Tag Archives: animal medicine

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Trust What Appears Around Us

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“I truly believe that everything that we do and everyone that we meet is put in our path for a purpose. There are no accidents; we’re all teachers – if we’re willing to pay attention to the lessons we learn, trust our positive instincts and not be afraid to take risks or wait for some miracle to come knocking at our door. ”

~ Marla Gibbs

Animal Messengers

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I have thought for a long time that there are no coincidences in life.  You meet people along your way through life that can help change and shape where you are going and who you are meant to become.  When I went left to go live in Seattle for graduate school, my plan was to get my masters in nutrition.  I really had never heard about acupuncture or thought for one minute that I would become an acupuncturist.  However, I met a man out there that just kept insisting that I should be one.  He even invited a professor for dinner because he was so convinced that this was my life path.  Thank goodness that he knew it, because my life would certainly be very different if I had never studied acupuncture.  So while I firmly believe that people are placed on our path to help lead and guide us, Anita has also taught me that animals can do the same thing.  Have you ever had the experience when you are mulling over what decision to make that just as you are thinking about it, an unexpected animal crosses your path? Or for several days in a row, you keep seeing the same animal or bird that you rarely had seen before?  Or you have a favorite bird or animal that when you see it, it makes you feel happy?  If you are not sure, start paying more attention.  Then google that animal medicine and see what it is trying to tell you.

Several weeks ago Anita and I were coming back from paddle boarding and we saw this huge turtle on the side of the road.  We stopped to take a photo and then wondered what message it was bringing to us.  When I googled turtle medicine, this is what I found…

“We are always exactly where we are supposed to be.  By the laws of nature, it can not be otherwise.  Turtle is home wherever she goes because she takes her home with her. Her medicine advises us to own our space and take the time we need.”

Then several weeks ago, I saw this bear two mornings in a row.  What could that mean I thought?  When I looked that up, this is what I found…

“Bear is the epitome of the protective mother.  She represents your hidden strength.  Bear says to look inward in order to know one’s self.  Her medicine awakens the power of the unconscious.”

When you look up the animal medicine, you can find many sites with multiple meanings, but there seems to always be one that resonates with where you are at in the moment.  Anita has loved Blue Herons for years, so whenever I see one, I always get a good feeling.  On a recent college tour trip, on the morning before a visit, there was a beautiful heron out on the water.  It gave me that same good feeling.  That feeling stayed through the whole tour and that college remains one of my favorites.

If you have had an experience with animal medicine, please share it with us.  And if you haven’t yet, you will now!

 

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Animals get it.

Meet Harley. He is one of my favorite clients. He always greets me with an amazing amount of pure, uninhibited enthusiasm. After a moment of settling in, complete with licking my face and hands, he goes to his bed, lies down, and pretty much indicates, “Ok, I am totally ready to allow in this healing.” harley2I know I actually have no idea what he is thinking, but I do know how he feels: receptive, soft, open.

He shows me through his sighs, exhales, and body language that he is feeling things shift and move.

He gets up shakes around and trots off often times with renewed hip mobility and a need to immediately go out to “do his business.” These are great signs of internal shifts and releases.

I think that animals are often much more sensitive than we humans. They can tell a “good” person from a “bad” person. They have a sense of when to approach someone and when to walk away, growl, or bristle. I think that they trust a deeper knowing – a more intuitive way of being in the world. They don’t people please. They don’t show up with hidden agendas. They aren’t overly concerned with their appearance. They accept us exactly the way that we are.

When they love they are totally unconditional.

My animal clients keep me present to the amazing flow of energy that is available to us at all times. They remind me of the importance of letting in the healing and staying in the present. They show me how powerful it is to totally trust the one who is loving you in the moment. They never let me get too serious (farting and snorting during sessions with abandon)!

And, they have given me a precious gift: myself – fully and completely.

As they give themselves fully I am invited to give myself fully. When I answer that call, this is the usual result.

harley1Thank you Harley.

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The girls who cried paddle board!

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We just keep saying, “this is our last time paddle boarding for the season.”

You are probably sick of hearing it.

If that isn’t bad enough, we also feel compelled to keep sharing our images with you.

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The sky was mostly blue and the sun was shining, but the wind was blowing something fierce.  We went out on Sunday to Minsi Lake and once again it was so windy that we spent very little time actually Stand Up Paddle boarding – most of it was “on your knees” paddle boarding. Usually we are up for anything and we find the fun in whatever we are doing when we are on the water, but not this day.  We both looked at each other and said “OK, this is not fun!”    The waves were so big that if the nose of the paddle board was not directly into the wave, the water was coming onto the boards making our pants very wet and our bare feet very cold.

However, we did not let the waves and the wind deter us from searching out the wildlife.  When we first launched onto the lake, we spotted one white swan with 2 swanlings (?).  We never got close enough for a good photo.  Then as we were rounding the corner of the lake, we spotted some white ducks in the distance.  We were very curious to see what they were.  The wind was blowing our boards that way, so we worked our way over to where they were sitting on the water.  Imagine our surprise when this is what we saw …

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seagulls?  Yep!  Seagulls.  They were a long way from home.  Hopefully when the wind stopped blowing they were able to find their way back to the Atlantic Ocean!

We made the most of it, paddling our arms off trying to get back to where we launched, laughing and almost crying all the way back.

Our gift at the end of the adventure was seeing a Praying Mantis. They always seem so special to both of us and so we had to look up   the animal medicine for our new totem animal (or in this case, insect) messenger.

can you find her?

can you find her?

 Here is one interpretation:

Usually the Praying Mantis makes an appearance when we’ve flooded our lives with so much business, activity, or chaos that we can no longer hear the still small voice within us. Taking a step back and some simple meditation would be in order here because the external din we’ve created needs to be quieted so that we can come back to our own truth. The Praying Mantis always comes to us when we need peace, quiet and calm in our lives.

Another perspective:

You call me Praying Mantis, because I hold my front legs in the position of prayer. You should call me Preying Mantis, because when I am focused on having something, these same front legs grasp it and hold it securely. That is part of my mystique. Whatever I focus my attention on becomes mine…and then the twist is that I become it, as well.

We both think it is a message for us to take some time to meditate and get still so we can hear the inner voice that is trying to tell us that maybe it really is time to put the paddle boards away for the season! Just joking. We both know that something new is trying to be born and we need to slow down so that we can listen. In the meantime, we hear that today is going to be a great day, so we are headed to Tobyhanna Lake.

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