One of my professsional mentoring students asked me a question about counseling animals and I thought it would be helpful for you to know what I told her about this issue. She decided to try doing some counseling with a rescue dog who was fearful of all kinds of normal things like boxes and dark rooms. She followed her intuition and just told the dog whatever she could think of to help him calm down, feel more secure. She talked about his new people and how save and protective they were for him. She talked about the various situations he was afraid of and why he didn’t have to be afraid. She also did energy healing for him and some manifesting. The owner informed her that immediately after the session the dog came into the office, a room he had been afraid to go in,  and sat with her, which was very unusual for him. The questions my student posed were whether this works every time and what else she could or should have done.
Couseling is a great thing to try; it can’t hurt and might help, but it isn’t assured to work every time. The way I work with animals when counseling is to talk with them as if I am addressing a best friend. I give as much good advice and go into as much detail as I can and and I make it personal , i.e., I talk about how I have overcome similar difficulties. I show them my vision of a better outcome for them and explain how to manifest. I send love and healing energy to the situation and to them. I will do this as often as I feel able and as I feel the want or need it. Try it for an animal you know who has some challenge or who is in a bad situation and see what happens.
Stupid Pet Trick – YAY!
Don’t you just love this lady and the dog… too cute! (Might take a minute to show up….)
Orcas in Captivity
In reading about this incident I see that the tradgedy is all about the trainer being killed… yes that is a tradgedy… and nothing about the tradgedy of taking an animal from the wild ocean, putting him in a bathtub for the rest of his life, making him do tricks, (no doubt also making fun of him or speaking disparagingly), and then expecting this intelligent wild being to act like a docile pet. This incident is no different from elephants killing trainers or breaking loose in utter desperation and going on a ramage. Odds are this Orca and those elephants are hoping someone will kill them so they don’t have to endure the hideous lifestyle of slavery in a circus show anymore. Make no mistake… seaworlds are just stationary circuses. I hate all of them and can’t go there. If I do go it is with the knowledge that I will be doing emotional triage. Might there be a few who are happy with that life? Maybe… if they have a really good person who loves them taking care of them, and if that person doesn’t get fired for being too nice,  or if the animals were born in captivity and know nothing else, and the place actually tries to accomodate their species’ needs. But how in heck can you really do that for an an orca …. No really it is too much. Zoos and aquariums need to go as far as I am concerned, except those that are doing endangered species breeding and preservation (providing that in the process they are not wiping out the wild population they are trying to save LOL… another story). What can we do about all this and for the orca? I dont think at this point that release would be an option since he has been captive for so long. You can, however, talk to him from a distance and tell him how you feel about the situation. Do counseling as described above. Manifest for the best outcome. Do what you can to help him or any animal in a bad situation. You can also work to reform and or close zoos. Google and you will find lots of groups you can join. What are your thoughts on this incident? Have I missed something?
Understanding Neuroscience through Cats
This is too cool. Click on the url below to view
http://hug-machine.livejournal.com/66293.html
Enjoy life!
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I don’t think you have missed anything at all Marta and I totally agree and have said the same thing for years about the SeaWorlds and Circus’s. I can not attend either… these beautiful creatures were not put here to be captives and amuse us humans. Makes me very sad. The trainer being killed is a tragedy; however she put herself in that situation and with that particular Orca it sounds like it was bound to happen.
Can you explain what you mean about manifesting for animals as part of counseling? I’m not sure what that means. Thanks.
I saw the movie “The Cove” last night. What an incredible movie. These people put their lives and safety at risk to get this filmed and show what is happening at this place.
Personally, I have never seen one of those marine shows. I don’t think I could stand watching what these animals are forced to do to appeal to a human.
When I started, my first real consult was with a dog who was afraid to come outside the house. I had not done much but wanted to help out.
After the talk, the counseling and the healing etc she got outside again, ran and played. I told the persons to use visualising images of her going outside and playing in stead of holding in her breath each time she stood in the door hesitating a bit.
And advised them to regard the subject as if things where allready changed, as I think how manifesting works.
I found out for a fact that it was very important how people act/react in the course of time after the consult. In a way: we communicators start the change, they have to follow up and ‘ complete’ it.
Another small dog did bite a lot. He came out of shelter, was old and did not have many reasons to trust people, so his first reaction was: bite.
After my consult/talk, the new family could hug him and he kissed them in stead of biting. He laid in between them on the couch. And after biting for over 9 years, he did not bite a single person again.
They had to learn to take his age into consideration, and to stop sudden movements towards him, because he could not see what happened. Also giving him a treat they have to watch their fingers, he smells it and reacts immediately.
So wonderfull to be able to do is
Hi Marta,
Thank you so much for mentioning Tillikum and all the animals displayed in zoos. I especially feel for these huge marine mammals. Tillikum was captured from the waters of Iceland when he was a 2-year-old! Imagine his amazing life before that time,with the relatives in his pod, travelling hundreds of miles each day, and how that is now reduced to swimming in circles and performing tricks for shrieking audiences. I have written to the Vancouver Aquarium (who enrage me because they keep breeding killer whales, whose calves almost always die of infections soon after birth in such a foreign environment) many times to object and also letters to the editor. We always get letters published in return about how families believe their children will somehow be deprived if they don’t see these creatures live, no matter what the suffering to the animal. I wonder what gives parents this strange idea. My guess is these are the same folks who flock with their children to circuses and rodeos, determined to entertain their kids, without a thought for the animals involved. The letters are worth writing anyway because they help to educate.
Meanwhile, yes – we can send Tillikum and all the captive creatures our healing thoughts. At some future enlightened time, we will be able to look back to the dark ages when zoos existed.
I had a some success this summer with a horse named Lucy. She had to wear a halter 24/7 because she was hard to catch. It had to be hot and uncomfortable, and it had rubbed a calloused spot on her face. She was the only one of 15 horses who had to do this. I started talking to her about the reason for the halter, and that if she would let them catch her easily, she wouldn’t have to wear it. I also started coming up to her with a rope, and had no trouble catching her at all. One day I showed up and there was a horse I didn’t recognize: Lucy, without her halter! The manager said, “I dunno, she just started letting us catch her, so we took it off.” That was a great day.
So often I have found that if an animal is simply consulted about a situation about how they feel, what they need, or some given simple reassurance from someone who had respected them enough to take the time to communicate with them, that behaviors “miraculously” change. Many times I have found they would appreciate just being heard, and that goes a long, long way toward helping them release whatever it is that seems to be causing the issue. And isn’t that what we all want anyway…just to be respected and heard?
Marta, I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion regarding marine animals in these “parks”. Originally the reason for the captivity was supposedly for education to further the support of conservation, which was supposed to make it okay to take these animals from their home, their natural environment. Now they breed them in captivity (Tillikum is being used for breeding, in a 15 ft deep pool), and claim that it’s more humane and that these animals can’t be released into the wild because captivity is all they’ve ever known. Well, many are still being taken from the wild from these parks, as evidenced by “The Cove”, and the animals are taking things into their own hands. I’m so sick of demonization of these poor creatures in these situations, and the arrogance of the human population that thinks homo sapiens are the only worthwhile species on the planet!
Because I was upset about the death of the trainer and upset about the captivity of this orca, I dialogued with Tillicum yesterday. He told me that he’s been despondent, bored, frustrated, depressed about his environment. He said he had pent up energy and that, before he knew it, he jumped up and hung onto his trainer’s tail. He said he wasn’t in his ‘trained’ mind at the moment, but was wild. He told me that it was an innocent act peformed by a caged being. It was like a cat playing with a mouse by tossing it. I asked about the fact that he’d killed other people too and he said that he was tired of the noise of people shouting; tired of the abuse he endured and the expectations. He said he’d been mistreated, hated (and loved), held in contempt and in captivity, un-free. He told me that it’s a miserable feeling to be subjugated, expected to be submissive, despised for being himself. He said he rebelled, hoping to be the one who would be killed for his actions. He said: “Aren’t three strikes an out.” He told me that he’s heartbroken and a broken spirit and that if he can’t be free, he’d rather die.
I told him that I was very sad for him and asked if he’d reconsider his situation. I counseled him to chant to find his purpose as an amazing and beautiful beast living with humans. I wondered if his purpose/mission might be to teach humans or other orcas how to thrive under the most dire circumstances– or what. I counseled him to work on transforming his personal misery to good. He said that he’d ponder my ideas and that his next step would be to keep in touch with me and others for sustenance and support. He told me that he’s so defeated and low that he couldn’t absorb my advise right then, but would later. And he thanked me.
I felt heavy in my heart and unsure if Tillicum could transform his hurt and anger to good. I hope he can. What amazing life lessons he’ll bring to the world. I sent him this thought: to enjoy what there is to enjoy, to suffer what there is to suffer and to never give up on his hopes. I advised him to have faith in his ability to transform his difficulties and to be happy. I will chant to help him in his journey and will contact him again.
Have anyone tried to communicate with the killer whale (Orca), Tilikum, that killed his trainer? I think its a bit weird that I can’t find it anywere on the internet that a human that can communicate with spirits and animals, just by seeing a picture, has not done so with Tilikum -the killer whale. We might get our answers from him why he did what he did and I actually think that he misses her so!
If anyone can please do so..
Hi Jessica
I dont know that anyone has talked to him but whatever we get from him cant really be verified. My feeling about it all is that captivity is wrong unless you are trying to preserve the species. Animals ripped off from the wild and jailed in a swimming pool when they are used to swimming miles…. well why would expect anything less than a melt down.