The Language of Animals: 7 Steps to Communicating with Animals Paperback - 2001

Summary

First line

When we are babies, we see animals as being no different from ourselves.

From the jacket flap

A Step-by-Step Program for Communicating With Your Animals
The human/animal spiritual connection is a powerful one. In this astounding guide, renowned animal communicator Carol Gurney draws upon fifteen years of successful communication with animals to offer animal lovers what they've always longed for: a simple, effective method for "listening to" and communicating with their animals. Based on her successful 7-step HeartTalk ProgramSM, which has already helped thousands of people understand their basic telepathic connection with animals, Gurney outlines the principles of "heart-to-heart" communication, showing you how to open your heart to a more meaningful connection with the animals you love. Learn how to:
* Understand your animal's needs, feelings, and innermost thoughts so you can discover who he or she really is * Develop long-distance communication skills to locate lost or stolen animals
* Understand animals' physical feelings so you can help comfort them when they are sick or injured * Emotionally prepare yourself for the death of your beloved animal
* Discover how animals can be your best teachers in helping you to love yourself * Actually communicate telepathically with the loving beings that share your world!
Animals are not only our loyal companions; they are our guides, our healers, our link to the simple wisdom of the natural world. Filled with amazing real-life stories of human/animal communication, The Language of Animals is a must for every animal enthusiast-and a loving gift to the engaging, expressive animals who have so much to share.

Excerpt

Straight From the Heart

When we are babies, we see animals as being no different from ourselves. They are simply big furry beings full of love and generosity. We share the same language, communicating telepathically until we learn to communicate verbally, and then we are pulled further and further away from our connection to them.

Telepathic communication is like a heartbeat ? it?s happening within us all the time without our conscious awareness. Like breathing, our intuition carries on just fine in our daily lives without our acknowledgment or appreciation. But unlike the rhythmic beating that sustains our physical bodies, our spiritual hearts thrive only after we begin to recognize, validate, and nourish our inner lives. As adults, this part of us may lie dormant until we make a conscious effort and nurture this subtle and remarkable part of our being.

We seldom recognize the heart?s language, which is our intuition. We telepath to each other; we empathetically connect with our animals and significant others. The thought of a friend fills our minds moments before she calls, a person meets another for the first time and experiences a sort of recognition or immediate connection, or occasionally a person knows what another is going to say before the words are spoken. Perhaps you or someone you know has experienced one or more of these connections. We often label these occurrences as something coincidental ? as a thought, an extrasensory perception, an accident, common sense, or simple compassion toward another.

I invite you to journey with me as we explore the notion that we can learn to distinguish our own thoughts and feelings from those originating elsewhere. We pick up others? thoughts and feelings all the time and mistake them for our own, because heart intelligence is shared by all sentient beings. We can reclaim a language that goes beyond our five physical senses, one we enjoyed as infants and spontaneously used to communicate as children.

In her book, The Healing of Emotion, Chris Griscom writes:

When we focus on a tree, a plant, a bird, or other animals such as horses, dogs, cats ... the language we speak with them is the language of the heart ? that is, the universal means by which all forms of consciousness can communicate with each other.

Happily, we can learn to recognize, validate, and develop this language of the heart and soul to nourish our inner lives; we can learn to recognize the ways we communicate with all creatures that share this earth. They have much to tell us!

Of all the communications I have ever received from a living being ? human or otherwise ? perhaps the most heartrending came from a horse named Star. His guardian asked me to look into a chronic stiffness Star had in his neck. As I began to stroke his neck and gently lay my hands on him, he radiated an energy so intense it was tangible, even catching the attention of the ranch hands working in the barn. I could feel his pulse throbbing as he told me, in a flood of emotion, how profoundly grateful he was to his new guardian, who he believed had saved his life. With his previous person, he had been a competition horse, a hard-driven jumper who had begun to lose his edge as his youth faded. He had heard his people say that if he didn?t fetch a decent price at auction, he would be sent to the slaughterhouse. As a result, he was terrified. Afraid to sleep, he stood listening, every day and night, to the sounds of trucks coming and going from the ranch, filled with dread that one of them would be coming to take him away. Overwhelmed with stress and fear, his neck had frozen up from the strain of listening. Still strong and vital, he wasn?t ready to die.

By that point in the story, a few of the ranch hands stopped working altogether and came over, drawn by the strong feeling of longing emanating from the horse.

Star said that in his new life he was being retrained for dressage, balletic exhibition riding in which a horse and a person closely synchronize their movements to execute an elegant dance. The work was challenging but mentally satisfying and, above all, he loved being so attuned to a human being that they could move together as one. He had never felt such kinship, such union. He wanted the woman to know how much he loved her, both for giving him the chance to live and for the tremendous gift of the closeness and affection he had come to feel with her.

But even in his new environment, he could not sleep. Star feared that his new guardian had no idea of the depth of his gratitude and love for her and that one day she, too, would choose to let him go.

I couldn?t help but weep at his heartfelt declaration, and I could see tears in the eyes of the ranch hands looking on. Not wanting to break the connection, I signaled to one of them to get his guardian. She hadn?t known what was on Star?s mind, she said, but she had noticed that he seemed distracted. I asked her to close her eyes, take some deep breaths, and allow him to connect with her. When she did, she was almost bowled over by the depth of his emotion, his overwhelming devotion and gratitude. Stroking him, she promised that he would never again wait in terror, listening for the dreaded trucks. She assured him he had a permanent home under her protection and love.

I asked Star what else he needed. His answer was simple: ?I want to go to sleep.? We accompanied him to his stall, ranch hands and all, and watched in amazement as he gently and peacefully lay down and slept, finally getting the rest he so desperately needed.

Media reviews

“Of the many new books on interspecies communication, Gurney's is one of the most down-to-earth and thorough.... [H]er book offers clear steps for reaching animals and will enhance readers' understanding of the creatures in their lives.... helpful and enthralling.”
— Publishers Weekly

“Carol brings her special gift to animal guardians with this book. I have found her insights and communications very helpful with many of my patients. Her gentle and caring touch in communicating with animals brings comfort to their guardians, and her perceptions and insights can provide useful information to the holistic veterinary practitioner.”
— Charles E. Loops, D.V.M.

“In The Language of Animals, Carol beautifully and poignantly shares her insightful communication exercises and heartfelt program. Be reading this book, you too can enjoy a deeper connection to the magical kingdom of animals and further understand these incredible healers of the heart.”
— James Van Praagh, New York Times bestselling author of Talking to Heaven

“I took a workshop with Carol Gurney many years ago, and it totally turned around how I relate to animals. In this wonderful, warm book Carol will teach you the skills of communication with animals, and you will be forever grateful.”
— Louise L. Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Life

“The Language of Animals offers us great possibilities in deepening our connections with our kindred spirits. Carol's program can help us get in touch with levels of connection beyond our normal recognition.”
— Allen M. Schoen, D.V.M., MS, author of Kindred Spirits, and Director of Veterinary Institute for Therapeutic Alternatives (VITA)

“Carol Gurney can really express herself when it comes to teaching the art of communicating with animals. And believe me, it works! Carol's HeartTalk ProgramSM goes beyond talking with animals. It is a marvelous way to expand our relationships with the animals in our lives.”
— Arthur Myers, author of Communicating with Animals

Citations

• Publishers Weekly, 06/25/2001, Page 61