June 13, 2025 • 43 mins
What if healing animals isn’t just science, but soul work?
In this heart-opening conversation, I sit down with Dr. Tim Budris—veterinarian, yogi, and deeply intuitive healer—to explore the unseen threads that connect us to our animal companions.
We talk about the power of empathy in veterinary care, how animals reflect our emotional states, and the vital role intuition plays in tending not just to symptoms, but to the full spectrum of well-being, both theirs and ours.
Whether you’re an animal lover, a healer, or someone learning to trust your inner knowing, this episode invites you into a world where medicine meets mindfulness, and love is part of the treatment plan.
Find me on Instagram @ToHumisHuman and www.sonorouslight.com
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:10):
Hi, friends.
Welcome back to another episodeof To Hum is Human, the podcast
where we explore thetransformative power of tuning
into our intuition to expressour passionate purpose.
I'm your host, Donabell Cassis,and I'm so excited you're
joining me today.
We're going to delve intohealing with heart, a vet's
(00:32):
intuitive approach to animalcare because we all know our
pets communicate with us in somany different ways.
We just have to pay attention.
So joining me today is Dr.
Timothy Budris, who is a 1998graduate of UC Davis School of
Veterinary Medicine andpractices small animal medicine
(00:53):
in Connecticut.
He has a BS from UConn atUniversity of Connecticut and an
MS from UC Davis, both in animalscience.
Now, Dr.
Budris, who we'll call Timtoday, lives with his husband,
Michael, on an urban farm withgeese, chickens, and an
impossible fruit and vegetablegrowing situation.
(01:14):
They produce eggs and preservedfood and are passionate about
plants, sea kayaking, quilting,painting, and yoga.
Welcome, Tim.
SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
Now, you had a powerful experience.
when you were a teenager, whichsort of sparked your ongoing
quest to better understand thisphysical world.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what happened?
SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
Absolutely.
It was a long time ago.
It seems like it was somebodyelse's storyline, actually.
I think I was about 18 yearsold.
I was in a codependent abusiverelationship.
And it's very stereotypical.
And Mary Ellen Beatty's book,Codependent No More, guided me
through that actuallyafterwards.
But I had attempted suicide.
(02:06):
I don't think I wanted to die.
I think I just wanted to get theattention of somebody who wasn't
giving me attention.
I had a really interestingexperience after taking a lot of
medication that wasn't my ownand drinking about a gallon of
rum.
I, to make a long story short,saw someone on this bathroom
floor who was suffering, theyneeded help.
(02:27):
They were vomiting.
They were in a puddle of urineand they were dying.
And my instinct was to kneeldown and help this person.
And I did.
And I had this profoundrealization that I realized I
was actually looking at myselfWow.
That was, yeah.
Yeah, incredible.
Very interesting, beautiful,wonderful experience.
(02:48):
And I remember even questioningin that moment, I'll never
forget this.
And at that moment, I rememberthinking, I will never forget
this because of this second.
I couldn't believe that I waslooking at myself, but then I
realized I was actually lookingat myself in 3D.
And we don't see ourselves in3D.
We don't know what the shape ofour head actually looks like.
(03:09):
And I almost had this comedicrealization.
I was like, I had no idea Ilooked like that.
And that's when it hit me that Iwill never forget this moment
because of that.
And the next thing I wanted todo was to really help this poor
soul.
And before I could process, Iwas bestowed with, I think,
three beautiful facts.
(03:31):
One was...
And I call it divineintervention.
I was just shown ortelepathically told that the
only person responsible for mebeing in this puddle was myself.
That was a pivotal lesson andsomething that I needed to be
given to me, actually, because Iwas failing learning that on my
own.
The other thing that I was shownwas that we are not our physical
(03:51):
bodies.
I was also shown how a lifetime,even my own storyline or
incarnation, would have aneffect on others in amazing
ways, kind of like the butterflyeffect, like even if it's just a
smile to a stranger or receivinga smile from a stranger, how
that can change your perceptionof a day and how that then has a
(04:13):
ripple effect.
And I was shown that, and I wasshown how my storyline was much
longer than what I thought itwas going to be.
You know, here I thought I wasgoing to die this night,
potentially.
And so...
I was immediately back in my ownbody with this wisdom.
And I sat up and I cleanedmyself off.
(04:35):
Next day was a different person.
And since I've been chasing abetter understanding of biology
and physiology of our physicalbodies and why we are
encapsulated in human form, Iwent through a period of time, I
think in my 30s, where I gotvery depressed, having had this
(04:59):
wisdom bestowed upon me inaccruing student loans and a
mortgage and anotherrelationship and all of the
homeowner's paths.
And the big question then that Idon't think was answered for me
when I had the out-of-bodyexperience was why?
(05:20):
Armed with the information thatwe are these spiritual beings,
How is it that we have to endurethe mundane existence of having
a mortgage and student loans?
And it got depressing.
And since then, the incarnationnow comes to life on figuring
all of that out and figuring outstill the physical body.
SPEAKER_00 (05:41):
Well, that out-of-body experience sounded
astonishing.
Have you ever had anyexperiences like that prior?
So,
SPEAKER_01 (05:49):
no.
No.
I had not.
I use a term, and I never meanto sound offensive when I use
it, and learning the vocabularyof alchemy and the dialogue of
alchemy constantly, which ischanging, but I called it
ignorance is bliss.
I was just pushing through life,arrogant, ignorant, not
questioning things, and then hadthat roadblock of you are not
(06:14):
proceeding forward without agreater understanding of why
you're here and what a blessingthat was.
No judgment.
You see people who we interactwith who don't have those
profound aha moments.
And now it does help me to notjudge anybody because even as
this path unfolds, every day youcan learn something new if
you're open to it.
(06:34):
But sometimes we are to play theroles that we play without that
knowledge as well.
I didn't have any otherexperiences up until that point.
Since then, meditation is prettyprofound.
SPEAKER_00 (06:48):
We'll definitely talk about that in a little bit.
Also, the age you were at,you're in your teens, your late
teens.
And of course, we're all verymuch about being superhuman in
some ways.
We're invincible.
We can do whatever we want untilwe can't.
And what a journey that was foryou to come to terms with that
(07:08):
experience.
path that you are currently on,I'm fascinated about when you
started tapping into wanting towork with animals.
SPEAKER_01 (07:18):
Well, since I can remember growing up on a farm,
especially, I always hadrelationship with animals that
was much better and much moreconnected than it was with
humans and I remember askingpsychic once something about my
gardening angels and he hadreferred to my maternal
(07:39):
grandmother who I never met andhe knew her name and she was a
Lithuanian her name was Teklaand And I had never heard her
name before.
And it wasn't until I called mymom after the session and said,
what was my grandmother's name?
And she said, it was Tekla.
And the psychic medium saidsomething to me that my mother
reiterated verbatim whendescribing this woman.
And he had described her assomebody who They knew where to
(08:03):
find you.
Yeah, yeah.
(08:24):
Remember sneaking out of my bedto sleep in the barn with our
goats and our chickens and theywould sleep all around me and
keep me warm.
And I definitely was connectedto them and they were to me.
SPEAKER_00 (08:36):
So it's fascinating because I've heard many people
say that, you know, being withtheir animal friends is just a
different thing.
relationship.
A lot of ways, there isn't a lotof pressures or expectations
that we humans sort of put oneach other.
And I believe that animals andpets are really here to teach us
(08:59):
about what unconditional loveis.
SPEAKER_01 (09:02):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (09:03):
So early on, you recognized this and really felt
it with them and they gravitatedtowards you.
How did you decide to pursueveterinary medicine?
Because that's a very directpath to just working with them.
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
It's an interesting story.
I always thought that I would dosomething related to animal care
and better understanding theirbiology and physiology and also
their reason for beingincarnated as energy here as
well.
That parallel path and thedifferences and the similarities
are fascinating especiallybecause of what you just said
(09:39):
because they are capable ofunconditional love and I don't I
don't know I haven't met a humanwho is yet but I'm still looking
and I'm still trying to be onemyself I was a nurse's aide for
20 years during high school,college, and then veterinary
school as well.
And that certainly provided mewith a grand perspective of
(10:02):
people's perspective.
There's two types of people in anursing home.
I learned people who love it andpeople who do not.
SPEAKER_00 (10:09):
And
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
the difference between the two still is a grand
perspective for me on gratitude.
Being grateful in the moment isso very important.
And animals help with that.
And so to answer your questiondirectly, I did not know that I
would go to veterinary school.
I didn't know if I was capableof getting in.
It's a huge process, and it wasback then too.
(10:32):
So I do feel like the ball thatfell through the pegboard and
just hit the right pegs at theright time I wasn't very
proactive until I needed to be.
And I realized if I'm going tomake this happen, if I'm not
going to be a nurse's aide oreven a veterinary technician for
the rest of my life, I need todo something.
So I think it wasn't until Iactually got my animal science
(10:54):
degree at the University ofConnecticut that I realized if
I'm going to go to vet school, Ineed to act like it.
And that's when I started to getmy storyline together for that
and embarked on that.
SPEAKER_00 (11:05):
I always feel that there are no coincidences.
Your soul probably knew what youwere supposed to do before you
even knew what was happening.
But what's interesting isbecause this podcast really
talks about intuition and how weperceive things beyond our
typical senses.
And so as a veterinarian usingevidence-based practices and
(11:28):
working with animals, how do youdevelop balance between the two?
SPEAKER_01 (11:34):
Great question, because it was so confusing for
so many years.
I hadn't even understood or Idon't even think heard the term
empath or empathic until I was ayoung adult.
Even then, I didn't understandit.
I didn't understand my ownintuition.
I certainly did a great job ofdenying it for a very long time.
(11:54):
I went to California when I wasin my early 20s to establish
residency to eventuallyhopefully apply to veterinary
school.
California compared toconservative New England was a
radical shift and anenlightening experience
surrounded back in the day bytons of self-help avenues.
I just read stacks and stacks ofbooks.
(12:16):
I couldn't devour them fastenough while I was studying
biology and physiology.
It helped create more of anawareness of this concept of
intuition.
But even still, it wasn't evenuntil I was probably in my early
30s that I realized that many ofthe struggles that I was
experiencing as a human wasbecause of my intuition and not
(12:41):
understanding it and not knowinghow to not take things personal
and how not to try to manipulateand control the outcome of
someone else's storyline, evenwith the best of intentions.
As a matter of fact, there was avery pivotal moment.
I was in my...
(13:02):
I did a yoga teacher training inPoint Reyes, California in 2020,
which was probably as profoundas that out-of-body experience
that I had when I was a kid.
There was a moment in ameditation, and right before
this meditation, I was asked thequestion, what is it that you
want people to think in general?
(13:25):
After meditating for quite abit, after doing a lot of yoga,
I realized I want people to feelwhat it is that they're feeling.
And it was this huge release.
I was 50 years old, I think, or52 years old when that
realization came that assomebody who is empathic and
somebody who has intuition, Idon't need to use that to change
(13:45):
anybody else or theirstorylines.
What I want is for them to havetheir experiences.
We're all just walking eachother home.
I'm here to observe.
And now this frees me and itfrees them so that I can focus
on being the best person that Ican be and then maybe
inadvertently have an effect onthe world and them.
(14:06):
So that's it.
That was that pivotal moment forme of realizing, wow, I am
empathic.
I understand intuition.
And now I understand that it'snot to be abused or manipulated
or to be used for anything otherthan that.
getting through the day myself.
SPEAKER_00 (14:23):
Right.
Whatever it takes.
Well, Dr.
Tim, what, how would you defineintuition?
I
SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
was trying to prepare for this beforehand and
I knew you were going to askthat question and it's very
ethereal.
Intuition to me has, and I'msure that this explanation is
going to change day to day astime unfolds, is becoming no
longer in denial about what itis that I truly know and opening
(14:51):
up and welcoming the messagesthat the third eye has to say
you know yesterday i was workingin my driveway and i had this
profound smell i smelt my sisterwho passed away and um a few
years ago and i was doingsomething i was swearing and
throwing tools and i felt herlaughter you know 10 years ago
(15:12):
15 20 years ago i would haveblown that off and instead now i
i calm down, breathe, lean intothe situation.
And it's almost like she'sthere.
And I think that the sensationsassociated with that experience
need to be explored more withinthe individual.
I can only talk for myself, butthat's what I do now.
So I find myself doing thatdaily.
(15:34):
Even when you open up acookbook, I did this yesterday,
opened up a cookbook.
I wasn't sure what I was lookingfor.
And I remember to have faith,take a breath, It opened the
book, and there it was, what wemade for dinner.
And I love that.
It's a form of intuition.
SPEAKER_00 (15:49):
And just really being open.
To me, it sounds like intuitionis being open in your way to
perceiving things that are sortof out there already and feeling
into them and just observing andnoticing and not necessarily
judging, per se.
SPEAKER_01 (16:09):
Absolutely.
And judging yourself, judgingother people, judging what's put
in front of you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:14):
So, well, can you share a time when your intuition
helped make an importantdecision about an animal's care?
SPEAKER_01 (16:22):
It's hard to give you a specific because that
actually happens on amoment-to-moment daily basis
when I am working.
But disclaimer, even as...
Good as I may have gotten withleaning into intuition, I will
never not rely on conventionaldiagnostics to guide or provide
(16:48):
a diagnosis.
I do love this concept ofintuition in the workplace,
especially within medicine.
But I'm not going to just fallback on that because I do want
to avoid liability and I do wantto provide the best care.
I do believe in integrativemedicine, which is a combination
of both.
(17:08):
Using conventional medicine andusing some holistic medicine and
intuition.
It's fascinating to me that theacupuncture meridians have been
proven in science.
It's fascinating to me that Eachorgan system has an
electromagnetic field that canbe measured.
And fine, if you want to call ita heart chakra or you want to
call it an EKG, call it whateveryou want it.
(17:29):
It's an electromagnetic systemthat's measurable now.
And so is the brain.
And so is the throat.
So is the solar plexus.
And the list goes on.
So having said that, I will tellyou that the most stereotypical
appointment is...
The big question is, do Iactually have an urgent concern
(17:50):
that's valid?
In other words, people don'treally know if their pet is
sick, but the pet is just actingoff or different.
And it's a Friday afternoon andtheir office is closed on the
weekend and the people arescared that they're going to
have an urgent or emergency onthe weekend and they'll have no
access to their vet.
So on those Friday afternoons,which are very stereotypical,
(18:12):
you get this pet put in front ofyou.
And I have found that really toknow whether you have an urgent
concern or not is to ask thepet, you know, look at them,
talk to them, touch them, smellthem, ask them.
And you get, you get a vibe andyou, you get messages, but still
(18:32):
I will not solely rely on that.
You know, you have to do thephysical exam, gather some
evidence and, and maybe run somediagnostics.
There's, The comedic value ofthis is off the chart, and that
could be a whole other podcastbecause I had animals say some
things to me that wereprofoundly funny.
This one cat I took out of acarrier, and I asked him
(18:55):
subconsciously, you know, what'swrong?
And he said, it's not me.
It's her.
She likes coming to your office.
Telepathically, I tried tocommunicate back and say, we
can't roll with that here.
You're here.
This is your appointment.
And he's like, no.
And he told me this message overand over again, actually, and
(19:16):
come to find out, not divulgingtoo much, but...
It was the owner who hadparasites.
Not the cat.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Wow.
She showed me.
She said, oh, and these are thefleas.
She had been gathering them inscotch tape.
And I looked and I said, I thinkthose are head lice.
SPEAKER_00 (19:35):
Oh, dear.
My
SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
goodness.
And so it was adorable.
I had to thank the catafterwards.
I was like, you were right.
SPEAKER_00 (19:41):
Mm-hmm.
Well...
Well, speaking of that, I'm afellow cat owner myself, so you
even had the mannerisms downwhen you were describing your
conversation.
But have there been anysituations when an animal's
behavior or symptoms are morethan just physical?
In your own sensing, know thatmaybe there's more of an
(20:02):
emotional or psychologicaldistress happening.
SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
Yeah, actually, it's one of the reasons why I think
some people...
My family members in particularwill say that I don't like dogs.
And that is an incorrectstatement.
I have a hard time with dogsbecause they are so much more
sensitive and they are so muchmore empathic themselves.
And they don't understand thatthis is generalization, which
(20:28):
is, you know, you can take it anisolated statement, please,
because there's exceptions toeverything.
For the most part, a lot of dogsare so sensitive and so empathic
themselves.
In fact, the stereotypicalsituation, just to give you a
perfect example to summarizethis, is a lot of dogs come in
on the day that they're going tobe euthanized and they will say
(20:50):
things to you like, I don'tunderstand.
I don't feel good.
What's happening?
For an empathic person, you haveto get incredibly good at
separating the connection tothose messages because you have
to be the person keeping ittogether and you have to keep
the ball rolling and you want tomake this the best transition
possible if this is going to bea transition.
(21:12):
And you want to be strong foreverybody else around you.
SPEAKER_00 (21:16):
Well, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (21:17):
That can be very, very difficult.
And there's a very bigconversation taking place in
veterinary medicine about thisas well.
A lot of veterinarians aresuffering because of this.
Anyway, it's very interesting.
Many times when a cat comes inin a very similar situation,
their attitude is, that's you,I'm fine.
They're analyzing the typicaldifference between a cat and a
(21:39):
dog.
A lot of cats are much morestoic and aloof.
And even humorous, too, to someextent.
And again, generalizations.
But on a daily basis, that'ssomething that we have to
navigate at work.
SPEAKER_00 (21:53):
I was just going to ask you if there were certain
breeds or species that requireyou to rely more on instinct
than others.
SPEAKER_01 (22:01):
I think so.
Genetics is so incrediblyinteresting, not just what we've
inherited on our DNA, but alsowhat we've inherited from our
past life experiences.
And also, if you are empathic,what you're picking up and
carrying just from yourconnections to the other beings
around you.
You know, deciphering betweenall of those is fascinating, and
(22:22):
I still am fascinated.
Trying to learn and understandhow animals can relate to that.
They have been so...
Especially domestic dogs havebeen so incredibly...
genetically inbred very recentlyvery quickly in the last 500
years in fact you can even lookat a picture of a french bulldog
today versus just a hundredyears ago or even a boxer and
(22:44):
how radically different theylooked so you wonder what has
that done to them from apsychological standpoint in
their incarnation so not onlydoes it vary from breed to
breed, but it definitely variesfrom individual to individual.
And certainly, you know, themost obvious is the dog that's
saved from a kill shelter in theSouth that's brought up on a
(23:08):
truck for four days and thenunloaded at an adoption event
and gets its health certificate.
And you hear the stories thatthis poor creature endured to be
saved to get here.
And then you look at them.
And they have the stories totell, but what else are they
(23:29):
carrying with them on their DNA?
SPEAKER_00 (23:31):
And
SPEAKER_01 (23:32):
so there's that too.
I love, I saw a dog the otherday.
It was kind of a stereotypicalexample of a German short hair
pointer who came in to therescue group that I work with
and he had a horrific story totell.
And it's, and actually it was aheroic story of survival.
His litter mates weren't aslucky as he was and he didn't
(23:52):
care because He came in like acat.
He came in like, hello, hello,hello.
I'm so happy.
You're so happy.
You're going to be happy becauseI'm happy.
And you're thinking that isclearly genetics with him.
So it varies from individual toindividual and from breed to
breed.
SPEAKER_00 (24:09):
When you say small animals, what kind of animals do
you see in your office?
SPEAKER_01 (24:15):
So it's pretty accepted that when a
practitioner of veterinariansays small animal medicine,
that's including cats and dogs.
And then there are some of uswho do see exotics and there's
different terminology for thatas well too.
Some people say pocket pets orsome people are more specific
depending on the species.
But I personally do cats anddogs.
I used to do farm animals and Iused to do some exotics and just
(24:40):
decided to focus that there wasenough for me to focus on with
just those two species.
SPEAKER_00 (24:44):
Well, and I imagine the range and the breadth of
information just with those twospecies.
I'm wondering how dealing withthe humans of the pets, do you
in some way instinctively know,say, how to deliver difficult
news, difficult
SPEAKER_01 (25:01):
information?
Having worked emergency medicinehelped become, I call a
sharpshooter, or being able toexpedite urgent situations with
delicacy.
It isn't ever easy unfoldinglearning process i don't always
get it right you you have tosummarize what's going on very
(25:21):
quickly with an animal but youalso have to be able to deliver
facts which are neutral but alot of people don't know that
facts are neutral and it'sreally difficult to give
somebody you know very directinformation a stereotypical
emergency is This healthyLabrador who had no medical
(25:42):
issues at all, all of a suddenis just lethargic and they come
in for a check and he's actuallyruptured his spleen and he's
dying.
And that's a common emergencymedicine presentation.
And there's a very simple testthat you can do in the office
with the owners to show themthat there's blood in the
abdomen.
These people are usually inshock and are not receptive to
(26:05):
the fact that that this is anemergency situation.
And a lot of people will saysomething along the lines of,
well, this wasn't a problemyesterday.
My response to that right now,today, has evolved to be, it is
a problem today, now.
I try to do that with care andthe tone of my voice.
Some people get very offended byhearing that, and I don't blame
(26:28):
them, I don't judge them.
In fact, the interactions thatwe have as veterinarians are
very rapid fire.
which can be overwhelming andexhausting.
In order to survive that, youhave to learn not to take things
personally, and you also have tonot judge.
And what a beautiful, beautifulplayground that is for life in
(26:51):
general.
Because now when I'm at a gasstation and somebody swears at
me because they think I pulledthem too close to them, I say
namaste, brother.
I love you.
SPEAKER_00 (27:02):
Because I'm
SPEAKER_01 (27:04):
not at work and it's an opportunity to be kind.
You know, there's always anopportunity to be kind.
And so being a veterinarian forme personally, I'm fortunate to
have found this path within theprofession of fine-tuning
patients.
my interpersonal skills with allhumans in all possible
scenarios.
And I'm going to jinx myselfbecause I have to go to work
(27:25):
tomorrow and I'll find myself ina situation that I've never been
in before in 30 years.
But now when those happen, and Ihope this for all of us too, and
I did have a really...
potentially terrible interactionwith somebody last week.
But it was the first time thatsomething like that happened
with someone who was clearlyunreasonable, that I had no
(27:46):
emotional response.
I usually do, you know, retaincontrol now because I'm getting
better at understanding empathyand intuition.
But this time it was a beautifulopportunity for me to say the
right things.
And I did.
But I actually felt no emotionssurging.
And when I left the room, Ithought, wow, I just graduated
(28:09):
to a new level.
And it took 50 years to getthere.
SPEAKER_00 (28:13):
Well, I know you got your yoga certification in 2020.
Yes.
Is there something that youwished people knew about
intuition or ways to strengthentheir connection to it?
Obviously, through your work inveterinary medicine, but also
your interest in yoga andshamanism.
Can you speak about that alittle
SPEAKER_01 (28:34):
bit?
Yeah, absolutely.
It was almost disappointing toget to that point in life in the
30s and 40s and think that thereare no more self-help books
available.
And then when you reread someold good ones, you know, like
Eckhart Tolle isn't always ago-to for me.
And every time I read his books,it's like reading a different
(28:54):
book each time.
And I think it has something todo with the stages of our lives
that we're in.
What I was given with this briefhistory and brief knowledge of
yoga that I've been exposed tois this profound amount of
material that is thousands ofyears old that was written in
(29:16):
for today and i actually i hadan opportunity to ask my gurus
who taught me most of what iknow about yoga this question i
forgot to ask them the last timei saw them a month ago and it's
how do i talk about yoga withoutsounding like i'm trying to sell
a cult because i just wanteveryone to experience that the
yoga text i had heard of thembut i was intimidated by them
(29:39):
And then when you actually pickthem up and you read them,
they're like pamphlets that youcould read in just a few short
hours.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,the Bhagavad Gita, which is a
world-renowned book that's beenaround for thousands of years,
literally explains beingincarnated in human form and
moving through our dailyinteractions.
(30:01):
What a gift that is to have beengiven this guidebook a long time
ago.
And it still pertains to exactlytoday.
And then through that, Ipersonally and with my yoga
friends that I did the teachertraining with, they turned me on
to people like Ron Das, who Iknew of growing up in the 60s
and 70s and just thought, oh,he's a hippie.
(30:23):
That's all I knew.
And little did I know, you know,that this man was responsible
for so much of teaching,understanding and learning.
teaching how to navigate theundulations of breath
physically, but also theundulations of being in human
(30:44):
form.
One of my teachers saysregularly, Good days will be
followed by bad days, and baddays will be followed by good
days, just like the waves in theocean.
And it just makes sense becausenow when something does happen,
and if something will happen,every single day something
negative happens.
You get a flat tire, you getfired, you get laid off,
whatever.
You get a bad diagnosis.
When you take that breath andget space in between, you'll
(31:08):
remember that this is just anundulation.
This is just the down wave.
There will be an up wave.
Everything happens for a reason.
And there's reason in everythingthat happens.
To answer your question, that'swhat I wish I could give to
everyone.
And I realize that I can't, butI can teach yoga.
And in that environment, whetherit be just yoga philosophy or
(31:31):
the physical asanas, thereinlies an opportunity for people
to be quiet, people to stretch,people to understand their
physical body.
And that they breathe, literallytaking conscious breaths for the
first time in weeks or days.
And then therein lies theopportunity for them to be
receptive to very simpleconcepts that explain being
(31:54):
incarnated.
SPEAKER_00 (31:55):
I could even tell when you were speaking about
stressful situations in youroffice or dealing with
particular people that you cometo this place of being very
centered and calm because youcan see the other person in
their struggle and perhapsreceiving the news or the
physical pain that their pet isexperiencing and having this
(32:18):
later knowing that all of theseparts of experience are for a
reason and for our learning andfor our growth.
In general, anyone who goes intohealing and medicine are
empaths.
There's definitely a part ofthem that are empaths.
And what would you say to futureveterinarians about working with
(32:41):
this intuition, this sort ofinner wisdom?
SPEAKER_01 (32:44):
I think it's inclusion.
I think that there's somediscernment required in
understanding that We have toinclude ourselves in the
equation of taking care ofanimals and other people.
It gets confusing, obviously, asall life does.
One of the reasons why I believeis because you quickly become an
(33:06):
observer of a fact that I thinksome, I don't know of all, but I
think that some veterinariansand even human doctors might
want to be in denial about asimple fact.
And that's that you will seepeople keep their pets healthy.
They have terminal conditionsand they don't get sick and they
don't die.
Or the opposite is true, thatthe power of positive thinking
(33:30):
and the law of attraction can beused in the opposite way too.
We see a lot of animals aresick.
because the owners arehypochondriacs or because the
owners have a lot of stress inthe home.
And so I've learned, and it wasa very simple, very specific
disease in particular, I wouldsee cystitis in a dog on a
(33:51):
regular basis, or even a cat forthat matter, that would not
respond to conventional therapy.
And I finally broke down andasked the question, probably
about 10 years ago, what's goingon in the home?
And wow, the information thatyou get You know, my husband
cheated on me.
My wife died.
My daughter has cancer.
I mean, the things that you hearin these veterinary rooms are
(34:12):
profound.
And then there's this profoundsense of alleviation.
And now today, you know, havingnavigated that experience and
trying to fine tune it a littlebit more, now I'm to the point
where I respond with, thank youfor sharing that with somebody
who's basically a perfectstranger.
I promise you that having doneso, is going to alleviate the
(34:33):
situation.
We've just popped the balloon.
We just alleviated it.
I know that this isn'tnecessarily veterinary medicine,
but it is integrative medicineto talk about the environment as
being a contributing factor tohealth.
And I think that theinflammation in your dog's
bladder is happening because ofthe stress in the house.
And if you can just learn tode-stress, I think your dog's
(34:55):
bladder is going to be lessinflamed.
And I tell you, man, it works.
I see it all the time.
They don't just needanti-inflammatory drugs.
They don't just need a cultureand sensitivity.
They don't just needantibiotics.
You know what they needed?
They needed to take a breath.
Yeah.
I had a particular who came intoa room once who was very upset
and very nervous and angry, andshe wouldn't let go of her
(35:19):
little dog, and she wassqueezing the dog.
And I was trying to help her toget her to just put the dog
down, And she finally did, butshe was angry about that and she
wouldn't breathe.
She didn't have the ability toeven tell me exactly what her
concern was.
And I finally had to focus onjust getting this woman to take
a breath and she refused.
(35:41):
She said, I will not.
That has nothing to do withthis.
This is not why I'm here.
And I said, fine.
If you don't do it, I will.
And I took a big, deep breath.
And what was so beautiful washer dog immediately connected to
me.
And he, same thing.
He took a big, deep breath andthis connected to mine.
(36:03):
And the woman saw it and shethen took a breath and she just
broke down and started crying.
SPEAKER_00 (36:08):
Oh my goodness.
He
SPEAKER_01 (36:09):
hugged actually.
And wow.
Yeah, it was really profound.
And it was, it was just thesimplest.
I'm getting chills over that.
Oh yeah, just taking a breath.
And the dog was right there.
He was just like, yes, we needto take a breath.
And I think my understanding is,is that they needed to learn how
to breathe in their home.
SPEAKER_00 (36:29):
Yeah.
I mean, I think a lot of peoplereally underestimate or maybe
don't even acknowledge thattheir environment very much
affects their way of being andtheir outlook, their health,
their life, and how you carrythat energy forward.
and take it with you into theworld also affects things around
(36:51):
that.
Such a powerful demonstration onhow you connected with this dog
simply just by groundingyourself and allowing space for
a moment.
SPEAKER_01 (37:04):
So to answer your question, I think that's what I
would tell people getting intoit now is that we have to factor
into the equation creating thatspace.
So thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00 (37:14):
I mean, this is really why I started this
podcast, because I feel likethere's so much out there that
could be really helpful forpeople in just the most simplest
ways.
And if it requires just sittingback for a moment and taking a
breath and just being fullyaware of inhaling the air and
(37:34):
exhaling the air through yourbreath, that you still the
moment and you become present inwhat's And what an amazing
example of that.
SPEAKER_01 (38:12):
that are measurable, that are binding receptors.
We cannot stop those surges ofthese proteins and other
chemicals surging through ourbodies, but we do not have to be
a slave to them.
We can become observers of them.
And that's the biology ofbelief.
Bruce Lipton, I believe, wrotethat book and still speaks
(38:33):
eloquently about that today.
And that is very helpful tounderstand that your feelings
are your feelings, they arevalid.
And if we're not careful, And ifwe don't learn how to grow them
and caress them and nurture themand understand them and respect
them, they will take controlover us.
And therein lies where I seedisease develop.
(38:53):
You know, when people are upsetabout something that's happening
in their environment or in theirstoryline and they can't let go
and they stop breathing.
disease manifests it causesinflammation inflammation is the
common denominator of alldisease and we don't need
inflammation in these physicalbodies this is going to happen
through our pets who are sointuitive they are the
(39:14):
barometers of us what you feelthey feel so we have to be very
careful so i say that many timesi say to people who feel like
they're in a dire straitssituation with their pet is if
you truly want to help your petthat you start with yourself Got
to help yourself.
You have to be coming from aplace of love and gratitude.
(39:35):
Then watch what happens to them.
Watch their inflammationdissipate when you do that.
SPEAKER_00 (39:40):
Such beautiful knowledge to spread around.
I really am a true believer inthat as well.
So, Dr.
Tim Budris, what's next for you?
Like, is there anything excitingon the horizon that you're
particularly curious about?
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (39:56):
I have two things I'm very, very excited about.
My basement is filled withseedlings.
SPEAKER_00 (40:02):
It is that time of year.
It is
SPEAKER_01 (40:04):
that time of year.
We've been chomping at the bitto get the garden in full
throttle.
And we have a vegetable gardenthat is impossible that produce
most of our own food.
And so we're very excited aboutthat.
And then I do have An additionalyoga teacher training coming up
with Point Reyes Yoga, I amgoing to take a training in yin
(40:25):
yoga, which I'm very, veryexcited about.
That is my go-to recharge place.
That is the place that hasprovided me with direction and
understanding, and I'm verygrateful to be surrounded by the
people who are there and thepeople who go there as well.
SPEAKER_00 (40:40):
Oh, my gosh.
When you open up your yogastudio, I need to know and we'll
have you back on so you can talkabout it more.
Would you like to share whereyour office is if people would
like to come in and see you?
SPEAKER_01 (40:52):
Sure.
So I'm an independentcontractor, which is a very
popular thing for manyprofessionals nowadays.
I actually work for severalhospitals and several
organizations.
I kind of rotate on a regularbasis, but I have my home-based
hospitals.
And currently my home base isVCA Hospitals in Danbury,
(41:13):
Connecticut and Plainville,Connecticut and Bristol,
Connecticut.
I also work at a hospital inSeymour.
I work for Dog Star Rescue inConnecticut which is an amazing
organization who saves about 100dogs from kill shelters every
month, if not more.
And they find them beautifulhomes.
Shout out to them, too.
They could use volunteers andany kind of donations.
(41:36):
In fact, if somebody would liketo see me as a yoga teacher, we
are putting together afundraiser for them where I will
be teaching a large yoga classand doing it via Zoom.
So anybody from around thecountry can join.
And it's just going to be awonderful thing.
And there might be some puppiesinvolved.
Oh
SPEAKER_00 (41:53):
my goodness.
Puppy yoga.
It's the next best thing to getgoat yoga.
SPEAKER_01 (41:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (41:58):
Well, I'll definitely post the link once
that's available so you coulddefinitely take advantage of
that.
We've covered a lot today and Iam so inspired by how you shared
your story about how you tapinto your intuition and working
with animals and people andplants of all things.
I really just appreciate yourtime today and joining us.
(42:21):
I just love what you're doingand spreading in the world and
we could definitely use more ofthat.
Thank you Dr.
Tim Budris for joining me today.
And I'm hoping everyone who'stuned in is also inspired.
Remember intuition is somethingwe all have access to.
It's just a matter of creatingspace and learning to trust it.
(42:43):
Thanks so much for tuning intoday.
I'm so glad you spent this timewith me.
If something in this episoderesonated, feel free to share it
or pass it along to someone whomight need that little spark.
Until next time, keep humming.
Hi, friends.
Welcome back to another episodeof To Hum is Human, the podcast
where we explore thetransformative power of tuning
into our intuition to expressour passionate purpose.
I'm your host, Donabell Cassis,and I'm so excited you're
joining me today.
We're going to delve intohealing with heart, a vet's
(00:32):
intuitive approach to animalcare because we all know our
pets communicate with us in somany different ways.
We just have to pay attention.
So joining me today is Dr.
Timothy Budris, who is a 1998graduate of UC Davis School of
Veterinary Medicine andpractices small animal medicine
(00:53):
in Connecticut.
He has a BS from UConn atUniversity of Connecticut and an
MS from UC Davis, both in animalscience.
Now, Dr.
Budris, who we'll call Timtoday, lives with his husband,
Michael, on an urban farm withgeese, chickens, and an
impossible fruit and vegetablegrowing situation.
(01:14):
They produce eggs and preservedfood and are passionate about
plants, sea kayaking, quilting,painting, and yoga.
Welcome, Tim.
SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
Now, you had a powerful experience.
when you were a teenager, whichsort of sparked your ongoing
quest to better understand thisphysical world.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what happened?
SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
Absolutely.
It was a long time ago.
It seems like it was somebodyelse's storyline, actually.
I think I was about 18 yearsold.
I was in a codependent abusiverelationship.
And it's very stereotypical.
And Mary Ellen Beatty's book,Codependent No More, guided me
through that actuallyafterwards.
But I had attempted suicide.
(02:06):
I don't think I wanted to die.
I think I just wanted to get theattention of somebody who wasn't
giving me attention.
I had a really interestingexperience after taking a lot of
medication that wasn't my ownand drinking about a gallon of
rum.
I, to make a long story short,saw someone on this bathroom
floor who was suffering, theyneeded help.
(02:27):
They were vomiting.
They were in a puddle of urineand they were dying.
And my instinct was to kneeldown and help this person.
And I did.
And I had this profoundrealization that I realized I
was actually looking at myselfWow.
That was, yeah.
Yeah, incredible.
Very interesting, beautiful,wonderful experience.
(02:48):
And I remember even questioningin that moment, I'll never
forget this.
And at that moment, I rememberthinking, I will never forget
this because of this second.
I couldn't believe that I waslooking at myself, but then I
realized I was actually lookingat myself in 3D.
And we don't see ourselves in3D.
We don't know what the shape ofour head actually looks like.
(03:09):
And I almost had this comedicrealization.
I was like, I had no idea Ilooked like that.
And that's when it hit me that Iwill never forget this moment
because of that.
And the next thing I wanted todo was to really help this poor
soul.
And before I could process, Iwas bestowed with, I think,
three beautiful facts.
(03:31):
One was...
And I call it divineintervention.
I was just shown ortelepathically told that the
only person responsible for mebeing in this puddle was myself.
That was a pivotal lesson andsomething that I needed to be
given to me, actually, because Iwas failing learning that on my
own.
The other thing that I was shownwas that we are not our physical
(03:51):
bodies.
I was also shown how a lifetime,even my own storyline or
incarnation, would have aneffect on others in amazing
ways, kind of like the butterflyeffect, like even if it's just a
smile to a stranger or receivinga smile from a stranger, how
that can change your perceptionof a day and how that then has a
(04:13):
ripple effect.
And I was shown that, and I wasshown how my storyline was much
longer than what I thought itwas going to be.
You know, here I thought I wasgoing to die this night,
potentially.
And so...
I was immediately back in my ownbody with this wisdom.
And I sat up and I cleanedmyself off.
(04:35):
Next day was a different person.
And since I've been chasing abetter understanding of biology
and physiology of our physicalbodies and why we are
encapsulated in human form, Iwent through a period of time, I
think in my 30s, where I gotvery depressed, having had this
(04:59):
wisdom bestowed upon me inaccruing student loans and a
mortgage and anotherrelationship and all of the
homeowner's paths.
And the big question then that Idon't think was answered for me
when I had the out-of-bodyexperience was why?
(05:20):
Armed with the information thatwe are these spiritual beings,
How is it that we have to endurethe mundane existence of having
a mortgage and student loans?
And it got depressing.
And since then, the incarnationnow comes to life on figuring
all of that out and figuring outstill the physical body.
SPEAKER_00 (05:41):
Well, that out-of-body experience sounded
astonishing.
Have you ever had anyexperiences like that prior?
So,
SPEAKER_01 (05:49):
no.
No.
I had not.
I use a term, and I never meanto sound offensive when I use
it, and learning the vocabularyof alchemy and the dialogue of
alchemy constantly, which ischanging, but I called it
ignorance is bliss.
I was just pushing through life,arrogant, ignorant, not
questioning things, and then hadthat roadblock of you are not
(06:14):
proceeding forward without agreater understanding of why
you're here and what a blessingthat was.
No judgment.
You see people who we interactwith who don't have those
profound aha moments.
And now it does help me to notjudge anybody because even as
this path unfolds, every day youcan learn something new if
you're open to it.
(06:34):
But sometimes we are to play theroles that we play without that
knowledge as well.
I didn't have any otherexperiences up until that point.
Since then, meditation is prettyprofound.
SPEAKER_00 (06:48):
We'll definitely talk about that in a little bit.
Also, the age you were at,you're in your teens, your late
teens.
And of course, we're all verymuch about being superhuman in
some ways.
We're invincible.
We can do whatever we want untilwe can't.
And what a journey that was foryou to come to terms with that
(07:08):
experience.
path that you are currently on,I'm fascinated about when you
started tapping into wanting towork with animals.
SPEAKER_01 (07:18):
Well, since I can remember growing up on a farm,
especially, I always hadrelationship with animals that
was much better and much moreconnected than it was with
humans and I remember askingpsychic once something about my
gardening angels and he hadreferred to my maternal
(07:39):
grandmother who I never met andhe knew her name and she was a
Lithuanian her name was Teklaand And I had never heard her
name before.
And it wasn't until I called mymom after the session and said,
what was my grandmother's name?
And she said, it was Tekla.
And the psychic medium saidsomething to me that my mother
reiterated verbatim whendescribing this woman.
And he had described her assomebody who They knew where to
(08:03):
find you.
Yeah, yeah.
(08:24):
Remember sneaking out of my bedto sleep in the barn with our
goats and our chickens and theywould sleep all around me and
keep me warm.
And I definitely was connectedto them and they were to me.
SPEAKER_00 (08:36):
So it's fascinating because I've heard many people
say that, you know, being withtheir animal friends is just a
different thing.
relationship.
A lot of ways, there isn't a lotof pressures or expectations
that we humans sort of put oneach other.
And I believe that animals andpets are really here to teach us
(08:59):
about what unconditional loveis.
SPEAKER_01 (09:02):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (09:03):
So early on, you recognized this and really felt
it with them and they gravitatedtowards you.
How did you decide to pursueveterinary medicine?
Because that's a very directpath to just working with them.
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
It's an interesting story.
I always thought that I would dosomething related to animal care
and better understanding theirbiology and physiology and also
their reason for beingincarnated as energy here as
well.
That parallel path and thedifferences and the similarities
are fascinating especiallybecause of what you just said
(09:39):
because they are capable ofunconditional love and I don't I
don't know I haven't met a humanwho is yet but I'm still looking
and I'm still trying to be onemyself I was a nurse's aide for
20 years during high school,college, and then veterinary
school as well.
And that certainly provided mewith a grand perspective of
(10:02):
people's perspective.
There's two types of people in anursing home.
I learned people who love it andpeople who do not.
SPEAKER_00 (10:09):
And
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
the difference between the two still is a grand
perspective for me on gratitude.
Being grateful in the moment isso very important.
And animals help with that.
And so to answer your questiondirectly, I did not know that I
would go to veterinary school.
I didn't know if I was capableof getting in.
It's a huge process, and it wasback then too.
(10:32):
So I do feel like the ball thatfell through the pegboard and
just hit the right pegs at theright time I wasn't very
proactive until I needed to be.
And I realized if I'm going tomake this happen, if I'm not
going to be a nurse's aide oreven a veterinary technician for
the rest of my life, I need todo something.
So I think it wasn't until Iactually got my animal science
(10:54):
degree at the University ofConnecticut that I realized if
I'm going to go to vet school, Ineed to act like it.
And that's when I started to getmy storyline together for that
and embarked on that.
SPEAKER_00 (11:05):
I always feel that there are no coincidences.
Your soul probably knew what youwere supposed to do before you
even knew what was happening.
But what's interesting isbecause this podcast really
talks about intuition and how weperceive things beyond our
typical senses.
And so as a veterinarian usingevidence-based practices and
(11:28):
working with animals, how do youdevelop balance between the two?
SPEAKER_01 (11:34):
Great question, because it was so confusing for
so many years.
I hadn't even understood or Idon't even think heard the term
empath or empathic until I was ayoung adult.
Even then, I didn't understandit.
I didn't understand my ownintuition.
I certainly did a great job ofdenying it for a very long time.
(11:54):
I went to California when I wasin my early 20s to establish
residency to eventuallyhopefully apply to veterinary
school.
California compared toconservative New England was a
radical shift and anenlightening experience
surrounded back in the day bytons of self-help avenues.
I just read stacks and stacks ofbooks.
(12:16):
I couldn't devour them fastenough while I was studying
biology and physiology.
It helped create more of anawareness of this concept of
intuition.
But even still, it wasn't evenuntil I was probably in my early
30s that I realized that many ofthe struggles that I was
experiencing as a human wasbecause of my intuition and not
(12:41):
understanding it and not knowinghow to not take things personal
and how not to try to manipulateand control the outcome of
someone else's storyline, evenwith the best of intentions.
As a matter of fact, there was avery pivotal moment.
I was in my...
(13:02):
I did a yoga teacher training inPoint Reyes, California in 2020,
which was probably as profoundas that out-of-body experience
that I had when I was a kid.
There was a moment in ameditation, and right before
this meditation, I was asked thequestion, what is it that you
want people to think in general?
(13:25):
After meditating for quite abit, after doing a lot of yoga,
I realized I want people to feelwhat it is that they're feeling.
And it was this huge release.
I was 50 years old, I think, or52 years old when that
realization came that assomebody who is empathic and
somebody who has intuition, Idon't need to use that to change
(13:45):
anybody else or theirstorylines.
What I want is for them to havetheir experiences.
We're all just walking eachother home.
I'm here to observe.
And now this frees me and itfrees them so that I can focus
on being the best person that Ican be and then maybe
inadvertently have an effect onthe world and them.
(14:06):
So that's it.
That was that pivotal moment forme of realizing, wow, I am
empathic.
I understand intuition.
And now I understand that it'snot to be abused or manipulated
or to be used for anything otherthan that.
getting through the day myself.
SPEAKER_00 (14:23):
Right.
Whatever it takes.
Well, Dr.
Tim, what, how would you defineintuition?
I
SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
was trying to prepare for this beforehand and
I knew you were going to askthat question and it's very
ethereal.
Intuition to me has, and I'msure that this explanation is
going to change day to day astime unfolds, is becoming no
longer in denial about what itis that I truly know and opening
(14:51):
up and welcoming the messagesthat the third eye has to say
you know yesterday i was workingin my driveway and i had this
profound smell i smelt my sisterwho passed away and um a few
years ago and i was doingsomething i was swearing and
throwing tools and i felt herlaughter you know 10 years ago
(15:12):
15 20 years ago i would haveblown that off and instead now i
i calm down, breathe, lean intothe situation.
And it's almost like she'sthere.
And I think that the sensationsassociated with that experience
need to be explored more withinthe individual.
I can only talk for myself, butthat's what I do now.
So I find myself doing thatdaily.
(15:34):
Even when you open up acookbook, I did this yesterday,
opened up a cookbook.
I wasn't sure what I was lookingfor.
And I remember to have faith,take a breath, It opened the
book, and there it was, what wemade for dinner.
And I love that.
It's a form of intuition.
SPEAKER_00 (15:49):
And just really being open.
To me, it sounds like intuitionis being open in your way to
perceiving things that are sortof out there already and feeling
into them and just observing andnoticing and not necessarily
judging, per se.
SPEAKER_01 (16:09):
Absolutely.
And judging yourself, judgingother people, judging what's put
in front of you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:14):
So, well, can you share a time when your intuition
helped make an importantdecision about an animal's care?
SPEAKER_01 (16:22):
It's hard to give you a specific because that
actually happens on amoment-to-moment daily basis
when I am working.
But disclaimer, even as...
Good as I may have gotten withleaning into intuition, I will
never not rely on conventionaldiagnostics to guide or provide
(16:48):
a diagnosis.
I do love this concept ofintuition in the workplace,
especially within medicine.
But I'm not going to just fallback on that because I do want
to avoid liability and I do wantto provide the best care.
I do believe in integrativemedicine, which is a combination
of both.
(17:08):
Using conventional medicine andusing some holistic medicine and
intuition.
It's fascinating to me that theacupuncture meridians have been
proven in science.
It's fascinating to me that Eachorgan system has an
electromagnetic field that canbe measured.
And fine, if you want to call ita heart chakra or you want to
call it an EKG, call it whateveryou want it.
(17:29):
It's an electromagnetic systemthat's measurable now.
And so is the brain.
And so is the throat.
So is the solar plexus.
And the list goes on.
So having said that, I will tellyou that the most stereotypical
appointment is...
The big question is, do Iactually have an urgent concern
(17:50):
that's valid?
In other words, people don'treally know if their pet is
sick, but the pet is just actingoff or different.
And it's a Friday afternoon andtheir office is closed on the
weekend and the people arescared that they're going to
have an urgent or emergency onthe weekend and they'll have no
access to their vet.
So on those Friday afternoons,which are very stereotypical,
(18:12):
you get this pet put in front ofyou.
And I have found that really toknow whether you have an urgent
concern or not is to ask thepet, you know, look at them,
talk to them, touch them, smellthem, ask them.
And you get, you get a vibe andyou, you get messages, but still
(18:32):
I will not solely rely on that.
You know, you have to do thephysical exam, gather some
evidence and, and maybe run somediagnostics.
There's, The comedic value ofthis is off the chart, and that
could be a whole other podcastbecause I had animals say some
things to me that wereprofoundly funny.
This one cat I took out of acarrier, and I asked him
(18:55):
subconsciously, you know, what'swrong?
And he said, it's not me.
It's her.
She likes coming to your office.
Telepathically, I tried tocommunicate back and say, we
can't roll with that here.
You're here.
This is your appointment.
And he's like, no.
And he told me this message overand over again, actually, and
(19:16):
come to find out, not divulgingtoo much, but...
It was the owner who hadparasites.
Not the cat.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Wow.
She showed me.
She said, oh, and these are thefleas.
She had been gathering them inscotch tape.
And I looked and I said, I thinkthose are head lice.
SPEAKER_00 (19:35):
Oh, dear.
My
SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
goodness.
And so it was adorable.
I had to thank the catafterwards.
I was like, you were right.
SPEAKER_00 (19:41):
Mm-hmm.
Well...
Well, speaking of that, I'm afellow cat owner myself, so you
even had the mannerisms downwhen you were describing your
conversation.
But have there been anysituations when an animal's
behavior or symptoms are morethan just physical?
In your own sensing, know thatmaybe there's more of an
(20:02):
emotional or psychologicaldistress happening.
SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
Yeah, actually, it's one of the reasons why I think
some people...
My family members in particularwill say that I don't like dogs.
And that is an incorrectstatement.
I have a hard time with dogsbecause they are so much more
sensitive and they are so muchmore empathic themselves.
And they don't understand thatthis is generalization, which
(20:28):
is, you know, you can take it anisolated statement, please,
because there's exceptions toeverything.
For the most part, a lot of dogsare so sensitive and so empathic
themselves.
In fact, the stereotypicalsituation, just to give you a
perfect example to summarizethis, is a lot of dogs come in
on the day that they're going tobe euthanized and they will say
(20:50):
things to you like, I don'tunderstand.
I don't feel good.
What's happening?
For an empathic person, you haveto get incredibly good at
separating the connection tothose messages because you have
to be the person keeping ittogether and you have to keep
the ball rolling and you want tomake this the best transition
possible if this is going to bea transition.
(21:12):
And you want to be strong foreverybody else around you.
SPEAKER_00 (21:16):
Well, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (21:17):
That can be very, very difficult.
And there's a very bigconversation taking place in
veterinary medicine about thisas well.
A lot of veterinarians aresuffering because of this.
Anyway, it's very interesting.
Many times when a cat comes inin a very similar situation,
their attitude is, that's you,I'm fine.
They're analyzing the typicaldifference between a cat and a
(21:39):
dog.
A lot of cats are much morestoic and aloof.
And even humorous, too, to someextent.
And again, generalizations.
But on a daily basis, that'ssomething that we have to
navigate at work.
SPEAKER_00 (21:53):
I was just going to ask you if there were certain
breeds or species that requireyou to rely more on instinct
than others.
SPEAKER_01 (22:01):
I think so.
Genetics is so incrediblyinteresting, not just what we've
inherited on our DNA, but alsowhat we've inherited from our
past life experiences.
And also, if you are empathic,what you're picking up and
carrying just from yourconnections to the other beings
around you.
You know, deciphering betweenall of those is fascinating, and
(22:22):
I still am fascinated.
Trying to learn and understandhow animals can relate to that.
They have been so...
Especially domestic dogs havebeen so incredibly...
genetically inbred very recentlyvery quickly in the last 500
years in fact you can even lookat a picture of a french bulldog
today versus just a hundredyears ago or even a boxer and
(22:44):
how radically different theylooked so you wonder what has
that done to them from apsychological standpoint in
their incarnation so not onlydoes it vary from breed to
breed, but it definitely variesfrom individual to individual.
And certainly, you know, themost obvious is the dog that's
saved from a kill shelter in theSouth that's brought up on a
(23:08):
truck for four days and thenunloaded at an adoption event
and gets its health certificate.
And you hear the stories thatthis poor creature endured to be
saved to get here.
And then you look at them.
And they have the stories totell, but what else are they
(23:29):
carrying with them on their DNA?
SPEAKER_00 (23:31):
And
SPEAKER_01 (23:32):
so there's that too.
I love, I saw a dog the otherday.
It was kind of a stereotypicalexample of a German short hair
pointer who came in to therescue group that I work with
and he had a horrific story totell.
And it's, and actually it was aheroic story of survival.
His litter mates weren't aslucky as he was and he didn't
(23:52):
care because He came in like acat.
He came in like, hello, hello,hello.
I'm so happy.
You're so happy.
You're going to be happy becauseI'm happy.
And you're thinking that isclearly genetics with him.
So it varies from individual toindividual and from breed to
breed.
SPEAKER_00 (24:09):
When you say small animals, what kind of animals do
you see in your office?
SPEAKER_01 (24:15):
So it's pretty accepted that when a
practitioner of veterinariansays small animal medicine,
that's including cats and dogs.
And then there are some of uswho do see exotics and there's
different terminology for thatas well too.
Some people say pocket pets orsome people are more specific
depending on the species.
But I personally do cats anddogs.
I used to do farm animals and Iused to do some exotics and just
(24:40):
decided to focus that there wasenough for me to focus on with
just those two species.
SPEAKER_00 (24:44):
Well, and I imagine the range and the breadth of
information just with those twospecies.
I'm wondering how dealing withthe humans of the pets, do you
in some way instinctively know,say, how to deliver difficult
news, difficult
SPEAKER_01 (25:01):
information?
Having worked emergency medicinehelped become, I call a
sharpshooter, or being able toexpedite urgent situations with
delicacy.
It isn't ever easy unfoldinglearning process i don't always
get it right you you have tosummarize what's going on very
(25:21):
quickly with an animal but youalso have to be able to deliver
facts which are neutral but alot of people don't know that
facts are neutral and it'sreally difficult to give
somebody you know very directinformation a stereotypical
emergency is This healthyLabrador who had no medical
(25:42):
issues at all, all of a suddenis just lethargic and they come
in for a check and he's actuallyruptured his spleen and he's
dying.
And that's a common emergencymedicine presentation.
And there's a very simple testthat you can do in the office
with the owners to show themthat there's blood in the
abdomen.
These people are usually inshock and are not receptive to
(26:05):
the fact that that this is anemergency situation.
And a lot of people will saysomething along the lines of,
well, this wasn't a problemyesterday.
My response to that right now,today, has evolved to be, it is
a problem today, now.
I try to do that with care andthe tone of my voice.
Some people get very offended byhearing that, and I don't blame
(26:28):
them, I don't judge them.
In fact, the interactions thatwe have as veterinarians are
very rapid fire.
which can be overwhelming andexhausting.
In order to survive that, youhave to learn not to take things
personally, and you also have tonot judge.
And what a beautiful, beautifulplayground that is for life in
(26:51):
general.
Because now when I'm at a gasstation and somebody swears at
me because they think I pulledthem too close to them, I say
namaste, brother.
I love you.
SPEAKER_00 (27:02):
Because I'm
SPEAKER_01 (27:04):
not at work and it's an opportunity to be kind.
You know, there's always anopportunity to be kind.
And so being a veterinarian forme personally, I'm fortunate to
have found this path within theprofession of fine-tuning
patients.
my interpersonal skills with allhumans in all possible
scenarios.
And I'm going to jinx myselfbecause I have to go to work
(27:25):
tomorrow and I'll find myself ina situation that I've never been
in before in 30 years.
But now when those happen, and Ihope this for all of us too, and
I did have a really...
potentially terrible interactionwith somebody last week.
But it was the first time thatsomething like that happened
with someone who was clearlyunreasonable, that I had no
(27:46):
emotional response.
I usually do, you know, retaincontrol now because I'm getting
better at understanding empathyand intuition.
But this time it was a beautifulopportunity for me to say the
right things.
And I did.
But I actually felt no emotionssurging.
And when I left the room, Ithought, wow, I just graduated
(28:09):
to a new level.
And it took 50 years to getthere.
SPEAKER_00 (28:13):
Well, I know you got your yoga certification in 2020.
Yes.
Is there something that youwished people knew about
intuition or ways to strengthentheir connection to it?
Obviously, through your work inveterinary medicine, but also
your interest in yoga andshamanism.
Can you speak about that alittle
SPEAKER_01 (28:34):
bit?
Yeah, absolutely.
It was almost disappointing toget to that point in life in the
30s and 40s and think that thereare no more self-help books
available.
And then when you reread someold good ones, you know, like
Eckhart Tolle isn't always ago-to for me.
And every time I read his books,it's like reading a different
(28:54):
book each time.
And I think it has something todo with the stages of our lives
that we're in.
What I was given with this briefhistory and brief knowledge of
yoga that I've been exposed tois this profound amount of
material that is thousands ofyears old that was written in
(29:16):
for today and i actually i hadan opportunity to ask my gurus
who taught me most of what iknow about yoga this question i
forgot to ask them the last timei saw them a month ago and it's
how do i talk about yoga withoutsounding like i'm trying to sell
a cult because i just wanteveryone to experience that the
yoga text i had heard of thembut i was intimidated by them
(29:39):
And then when you actually pickthem up and you read them,
they're like pamphlets that youcould read in just a few short
hours.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,the Bhagavad Gita, which is a
world-renowned book that's beenaround for thousands of years,
literally explains beingincarnated in human form and
moving through our dailyinteractions.
(30:01):
What a gift that is to have beengiven this guidebook a long time
ago.
And it still pertains to exactlytoday.
And then through that, Ipersonally and with my yoga
friends that I did the teachertraining with, they turned me on
to people like Ron Das, who Iknew of growing up in the 60s
and 70s and just thought, oh,he's a hippie.
(30:23):
That's all I knew.
And little did I know, you know,that this man was responsible
for so much of teaching,understanding and learning.
teaching how to navigate theundulations of breath
physically, but also theundulations of being in human
(30:44):
form.
One of my teachers saysregularly, Good days will be
followed by bad days, and baddays will be followed by good
days, just like the waves in theocean.
And it just makes sense becausenow when something does happen,
and if something will happen,every single day something
negative happens.
You get a flat tire, you getfired, you get laid off,
whatever.
You get a bad diagnosis.
When you take that breath andget space in between, you'll
(31:08):
remember that this is just anundulation.
This is just the down wave.
There will be an up wave.
Everything happens for a reason.
And there's reason in everythingthat happens.
To answer your question, that'swhat I wish I could give to
everyone.
And I realize that I can't, butI can teach yoga.
And in that environment, whetherit be just yoga philosophy or
(31:31):
the physical asanas, thereinlies an opportunity for people
to be quiet, people to stretch,people to understand their
physical body.
And that they breathe, literallytaking conscious breaths for the
first time in weeks or days.
And then therein lies theopportunity for them to be
receptive to very simpleconcepts that explain being
(31:54):
incarnated.
SPEAKER_00 (31:55):
I could even tell when you were speaking about
stressful situations in youroffice or dealing with
particular people that you cometo this place of being very
centered and calm because youcan see the other person in
their struggle and perhapsreceiving the news or the
physical pain that their pet isexperiencing and having this
(32:18):
later knowing that all of theseparts of experience are for a
reason and for our learning andfor our growth.
In general, anyone who goes intohealing and medicine are
empaths.
There's definitely a part ofthem that are empaths.
And what would you say to futureveterinarians about working with
(32:41):
this intuition, this sort ofinner wisdom?
SPEAKER_01 (32:44):
I think it's inclusion.
I think that there's somediscernment required in
understanding that We have toinclude ourselves in the
equation of taking care ofanimals and other people.
It gets confusing, obviously, asall life does.
One of the reasons why I believeis because you quickly become an
(33:06):
observer of a fact that I thinksome, I don't know of all, but I
think that some veterinariansand even human doctors might
want to be in denial about asimple fact.
And that's that you will seepeople keep their pets healthy.
They have terminal conditionsand they don't get sick and they
don't die.
Or the opposite is true, thatthe power of positive thinking
(33:30):
and the law of attraction can beused in the opposite way too.
We see a lot of animals aresick.
because the owners arehypochondriacs or because the
owners have a lot of stress inthe home.
And so I've learned, and it wasa very simple, very specific
disease in particular, I wouldsee cystitis in a dog on a
(33:51):
regular basis, or even a cat forthat matter, that would not
respond to conventional therapy.
And I finally broke down andasked the question, probably
about 10 years ago, what's goingon in the home?
And wow, the information thatyou get You know, my husband
cheated on me.
My wife died.
My daughter has cancer.
I mean, the things that you hearin these veterinary rooms are
(34:12):
profound.
And then there's this profoundsense of alleviation.
And now today, you know, havingnavigated that experience and
trying to fine tune it a littlebit more, now I'm to the point
where I respond with, thank youfor sharing that with somebody
who's basically a perfectstranger.
I promise you that having doneso, is going to alleviate the
(34:33):
situation.
We've just popped the balloon.
We just alleviated it.
I know that this isn'tnecessarily veterinary medicine,
but it is integrative medicineto talk about the environment as
being a contributing factor tohealth.
And I think that theinflammation in your dog's
bladder is happening because ofthe stress in the house.
And if you can just learn tode-stress, I think your dog's
(34:55):
bladder is going to be lessinflamed.
And I tell you, man, it works.
I see it all the time.
They don't just needanti-inflammatory drugs.
They don't just need a cultureand sensitivity.
They don't just needantibiotics.
You know what they needed?
They needed to take a breath.
Yeah.
I had a particular who came intoa room once who was very upset
and very nervous and angry, andshe wouldn't let go of her
(35:19):
little dog, and she wassqueezing the dog.
And I was trying to help her toget her to just put the dog
down, And she finally did, butshe was angry about that and she
wouldn't breathe.
She didn't have the ability toeven tell me exactly what her
concern was.
And I finally had to focus onjust getting this woman to take
a breath and she refused.
(35:41):
She said, I will not.
That has nothing to do withthis.
This is not why I'm here.
And I said, fine.
If you don't do it, I will.
And I took a big, deep breath.
And what was so beautiful washer dog immediately connected to
me.
And he, same thing.
He took a big, deep breath andthis connected to mine.
(36:03):
And the woman saw it and shethen took a breath and she just
broke down and started crying.
SPEAKER_00 (36:08):
Oh my goodness.
He
SPEAKER_01 (36:09):
hugged actually.
And wow.
Yeah, it was really profound.
And it was, it was just thesimplest.
I'm getting chills over that.
Oh yeah, just taking a breath.
And the dog was right there.
He was just like, yes, we needto take a breath.
And I think my understanding is,is that they needed to learn how
to breathe in their home.
SPEAKER_00 (36:29):
Yeah.
I mean, I think a lot of peoplereally underestimate or maybe
don't even acknowledge thattheir environment very much
affects their way of being andtheir outlook, their health,
their life, and how you carrythat energy forward.
and take it with you into theworld also affects things around
(36:51):
that.
Such a powerful demonstration onhow you connected with this dog
simply just by groundingyourself and allowing space for
a moment.
SPEAKER_01 (37:04):
So to answer your question, I think that's what I
would tell people getting intoit now is that we have to factor
into the equation creating thatspace.
So thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00 (37:14):
I mean, this is really why I started this
podcast, because I feel likethere's so much out there that
could be really helpful forpeople in just the most simplest
ways.
And if it requires just sittingback for a moment and taking a
breath and just being fullyaware of inhaling the air and
(37:34):
exhaling the air through yourbreath, that you still the
moment and you become present inwhat's And what an amazing
example of that.
SPEAKER_01 (38:12):
that are measurable, that are binding receptors.
We cannot stop those surges ofthese proteins and other
chemicals surging through ourbodies, but we do not have to be
a slave to them.
We can become observers of them.
And that's the biology ofbelief.
Bruce Lipton, I believe, wrotethat book and still speaks
(38:33):
eloquently about that today.
And that is very helpful tounderstand that your feelings
are your feelings, they arevalid.
And if we're not careful, And ifwe don't learn how to grow them
and caress them and nurture themand understand them and respect
them, they will take controlover us.
And therein lies where I seedisease develop.
(38:53):
You know, when people are upsetabout something that's happening
in their environment or in theirstoryline and they can't let go
and they stop breathing.
disease manifests it causesinflammation inflammation is the
common denominator of alldisease and we don't need
inflammation in these physicalbodies this is going to happen
through our pets who are sointuitive they are the
(39:14):
barometers of us what you feelthey feel so we have to be very
careful so i say that many timesi say to people who feel like
they're in a dire straitssituation with their pet is if
you truly want to help your petthat you start with yourself Got
to help yourself.
You have to be coming from aplace of love and gratitude.
(39:35):
Then watch what happens to them.
Watch their inflammationdissipate when you do that.
SPEAKER_00 (39:40):
Such beautiful knowledge to spread around.
I really am a true believer inthat as well.
So, Dr.
Tim Budris, what's next for you?
Like, is there anything excitingon the horizon that you're
particularly curious about?
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (39:56):
I have two things I'm very, very excited about.
My basement is filled withseedlings.
SPEAKER_00 (40:02):
It is that time of year.
It is
SPEAKER_01 (40:04):
that time of year.
We've been chomping at the bitto get the garden in full
throttle.
And we have a vegetable gardenthat is impossible that produce
most of our own food.
And so we're very excited aboutthat.
And then I do have An additionalyoga teacher training coming up
with Point Reyes Yoga, I amgoing to take a training in yin
(40:25):
yoga, which I'm very, veryexcited about.
That is my go-to recharge place.
That is the place that hasprovided me with direction and
understanding, and I'm verygrateful to be surrounded by the
people who are there and thepeople who go there as well.
SPEAKER_00 (40:40):
Oh, my gosh.
When you open up your yogastudio, I need to know and we'll
have you back on so you can talkabout it more.
Would you like to share whereyour office is if people would
like to come in and see you?
SPEAKER_01 (40:52):
Sure.
So I'm an independentcontractor, which is a very
popular thing for manyprofessionals nowadays.
I actually work for severalhospitals and several
organizations.
I kind of rotate on a regularbasis, but I have my home-based
hospitals.
And currently my home base isVCA Hospitals in Danbury,
(41:13):
Connecticut and Plainville,Connecticut and Bristol,
Connecticut.
I also work at a hospital inSeymour.
I work for Dog Star Rescue inConnecticut which is an amazing
organization who saves about 100dogs from kill shelters every
month, if not more.
And they find them beautifulhomes.
Shout out to them, too.
They could use volunteers andany kind of donations.
(41:36):
In fact, if somebody would liketo see me as a yoga teacher, we
are putting together afundraiser for them where I will
be teaching a large yoga classand doing it via Zoom.
So anybody from around thecountry can join.
And it's just going to be awonderful thing.
And there might be some puppiesinvolved.
Oh
SPEAKER_00 (41:53):
my goodness.
Puppy yoga.
It's the next best thing to getgoat yoga.
SPEAKER_01 (41:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (41:58):
Well, I'll definitely post the link once
that's available so you coulddefinitely take advantage of
that.
We've covered a lot today and Iam so inspired by how you shared
your story about how you tapinto your intuition and working
with animals and people andplants of all things.
I really just appreciate yourtime today and joining us.
(42:21):
I just love what you're doingand spreading in the world and
we could definitely use more ofthat.
Thank you Dr.
Tim Budris for joining me today.
And I'm hoping everyone who'stuned in is also inspired.
Remember intuition is somethingwe all have access to.
It's just a matter of creatingspace and learning to trust it.
(42:43):
Thanks so much for tuning intoday.
I'm so glad you spent this timewith me.
If something in this episoderesonated, feel free to share it
or pass it along to someone whomight need that little spark.
Until next time, keep humming.
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