Last week I read an interesting fact about birdsong.
It’s actually music to our nervous system and naturally calming to us because for hundreds of thousands of years, birds have always sung when there are no predators around. If they sense danger, they go silent. So within us, a subconscious connection developed between birdsong and safety as we evolved as a human race. (Now of course we can find thousands of birdsong recordings just a click away to help us relax and decompress.)
A few days after I read about the birdsong effect, I heard someone on TV say that all the birds stopped singing a few days before the Northridge earthquake, a devastating event that struck California thirty years ago. As usual, when the same topic comes into my orbit more than once in a close period of time, I pay attention, and really consider the cosmic message.
So it’s like the birds are giving us an “everything’s awesome” message when they sing and a clear head's up when they go silent. And our natural instinct can tap into that.
When we moved into our current apartment, I was shocked and thrilled at how much singing I could hear from the birds out our windows thanks to so many beautiful trees in our Brooklyn neighborhood. It always makes me feel so happy in my home.
During my first trip to Costa Rica for a retreat with horses, I stayed in a cabin nestled in a rain forest near a volcano. The decibel level of the birds and insects in that setting was unlike anything I’d ever heard. Listening to it from the cabin’s deck was an intense but amazing experience. It quieted down a little at night (that’s when the insect-leg-tapping on the windows began), but then the morning shift started between five and six a.m., and I’d wake up to all the squawks, chirps, hums, and buzzes…many I’d never heard in person before.
I remember it making me super aware of how this was their world, and I was just visiting. But it made me feel welcome, too. There was nothing aggressive about it…it felt more like an exuberance of existence. And that made me feel amazing and exciting, setting me up for an experience of a lifetime with the horses.
Observing how a herd functioned fascinated me. It was clear they were all connecting intuitively with each other all of the time. Horses out of each other’s line of physical sight would simultaneously switch roles in the herd, from grazer to lookout to nurturer. Their behavior flowed seamlessly as they took turns taking care of the herd and each other, all without thought, in a total synchronistic connection. Kind of like when the birds calm our nervous system with their song.
One day Mr. Big, the horse I was partnered with and was riding at the time, stopped short in the middle of an exercise because he knew my back was starting to hurt. I hadn’t told him, but he knew and took care of me because I was part of the herd.
Many years ago before I started doing intuitive work and energy healing, I was experiencing a chronic health issue and read a book that mentioned a shaman and shamanic healing. I distinctly remember pausing for a moment and wondering, “I wonder what a shaman would do with my health situation?”
The very next day, I received an email from a friend I hadn’t heard from in two years. The subject line read, “Do you want to take this class with me?” I opened the email to find a registration link to a shamanic healing class.
Through that class, I met a psychic who told me Reiki would help me. She referred me to a Reiki Master who eventually became my teacher. When I started doing Reiki for animals, the animals began giving me intuitive messages. Then I decided to study intuitive animal communication, and my life was officially magical.
That friend who emailed me is part of my herd. The birds around us are part of our herd. Horses demonstrate it beautifully — this way that the world is supposed to work. A synchronistic flow of information and support. Holding space for safety and healing one another.
Ever spontaneously feel like reaching out to someone in particular in your circle? Your instinctive text or phone call was probably exactly what they needed in that moment.
How many times has your own animal or an animal you’ve met given you what you needed? The other night, I was tired and stressed while making dinner. I turned my head and saw our cat Faro rolling around on the kitchen floor playing with an uncooked piece of pasta like it was the most epic toy in the universe. The rest of the night I felt great. Thankfully, I heard the message from the herd. 💜