I spoke with Mary Debono on April 17, 2023. We spoke about how she left her job 30 years ago to pursue a life she had always resonated with on some level since she was a child. We also spoke about how Feldenkrais and her experience with it has brought her some wonderful experiences with intuition as well.
Here is a link she speaks about during the podcast.
https://www.marydebono.com/blog/suspensory-ligament-injury
Bio
Mary Debono helps animals and their people enjoy freer, healthier movement even if they are challenged by injury, arthritis, anxiety or aging. A Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner, Mary’s ability to address the underlying cause of a movement problem can lead to surprising improvements. The author of the bestselling, award-winning book Grow Young with Your Dog, Mary can help you and your animal companion feel better and move easier at any age. She offers online programs and works with people all over the globe. Her website is marydebono.com.
I spoke with Mary Debono on April 17, 2023. We spoke about how she left her job 30 years ago to pursue a life she had always resonated with on some level since she was a child. We also spoke about how Feldenkrais and her experience with it has brought her some wonderful experiences with intuition as well.
Here is a link she speaks about during the podcast.
https://www.marydebono.com/blog/suspensory-ligament-injury
Bio
Mary Debono helps animals and their people enjoy freer, healthier movement even if they are challenged by injury, arthritis, anxiety or aging. A Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner, Mary’s ability to address the underlying cause of a movement problem can lead to surprising improvements. The author of the bestselling, award-winning book Grow Young with Your Dog, Mary can help you and your animal companion feel better and move easier at any age. She offers online programs and works with people all over the globe. Her website is marydebono.com.
Welcome to Sears Beers, knowers and Doers, a podcast about intuition. Do you know what that is? Intuition to me is that inner sense for knowing that something is true. And yet I have no proof. But there's so many definitions and there's so many ways it can come. I'm looking to bring together and share with you some amazing guests. You have some amazing life stories, and also some insights into how intuition can come, and I'm looking to gather those crows in the trees. I hope you're one of them. I hope that this podcast inspires you to be more connected to your intuition, and I hope that by doing that, we make the world a better place. Thanks for coming on this journey with me.
Speaker 2:Before we get started today, I would love to share some tools with you to help with stress and feeling overwhelmed, especially for the energetically sensitive person. Feel free to go to my store on my website@www.healingvitality.ca. Thanks so much for coming on this journey with me.
Speaker 3:I am super excited today because I just felt like I met a sister from another mother, and we've spent the last 45 minutes just bouncing ideas off each other. So thank you so much Mary DeBono for saying yes to my podcast, cuz it's been amazing to connect with you today. Oh,
Speaker 4:Thank you so much, Heather, and I'm so excited to continue talking with you and, uh, all the people listening to your wonderful podcast. So thank you so much.
Speaker 3:I've been amazed how many people I've just found, quote unquote, randomly quote unquote on social media. And you're one of those. So sometimes it's a good thing that is listening in on my, on my desires, I guess. Cuz we're gonna get into what you do and how one plus one is two in my world, how my two worlds are colliding. So thank you so much. I'm looking forward to sharing you with the world. Would you mind telling us all a little bit more about yourself?
Speaker 4:Oh, sure. Thank you. So I am a certified Felden Christ practitioner and the Felden Christ Method, for those of you who don't know, it's a, basically it's like movement, education. And really even more than that, it's a process of increasing one's awareness. And what I do is I actually do this with animals as well as people, as humans. And I specialize, you know, I do a lot with horses and riders. I also work with dogs, cats, and I always say everyone with a nervous system. Mm-hmm. But, um, I've been doing this work for over 30 years and I, I actually teach it. I teach something what we call DeBono moves, which is the adaptation of Feld Christ to animals. And I teach it to other people, and now I'm teaching it to people all over the world, thanks to the power of online classes. So it's been really, really fun. Wow.
Speaker 3:So did that just happen when the world went online or were you ahead of the curve?
Speaker 4:Actually, I was a little bit ahead of the curve. My first, uh, online client was actually someone in Kenya. Oh, sorry. And we were using Skype back then, so I didn't even know about Zoom, I think. Yeah. And, um, she had a dog who they had rescued this puppy who was severely had severe scoliosis and bilateral hip dysplasia. And she had heard about my work, she knew about my book, grow Young With Your Dog. And she contacted me and said, you know, would I do online sessions? And I said, sure. And it was so fun. And here I am basically in her living room in Africa. Like that's how I felt. Right.<laugh>. Yeah. And she was able to help the dog so much. We did maybe three sessions. And what's really fun, sh that woman actually went on to train as a Feld and Christ practitioner herself. And so now there is a Feld and Christ practitioner in the Nairobi area in Kenya. Wow.
Speaker 3:Which is
Speaker 4:Threw a rescue puppy who had a lot of physical challenges. So, very
Speaker 3:Wow. Well, Feld and Crisis just got on my radar and I have been like, I don't know, poster child or favorite advertisement. I have been astounded at the simplicity and complexity and effectiveness of this process. I haven't seen or used anything like it before. And horses brought it on my radar screen from a YouTube video of a horse trainer using a block of wood underneath a rider's foot and changing how the leg laid in the saddle. And I was like, what<laugh> what isn't? It's crazy.
Speaker 4:Isn't it amazing? And you know, I I think it's so different than so many other approaches because what we're doing is we're really connecting with the individual. So whether that's the human, a horse, a dog, et cetera, we're really connecting nervous system to nervous system. So when, so when you're working with, with an individual using Feldon Christ concepts, what you're doing is you're, you're basically saying, okay, where is movement? And for example, easy and pleasurable in your body. And that might be like one little place on a horse, for example, right? Mm-hmm.<affirmative> because it, it may be so much soreness or tension going on, even emotional tension mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And then you build on that, you start working with them there and you keep the movements light and easy and pleasurable. And then the brain, the horse's brain or whoever starts to generalize that throughout the whole body, throughout the whole nervous system. Yeah. And so sudden, so, so there is a simplicity to it, but there's also, like you said, a complexity to it. Cuz there's also these incredibly, uh, more complex strategies that we use to help improve the learning of the, of the individual. So it's really cool stuff. I found it to be personally life-changing for me. And I was all in from when I first realized how much it was changing me and I knew I had to bring it to the animals. It was like, just from day one, from the first session, my very first Feld and Christ session, I knew I was going to study this to bring to animals, which is pretty cool. Oh,
Speaker 3:Very cool. Oh my gosh. So have you had animals your whole life?
Speaker 4:I have. I was one of those, those babies born that just like, I want a pony, you know,<laugh>
Speaker 3:<laugh>, okay.
Speaker 4:And also dogs and cats and I mean, I just loved all the animals, but especially I was really, really drawn to horses and dogs. So luckily as a very young child, we did get a family dog and I was very involved with training the dog. And we used to show the dog, and actually our dog made, um, dog food commercials. He actually had his own agent because he was so well trained and he knew all these hand signals and stuff. So I was always very into canine and equine biomechanics, even at a very young age. I used to read all the books about health for animals and, you know, try to figure out how I could help their movement. That was something I was drawn to at a very, very young age.
Speaker 3:So prior to Feld and Christ, what was your world like?
Speaker 4:So, so even though I had animals my whole life, and I was very lucky to that our family got a horse when I was a teenager. And so I had, I've had horses in my life ever since, so since a teenager, which is a few years ago. But what I did was after school, I went into the computer industry. So I was a systems analyst, I designed computer systems for Wall street firms, et cetera. So it was a very different life. But then after work, you know, my after work hours and on the weekends was all about animals. So my passion was always animals. And then it took a little something, which I can tell you about
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 4:To decide, oh no, I need to like jump with both feet into the animal world. So can I share that story? Yes, you
Speaker 3:Please do. Okay. You've got me on the edge of my seat now.
Speaker 4:So, so I was, I was actually working in New Jersey in Princeton. Our data center had moved to Princeton from Manhattan. And I was, I had this wonderful, wonderful Appal Lua. He was a, a leopard appal lua named Spotsy. And I was riding him in a jumper arena at the stable where he was boarded. And I started playing around with, I dunno, it just like came to me. I thought, I'm going to just see if I can just think about, we were just walking at this point, you know, for this exercise. I thought, I'm going to just like, think about a jump. And by the way, he was a horse. I would ride, uh, bareback and bridle us and jump courses that way, like with just like a rope around his neck or something. He was like, just, we were really, really, really connected. And I thought, I'm going to just walk around this arena on the outside, you know, of the, you know, on the rail and picture a certain jump and see what happens. So I started doing that and I would picture like, okay, like this white and green er, whatever. And I wasn't intending him to jump them, which, you know, but he would walk up to it and stop on the side of it. Like he'd walk directly next to it and stop. So, uh, then I thought, wait a minute, I ha I must be influencing him. Like, I'm probably looking at it in some way. So I close my eyes. Then I thought, no, somehow I know the layout. Maybe I'm putting more weight in a stir up. So I took my stirs, took my feet outta the stir. So I was riding in a saddle and bridle that day. So I dropped the rain. I mean, I did all these things. So I, I tried to take myself out of the equation except for my mind. Wow. And every time he would go to the exact jump, I would picture and he would stand there. So then I thought, oh, this is getting a little weird. So I then thought, all right, so we're walking around again and I thought, I'm going to think about the gazebo. I just started thinking about the gazebo. So in the middle of the arena was this judge's gazebo. So if you can picture this white, you know, so it had that roof and the, the lattice and you know, the whole thing. It was in the middle of the arena. We're walking on the rail, I had my eyes closed. I, at this point kind of was almost like disoriented. I didn't know where in the arena we were. And my horse is walking, so Spotsy is walking, walking, walking, walking. And he stops. I wait a few seconds, he's not moving. I open my eyes. We are in the gazebo,<laugh> in the gazebo. Sorry. Oh my gosh. Now Heather, I wish I could tell you that I started jumping up and down and whatever. I actually got scared<laugh>. It was so, wow. It was such clear evidence to me that he was somehow understanding what I was thinking. Yeah. That I actually for a little bit got like, ooh, like this is so strange. Like this is really weird. But then that didn't last too long. Luckily I just started thinking this whole, this totally shifted my world because I've had, I've had other, other episodes which I could tell you about that told me that there was definitely communication between species, between myself and other horses, for example. And, and, and Spotsy as well, but in other ways. But this was like so clear, the fact that a horse went into the building, like<laugh>, like that was so Yeah, exactly. Arling to me. Wow. That it totally shifted my world. So when I went to work, then the next time I went to work, a day later, whatever, at the profession I had, everything was treated as life or death. Like if you, if the compu, you know, if there was a problem with the computer system, they treated as if it was like somebody could lose their life over it. Like, it was so serious. Like everything was so serious cuz lots of money was involved. This is a financial, right. No financial company. I couldn't take it that seriously anymore.<laugh>. I, I used to think to myself, now I, I did not say this out loud, but in my head I would think, Hey, you guys don't understand my horse and I were talking. So I kept this to myself. But I used to look at these, these guys, and I worked mostly with men in this industry. This was years ago. And I used to think, oh, this is what you're playing around with is not so important. This what I'm thinking about is really important<laugh>. And it wa it was really a big shift for me. So what happened was, and I don't think it was a coincidence, it was also around this time that I discovered the Feldon Christ method. Oh, okay. Yes, yes. So then I discovered the Feldon Christ method, and from the moment I went to this practitioner, he was right in Princeton at the time, wonderful practitioner named Lawrence Phillips. He started working with me, and I felt so different in myself, like in my body. Like I just felt different. I couldn't tell you what he was doing, why he was doing it, but I felt different. And that, that by the way, is the key that we help the horses with. We allow them to feel differently than their usual habits. Mm-hmm. So I knew right away, like, I have to bring this to the, to the animals. I have to bring this to the animals. So between my horse basically talking to me, you know, and me talking to my horse and discovering this amazing transformative work of the Felton Christ method, I realized it was time for me to change my, my profession. And I, again, I was living on the East coast at the time, and I saw that there was going to be a Feldon craft, a four year Feldon Christ training in San Diego that was run by, uh, Mark Reese, who he was someone that I was, you know, reading every, all the articles he wrote, he was one of the founder of the Feldon Christ Method. He was one of his original students. Oh wow, okay. Yeah. He was really, really well respected. So I wanted to study with him and, Hey, San Diego, not a bad place to live. Right. So, yeah. Yeah. No. So unfortunately Mark has since passed away. But, but, um, he was a wonderful teacher. So, so, you know, I made, you know, I, I didn't do this in one day, but I very quickly actually made a, a, a big life changing decision to leave my career, which I had been doing that work for 10 years. And I left that and decided to go all in with working with the horses and the dogs, et cetera. And I was already studying other alternative methods too, like massage and acu pressure and, you know, even energy work, different things. So I had, yeah. I started doing, you know, working with animals right away.
Speaker 3:Cool.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And so what, so basically, so spy and I, you know, moved to San Diego and we've been here ever, well, he passed away a number of years ago, but, um, I've been here ever since and it's been amazing.
Speaker 3:Wow. Yeah. And like you didn't know anybody except that you wanted to do this course.
Speaker 4:Exactly. And that was<laugh> and, you know, when I think about that, that was a tremendous leap of faith.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I
Speaker 4:Didn't know anybody here. And I, and I, so, and I had not only myself to provide for, but, you know, tuition to pay for and most importantly my horse to provide for.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:So, you know, I did have some savings, but I jumped in again to saying, I am going to help animals and I'm going to make it work. And I did. I did. I'm, I'm actually, when I think back on it, you know, proud of myself really for being able to do that, to make, I started right away making a, a decent living doing this, you know, working with animals because I, I didn't have a plan B, there was no going back. Like I knew I wanted to do this, I wanted to do the four year Feldon Christ training, take this work to animals. And so there was no going back. And I had brought my horse 3000 miles away, you know? Right. So, yeah, you can't just turn around<laugh>,
Speaker 3:It's, no, it's, you can't just turn around. No, honestly.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So I'm very, very happy. And then bonus, I met my husband in the Feldon Christ training, so
Speaker 3:Wow.<laugh>. Okay. Another confirmation.
Speaker 4:Another confirmation. Yes, yes, yes. So it was all there.
Speaker 3:Now where were, so he was already in San Diego, or where was he?
Speaker 4:He actually, no, he actually was in, um, the Phoenix area, Arizona.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay. Well then, and he
Speaker 4:Was coming out for the, yeah, so he was, yeah,<laugh>. But then, and then of course, you know, um, then he even obviously eventually moved to San Diego as well. So, but that's where he was from Arizona. Oh, neat,
Speaker 3:Neat. So yeah, you had more than one reason why you had to take that course.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, yes. But I mean, there was no, once I made up my mind, uh, I was, I was committed to it, committed to that path, I guess you could say.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So how long were you doing Feldon Christ in New Jersey before all that hit? Um,
Speaker 4:So I made the decision after just a few months of doing Feldon Christ.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah. But I knew from the first session that I was going to do it. But then, you know, it took a little time, you know, getting everything organized and, you know, yeah. Saying, okay, I'm really gonna do this and let's, let's see, you know, apply to the Feldon Christ training and all the different logistics. Yeah. It was a few, it was definitely a few months.
Speaker 3:Cool, cool, cool. And was there anybody trying to stop you? You know,
Speaker 4:Surprisingly, no. Cuz I think about that now and I think, yeah, my parents didn't say anything about it, or my sisters or my friends or anything. It, it's funny. They're like, oh wow, that's a big change. But nobody was like, oh my gosh, what are you doing? You know, as a matter of fact, a lot of people, uh, expressed some admiration, like, oh wow, you made a, a huge shift in your life. You know? So it
Speaker 3:Probably didn't surprise your parents.
Speaker 4:Probably not, probably not
Speaker 3:<laugh> Yeah. From the biomechanic kid who wanted to help animals. So they were like, finally she's on her path.
Speaker 4:That's right. That's right. Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So were they still on the East Coast? Where was, where did you grow up?
Speaker 4:Yes. Yeah, so I, so yeah, my parents stayed on the East coast. They've both passed away. Now. My dad was actually a big horse guy. Um, we were, we did the dogs together and then we both got into, I always say I got him into horses cuz I was born wanting horses and Right. And, uh, he, he was an adult when, when he made that, made that decision and got really, really into horses. So that was something that we shared a lot, was our love of animal, all, all kinds of animals, but especially horses and dogs. So, yes. So yeah, they stayed, they lived their whole lives. Well, they're actually both immigrants. My mother from Ireland, my father from Malta, but, uh, they lived for many, many decades in New York. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay. So yeah, you totally flipped the boat going to the west coast.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes.<laugh> I did. Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Oh, you don't know how many people out. I'm like, quit your job. Go be you<laugh> Now I don't do that anymore. But I was intense with it after I quit my job, I was like, everybody needs this freedom and loving what they do. Like go, go. Do
Speaker 4:You know, we're, we're, we're very fortunate, Heather, that we, that we did do that. You know, and I understand why people, you know, obviously need to prepare for it, make sure that they're provided for and all that kind of stuff. Make sure they have a good base. But it is an what you said, like the freedom is just amazing. And the, I found like living with that level of passion, I didn't want to compromise that ever again.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You know, I did.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that is a powerful word because passion will take you through, through everything, I think.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:Not always easy if you've never been an entrepreneur or it's not always easy if you're the breadwinner or Right, right. Whatever the case may be. But that word passion, you, you nailed it actually. Because it's, um, if you're doing something you love, the passion's just there. Like you don't have to look for it.<laugh>. Right. It's right there.
Speaker 4:It's right there. And I think the fact that, like in my case, I always knew I wanted to do something where I'm helping animals movement. And the other part, the funny part is too, Heather, this is I thought was, it's kind of interesting even as a young kid. So when I had the biomechanics books for horses and dogs and I also was pulling down in the library, for example, the physical therapy books for humans. Cuz back then they didn't have physical therapy books for horses or dogs. Like that wasn't a thing. Right. Like there was no like, rehab or anything for horses. And so I would put all the books on the table, the horses, the dogs, you know, like health and ca you know, and and movement and all that. And then the human ones. And I always thought, I have to find a way to put this all together. And that's why I feel that this totally fulfilled that like the way I work, because I work with both the Yeah. Horse and the human and I improve, help them both improve. Yeah. It's like, it, it's satisfied that yearning I had since I was a kid and Yeah. And so how many of us have these yearnings, it may not be the same as mine, but they have other yearnings and it's like, I feel for people who don't fulfill that, cuz it, it, it must be a little more difficult for them. Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well I, yeah, I I totally get, it's, um, it is curious how we know as a kid what we wanna be and do. Um, I, I joked that I wanted to be BJ and the bear, the trucker. Oh,
Speaker 4:<laugh>. I
Speaker 3:Wanted to be a, I wanted to be a detective of a police station. I wanted to be a vet. And, uh, yeah. So I put those three together and I have what I do.<laugh>.
Speaker 4:Isn't that great? I love it.
Speaker 3:I love it. So it doesn't always look like what Yes. The title is. Um, and and like you, you were like, well how does this human and, and when you think about it, every being who's a mammal has fascia, every being who's a mammal has muscles and tendons. And so biomechanically we are shaped differently, but we all have the desire to move at ease instead of it. Yes. Makes sense that the, uh, the felt in Christ world just kinda popped in your head. So I'm gonna shift gears a little bit. Uh, you've mentioned a few words and I'm not sure where the listeners have picked up on it, but hopefully by this point in the podcast, if they've listened for a while, they have picked up on the words. But can you tell us how intuition comes to you?
Speaker 4:Oh, yes. Well, actually I would say it comes in two different ways. So it comes through a sensation of like, warmth in my heart area. That's kind of like how I know, and I'll explain that cuz I think that's something that I actually teach this in my classes because I feel like something that, that anyone can develop mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And it's really, really helpful because it, it can help guide not only you, but how you help your animals. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> the other way is it comes through these crazy, incredibly wonderful dreams. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> really, really wonderful. Um, usually prophetic dreams that I've had ever since I was a kid. Okay. So I would love to tell you about that. Can I tell you first about the heart warmth area? Sure, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Because this came to, this was, this was another one of those moments that was def life defining for me. Like a, like a spiritual experience. Okay. I was working with this dog. So this gentleman brought this dog to me. He was 11 and a half year, 11 year old, uh, Australian Shepherd named Rocky. And Rocky was losing all ability to use his hin legs. So he was dragging his hin legs and of course he had taken him to the vet and done all these things and they said there's nothing they could do for him. So someone told this gentleman about my work, he made an appointment. So Rocky comes to my office and this dog, by the way, oh, he was just the most beautiful dog, wonderful dog. He lays down on my mat, you know, I had a special dog area and I start working with him and Heather, I was just overcome with gratitude. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, I can't explain, like, I'm always grateful, I think because I didn't always have this profession, even though I've been doing it for more than 30 years. I am always just so grateful that I have this incredible honor and opportunity to connect with, with someone an, a dog, a horse, a human. And I'm so grateful for it. So as I put my hands on this dog and I, I remember exactly what I was doing. It's something I call a lumbar lift. It's, I, I teach this in my programs, but as I did it, I was just overcome with a sense of gratitude. And when I did that, I felt that and was doing this move for this dog, which is very relieving for the dog. In other words, it takes the, the strain out of the back in a very gentle way. I had this incredible feeling that my heart felt, it was like on fire in the best possible way. Like this incredible amount of energy was emanating from my heart. I had never experienced anything like that before. It was, it was amazing. It was like this most incredibly blissful experience. Wow. And in that moment I could feel what Rocky was feeling. And what I realized was, I was like, so for example, if I turn my fingers a little bit this way, the feeling in my my heart area would either increase or decrease. So in other words, depending on what I was doing, it would, this heart warmth area, I'm gonna, this heart warmth I'll call it, would either get stronger or weaker. So it was my barometer for oh yes, how I could help this dog. And it was just amazing. So yes, I did like all the technical feld andris strategy. So I used rollers, I used something called artificial floor. Like I did all the stuff that I can explain to you in neuroscience terms. Okay. I can explain to you why that stuff works. But here's the thing. I feel that that work, that session was so valuable for Rocket, cuz I'll tell you what happened because I combined this feeling of loving energy with the technical neuroscience aspects of the work. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> with this idea of neuroplasticity. So what happened with Rocky? So, so I do this session, he stands up, he's suddenly able to balance on all four legs. I do a little work with him in standing, his, his person was completely dumbstruck and we start walking around the office together, like as if nothing's wrong with him. It was really amazing. And again, Heather, I can explain that to you Nur in neuroscience terms why it worked. Yes. The technical strategies I used, they were, they were spot on. They were, you know, good mm-hmm<affirmative>, but I feel that I turbocharged right. I created like a synergistic effect by combining this loving energy from the, that comes from gratitude, right? Yeah. With that work. And I realized from that moment on, I realized I have to teach, I have to include the gratitude portion. This idea of creating that level of connection to my student. I have to teach that to my students as part of this work. Cuz I think on some level I was doing it just because I do it. I'm so grateful for working in the way I do. But I real that rocky helped me feel that, oh, this is something that's can dramatically improve outcomes for animals. Not to mention it feels really good. Yeah. Right. So it was a win-win. Yeah. And I realized then I could do it. I could produce maybe not as dramatic, I will say this, I never had quite the dramatic<laugh>. I think the universe was giving me like a big signal. Yeah.
Speaker 3:There's an exclamation point on this.
Speaker 4:That one. Yes. Yeah. Maybe three explanation points on that one<laugh>. And then after that, but still I was able to generate that feeling. And again, it comes from this, this idea of connecting with a state of gratitude. So like kind of opening the communication channels through gratitude. Hmm. And I, I have to say that was that that again was one of those life-changing moments. It's like, okay, this is necessary. Like this is really important to help the animals and to help the humans. Yeah. So that was that one. But, um, yeah, so, so with the dreams, can I share a dream? Yeah, yeah, sure. Absolutely. I have like a million, but I'll, I'll try to control myself here.<laugh>, we might have
Speaker 3:To do another podcast Maria thing.
Speaker 4:Yes. Oh, that for sure. That would be, that would be awesome.
Speaker 3:We'll leave them waiting for more<laugh>.
Speaker 4:But so, um, so one day, a long time ago, cause I remember when it was, I was actually up at a Feldon cra conference up in Berkeley, California. And this is 1994, to be exact, except I woke up from a dream. I was like, oh, that was an interesting dream. I had, I had this dream that this beautiful horse, beautiful chestnut mare, she had a long, you know, beautiful forelock flowing main, compact little body. And the owner was there looking very upset. And three different vets came in in the dream saying that this horse will never be sound. That this horse will never recover. And in the dream I saw a radiograph of her front of her left front leg and it actually showed this. And it was very clearly I could see the suspensory ligament calcified in the radiograph. So this is the background of the dream. And then in the dream, I walk onto the scene and I say, oh, don't worry, I'm going to do Feld in Christ with her and she'll be fine. And five minutes later the horse was sound<laugh>. Obviously I have a very high opinion of myself in my dreams<laugh>. So I thought, well that's a strange dream, but okay. And, but it felt important. So I get up, you know, have a cup of tea. I'm listening to my voicemails and there's a voicemail from a woman who I had never had any interaction with, ever, never heard her name before. Her name was Jan. And she's very upset on the phone. She leaves me a voicemail saying that a number of people had told her to call me. She's very upset because her mayor named sweetie was diagnosed with this, um, chronic suspensory ligament injury. And three different vets have told her that the horse will never be sound. That she has calcification on the ligament. That if she hasn't, it's been nine or 10 months since she had injured it, there was no evidence of any healing taking place. And she just needed to retire the horse. And this horse will never be recover. And as kind of a last ditch effort, people told her to call me. So when I called Jan back, I said to her, I didn't wanna explain the dream because I I didn't know her, you know<laugh>. Yeah. But I just said, don't worry, I think I can help her. And I did. Oh, how good. And I did. And that horse who was only 10 years old at the time, went on to now it didn't take just five minutes, I'll be be honest about that. But within one session she had a dramatic difference. And, and I'll just quickly, for, for people's sake tell you the, the punchline, so to speak. What the horse was doing was she was weightbearing heavier on the injured leg when she was standing still. And I see this often, even though when she was trotting, she was off. Like, in other words, she was unloading the leg at the trot, but when she was walking and especially when she was standing, she was loading it. That usually comes from a habit. So in other words, that the horse had a habit of loading that li that whole side more than the other. Nobody else had picked up on that. Cuz the stuff, you know how the feld in crisis can be very subtle. Yeah. It detects subclinical things.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So I helped the horse realize that she could bear her weight evenly and to stop straining the injured leg. And sure enough, with within a pretty short period of time, she went completely sound. What the interesting thing was, the reason the horse had such a strong habit around that was because five years earlier she had injured the right front,
Speaker 3:The other leg.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes. And it was in an emotional situation. So she had a very strong attachment to that. Yeah. And that's what came through, you know, and so that's I, but, but interesting. Right, because I had never known this horse before. Never knew the woman before. By the way, Jan and I went on to become very, very dear friends.
Speaker 3:<laugh>, I'm sure you very,
Speaker 4:Very dear friends. Yes. And I helped her and her dogs. And I mean, wow. It, it was just yeah. A remarkable friendship. Yeah. So, so that's one of the ways, and I have so many other examples of dreams like that where I'm given information about a horse before I even have met the horse. Oh. Which is kind of, kind of fun.
Speaker 3:Kind of fun. Well, yeah. And as I asked your question, I had picked up on words that you used and one of the words you used as you were telling us about yourself was, I just knew. And so I'm also gonna maybe put on your radar that you're one of my knowers.<laugh>.
Speaker 4:Okay. Thank you for saying that. I didn't even, yeah. I didn't realize
Speaker 3:<laugh>. Well, and it's interesting cuz I find my beers and my knowers when I'm talking about intuition with clients, they're the ones who don't recognize that that's a form of intuition.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:Or, or they don't put it on a pedestal of like, yeah, it's still a gift. They're like, well that's not as fun as being a seer or somebody who hears it or feels it. And I was like, no, no, no. Don't, you don't understand<laugh>, what do you think Buddhas what do you think? Like the people who sit for hours and are the wise ones that people go visit. What do you think Thess are? They're nos, they're beers,<laugh>. Oh, people. That's such a, right.
Speaker 4:Yes. That's such a good point Heather. And you know what's really interesting? And I'm, maybe this'll help somebody that's listening. I used to kind of keep this a secret. Like, in other words, okay, so this horse that I just told you about, sweet p and Jan, cuz I, I have her story actually on my blog. When I first wrote about it, I did not mention the dream. I just was very clinical. Like this is what happened. You know, I came, I worked with this horse, yada, yada, yada. And this is, and and it was all about neuroplasticity and how I helped rewire the horse's nervous system because she had this habit and now she doesn't have that habit anymore and she healed and all that stuff. I was always worried that if I talked about, oh, I had a dream first, right? Mm-hmm.<affirmative> that it would somehow diminish the validity of my work.
Speaker 3:And you're not alone
Speaker 4:<laugh>. And that, that's what I real, and that's why I wanted to share that belief that I had. Because I think a lot of people there probably are, like you said, other people feeling that way, that they feel that they won't be taken seriously if they also talk about this intuition. And the other thing is I also call, um, I use a term informed intuition. And I didn't come up with that term actually. Dr. Moche Feld Christ, the man who developed the Feldon Christ method talked about that. Oh, okay. And I love that term because the way I understand it, it's if you have knowledge and interest in a particular area, you are more likely to be unconsciously taking in data, like taking in information about that even on an unconscious level. So you get like a gut feeling about something. Or you have, you know, some kind of what you would maybe think is an intuitive hit because you're not consciously taking in the information, but your brain is like, your mind is like looking for it. You're filtering for your, you're, you know, filtering for that to capture that information, but you're not doing it consciously. So, so it's informed intuition. It's not intuition about full disclosure, I don't do much baking. I don't know about you, but like<laugh> I'm thinking like, right. Like, okay, so, so if, if there was something about bakings, maybe a conversation someone was having or whatever, I don't think my brain would be like looking for that information,
Speaker 3:Right?
Speaker 4:Because it's not an area that I'm particularly interested in or have much knowledge of. But if somebody across away is talking about horses, you know, my, you know, my senses are going to be attuned to that. Yeah. So that's another thing I think that's really important is to think about this, and I talk about this in my programs with my students. It's like, pay attention to those feelings that you, when you just quote unquote get a feeling or this seems right because it's probably informed intuition. And that seems to help people have like a way to process those, those feelings that they get, like to understand them. I should say that there's a reason you're feeling that you're taking in information even though you don't realize it through all your senses. Right? So, so that's a term, a term I like to use as well.
Speaker 3:Wow. And thank you for sharing that cuz that hadn't crossed my radar in my like dabbling in the felden Christ world as a, as a person who's done the treatments or had received the treatments or experienced the experience. Yes. Um, but that makes so much sense. That's gonna be a new way to receive intuition, people. Yes,
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:Beautiful. Thank you so much for today. Like, it has been such a pleasure spending this time with you. I'm pretty certain we're gonna have to do this again,<laugh>.
Speaker 4:I would love it. And Heather, thank you too many, so much. I, so I love talking with you and I love sharing this. It's just so fun and I hope it allows more people to tap into either their informed intuition or this whole idea of bringing themselves into a state of gratitude and opening up that channel of communication between them and, and, and the universe basically. So
Speaker 3:Yeah. And their animals, their people. Absolutely. Like everything's connected. All right. Well, until next time, Mary is doing
Speaker 4:Great. Thank you so much, Heather. Thank you everyone. Thank
Speaker 3:You.
Speaker 4:Look forward to talking to you again. Bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for giving us your time today. We truly appreciate our guests for sharing their stories and insights about how intuition has impacted their lives. And I'm so grateful for Peter Trainor for his time in giving me this original music. It's now your turn. It's your turn to listen and act on your own intuition and help make the world a better place. Until next time, keep seeing, being, knowing, and doing. If you like this podcast, please share it. If you want to find others like it, go to www dot healing vitality ca or wherever you would find your podcasts. We would love to have you join us on this journey. Come be a crow sitting in the tree, be part of our community.