EP 189: Unleashing the Spiritual Bond We Have With Our Animals With Dog Shaman Sasha Armstrong

Sasha Armstrong is a world-renowned canine behaviorist and Dog Shaman.  She's an industry leader and innovator who optimizes the human-to-canine relationship through her proprietary process, The Inner Alpha Method™. Serving as an experienced educator, she guides us into a more intimate, holistic and natural relationship with our canines by helping us embody the essence of an Alpha.

Through observing wolves and researching the ancestry of the domesticated dog, Sasha discovered her innate ability to both understand their language and create deep connection. Mastering her craft for more than twenty years, Sasha has helped thousands of humans meet the needs of their dogs by bridging the communication gap, restoring healthy modern pack dynamics and uncovering details about both dog and human energies. 

She helps all ages of two and four legged friends by opening the door to deeper connection between human and animal and has been featured in Reader’s Digest, USA Today and as an expert on top podcasts and television shows. Sasha lives on a 60-acre farm in Northwest Illinois with her family of a pack of six dogs and six horses. 

Connect with Sasha here:
Website:  https://www.caninestateofmind.com/about

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Your life is your greatest work of art. It all relates back to the sickness of the past. Welcome to Integrate Yourself, everybody. I'm your host, Alison Pillow, and you can find me at FinallyThrivingProgramcom and AlisonPillowcom. Today I'm here with a very special guest, Sasha Armstrong. She is founder of Canine State of Mind and a renowned Canine behaviorist and dog shaman. She's an industry leader and innovator who optimizes the human-to-Canine relationship through her proprietary process, the inner alpha method. Serving as an experienced educator, she guides us into more intimate, holistic and natural relationship with our canines by helping us embody the essence of an alpha.

Speaker 1: 0:53

Sasha, thank you so much for coming on the show. I'm so excited you're here today. We're going to have so much fun talking about our pets and animals in general, because I haven't really had this on my show yet, this topic. I think it's really important because our relationship with our animals really is what brings us in, in a way, to the present moment in our lives. It also teaches us how to love unconditionally. In many ways, I think this is an important topic for people to bring in as it relates to health and wellness and their, of course, well-being. Thank you for coming to the show.

Speaker 2: 1:31

It's an honor to be here, Alison. It's a profound gift that we have to be in connection with animals. Yeah, they teach us so much right.

Speaker 2: 1:48

The gifts are endless and limitless. It's our time as humans to start giving back to them. It's time to really create a shift in the way that we understand them for exactly who and what they are. Right when we talk about dogs specifically, of course, I find that everybody is very aware of the beauties and the magic and the gifts that our dogs give to us. I think that even then, there's so much more that we're not aware of. Right, there's so much more to explore in that relationship and by truly taking ourselves and our human wants and needs outside of what we think our dogs are experiencing, living so closely with us is ultimately what returns the gifts that they give to us. So by us removing our humanness from the relationship, we're actually able to step into the most magnificent role and presence with our animals.

Speaker 1: 3:22

Yeah, yeah. So by humanness, I'm guessing you're meaning, like, our human projections, our human preferences, our emotional preferences, how we feel safe and secure ourselves. Many of us project that onto our pets, right? Is that what you're saying about that Exactly?

Speaker 2: 3:41

Exactly and even looking at how we speak of them. This is something where I talk a lot in my work and with clients. How we verbalize, how we word, how we describe our animals and the relationship that we have with them is so powerful. Word holds a lot of power and so when we use words like they are our pets, or we are their owners or their masters, or the dog needs to be trained or curved or controlled, well, this does a huge disservice to the relationship to the animal that we adore so much and it almost takes on a minimizing or a demeaning approach. So, as we think about the way that we speak, the way that we verbally acknowledge our animals and the relationship that actually defines it, it's what creates it.

Speaker 2: 4:55

So I invite everybody and when I say everybody, it's because we're programmed we don't even think about how we refer to our animals. Everybody says train your dog. The dog's the owner, they are our pets. So we really have to bring a mindfulness and awareness around that so that we can start molding and shaping and creating the relationship to exactly what we ideally want it to be. And it starts really. It starts there because it holds so much energy, and the energy is the language that we speak first and foremost, and it's the language that animals speak first and foremost, and that's where we come together in that universal way. Right, that we all that's something that we all have in common is that we communicate through our energy.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Absolutely. Yeah, that really resonates with me because what I hear you saying is you're setting the energy tone with your and the relationship of that energy with your. We used to call our pets our companions right Years ago, and that term isn't used as much anymore. Yeah, yeah, it's true. Yeah, you. Just you just sparked that in me. I was like, wow, yeah, that's, we really don't use that term anymore. That's so interesting.

Speaker 2: 6:30

Yeah, Well and even more Allison. It's. It's a testament to how, in my perspective, we have not evolved in our relationship with animals, but we have grown more and more disconnected from nature and from the teachings and the connection that we gain from animals. And currently, sadly, which is what I hope, to lead a movement to change, and that's what we're doing is to reconnect and remember that divine union, the regarding animals as the grandmaster teachers that they are. We don't own them, we're not here to train them. If anything, we're here to be in humble observation of the masterful teacher teachings that they have to teach us.

Speaker 2: 7:43

So, right now, it's it's very reverse and we need to bring the relationship, bring the dynamic back into a balanced state, because we have been in partnership with canines for 25, 30,000 years, maybe longer. Right, this is an ancient, profound, deeply. I think it is the deepest relationship and connection, the most powerful, that humans experience, because it takes us to a spiritual, source-connected way of being that we otherwise lose track of and get disconnected from in our day to day kind of unconscious survival. So, yeah, it's such a profound relationship and it always, just, you know, just inspires me beyond to talk about it Every time I talk about it.

Speaker 2: 9:04

I get emotional, I get full body chills. It's like it's just so beautiful.

Speaker 1: 9:10

Yeah, yeah, it's. It's so interesting what you're saying, sasha, because, yeah, we have had this relationship with animals for so long and I think part of it is that we have lost or disconnected from the energy of ourselves, right? So therefore, it's going to be hard to connect with the energy of other beings when we're, when we're in that state, and so it almost seems like you're not just working with the animal, you're also working with the person in the relationship there and the interdependence with that relationship. And the other thing that came up as you were talking was the word intelligence and natural intelligence. And what we tend to think of isn't as intelligence in our society is something that comes from the brain, something that is is learned or gone to. We go to school for intelligence, but really natural intelligence is found in nature, it's found in animals, and if we can slow down to even feel into that, that's going to be different than what we have learned. Intelligence is, it's going to be, it's going to open us up to a whole new world, right?

Speaker 2: 10:28

Completely yes, yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:33

So I want to. I want to get back to what something we were talking about before, which is you were telling me that you were. You got to a place where you just were so emotionally invested in your work. You had to take a step back, and I would love to hear more about that, because I've experienced that in the fitness industry. I was really getting frustrated at one point where I was kind of I felt like I was going over the same thing over and over again and it just wasn't sticking or landing with people and it was starting to get a little bit frustrating in some ways, and so I had to take a step back and kind of separate myself from being in it so much and identifying with this you know, being this person who's a fitness trainer and helping people with their health and wellness and take a step back and look and see okay, there is my center point in all of this and what is really happening. So I would love to hear your experience with what you're doing as well and how you did that.

Speaker 2: 14:00

So I've been doing my work since I was a child and I have gotten to numerous points throughout my journey where exactly my emotional investment and commitment to creating the most optimized existence experience for dogs and their humans. It became so draining for me to see that people and this kind of goes back to where we're currently at in the state of affairs with our animals, where we are at in relationship with them, which, of course, is a greater reflection of what's going on with the disconnection that we have with ourselves. Is that the unwillingness and resistance that I was met with for people to look at how they show up, take accountability and start to be a certain way. That required stepping outside of what was easy for them, even if that meant that they compromised the quality of life of the animal that they call their best friend. So throughout my process, I had to step back and recalibrate and take what I now think of as a sabbatical. I really had to take time away to disconnect and work and recalibrate in order to come back and reconnect in a way that truly, as you just said a little bit ago, that I can show up for my human clients the best version of myself, because ultimately, ali, algae Flight ofueprints when we want to transform and create the best possible relationship with our dogs, it has nothing to do with them, it has nothing to do with changing their behavior or correcting anything or fixing anything. It all comes back to us always.

Speaker 2: 16:42

What I'm finding now is a more expansive openness and a different vibration, that more and more people are starting to step into something deeper and more meaningful and they're starting to see that the outdated, old ways of being don't work. Not only do they not work, they're not functional. They don't help us to create dream affirmative relationships with ourselves, with the people around us, our family and, of course, our animals. I'm seeing this now more than ever, that openness, that willingness, and it's very inspiring and it's very exciting for me After all these years. Right, and I always laugh it's like you know, I've been doing my work for 25 years in this lifetime, but that doesn't include all the lifetimes before. So yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:56

Yeah, you kind of arrived with a purpose here, knowing what you're going to be doing and stepping into. We talked also before the show started about how this is a different time. 2024 is going to be more of that kind of energy coming in and people stepping into these roles that we've been working on for so long and it's been so hard and frustrating in the past and now it's going to, I feel, going to become easier Because people's consciousness is rising. We are, I think, people as a whole, even if they're not trying that hard. It's happening naturally just because of the earth changes that are happening and the solar flares and all of these things that we're connected to. We don't realize we're connected to and how interdependent that is as well, so that's really good news. So I think that's part of why we're going to be looking at our animals differently too, in a whole new relationship as well.

Speaker 1: 18:57

Like you say, are you finding it still challenging to get people out of that training my animal or my pet mindset into having a different kind of relationship with the animal? Because a lot of people you know I see this on the trail all the time People really try to control their dog or they get really anxious with their dog as another dog goes by, and I'm seeing this happen more and more over the years, and it's so interesting to me because I think, you know, many people personalize their dog so much it's like they become their child, you know, and we can get into the conversation of that too. With children it's a similar thing, but I think it's about control, and so maybe you can get into that aspect and what you're seeing and then that trend and what you're doing to help people with that as well.

Speaker 2: 19:58

I would say it is very challenging for people to let go of the control and let go of these very programmed ways of and really miss a misperception it's.

Speaker 2: 20:25

I think most people don't even understand where they got what they've gotten in regards to how they relate to their dog or how they speak of it.

Speaker 2: 20:38

But because the dog's presence in our life is so deep, it's so present, a dog is a reflection of us, yeah, and what we think and how we feel, and our wounding and our small ego, right. So, as what is behind control, the need to control fear, a fear of not being able to be this or that or that something bad is going to happen, or that our ego is bruised or all of the things, and the dog is the extension of that. And so again, it goes back to if we are not full and actively working to develop ourselves and take charge of ourselves and be the masters of ourselves, then ultimately that dysfunction and imbalance will be taken out and projected onto the dog. And the dog, as I say, for better or for worse, is stuck with the human Right. People don't really want to think about that. They have a perception and a belief that their dog loves them. I would disagree, and that's not my opinion. It's what the dogs tell me, right? So I want to get into that how you communicate with them too.

Speaker 1: 22:22

Yeah, that was beautiful. I love that because I've always think of animals as energy receivers. They receive our energy, they take it and they absorb it. They sometimes absorb a lot of negative energy from people as well, but they're it's such a, they are a gift in that way, as you were talking. It just got me thinking about how much, what a gift they are as a reflection for us, if we can see that in our lives. Right, and they are, it's true, unconditional love in so many ways, because they're not judging it, they're just taking it in for you. You know, it's so interesting. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 23:06

Well, when you think about it, the vast majority of the dog training industry is around tactics and tricks and obedience techniques that only exacerbate a disconnection and a stress, anxiety, nervous response from the animal. So all of my clients, I would say, have gone that route right, only to spiral down the funnel of dysfunction and dissatisfaction Right. And so they. They come to me and when we start actually aligning what is most important, which is the human thoughts and the humans energy, we actually never even have to do anything to address the dog's behavior. It all comes in to proper alignment Because dogs are divine channels from source. They are pure, right. They don't have goes. They don't have, you know they're. They don't have desires and agendas. You know their. Their existence is about being successful and surviving and carrying on lineage. That is their purpose. Nothing more, nothing less, right.

Speaker 2: 24:41

So when we, when we create this foundational, when we start really addressing, as you talked about this, this conduit, like we're, we are everything that goes on within us the dog is experiencing unfold. So to be going outside of ourselves and to put the energy and the focus on how the dog needs to be different or how the dog needs to show up this way and the dog needs to be obedient and the dog needs to do this. We're completely losing sight and focus of the most important component and ingredient for the harmonious nature of that relationship. It will never be that if our focus is outside of ourselves and quite frankly that applies to any area and aspect of a human's life Right, and we're. We're always looking for the fix, we're always looking for the pill, we're looking for the next craze and fad.

Speaker 2: 26:00

When you know to to solve the, you know the void, to heal the void and and the wounding, when, ultimately, everything that is inside of us, we have everything that we need inside of us, and so my clients that really start to go in and they start to explore their inner world and the inner mechanics of how they show up. It's like that the dog is like ready and waiting and willing to start. I mean, they're just, they're just there, ready, ready to respond. They're just literally like waiting for the human to get it together. Come on now.

Speaker 1: 26:51

When's it going to happen?

Speaker 2: 26:56

So that's that's with such patience and grace. However, we also are dealing with relationships that are pretty dysfunctional and broken down. I talk to a lot of people every day. I get really an overwhelming reach out from dog parents across the globe that are suffering. They're disempowered to differing degrees within their relationship, and so we have to understand that something needs to be. The approach needs to be different, right, and we really need to start Happing into this, this paradigm shift right where we're letting go of the stuff that once was, that never had a function, and it definitely doesn't now. So it's really exciting that people are Stepping into this whole new world because, ultimately, their lives change for the greater good, along with everybody that comes in contact with them.

Speaker 1: 28:20

I love that. Yes, that makes so much sense to me too. But, yeah, it's until someone brings that out for you to think about it like that, it's, it's, it's hidden, right, it's hidden. But I want to get also into something you mentioned earlier about the animals will tell are telling you something different, right, you say it's not coming from you, it's coming from the animals. I want to really hear more about how you communicate with the, with the animals, because I think that's so fascinating.

Speaker 2: 28:54

I would love to talk about it. It's one of my favorite favorite topics. So you said it earlier, allison. There's so much of our bond with our dogs, so so much time has spent in relationship with dogs, humanly projecting onto them right? So it would literally, allison, be like me saying, or me feeling, a certain way about you and regardless of what was going on for you, how you felt about me, I would already have assumed and expect and absolutely know that you feel the same way about me because of how I feel about you. So I would say that it's one of the most crucial. If there's anything that I can role and inspire humans to do, is to step outside of themselves and learn how to listen and maybe be okay with the fact that our dogs don't love us.

Speaker 1: 30:25

As much as we think we do right.

Speaker 2: 30:28

They teach us unconditional love, but that's acceptance. So for me, you might not unconditionally love someone or something, but from the teaching of the dog, it's an acceptance of what is, and dogs don't know how to be anything other than that. It's hardwired into them as a species, it's in their way of being, and so we translate it and perceive it as one thing, but for them it's totally different. They don't feel it or see it like we do. I see that this human projection is definitely one of the most dysfunctional aspects of the human-to-canine relationship. To allow our dogs to be who and what they are, as autonomous beings, honoring and respecting their language and their space, is exactly what they need. It's not a desire or a want, it's a need. It's a need when we can provide that to our dogs. That's when we see them shine. That's when we see the ideal versions, the optimized versions of our dogs emerge and be present all the time, and I don't see many dogs that have the opportunity to shine. Most clients haven't even seen the ideal, true spirit of their dogs because it's shadowed and burdened down by stress and anxiety and nervousness. And we as the humans, with all of the best intentions I believe that most humans have all of the best intentions for our dogs, it doesn't mean that they understand their dogs for who and what they are and that they're able to take actual steps and show up in a way every day that honors that. So how do we and again, this is not my opinion right, this is not something that I made up, this is coming straight from the wolf's mouth, right? So that's what our dogs need from us.

Speaker 2: 33:53

Now, how do we do that? How do we provide the best possible life experience, the most harmonized experience with our dogs, allowing them to believe in trust in us as their leaders? Well, we first have to understand them. We have to learn how to speak their language. We have to make sure that we're doing the work on ourselves so that we can regulate our nervous system.

Speaker 2: 34:25

Canine picks up a human pulse rate 100 times more intensely than we feel it ourselves. They detect epileptic seizures 24 hours before they happen. They can sniff out any kind of cancer known to man. These animals and their sensory systems and abilities to path any kind of human technology by light years. So we need to be in humble appreciation of them. So these are the ways that we can start showing up for them, and a lot of times, what that actually looks like is that we have to set our codependent human emotional needs aside in order to meet our dogs, because, ultimately, we want them to thrive, we want them to trust us, because what comes way before love, what do you have to have before love?

Speaker 1: 35:30

Trust yes.

Speaker 2: 35:33

And I don't see many dogs that trust their humans. In fact I see the opposite. I see animals that have taken on a job description within their relationship with their human that must be fulfilled. But a dog is not capable of fulfilling a leadership role in a world that they don't understand. But somebody has to do it in order for the pack to be successful and survive and for the lineage, the bloodlines, to carry on. Remember, that's their goal, that's surprise, that's what they live for.

Speaker 2: 36:22

So when our dogs take on this role because they know they're not fit for it, it causes such a sense of this regulation and stress and anxiety and nervousness and it shows up and manifests in all of the many ways. I'm sure even at times you've seen it show up with your dog. Everybody deals with it. This is not specific or unique to individual people. All dogs are dealing with this across the board and it manifests in different ways and it expresses itself to differing degrees of intensity. So fulfilling this most important, essential role in our relationship with our dogs is the golden expression of love. It's the greatest gift that we can give to them.

Speaker 1: 37:27

I love that. Oh man, yeah, yeah. So there's such a gift and in many ways that we don't even realize they're teaching us how to unconditionally love, if we can pay attention to that, and it sounds like the journey really is coming back to yourself and doing the inner work and there's teaching us that as well. That's so interesting and I'm guessing that and thank you for that was beautiful. I just love how you expressed that and articulated that, your experience and how you communicate with animals, and I was just curious, like I'm just curious, are you and I feel this too like we all probably experience a telepathic communication, whether pets are feeling right, but we sometimes don't always pay attention to it or give much merit to it. But that is what I feel like is happening. Hmm, Completely.

Speaker 2: 38:29

Isn't it funny right there, allison, did you catch yourself saying pet?

Speaker 1: 38:34

Oh, I did, I didn't even notice. Oh, my God.

Speaker 2: 38:39

There we go. So that's so. Obviously this takes such a as we speak, because what we speak we become, and so that awareness it's like we have to start. It's like creating a new pattern, a new behavior, right, it's so. It's wild how we just like, unconsciously, these are the words that we use, right, it's almost. You know, I mean, it's almost like saying it's like a negative self talk, like if you caught yourself, right, oh, allison, don't do that. Or, you know, it's like it's just going to like, almost like, exacerbate and continue that thought pattern and then it becomes something more. So it's really interesting.

Speaker 1: 39:27

That's yeah. I need to be attention to that for sure now, absolutely, and you will.

Speaker 2: 39:33

Yeah, and you will. And I love that you touch on this telepathic communication, because that is the intuition, that's our higher self, that is the heart, coherent space, right, that is where we can, when we can communicate through our heart centered energy, which then is connected to our brain. Obviously, our heart is the biggest brain, the smartest brain, and when this gets connected, we don't have to say words, we don't have to control, we don't have to manipulate, we don't have to correct, we correct, we don't have to fix, we don't have to micromanage and constantly be involved in helicoptering and hands on. And I mean this is what we do with our animals. And when people realize that they can communicate with their dog from a heart centered, energetic, telepathic, intuitive space, that is flow space, that is remembering what it was, that's going back into the sacred divine connection, the honoring of these animals and of our self, that we have experience but we've lost it. It still is there, the fibers, the tapestry. I look at it like a tapestry it's still, it hasn't unwoven, but it's getting quite frayed.

Speaker 2: 41:34

So we have to go back to that and that's where, if we can just go there and trust in that telepathic, intuitive communication, we're going to thrive. Our dogs are going to thrive. I mean, it's beautiful and it's really working. I love that quote like work smarter, not harder, and it's not even about the work, it's about a way of being, so to be a martyr, you don't have to be hard. The more that your people realize this, my clients realize this, that so much of what they've been told through all the misinformation that exists out in the dog industry and the training industry and I'm sure you experience this in your line of work in the fitness and health industry it's all this push, push, push, do this, this, this, and it's just rigid. It puts so much pressure and resistance on ourselves and on the relationship and especially on a free thinking animal that is essentially like reliant on us and forced to live with us. Most of our dogs don't choose to live with the people they live with, that's true, yeah.

Speaker 2: 43:29

That's a good thing to think about.

Speaker 1: 43:31

It's an interesting thing to think about.

Speaker 2: 43:33

I don't think a lot of people want to think about this?

Speaker 1: 43:36

Yeah, probably not. You have to face yourself. That's the scary part. It's so interesting because first time we talked over the phone before this interview, I remember I'm going to bring up something that came to mind because this changed my view on animals a little bit when I started to read some of Dolores Cannon's work and you're familiar with her and she has a series called Convoluted Universes.

Speaker 1: 44:05

I don't even know how many volumes of that is there is, but in one of the volumes I was reading it talked about so she does quantum healing, or she did when she was alive quantum healing hypnosis technique. So she puts people in hypnosis and then they will recall other lifetimes. It could be further back than we even know that exists. And one of the things I thought was interesting in one of the stories was this person was recalling a time where we have this story of, if you know, about light workers and how we've come down many times before to change humanity and then somewhere along the line we've abused the power of that and then things didn't really work out very well. So what this person was recalling was animals then tried to come down.

Speaker 1: 45:02

The beings came down as animals to teach people how to unconditionally love, without like having to use words or trying to teach people in the conventional way that light workers are trying to teach people. And I thought that was so interesting that these beings that are around us all the time, that are basically interdimensional beings that have this amazing healing ability, and just they're so and they're just incredible teachers for us too and we and it's like they must be so frustrated right now, you know, or excited, I don't know, but they've been here for a long time trying to teach us these things through their being, which is really interesting. I thought that was so interesting to learn about, so it really changed my perception of what a relationship is to animals, you know, and what we think of now.

Speaker 2: 46:05

So, yeah, I love that so much. It just really brings home everything that we're talking about. You know, it's, it's exactly that. They are here not to serve us. I mean, in essence, they are serving us, but they're here to teach us how we can serve ourselves at the highest level, which then also they get to be the beneficiaries of that. But they do it without ego, without an agenda right, without something in return, and so it really is this pure.

Speaker 2: 46:57

You know, we see Dogs that are in service, dogs that lead the blind, dogs that serve veterans, dogs that detect epileptic seizures, dogs that search and rescue, dogs that pull people off of them, off of mountains and, and you know, pull people out of the sea. I mean, you know, like, can I keep going? I mean, it's like, who and what else is capable of doing what they do? It's otherworldly, exactly what you're saying. It's pure magic. And so we get to humble ourselves and it's our responsibility to show up in the very best ways that we can, with great awareness and sensitivity and an allowance for them to be independent, autonomous beings. So we're just, you know, in awe of to be able to live with them and share.

Speaker 2: 48:13

I mean, you know just the studies that are done with women that sleep with their dogs or children. You know, like, the percentage of, like their REM sleep that they get, or how much they more they feel protected than even if they were laying next to their spouse, right, like I mean, it's just the dog is there. They feel that they, they revere the dog as their ultimate source of comfort and security. Children that couldn't you know, that can't read or that are, you know, stuck in a certain developmental phase, and you put them in front of a dog or a horse and all of a sudden, boom, it blows it. Just they are self expressed, it's like, okay. So, with all that being said, now the focus is on us. How can we show up to the best of our abilities to honor these sacred beings the way that they deserve?

Speaker 1: 49:27

That's it. I love that. That's. That's perfect. And and I want to also point out that you we focus a lot on dogs, but you work with all animals too. It's it.

Speaker 2: 49:40

I do.

Speaker 1: 49:40

Yeah, I do, especially horses too, right, yeah, yes, yes, and I've become like the crazy cat lady.

Speaker 2: 49:50

It's interesting, I've really developed this fascinating relationship with cats. Really, yeah, yes, yeah, it's something newer. It's something new and, wow, I've been. It's honestly, it's opening me up to this whole new, whole new world.

Speaker 1: 50:14

Yeah, yeah, well, quickly, I'd love to hear what you're finding out about cats. I've never, I've never. I'm allergic to cats, so I've never had a cat in my home or. But I love, I love cats, I love looking at them. They're beautiful, they always are drawn to me, and so I just thought I always think that's interesting and that's fine. I'm not like afraid of cats or anything, but it's, yeah, animals that I haven't. I don't really have a close, as close of a relationship as I do with dogs, so I just I'm curious to hear what you're learning about cats, yeah.

Speaker 2: 50:58

They are very like, like extreme mystical beings. But what… it hurts me because I see the way that our cats and our dogs live the environments that we put them in and they live the most hoxed lives. My cats. They live outside, they're completely outdoors. They dig, they run up trees, they scratch, bark, they kill rabbits and squirrels and mice and they get fed raw food. They're living their primal, instinctual life. They are living their best life.

Speaker 2: 51:58

I connect to cats all over, almost in an overwhelming that they're suffering. So they're suffering so acute from being stuck indoors. They get their claws torn out so that they don't destroy people's furniture. They get fed biologically species inappropriate food. They poop and pee in toxic litter. They get pumped up with vaccinations and flea and tick preventative. The list goes on and on and on. This doesn't just go for cats. This is the lives that our domesticated animals live. It really is an invitation for humans to completely up level and overhaul their home environment and what is being consumed on every level, from every angle and every aspect. What kind of environment are we living in? What? And then, therefore, our animals are also in that environment, experiencing it as well.

Speaker 2: 53:20

I feel like this is a whole other podcast that there's so much to dig into in this area. There's a lot of pain and suffering around, not just only as humans not showing up for our animals in the way that they need, but it's also the toxicity in how we infiltrate them in every aspect of their life. It's literally like I think in the 70s the lifespan of a golden retriever was between like 17 and 20 years old. Now it's between like eight and 10. Oh, really, I did not know that. Yeah, that's just one sliver. It's one example of what's going on.

Speaker 2: 54:27

How should be living into their 30s saying with cats Everybody wants longevity and vitality for their animals. How do we do that? What do we need to do to create that, to manifest that? I mean, there's a blueprint, for sure. But the most important thing to set our awareness on now is what are we feeding our animals? What kind of a vet do we go to? How many vaccinations yearly are we giving our animals? What kind of preventative medication are we giving them, and do we need to be doing that, and what kinds are the best? What is the least damning on their systems? What kind of products do we use to clean our home? What kind of products do we use to clean our animals? What do we use on our lawns? What kind of water are we drinking? What kind of animals just get tap?

Speaker 1: 55:50

water. That's true. I give my dog structured water. I started doing that recently when I got this structured water device Because I poured it into my plants and they were thriving. I was like, of course, yes, it's just thinking about it's actually, and I honestly think, sasha, if someone isn't doing that for themselves, it's going to be hard for them to do it for their animals. So it's like you have to start doing that for you first. How are you taking the steps to be healthy? And then you extend that, of course, to your animal, and obviously, like animals, I hope you and I know that they should be eating raw meat. They're meant to eat what they're going to find in the wild and that's going to be ideal. But a lot of this food that dogs and cats eat is very highly processed, much like humans are eating right now, and this is a whole other topic too.

Speaker 1: 56:55

It's like they're presenting with all these human diseases now. I can't even it's unfathomable to me to see pets with cancer and having to go to radiation and chemo treatments. I'm like what is happening right now? This is nuts, it's just crazy yeah.

Speaker 2: 57:16

Yeah, and it's interesting, allison, I've had a lot of clients over the years completely transform their personal health by way of doing it for their dog first. Yet another beautiful gift.

Speaker 1: 57:39

Absolutely. That is a great way to do it too. I love that. Yes, yes, I love it. Well, I'm like, yeah, and I'm in a lot of peace.

Speaker 2: 57:50

Oh sorry, I can keep going. No, go ahead, no, no please keep going, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 57:55

Well, a lot of the, as you said, the conditions and disease, this disease that we're seeing in our animals. Of course we can correlate that directly with their diet and their environment and everything that they consume. But then we're also looking at the stress, the high, stressful environments that they are exposed to in direct relationship with their humans, and that's where we're seeing the leading killers of dogs are, I mean, I am, diabetes and cancer and, as you said, every single kind of human cancer we're seeing now in dogs. And so you know, this is without going down a whole other rabbit hole of genetics and epigenetics and you know physical conditions that are caused by unresolved traumas and generational, you know, dysfunction and whatnot. But ultimately we are giving, we are infusing our dogs with our disease, and that's why we're seeing all of these human like.

Speaker 2: 59:22

What we typically know of is like, oh, dogs don't get that, but humans do, but now they are. So it's not just about changing the food, changing the environment changing. It's about changing the environment from a psychological and a behavioral and an emotional standpoint, just all of these factors weaving together to make a masterpiece right? That's what this is about, and if we leave one of those aspects, one of those components out of our blueprint. We're missing out, yeah, we're missing out for our dogs, our animals and for ourselves.

Speaker 1: 1:00:17

It's a holistic view point of it. Yeah, I wanted to Do you have a couple, five or ten more minutes I do. Okay, great, because I wanted to share a story about my dog. I had a dog before that almost looked exactly like the dog I have now. I had a dream one night this was after my other dog, cooper, had passed away and had a dream one night that this dog was running full force up to me and jumped up into my arms. I was like, oh, that's Cooper, is that Cooper? I wasn't sure. And not too long after that my husband's like I really want another dog, let's get another dog. And I'm like, okay, sure, and so we went to adopt a dog.

Speaker 1: 1:01:11

There's an organization in Portland that takes dogs off the street, gives them a new home, from Mexico, and then you can adopt those dogs. And Cooper was a Chawini is what we called him, because we weren't really sure. He's a different breed mixed in. So this dog we saw a picture of this dog and it looked bigger than he is In person. It looked like a completely different dog. It was really weird. And then when we go to meet him, he looks almost exactly like Cooper and the other thing is, he had some kind of infection in his eye, so they had taken his eye out before we got him, so he only has one eye, but he is so special and it was really interesting that I feel like I really feel like I saw him in my dreams. He came to me in my dreams before real life, because it was weird, because we saw this picture and we're like, yeah, we're going to adopt him, but it wasn't the same dog in the picture, which was really interesting, so he wanted to. I feel like he was meant to be in our lives and he's just been such a special, special animal in our lives ever since. I mean, he's really incredible. And, yeah, I just feel like there is this, this, this connection if we can really pay attention that it transcends all of these dogmatic beliefs, so to speak that we are learned, that we get you know that we, we learn in our society about dogs, and so I just thought that was really interesting.

Speaker 1: 1:03:03

And I also want to point out to my audience that what I'm picking up with you, sasha, is, as you share, what you have learned about animals. These aren't judgments about what other people are doing. It's what you are picking up from what the animals are communicating to you. And so we can all do this right. We can all do this. If you just feel into your heart and you can, you can start picking up on those telepathic communications too, just like you do when you live with someone, like a partner, for so long. You can almost guess what their thoughts are. You know in that moment, like our husband, my husband and I have that kind of relationship. It's really interesting, and so that can be the same way with I just said pets again, didn't I? That can be the same thing with your animals, yeah, so I'm learning too.

Speaker 2: 1:03:57

That's beautiful. That's such a beautiful story. Oh my gosh, I got I got the full body chills hearing that and and I just want to quickly touch on it because, as I said earlier, you know, our dogs are stuck with us right, for better or for worse. There are. I have encountered personally and with you and with others, many others over the years, stories of these very deep soul connections and bonds, and I always have a pack, a big pack, and I feel like I've had some of the most incredible animals in my life and teachers, and I feel that when the new ones come in, they are gifts from the ones that are have passed on in a physical world but are ever present and more closely linked and connected to me than ever. I believe in the ones they've passed on. I almost sounds kind of strange for some, maybe not for me, maybe not for you, but I feel even a deeper connection with their spirit once they've transcended. But I absolutely know, without question I got the validation that that dog was a gift from.

Speaker 1: 1:05:33

Cooper. Yeah, cooper was with us for 20 years Wow see, that's beautiful. Yeah, that's amazing.

Speaker 2: 1:05:41

I love that.

Speaker 1: 1:05:43

And Adam is the one who came in, so he came in with that name, which I thought was so cute. It is, it, is it is adorable. Yeah, and we love him so much. So, yeah, that makes sense. Oh my God, and it almost. It's funny because that resonates. I get the goosebumps when you say that, because he looks almost just like Cooper. So it's like, of course it's a gift from Cooper, right yeah?

Speaker 2: 1:06:09

Yeah, and even noticing too the nuance, the difference I know when I've been just reunited with a soul, a canine soul, in this lifetime. As a matter of fact, I have one that's sleeping right behind me 100%. This dog and I have been together for many lifetimes, but there's that presence, that kind of connection. And then there are the dogs that I know are reincarnated.

Speaker 1: 1:06:47

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:06:48

They're coming back. They're coming back as another dog, even as different human features in my life.

Speaker 1: 1:06:58

It's yeah again a whole other podcast. Oh my God, we'll have to do this again, so you can talk about that. That sounds really interesting.

Speaker 2: 1:07:06

It is it is. Yeah, very interesting.

Speaker 1: 1:07:10

Oh, my God, yes absolutely Alison.

Speaker 2: 1:07:13

Everybody can access this, Everybody can do it. It's just. All it takes is an awareness and an openness and a willingness and a desire, and it also takes a level of will and discipline because we have to evaporate. Most people have very deeply codependent relationships with their dogs. I mean, we're literally breeding dogs that we want to be codependent with. That's the whole nature of doodle.

Speaker 1: 1:07:55

That's so true, I didn't even think about it like that. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2: 1:07:58

Yeah, that's the doodle breed is that we're breeding animals to look and act like teddy bears. But what's a teddy bear to a child? Something that they can cry on, that they can smother, that they can fall asleep with, that they can lay all of their emotional burden on, their comfort, their security? Now imagine how overwhelming and what a burden that causes, I mean that is for the dog. Imagine how much stress that puts on the dog. Going back to this idea of balance, we need to ensure that both species have their needs met and are balanced and harmonious in this profound partnership.

Speaker 1: 1:09:05

That's lovely. Thank you so much, sasha, and I would love for you to leave my audience with a way to get in touch with you if they want to work with you. This has been such a beautiful conversation, so thank you so much for being here and sharing your wisdom.

Speaker 2: 1:09:27

Thank you. I love connecting with you and, of course, always talking about this. You can find me at my website, caninestateofmindcom, and that's canine spelled out C-A-N-I-N-E caninestateofmindcom. And then I'm also on Instagram.

Speaker 1: 1:09:52

Wonderful. Thank you so much. And, oh my gosh, we're going to do this again. We're going to have a part two.

Speaker 2: 1:10:00

Yes, yes, we will.

Speaker 1: 1:10:01

We will Volume one, that's right, because there's more to talk about. Wow, we just opened up so much. So thank you, sasha, and yeah, thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 1:10:14

Thank you, Allison.

Speaker 1: 1:10:24

Thanks for having me on the show. Yeah Nice, so much fun.