Transcripts
Welcome back to Animal Posse.
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:Today, we're exploring how energy
work and body balance can transform
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:the lives of our furry friends.
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:Joining us is Carrie Russell, a certified
practitioner of Whole Energy Body Balance
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:and the founder of Body Balance for Pets.
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:After a 30-year teaching career, Kerri
combined hands-on fascial body work
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:with intuitive energy clearing to
release trauma, soothe stressed pets,
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:and harmonize household dynamics,
even offering remote sessions.
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:Hi, Kerri.
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:Welcome to the show.
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:Thank you for coming on
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:Kerri: yeah.
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:I'm excited to be here.
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:Thanks for the invitation.
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:Dixie: Sure.
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:To get started, tell us your
background with animals.
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:Did you have pets growing up?
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:Kerri: Yes.
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:I did have pets.
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:We were just a, kind of your average
family just in a, three-bedroom,
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:two-bath ranch-style home.
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:So it wasn't like I grew up on a
farm or any sort of thing like that.
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:Just but I always had a love for
animals, and my grandfather would
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:often say, "You could charm a snake."
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:Just always had a way with animals.
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:They're always in my life.
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:Yeah.
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:Dixie: That's amazing.
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:Now, loving animals is one thing,
but devoting your life and career
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:to helping to heal them is another.
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:How did that early passion transition into
looking at energy work and holistic care?
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:Was there a specific or a moment in
your life that made you realize, hey
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:there's something deeper going on here?
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:Kerri: I would say when I was
young, I always knew that.
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:But, you go to school, you do your career,
and I completely lost sight of all that
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:magic that I had with them 'cause we get
in our-- into our day-to-day routine.
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:And I became a school teacher and
had a career for 30 years, and when
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:it was time to leave and searching
for things like that I used to
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:remember, what did I always enjoy?
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:I wanna change.
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:I want a career change, and
what else do I want in my life?
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:And part of it was prior to the
career change, I did get into energy
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:work for myself and realized what a
benefit it was, so then I decided to
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:become a practitioner and do that for
people and teach classes in a certain
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:modality, and while I was still working.
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:And then slow-slowly when I was looking
at the changing of careers and then
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:full-time, and then with the pandemic
hitting, it really inhibited my
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:ability to work with people in person.
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:So I had lots of time on my
hands, as some of us did, when I
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:didn't have a job all of a sudden.
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:So I decided to, what else is out there?
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:And I caught a webinar on from this
particular veterinarian who taught a
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:modality that he created called Whole
Energy Body Balance, and that was the
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:first step in working with animals in a
practitioner career sort of sort of way.
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:So I s- started exploring that and decided
to become-- go through his training and
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:learn and grow and develop my skills.
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:And I also got into animal Reiki
'cause I've had training in animal
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:re-- Reiki for humans, and I thought
I know they have Reiki for animals as
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:well," so I went through that training.
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:So I have both certifications, and I just
fell in love with the methods and the
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:experiences, and then there's nothing
like working with the animals in front of
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:you and seeing the rewards that it brings
and the joy that it brings to my life.
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:So that's where I am now.
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:Dixie: I am very familiar with Reiki.
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:I'm a Reiki master.
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:We have had a few other people
on that have actually done Reiki
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:for pets including my instructor.
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:I've never heard about the Whole Energy
Body Balance or Body Balance for Pets.
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:Can you explain that to us in a nutshell?
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:Kerri: Yeah.
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:Holistic Body Balance is
a modality created by Dr.
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:Edward, who is a holistic
veterinarian, and he's from Australia.
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:So no surprise you wouldn't know much
about it because it is one gentleman in
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:Australia who is-- has created it, so it's
taken a while to get out into the world.
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:He, We have a-- There's a
handful of people probably in
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:the United States who do it.
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:I'm sure I'm the only one in my state.
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:I'm in Oregon.
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:I'm probably the only one certified.
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:Last I checked, I was.
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:'Cause it's through his program and it's
a combination of a bodywork modality
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:where you work on the fascial tissue.
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:So he learned in working with his own
animals and as a veterinarian, that about
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:half the animals that he worked with, once
he s- paid more attention to them, that
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:they had noticeable pain in their body
that you wouldn't know by looking at them
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:'cause animals, cats and dogs, as we know,
they can hide their pain really well.
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:So he took an in- unofficial inventory
and realized about half of his patients
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:and his animals at home had pain, and
it was really in the fascial tissue.
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:Of course, you can have
pain anywhere, right?
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:Your muscles, your ligaments,
your body, your s- especially our
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:spine and our neck can get tense,
just pe- people and animals.
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:But you just don't think about it in
animals as much because they're just
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:so resilient, and they just wag their
tail and they're happy-go-lucky, and so
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:you don't really realize it's going on
until he actually palpated into the body.
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:So that fascial tissue
can get dry over time.
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:It can get sticky and build adhesions.
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:When they run around and fall and
trip and jump for their Frisbee,
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:ch- chase the ball, it can be
really hard on their bodies, and so
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:adhesions do develop under the skin.
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:And the fascial tissue is located
throughout the whole body.
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:It's a web-like interconnective tissue.
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:You may or may not be familiar with it.
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:But it surrounds your ligaments, your
muscles, your-- even your blood vessels,
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:your bones, and it's throughout your whole
body, head to tail if you're for the pets.
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:And by working on that fascial
tissue, it releases a lot of
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:tension that gets built up.
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:It helps Work-- You can work
on any part of the body and
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:have the whole body impacted.
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:So you can work on their legs or their
paws, and it'll lighten up in other
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:areas because it's interconnected.
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:So it's quite amazing.
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:Massage therapists probably
know about fascial tissue.
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:People seem to be becoming more
familiar with it 'cause it seems
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:to be out there a little bit more.
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:But we don't always think about
our pets, that they have it too,
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:and we get pain, they get pain.
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:It also can hold some, like a m-
there's some belief and some thoughts
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:about holding a trauma, not only
physical trauma, but emotional trauma.
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:So in releasing the fascial tissue,
it can bring about a, an ease to
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:the body and create kinda this
most amazing relaxation response.
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:So animals who are-- I find it works
phenomenally well for those anxious
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:dogs scared kitty cats, that they
just hold their tension in their
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:body, and so it, it taps into their
parasympathetic nervous system and
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:can force this relaxation response.
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:So I'm being really long-winded.
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:That's the body work part, the
real hands-on body work through
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:Whole Energy Body Balance.
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:There's also another side to
this work, and it's called it's
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:considered the energy work.
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:So I know with, you, if you're familiar
with Reiki, if people who've heard of
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:it you're channeling an energy into the
body for relaxation, for, for the body
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:to then be able to more easily heal.
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:And this modality's l- is different
in that you're not channeling energy,
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:but you are working with energy.
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:So you can work on you can look,
y- you can call it chakras or
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:energy systems in the body.
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:You're looking at the, the aura
of the body and where there might
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:be weaknesses, and you're clearing
energy, restoring energy and this
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:whole bunch of, different skills that
I was taught throughout that process.
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:Dr.
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:Edward's fairly intuitive.
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:He has a very intuitive sense.
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:And I've developed mine over time too.
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:Just when you do these, this kind of
work you start trusting and becoming
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:more intuitive and have a sense of
what the energy is needing addressed.
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:And yeah.
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:So that's kind of the whole, that's
the whole p- whole, not very briefly,
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:but the whole nutshell what, how
the body work and the energy work is
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:for the Whole Energy Body Balance.
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:So for the body balance
portion, it's like a…
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:Is it similar to a massage for pets?
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:I would say yes, in the sense
that you are manipulating tissue.
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:I think of massage as
more getting into muscles-
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:Dixie: Right
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:… Kerri: and releasing muscle tension.
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:This is getting into the fascia.
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:So you're working just under the skin.
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:Dixie: That's very interesting.
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:This is gonna be the part that's
gonna blow people's minds because
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:you offer remote sessions.
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:I know, a lot of people, they hear remote
sessions and they're like how do you do
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:this when you don't have an animal that's
actually physically in front of you?"
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:Can you go through that too?
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:Kerri: Sure.
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:Obviously I'm not doing the hands-on
work 'cause that, that body work,
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:when I address the fascial tissue,
that is, has to be in person
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:with my hands on the animal.
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:The energy work is, yes, it
is so incredibly different
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:that people might question it.
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:I wasn't sure-- I didn't
have a lot of confidence.
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:Not that I didn't believe it
worked, I didn't have a lot of
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:confidence in the beginning, to be
completely honest, because I didn't
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:believe, can I do this though?"
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:And I can.
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:It…
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:Once you get into it and have an
understanding and just trust, I trust,
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:trusted myself and as I worked through the
journey, through this journey, yeah, you
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:can s- absolutely do remote lear- work,
or you can call it distance work, and it's
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:a matter of if you've heard of, it's a
tele- it's a telepathic method to connect
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:to the animal, and you just make, you make
an intercon- make a connection, and then
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:I'm guided by my own awareness to know
where I need to go, what I need to do.
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:And what I can tell you is when
you talk to the people on the
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:other end of the-- when the animal
receiving the session, they can
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:see the differences in the animal.
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:That's how I trust that it works.
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:It may not-- Sometimes it's in the
moment, but quite often it's after the
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:session's done in the next few days.
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:Dixie: What kind of signs or behaviors
do pet parents usually see when
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:an animal is releasing that energy
during a session or after the session?
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:Kerri: I would s-- I get a, a
lot of comments about lightness.
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:There's a lightness in, and sometimes
it's subtle and I have to ask a little--
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:sometimes I have to ask them questions
because they will have forgotten what
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:the animal was doing prior to the
session, 'cause it's no longer an
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:issue so they forgot it was happening.
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:So I'll have to circle back and say
I remember you told me that this was
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:happening and that was happening."
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:They're like, "Oh, you're right.
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:Yes, that's not happening anymore."
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:So it could be more of a behavioral
some animals that have, have some
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:issues going on with them, whether
it's physical or energetic, it, they
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:can be uncomfortable in their body.
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:They could have they can be a
little grumpy, especially if
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:they're older, but not, they don't
have to necessarily be older.
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:They might have grumpiness about them.
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:They might have a difficult
relationship with one of the family
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:members, like somebody in the
home, either it's another animal or
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:another person, and the relationship
doesn't, isn't quite as cohesive.
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:They might have their favorite
person and then a person that
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:they just kind of shrug off.
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:No, my cat likes to do that.
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:All cats like to do that.
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:Yeah.
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:But when you clear the ener-
that's another thing that I, part
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:of the process is I clear the
energy between all family members.
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:And when I do that, that was the most
unbelievable, if I hadn't witnessed it
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:myself, unbelievable change that I see is
when I work with a household and I clear
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:energy amongst all the family members.
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:Then the dynamics of the energy,
because the thing, the energy has
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:shifted and animals are so incredibly
sensitive and aware, that their
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:behaviors will start to change.
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:I- in the, in a more, they
become a little more easy.
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:They get along with their s-
pet siblings a little easier.
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:They might be a little bit more playful.
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:What else?
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:A little snugglier.
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:On my-- I have a
testimonial from a, a kitty.
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:I call her Camera Shy Coral, 'cause
her name was Coral, and she did
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:never liked her picture taken.
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:And I did one in-person session with…
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:There was two kitties.
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:They just didn't get along well.
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:The, the boy was bullying the girl.
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:They didn't get along well.
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:I did one in-person session and then
one remote session, and the, the woman
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:sent me a picture of Coral who would
let her, all of a sudden, she sent
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:the picture, she's like, "I can't
believe Coral let me take her picture."
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:Like she was never, she
was always so camera shy.
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:And she, the other kitty was
no longer bullying the girl.
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:Dixie: Aw, that's cute.
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:I know I really suck at taking photos
of cats and kittens, so I don't know if
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:it's me or maybe they need a session.
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:Kerri: It's hard to say.
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:If they're dodging the camera,
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:Dixie: it'll be the cute pose, and then
as soon as you snap the photo, that's
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:it, you said you do the release for the
whole family, does that involve like
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:you actually treating the whole family
or is that just part of the process
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:when you're working with the animal?
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:Kerri: Yeah, it's part of the process.
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:So when I do a session for the animal,
we are all-- You're in the same…
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:If you're all in the
same home, it's not…
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:So sometimes the one animal who's
causing the trouble is the one who
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:gets pinpointed as having the issue.
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:So yes, we'll work with that animal, but
oftentimes not always, but sometimes,
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:often or sometimes, th-that animal's
being impacted by other things.
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:So when you start looking at the family
dynamics, or you don't have to look
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:at it, you just work on clearing the
energy, and it's not so much that I'm
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:it's not that I'm releasing energy.
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:I guess it can be u- I don't use
that word, but maybe it's the same.
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:I'm clearing.
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:So maybe releasing and
clearing is the same thing.
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:But I'm just getting rid of the
funky juju that's happening.
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:I, I get the image of a path
between each individual and
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:just sweeping off the leaves.
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:So it doesn't mean that it's a bad energy,
it's just energy we don't need anymore.
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:So by working on just kinda clearing
that, I just do it for everybody
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:when, as, during a session.
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:It's just part of the service when I
work with the one pet that I'm hired for.
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:And I can tell you so many times
I've worked with the one pet and then
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:everyone else, I've mentioned this
already, starts to shift and change.
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:And I h- I'll tell you
another quick story.
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:I had one woman who hired me for
their dog, and their dog was really
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:getting close to end of life.
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:This was a remote session, and I don't
know what happened at that time because
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:I did the session and I never heard
from her as far as I kn- you know, for
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:a while, and then it was several months.
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:It might have even been a year later.
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:She s- she wrote me back and she's like,
I've been meaning to get back to you.
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:I needed to let you know that my dog
passed," and we did, I d- they didn't
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:see a lot of changes in the dog.
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:She said, "But my husband and
our relationship changed."
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:Wow.
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:That's interesting.
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:Yeah.
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:And I was-- I'm getting
goosebumps right now saying that.
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:I was I was speechless.
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:I'm still speechless because you
just don't know what will come of it.
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:And I, of course, I can't
guarantee that's gonna happen.
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:I'm not a marriage counselor.
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:I don't do anything of
any kind of sort of that.
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:But just by presence and
tuning in and clearing…
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:And I d- I don't read people.
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:I don't sense that there's
an issue with anybody.
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:I'm just here to be there for the animal,
there for the family, and just nurture
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:the space, and that alone can bring a
sense of calm that maybe they haven't had
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:for a long time that can kinda start the
mo- the mechanism of changes happening.
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:Dixie: Yeah.
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:It's very interesting because of all
the time that I have heard of energy
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:sessions or when most people do energy
sessions specifically remote they're
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:focusing on the one person, the one pet.
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:So it's very interesting to hear the
discussion on clearing the energy for
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:the whole family 'cause I'm, really
big , of course, with the energy
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:dynamics of a family with pets, because
that's like- one thing that I tell
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:people when they're coming to adopt.
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:Say, if they're adopting a pet that
was raised by me, we have a certain
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:energy dynamic in our house, and so that
cat is gonna go better with the same
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:type of energy dynamic, if that makes
sense- … versus one of my other fosters
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:who might have a little bit more of a
different type of energy in their house.
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:And, a lot of the times people, of
course, they gravitate towards looks,
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:and for me, I'm always trying to steer
'em maybe in what I would think would be
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:a better match just from that energetic
perspective, if that makes sense.
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:Kerri: Oh, absolutely.
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:Yeah.
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:You wanna find the right match
that they'll be received and loved
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:and they're-- that the household
is just a good fit 'cause they're,
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:they all have such different
personalities just as we do.
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:Yeah.
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:What types of
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:Dixie: animals or situations do you
see the biggest benefit from this work?
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:Kerri: Gosh, one-- on the one hand,
I can say that if you have a body,
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:this is gr- gonna be great work.
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:Almost like if for a person to relate
it to people, you have a massage,
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:you have myofascial release is the
common term for if you have that done
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:as a person with myofascial work.
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:You feel better afterwards, right?
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:So anyone can benefit, any being.
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:For pets specifically, I probably
see the most change on the ones
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:who are the most impacted 'cause
there's more change to, to occur.
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:And that's gonna be your your dog that has
some-- is, a little bit older and stiff.
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:They can be maybe more sensitive
reactive, not necessarily aggressive
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:'cause I actually don't feel like I'm…
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:I wouldn't do body work on an aggressive
animal 'cause I don't have the
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:training and the background for that.
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:But if they're reactive towards other
dogs and things like that, because it
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:calms the nervous system, I-- we do
see changes with dogs that are more
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:reactive and those shy and timid ones.
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:I've ha- I've had people tell me that they
notice that their dog is more confident
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:giving you dog examples, there's another
a cat that I worked with who there was
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:a, a family g- was a blended family where
the sister moved into the house and had
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:her own, had her child, a dog, and another
one or two cats she brought with her.
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:And one of the resident cats
stayed in the back room.
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:The door was open, the cat could
come out at any time, but that cat
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:for a year and a half stayed in
the back room and didn't leave.
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:When I came in to-- got hired for
the dog because the dog was older and
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:needed some fascia work, I also ended
up working with the cat, and by the
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:time we were done, which was in a few
weeks they took a picture of the cat
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:out in the backyard on his harness.
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:The kitty was starting to come
out into the common areas and
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:mingling with all of the family.
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:Wow, that's amazing.
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:That's one of my most amazing stories.
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:So it can be helpful for those really
shy, timid or ones that just aren't happy.
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:And you know they're not happy,
but-- and you just don't…
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:It's so helpless for us, 'cause
we want them to be happy.
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:We want them to be in their space.
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:This was a, a loving family, by the way.
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:The child was older.
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:It wasn't like a toddler
that was chasing the cat.
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:This was a lovely family, but for whatever
reason, that cat just isolated itself.
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:So yeah.
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:So you could see great
changes in animals like that.
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:Dixie: For listeners at home who might
be interested in this, what is one simple
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:thing that they can do today to help tune
into their pet's energy and offer comfort?
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:Kerri: Oh, great question.
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:Checking your own energy first.
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:Spending time on yourself, and it
doesn't have to be 30 minutes, an hour.
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:If you stop what you're doing before
you start petting-- if you're gonna
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:be intentional touch, this is intent.
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:Being, just being with them
and being of comfort to them.
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:Give yourself a minute.
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:Just take a deep breath.
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:Notice how your body's feeling.
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:Just imagine all your energy, the tension
just l- exiting through your feet,
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:out your head, whatever you wanna do.
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:Just take a moment, and then
intentionally touch your animal in
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:the most lo- in a loving, caring way.
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:And they feel that
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:And it doesn't take very long.
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:Dixie: Absolutely.
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:Absolutely.
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:And if you think about it, the
reverse of that is true, too.
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:Like, When you have a bad day,
and you just go sit down, and your
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:animal comes and sits next to you,
and you just start petting that
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:animal is comforting you, too.
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:And so they're sharing-
Absolutely … sharing their
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:energy with you to calm you down.
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:Kerri: Yeah.
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:Dixie: This has been very eye-opening.
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:If our listeners want to learn more
about your Body Balance for Pets
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:and book a remote session or connect
with you, where can they find you?
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:Kerri: Yeah.
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:I'm just at bodybalanceforpets.com
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:Pretty straightforward.
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:I have a scheduler, and you can
schedule a, a free 15-minute session
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:because just to find out more about
what I do, to find out what would,
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:might be the best option for you.
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:And also let me add Whole
Energy Body Balance Dr.
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:Edwards' work if you wanna learn more
about the of w- practice of what I
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:do, it's wholeenergybodybalance.com.
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:So you'll see me on his page as
pr- as a practitioner 'cause I am
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:certified, and his work is just amazing.
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:If you want-- If you are in, have your
own pet business or wanna start your own
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:pet business or just wanna be a prac-
just learn the technique for yourself or
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:your own pets, you can also go through
his program and get certified as well.
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:Dixie: Thank you f- so much for sharing
that information, and I'm gonna include
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:links in the show notes too so people can
go check out- … your website and learn
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:more about the Whole Energy Body Balance.
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:So thank you so much for joining
me today on Animal Posse and
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:Yep … talking about the incredible
work that you're doing to bring balance
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:and peace to our animal friends.
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:Kerri: Thank you, Dixie.
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:I appreciate it.
