EFT SESSIONS

IN PERSON  OR  BY PHONE:

 

~ONE-ON-ONE SESSIONS: $50 PER HOUR ~

~GROUP SESSIONS:  $15 PER PERSON PER HOUR~

****NO RESULTS, NO CHARGE****

EFT INSTRUCTION

     

• ONE-ON-ONE TEACHING FORMAT:
  

~  $50 / HOUR ~

• GROUP TEACHING FORMAT:
  

  ~$15 PER PERSON PER HOUR~

• WORKSHOP FORMAT:
  

   ~ $50 EACH (FOUR-HOUR CLASS) ~

ADVANCED EFT:

INSTRUCTION AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

There is much theorizing (though no real consensus) about the precise mechanics of EFT's effectiveness.  In one of the most rigorous and comprehensive works available, Energy Psychology Interactive, David Feinstein observes that acupoints have high concentrations of receptors that are sensitive to mechanical stimulation of the skin: this in turn activates electrical impulses that are transmitted to the brain and appear potent in normalizing disturbed brain wave patterns.

EFT can be used 1) on oneself alone; 2) on oneself in tandem with "tapping buddies;" and 3) on other people or animals -- either singly or in groups, either in person or remotely, and either directly or using oneself as a surrogate. Often Judy uses EFT with a client by telephone, first explaining the EFT tapping formula and then engaging in joint tapping.  At times Judy precedes the telephone work with a distant  session for the client: tapping on herself as a surrogate, she uses the standard EFT sequence beginning with the presenting problem.  This acts as  the first round of healing, enhances rapport, and helps in priming the client's energy patterns for the later work over the phone. The process also reveals helpful intuitive information (including how the client feels about the issue), and thereby contributes to the “detective work” that is so central to the artistry of EFT.

Below are before and after photos of  a  Quarter Horse who was viciously attacked as a 4-year old while in “training” at a cutting horse facility, including being slashed with a sickle on his hind.  Mercifully, when he was 11 he found a loving home where he has remained for the last 15 years.  Although he fell in love with his new human, he reacted with panic whenever she tacked him up, which in one instance caused her severe injury.  In late 2008, we did several phone sessions using surrogate EFT on his early abuse in all of its aspects.  His symptoms from the original trauma have disappeared, not only while being tacked up but also in other areas such as body language and facial expression. Note the change in the eye expression.

In a similar case of equine PTSD, from harsh early saddling,  a horse tried to bite his new person each time she saddled her.  After a 20-minute EFT session, the mare’s reaction to the saddle was totally neutral!

A surrogate client in MO, before EFT for his

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

    Photos Courtesy of Painted Creek Farm

Lexington, Missouri

The same horse following EFT for his PSTD

(by surrogate phone sessions, using primarily the movie technique)

    

Reiki (pronounced ray-key) stands for “universal life force energy,”  as well as for the acclaimed holistic healing method that uses this energy to reduce stress and promote well-being in oneself or others.  Its roots can be traced back to Christ’s healing work, whose essential elements were rediscovered in the late 1800s by a Japanese theologian, Dr. Mikao Usui.  In the final stage of a quest that consumed many years, Dr. Usui received the Reiki healing system by means of revelation, including the attunements needed for a person to open his or her healing channels so as to be able to transmit the Reiki energy for the sake of self or others.

Reiki is a profoundly powerful wellness technique on all levels—physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual.  Yet is remarkably easy to learn and use, does not presuppose any particular belief system in its practitioners or recipients, and is readily combined with other modalities (such as Emotional Freedom Techniques / EFT).  It is a powerful tool for self-healing and personal growth, as well as for helping other people, animals, and Mother Earth.

Not only is Reiki instruction and certification much less time-consuming than that for many other healing modalities, but also it is also more affordable than most.  Reiki is one of the most rapidly spreading forms of complementary healing, not only in the number of practitioners but also in the venues in which it is being offered, including a growing number of hospitals and other health care institutions.

ONE-ON-ONE SESSIONS:   FOR PEOPLE: $50 (HOUR SESSION) / FOR ANIMALS $30 (30 MINUTES)*

CERTIFICATION CLASSES:* All certification classes provide manuals, attunements and the opportunity to practice both on each other and on animals.  Children as young as seven are appropriate as Level I students.  All certification classes include instruction in finding root causes (as against just treating symptoms), as Dr. Usui  recommended.  NB: THE POWERFUL  ATTUNEMENTS OF EACH CERTIFICATION ARE FOLLOWED BY A 21-DAY CLEANSING PROCESS.  PEOPLE WHO DO NOT ALLOW FOR THIS MINIMUM PERIOD BETWEEN THE FOUR LEVELS OF CERTIFICATION ARE UNABLE TO INTEGRATE ADEQUATELY THE REIKI TEACHINGS & ENERGY, AND HENCE OFTEN NEVER PROCEED TO ACTUALLY USE REIKI IN THEIR OWN LIVES OR  FOR OTHERS.  HENCE JUDY DOES NOT COMBINE THE FOUR LEVELS, FOR PEOPLE OR ANIMALS.

FIRST LEVEL PRACTITIONER   $75

This is a one-day event in which participants first experience Reiki themselves either on a massage table or as chair Reiki (this demonstrates the power of the Reiki energy at the very outset); receive the four Level I attunements from Judy, an Usui Reiki Master-Teacher; go through her instructional Level I Handbook and the historical development of traditional Usui Reiki; practice giving a Reiki session with feedback from Judy & each other; and give a Reiki session to one or more animals. A certificate is awarded and students  are encouraged to consult Judy for any follow-on help.

    

SECOND LEVEL PRACTITIONER   $95

This is a one-day event in which participants are taught the uses / applications of the four Level-Two Reiki symbols; receive the single Level II attunement; go through her Level II Handbook; practice drawing the four symbols until totally memorized and integrated; and practice using the Level II applications with feedback from Judy and each other.  A certificate is awarded at the end, and students are given practice sessions entailing a variety of combinations of the Level II symbols / uses to perform on their own, with Judy available for questions and feedback.

LEVEL IIIA: MASTER-THERAPIST  $50

One attunement, which enhances Reiki for self-healing and transformation.

      LEVEL IIIB: MASTER-TEACHER   $250

A two-to-three day class in which participants become qualified for teaching Reiki, including learning the complexities of attuning others.  Students perform attunements on animals for purposes of simulating live teaching situations.

ATTUNEMENTS/CERTIFICATION FOR ANIMALS:

Certification for animals is a one-on-one process in which Judy uses her animal communication proficiency to ascertain that an animal is at a state of readiness. Charged on an hourly basis, at $35 per hour; allow up to 30 minutes per animal.  

   

A DISTANT LEARNING FORMAT IS AVAILABLE FOR REIKI LEVEL I, II, AND IIIA CERTIFICATION

Level I articipant(s) experience Reiki themselves in a one-on-one distant session by Judy; receive the four Level-One attunements from Judy (this easily lends itself to a distant format); receive a copy of the instructional handbook and Judy's assistance in integrating it; practice giving a Reiki session on oneself & on a local person with Judy as monitor; and learn animal Reiki.  Level II students are taught the uses / applications of the four Level-Two Reiki symbols; receive the single Level II attunement from Judy (this easily lends itself to a distant format); go through Judy's Level II Handbook; practice drawing the four symbols until totally memorized and integrated; and practice using the Level II applications for people and animals, with feedback from Judy.

   CLICK here

FOR INFORMATION ON BOOKING A SESSION OR INSTRUCTION, OR ON HOSTING AN EVENT.

This is a photo of Lady, who had been found and saved by Alfred Apra at the very moment of her scheduled euthanasia at an animal shelter 12 years earlier.  Both animal and human had developed a tendency to worry about each other:  Alfred would start to worry about Lady and Lady would then become noticeably upset with worry over his worry.  I had already done some EFT with Alfred on some of his issues, so now it was Lady's turn.  I did two rounds as her surrogate on the issue of her becoming upset whenever he got into worry mode.  The next day Alfred reported that not only had her typical worry behaviors during his worry episodes stopped, but that she had become mellow in other contexts as well, contexts in which she had previously acted hyper with anxiety.  As with the horse in the case study above, the quality of life between the two loving friends had improved wonderfully thanks to the power of EFT.

Reiki: An Ancient Form of Energy Healing for People & Animals

These pictographs were photographed by Judy in the Gila National Forest in southern  NM.  Out of the many she found, these were the most a propos to Reiki:  the hand, the spiral, the human and the animal.  The ancient peoples of the Southwest are thought to have been expert at what is today known as mind-body energy medicine.

• EFT SESSIONS & INSTRUCTION
  

• REIKI SESSIONS & ATTUNEMENTS
  

• REIKI INSTRUCTION / CERTIFICATION
  

• INTUITIVE DIAGNOSIS OF EMOTIONAL FACTORS AT PLAY IN A GIVEN ISSUE OR CONCERN
  

• INNER CHILD WORK
  

• ANIMAL COMMUNICATION & HUMAN/COMPANION ANIMAL CO-HEALING
  

• PEAK WELL-BEING FOR HORSE & RIDER
  

• WORKSHOPS: Foundational & Advanced EFT; Reiki; Intuitive Diagnosis of Emotional Factors;  Animal Communication & Healing; Human/Animal Co-Healing; Muscle Testing & Other Binary Tools
  

• CERTIFICATION  PROGRAMS: Reiki; Animal Communication: A Holistic Wellness Approach; Eco-Therapy: Equine- and Animal-Assisted Therapy
  

• DISTANT SESSIONS & LEARNING
  

• SELECTED MEDIA COVERAGE & PUBLICATIONS
  

INTUITIVE DIAGNOSIS OF EMOTIONAL FACTORS AT PLAY IN A GIVEN ISSUE

Someday the medical professions will wake up and realize that unresolved emotional issues are the main  cause of  80% of  all illnesses...EFT will be one of their primary healing tools... as it is for me.  Eric Robins, M.D.

THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION

The strongest argument for a mind-body wellness connection that I know of, cited by a number of integrative healers, is that of people with Multiple Personality Disorder who manifest an ailment such as diabetes in one of their personalities but not in the others.  Another compelling argument is that if one manages to remove a condition without attending to its message, the message will find another way to make its point.  This is referred to by integrative healers as the rotating illness or symptom syndrome.  (This concept can be broadened and called something like “the repetitive lessons syndrome.”)  A  contemporary example is Dr. Christiane Northrup, who listened to the teachings of her fibroid tumors for three years and made life-changing decisions based on them: LIKE ONE OF MY OWN OWN CLIENTS, SHE KNEW THAT IF SHE HAD SIMPLY HAD THEM REMOVED IMMEDIATELY, THE WAKE UP CALL THEY REPRESENTED WOULD HAVE HAD TO MANIFEST IN ANOTHER BODILY AILMENT TO GET HER ATTENTION.

I was recently excited to find an awareness of this phenomenon in Aldous Huxley's 1944 classic, The Perennial Philosophy: :

"Those who are holy in virtue of being selfless channels of the Spirit may practice psychic healing with perfect safety..But unfortunately the knack of psychic healing seems in some persons to be inborn, while others can acquire it without acquiring the smallest degree of holiness..Often they produce spectacular cures-but lacking the power.to understand the psychological correlates, conditions or causes of the symptoms they have so miraculously dispelled, they leave a soul empty, swept and garnished against the coming of seven other devils worse than the first." (Page 261)

A TELEOLOGICAL APPROACH TO DISEASE: ILLNESS AS A TEACHER

One of the most famous sources of the concept of teleological causation is Aristotle, who distinguished between the proximate cause of an event or condition--or the material causal factor that resulted in it, and its teleological cause--or its underlying purpose.  For example, there are widely accepted proximate causes for menopause, or more generally for the midlife crises faced by men and women (and animals as well).  There is also a teleological cause, as reflected in the famous statement by Carl Jung that he never had a client with presenting midlife symptoms whose real issue wasn’t a spiritual crisis.

In the alternative health field the term medical intuition is widely used to denote intuitive diagnosis of physical ailments and their underlying psychological roots --the psychogenic factors at play. For lack of a better term, I have adopted it for one of my healing modalities, but with the following caveats.

•  First, in attempting to intuit the psychogenic roots of a physical ailment, I do not give a medical diagnosis of the ailment, but instead work either with a label that a trained diagnostician has already given it or with a simple lay description, such as "this skin condition."

•  Second, I do not limit my intuitive work to physical ailments, but rather include behavioral, mental, emotional, and spiritual issues as well. In these cases I similarly work with either a previous diagnostic label, such as "anxiety disorder," or with a simple descriptive name for the client's presenting issue, such as "this chronic behavior" (e.g., a cat's soiling outside the litter box).

•  Third, in tuning into the psychological factors underlying physical ailments, I do not disregard treatment that may be needed or helpful on a physical level: people and animals may well need to be supported on a physical level as they do their work on the psychogenic aspects. This caveat is related to my final one:

•  Fourth, I do not limit my intuitive work to the diagnosis of these psychogenic aspects. That is, I do not just assume that the appropriate healing modality will follow logically from that diagnosis, but rather I conduct a second intuitive inquiry into the most promising means for healing any given ailment.

The presupposition of the usage of medical intuition is that every ailment - every instance of dis-ease - comes to us as a teacher rather than randomly or meaninglessly. Often there is an elegant relationship between the ailment and its teaching, as when heart disease is a wakeup call regarding blocked grief or heartache.

A second, related presupposition is that finding and addressing the underlying teaching will help to heal the ailment. In my experience even seemingly intractable illnesses such as AIDS or advanced cancer have simply disappeared after their message has been attended to and integrated. When Bill Moyers did his pioneering special on the mind-body connection for PBS, I was so fascinated I bought and watched the full series of 12 videotapes that had formed the database for his show. Over and over these tapes showed instances of ailments just leaving when their lessons had been learned.

In my use of medical intuition -- with people or with animals -- I proceed as follows. I first obtain the client's permission to use medical intuition, explaining that while it is a form of depth psychology and can thus seem alarming, nothing will be revealed that one is not ready to hear. Next the client and I jointly decide on what to call the ailment. I then begin a dialogue with it by thanking it for having come forward as a teacher--or messenger or wake up call, i.e., as a blessing . I next ask it to share exactly what teaching or blessing it brings. An answer instantaneously comes into my mind, usually verbal but sometimes as a visual image. I often feel deep emotion; unlike some practitioners who try to stay extremely neutral, I welcome this as validating that I am indeed onto something.

After receiving the answer regarding the ailment's teaching, I thank the ailment for sharing that and request that it to go on to share the most promising ways to heal it. Again the answer, often quite detailed, just instantly comes into my consciousness.

If the answer regarding the teaching is unclear or incomplete, I dialogue further with whatever answer I did get. For example, if a cat's peeing outside its litter box reveals that the causative emotional issue is "anger at my person," I will then ask the anger to share its message as well as the most promising modalities for healing it.

If the answer regarding optimal healing modalities is unclear, I will once again dialogue with whatever answer I did get. For example, if the modality I intuited for healing the cat's behavioral problem were simply the word "nurturance" and nothing more, I would take it from the top by tuning in to "need for nurturance."

Most cases are relatively straightforward, but even in relatively convoluted cases I am eventually able to intuit all the information needed for the client's healing. There has never been a case in which, if the client is ready to hear the answers, we have been unable to obtain all the information we needed.

Where we may instead encounter difficulty is the client's level of readiness to carry out the healing plan. But even if the client seems unready at the time, the seeds have been planted. For example, one of my best therapeutic riding horses took nine months to overcome his arthritis, for its teaching was that he needed to start feeling his feelings and accepting the love being offered to him in his new home at our children's center. As an alpha horse that had previously been owned by an alcoholic and workaholic whose primary emotion was anger, he had developed a hard shell which took a lot of time -- and a lot of loving children -- to crack.

Even if a client is already aware of the underlying causes of an ailment, medical intuition can flesh out his or her awareness as well as provide detailed recommendations for a healing plan. The latter is often not in the client's awareness, and it tends to be much more than just a logical corollary of the ailment's teaching or message. For example, a cat that was pooping outside his litter and destroying a cherished rug told me he was quite aware that the cause was jealousy of his person's attention to her new baby. But medical intuition elaborated on this (he had been a stray and was hence very needy), and also yielded a precise healing plan (the use of Emotional Freedom Techniques on that issue of neediness).

The vital perception that one needs to attend to the roots or core issues underlying an ailment is central to two of my other primary healing techniques, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)  and Reiki . As taught by Gary Craig and others, there is a strong emphasis in EFT on getting at the core aspects or issues underlying or exacerbating any presenting problem, even physical problems that do not appear to have any psychogenic nature.  In the case of Reiki , Western practitioners recently learned of materials in Japan written by Dr. Usui in which he urged his students to seek and address the psychogenic roots of ailments rather than simply using Reiki to remove the symptoms.

EASTERN EQUERRY, SEPTEMBER 1999: "Reiki for Horses"

How It Works: Reiki ("ray-key") is the channeling and balancing of life force energy, allowing it to flow to the spot that most needs healing. Reiki helps boost a horse's energy flow, and gets it open and moving.

"Reiki," says Judy Young, a Level III Reiki Master, "is an equal opportunity modality." Young specializes in teaching children this ancient art of hands-on healing at her Wildfire Farm in Hampton Falls, NH. She says Reiki is also easy to learn, noninvasive and requires no particular belief system on the part of the practitioner It also has the advantage of benefiting both the giver and the receiver.

Benefits to the Horse: All physical ailments have spiritual and mental ramifications, even in horses. Reiki heals on all these levels. It is also complementary to other forms of treatment, even traditional veterinary medicine. (Many hospitals now make Reiki available to human patients!)

Since Reiki heals on all levels, it is especially useful for past emotional traumas and entrenched behavioral problems. It centers and calms the horse, and allows him to participate in his own healing process. Wildfire Farm has had success in facilitating healing in a wide range of problems in horses: arthritis, chronic diarrhea, lameness, kicking, rolling under saddle, etc.

What's Involved: Depending upon the horse and the situation, Reiki can be either hands-on, hands-off, and can work at over a distance. Often, a practitioner will start a session by laying his or her hands on the horse. Some will keep their hands off the horse completely - by a few inches or a few feet - to help with healing. Distance Reiki is just that, Reiki healing energy sent from across the barn, across town, or across the country.

Cost: The cost of Reiki treatment will vary, but is generally very reasonable. (Judy Young charges $40/hour, with discounts for multiple sessions).

Pros: Reiki Levels I and II are easy to learn and practice. Courses, called "attunements," are becoming readily available and are also reasonably priced. A weekend course can teach you enough to begin working with your own horses, or on yourself.

Cons: Judy Young states that "Reiki is observational and that veterinary medicine is diagnostic." This is sometimes unnerving for owners, who may feel that "nothing happened" during their horse's treatment. Somehow, a shot or a pill is more reassuring, even if it has no greater effect.

Resources:

Books: Essential Reiki: A Complete Guide to an Ancient Healing Art, Diane Stein.

Website: www.reiki.org (International Center for Reiki Training, or (800)332- 8122)

Practitioners/Teachers: Judy Young, Wildfire Farm (603)926-7476, Gentle Currents (603)430-9766.

The Sonoita Weekly Bulletin:  "LOCAL HORSEWOMAN RECEIVES ACCLAIM FOR COMMUNICATING"

The work of an Elgin horsewoman was highlighted in the current issue of Tucson's Arizona Choices: Health, Wellness and the Environment.

Judy Young, PhD., wrote the magazine's lead article, "Intuitive Communication with Animals: Reclaiming Our Kinship with All Life." She was pictured with her closest equine friend, Alex, who has been with her for more than 20 years as a companion and a partner in offering equine-assisted activities such as therapeutic riding.

As director of Thunderhorse Equine and Nature Center, Young has been offering monthly clinics in equine communication at her 20-acre ranch at the foothills of the Mustang Mountains in Elgin. The center is a successor to Wildfire Farm Holistic Services, a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational and charitable organization, which operated from 1994-2004 in New Hampshire to promote the healthy development of children and youth through the use of horses and other animals.

Young's article is her first attempt to teach communication with animals in a written format for the wider public.In April 2003 her work with animals, children and families was featured on WMUR TV's New Hampshire Chronicle, which called her "The Granite State's Dr. Dolittle."

The following year she and her horses, llamas, goats, dogs and cats moved to Elgin, and her work in using animals to promote well-being was featured on Access Tucson TV. In early 2006, The Green Valley News and Sun wrote a story about her teaching and its applications.

Young sees animal communication skills as a critical component of a number of practical applications, such as modifying unwanted animal behaviors and facilitating the benefits horses and other animals can provide to humans on a physical, mental and emotional level.

She offers a formal program and certification in "Ecotherapy," a field long recently broadened to encompass the value of animals and nature in general in promoting health and well being.Young's current article on how to communicate with horses and other animals can be read online at  http://www.arizonachoices.com/journal/AZCHDec06web.pdf

SELECTED MEDIA COVERAGE & PUBLICATIONS

GREEN VALLEY NEWS & SUN, SUNDAY, MAY 14, 2006: "Talked to Your Animals Lately?"

By Mike Touzeau

People love their pets, but it’s likely that most wouldn’t admit they could carry on two-way conversations with them.

Judith Young, Ph.D., holistic animal communicator and healer, undeterred by what she acknowledges is understandable skepticism, led 10 participants through a workshop at Equine Voices Rescue & Sanctuary at Jumpin’ Jack Ranch in Elephant Head Saturday, May 6.

The workshop was billed by the ranch an opportunity to “learn how to communicate with your beloved animal friends for information gathering, behavior modification, healing, and spiritual communication.”

Workshop members were encouraged to share what they longed to hear from their pets, and were given detailed instruc-tions as to how to develop a dialogue with the animals they cherish each day, and even those who have passed on.

“You tune into the animal’s spirit, said Young, a Reiki Master-Teacher who was once dubbed New Hampshire’s Dr. Dolittle, and who directed a nonprofit organization there dedicated to helping children form a close connection with animals.

With degrees from Vassar, Brown and Brandeis universities, the former college professor and mom was living the typical American family life when she discovered animal-assisted therapy and, skeptical herself, was nevertheless able to effect a huge adjustment in her horse’s behavior through an experience she described simply as, “I saw a change and acted on it.”

“I wanted evidence, just like everyone else,” she said, explaining how she was able to get her horse to stop kicking one of her dogs.

She began studying integrative healing techniques for both animals and people, which eventually led her to develop Wild-fire Farm Holistic Children’s Services, where she offered riding lessons and camps in an effort to “promote the healthy development of children and youth through the use of animals and nature, “ as her website described the organization.

After ten years directing that organization, she moved her animals to Mountain Thunder Ranch in Elgin, developing Thun-derhorse Healing Arts, where she now is immersed in a variety of holistic animal communication and healing systems that she believes will help animal lovers from all walks of life better appreciate and assist their own and others’ relationships their with animal friends.

“Animals are just as complicated as people,” she tells the pet owners, some of whom brought their dogs along as well as photos of animals with behavior problems they hope can be helped through communication techniques she outlines for them.

“Animals have fewer barriers than people, though,” Young explains, as she takes them through a series of exercises, beginning with information gathering.

Even the two “crusty cowboys,” as she perceived them, finally “get it” by the second exercise, which encourages participants to try to communicate with an animal from a distance using a photo.

Information gathering utilizes methodology to determine likes and dislikes of the animal, gradually moving deeper toward asking for “information you suspect is sensitive, private, or at least partially buried,” according to the workshop directions.

Observation Required

“It requires a lot of observation,” she says, as she encourages the participants to keep trying to understand how the animal spends its day.

She takes them through steps that she says will help them address a specific behavior problem, moving into exercises that delve into attempts to discover the animal’s role and purpose, communicate with its “Higher Self,” and assist him with his physical, mental, psychological or spiritual problem.”

Healing is a big part of Young’s instruction as well. She is a Master in Reiki (pronounced ray-key), which she describes as a hands-on, holistic healing method that utilizes “universal life force energy.”

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), which involves tapping on spots along the body’s electrical pathways, is another of the many healing methods that she demonstrates and uses, adding that she believes there are some afflictions vets feel are incurable that can be looked into further.

Six workshop participants remain as the afternoon session winds down with exercises to try to get them to dig for repressed information from their pets.

Some animal responses come in words, some in pictures, she explains.

One pet owner is frustrated by the fear of letting the dog loose, but can’t keep him quiet when he’s tied up.

“There has to be a negotiation,” Young says as she guides each of them toward a solution.

Each of the six becomes emotional when they talk about their connection with their beloved animals, alive or dead, and just the attempt to communicate seems to bring them closer.

Young assure them that once you get to “what the animal really wants,” you can address their ailments and behaviors. She points out the contrasting “conditioned reflex” people who believe animals are “just brutes,” and treat them that way.

Responding to those who say it’s all nonsense, Young pointed toward parents who have witnessed it with their children /e.g., in riding lessons with her horses/, acknowledging that skeptics “aren’t at that level of readiness, and I wasn’t there either.”

“You’re already doing it with your pet, though. Haven’t you noticed?”

Wrapping it up by giving participants techniques to try each day, she suggests they keep in contact with their animals.

It is Young’s third workshop at the sanctuary, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving Premarin mares and foals from slaughter.

She returns to Jumpin’ Jack Ranch for another workshop June 3, and you can check it out through her website, www.thunderhorsehealingarts.com.

Mike Touzeau is a retired educator and free-lance writer.

                  THE IMPORTANCE OF ANIMALS TO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: THE EMERGING FIELD OF PET THERAPY

                                                                   By Judith H. Young, Ph.D., Reiki Master

Have you ever gotten up in the morning in a grumpy mood and noticed yourself cheering up when greeted by a beloved family pet? Or been feeling especially blue and discovered your pet doing his best to console you? Throughout history human beings have received solace, healing and joy from Mother Nature and her critters. In recent years this age-old phenomenon has been given the name "pet therapy" or "animal-assisted therapy," and has been organized into formal programs to help those in need.

These programs utilize a broad variety of animals. Some, especially dogs and cats, are appropriate for settings such as nursing homes, rehabilitation hospitals, psychotherapists' offices, mental health facilities, prisons, or battered women's centers. In other instances therapy animals are available at specialized centers where those in need come to them, e.g., therapeutic horseback riding facilities, dolphin centers, farms, and animal and nature centers such as the one I have been privileged to found in New Hampshire, Wildfire Farm Holistic Children's Services. There have even been cases where wild animals have made themselves available to help human beings, for example, a dolphin named JoJo who years ago came in from the wild to the Turks & Caicos Islands to help critically ill children.

The therapy occurs on all levels--physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual. Research has shown that touching and stroking an animal lowers a person's blood pressure; a recent study of children's responses showed that just having an animal in the same room lowers stress. Among the myriad benefits of pet therapy are feelings of joy and warmth; enhanced self-esteem; relief from personal distress; motivation to reconnect with life and health; stimulation of cognitive processes and social instincts; and more generally, a mending of all our various forms of soul sickness. Not only do therapy animals bathe the people in their presence with unconditional love, but these animals also seem to sense the special needs of those who come into their path and appoint themselves as helpers. In my experience at Wildfire Farm I have seen an array of combinations and interactions--sometimes surprising but always magical-- between the children and the animals, whether a horse, llama, goat, hedgehog or hamster. Size or species does not seem to matter, but rather the special fit needed in each case.

There are several important animal-assisted therapy programs in the Tucson area, including the Pet VIP visitation program of the Humane Society of Southern Arizona (dogs, cats and other animals);TROT (Therapeutic Riding of Tucson); and Miraval Resort & Spa's Equine Experience. The therapeutic value of visiting the animals at Tucson's Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is extraordinary. And some exciting research on the benefits of equine-facilitated therapy for a number of disabilities is underway at the University of Arizona's National Integrative Medical Council.

Resources:

  1. Wildfire Farm Holistic Children's Services, Hampton Falls, NH (this has evolved into Thunderhorse Equine & Nature Center in Elgin, AZ, 520-400-3421).

  2. The JoJo Dolphin Project, Turks & Caicos

  3. The Humane Society of Southern Arizona, JoAnn Spencer

  4. Leslie Esselburn, Executive Director, Therapeutic Riding of Tucson

  5. Miraval Life in Balance Resort & Spa

  6. Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Kinney Road, Tucson

  7. National Integrative Medical Council, University of Arizona

Note: This article was written for publication in Tucson's Healthy Lifestyles, Issue Four, Summer 2002.

*HIS SPIRIT ROAMS IN OUR HEARTS FOREVER

By Judith H. Young, Ph,D., Reiki Master

Author's note: Although I wrote the following words about Tristan, I refer to myself in the third person. I am a mere instru-ment for the collective of children who rode and loved this extraordinary horse over the final five years of his existence. Just as I was blessed with his exquisite spirit when I taught with him, may I now be graced with the words to express and honor the vast worth of his life. Judy Young, Spring 2001

Anyone with money can find a flashy horse to buy. But a horse that shines from the inside out is another matter. That is what Tristan came to do after coming to Wildfire Farm Children's Center in the Spring of 1996. What a mess he was on his arrival: underweight, mentally confused, depressed, and spiritually alienated. Because of chronic massive diarrhea, he had been kicked out of the barn where he had been leased as a school horse and he wasn't welcome anywhere else. Judy agreed to give him a free stall in exchange for permission to try to rehabilitate him and use him in her children's therapeutic riding program when she felt he was ready. A holistic animal communicator and healer as well as an instructor, she designed a healing program that included not only proper care on a physical level, but also Reiki sessions, counseling and unconditional love from her and the children on an emotional level. She intuitively knew that his diarrhea was a symptom of the anger that had gathered in him from his long hard life and that it could be healed by assigning him a role as "Wise Elder and Keeper of the Children."

Tristan (who in one version of Arthurian legend was the noblest of knights) rose to the occasion. Within ten days of his arrival, children in the afterschool program were riding him bareback, feeling safe and at home as a result of his broad back and quiet, loving manner. The episodes of diarrhea became less and less frequent and soon stopped completely. His body became plump and muscled, and his chestnut coat was transformed to glistening mahogany. He broadened his capabilities from Western pleasure to first level dressage and up to two-foot jumps, showing exceptional willingness and patience with children of all ages. He came to excel as a special needs children's horse, and in less than two years after coming to us was receiving major notice in the press.

Two months after Tristan's arrival, Judy was able to buy him for only $600. After his rehabilitation Judy's riding instructor offered to buy him for a great deal more than that amount despite his lack of papers and his advanced years (he was at least in his mid-twenties). But he was not for sale at any price, and would spend the rest of his days in his new home with his beloved children. He became famous for making people feel safe and empowered, and an average of thirty children and teenagers per week flourished in the presence of his unconditional love. These riders included not only mainstream kids with the stress and troubles of everyday life, but also at risk teenagers and kids of all ages with special challenges such as autism, ADD/ADHD, attachment disorder, depression, anxiety, and recovery from neglect and abuse. Judy has videotapes of Tristan teaching a boy who had suffered enormous abuse; the stunning progress of this boy over time testifies to the power of Tristan's bottomless patience and love. As we look back over the lives that Tristan touched, we find his betterment of our world to be staggering.

For several months before he died, everyone noticed that Tristan was especially joyful, even coming up with new tricks such as tossing rubber training cones around and going down on his knee while playing with Wildfire's new Premarin rescue colt (Tristan had a nose for others who had suffered in life and was quick to offer compassion and solace). Everyone at Wildfire is convinced that Tristan's increased joy near the end of his life was caused by his awareness that his time with us was coming to an end and that he had lived the last five years of his life so well, so nobly. The kids and Judy talked about that a lot, about what it must mean to be able to die with such peace of mind, and that made his passing easier to bear.

Of all the lessons that he taught us--about turning personal suffering into service, about looking beyond externals to the great heart that lies within, about day in and day out loving kindness--the lessons we learned from his passing mean the most. We learned that a life well lived is a reason for joy, and our end of the year afterschool riding show was dedicated to Tristan as a celebration of his time with us. We learned that we reap what we sow, and were not surprised at the throngs of people who came to say goodbye. We learned that he didn't really leave us: one child wrote that his spirit roams in our hearts forever (which I borrowed for my title), and another wrote that we should not stand at his grave and cry, for he is pure spirit, which did not die.

Tristan surely did not leave us the same as he found us; after knowing him we became both larger and deeper than we had been before. One eleven year old girl who is in the foster care system after suffering the worst of abuse chose the following poem to include in her tribute to Tristan's memory:

I looked at a fox, I heard her spirit sing

I opened my heart and listened, for ears hear not a thing

It was then I finally realized--why did this take so long

You see my friend and I were singing the very same song.

Good for you, Tristan. Good for you.

Biography: Judith H. Young, Ph.D., Reiki Master, is Founder and Executive Director of Wildfire Farm Holistic Children's Services, a nonprofit organization in New Hampshire dedicated to promoting the healthy development of children through the use of animals and nature. Judy is also a hands-on healer and an animal communicator, offering one-on-one sessions, instruction, and certification in integrative healing for adults, children and animals. She can be reached at 520-400-3421 or emailed at mountainthunder@fastmail.fm.

Author's note: This piece appeared in August 2002 in Volume Three of Horse Tales for the Soul, collected and published by Bonnie Marlewski-Probert (http://TheCompletePet.com).

EFT & OTHER

WELLNESS BREAKTHROUGHS

                                                                                

Peak Well-Being for Horse & Rider

  Wellness Sessions, Consulting, Instruction 

ACUPRESSURE (EFT) & REIKI (On-site or Distant Sessions): Physical, Mental& Behavioral Concerns

COMMUNICATION & RELATIONSHIP SKILLS

NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP & CENTERED RIDING

GROUNDWORK & ROUND PENNING  TECHNIQUES

EQUINE-ASSISTED ACTIVITIES: From Youngsters to Seniors

EQUINE RESCUE REHABILITATION

                                                         For published accounts of Judy's experience with equine rescues, please see the following:

1. “His Spirit Roams in Our Hearts Forever,” in Horse Tales for the Soul, Volume 3, compiled and edited by Bonnie Marlewski-Probert, www.theCompletePet.com.  REPRINTED below*

2. “She Lives in Our Hearts Forever,” in Horse Tales for the Soul, Volume 4, compiled and edited by Bonnie Marlewski-Probert, www.theCompletePet.com.

3. “The Gift of Running Moon,” in Horse Tales for the Soul, Volume 5, compiled and edited by Marlewski-Probert, www.the CompletePet.com.

4. “These are the Blessings of Connection,” in Happy Endings: Heartwarming Stories of Animal Rescues, compiled and edited by Bonnie Marlewski-Probert, www.theCompletePet.com.

See also her recent piece on Nicker below.

Disclaimer:  While EFT has produced remarkable clinical results, it must still be considered to be in the experimental stage, and thus practitioners and the public must take complete responsibility for their use of it.  Further, Judith H. Young is neither a licensed health professional nor psychotherapist, but rather offers EFT as a practitioner with many years of experience in  a variety of integrative and complementary wellness techniques, including as a Reiki Master-Teacher.

She recommends also consulting a physician or veterinarian on all medical issues.

HOLISTIC ANIMALCOMMUNICATION & HEALING

Both one-on-one work with animals and instruction in Animal Communication & Healing can be conceptualized as falling under the following applications:

• Information Gathering
  

• Behavior Modification
  

• Healing: Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual
  

• Animal-Assisted Therapy
  

• Spiritual Communication
  

• Depth Psychology
  

• Human / Companion Animal Co-Healing
  

INFORMATION GATHERING :

This application can range from gaining information as simple as whether an animal likes his name to as complex as the details of any early life trauma. In my workshops we start with this application, taking care to make the request non-threatening: rather than probing sensitive or private matters, we inquire about animals' likes and dislikes and how they spend their day. I take the same approach in my one-on-one sessions with animals: before proceeding to the more serious issue at hand, I seek to establish rapport and trust by first dialoguing about lighter matters.

The information-gathering application is, of course, used continually with all of the other applications; it is therefore important to make students comfortable and confident in this application before proceeding to the others. Most animals are exceptionally honest and open, and are overjoyed at humans' efforts to begin communicating with them. And there is great power in learning in a group, e.g., when animals' persons are able to validate information received by other students or when the students all ask the same question of an animal and receive identical or complementary answers.

I have only had one student in 15 years of teaching animal communication who simply could not “get it”, and she told the class that she “never got anything ”. I now use EFT at the outset of each class to dispel self-doubt and enhance the learning process. See Workshops: EFT; The Pendulum, Dowsing & Muscle Testing; Medical Intuition; Navigating Crisis; and Animal Communication & Healing.

Examples of Information Gathering

1. When I bought a Newfoundland therapy dog at one year old, I worked with her to find a replacement for her current name (Jelly Bean), which she hated. I told her that I felt her new name should reflect her vast worth (which she simply could not feel), such that every time someone used it she would be reminded both of her worth and of her need to improve her self-image. I read her the Sufi tale of Manjun's obsessive longing for the lovely Layla, which he ultimately discovered to be a longing for the divine Beloved. She decided she wanted to be called Layla, and more often than not I called her “lovely Layla.” I'm happy to report that her self-esteem steadily improved over the years to the point that she felt her name was in fact a reflection of her inner and outer beauty.

2. After giving riding lessons to a student on my experienced horses and then on her own first horse (who was young and green), she asked me to help ascertain what discipline he would like to specialize in. Neither of us was surprised when he said “Hunter-Jumper,” as his love of jumping and his distaste for dressage had been more than obvious in the lessons. In another instance, a Grand Prix level dressage horse told me that he loved dressage because of the “opportunity it offers to excel in something truly elegant”. (But he also asked me to tell his person that he did not like the ego-driven approach of many dressage trainers, and hoped his person would start to see their work together as a joyful, spiritual experience.)

BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION:

Once the root causes of animals' problem behaviors are ascertained and addressed satisfactorily, they are almost always willing to change the behaviors. Many of my assignments have involved a cat defecating outside its litter box or a dog starting to defecate in the house, as an expression of an unmet need of some sort. Often the animal will be at least partially aware of the causes of his behavior. After gleaning as much of the animal's conscious material as possible, I proceed to Medical Intuition regarding 1) the behavior itself, so as to gain causal information the animal might not be aware of; 2) the underlying issues that are thus uncovered, such as jealousy or anxiety; and 3) the most promising methods for addressing these factors and thereby achieving behavior modification.

Examples of Behavior Modification

1. A cat suddenly started defecating in her person's studio apartment in pointed locations such as right inside the entry door and right under his desk. My work with the cat revealed that she was upset because her person had started to spend much less time with her after recently becoming engaged. He went out of his way to make amends, and the cat resumed using her litter box. He and his fiancé later came to one of my workshops with the cat, with a view to learning how to communicate with her on their own. (He was a Reiki Master like myself, and it was he who first gave me the idea of giving Reiki attunements to animals so that they might channel Reiki healing energy to themselves and others.) At the end of the workshop, the couple planned to go house hunting and to give the cat an equal vote in their decision-making!

2. Behavioral improvements can also extend to an animal's performance level. For example, truly brilliant horsemanship is dependent on intuitive communication between horse and rider, as well on mutual respect and regard. Though many are not aware of it, this kind of communication is at the heart of elder horse whisperer Tom Dorrance's teaching in his classic book True Unity: Willing Communication Between Horse and Human. In the prologue to this book, Milly Hunt Porter reports that after Tom had read Kinship with All Life, a classic on human-animal telepathy by J. Allen Boone, he often recommended it to others (page xvi).

Years ago, when I hadn't been riding very long and my horse Alex was also still green, I had a mystical experience while riding him in a clearing we had found in the woods: I experienced the two of us as a vibrating wave of love with nothing separating us. As a result, our dressage reached an unprecedented level, including a flawless canter to sitting trot transition that we simply could not have achieved under ordinary circumstances due to Alex's huge movement at the canter. This experience showed me firsthand the hidden dynamics of excelling in horsemanship and has influenced my philosophy to this day.

HEALING: PHYSICAL, MENTAL, EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL

After ascertaining that an animal is open to healing and after obtaining his or her own perspective on the ailment at hand, I proceed to intuitive depth psychology, or Medical Intuition. This approach is identical to that which I use with humans, yielding both the psychogenic roots of the ailment and the most promising modalities for healing it.

A cat named Jimmy, who appeared with Judy on WMUR TV's New Hampshire Chronicle, provides a good example of healing a spiritual ailment. It manifested in the form of clinginess as soon as he was adopted from a shelter, which drove his new person crazy (he even went into the shower with her!) When I contacted Jimmy remotely (before the TV show), he said he was willing to accept help with his behavioral issues, and that he knew exactly what was in need of help. He said that he embraces the concept of life as a psychospiritual journey, realizes that he is just starting his, and knows that it will not be easy. But he described himself as a very brave cat! We jointly agreed to use the term clinging for his behavioral problems and, as expected, discovered that they stemmed from his dependency needs with his new person, which in turn reflected his deep loneliness. What I had not expected was that his loneliness was of a spiritual rather than a psychological nature: he felt a strong love connection with his person and found himself needing that in a spiritual sense. The solution that presented itself was Jimmy's finding that same love he felt with his person in other contexts, specifically within himself in the form of his own spirit. Reiki presented itself as the best means for accomplishing this, and Jimmy gave me permission to do a distant Reiki treatment on him. He said that it made him feel blissful, and that he was excited about finding other means to connect with his own spirit. When I suggested Inner Child Work as another wonderful means, he thanked me and said that he'd like to try to find his own way. I checked in with him 24 hours later and he said the effects of the Reiki treatment were wearing off. I gave him another session and repeated that Inner Child work was a way he could continue his journey without needing constant Reiki. He agreed to a visualization to help him find his “Inner Kitty”: he reported that he contacted a four-week-old youngster who wanted to be called “Jiminy Crickets.” Jimmy felt that four weeks was a great age for his Inner Kitty because he was still with his loving mother at that age and could now use her as a role model in his reparenting efforts aimed at repairing the trauma of his later life.

Please note: Along with behavioral issues, the healing application is the focus of the certification program, Holistic Animal Communication and Healing: A Depth Psychology Approach. For details, see Certifications.

ANIMAL-ASSISTED THERAPY

Animal communication skills are useful in exploring the ways in which animals perform the roles of teachers, healers, or therapists for humans and for each other, as well as in becoming better co-therapists when working with them in animal-assisted therapy. The success of my own work for over a decade in equine- and other animal-assisted therapy simply would not have been possible without my communication and relationship skills with animals. I consult with the horses moment by moment, for example, in therapeutic equitation sessions, inquiring about their level of frustration and their views on the best steps for assisting the rider. At times I even defer to their judgment when we disagree, e.g., on when a student is ready to trot or canter. I was thrilled to find references to telepathic communication when I began to study the literature of the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association, the most well-known professional association in the field of therapeutic equitation.

In 1997 I traveled to the Turks and Caicos to meet JoJo the famous dolphin healer and had a two-hour talk with his human co-healer. I was not surprised to learn of their effortless telepathic relationship, or of JoJo's eagerness to share his healing techniques with me. In my workshops over the years I have shown the students pictures of JoJo and suggested they ask him remotely the same questions I did when I was there. Not only has he always been eager to answer, but he has sometimes also sent us palpable healing energy as a bonus!

Often a person's companion animal is in his or her life for the express purpose of offering healing and teaching. I utilize this phenomenon both in my one-on-one sessions with people and animals as well as in my workshops, both the introductory basic workshop under the animal-assisted therapy application, and in the Human/Companion Animal Co-Healing workshop as one half of the reciprocal arrangement at the heart of the curriculum.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION

In many cases it can be extremely beneficial to tune into what is variously termed an animal's Spirit, Soul, Essence, or Higher Self. After receiving the animal's permission, one can ask his or her spiritual helpers to help with peeking into his soul, which in some cases even produces states of ecstasy. Or, if one has specific questions to ask the animal's Higher Self, he or she can use the basic communication methodology and ask away.

It is also possible to talk with the spirit of an animal who is in a dying process, or who has recently passed over. I am often asked to communicate with a terminally ill animal regarding his or her level of suffering and preferences regarding euthanasia. I am always surprised by the wisdom and peace of mind I encounter. The following is a poem I was inspired to write on the animal perspective on death after working with a terminally ill dog.

The Animal Perspective on Death*

Death is like

a night sky

streaked with magenta

promising

a sunrise

of unimagined beauty

Like

the sweetest butterfly

playing

on the horn of a

white unicorn

Like

rose petals

raining down

to bless us.

No being

ever leaves--

nothing ever dies.

The Goddess Death

gives,

restores,

mothers.

And Love

plays on

her lovely

song

of

everlasting

innocence.

Judy Young, Wildfire Farm, March 1998

* This poem was inspired by a dog with terminal cancer whose people asked me to determine if it was time for euthanasia. The dog was a wise old soul, and after telling me it was in fact time, he asked me to write a poem reflecting the wisdom I had gained over the years from communicating with animals regarding their process of death and dying.

DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY

Animals, like people, may suppress or repress material that they don't want to look at, or are unable to cope with, etc. I have already touched on two ways to help the animal get at this material: 1) using intuitive depth psychology with an animal's ailment or problem behavior itself; and 2) talking with an animal's soul. Either or both of these may well prove helpful if one hits a stone wall in talking with the animal himself. At the worst, if the material is deeply repressed, one may get nothing. At best, one may get a complete answer. When one does get answers, he or she can talk with the animal about his or her new awareness and proceed from there, making sure to give the animal time to assimilate the new information.

Examples

1. Shadow the cat gave no answer when asked why he no longer allowed even his favorite person to touch him, an eleven-year-old girl who was a workshop student. Entering into a dialogue with his spirit revealed that he had lost trust in people after having his tail pulled by her cousins when she wasn't there. Bringing this up into his consciousness, along with a promise to protect him from harm in the future, sufficed to reinstate his loving contact with his human.

2. Nicker the pony wanted nothing to do with hands-on healing to help with his chronic lameness and did not know why, only that he was afraid. After intuitive work with the lameness itself revealed nihilism and fear of emotion as the reasons for the aversion, Nicker became progressively more open to healing. After eight months at his new home at Wildfire Farm with day-in-and-day-out love from children and parents, Nicker's armor had melted and his arthritis had become completely asymptomatic.

Human / Companion Animal Co-Healing

Human/animal co-healing is a common phenomenon, as evidenced by touching cases of distressed or ailing humans and animals coming together in ways that are therapeutic for both. Or as evidenced in numerous therapeutic riding programs that pair rescued horses with people in need (three of my published pieces are about horses that were rehabilitated by the staff and children in our riding programs and went on to return the favor many times over (Please see Publications). In contrast,  the modality I offer as Human/Companion Animal Co-Healing has a specific meaning and a unique application; in my perception it is in fact a pioneering holistic healing modality that is largely uncharted in its potential.

DEFINITION

A person and an animal enter into a sacred contract to collaborate in their personal growth work, or more generally, in their respective psychospiritual journeys, using transformative approaches and methods that are appropriate for use by both species. These methods include those in which the human acts as a surrogate or proxy for the animal.

The collaborators must have a bond of love and trust sufficient to make them feel safe in undertaking such intense personal work with each other. The animal is often one in the person's immediate or extended family, but it may be a therapy animal a person has interacted with and feels drawn to (this has happened with some of my students and therapy animals, especially the spiritually radiant Running Moon).

When the right combination is found, the healing can be stunning. When I started my own co-healing with my closest equine friend, Alex (in the context of our developing and field testing it as a modality), I found myself going deeper into unconscious wounds than I had ever done with another human being (even trusted family members, friends or therapists). Even more surprising, I found myself going deeper than I had ever gone even with a Divine Helper. As Alex and I worked together to develop the new curriculum, there were occasions of such deep distress at the unconscious material my Inner Child was uncovering that she turned for support to Alex rather than to a Divinity; and she would accept the support of a Divinity, such as Christ, only after Alex vouched for Him. I was astounded to discover the degree of trust my Inner Child felt for this animal, and I used it to the fullest to facilitate her deep healing.

The idea for this modality originated with my dog, Layla, who told a student at one of my Animal Communication workshops that it was something I needed to consider. I later validated this  with my inner guidance, and soon found the opportunity when I left New Hampshire with three of my therapy horses and my canine and feline companions for a ten-week winter break in Arizona. On warmer days I sat near Alex and we worked intensively to develop the new modality using the two of us as the "guinea pigs." We decided our first step should be to enter into a sacred contract, with provisions such as promising never to shame each other no matter what, honoring any lack of readiness either of us might feel on a given issue, and respecting each other's confidentiality. (Alex wrote an exquisite poem at the outset of our work -- he told me I could share it with others only if I told them it was not written by him but rather came through him.)

All My Relations

By Alex

The wind talks to me.

The trees talk to me.

The moon talks to me.

There is nothing in creation that doesn't talk to me.

We are all related.

The stones tell me secrets, ancient wisdom.

The flowers blow me kisses, pure enchantment.

The sun warms my body, beloved Grandfather.

These are the blessings of connection.

I wish the same for you.

  Mountain Thunder Ranch, February 2003

We were next guided to draw a large spiral for each of us, at various points on which we were to name the key issues we had previously been chipping away at with only ad hoc collaboration.  Alex gave me permission to share that among the issues he put on his spiral was profound grief over humans' ongoing destruction of the planet, as well as a desire to imitate Christ (oh, that horse). My issues included the same grief and the same ( imperfect ) emulation of Spiritual Masters, along with prevalent human issues ranging from remaining childhood wounds to time stress.

Next to the spiral we listed our respective spiritual helpers -- Masters, angels, power animals and the like. We were thrilled to discover commonalities, including Christ, Gabriel and Merlin. I was not surprised to find that Alex' primary power animal was a white dove exhibiting unconditional love!

We then made a list of every healing tool we could think of that could be utilized by either animals or humans, if necessary by means of the latter acting surrogately for the former. I noted the tools that Alex was already experienced in (talking therapy to help me, for example); those I was skilled in (as detailed in this web site); and those that would necessitate bringing in visiting presenters (for example, Transformational Breathwork). We also noted which tools each of us felt drawn to. I learned that Alex was drawn to exploring Inner Youngster work for some early life trauma—that he wished me to help him reclaim his Inner Colt. So I designed a visualization I thought might work, and after summarizing it for him I asked him to try it out. He found that it worked beautifully, enabling him to meet a wounded inner colt four months old as well as to begin the reparenting work needed for healing the colt's trauma. As stated earlier, Alex reciprocated my help by providing a sacred container of such unconditional love and safety that I was able to retrieve deeper shadow material than I ever had to date. For example, one day my huge draft-cross colt bit me peevishly: because of my sacred container with Alex, I regressed immediately to a young child being physically abused by her much larger step-grandfather. Such memory flashbacks of childhood abuse had only rarely come to me before this, even in contexts such as John Bradshaw workshops or Adult Child meetings. This flashback was sheer gold:  it not only gave me some specific psychic material to work with, for example with EFT, but it also made me aware I'd been unconsciously afraid of my beloved colt purely because of his sheer size.

Alex and I continued our “research and development” work to the point that I was able to write a workshop outline and syllabus and felt ready to present it to others. Before returning to New Hampshire, I had time to hold the new workshop twice. The participants chose and contracted with an animal in advance, and then brought either the animal's photo or, in one case, the animal itself –an extraordinary dog with a very old soul.

The approach and syllabus that Alex and I had developed together worked beautifully. Once the students had written their issues on a spiral and listed their respective helpers, they chose a healing method and tried it out in private on an issue of their choice. Although not pressured to share the results with the group, each human and animal chose to do so. I will never forget one woman, who had worked with her horse on the issue of low self-esteem: with tears streaming down her face, she reported to the group that her horse had told her that her entire herd of horses considered her to be an extraordinary human being. He had asked her why she would put her own self-image and the putative opinion of others above that of her beloved animals, resulting in enormous healing. In another case, the wise old canine soul that was with us told his person that her time stress was exacerbated by living in the city and that she would in fact be happier in the desert. She decided to move!

The following is an outline of the workshop as it is currently being offered, whether on-site or as a distant learning program. Students are also given additional teaching materials, including a sample human-animal contract, the spiral model, introductory explanations of a number of healing modalities, and case studies of human/animal co-healing from previous workshops and one-on-one client sessions.

I. A Model of the Spiritual Journey: Sacred Psychology

II. Significance of Human-Companion Animal Collaboration

A. Therapeutic Criteria: Trust, Safety, Equality, Mindfulness, etc.

B. Ecopsychology

  1. Centrality of the ecopsychology approach to this work

  2. The role of the "world wound" and its healing through awareness and efforts toward sustainability

III. Ground Rules for the Workshop (respect for boundaries, avoidance of cross talk and caretaking, confidentiality, etc.)

IV. Preliminaries

A. Choosing the companion animal(s) to work with (N.B.: the animal may be in spirit)

B. Questions to cover with your companion animals (role in each other's life, former lives together, unfinished business)

C. Developing a sacred contract for this work

V. Identifying the Respective Human-Companion Animal Psychospiritual Tasks and Issues (fear, shame, codependence, recovery from abuse or other trauma, addiction, time stress, etc.)

VI. Determining Our Psychospiritual Support and Tools

A. Spiritual Helpers (angels, guides, totem animals, etc.)

B. Methodologies (talking therapy, Inner Child work, meditation, Reiki and other types of energy healing, journaling, karma yoga, Emotional Freedom Technique, art, movement, shamanism -- e.g., soul retrieval, transformational breathwork, dream analysis, sand tray therapy, play therapy, psychodrama, Twelve Step models, etc.)

Please Note: This is an outline of the syllabus, not a workshop format. The workshop is conducted experientially in the form of frequent one-on-one exercises between the participants and their companion animals, followed in each case by group sharing of results (on a voluntary basis) and an opportunity for note-taking and reflection. The workshop is held in a healing space of deep respect for everyone's unique path.

This curriculum lends itself to a one or two day weekend workshop, to weekly classes over a period of time, or to one-on-one work between an animal and human with Judy as a coach. It is extremely rich and open-ended, and I am open to the needs that present themselves.

Over the last six months I have undertaken human/companion animal co-healing with my equine best friend of 15 years, using Judy as a facilitator. We have both been able to resolve issues that I never dreamed could be resolved. Thanks to J udy teaching us these wonderful healing modalities, my relationship with my horse is filled with so much more understanding and empathy. I feel like the sky is the limit for us now. -- Sharon A., MO

I can't thank you enough! You are a bright beam of light in our lives – and you are showing us how to be beams of light too! Thank you for sharing your courage! -- Catherine, Tory (companion horse), Lilly (companion dog), and Henry (companion cat), Lees Summit, MO

INNER CHILD WORK AS A PSYCHOSPIRITUAL TOOL: LOVING THE EGO TO DEATH

Inner Child work is the most joyful form of personal growth work that I have yet encountered. Even when it is painful, as it inevitably is at times, it is marked by a sweetness that is inexpressible. I have not been truly lonely since I started it, and it has been my most powerful means for coming to know and love my inner territory in all its complexity and richness. It is also central to my healing work with others, for more often than not, their Inner Child comes out to be embraced if they are ready.

I was fortunate to discover the Inner Child approach in 1991 at the height of the "John Bradshaw Boom" and the "Adult Child" movement. I attended my first Bradshaw workshops in mid-1991 in Boston, along with 7,000 other people. I went with four close friends from a Twelve Step program, and we formed what Bradshaw calls a "family of affiliation" to continue our work after the workshops. In the following years I attended five more Bradshaw workshops; the last of these was so catalytic in bringing childhood trauma into my consciousness that I followed it with a year of intensive Jungian therapy.  From the time I first met my Inner Child in 1991, I have used Inner Child techniques on a daily basis, primarily in the form of 1) writing and drawing with my non-dominant hand; and 2) active imagination in the context of Reiki sessions. In addition, for over five years I attended four weekly meetings of Adult Children of Alcoholics and Codependents Anonymous in which others were also bravely delving into their Family of Origin wounds. In this safe and loving context, the worst of my repressed memories of early childhood physical and sexual abuse came into my consciousness.

After moving from Massachusetts to New Hampshire to develop Wildfire Farm Children's Center in 1995, I was unable to find meetings of the same caliber, so I focused on my Jungian therapy, on a Buddhist Equanimity recitation practice under the tutelage of a Buddhist wise woman, and on self-healing techniques in which the Inner Child was central. When I discovered Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) in early 2003, EFT became my primary tool for healing my Inner Child's remaining wounds. I used EFT both on my own -- or rather in conjunction with my beloved animal family, and with a practitioner experienced in EFT and other energy psychology techniques. She was herself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and she readily agreed to make my Inner Child the centerpiece of our healing modalities. After only two months of weekly telephone work with her (about 20 hours in total), as well as intensive interim work on my own, I felt amazing closure of lifelong distress. I continue to use EFT daily with my Inner Child and with animals for mop-up of residual childhood issues and for current life issues as they arise. As a result, I am finding a joy and peace of mind I never dreamed possible.

I have discovered that really feeling my feelings has allowed me to navigate any crisis or trauma, even the current world wound that seems so profound and intractable - that is , even if the outcomes of the situation are out of my control and remain unchanged. Allowing the Inner Child to be heard, no matter how deep its distress, inevitably brings me back to a place of love.

I have been blessed with recently working with this paradigm with animals and their humans who feel as despairing as I and many others do about the current darkness on our planet. Our Inner Youngsters are all bringing their feelings out into the open and supporting each other in our shared distress. I am reminded of Jon Kabat-Zinn's insight that a support group of patients with terminal cancer who simply express their emotional pain to each other will always have better overall outcomes than a similar group who try to restrict themselves to expressing nothing but a positive attitude about their illness. Kabat-Zinn named the latter paradigm "the positive thinking prison" and contrasted it with the benefits of being free to feel one's feelings no matter how dark they might be. Renowned Jungian Analyst Marion Woodman expresses a similar wisdom in her book about her own experience with cancer, Bone.

INNER CHILD WORK AS A HEALING MODALITY FOR OTHERS -- ADULTS, YOUTH AND ANIMALS

I have used the Inner Child approach in my healing work with people of all ages, from youngsters to the elderly (repression of childhood issues can begin very early, and it is never too late to retrieve the Wounded Child from the unconscious). It is especially powerful with teenagers, as they prepare to cross the demanding 'betwixt and between' transition from childhood to adulthood. I once worked with two young women who had both been forced to forego their dream of college because of debilitating illness. With one of them, a nineteen year old who had had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fybromyalgia since age ten, my medical intuition during a Reiki session revealed that working directly with her Inner Child would be her most promising means of healing. The other, who had Anorexia Nervosa and whose therapist recommended that she supplement their work at my animal and nature center, found healing through attending one of my animal communication workshops and immersing her Inner Child in the magic of farm life with the critters at Wildfire Farm.

As these examples show, I either introduce a client directly to Inner Child techniques, or I incorporate them into other modalities (ecotherapy, Reiki, medical intuition, human/companion animal co-healing, and EFT). They are helpful with every form of dis-ease, whether physical, behavioral, mental, emotional, or spiritual. (The Inner Child is widely recognized as the root of many chronic physical ailments; a wonderful autobiographical example of this is given in a classic work on the Inner Child: Lucia Cappachione's Recovery of the Inner Child.)

I also use what I call an "Inner Youngster" concept in my healing work with animals, especially those who have had early life trauma. I usually conduct a healing session focused directly on the animal's Inner Youngster (using Reiki, EFT, or another modality), followed by an explanation of reparenting concepts and techniques. With one horse that had multiple psychogenic physical ailments stemming from early abuse, I was guided to do a John Bradshaw "welcome to the world" ceremony in the middle of the Wildfire medicine wheel. I adapted the ceremony from my own Bradshaw workshop experience, instructing the horse's current human family and some of the Wildfire youth to call out loving affirmations to the horse as if she were just being born. The Inner Child concept was new to the humans, and its power was evident in their intense emotion.

While designing the modality of Human/Companion Animal Co-Healing with my closest equine friend, Alex, I developed a visualization that allows an animal to formally meet and interact with its Inner Youngster. As detailed in the section on that modality, the animal and his or her person are then able to do their respective Inner Youngster work in tandem and in mutual support and collaboration.

BENEFITS

1. Because the Inner Youngster is the carrier of one's feelings, Inner Child work is useful in managing and improving one's emotional life. When beset by afflictive feelings, one can often get at their cause through Inner Child dialogue, e.g., regarding a distressful interaction with another adult (who is probably acting out his or her unacknowledged Child!). If the sources of distress are unconscious, there are a variety of Inner Child techniques for uncovering them as well. These are relatively gentle tools, for it is vital that the Child feels safe. As the work deepens, and one is able to venture to what Marion Woodman calls "the cellar below the cellar," one is finally rewarded by finding, under layers of muck, the radiant child archetype.

2. Improving one's own emotional intelligence can only help in relating to others, especially if they are using Inner Child work as well. I remember one incident in which a member of my family of affiliation and I were at absolute loggerheads with each other as adults, so we had our Inner Children write letters to each other -- with great success in resolving the problem.

3. Chronic emotional distress such as anxiety or low self-esteem is also carried by the Inner Youngster, and its healing is dramatically enhanced through Inner Child work. I have never encountered a technique for healing low self-esteem as powerful as reparenting the Inner Child. Self-love builds inexorably as the Inner Parent consistently attempts to provide a mirror of unconditional love, to jointly discover and heal the sources of the Child's shameful feelings such as anger and jealousy, and to champion the Inner Child when it is being mistreated. The healing of other affective afflictions such as depression is similarly enhanced by Inner Child work, as are ailments on a physical or behavioral level whose roots lie in Inner Child emotional wounds.

4. Our spiritual life is similarly profoundly affected by the Inner Child. Our very concept of Divinity (or rejection of Divinity, as in atheism and agnosticism) is derived in large part from our experience with the "gods," or caretakers, in our early life. Their imperfections inevitably result in more or less unconscious projections onto the Divine.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR JUDY'S 2007 ARTICLE ON HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH ANIMALS:

"INTUITIVE COMMUNICATION WITH ANIMALS: KINSHIP WITH ALL LIFE"

Published in Arizona Choices: Health, Wellness & the Environment, December 2006 / January 2007

http://www.arizonachoices.com/journal/AZCHDec06web.pdf

ECOTHERAPY: ANIMALS AND NATURE AS HEALERS AND TEACHERS

By Judith H. Young, Ph.D.

In recent years terms such as “animal-assisted therapy” and “green therapy” have entered into our vocabulary to denote "new" healing modalities offered situationally, e.g., in healthcare institutions or as an aspect of one-on-one counseling.  I have adopted the generic word "ecotherapy" to encompass all the myriad aspects of the natural world as they have offered themselves to us for healing and teaching ever since we evolved as a life form.  The term "ecotherapy" is closely related to an emerging discipline called "ecopsychology," which holds that no matter how much psychotherapeutic work we do on ourselves we will never feel fully healed or whole until we restore our sense of connection to our outer habitat; an obvious corollary of this tenet is that we must take steps to save our habitat if we want to save ourselves.

 

Research on the benefits of animal-assisted therapy has yielded an impressive list, including feelings of joy and warmth; enhanced self-esteem; relief from personal distress; motivation to reconnect with life and health; stimulation of cognitive processes and social instincts; reduction of stress; and more generally, mending of all our various forms of soul sickness.  Research has shown that touching and stroking an animal lowers blood pressure; a recent study showed that just having an animal in the same room lowers stress.  In the 1980s child psychologist David Elkin wrote a book called The Hurried Child in which he discussed the detrimental effects of over scheduling our children's lives; a number of writers see a worsening of this trend.  For children and adults alike, time with animals and nature is a time of restoration, a chance to experience spontaneity, play, love, magic--a chance to just be.

A related benefit is the joy and self esteem that stem not only from animals' unconditional love, but also from learning to handle and train a variety of animals.  With their unthreatening size and manner, the children at our animal and nature center were indispensable in training our two llamas, and we are still refining a game of llama tag.  Of utter wonder is mastering the care, handling and riding of the horses.  Riding at our center is a multifaceted learning and healing experience, because it entails 1) perceiving the horse and rider as a unity; 2) treating the horse with total respect and gratitude rather than as a piece of athletic apparatus; 3) pursuing patience and perseverance rather than instant gratification or entertainment; and 4) learning to overcome the fear felt by all beginner riders but most especially by those who have been through trauma.  Riding is taught as a holistic experience:  not only are the horse and rider encouraged to come into joyful community with each other, but the rider is asked to use his or her whole self--body, mind and spirit--in the learning process.

Caring for the animals' basic needs yields its own set of values, such as becoming grounded in the moment, experiencing the rhythms of ranch life, and fulfilling the innate need to nurture others.  Feeding the animals is one of the children's favorite activities, as is practicing or observing holistic animal healing such as Reiki. And of course being with animals for any length of time exposes us to the circle of life and death, as well as to the vital importance of celebration, ceremony and grief in marking the phases of the life cycle.

Over and above the therapeutic values that occur in the ordinary course of our center’s programs, an especially touching phenomenon is the healing of particular hurts and afflictions.  The animals seem to sense the special needs of the people who come into their path and appoint themselves as helpers.  The horses seem to know just which riders have suffered a loss of confidence from previous riding experiences; the llamas seem to know how to melt the anger or fear of people in distress; the dogs seem to know which children are grieving the loss of a family dog through divorce; and the kitties and other small animals seem to know exactly where nurturance is most needed.  It's as if they are free of all need to categorize and assign labels, instead simply intuiting what is needed in each moment and generously offering it.

Trying to categorize the types of ecotherapy is itself a demanding task.  Being with animals and nature is a profound, organic experience that alters our consciousness and through that very process heals and teaches.  It gives us a desperately needed connection to this plane of existence and brings us home to our essential nature as spiritual beings in loving communion with the rest of creation.

N.B.  This was written for publication in the journal Argonauta after Judy had opened her first equine & nature center in NH in 1995.

TELEVISION COVERAGE

    1.  Access Tucson TV, April 2004: Featured on "Alternatives in Healing"

Transcript from Judy's Appearance on Access Tucson TV's "Alternatives in Healing," April 21, 2004

INTRODUCTION: "Tonight's guest is Judy Young, an educator and healer who has recently relocated from NH to AZ with a menagerie of animals including horses, llamas and pygmy goats, who are all her co-teachers and co-healers in a phenomenon known as animal-assisted therapy. From 1994 to 2004 she served as director of a nonprofit organization in Hampton Falls, NH dedicated to promoting the healthy development of children and youth through the use of animals and nature. She is now developing a new wellness center for all ages, Mountain Thunder Ranch, in Elgin, one hour south of Tucson, which will consist of both an animal and nature center and a healing arts center. Let's start with the animal and nature programs.

Q1---What has been the guiding concept or vision of your work in this area over the past ten years?

A1---The concept has always been that connecting with animals and nature has profound benefits for our well-being. Many people, including youngsters, have lost their harmony with the natural world and its rhythms, and with the magic that occurs when you bring people, animals and Mother Earth together. With the wonderful help of some beautiful animals I've tried to facilitate a joyful reconnecting with our natural habitat and its critters.

Q2---What in particular have you offered (and will continue to offer)?

A2-The highlight has been interacting with and riding horses. I've been blessed with some extraordinary horses, all the way from a miniature horse that tiny children can brush and lead and ride to a giant colt -a cross between a draft horse and a quarter horse- that children as young as eight have ridden, and that will be ideal for taller or heavier riders such as adult men. And I've had a cadre of therapeutic riding horses that are perfect not only for children and other beginners but also for students with special needs or disabilities. But there are other forms of animal-assisted therapy besides equine: as any animal lover knows all kinds of pets offer us what some have called "laughter therapy." Often our riders-of any age, by the way-will just crack up trying to herd our llamas, whose main objective is to get out of it! And both the llamas and pygmy goats love to play tag with kids-or with adults with an inner child!, as well as line up for races with people along with our Newfoundland dogs. When parents see one of these races going on, I tell them they have to join in, because Andy, a pygmy goat (who always wins), won't race unless everyone in view participates. So you'll see fathers coming to pick up their kids in business suits joining in the race and having a blast. So this is why it's considered therapeutic to interact with animals in a nonurban setting like a farm or ranch.

Q3-Can you talk about some of the specific benefits of pet therapy that have been researched or identified?

A3-The research has identified some obvious ones, like feelings of joy and warmth as well as relief of stress and distress. Just having an animal in the same room as a person has been found to lower his blood pressure. But there are some less obvious ones, such as fostering the motivation to reconnect with health and life. We had a young lady who had to take a break from college due to anorexia come to the farm to muck stalls and hang out around the animals, because her psychotherapist thought it would be beneficial to her recovery, and it was. And youngsters who are survivors of abuse can regain a sense of their identity, a sense of self and self-esteem, by mastering large animals like a horse. For children in general there is the critical benefit of getting a respite from their often overscheduled lives-coming to a farm or ranch is part of their schedule, of course, but once they arrive I've always tried to foster spontaneity and opportunities to just be. For older kids and for adults, a discipline known as ecopsychology has argued that no matter how much work we do on ourselves, we will never feel fully healed, or whole, until we restore our sense of connection with our outer habitat, with our natural home-Mother Earth and our fellow creatures.

Q4-Can you give some more examples of the benefits of equine-assisted therapy?

A4---What comes to mind as a physical benefit is a six-year old boy who had braces on his legs and had never walked alone--he was always carried or in a wheel chair-- due to cerebral palsy. After only two 45-minute lessons on a therapeutic pony named Nicker he walked on his own! One of my favorite programs has been therapeutic riding for troubled teens. When they arrive it is so obvious they are starved for love, and it's also obvious that the horses and other animals are more than willing to shower them with it. And the actual riding is so helpful in overcoming their fears-not just any fear of riding or of large animals they might have, but all their fears. I like to see all of us--those of us with and without special needs--on a spectrum. On one end are those with clear-cut disabilities like psychosocial disturbances or autism, toward the middle might well be ADD or children of divorce, and at the other end is anyone who is under stress, which is all of us! The validity of this approach became obvious after September 11-everyone who came to the center, from the very young to the old alike, was wrought with fear, and they all found a sense of safety and peace of mind from being with the horses and other animals. On the first year anniversary of September 11, a six year old who after school had refused to go into a pizza store with her mom unless a policeman went in with them, later came to the center and cantered a full size horse for the first time (a big deal at any age); I believe this renewed the courage she needed for living in a dangerous world. Throughout my early riding career with my then uproarious horse Alex I found that facing my fears in riding carried over into my life and made me stronger as a person. I'm experiencing the same process now in training my giant colt!

Q5---What is the setting for your center in Elgin like?

A5-The animals and I are ecstatic that it is so much more fulfilling to our spirit than New England was-both in terms of the exquisite natural surroundings and weather and the extraordinary friendliness and support of the Arizonans. At Mountain Thunder Ranch we have 20 acres of high desert grasslands surrounded by distant mountain ranges that are just gorgeous, and we are within a short riding distance of some sacred mountains called the Mustangs. I haven't made it all the way up there yet (my horses are still getting used to the rocky trails), but I'm told there are Native American ruins and caves with huge crystals. Because of the large acreage of the ranch, in addition to structured lessons in the fenced-in arena, we'll be able to offer family rides, mounted games, jumping and galloping, and maybe even mounted square dancing like in the old Roy Rogers movies. I'm working on that one!

Q6-Let's turn to the healing arts center. How has that come about?

A6---I started out as an energy healer for people and animals. Back in 1991 I took a nine-month certification class in Polarity Therapy. The first holistic healing "miracle" I witnessed was with my beloved Alex, whom I hadn't been able to ride at more than a walk for two years due to arthritis that simply would not respond to allopathic medicine. When I practiced Polarity Therapy on him under the guidance of a graduate of the certification program, I could feel the bones in the arthritic joint start moving around under my hands! The next day he was sound and he hasn't had a recurrence to this day, and he is now 27! I went on to study Reiki energy healing, Therapeutic Touch and shamanism as well, and opened a hands-on healing practice for people and animals. Before I opened the animal and nature center I became a Reiki Master-Teacher, so that I could teach Reiki to the kids and adults who came to the center. Soon after I spontaneously developed skills in medical intuition (by that I mean intuiting the life lessons brought by the physical or emotional afflictions of both people and animals), as well as skills in animal communication (which came in handy in the therapy my animals and were co-facilitating). So I started incorporating these in my healing sessions and classes and, in the case of holistic animal healing, in a certification program. Over the last six years I also came to Tucson two or three times a year (during the kids' vacations) to give animal healing sessions, workshops and certification at various host facilities such as the Holistic Animal Care Shoppes in Tucson or the ranch of one of your and my former students, Linda Johns of Journey to Healing, north of Tucson. Now that I have moved to the area, I plan to place somewhat less focus on the animal and nature programs and more on the healing arts sessions and instruction, as well as to begin some long overdue book writing. But they all feed into each other; they are all of a piece.

Q7---What do you plan to write about?

A7---Two short projects will be compiling a book of spiritual poems I've already written and doing a children's book about a unicorn, which is already written in my head because it was inspired by actual events--a therapeutic riding horse who graced our lives for six years died less than six months after another elderly horse in our program died of old age in his sleep-she just stopped eating, so we had to put her down due to kidney failure. She died of a broken heart, only these days we would call it codependence, and in the storyline her penance is to become a black unicorn and have to work on the issues of codependency in a herd culture, for 1000 years if need be, in order to turn white. But the most important book, which my Inner Voice has said will be the culmination of my life's work, will be called Spiritual Journeying with Companion Animals. It's about a process of co-healing between humans and their animal friends who feel unconditional love and trust for each other, which seem to intensify and accelerate the psychospiritual growth on both their parts. I spent 10 weeks in a RV on my land in Elgin last winter with three horses that were shipped from NH, and at that time my old friend Alex and I developed the workshop together. I couldn't believe how deep I went into my Shadow to pull out and heal some archaic wounds-all because my Inner Child felt so safe with Alex as the co-therapist. And Alex, at the advanced age of 27, also healed some traumatic Inner Colt issues! I then tried it out in workshops with three groups of women from Pima and Santa Cruz County, as well as back in NH, and the results were equally astounding. I'm terribly excited to try this workshop with teens, because the way the class is organized I just provide a detailed model and methodology of sacred psychology and some exercises for the participants to do with their animals with no pressure to share the results with the group. So for teens or for anyone who's private for whatever reason, it's beneficial. By the way, I'll be offering introductory animal communication courses at Mountain Thunder Ranch starting May 1st, both on my own and under the auspices of the Tucson Open University. A basic ability to communicate, whether obtained in my classes or elsewhere, will be a prerequisite for my course on Spiritual Journeying with Companion Animals, which I plan to keep offering in tandem with writing the book. The two will support and enhance each other, and there will be plenty of case studies for illustrating the process. I've also got three case studies I've already published in a series of books called Horse Tales for the Soul. Three volumes of this book have included stories by me about therapy horses I've served with, two elderly ones that died after years of stunning service and one young one-my gentle giant colt-- who is just starting his career. All three of these horses, like many of our other therapy animals, were rescued and then rehabilitated by me and the kids and other people at our center. They demonstrate the concept of human/animal co-healing on a grand scale, especially the story of the youngster, Running Moon.

   2.  NH WMUR TV, April 2003: Featured on "New Hampshire Chronicle"

TRANSCRIPT OF JUDY' APPEARANCE ON WMUR TV'S NEW HAMPSHIRE CHRONICLE IN APRIL 2003

Tara (in her home with her cat): I'd like you to meet my cat, Jimmy. We brought him home from the shelter about two months ago. And he's pretty much the nicest cat you could ever want. But we're starting to think Jimmy has some issues. Around here we affectionately call him "the stalker." I'm afraid Jimmy has only one goal: to be near me, on me, over me, and always under foot. His stalking routine starts first thing every morning. Listen closely-you can hear him throwing a tantrum outside my bedroom door. Then he tries to squeeze himself underneath. Once that doesn't work, he throws himself against the door. Once he forces himself in, there's no escape.

It's flattering, but it gets annoying. A friend suggested I take him to an animal communicator, so we sought out Judy Young of Wildfire Farm to be our kitty conversationalist. (We've been previewing the show throughout the week as featuring "the Granite State's Doctor Dolittle".) She agreed to ask Jimmy about his behavior.

Judy (with Tara and Jimmy at her house): Communicating with animals is completely parallel with communicating with people.

Tara: You've got to ask the question?

Judy: You have to ask the question. I state my intention to speak with Jimmy. JIMMY, JIMMY, JIMMY. As you know, this is Judy speaking with you. (Jimmy, who was on the floor, looked up at Judy as she said this.)

Tara: Judy creates a liaison to the animal world. Some people call it telepathy, or ESP. Judy prefers the work "intuition." In this case (Judy was still speaking out loud to Jimmy in the background) there is a lot of talking going on, but Judy assures us you can communicate silently.

Judy (to Jimmy): Tara is interested in knowing if there are any needs that aren't being met at her house.

To Tara: The very first thing that came to my mind is that he needs more food.. However, taking a look at you, Jimmy, I think that's something that's just in your mind..So now what's coming to my mind is particular foods, specifically tuna fish! Do you like your name, Jimmy? Yes, he does like his name. [Note that Judy started out with non-threatening questions he'd be apt to want to answer.]

Tara: Now we all know men are reluctant to share their feelings. But Jimmy was no match for Judy.

She says she had a little conversation with Jimmy [remotely] the day before we came here.

Judy: Yes. Now maybe he'd been listening in when you and I talked on the phone, but he knew that a talk was coming, so he was ready the minute we connected. He was ready..You picture an animal [Judy had been given his photo] and then you state your intention to speak with the animal. And then you state the animal's name three times. And if you-quote, unquote-"hear" something back, then you've made the connection.

Tara: More and more pet owners are hiring animal communicators. Some are looking for the cause of emotional and behavioral problems. Other just want to be sure an animal is happy.

Judy: I wasn't aware I had this ability except in retrospect: I knew I had this ability throughout my childhood, but I didn't recover it until I moved to this particular farm in New Hampshire.

Tara: The revelation came right here in Hampton Falls after she scolded her horse for frequently kicking the dog, who was old and arthritic and couldn't get out of the way fast enough.

Judy: A few days later I was out in the paddock doing the same thing, mucking. And I said to him, "have you had a chance to think about this?" And he walked right over to me and stared me in the eyes and a story just started going through my head: he had been on a truck on his way to a slaughtering facility [he had a last minute rescue]. And he was entirely aware that when horses are slaughtered they're not only served as meals in Europe and Asia, but also bodily parts of the horse are put into [some brands of] dog food. So he said some of us horses have resentment against dogs! [Once I told him that I had never fed dog food with horse parts in it to my dogs and that if anyone ever wanted to slaughter him again it would be over my dead body, he never kicked my dog again.]

New Setting: One of Judy's Animal Communication workshops, attended by children, parents and two hamsters brought by one of the families.

Judy: We need to rekindle that natural ability that we all have..Now in any of this work, you can do it out loud or you can do it silently.

One of the fathers (when asked why he was there): Most of us enjoy our animals, but sometimes I think we kind of ignore some of the things that could make our relationship even a little richer.

Judy: Step one in animal communication is to center and ground yourself. Try to become a little quiet, maybe pay attention to a couple of your breaths, your inhale and your exhale.

Tara: The Camerons want to understand their hamsters.

Carol Cameron: My younger daughter Alie's hamster tends to nibble a little bit more than we'd like it to, and my older daughter Tori's got loose and a little burned, so we want to check into her condition.

Judy (speaking with Alie's hamster in demonstration of the technique): "My name is Judy and Alie has asked me to speak with you. What is it like for you to be here in this strange place?..What came to me iIs "I'm not warm enough." This is a drafty room [turned up the heat.]

Tara: Judy then thanked Theodore for sharing.

Judy: I think you are one of the best-looking hamsters I've ever seen.

Tara: Now it's the class's turn to concentrate and listen to the animals.

Carol Cameron: It was funny because I guess Theodore must have told Alie something that he really likes that we've never given him that might help him with this nibbling phase.

Alie (age six): Carrots!

Carol: Alie got that he wants us to give him carrots, and I hadn't even thought of it!

Tara: Judy encourages students to keep an open mind. Sometimes animals say the darnedest things.

Judy: It helps to know its age. Because sometimes what's bothering an animal might be "oh, I think I'm getting old, and that scares me." Or it might be, "I think I'm having a mid-life crisis!"

Tara: Now back to Jimmy and why the heck he's so clingy.

Judy (to Jimmy): Was your background hard? To Tara: I got "you bet."

Tara: According to Judy Jimmy had a hard life as a stray.

Judy: At the deepest level what he revealed was a spiritual loneliness. He didn't get the feline love, so he's drawn to the spiritual connection he feels with you, which is a love connection. And he was not aware that he was able to get that in any other way.

Tara: But apparently Jimmy was unwilling to share more about his troubled past.

Judy: That one [another question] was just a little too personal and in the wrong context. If we weren't on TV, he might be willing to talk about that.

Tara: So it looks like Judy is going to have to channel him remotely, coaxing him to be more independent.

Judy (reporting on a remote communication between tapings): His input was dazzling. And he said he's on his way now. So he just doesn't need to always cling to you to find this love.

Tara: So, hopefully his journey will lead to somewhere other than my lap!

.

EFT is a cutting-edge acupressure tool targeting surface end points in our bodies’ electrical pathways: pressure on these points simultaneously with mental focus on an ailment is extraordinarily effective in healing physical, cognitive, emotional, or behavioral issues across a broad spectrum, e.g., physical pain and illness, stress, anxiety, trauma and PTSD, sleep issues, smoking and other dependencies, and unwanted behaviors or other concerns regarding children and animals.  This foundational workshop covers the building blocks of EFT in depth, and is useful for beginners and more advanced users alike:

       Group exercises in EFT to provide hands-on exposure to its power at the outset of the class.

An exposition and discussion of the nature of  EFT and its extraordinary effectiveness.

An introduction to the basics of self-muscle testing and the pendulum to enhance intuition.

Group exercises on specific concerns; introduction to the “tearless trauma” & “borrowed

        benefits” techniques.

Surrogate EFT - with animals that are presentor working with photos of animals or children.

A discussion and demonstration of EFT as a technique for self-discovery and peak wellness.

A discussion of the profound and cumulative efficacy of daily EFT on chronic issues.

The paradigm at work here, embraced by native healers as well as many MDs and vets, is that one’s distress is commonly a wake up call that once heeded and healed with EFT and other tools will  no longer need to “act out”  to attract one’s attention to its message or  teaching.  MEDICAL INTUITION ENHANCES EFT AND OTHER WELLNESS TOOLS IMMEASURABLY BY REVEALING THE UNDERLYING EMOTIONAL LESSONS OF ONE’S CONCERNS, LESSONS THAT CAN THEN BE ADDRESSED WITH EFT OR OTHER MODALITIES TO ALLEVIATE OR ELIMINATE A CONCERN, WHETHER PHYSICAL, MENTAL OR BEHAVIORAL.  IT’S A MISCONCEPTION THAT MEDICAL INTUITION CAN’T BE LEARNED: IT CAN, ESPECIALLY WITH THE AID OF MUSCLE TESTING, WHICH WILL ALSO BE TAUGHT.  AND, YOU CAN LEARN TO USE MEDICAL INTUITION FOR HELPING OTHERS, ADULTS, CHILDREN & ANIMALS, AS WELL AS FOR SELF-HEALING & WELLNESS.

"Someday the medical professions will wake up & realize that unresolved emotional issues are the main cause of  80% of  illnesses. When they do EFT will be one of their primary healing tools." Eric Robins, MD

                                                                                Outline of Syllabus:

•Definitions and Approach

•Methodology

•Applications

             Physical Issues—Before and After They Manifest

             Emotional Issues

             Mental Issues

             Spiritual Issues

             Life Circumstances or Situations

             Events, Past and Present

•Medical Intuition for Animals and other Life Forms

•Benefits

TESTIMONIALS:

~Using medical intuition Judy empowered our human & animal family to reach levels of healing we never dreamed of.  Catherine A. S. &  Sharon A., Kansas City, MO~

~Medical intuition revealed the root of my panic episodes plus use of EFT for over- coming them. Ellen P., AZ~

~Judy’s medical intuition & EFT were remarkable in removing early aggression in my dog. R. Brown, AZ~

~Your intuitive work & EFT w/our cat and new baby were wonderful as usual.  Kate & Jesse Howard, MA~

~Judy has an intuitive gift to tap into to root issues I wasn't even aware of, tying emotions to physical problems I'd had for 20 years. After EFT healed these root causes, my back/hip issue disappeared, obviating hip replacement. Feel free to email me at BRMP@AOL.com! Bonnie Marlewski-Probert, AK~

PENDULUM BASICS: Introduction, Theories of Effectiveness, Pendulum Protocol,  Interpreting Results

                                                

OTHER BINARY TECHNIQUES: Muscle Testing, Eye Blinking, Rubbing Thumb Across  Forefinger, Rubbing  Objects

                                                                       

APPLICATIONS

            ~Guidance

                --Decisions, Skillful Means, the Inner Child

                --Guidance with One’s Healing Work

        --Guidance Regarding Other Beings

            ~Finding Silver Linings in Circumstances and Events in One’s Life

            ~Practical Uses

            ~Surrogate Use

                                                                                                 

                                     click here            

         

For those who have completed basic introductory work in holistic animal communication and healing, Judy offers certification in Holistic

Animal Communication & Healing: A Depth Psychology Approach . This consists of preparing a formal prospectus, advance coordination with Judy, and intensive group work (for any given certification, there is a quota of two candidates, and a ceiling of ten).  The program can encompass either a two- or three-day format, depending on group preference regarding its scope and depth. The cost is $195 and $295 respectively.  Candidates may bring animals with them where appropriate, but we can work from photos with equal effectiveness.

Candidates receive a copy of Judy's Basic Workshop in Animal Communication syllabus and a sample prospectus. Each application in the syllabus gives examples of exercises for certification candidates as a means of illuminating the depth psychology approach and of guiding them in choosing animals for their prospectus.  Candidates choose two animals for each application, as well as the animals' specific physical, behavioral or psychospiritual issues to be addressed. There may well be some overlap; that is, one might use the same animal for more than one application. (For example, Fido or Puddy may fall under the behavior modification application as well as the healing application.) A total of no fewer than three animals and no more than five animals is recommended.  The issues chosen to address should not be overly easy ones, but rather relatively complex or entrenched issues such as a chronic physical ailment or a pervasive emotional affliction like anxiety or depression.

During the group work, candidates work together to take their animals through the syllabus applications, and they write case studies covering the results achieved with each animal. We then jointly tackle any unfinished business with the animals with a view to achieving closure on each and every issue. We also compile a list of the most useful healing modalities we have discovered and discuss issues that commonly arise for holistic animal communicators and healers.

Prior to certification, prospective candidates give Judy their proposed prospectus and animal photos for her review and familiarization, as well as the exact name they wish on their certificate.  N.B.: award of a certificate does not presuppose any particular level of achievement in depth psychology with animals . Instead, it is based on the students' exposure to this approach and their best efforts. Depth psychology, whether with people or animals, is extremely complex and open-ended. Advanced work / internship with Judy is available for those who wish to go deeper after the basic certification.

 

• EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUES (EFT)
  

• HOLISTIC ANIMAL COMMUNICATION & HEALING
  

• INTUITIVE DIAGNOSIS OF EMOTIONAL ROOTS AND THEIR HEALING MODALITIES
  

• Introduction
  

             Definition of Human/Animal Intuitive Communication

             Methodology

             Removing Blocakages with Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)

             Centering and Totem Animal Vizualization

• Applications 
  

             Information Gathering

             Behavioral Concerns

             Animal-Assisted Therapy

             Spritual Communication

             Human/Companion Animal Cooperation in Personal Growth Work

             Depth Psychology

             Healing Physical, Behavioral, Emotional and Spiritual Issues with Intuitive Diagnosis/Medical Intuition

                    

            

            

            

• MUSCLE TESTING & OTHER BINARY TOOLS
  

• REIKI
  

See Reiki section above: details on certifications in all Levels of Traditional Usui Reiki

• ANIMAL COMMUNICATION: A HOLISTIC WELLNESS APPROACH
  

• HUMAN/COMPANION ANIMAL CO-HEALING,  FOLLOW-ON WORKSHOP: click here
  

CERTIFICATIONS

WORKSHOPS

SERVICES: Adults, Children & Animals, On-Site or Remote

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Judy is an educator & wellness practitioner who has had many magical and joyful years of experience in therapeutic animal and nature programs for adults, children and families. She has been a student, researcher and practitioner of eco-therapy for over 25 years; she opened her first center concurrently with the emergence of the formal field ecopsychology and has been immersed in the field ever since.

In 1994 Judy founded Wildfire Farm Holistic Children's Services, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit center dedicated to promoting the healthy development of children through the use of animals and nature. After 10 years as its Executive Director, Judy and her therapy animals relocated to Arizona , where she founded and directed Thunderhorse Equine & Nature Center / Thunderhorse Healing Arts.

Addressing a spectrum of issues from everyday troubles to more severe emotional and cognitive challenges, she and her animals have received widespread acclaim in providing stress-relief, laughter therapy and specialized healing tailored to specific needs. The latter included a five year grant from United Way for their work with at risk teens in the greater New Hampshire area.

In 2009 Judy retired from operating her physical center in Arizona and is now able to offer her wellness services and consulting on an as-needed basis. She is overjoyed to now be able to draw on her expertise to offer formal training & certification in ecotherapy.

The healing power of eco-therapy stems from the magic that occurs naturally when people are brought into loving connection with animals and nature. This power is intensified when it is accompanied by the use of animal communication, intuition, and specific wellness modalities such as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), Inner Child Work, & Human / Companion Animal Co-Healing. The distinguishing mark of the eco-therapy certification program is its simplicity: it is founded on an age-old kinship between human beings and their natural home. Its overriding vision is that of rekindling the peace and joy that flow inevitably from reconnecting with Mother Earth.

Please note:  This is a customized program; please call to discuss your particular parameters.

My procedure for conducting distant or remote sessions is as follows. The client provides a summary of the issues and concerns (either for himself or herself or for a loved one such as a child or an animal), along with a physical description and often a photo. After the distant session, we discuss the results over the phone or by email, and I proceed with further work if it is called for. At times the client will request a written account; this is especially useful in complex cases or in cases where the client prefers to process the information in private before we talk.  Please call or email if you have any questions whatsoever about how this all works!

Distant learning workshops are conducted as follows.  After I have sent a written copy of the syllabus to the participants, we conduct the workshop by a conference call, at no charge using my internet Magic Jack phone.  The cost is determined by the number of students.

All Certifications can be completed via distant learning with the exception of Eco-Therapy.

• ECO-THERAPY
  

DISTANT SESSIONS & LEARNING

• TRADITIONAL USUI REIKI: This is covered in the Reiki section above: click here.
  

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