Animals & Us - Voices of a New Paradigm
Animals & Us - Voices of a New Paradigm
Episode 23: Powerful Meditation-Based Animal Reiki: Spreading Love, Joy, Compassion and Peace, with Leah D'Ambrosio
In this episode, we dive into the world of meditation-based Animal Reiki with Leah D'Ambrosio, Co-Founder and Vice President of the Shelter Animal Reiki Association (SARA). With over 400 members across 85 shelters worldwide, SARA focuses on supporting rescued animals and their caregivers through the transformative power of meditation.
Leah shares her journey working with animals and tells us about her mission is to empower people to develop healing connections with their animals. We explore the inception and growth of SARA since 2008, emphasizing their commitment to respect and honor animals as individuals with agency.
We talk about the unique approach of meditation-based Animal Reiki and its benefits for shelter animals. Leah sheds light on the "Let Animals Lead" method, highlighting the importance of not viewing animals as "broken" and the role of agency in the connection.
Leah also shares insights on connecting with wild animals, even in zoo settings, and how acknowledging animals as teachers can impact our interactions with them. Throughout the episode, she emphasizes the significance of finding peace within ourselves for the well-being of animals and the natural world.
Tune in to discover how meditation and mindfulness can create healing connections with animals, and learn practical insights on connecting with our nonhuman companions in meaningful ways. Leah shares many heartwarming stories and examples of the power that we can each have when we create a shared space of tranquility and peace with an animal.
For more information about Leah D'Ambrosio and the Shelter Animal Reiki Association, visit:
https://shelteranimalreikiassociation.org/
https://www.animalreikisource.com/
Hi there and welcome. You're listening to Animals and Us voices of a new paradigm.
Avantika:My name is Avantika and I'm a researcher exploring animal consciousness, environmental sustainability and planetary health. I want to help bring animal perspectives to the table and transform our relationship with the natural world, and I'm Barbara.
Barbara:I'm an animal communicator and retired veterinarian. My true passion is exploring the hearts and souls of animals and helping people come to a much deeper understanding of who the animals truly are at their core.
Avantika:This podcast is for anyone who loves animals and nature and has an interest in their own personal and spiritual development. We'll bring you powerful conversations with fascinating people about animal and nature, sentience, consciousness and communication.
Barbara:Thank you so much for joining us on this journey of love, respect, understanding and care for the fellow beings who share our beautiful Mother Earth with us. Hello everyone, welcome to Animals and Us, voices of a new paradigm. And today I am so thrilled to introduce you to who's become a really sweet friend of mine, leah Dan Brozio. And Leah and I met many months ago when she was speaking online at a conference and she was talking about how we can relate to wild animals, and I've done a lot of that kind of work too and so I was just so excited to meet a fellow soul who really I really resonated with everything she said and it was so exciting for me, so I called her up and we've had many conversations and have done some work together, and so I'm thrilled to introduce Leah, and Leah is the co-founder and vice president of the Shelter Animal Reiki Association, or CERA S-A-R-A, and that is a community of animal reiki practitioners supporting rescued animals and caregivers through meditation.
Barbara:It was founded in 2008 and currently has 400 members and serves 85 shelters around the world, including such places as Italy, croatia, japan, colombia, australia, the UK, canada and the US, which is kind of amazing, and what's so great about this organization, cera, is they believe in respecting and honoring all beings as individuals who have their own agency, and the focus is on love, peace and compassion, which is such a beautiful thing. Leah is a certified meditation and mindfulness teacher and has taught animal reiki classes at many places for all different kinds of animals, including shelters, rescue organizations and sanctuaries. She offers group training at a beautiful wildlife sanctuary in Florida which I hope to get to with her someday and her mission is to empower people to develop healing connections with their animals and find happiness in their personal lives through meditation sessions, workshops and private consultations. Wow, that's pretty cool. Welcome, leah.
Leah:Thank you so much, barbara. I really appreciate being here with you and thank you for that lovely introduction. I love that you called me a sweet friend. I feel the same, so thank you so much.
Barbara:So, Leah, tell us a little bit about your journey in working with animals and what led you to learn meditation-based animal reiki. What was that about?
Leah:Well, I've always loved animals, you know, it's my whole life. When I was young I had a pony, a horse, dogs, cats. You know I loved animals and we lived out in the country, so I got a lot of experience with animals. But as an adult I didn't really have any time to dedicate to animals other than just having my own dogs. And when my son graduated from high school I really wanted to do something to give back.
Leah:But the problem was when I would go into shelters you know, because that's the easiest thing go volunteer at a shelter to work with animals. I would just become too emotionally brought with grief and pain seeing them suffer and I just didn't know how to handle it. So I did some research and I heard about animal reiki. I knew about people reiki, but I didn't know anything about animal reiki. And I found Kathleen and I remember emailing her and she emailed me literally within five minutes. So I felt that was a really great sign that I was on the right path. And then, when I took the level one with her, I really felt like, oh my gosh, this is something I want to be doing, because it was all about honoring animals, tapping into your own inner strength and realizing that we can be of service to shelter animals without going in and adopting them all. And Kathleen gave me some really wonderful tips on how to find my own inner strength. And, of course, through her class I learned as well, and so I was able to start going to the shelter.
Leah:And through that experience that's where Sarah kind of came around, because when I went to take Kathleen's level two class, after having some experience from volunteering in the shelter, I told her shelter animals are my love and my passion. I want to do more. And she said well, I'm actually I would love to start a nonprofit that would bring animal reiki to animals all around the world in shelters. And I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so exciting. Why don't you? And she said I have no idea how to start a nonprofit. And I was working in the legal field at the time and I'm like, well, I know how to do this. I can help us do this.
Leah:And so, through our love of shelter animals, we created the Shelter Animal Reiki Association. And I think that you know we'll talk about this in a minute about the let animals lead way. But the reason this whole method and the reason Sarah is so successful is because we work with shelter animals, who are the most vulnerable group of animals out there. Right, you know they've come from abusive situations. They are in a scary place for them. It's like, you know, if we went to prison or something. It's a very scary situation for them and they're very unsure. So using the let animals lead method with them really taught Kathleen and all of us who work with shelter animals a lot about honoring animals and seeing them as individual beings.
Barbara:That's so wonderful, and you know I've worked in shelters and it's hard. It's hard because you're just bombarded with this. Well, in a dog, you know, when there's dogs, there's just constant barking and you can just sense their pain and how they so badly want to get out of there. So to have a tool that can help in that situation is just really really wonderful. So thank you for doing that. It's really amazing work.
Leah:Well, and once you do it, once you learn the practice and you do it and you see the results and sometimes it's immediate you think, wow, why wouldn't I do this? Because not only are you helping the animals, but the surprising byproduct of this is that you also start to get healed. You also start to feel an inner strength and an understanding and you know and you build your compassion muscle in a way where it's not pity right. People get compassion and pity confused. Compassion isn't pity. Compassion is just understanding, empathy and love, and the shelter animals really help grow that within you when you start working with them. So it's such an incredible honor to be with them.
Barbara:Then what is pity?
Leah:Pity is when you feel sorry for them, right? So you're feeling sorry for the animal and what does that bring? It doesn't bring a whole lot. You're looking at the animal as less than it's just like. When you look at a person with pity, like, oh, maybe if you know they're in a bad situation, like a homeless person, oh, I feel so sorry for this homeless person. We're actually kind of taking away all hope and joy from anything or, you know, the encouragement that they can do better.
Leah:So we go into a shelter and we're feeling pity. We're like saying to the animals this is so sad, this is never going to change. Whereas if we go into the shelter with I love you, I'm so happy to be here with you, that emotion changes everything. That's compassion. I see you, I understand, I'm here for you. That's different than pity. And so when we go into the shelter, we always tell people we go in there with love and joy in our heart. And it seems counterintuitive because it's a sad situation.
Leah:But imagine if you were. Let's say, you're in the hospital and you're sad. You have two friends. One friend comes to see you and they're sad and they're pitying you. Oh my gosh, this is so horrible. Oh, what are you going to do?
Leah:And then you have another friend that comes in and says Afonica, I'm here. Oh my gosh, I love being with you. Oh my gosh, you know you're here now, but I know you're going to get better. You're so strong and just sitting there and laughing and sharing that joy of my mutual love for her and respect for her. That's a completely different feeling and the animals have shown us over and over and over again the power of love and joy is so strong and so healing, whereas the power of pity, sorrow, sadness, when you're kind of putting yourself above that like oh, I'm fine, but you're not, you know that whole where you kind of are elevating yourself and looking down on the animal or the person, that changes everything and it kind of makes you feel heavy and icky, whereas joy and love makes you feel light. So when we do that with the animals, when we share our love and joy, we're actually amplifying them and giving them hope.
Avantika:Thank you so much for sharing that distinction between compassion and pity. I'm immediately thinking you know you gave that hospital example. I'm immediately thinking about how this applies to us every day and every situation that we walk into and show up, for it's so easy to walk into a situation without this type of awareness of what feelings and vibes and energy we're giving off to the person we're interacting with, and just keeping this small thing in mind, I think, can be so powerful. So thank you for simplifying it like that. It's so true. You know, if I was in any kind of situation, any struggle I go through in life, I want to talk to people who can build me up and help me feel empowered and help me see the positive aspects of the situation and bring, who can bring joy and light into the situation instead of darkness and all those other negative feelings that are already going on. You don't want those to be amplified. So thank you for pointing that out. That's such a that's such an important thing to distinguish between.
Leah:It really is, and it helps us, like you said, like that, that realization. When we go on with the animals and we know we have to be better and we have to share joy, we start to learn that we need to do that with humans as well, that we're all beings doing our best and we all need just that uplift of love and joy and to be made to feel good, because there's nothing better than when you feel seen, heard and appreciated right, and that's all that any being wants is just to be seen, heard and appreciated, but we try, as humans, to fix everything and make everything better. That's just from our own perspective, though, right, and we don't know what's going to really make someone feel better. So just coming from that place of love and joy and respect is really important.
Barbara:I learned about that, too, some years ago by going to a zoo and being with the animals in the zoo and later talking with the elephants, who shared a very similar message about if we view these animals with oh isn't this terrible, I'm so sad, I'm so sorry for you. It just really brings the energy down for everybody, whereas if we go in and imagine them just happy and free and all that, it boosts us up, it boosts them up. It's the same thing you're talking about. So anytime we're viewing an animal like that or a person, it's really, really beneficial to get our energy up so that we can boost them as well. So thank you.
Leah:Yeah, I mean, it's my belief, and I think probably for the two of you as well, that animals can transcend their pain and where they are they can actually go up to that higher level. But we have a hard time reaching. We have to meditate, we have to concentrate, we have to. You know we're not in touch with it as well, and so they show us how that by sharing joy, by sharing love, we can help them transcend it and we can help ourselves transcend that as well.
Barbara:Yeah, that's so great. And can you talk about the difference between meditation-based animal Reiki and hands-on Reiki? That's more traditional, at least in this culture.
Leah:Yeah, definitely, and there's a lot of animal Reiki schools out there that use hands-on feeling like it's more human Reiki adapted for animals, whereas the Let Animals Lead Method is its own system, created specifically for animals and their sensitivities. So the difference being that when you're working hands-on, you kind of I'm the healer, I'm gonna heal you, I'm focused on what's wrong with you. I'm focused on putting my hands where I feel you need it. So the human is really driving everything and they're not necessarily I don't want to, you know, this is just general they're not necessarily taking into the consideration of an animal. Also, with hands-on, you can't do hands-on with a wild animal. You can't do hands-on with a tiger, you can't do hands-on with a crocodile. So it's really limiting in some ways, the hands-on, the meditation-based that is the Let Animals Lead Method, which is what Sarah teaches and what we practice, is based on us going inward and when we go inward, there are certain tools that we teach that help us let go of our anger or worry, that help us become more humble, that help us become more grateful and more compassionate. So in that space, really, what we're doing it's not, we're not really even doing anything to or with the animals. We're just getting our own bodies into balance. When our energy is in balance, when we let go of our anger, when we let go of our worry. Now our energy is inviting to the animals.
Leah:Now, when we're sitting there in meditation, in meditation in the meditative space, the animal has the choice whether or not to join us in that space, and we tell them out loud. It's not animal communication that we practice. We just say you know, I'm going to be meditating. We always tell the animals exactly what we're going to do, because they understand so much. I'm going to be sitting here, I'm going to be meditating, you can join me or not.
Leah:There's a few things that happen right away. One, animals aren't used to having things explained to them. They're just used to people doing things. So that right there gets their attention. She's telling me what she's doing. We give them the choice. That's another thing they don't get. So we're telling them you have the choice to join us or not. Completely up to you. We're not going to force this and animals will test you.
Leah:I'm going to walk away. I'm going to go do this. Are you still going to be there? You know, of course we are, because we set our intention. I'm going to sit here for 30 minutes, I'm going to meditate whether you want to join me or not. I'm just going to create this beautiful energy and then we sit and we don't demand anything of them so right away the animals like. This is different and, if you know, when you go into a shelter, sometimes and this isn't always sometimes the animals are a little more leery. They might not calm down, but there are times when animals they really like that, that energy of just peace and calm. So you'll get a dog or a cat or bunny and they just relax and you can see they close their eyes and they'll give a big sigh and then you can feel, especially after you practice for a while, you can actually feel your energy start to go boom like you, go a little deeper, because as humans, we can go so deep with meditation.
Leah:I could be meditating with the Dalai Lama. I could go so deep. But when an animal connects with me now, the animal has joined with me and is actually elevating. So now I go deeper because they've joined me and now they're assisting me. So it's not really like with human Reiki or with hands. On Reiki, it's I'm the human, I'm healing you. With this method, we're allowing the animal to actually help us as well. So it's more like this instead of here I am beaming at you, I'm giving, I'm not receiving anything, it's more a give and take, because once they decide, okay, I'm going to join you in this, now there's a flow, now there's a complete flow and you start to feel just calmer and you feel your meditation go deeper and you start to feel that deep peace that they are connected with, because animals, they're born with this innate skill to go deep, to relax. You know, you think about I was like thinking about a lion on the Serengeti and they're so peaceful. You know, when they're not hungry, when they're not at honey, they're just peaceful and that's. You know what animals bring. Is this just deep peace? They can easily access it. Humans can't access it as much.
Leah:So when we're able to sit with a shelter animal in a meditative space and start to feel that peace, that peace, it starts to grow within us. But then what's beautiful about that in the shelter is the peace starts to spread out. So now you're in a noisy shelter. Well, the noisy shelter starts to get quieter, quieter. Quieter is all the animals that want to connect in that space start to. So you don't even have to be sitting, you know, and connecting with an animal directly, your energy is huge and your energy goes out, and the more the animals start to connect with you and the other animal, it just compounds. So now it's not just you anymore, you're just one of many, and so I think that that's what makes this so powerful. It's it takes away that pressure of I'm a healer, I have to heal, you have to make this right. Instead, it's very passive. I'm going to meditate, and if you want to join me, great. And then if, when the animals connect, that's where the magic happens and that's what makes it so fulfilling, because you're like, oh my God, I'm in this and it makes me emotional because I'm in this shelter and these animals were so stressed. And now, just because I decided to let go of my own crap, my own anger, my own worry, and just get back to that, to my heart, to where, you know, my, my true joy, my true love is when I get back to that space. Now look what happens. That is really powerful.
Leah:You know that you have the power to help bring peace in the shelter and all you have to do is meditate. And people want to make it really confusing and really, you know, oh, you got to do this. This is no, you don't. You just got to let go, meditate and we teach these really simple methods to get you to that place. And also, the animals help you and when your mind starts to wander or you're having a hard time, you just ask them for help. You just say you know I'm having a hard time, could you please help me meditate? And they're just like what you want? Wait, what You're asking me to teach you? Yes, I would love to. Nobody asked me that.
Leah:And it's amazing how many animals, time after time after time, are like what? Lift up their little head. You want me to what? Yes, of course, I will do that, at the zoo especially. You know, I would love you know. First of all, we always go gratitude with our hearts at the zoo, so grateful for all the joy you bring to these people. I would love to sit with you and I would love if you would help me meditate. I had a tiger at the Oregon Zoo, very standoffish I think his name's Tim or something came right up as far as he could to his little you know enclosure.
Leah:There's like a moat came right up and I remember one guy going I've never seen that tiger come up, but it's like they want that connection they're. They're dying for us to let go of our crap and get back to who we truly are, because that is what they see. They see our true heart. They don't see what's going on out here. They see our true heart and when we come to them with that humility and that compassion and that love, they sense it immediately and they respond.
Barbara:Suddenly for people listening who may not be able to take your classes or right now, and maybe intimidated, like I've been to a lot with the word meditation, because I'm a person that I have friends that can sit for hours in meditation.
Barbara:That would not be me, and you have mentioned before that meditation isn't just sitting cross-legged on the floor for an hour. So are there ways to go in and essentially meditate without doing a formal meditation practice, just to get calmer and to be present with the animals? If that's what you choose to do, absolutely.
Leah:So, first of all, there's a lot of easy breaths out there that you can just Google meditative breath and so the one I like the most is just breathing in deeply through your nose, expand your belly. When we breathe in deeply through our nose and bring our breath through our belly and expand our belly, we're actually making a connection to a grounded place within us, to we're making a connection to earth. We're making that connection to stability Because if you think, if you look at your body, where is your stomach? It's right in the middle. And you look at sumo wrestlers, where is all their weight? It's right at their belly. That grounds them. So when we breathe into our belly, we're creating that grounded stability within us.
Leah:And when we exhale, you always want to exhale longer than your inhale. When you exhale, exhale out your mouth, and it's helpful if you act like you're blowing out a straw. So make your mouth like kind of like, so breathing in really deeply, expand your belly as far as you can, even a little farther, and then slowly, really slowly, breathe out your mouth and you just do that for five, 10 breaths and you can start to feel your body calm because it connects to your parasympathetic nervous system. So now you're getting calm. That right there is helpful. Another thing that's really helpful to do is, before you even go into the shelter or go work in your you just think about something that brings you joy. So for me, there's a word that will instantly bring a smile to face, and that's bunnies. I cannot say the word bunnies without laughing and bringing so much joy in my heart. So I will sit there, do my breath and think about bunnies and make myself feel really happy.
Leah:So now I'm feeling calm, I'm feeling happy, now I can go and go to the zoo, I can go wherever, and if I start to feel out of it, I can just go back to that. Super simple. You don't have to sit there, close eyes, you can be walking and doing that breath. You can be walking and thinking of something joyful, but that's the most important thing Just calm your body, because we want to be calm right. Our energy we think our energy is like all right here in our little body, but our energy is huge. It's going out, I think like six feet, and so animals are like they feel as way before. Sometimes they even see us right, because we are this ball of energy and we're like the Tasmanian devil and then we're like connect with you and they're just like what Wait whoa.
Leah:But if we come in that peaceful state and that joyful state, they're like oh, that's different, Okay.
Leah:And then they're more apt to connect with us. And connecting with us might be as subtle as just looking at you. They may not come up to an enclosure, they may just look at you. And one thing I love about this practice is when we calm our bodies and when we start to connect to that feeling of joy, we start to observe more and our intuition starts to get heightened. So we can see more. Because now, instead of being in that rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, where everything is just like going, going, going, we now have space in our mind, we now have peace. So now things can kind of come to us. It's like, oh, I've never noticed that before. Oh I, oh, wow, I can hear this, or maybe a solution to a problem will come to you. You know, meditation isn't about quieting all thoughts. It's just about quieting your mind so that important thoughts can come through, so that information can come through, so that your intuition can be heightened and you can hear and understand things. So, yes, so just doing those just two simple things are really powerful.
Leah:And then just being mindful when you're out and about, when you're walking, being mindful of oh, I'm out, the air feels so good, the tree smells so good, the grass smells so good. You know, oh, there's a dog. Oh, you know, it's so funny. When I'm walking I always notice dogs before I notice people and it's crazy how many dogs will just like, connect immediately, and then they'll start pulling towards me. It's like they're they're people. My gosh, my dog doesn't even like people and you know it's funny because they understand that energy of peace.
Leah:And when we say, oh, you know we're walking, we're peaceful and we're happy, oh, hi, hey, hey, dog, you know, in my mind I say this oh, good, good you are. Sometimes I say it out loud and they immediately respond because, you know, they're not used to human seeing them, they're used to humans connecting with their human and they're just an afterthought. But when you see them first, they're like, oh, hey, oh, my gosh, she noticed me. So it's, it's some. It's really powerful when we can stop and just go inward and become, you know, and not become mindful, because that's really hard. I mean, it's easy. A lot of people say, oh, just become mindful, like it's so easy. It's not, it's hard, I have ADD. It's hard to be mindful, but when we can constantly remind ourselves yes, I'm out in nature, yes, I'm on a walk. Oh, look at that dog. You know that's being mindful.
Barbara:That's great. I think that's going to be helpful for a lot of people. And I do have a question. As an animal communicator, I used to think when I was talking with an animal, they would come up and give me kisses. Or a wild animal would come real close and look me in the eye, and you said that a lot of times that does happen. However, what I've found with animal communication and I don't know if it's true, with what you do sometimes the animals busy eating or walking around or doing their own thing and they're not paying any attention at all to me and it's really easy in that situation to think you're not having any impact. They're just. You know I'm not affecting them at all, but that might not be true. So what's your experience with that?
Leah:Yeah, Can I think that when you first walk up and they're busy, you know there's that time where you have to settle down. They have to settle down, but especially the courses are a really good example. So let's say you're sitting there, you're meditating 15 minutes and the horses are eating and they're not stopping. But if you watch closely you'll notice that they're starting to eat slower. They're starting to maybe lift their head, maybe they'll yawn, maybe they'll just kind of hang their head for a minute. There's subtle signs that the more you do this, the more you start to understand and kind of tune in to their body language. But there are signs that animals aren't accepting that energy. Also, you start to feel a little heavier, a little deeper, a little more relaxed, and that's another sign that the animals are connecting with you. But if you don't even feel that, just watching the animals Because we have to understand that you know we think I've got this beautiful gift.
Leah:I'm going to do meditation and you should love it because it's a really good thing. It's like me walking into Ivana Kiswasa and going hey, I'm going to give you a massage. No, you're going to love it. I'm scared that you have to go use the restroom. I'm scared that you're hungry. Just lay down, this is going to be fantastic. And then her going okay, all right, this isn't. I'm not comfortable. I need to use the restroom, I need to eat something, I need to get a drink. So it's the same thing. We're walking into their house, we're coming up to them in their world. We have to respect that. So we have to allow them that space to do what they want in their own time and allow them to come up to us if that's what they choose to do on their own time. You know, it's all about respect and about being aware of ourselves, because we humans think I've got something really great. I'm going to help you.
Avantika:And it is great and it is helpful.
Leah:But you're in their house, you're in their space and you have to respect that and you have to calm yourself down and go. Okay, you know I have to allow them that choice. And again, that's where the agency comes in right. We have to really respect their agencies, treat them as we would a fellow human. You would never walk into somebody's house and start dictating what's going to happen, and it's the same with animals. You never.
Leah:Even if they're in the shelter, their little enclosure is still there. So we have to be really mindful. What is our body language? What are we doing? Are we standing over them? Are we hovering over them? Are we trying to manipulate something here? Or are we being respectful and allowing them that space to come and go and do what they want? And if they drink or they eat or they even leave, you know, sometimes with horses they'll leave, they'll go out of the barn, believe, but that doesn't mean they're not still connected. You know, we think we have to be right here to be connected. If you don't, the horse can be clear across the pasture and still be connected to you, and I think that's really important to remember that. You know to not be so needy when we go in there, because that neediness is also an energy and it's kind of an irritating energy, like if something is tickling you right, we don't want to be needy with animals.
Avantika:Yeah, I think what you just shared also speaks to the savior complex that I think so many of us end up having, you know, with.
Avantika:Like, we have good intentions, and this isn't just with animals, it's with each other too, right, with our family members and friends, and wanting to, like you said, fix things or control things or problem solve, and, especially with animals, it's so easy probably to go into these situations, especially without the awareness of the compassion versus pity and what those, how different those two energies are. To want to go in and expect that you can change something. You know so much of what we talk about in this podcast too, with animal consciousness and communicating with them and connecting with them deeply is about understanding that they have, they can make their own choices and you know, whether you're learning how to do meditation based Reiki or how to communicate with animals or do anything else, to not have that expectation that you're going to see a result or a reaction that's going to make you feel satisfied and validated, right, and to go into it just with the intention that you can share something beautiful with them and create this space of love and joy and light and connect with them more deeply and not expect anything else and then see. Just see what happens and be open to what comes next.
Barbara:I'm so glad you said that, avantika, because something I've been working on personally is not getting attached to the results of what I'm doing. You know, when you really really want to help someone, help an animal and make their life better, and you come in and you have all these things you want to offer, like both of you are talking about. You want, you so badly, want to help them, but it's up to them whether they receive it or how they receive it. Even the people, even the pet parents, it's up to them to do things their way too. So you can't go in with these expectations and assumptions and expecting results and expecting acknowledgement. It just doesn't work.
Avantika:Well, that energy also is probably counterproductive too, right? So it's not even just about mentally having those expectations, but just having that energy there in your field is. They can pick up on that and feel that and it creates other negative energies too, I'm sure.
Leah:Oh yeah, definitely. I mean you can you know the one thing about that joyful, like the joyful meditation, just thinking of something joyful. What's really interesting to do is think about something joyful that brings joy to your heart and you feel yourself being lifted. And then, if you think of something that makes you sad and you start to think that you can feel the heaviness start to come over your body and darken your heart, and so you could feel the difference really easily between when we're feeling sad and thinking negative thoughts and when we're feeling joyful and thinking loving thoughts and happy thoughts. Huge difference in the energy, and you don't even have to be, you know, sensitive to energy to feel that.
Barbara:Yeah, and you know you've talked about healing and this is all connected with that, but your perspective, from what I understand, is that you are not the healer. So what does that mean? What is healing really about from your point of view?
Leah:That's such a great question because, you know, when we think about humans, a lot of people are healers. Like you go to a Reiki practitioner. They're a healer and it's different for humans than it is for animals Because, again, like, if I go to a Reiki practitioner to be healed, a lot of what's happening is me, it's my path to heal, or not this person. So like, let's say, I go to Avantika, she's a Reiki practitioner and I have a hurt shoulder. She puts her hands on my shoulder. My mind goes here, I feel her energy. I'm like, oh, she's a great healer, she's healing my shoulder. I feel better. Right, a lot of it is the placebo effect. My mind is making me heal.
Leah:We look at animals. We think, oh, I'm going to heal this animals. Everyone is on their own healing path, whether you're a human or an animal. So for animals, the placebo effect doesn't work. And if I go in there, I'm the healer, you're broken. I've already created a dysfunction between us. I've already told them you're broken and I'm here to fix you because I'm a healer. And now also, on top of that, if I don't heal this animal, am I a bad healer? If I do heal the animal, oh, am I a great healer it's really the animals path. What we do with the meditation is and this is true with humans when you are relaxed, when you feel supported. That is when true healing can occur, however that looks to you. So that's why we could see some really phenomenal healing experiences with animals when you just do one session with them. Right, because again, they feel supported. They feel that support to heal. They feel I mean, who knows what they feel. Right, because we can't scientifically prove anything that they're feeling. But we've seen it.
Leah:You know, we have this practical evidence that when we go in and we said I remember when we went to best friends there was a cat, smokey. He literally looked like he was on death's door. He was like crawling, like this. He was skinny and his fur was matted down and he was just so dull in the eyes. We sat and we offered a session in this little cat-ery thing and the next day we went back and we were looking for Smokey, thinking maybe he passed away because it was that bad. And we came in there and we're asking the best friends people wear Smokey. Oh, he's up there in the rafters. And we're like, no well, this cat could barely walk. And so we're looking up at this cat. It's a gray, fluffy, bright-eyed cat looking down at us and we're like you know the one we worked with yesterday. Where's that cat? That's him.
Leah:They're like irritated with us, like hello, there he is and we're just like, oh my gosh, smokey took that beautiful meditative space and had this complete healing. Whatever was making him feel the way he was, it healed it. But we couldn't go in there and say I'm going to heal Smokey, because what does that even mean? We didn't even know what was wrong with him. And even if we did know what was wrong with him, is that really what's wrong with him? I mean he could have a stomach issue, but is that really what's wrong? Or is it maybe mental? And that's what the beauty of this practice is. We support the emotional and mental issues of the animals so that then they can heal. But with humans it's a completely different situation, because we, our mind is really powerful and our mind can keep us sick and our mind can make us well. And that's why the placebo again works with humans. And when we had the COVID epidemic, there are so many Reiki practitioners that are healers. Well, what happened? They couldn't heal these people, because everyone is on their own healing path, whatever that looks like. So using this method of animal Reiki not only helps us in our connection with animals so that we let go of that I'm a healer but it also helps us to let go of it with other people and with each other and with ourselves, knowing that we are on our own healing path.
Leah:And I remember when Kathleen was sick with cancer. This is a big thing because when she got cancer, first of all what happened was and this was the big eye opener when it came to animals so this was years ago, this was 2010 or 11. And she was diagnosed breast cancer. And the minute she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she became Kathleen with cancer. No longer was she Kathleen the animal Reiki expert, the creator of animal Reiki, a mother, a wife. She was Kathleen with cancer and that's how everybody saw her. And it was really shocking because overnight, people then started to treat her with pity right, like you were talking about, barbara. You know what is the difference between pity and compassion. It wasn't compassionate, it was pity. Then it was also are you going to eat that? Are you going to do that? All this advice from people who are experts or who are healers or who have all of this information and it really opened up a whole door to wow.
Leah:We do this to animals all the time. Our dog gets cancer oh, my God, my dog's got cancer. No longer are they this happy, joyful dog. They're the dog with cancer, but they're still this beautiful, happy animal. And animals show us all the time that doesn't matter what's happening to their physical body. They're still joyful, happy, they're going to do their thing.
Leah:I remember I had a disabled dog. I was so shocked at how one, how the other dogs treated her. They treated her like she didn't have anything wrong with her and how she saw herself. She saw herself as just this little warrior. I mean, she would, she would military crawl to get anywhere she wanted to. And I was just like you know, wow, she. Nothing stopped that dog, and it was. You know, these kind of situations help you to realize that, okay one, we see sickness as a really bad thing Instead of okay, this is happening. You're still the same person. I'm going to focus on what I can do for you to make you happy, right?
Leah:So with Kathleen and I, I focused on making us laugh all the time because I knew that laughter could help heal her and we. Even when she was in the hospital after her mast ectomy, she called me and said you can come, but you cannot make me laugh because I am in so much pain. I'm like, sure, okay, I'm not going to make you laugh. We literally laugh for two days straight and it helped her. It helped her to feel better. It helped her to get out of that. I just lost my breath. She wasn't even thinking about it. You know it was. We were laughing so much.
Leah:I spent the night with her at the hospital. We were laughing in the middle of the night because these things kept happening and that was. You know it was. It was so amazing to have that experience with her and I'm so grateful and honored that I was able to be there with her because that helped us with animals, knowing that you know what animals they don't look at. Oh, I'm three-legged. What happens when an animal loses a leg? They're like I've got three legs, I'm going. But people are like what's my life? My whole life is over.
Avantika:Right.
Leah:And they want pity and they want you know they want that, that, that empathy that comes with pity, and that's what we try to give to animals. But I was like I don't want your pity, I don't want your empathy, I want your compassion, I want your love, I want your joy, but don't bring the dark stuff, because I don't need it, because I'm not feeling it. So for Reba she had a neurological disease where she could barely really walk when we first got her, and for her, you know if I would have felt sorry for all the time if I would have tried to protect her from the other dogs, from playing. That would have made her life even smaller. But instead I let her play with the puppy next door and the puppy drug her all around the yard trying to take a toy from her, and she wasn't going to let that toy go, and the minute he lost her whole body would just wag. She was so happy.
Leah:And so, as humans, we have to stop and really look at what are we doing. When one we see ourselves as protectors or healers or trying to change or fix something, it's our ego that's really getting in the way. The most powerful medicine we have is joy, love and compassion and peace right To come into a difficult situation with love and peace. How healing is that In any? For animals, humans, whatever that is we have the power to bring healing in a very organic and natural way. That doesn't involve us being a quote healer, just our love and our compassion for joy or peace. Those are all healing. So it's you know, yes, we're healers, but not in that I'm a healer kind of way.
Barbara:I love that. Thank you, leah, and I love to laugh. So every day I'll usually watch something on TV. I must say that makes me laugh and I love to laugh and I think that's so healing. You know, and it's true that the, the animals, do not see disability or illness in the same way we do, and I think we could learn a whole lot from those guys.
Leah:So thank you for that.
Avantika:Also this reminds me also, Leah, a few conversations we've been having recently about the wisdom and intelligence that exists already within all of us, humans and animals. We just had a conversation with Dr Bradley Nelson, who founded the Emotion Code and the Body Code, and we were talking to him about how intelligent our bodies are and how they know exactly what's going on, exactly what needs to change, what they need. They have all of that information. We're going to have a guest on our podcast soon, dr Jeff Beinman, who also talks about you know, what we really need to do is boost that individual so that those mechanisms can find out, those mechanisms can function and work well, and he talks about the happiness protocol and how to bring that love and joy into that animal's life and the human's life.
Avantika:So a lot of what we've been talking about has reminded me a lot of that that, like you said, we're not going in there and fixing anything, but we're increasing and enhancing the capacity of that individual, whether it's an animal or human, to do what their body already knows how to do, and the love and joy and compassion just amplifies their ability to do that the body's ability to it already knows what to do. So you know, you give the example of the cat. Like you know, his body already has all the information and all the answers, but he probably needed support, emotional, mental support, to be in a state of mind, to be in a place of you know, in a place that his body could do what it needed to do.
Leah:Absolutely. I love that and I love both of those men. They're amazing and that's very exciting that you have them both on your show.
Avantika:Yeah, there's just so much overlap, and with each conversation we talk about different things, but they're all just. They're all part of the same puzzle. You know, it's really nice to find those threads that overlap and weave together and it's really, at the end of the day, I think all of our conversations are about empowering the animals, empowering ourselves, being in a state of joy and love and compassion as much as possible. So, and it's so easy to do, it's like I was saying watch something funny every single.
Leah:I always say that I mean, if you're feeling down, watch something funny. I went through a horrific situation with my ex husband and it was very, very bad and every day I had to watch something funny in order to bring myself out of that and to. And it was amazing how much strength you can get just from laughing, and animals show us that all the time. You know, if we're feeling sad, they try to do something goofy to make us laugh, to make us forget it. You know they're always doing something silly running around. They show us that you know it's okay, don't take life so seriously. We don't need to. So I love that.
Avantika:So much of what we're talking about takes me back to the beginning of my journey, which was just a few years ago, with animals, and so much changed for me. The more I got to know them, the more I connected with them deeply. They taught me so much about myself, about the world we live in. They helped create this and they helped me show up differently in the world. They made me more mindful, more connected, more aware. So I'm curious, on a really personal level, what has this journey done for you? Oh, how they impacted you, which I'm sure is you know. We could have like we could go on for hours about how you're doing, but it's exactly what you have experienced, you know.
Leah:They help us to tap into that better part of ourselves and to amplify it and grow it. And also, I think that they are just amazing at showing us how to be in the world, how to be, like you said, with each other and with other humans, with other beings, with nature, with everything in our world. You know, just by starting with an animal, I think that you know a lot of us. We grew up with animals when we were young and we had that when we were close to that when we were young. But then we start to lose it as we get older, because life starts to happen and it starts to dull our senses and it starts to teach us kind of a different way of being, but as adults, getting back and into that connection with animals and allowing them to reteach us what we knew as children how to find joy, how to find peace, how to, you know, interact with each other in a respectful and loving way. I think that animals are really the key to finding peace in this world. It's really so simple. Yet we think a lot of us and this was me before I started you know I'm the human, you're the animal. I know more, I can do more. I have to feed you, I have to care for you, so I'm obviously the higher being. But then when you step back and you start to connect with them on a more soulful level, you realize oh wow, I am the student, you're the teacher, you're so much more involved than me, you have so much to teach and I need to be a student and I need to learn and and it's just really life changing in so many ways. I mean, when you have a tiger I was just reading this that tigers squint their eyes. They close their eyes when they're feeling comfortable because they can't purr. They can chuff. They chuff when they see a friend, but they close their eyes and they squint. And when you're with a tiger and you're sitting there and I have so many pictures and so many instances of this and they do that to you and they're connecting to you and that deep and loving way, that's incredibly powerful. You know, yes, you can get it from cat or dog, but wean with wild animals who don't necessarily want to connect with people, especially if they've been abused, and they do that and they come up to you and they and you feel that deep love for this moment that you're sharing together. You start to learn that this moment is the most important moment. This moment is all that matters. And wow, I'm really being seen. Right, because a wild animal sees you and that's how they feel when we sit with them and we actually see them. They feel that too. So it's it's again. It's this give and take. It's not I'm giving to you and you're receiving it's. I'm opening my heart to you. Oh, I'm opening my heart to you. Now it's mirrored, and now it amplifies and it grows, and so it's, I think, for me.
Leah:I can't imagine a life not sharing this, sharing this method with people and not sharing it with animals. I just wish that more people would be open to this very simple way of being with animals, because it's truly life changing and one of the most satisfying things I get out of life is teaching this to people especially. I do an animal Ricky for Ricky practitioners so Ricky practitioners who want to work with animals. They take my class and having them go from oh, I'm used to using hands, I want to do it like this to ending with Wow. I can't imagine interacting with animals in any other way than what I've learned in the let animals lead way. It's so satisfying and I just hope that everyone, at some point in 10 years from now, that we're all you know communicating in this beautiful way of just a heart open space.
Avantika:I, you said that. I think you said a few minutes ago that you believe that animals are the key to essentially, you know, changing the world. And I'm really biased, I mean, I think I think that too and I it's funny you said that you grew up with animals, so you had this connection with them, and then, as an adult, you, you know, had to come back to that. For me it was the opposite. I did not grow up with animals at all.
Avantika:Barbara and I have talked about this at length because it's like a mystery to me. It's like how come? You know, how did that happen? And here I am as an adult and my whole life has completely changed. I've come to understand now that I think animals came into my life, into at a point in time when I was ready to learn from them and it just had to happen this way. But at this point now I feel so strongly that, in some capacity or another, that all human beings would really benefit from having relationships with animals. And I know I'm slightly biased in that because of the podcast and the work I'm doing right now, but I so believe that you know even people who are already very mindful and aware and conscious beings. I just think the animals can elevate that even more.
Leah:No, absolutely Absolutely, and I think it's it's interesting that you know you said that when the time is right the animals came, and I think that that's one thing, that animals are infinitely patient with us. And you know it's like when you're ready, the teacher will show, and sometimes that teacher is an animal teacher. But I think for people that you know it's it's a hard one because there are some people that just don't like animals and I think that that's a really hard sell. You really can't get those people to change that much because they have, for whatever reason they have a certain feeling about animals. But for people who love animals but maybe don't have their own, going to the park, just walking down the street and just looking and seeing the birds, the squirrels, just any little animals, you know, even insects, they all have something to show us bees, butterflies it's really interesting, I go out in the yard and I'll meditate and dragonflies they're so funny, they love to come close.
Leah:I noticed, out of all the insects, dragonflies, spiders like to come close to and I always have to tell them. You know, let's, let's give a, let's give a boundary here. Spiders I love spiders, they have a purpose, but, yeah, I have a hard time with them, but it's, you know, when we can just open ourselves or like the crows. I love crows, oh my gosh, I love crows so much and you know, in my backyard, in my old house, I had four crows that would always be there, and it's just. I think that we can open ourselves up to other animals Doesn't have to be our own, it can just be nature, and when we do, nature responds.
Leah:So I think that those just like little baby steps, just sitting outside, or when you're, if you're at an office and if there's a bench outside that you can just go take a small break on and just do the breathing exercise and see what happens. And it may not be immediate, but after a few times you might start to see like a squirrel will come closer, you know. Or maybe some insects will start to, or birds might come by. You know, birds are prey animals, they're always in flight. But even if one stops and, you know, just rest for a minute close to you, that's a sign that there's a connection. So, just doing something really simple, but knowing that your energy affects your world, what you put out is mirrored back. So if you're feeling stressed, intense, then that's what you're going to get back, but if you're feeling open and loving and joyful, that's also what you're going to get back. So just sitting outside somewhere and practicing that breath and think of something that brings you joy and then just see what happens. And that's really easy to do.
Avantika:And it only takes a minute or two.
Leah:It's not like you have to meditate for hours and hours, like I was saying she has read. I can't do that. My mind is too restless. Like 30 minutes, 45 minutes, it's about my max, but really for me, throughout my day. I'm just doing many meditations because it builds on itself. You don't have to sit for a long period of time. You can wake up, think of something happy, get your day started. You can, you know when you start feeling down at work or wherever you are, just start thinking of, do your breathing, think of something happy and just keep yourself going throughout your day and it builds on itself. And then pretty soon you're like wow, I actually feel really good and I don't normally, but doing those simple things is really powerful.
Avantika:Thank you, that's really helpful. Thank you for those tips.
Barbara:Yeah, what I've learned is that if we can go in with those animals in deep appreciation for the gifts they offer, it really makes a difference. You know it really does. So what's your experience with zoo animals and how we can show up for those animals?
Leah:Yeah, well, with zoos, you know, a lot of times we get two different camps of people people who don't like zoos because they don't like the way the animals are being treated. Or you get people who like zoos and they go into the zoo and, you know, they just kind of see the animals as maybe an attraction. And I think that for the let animals lead method, and so you know, I didn't really say much about this. So, kathleen Pristad, when she created the let animals lead method, she took human Reiki and when she was first doing Reiki with animals, she was doing the hands-on healing. But then she started to realize, through shelter animals, zoo animals, that you can't force anything on an animal that's taking away their agency, that's taking away their rights. So zoo animals are a perfect example of this. So she created this system based on meditation so that you could share it with all animals, and really the shelter animals and zoo animals are the ones that really guided this. I don't think that she not worked with these animals, we probably wouldn't have the system that we have today. So when we go in with zoo animals, it's really important to see them, to see them right.
Leah:A lot of people go to the zoo, you're not seeing the animals. Yes, you're seeing the animals. You're like, oh, there's a bear, there's an eagle, there's this. But really seeing them, oh, wow, that is an eagle. Wow, you are so beautiful, we are so blessed. How many times do you get to see an eagle in your life? I'm so blessed to be here with you. That's a different energy and I think it's really important because that energy for an animal is powerful and it's empowering, whereas, oh, yeah, look at the eagle. Oh, wow, oh, he's in that small cage, whatever that's not, and animals are used to that they're so conditioned by that energy that when we come in with the different energy, with the energy of love, with the energy I see you, I hear you, I appreciate you, now that changes everything, now it shifts and now the animal sees you, because that's a different energy, I remember.
Leah:So we celebrate World Animal Reiki Day. It's on February 5th and it's a day that Kathleen created in honor of her dog, dakota, who brought her to Animal Reiki, who helped her create the system we have today, and we take people to the zoos and other places to go and give gratitude to the animals, and I remember one time I was there and I took some people and we spread out around the zoo and I was with this little baby elephant. She was in this pool and she just started to play hide and seek with me and I was there telling her how much I appreciated her and then pretty soon she started to pop up and she blow water out and then she go down and she hide and she look at me and I was thinking are you doing this with me? And there's nobody around me. And she was. She was just playing hide and seek with me and it was so amazing and I was like, wow, and that was happening throughout the zoo with you know, when we go, it happens like you'll have animals just lock in with you and see you and connect with you and you think, oh, my gosh, is this really happening?
Leah:But it is because they feel your appreciation, they feel your joy, they feel the love in your heart and we think of it again as like it's contained to our body, but it's not. Especially our heart energy, our heart energy, goes out in that feeling of love and they are like, oh, wow, okay, I'm going to mirror that back to you. Thank you for that. I mean, can you imagine if you were an attraction and you're just there and everybody's kind of not really seeing you, and then one person says wow, I see you, thank you. That's like oh, thank you. And that makes it kind of worth it in a way, I'm sure, just like, wow, okay, I feel seen, I feel hard, I feel appreciated, I feel loved.
Leah:And animals, unlike humans, they don't need to be told that over and over and over and over again. They feel it and they're like thank you, and that can shift a lot for them. So I think it's really important if we do go to zoos and that's a beautiful way, like Ivanka, you were asking how they can do this Go visit sanctuaries, go visit shelters, go visit zoos and just in your heart say thank you, thank you, thank you. You don't have to say it out loud, just you know I see you, thank you, I see you, thank you, I'm so happy to be here with you. And that really shifts the energy of the entire place and you'd be shocked at how your energy can change so much. When we go to care, you know, there's usually maybe 10 students, maybe sometimes more, but like on an average of 10 students.
Barbara:So excuse me, but care is the sanctuary Care?
Leah:is a wildlife sanctuary. It's not a zoo, it's closed, public, and she has tigers and a bear and alligators and monkeys and snakes and lemurs and skunks and foxes and all kinds of animals. So there, you know, it's in Popka, florida, it's in a rural area but there's a lot of wild animals. There's birds, there's snakes, there's lizards, there's all kinds of wild stuff happening. And then there's the animals. And so when we go there it's very loud. She has farm animals too, she has ducks and she has goats and there's pigs and torches, there's all kinds of things there. So it's very loud when you first go there. But it's interesting, by the second day of class everything starts to become peaceful and quiet. And that's not just the animals that are you know that we're working with one on one, it's also the wild birds, the snakes out, you know, the lizards, everybody gets quiet. And so then you were walking around the property and everyone's quiet, everyone's peaceful. And you start to realize, wow, you know, we're just meditating. Yet that energy of peace is so powerful and it starts to spread out. And it was really interesting.
Leah:One time we were there, this little possum had been picked up by probably an eagle or some kind of raptor had a big puncture in it and he didn't survive.
Leah:But Kristen's not allowed to go outside her own property and save animals, and so this little possum came on to her property and came up close like right where we could all see it, and it was really interesting because he did pass away but he was loved and he got lots of Reiki and he was cleaned and he got pain medication and he was able to pass peacefully.
Leah:And I think that you know we have to look at this as, yes, it's sad that he passed away, but look at how much he got by coming on to the property and I know he was attracted to that energy. Another time we had a bear come. We didn't get to see the bear but there were bear tracks and Kristen saw the bear. So there's animals, like you know, into this space because they're attracted to it and we have to remember that even though you're one person and you're going to the zoo or you're going to a sanctuary, you're going to the shelter, your energy is huge and once the animals start to connect with you, it just compound and goes out. So you have the power to create a huge amount of peace all on your own.
Barbara:Yes, exactly, and you know what this reminds me of, especially our talk about zoos is. Years ago I taught a workshop on animal communication at a little zoo, happy Hollow Zoo in San Jose, california, and there, you know, I talked to some of the animals. It was really amazing some of the shifts that happened for people that worked in the zoo. But I remember this one jaguar, this beautiful jaguar, that was in a cage, and I talked to her and what I learned was that she was a healer, if you want to call it that, that she was watching, she loved the children, she would watch the children and send them energy, you know, and she just delighted in that.
Barbara:And I've talked to other animals that serve, as there was a beluga in an aquarium on the east coast and I talked to him and some of these animals come as true healers and ambassadors. They really do. You know, we think they're so miserable and some of them really are, but some of them are there intentionally. Their soul has put them in these places and they're there to not just teach us but send us energy and to appreciate us and to learn about humans. And it's so incredible when you can go to that level and let go of this whole hierarchy that we have as humans. You know that we're superior and they're inferior in some ways, but, like you were saying earlier, they are so wise and they truly can be our teachers. So when you get to that level and really connect with them in that way, just through the silence, it's pretty amazing who these guys really are.
Leah:Yeah, I think that they all can be healers and teachers to us in some way. But I think that, like you said, there are some that come through. Like there's a crocodile at the Cara Foundation named Ingozie and he's very powerful and so many people when they go and sit with him, they have a clearing, they are crying, they just feel their heart healing from his, just his energy. And you know, no one's ever talked to Ingozie, but I'm sure that he is a healer because he's really quite amazing and as a crocodile he fears nothing. So he's also a really great example of, you know, just not having fear, just going through life and and being, you know, confident in yourself. So, yeah, it's amazing what Joe has to teach us with for open to it.
Barbara:Oh my gosh. So true, we could go on for hours and hours, and hours, I'm sure, but is there anything else, leah, that you would love to share with our audience before we close this?
Leah:Yeah, I just encourage your audience to just you know, you don't have to learn animal rakey, you don't have to learn anything. Just tapping into that beautiful space in your heart, doing your breath work and then thinking of something joyful, and going and sitting with an animal and seeing it's, just testing it and trying it and practicing it. It would just really help all animals right. So it starts with one person, but it grows and it amplifies and it's just like Kathleen started in 1998 as one person and now she has thousands of students. So it's it's really incredible what one person can do. So I hope that all of you, individually listening to this, just go out and open your heart to an animal today.
Barbara:Oh, thank you, Leah. This has been so wonderful and I'm just so appreciative of your attitude about animals and how, how respectful you are and compassionate and really, really teaching all of us about the power of love, the power of peace and joy, and and just going to our own inner world so that we can connect with theirs. It's a powerful, powerful practice. So thank you very much.
Leah:Well, thank both of you. I mean what you're doing and spreading all of this wonderful information to the world is so important and so valuable. So thank you both. So much Appreciate you.
Avantika:You're very welcome. Yeah, just to echo what Barbara said, I I'm feeling very empowered, you know, to take this with me wherever I go. I've already started sharing with my husband the conversations we've had and I'm excited for him to listen to this episode because I think it gives us something really tangible and concrete to just put our minds to and just be extra mindful about wherever we go. I'm also really excited because we're going to sign up for the course to learn from you guys. I just think it's something we can channel our energy into. He loves animals. I love learning about them and connecting with them more deeply, so we're really looking forward to just having something to to build on some skills that we can develop, not just to to go in and share that love and joy with them, but also to help ourselves show up better and stronger. So thank you so much again and please let our audience know where they can find out more if they're curious about the work that you're doing.
Leah:Yeah so they can go to. It's a really long website. It's Shelter animal rakey associationorg. That's one website they can go to. They could also go to Kathleen's website at animal rakey sourcecom and rakey is spelled RE, I, k, I. So both of those websites have a lot of really wonderful free information. Also, every Wednesday starting back up next week, I do a free talk on animal rakey. You don't have to have any experience. It's at 1030 am Pacific time. You can find the link on the shelter animal rakey association website and you can get our mailing list and we send out emails with the link as well. But it's a great way to get introduced to animal rakey and to talk about it and we welcome all levels of animal rakey on, whether you're experienced or you're just beginning or you have no experience, and we also welcome all any edges to amazing.
Avantika:Okay, well, make sure that all the links there are available for people so they can find you easily, and we'll definitely share the weekly sessions on our social media as well, so people can tune in if they're interested. Thank you so much for everything you do, leah, and all the work that you've done and you continue to do, and, before we wrap up, we'd like to share every blessing for the animals.
Barbara:We'd like to end this podcast by taking just a moment to be quiet and we give thanks and blessings to these amazing animals that we share our lives with. They give us so much and ask for so little in return. We hope that you can keep the animals and all living beings in your heart and in your mind as you go about your day. Thank you so much for being here with us today.
Avantika:Thank you.