Anna Breytenbach

I remember that early in my journey, I'd often doubt what was coming through and the process for that matter. I was raised in a very ordinary suburban upbringing, nothing special, no wild camping trips or anything fantastic like that. And with my left brain logical side, I was always questioning what I was receiving.

I remember that early in my journey, I'd often doubt what was coming through and the process for that matter. I was raised in a very ordinary suburban upbringing, nothing special, no wild camping trips or anything fantastic like that. And with my left brain logical side, I was always questioning what I was receiving.

I'm so grateful that the protocol of the Institute was to do case studies that were double-blind case studies. We had to communicate with animals we didn't know, who lived with people we'd never met before. and had to ask a series of questions and write up and transcribe both sides of the conversation, so to speak.

I'm so grateful that the protocol of the Institute was to do case studies that were double-blind case studies. We had to communicate with animals we didn't know, who lived with people we'd never met before. and had to ask a series of questions and write up and transcribe both sides of the conversation, so to speak.

And then the animal's person and the Institute would vet all of that for accuracy or not, you know, and how we were doing. And I must say, the doubting mind has amazing ways to try to explain away information that didn't originate from my own mind. It just really does.

And then the animal's person and the Institute would vet all of that for accuracy or not, you know, and how we were doing. And I must say, the doubting mind has amazing ways to try to explain away information that didn't originate from my own mind. It just really does.

I would make myself believe that if I was seeing a green tennis ball, it might be because my favorite color is green or I'd forgotten to make that tennis appointment. Instead, it just really is the dog's favorite toy. But there was one moment that just really made me finally intend to drop that skepticism. I was communicating with a dog who I'd never met, who lived far away outside Sacramento.

I would make myself believe that if I was seeing a green tennis ball, it might be because my favorite color is green or I'd forgotten to make that tennis appointment. Instead, it just really is the dog's favorite toy. But there was one moment that just really made me finally intend to drop that skepticism. I was communicating with a dog who I'd never met, who lived far away outside Sacramento.

And one of the standard questions we asked all these cats and dogs was, you know, is there anything missing from your life? Obviously trying to be helpful and give them whatever they might want. Usual answers were, you know, more walks or different kind of food.

And one of the standard questions we asked all these cats and dogs was, you know, is there anything missing from your life? Obviously trying to be helpful and give them whatever they might want. Usual answers were, you know, more walks or different kind of food.

so that's the other problem in this matter of skepticism is we have some possible imagined answers already there and we have to on you know on the sort of internal level within myself i have to listen more deeply to the more subtle soft voice that the intuition is bringing instead of the loud data of possible answers that my mind already has anyway i asked this dog is there anything missing from your life

so that's the other problem in this matter of skepticism is we have some possible imagined answers already there and we have to on you know on the sort of internal level within myself i have to listen more deeply to the more subtle soft voice that the intuition is bringing instead of the loud data of possible answers that my mind already has anyway i asked this dog is there anything missing from your life

Immediately, I got a very brief mental flash of a bald eagle flying through the sky and then the upper part of a man's arm. And I sort of shook my head, rubbed my eyes and asked again. Nothing, just deafening silence. Embarrassed, I wrote it down.

Immediately, I got a very brief mental flash of a bald eagle flying through the sky and then the upper part of a man's arm. And I sort of shook my head, rubbed my eyes and asked again. Nothing, just deafening silence. Embarrassed, I wrote it down.

I didn't want to write it down and get a prorating from my mentors for such rubbish, but I wrote it down and gave feedback to the lady who burst into tears. Apparently her young husband had died a year before in a car crash and he had had a tattoo of a bald eagle's head on his bicep.

I didn't want to write it down and get a prorating from my mentors for such rubbish, but I wrote it down and gave feedback to the lady who burst into tears. Apparently her young husband had died a year before in a car crash and he had had a tattoo of a bald eagle's head on his bicep.

And that was the dog showing me that, of course, who he was missing was the other man in his life, by those unique identifiers. And after that, I thought, goodness me, okay, I'm just going to trust. And I don't always get it right. It's a matter of fine-tuning and practice. And if I don't understand it, that doesn't matter.

And that was the dog showing me that, of course, who he was missing was the other man in his life, by those unique identifiers. And after that, I thought, goodness me, okay, I'm just going to trust. And I don't always get it right. It's a matter of fine-tuning and practice. And if I don't understand it, that doesn't matter.

A lot of this work, quite frankly, is work on self and continuing to get my ego out of the way, my desire to know, my attachment to the outcome, my hoped-for answers. Which is why it's often the most difficult to connect with our own animals, because we have such a vested interest emotionally in what their answers are.

A lot of this work, quite frankly, is work on self and continuing to get my ego out of the way, my desire to know, my attachment to the outcome, my hoped-for answers. Which is why it's often the most difficult to connect with our own animals, because we have such a vested interest emotionally in what their answers are.