Talking to Animals Taught Me an Unexpected Lesson About Myself

All it took was a rental Hyundai and some mountain roads in Puerto Rico

My husband and I recently spent a week in Puerto Rico, staying at an amazing eco lodge in the mountains. It was truly paradise, until it came time to drive.

We favor smaller nimble cars, and we got a Hyundai Tucson, beast of an SUV. Driving in Puerto Rico is stressful, and Mark said he would drive the whole trip. We would jump in the car to go to an amazing beach, then getting there we were careening through skinny, windy and unfamiliar roads. You never knew if there would be a horse or a driver parked on the wrong side of the road facing the wrong direction after a blind turn. The navigation would send us down tiny gravel roads. Stressful is putting it mildly.

I was doing my best to navigate and I could sense Mark getting frustrated. Then I would get anxious because I didn't know how to help. You've been here. You both wind up feeling like you're going to explode.

Then I remembered something. I took a deep breath, held it a few seconds, slowly let it out. Eyes open, no drama, just breath. I found my center. Mark became calmer.

I didn't learn that from yoga or my therapist. I learned it as the basics of animal communication.

You simply cannot communicate with an animal from a state of tension or a busy mind. To hear an animal you have to quiet your mind, check in with your body, notice what's there. Is there tension? Is your mind racing? The technique is called energy management, and I've used it enough times now to have solid connections with various animals across species.

When I communicate with an animal I have to clear my mind enough to hear them. I spoke with Shadow the cat who lived at the lodge, I heard “I hear your have some cheese.” I spoke with Carmelo the cat who told me, “I am the protector here.” Allegria the horse told me that the goat she shares a pasture with is annoying.

What I didn't expect was how often I'd reach for it outside of my practice with animals.

When things at the airport were insane and the security line was half a mile long , a few calming breaths, find my center. When my back started screaming at me halfway through a four hour flight, I closed my eyes and tried the bubble technique: imagine a bubble around you, expand it slowly until it encloses your area, your town, your country, the world, then breathe and bring it back in. It sounds strange. It works by bringing you back to yourself.

What I've learned is that you can do more than speak to animals when you are in a calm state. Your muscles relax. You make better decisions. You stop taking everything so seriously.

Managing your energy, consciously checking in with your inner state, evaluating it, correcting it, is life changing. And once you feel calm and centered, see if you can sense the energy of your pet.

You just might surprise yourself with what you hear, see, sense or feel.