The good news… of course you can! The bad news… it will take some practice.

Communicating with your pet can sometimes feel more difficult because people tend to be emotionally attached to their animals as well as to the outcome itself. If the first time you attempt to communicate with your pet is a day when there’s some sort of health emergency or when you’re at your wits’ end dealing with a troublesome behaviour, then you’re unlikely to be super successful in that moment. This is because animal communication is largely a meditative process and it’s hard to be in the zone when you’re anxious, stressed, angry, or wanting to control the outcome. It’s better to try communicating with your pet when you have no urgent reason to do so.

Another challenge to communicating with our own pets is that animal communication is just that: communication. Animals have free-will and it is your job to listen even more so than it is to “talk.”

So now that you understand some of the challenges, how do you learn to communicate with your pet? Over the next several weeks, I’ll help you reawaken some communication skills you may have forgotten you had. Or, if animal communication turns out not to be your thing, at the very least, you’ll learn a few new meditations that will help you feel more balanced, relaxed, and centered.

Practice #1:

1. Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit near your pet. Don’t force them to sit beside you. They can choose to be in your meditative space (or not).
2. Start by closing your eyes and taking a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Try to visualize the breath going down to your belly. Do this several times, until you can feel yourself relaxing. If you feel dizzy or like you’re hyperventilating, you’re trying too hard. The point is to relax, so if breathing this way stresses you, then make adjustments so that it feels comfortable and natural for you.
3. Next, visualize that you are sitting in a peaceful meadow, full of wildflowers. You can hear the birds chirping, a nearby river flowing, and the wind gently rustling in the trees. The clouds break, and a lovely, warm sunbeam flows down to you from above. Imagine the energy of the sun radiating into your body, enveloping you in a warm, white light.
4. Now imagine your animal joining you in the meadow. Say hello, and invite them to join-in on your visualized meditation.
5. If your mind wanders, go back to your breath and re-focus on visualizing your peaceful surroundings.
6. After spending some time with your pet in the meadow, when you’re ready, thank your pet for joining you, and say goodbye.

How did that experience feel? Did anything surprise you? Let me know in the comments!