Today’s post is a guest post from Julie Lines, founder and owner of Voice of the Animals in Newton Solney, Staffordshire, England. Julie is an animal communicator and she started Voice of the Animals to raise awareness about the importance of animals and to show how we can create better relationships with them and re-establishing a sound balance, not only between us and the animals, but with nature itself. Julie also wanted to give the animals a chance to be heard, and to teach us how to connect and communicate with them in order to learn from them.
Julie teaches animal communication courses and workshops, organizes retreats (the next one, “Learning from the Heart of the Herd”, is coming up August 18-23 in Kamloops, BC, Canada) as well as the annual conference “Awakening to Animals” (the next one will be June 22-23, 2013 in England). She is also working on a book, “The Purpose of Species” which is a collaboration between Julie, the animals, and others who communicate with them. It’s a very interesting concept, check it out on the Purpose of Species website.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has tried to learn animal communication but felt I didn’t have that “special gift”, and given up on it. So earlier this year when Julie and I happened to cross paths in cyberspace, I asked her if she would be willing to share her approach to how to communicate with animals with us, and she graciously agreed:
Yes, You Really CAN Communicate with Animals Intuitively!
By Julie Lines
Could you describe your animal companion’s personality or tell me what sort of mood they are in? Most people I talk with say they could. If I asked you what they were thinking, feeling or asking for, not so many would be as confident.
Believe it or not, in order to communicate intuitively with animals you are simply heightening your sensitivity, that is becoming more skilful at noticing incoming sensory information that is already all around you, which we sometimes call our “gut feeling” or our intuition.
The concept of using our intuition is an age old one. At certain points in time it has been revered and honoured, and conversely at other points was punishable by death! Thankfully times are changing again. More and more people are realising that there is far more to animals that we have been led to believe and that we hold the key to tapping into their world and “hearing” them in a very wonderful way.
The challenge is whether or not we allow ourselves to open our minds. We have to shift any of our old beliefs that block us from allowing our skills to develop further. It’s not a case of if we can communicate with them but whether we will we let ourselves. Beliefs like; “I don’t have this ability and only certain “special” people do” or “I would get it wrong and feel a fool” or maybe “I have never had much in the way of intuition, so I’d be hopeless.”
These and other beliefs like this are simply incomplete. Wherever you are at this point in time you are able to learn and develop this sensory ability. Yes, even you!! :0) It is a skill and takes effort and consistency to practice and improve, like anything new. Yet with effective practice and guidance you can learn to be just as effective as any other person.
Many of the doubts we have are due to the conditioning that we have been party to in our lives, we are often conditioned as children that intuition is silly and make believe and that we must be realistic and see things the way they really are. There is a great deal of conditioning that we receive around animals being dumb creatures, having little intelligence and not being able to feel or experience emotions. These beliefs are INCORRECT. That’s a huge understatement… Animals, in fact, are some of our best and wisest teachers and can share truths with us about life and love that are truly humbling and incredible. We can only learn from them once we remove any beliefs that block us from being open to receiving their wisdom and teachings and then only once we have developed the skills to be able to tap into their communication.
Another one of those big barriers many of us may encounter are the memories of Mr Ed, the talking horse or Dr Doolittle. To reassure you, NO of course animals don’t use human language, they have their own. They think in pictures, sounds, feelings including touch, taste, smell and emotions.
So how does animal communication work? All living beings emit thought forms/waves in a continuous stream, whatever the species (including us of course!). These waves spread out around us like the ripples from a pebble thrown into a pond. Animals allow these ripples from other beings to permeate their bodies, they allow themselves to receive, it’s a natural instinct. How else do our dogs/cats know when we are coming home or to disappear just before a vets appointment? They receive our outgoing messages and translate them into a form they understand, just as we do when we become open to receiving, a universal translation occurs. (Read The Language of Miracles by Amelia Kinkade, the quantum physicists explain how this occurs.)
We humans, however, have also been conditioned to clutter our mind and bodies with all sorts of noise, constant mental analysis (left brain thinking), using mobile phones, computers and televisions. All of these noises/waves block our receptivity, preventing us from receiving the incoming signals from other life around us.
So often we are blocking ourselves in two ways, firstly we block ourselves with limiting beliefs and secondly we allow so much noise in and around ourselves that we just can’t receive the incoming signals. It’s no wonder then, when we do these in combination that we don’t know what our animals are trying to communicate to us!
So how can we change this and allow ourselves to receive as well as send? It is actually a VERY simple process, and yet it’s not always that easy…
- We must quieten our mind and our external environment.
- We must ground ourselves (connect to the earth).
- We must be willing to connect to a power greater than ourselves.
In doing this, practicing a number of possible methods, we find our centre. What a great space to be in at any time or place.
How do you do this?
Well for me there is no better way that to get out into nature. Go out by yourself as much as you can, surround yourself with peace and other beings in the form of trees and plants, minerals and rocks and, of course, other animals of all species.
Give yourself permission to leave all your mental clutter behind and simply become present in the moment. Focus on all of your senses and notice in detail what you can see, hear, feel, smell and taste as you walk, sit, lie. Each time your mind tries to take you into past or future, gently bring your awareness back to this moment. Feel your experience through your heart, through your body, through your mindfulness of what is, in this moment. Feel your connection with the earth, through your body, legs, feet and imagine going into the earth. Feel the earth beneath you and how you are deeply connected to it. Feel your connection upward to the sky and all around you, all of the knowledge and wisdom that you are already connected to, when you remember to still yourself. Know that you are part of everything and everything is a part of you. Stay in this place/space as long as you can, as often as you can.
If you are already creating reasons why you can’t, this is your mind trying to stop you from accessing this incredible place/space where you will find your true self and your connectedness to all things. Thank this voice and make plans to get out into nature anyway. Maybe 15 minutes today. Maybe 10 tomorrow. If you don’t allow yourself to do this, you can guarantee you won’t get any closer to being able to connect with animals. So you will prove your limiting beliefs right…
Once you have achieved this present state, connecting with your animals is far easier. Having practiced being still for a good while, and once in this state with an animal, begin by sending them waves of love and appreciation. Be deeply respectful of their species way of being, for example, cats do not like direct eye contact. Learn about animals codes of conduct and adhere to them to show your respect. Give them your complete focus, be in the moment with them, in a quiet place. Continue to stay present with them for a while and simply notice if anything comes to you; it might be a picture, sounds, feelings or even a voice. If you do hear a voice it may well be different from your own inner voices, with practice you learn how to discern the difference.
Often these thoughts will turn up very rapidly. You must be willing to simply accept and note down whatever comes up. Sometimes these things will be our own thoughts that creep in, as we practice more and more we learn to discern the difference more easily. Write them into a notebook. Stay present and continue for as long as seems appropriate.
As we practice more and more we also learn to notice; our analytical minds need to judge, when we are trying to give instant meanings to things that have appeared, if we discount things are being silly or not making sense, when we ignore or distort the messages, to name but a few. We notice them, as an observer and place them to one side. We go back to being centred and quiet and tune in some more. Your skill level increases the more easily you can quieten your mind and the more you are able to accept whatever turns up, not labelling it and simply going with it, asking clarifying questions if you want more details.
Like any conversation, when it is time to end it, remember to thank them and also to act on any information you are given. If an animal shows you pain in their left fore leg do everything you can to advise and get the appropriate person to check it out. Taking responsibility here is crucial to the trust and respect you have with your animal friends.
Yes, as we practice we get in the way of ourselves. We may ignore messages, misinterpret them, get caught into solving the mystery with our analytical mind or telling ourselves we are just no good at this. We may bring our own “baggage” into a communication and lose what is our stuff and what is theirs. It’s all part of the learning process. As we continue to practice effectively we learn how to discern the difference between authentic incoming messages and the other things our logical mind gets up to!
The rewards of practice? Here are just a few examples;
A horse was about to be sold because the lady was very afraid of her. By being listened to and acknowledged, this mare changed her behaviour towards her person dramatically, on first seeing her following my connection with her the mare walked calmly up to her and placed her head on her chest and stood there in silence for a good few minutes. Her person learned more about why this mare was behaving the way she was and took steps to alleviate her fears and insecurities. Their relationship changed dramatically from that point on.
Connecting with a dog that lives in France, via a photograph, this dog described to me his whole house in pictures and all the favourite places he liked to sleep. He showed me a rainbow and him lying in it. I asked the people what this was, they explained a new fire with a glass front throws rainbow light out each day the sun hits it, he loves to lie in the light!
A horse described to me in feelings and pictures exactly how their person needed to change their riding position to be in greater balance with them when riding.
How would developing these skills change your relationship with animals, with yourself, with other people? What would this mean to you and your own animal companions? Have a go, you’ll be amazed and delighted.
If you are interested in learning more about this incredible skill then please do take a look at my website, I offer a range of Playshops designed for the complete beginner to an advanced student. I’d be delighted to talk with you more and to assist you in reconnecting to your sensitivity and ability to communicate and connect with all life. There is so much for us to learn from all species.
Blessings and love, Julie Lines
To learn more about Julie, her animal communication classes, and her work with the animals, please visit her website http://voiceoftheanimals.org.uk. Julie can also be reached by email at julie@voiceoftheanimals.org.uk
