What the Animals Teach Us About Healthy Boundaries

May 17, 2018

By Rosalie Juravle

"Walls keep everybody out. Boundaries teach people where the door is."
– Mark Groves

Change is exciting. It allows old stagnation that no longer serves us to dissipate. It allows for new awareness and for life to work for you and through you.

Change can be easy and effortless. Or it can come with pain. Apparently, I used to like my lessons to hit me like a two-by-four over the head. Until I decided I'd prefer a gentler approach. The gentler approach, I found, had to do with healthy boundaries. Of course, as an animal professional I thought, "I wonder how the animals will reflect that around me now that I'm exploring it?"

Let's see what the animals show us.

When working with animals we always start with permissions. Just like we learn in Fundamentals! We need permission to work with them. "Do I have permission to proceed?" The animal's body language gives feedback and clues.

In the above photo, Rosalie and Claire pose for an obedience award. Rosalie says, "Claire and I are basically twins. And we learned healthy boundaries together. She had been seriously attacked by a large dog. I also had issues with people "attacking." At 10-years-old, Claire and I started obedience to work through it. I didn't want to be afraid for my little dogs and I didn't want her to be afraid either. Now, she struts right past by big dogs. And they bow to her. Its all attitude. I love it! And her! (And "coincidentally" I've also changed and the circle of people around me has changed as well.)
Permissions are also necessary and conducive to respecting another's model of the world. What you are interpreting or experiencing may not be that of the other. In the case of working with animals, if you are willing to listen and observe without attachment they will show you very clearly if it's okay to proceed. Animals have no qualms about expressing this. When an animal must escalate their communication--when the calming signals increase and tip to the side of warning signals--it means that their model of the world is not being respected or heard. This can lead to growls, bites, scratches, and kicks.

Have you considered how healthy boundaries and being able to express yourself impacts how others treat you?

A lack of healthy boundaries can produce symptoms like exhaustion, overwhelm, being a doormat, stuck in your head, sleep issues, waking up tired, poor immune system, digestive issues, and a pain body.

When you have healthy boundaries in place you get to experience a close inner circle of amazing people that share your values, that love you unconditionally and genuinely want you to succeed. You will feel inner peace, time for yourself, proper rest, flexibility physically and mentally, and a healthy immune system, just to name a few.

When our inner village has a healthy relationship with the outer village, our immune system allows us to call pathology when we see it and all its subtle iterations. Energetically and physically we are sending the message, "I see you, here's the line, and you will go no further." Instead of wasted energy on endless dramas, this frees the system to co-create the most beautiful life you can dream.

If you've ever thought about taking Access for Animals, or you already have, I invite you to find a class in your area and explore it with curiosity from the perspective of, "what can the animals teach me about myself and healthy boundaries?"

My promise to you is this: It will change your health, your relationship with others, and the most important relationship you have, the one with yourself.

Interested in a class based on a solid philosophy of mutual respect and healthy boundaries?

Come and play with us. It's going to be a transformative and fun year.

Rosalie will be teaching a combination BodyTalk Access for Humans and Animal class:

BodyTalk Access for Humans and Animals
June 9-10, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

We caught up with Rosalie and asked her 5 questions we like to ask all of our contributors. In the photos at right, she shares some bonding time with Dinah.

  1. If you could be doing anything in the world at this moment, what would it be?
    Sitting with nature, with my animals, tending my garden and playing my singing bowls for them.
  2. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to and why?
    I have always been drawn to the name Celeste; I love the night sky and feel connected to heavenly bodies. My other choice would be Selene. Just now, I wondered what it meant so I looked it up to find, Selene is an archaic lunar deity. This made me laugh as I hold new moon and full moon ceremonies each month. And I created a delicious heart-opening chocolate elixir which I call my Luna Lattes.
  3. What is the best piece of advice you were ever given?
    Life is a series of experiments. Run an experiment.
  4. Do you have a favorite personal saying or mantra?
    "There is no failure. There's only feedback." And, "I wonder ... ?"
  5. Why BodyTalk, Access or the Life Sciences?
    Simple. Effective. Expanding awareness and waking up consciousness. Limitless potential. Life changing. Can be done anywhere. What could be better? I use the Access program every day for myself and animals to keep up the basics in our daily self-care ritual. BodyTalk has opened a door to a career doing something I absolutely love. It empowers people to go beyond past experiences and meet their authentic selves. The Life Sciences have been incorporated into my day-to-day living, and the system as a whole has allowed me to better understand myself. It's given me a framework for my intense subtle senses to work with so that life seems to flow with a gentle softness.

Rosalie is passionate about the human-animal bond and runs her practice and workshops out of her newly built office, At One Wellness in Regina, Saskatchewan. She is also a co-founder of the Los Angeles-based company, Playshop Transformations. Connecting highly sensitive people through deep personal development in a fun and effortless way, nourishing the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies, so they can navigate life without feeling fragmented and losing pieces of themselves to those around them.
info@atonewellness.net
www.AtOneWellness.net

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