Cake luckily rhymes with awake…. Let us see how this little Blog from the Animal Communication Workshop of this weekend develops…….

It always gladdens me when a participant arrives with a home-made cake for sharing at a workshop. It sort of indicates the sharing intention…. Hint for future participants here………..

In this case, a lovely, Courgette cake . It did not last long and a request was made for similar the following day!

The enthusiasm, energy and openness of the participants were immediately apparent and set the tone for the whole weekend.

As always, I am aware, to some extent, of the background, experience and expectations of those folk coming along, through the pre-course work they complete. This is quite important to me, for I do not wish to teach people to “suck eggs” but equally, need to ensure that the teaching is understandable and relevant for those people just stepping foot onto this path.

For this workshop, I was well aware, that it would prove interesting; with participants coming from, extremely experienced backgrounds and those who had never been on a workshop like this, nor had any experience of a more esoteric nature.

And yes, it was interesting and amazing!!

With participants with Shamanic, Reiki, Rahanni, Crystal, Mediumship, Animal therapy, and a great deal more, in their tool kits, we set off, toward learning about Animal Communication.

One of the participants freely shared at the start of the workshop “ I have no experience of any of this, but I am here, with an open heart and open to the possibilities that it may present” .

And, indeed , it did.

So during day one, we focused on self- belief, trust, “mindless mindfulness” (as I like to describe it!), intuition and so on, on our way to the specific learning about Animal Communication and our photographic practice at the end of that day.

But, my oh my, what didn’t we touch on, in addition……..Guides, Angels, Ascended Masters, Power and Spirit animals, Crystals, Devas, Dryads, Homeopathy, Sound and Colour frequencies and very many, discerning and incisive energy questions! None of which form the basis of the workshop particularly, bar energy bits!

I love inquisitiveness and discernment – very important.

Now of course, this was all discussed at a very high level given time constraints and I do not profess to be an expert in these areas at all, but to say a lot of ground was covered would be an understatement!

I always say at the start of the workshops, that it is about all learning from each other and willingly sharing views, experience and knowledge in a safe environment. Tea breaks and lunches were buzzing with people sharing information, book recommendations, ideas and thoughts ( even recipes and cleaning product recommendations – I like my workshops to be pragmatic too!).

Just observing and listening was a privilege. And then, slowly and softly, the “aha moments” and “realisations” began to emerge.

My job on these workshops is obviously to teach Animal Communication, but it is to also “hold space” for individuals to express what they need to and to find some of their own answers and to develop their own views and approaches. All were so supportive of each other.

So, after an intensive day, folk departed, anticipating the day 2, practice day.

As these practice days sometimes begin, there is a mix of excitement, along with trepidation.

A lovely sentence first thing on the Sunday morning ,“I am really not sure I will be able to do this today” from one participant, considering themselves very inexperienced.

Whilst I am sympathetic to their worries, I do inwardly smile too. I will refer to this, a little later in the learning from visiting guest animal teachers.

A note of thanks here, to two horses, who did not actually visit with us on Sunday, but with whom we were given the opportunity to communicate with, through photographs.

Feedback from their guardian will be shared through my private practice group.

Our first guest teacher, dear Velvet, a delightful rabbit.

Velvet, initially was a little quiet and still (to be expected) but as the group began to communicate with her, she started investigating, hopping about, with ears up. I will not detail, all of the information she shared in response to questions, with some excellent validation for participants, which is something, I consider very important.

Just one example: in sharing feedback to Velvet’s Guardian about her preferred food, the same participant, a “newbie” to this work, who had expressed concern about her ability earlier in the morning, shared that Velvet had communicated “cheese, bread and cucumber”. The participant was reluctant to share this as she felt, yes, cucumber made sense but surely the other information could not be correct for a rabbit? Velvet’s guardian, happily responded that Velvet, just prior to her arrival at the workshop, had stolen part of the guardian’s cheese and cumber sandwich. Validation indeed and just brilliant! Our next teacher, Wiggy, proudly emerging from his “sleepy pod” presented some interesting learning.

Again, with some super validated answers to questions from his guardian, Wiggy reminded the group that we should suspend all judgements in this work and not to allow our rational minds to step in and create a story about certain species of animals. So very important.

Our final visitor for the day ,highly intuitive, calm, gentle, healing ,Poppy.

Extremely interesting to note here, that Poppy, in wandering the room and stopping at each participant to say “Hi”, actively avoided contact with one our number. Yes, a person allergic to dogs, not dangerously so, but nevertheless. Again, excellent validated responses to questions from Poppy’s guardian, with some direct and specific instructions for her guardian! A further point of note, was an interesting mirroring response from Poppy to a participant, with shared resolved health issues to that of Poppy. Fascinating.

I always feel a little sad at the end of these workshops but I do know that folk will go on to form friendships and connections as a result. I talk about “ listening, understanding and making a difference” on these workshops for the animals that we come into contact with, but it seems, to me, the same is true for the participants. Often times, those very participants are the starfish that I refer to in a story I read at the end of the workshop. For many, it really is the start of a journey (sorry for the cliché) and they will begin to notice things, areas of interest will deepen and “call” to them, synchronicities will occur (though discernment again please… sometimes feathers are feathers), opportunities will present themselves, as a new way of looking at things, unfolds.

They will slowly, at their own speed, in their own way, at the right time, wake!

Notice how I did that, Yep, WAKE rhymes with CAKE !

Thank you for a wonderful weekend , I hope everyone appreciated what they achieved.

Participant feedback :

“I am impressed with your workshop structure, you are super organised.” “It was excellent, very good exercises, prior to practice.” “A lovely experience” “ the warmth of being with like- minded people.“ “I was unsure of what to expect, but I really enjoyed the two days” “ nothing could really be improved.” "I won’t worry about what others think” “ this will all come over time” “ lovely venue , lovely people.” “At first I was worried that I would not be able to do it and I was “winging it”, by the end of the weekend, I really felt I’d learnt a lot and achieved something.” ”It is still hard to do”, “ practice !”“ a lovely group”“ I was very happy with everything” “ new friends”, “ more confidence in my ability.” “The knowledge I am on the right path”, “ thank you so much, I really enjoyed meeting you and the whole weekend.” “I really enjoyed meeting people with different views and expectations” “ I found it very interesting and will continue to try to communicate with animals.” “Nothing could be improved” “ we all have different views and respect for each other”,” animals are amazing and we can learn a lot from them.” “A lovely lady, beautiful house”,” it has definitely opened my mind and views”, “ just lovely, more than met my expectations.” “Confirmed my abilities as a communicator”, “ I enjoyed working with a variety of live animals” “ sensitive sharing of all types of information in the group.” “It was very eye opening”, the self-belief work was very good”, “ believe in yourself and realise you are more capable than you think.” “I can’t just list the three things I will take from the weekend as the whole weekend was fab” “ from the weekend, I will take knowledge and more openness to things I do not yet understand.” ”I have a desire for more knowledge” “ met a wonderful group of people” “ lovely and inspiring feeling being around Sam’s energy.”