either way, it's time wellspent.
And so I'm always encouraging,yes, expose yourself to
different perspectives,different ways of doing things.
Try on different things forsize, remain curious and
(54:41):
open-minded.
We don't ever want to fall intothat.
I've become the expert mentalitywhere we start to shut ourselves
down and cut ourselves off fromlearning anything new and from
growing and recognizing thatevery conversation that we have
as communicators with animals,we are in the presence of the
master teacher.
And they can teach us right inthat moment if we simply remain
(55:04):
open to learning, to bring thathumility to the conversation and
that empty cup ready to befilled up with insight and
guidance and wisdom andencouragement.
So you might be wondering atthis point, outside of sitting
with your short list of 20questions, like I used to do,
(55:27):
how can you prepare for ananimal communication session of
your own with your pet, embodiedhere or in spirit?
And my best guidance to yououtside of trying to cut your
list of 20 questions down tobetween three and six, depending
on how much time you want toschedule for and what the nature
(55:50):
or the flavor of your questionsactually is, is to arrive in
that calm, well-hydrated,oxygenated, quiet listening
state.
As we talked about earlier, yourpet, in most cases, will only
open up to me as the translatorin the mix to the degree in
(56:13):
which you are open to theexperience itself and the
process itself.
And so one of the preparationtips I like to offer is to be
aware of any sensitivity thatyou might have.
For instance, I for a long timedidn't want to hire animal
communicators.
And when I finally got braveenough to hire animal
(56:35):
communicators, I would be sonervous the night before I could
barely sleep because I was soafraid that they were going to
tell the communicator that theyhated me.
They didn't like anything abouttheir food, their environment,
their daily life with me.
They wanted to go to somebodyelse.
And that pointed to fear and uhvulnerability within me.
(56:57):
I was worried they didn't loveme the way that I loved them.
And I was shy to admit that toanother human, in this case, the
communicator who I was trustingto help me have a conversation
with my beloved pet.
So that's an example of an areawhere you might feel like you
feel a little guarded, you feela little sensitive, and just
(57:19):
know that animal communicationas a translation service, done
well, at least from myperspective, provides a very
safe container of confidentialspace to explore things like
this.
If you are afraid of what youranimal is going to say, and
they're done that, and I amprepared to hold space for you
and your animal to walk throughthat together.
(57:41):
Something else I have learnedover the years, talking with
hundreds upon hundreds uponhundreds of animals in all ages,
species, life stages in spiritas well as in body, is that even
the toughest messages, they havea knack.
Our animals have a knack fordelivering them wrapped in a
package of unconditional lovethat makes us able to receive
(58:03):
even constructive guidance in away that we might not be able to
receive it from our fellow humananimals, for what comfort, if
any, that may be worth.
But the number one mostimportant guidance that I might
be able to offer you to prepareis simply to take those deep
breaths and do what I callparasympathetic breathing, which
(58:25):
is extending your exhale pastthe length of your inhale.
So I like to start my sessionswhen I jump on the phone with
you.
We always start with a round ofparasympathetic breathing and
setting a big picture intention.
And that is just how I start mysessions with everyone.
And so what I guide you to do isto exhale all the air out of
(58:47):
your lungs, take a deep, deep,deep, full-in breath that
requires your body to move,pause at the top, take a deep
exhale and try to extend thatexhale longer than the time you
spent inhaling.
Pause at the bottom, do two morerounds of that, and then breathe
naturally.
And by extending your exhalepast the length of your inhale,
you are telling your nervoussystem that all is safe.
(59:09):
So you are basically switchingfrom sympathetic nervous system
mode, fight, flight, freeze,tender, befriend, over to
parasympathetic nervous system,which is rest, digest,
reconnect.
When you're in parasympatheticnervous system mode, your animal
will end train to thatvibration.
They will sense that and theywill be more willing to open up
(59:29):
to me.
And you will be more likely toreceive the depth and the type
of information that you'rehoping will come through the
communication service that Iprovide.
So whatever you can do to arriveoxygenated and hydrated, we
don't drink enough water, mostof us.
Most of us only use about 40% ofour lung capacity, and most of
(59:52):
us do not drink enough water.
So if you can arrive rested,nourished, hydrated, and
oxygenated and open andtrusting, set an intention of
your own.
Set an intention for what youhope the session experience will
provide for you.
My big picture intention that Itypically set with each pet
(01:00:13):
parent client and pet that Iwork with is to get your
questions answered, to provide aspace where your pet can share
anything with you through me tohelp you deepen your bond.
And if needed, chart a courseforward for happy, healthy
interspecies family.
And that is typically theintention that we set going into
(01:00:37):
every single communicationsession.
And you can take that as atemplate, customize it, and use
your own words.
You don't have to share it withme, although you're welcome to
when we meet, but it will helpyou focus your attention.
Intention stems from a decision,making a decision about the way
(01:00:59):
that you.
want things to go and the worddecision essentially translates
to mean to cut off all otheroptions.
So setting an intention todirect your attention in a
specific direction is a verypowerful practice that your pet
can then train to and focus on.
And I have found over time thatit just tends to produce deeper
(01:01:23):
conversations with more mutuallysatisfying outcomes.
So that is what I have to sharewith you today.
I truly hope from my heart thatthis has been useful for you.
If you have questions for meabout anything that I've talked
about today, if you are unclearabout any part of the process
(01:01:45):
and would like a follow-upepisode on that, you can pop a
note in the comment section.
You are welcome to reach out tome via animallovelanguages.com,
my website, go find me over onInstagram at Love and Feathers
and Shells.
And I have a backup account atAnimal Love Languages.
(01:02:06):
It has been my honor and delightto share this podcast episode
with you.
This is my passion in life andmy life's work.
Obviously I can talk and talkand talk about it.
But as with all episodes, thetopics are always shaped by you
what you're interested in, whatyou're curious about, what you
(01:02:26):
want to hear more about, yourneeds, your questions.
So don't be shy.
Reach out to me, let me knowwhat you'd like to hear about
next.
And I will get it on the docketand look forward to unpacking
and exploring that with you in afuture episode of Let's Talk to
Animals.
So I send you and yourinterspecies family here and in
(01:02:49):
spirit all my love.
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
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 and yourfeedback truly helps me shape
(01:03:11):
future episodes based on yourinterests and needs.
If you're not already in myweekly love letters community,
head over to Animal LoveLanguages.com to opt in.
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
(01:03:32):
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
the information about my newanimal communication adventure
to mastery student program andthe live animal communication
practice circle I run forstudent practitioners.
(01:03:53):
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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