ANIMALCONNECTION AND COMMUNICATION QUICK TIP

If you and your animals work with me, especially performance animals I'm sure you have heard me talk about using acknowledgment as an instant energy shifter.

I started making acknowledgment of an animals experience an important part of the conversations in all my sessions a few years back. It was after a very interesting conversation with a barrel racing horse and trainer. The two had been in a warm up pen and the horse was giving some clear signs saying I'm done and the trainer was not having that sass and pushed on. Many of us have been there. The horse hit the brake point, had a melt down, and thankfully no one was hurt. When I came in to chat with the horse about what was up her biggest issue was that she was very uncomfortable in the situation and felt the rider wasn't acknowledging that. #lightbulb

As I started to begin all my conversations with an acknowledgment of where the animals were coming from I would feel immediate shifts in the energy of the animal. This shift was positive, opening, and made him/her more receptive to any information or positive training technique that followed.

So how does this help you?

Think of acknowledgment as and in-the-moment tool you canuse to shift the energy of the experience you are having with your animal companion. If your companion is losing focus in a training session, paying too much attention to other animals, etc. You can stop address whats up and say. " I see your attentions is focused over there, but I need you for x amount of min." "I see that is upsetting you making you anxious, (more to come about fear and anxiousness next month) I need you to know we are ok and tell him or her where to put her focus. don't make this more complicated than it needs to be, just a simple acknowledgement of what you see happening from the animals perspective.

DO YOU KNOW HOW YOUR THOUGHTS ARE IMPACT YOUR EQUINE ATHLETE?

One of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal for shaping the working relationship you share with your equine athlete is your thoughts. Most of us go through the motions of training, relating, and working with our equine athletes without giving much thought to monitoring our thought patterns. This is a mistake because the thoughts you think during everyday interactions with your athlete is where achievement of relationship and performance goals is conceived.

Amber Manley & Doc | Behind The Ally

The Facts:

All physical reality is made up of vibrations of energy. 

Every thought you think every word you say sends out its own energetic expression effecting physical reality. 

Your animal companion is highly sensitive to energy.





Because animals are highly sensitive to energy your equine athlete feels you before s/he sees or hears you. What I mean by this is that when you are communicating with your horse s/he receives the message you are sending energetically before s/he receives the information visually or audibly. Basically, no matter what you say or do, your thoughts dominate the communications your horse is receives from you.  So how can you harness your MindPower to impact the relationship and performance you want to experience with your teammate?

GET MINDFUL

Mindfulness is an integral part of  your MindPower and it takes some practice because most of the thoughts we think are re-active patterns or habits of our mind.  Mindfulness requires you to be in a place of high-noticing when it comes to your thoughts. When from a place of high-noticing you become aware an old thought pattern that does not support the type of relationship or performance you want to create with your equine athlete, you have an opportunity to shift that thought and align it with the experience you want to co-create with your equine athlete.

For example; When in a training session something goes wrong most peoples first reaction is. Why? This would be a pattern of thinking or habitual response that sparks the counterproductive search into the question, "Why is this happening" Please do not think that uncovering why your companion exhibits a particular behavior is unimportant, because it is. Helping people uncover the motivation behind their animal companion’s behavior is an essential part of my work as an Intuitive Animal Communicator, but in that moment its far more productive to get mindful. 

How you do that is allow your self to activate high-noticing, this means becoming acutely aware of your current thoughts. Are you feeling flustered, angry, embarrassed, disrespected, what is your current reactive thought pattern in the moment? (For those of you familiar with my in-the-moment message seining technique from my book Beyond Companionship this is process is a part of the acknowledgment step, getting clear about exactly whats happening in the present moment.) Once you be come aware of your current thought pattern you can shift those thoughts from reactive to co-acitve and that's mindfulness. By shifting your thoughts back into alignment with the experience you are trying to create for you and your equine athlete s/he is going to be receiving clear, unclouded information giving you greater ease and acceptance while working together. Once your thoughts are in alignment with the experience you want to have, combine verbal communication with positive reinforcement training techniques to support your equine athlete throughout the rest of your learning/working time together.

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Bonus mindful tips for those of you committed to being a more conscious companion to your equine athlete.

Intention/Affirmation - Positive affirmations are a great energy shifting tool. What's your intention for the work you share with your equine athlete? How do you want the time you share with your equine athlete to feel? Answer these questions and develop an affirmation that can be recited in the moment to remind you of your purpose and help you shift from re-active to co-active.

Activate Heart-Space - You can activate your heart space by bringing your attention to your heart center, thinking of something you love a joyful memory, family member, or beloved pet can help you do this. Animal companions hold the space of unconditional love in our lives. Your pets true essence resonates with the vibration of love, so when you pause and drop into your heart-space in the presence of your animal companion you are literally tuning into his or her wave length. Once you have connected on this level any interaction that follows is going to feel more connected, communicative, and co-creative. 


If you want to explore mindfulness your personal connection with your equine athlete more in-depth I invite you to book an intuitive communication session. 

Mention this blog at the beginning of your equine athlete's communication session in the month of August and get a bonus 10 minute MindPower Analysis exploring your current thought patterns and how you can shift into MindPower and positively impact relationship and performance. 

BOOK MY SESSION NOW! 

2 SIMPLE STEPS TO CONNECT WITH YOUR PET

Throughout my book Beyond Companionship: Connecting with Kindred Souls of Animal Companions, you will see Pause & Connect Points.   I did this for two reasons; I wanted to give you an opportunity to apply what you are reading about to the relationship you share with your pet(s), and because I know what a profound impact pausing to connect with the animals in your life has on the relationship you share with him/her. 

Taking the time to pause and connect is especially important in working and learning situations when you need to communicate information to your pet.  How clearly can you communicate what you need to your pet if you don't take a moment (pause) to get connected? Communicating does not have mean exchanging information by talking to your pet and hearing his or her response the way I do in one of my intuitive communication session. Communication as an exchange of information. You and your animal friends are always exchanging information, sometimes it is verbal, other times you  communicate through body language and your energy is always broadcasting messages to your animal friends, human friends too! If you are an equestrian you will communicate through leg pressure, and equipment like reigns, and bits. No matter how the information is being exchanged, communication with your animal companion will be crystal clear if you pause and connect first. 



Here are my two simple actions to help you pause and get connect with your animal friend. I recommend doing this before any time spent with your 4-legged companion.
1. Pause - Stop and take a deep breath.

2. Connect - Drop into your heart-space. You can activate your heart space by bringing your attention to your heart center, thinking of something you love a joyful memory, family member, or beloved pet can help you do this.

Animal companions hold the space of unconditional love in our lives. Your pets true essence resonates with the vibration of love, so when you pause and drop into your heart-space in the presence of your animal companion you are literally tuning into his or her wave length. Once you have connected on this level any interaction that follows is going to feel more connected, communicative, and co-creative. 

*If you are interested in further connecting and communicating with your companion sign up for my weekly sentiments from the animals we share our lives with and get a copy of my Quick-Start Guide to  Conscious Companionship with Animal Companions*

GET MY QUICK START GUIDE TO CONSCIOUS COMPANIONSHIP

ALERT STAGES: UNDERSTANDING YOUR ANIMALS FIGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSE

In my communication sessions I will sometimes talk to a client about theiranimal companion's sensory experience. I do this to help them become aware that while they are sharing an experience with their companion, their experience is not the same as their companions due to the advanced capability of his or her senses. For example; a horse can hear sounds up to 4km away. If you are trial riding with your horse, he or she could easily experience and react to a sound that you can not hear. 


 When speaking of you animals experience and their level of reaction to the experience during an intuitive communication session I like to explain it as three stages or levels of alert. 
 

YELLOW ALERT: Yellow alert is as close to your companions normals state of being. At this level your companion may be experiencing minor stress, and is able to connect with you and engage in activities.

ORANGE ALERT: Your companion moves from yellow to orange alert when additional stressors are added to their experience. For example: your companion is interacting with you in a crowded show ring and they are in yellow alert and mostly comfortable. Then loud music begins playing and your companion is sensitive to loud noises, the added stress puts your animal in a higher alert state. At this stage your animal is still able to connect with you but much less focused and may appear agitated.

RED ALERT:  This is the last level of alert before your animal companions flight or fight response is triggered. When your companion is in red alert you will see extreme stress signs anxiety even aggressive behaviors. In red alert the question is not will your animal's flight or fight response be triggered but when.  

It is important to be aware of your companion moving through these stage of alertness because you want to be able to give him or her information via in-the-moment-message-sending, a technique outlined in previous newsletters as well as in my book, Beyond Companionship. You may also want to employ a positive training tool or technique before the flight or fight instinctual response is triggered. The higher up the level of alert your animal is experiencing less effective any method of connecting you try will be.  Once the flight or flight switch has been flipped on your animal is only reacting and will not be able to connect with you in a conscious or controlled way until the adrenaline has moved through his or her system and s/he has calmed down.
 

It is important to be consciously aware of these different levels of alert, and what is feels like in the for both you and your companion as s/he moves through them. Use your awareness of these different stages going forward as a tool to improve your level of connectivity.  The hustle and bustle of the holidays is often stressful for companion animals and will be a perfect time to practice awareness of your companions level of alertness. 

I would love to answer any questions you have, leave them below in the comments and I will respond as soon as possible. 

Acknowledgment: An Instant Energy Shifter for the Conscious Companion. 

Early in my career as an Intuitive Animal Communicator I made acknowledging the experience of the animal a central part of my communication sessions. When I prefaced the messages and information I was sending to an animal with an acknowledgement of his or her current experience, I would instantly whiteness a notable change in the level of receptiveness and responsiveness from the animal.  I could actually feel an opening in the animals chakras particularity the heart, throat and solar plexus chakras. If your not sure  what I mean by that, equate it to feeling like a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders. Moved by these heartfelt interactions sprung from acknowledgment, I began to coach clients in the conscious act of acknowledging their companions experience as a common practice.   

Not only does this practice deepen your level of connectivity enriching the relationship you share with your animal companion, it instantly shifts the energy of any interaction by opening a channel for understanding, ease, and empathetic responses to flow between you and your companion. The simplicity of the act of acknowledgment makes it easy for you to do yourself in-the-moment, helping you manage your companions understanding, stress level, anxiety, focus, and workability in a training situation. 

To acknowledge your companions experience you must first bring yourself fully into the present moment and become aware of his or her experience.  Engaging your senses including your intuition or sixth sense can help you shift your awareness to the present moment.  Going through a short check list of what your companion is seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and even being aware of any impressions or thoughts that are popping into your mind, will help clue you into what your companions current experience is.

Once you are aware of your companions experience its time to send your message of acknowledgment. I tell my clients to verbalize their acknowledgment. In my experience people new to acknowledging their companion in this conscious way feel more confident about their animal receiving the acknowledgment when it is said out loud. I believe this is because spoken words have an intentional and affirming quality about them. 

Now that you have instantly shifted the energy of your interaction with your companion by acknowledging to the best of your ability his or her experience, this would be the perfect time to employ in-the-moment-message sending, positive training techniques, or a combination of both. When you follow an instant energy shift with information or positive training techniques, you are giving your animal companion what s/he needs to begin working in collaboration with you co-creating the kind of experience you want to have with him or her.  

Acknowledgment Examples:
-I can tell this is one of your favorite things to do.
-I see your feeling anxious.
-I know the vet makes you uncomfortable. (In-the-moment-message-following, if you are paitent and calm this won't take long.)
-I see your effort, thank you.
-I am aware that you are physically not feeling well. (In-the-moment-message-following, Your health and well-being are a priority to me. I am going to do all I can to get you better.)
-You are paying a lot of attention to that other animal. I see s/he is making you anxious. (In-the-moment-message-following, I need you to give me your focus and attention for X amount of time.)

Leave your questions in the comments, I am happy to support you on your journey to a more conscious way of being with your animal friends!