Reiki from the Farm™
Reiki from the Farm™
Life Lessons from Breaker-Dawn: Embracing Wisdom, Courage, and Adaptability
In this episode of Reiki from the Farm™, we celebrate the life and wisdom of Breaker-Dawn, our beloved horse who recently crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
Through her story, we explore the profound lessons she taught us about self-acceptance, adaptability, and the deep connection we share with our animal companions.
Join us as we delve into compassionate euthanasia, the power of animal communication, and the healing energies of Reiki.
We'll also guide you through a special Reiki meditation to honour Breaker-Dawn's spirit and integrate her wisdom into our daily lives.
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Pam Allen-LeBlanc is a scientist, businesswoman, and Licensed Reiki Master Teacher (LRMT) with the International Center for Reiki Training.
Get in Touch with Pam:
Email: pam@reikifromthefarm.com
Sign up for the Reiki from the Farm Newsletter & learn about upcoming Reiki Shares: http://eepurl.com/dFm-19
A special thanks goes out to Music from Pixabay for the intro music and to Nate Miller for the meditation music.
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Hi and welcome to the Reiki from the Farm podcast brought to you by me, Pam Allen Leblanc from Hidden Brook Farm. I am a scientist, a businesswoman, and a licensed Reiki master teacher with the International Center for Reiki Training. Each week in this podcast you'll be entertained as you learn about a wide variety of relevant Reiki topics, helping you become a more knowledgeable and effective Reiki practitioner. We caution you though, this podcast may also dramatically improve your life, and we are so happy that you're here. I just like to welcome everyone to this month's Reiki share and this week's podcast. Before we begin I just like to let everybody know a little bit of news. For those of you who've studied animal communication with me there is a almost a manual ready. I had the opportunity to teach animal communication to 40 beautiful Asian students from Korea, China, and Hong Kong on the weekend. And I also had a few folks joining from France and from Australia. And in order to teach that number of students in three different languages I had to be really organized. So although I've taught animal communication for 14 years, we finally have a manual. If you've studied this with me in the past, I'm going to be putting the manual in our Facebook group. We have a private Facebook group for everybody who's studied animal communication with me, and the only thing is I just, I realized as we went through the class, there are just a few more things that I want to add to the manual. There's about three additional pages. So once I've had a chance to do that, Go ahead and look for that in our Facebook group that is going to be available to all of you if you've studied in the past. You will probably notice from the manual that the class has evolved quite a bit, so if any of you want to review the animal communication class that you've already taken with me, you Please feel free to do that and you can do that at half of the fee. Now the next animal communication class is coming up at the beginning of December, but I do want to let you know that after that class we will also have an animal communication level three class which isn't even on my calendar yet. And that class is for people who would like to become professional practitioners of animal communication. And we're going to be doing that over two evenings, December 9th. And 10th. So it's not on my calendar yet, but it is going to be there soon. And I am also teaching that following weekend, the 14th and 15th of December an animal communication level 3 class. for the Asian students, but you should have a manual soon. I also wanted to let you know that there is still room in our Campobello classes July 22nd to 26th is Reiki level one and two in masters and then July 29th. to August 2nd is our Animal Reiki Level 1 and 2 in Masters. And on the Tuesday evening, both of those weeks, we will be going out whale watching. The whales are already there in Campobello. They came by and had coffee with me while my husband and I were down on holidays, both mornings that I was out having coffee on the front porch. And so we should have a really nice time. With them. I also want to let people know that if you feel called to take Reiki further, we have a Kaurna Reiki class coming up August 12th to 16th. And this is very early mornings in North America, late mornings for our European students, and it will be evenings in Australia and Asia. So please feel free to join that if you'd like. And we also have an animal Reiki masterclass coming up geared at our Asian students on August 19th to 23rd. And again, that's very early mornings for North America. Late mornings for Europe and evenings for Australia and Asia. Then in October, we're going to be teaching all hybrid classes, both here and at the farm. And I should mention that those Campobello classes are hybrid classes, meaning you could join us online or in person, the same as the ones in October. So guys, I just want to welcome you. This is a very special episode of our Reiki from the Farm podcast because today we're celebrating the life and wisdom of a horse in our herd that we recently had to say goodbye to, our beloved Breaker Dawn. Through her story, though, she has asked me. to explore some of the lessons that she taught us about things like self acceptance, adaptability, and the deep connection that we share with our animal companions. She asked me to tell her story in a way that could inspire each of us today to live our lives the way that she did. We're also going to talk about a, what can be a difficult topic of compassionate euthanasia, because that's what we decided to do for Break or Dawn. So I'd like to walk you through that a little bit and what that was like. And I know for those of you who are listening, who teach animal Reiki, that May wind up being a very valuable story that can help you with your clients. I also want to talk about how animal communication can tie into all of that. And also of course, the beautiful healing energies of Reiki. And as always, we'll be going through a lovely. meditation at the end to honor Breaker Dawn's spirit and just help us integrate her wisdom into our daily lives. Let's begin. So today I'd like to start with an invocation, just bringing your hands together in Gassho, activating Reiki. I don't know about you, but there's been so much going on in my life lately that I have not So I invite you to just invite all of the Reiki symbols that you feel guided to bring in today, just to surround you. You may wish to draw them on your hands or in your mind, just envisioning them in the room and just breathing deeply as a light from the highest heavens and the light from the divine earth. Travel down and up to in front of your hands, then flow through your hands and into your heart, the gift of love. And we just want to take a moment today to really feel into that love. There's the love that we have for each other, just being a part of this community. And there's the love that we have for those that we're close to in our lives, friends and family. There's the love that we have for animals. And then there's this universal love from source or God, whatever name that you use from the earth, from Reiki, from the universe. It's always available to us and it runs through us. It is our life force. And so just allowing yourself to be held for a moment, nurtured. Embraced by this love that knows you intimately and is fully capable of taking care of all of your needs. So often we don't take the time to acknowledge it and touch base with it. And in the busyness that's been my life lately, I know that I haven't done this as often as I need to keep me balanced and stable. And we remember today that energy can never be created or destroyed. We remember that those that we love, whether they're four legged or two legged, winged or finned, when their energy transforms, it doesn't mean that they're gone or lost. And so we just acknowledge this energy taking its different form when we think of our loved ones. And we realize that they too are held. In the beauty of the embrace of that universal energy that is available to all of us, and in fact, more than ever, they embody that energy. We take a moment to give thanks. For the gift of Reiki, for that ability that it gives us to move through even the most difficult of situations. We take a moment to thank the teachers who've come before us, bringing us these energies, this gift, and to thank each other. Because in being here together today, whether you're With me online right now, or listening later, our hearts are coming together, our energies are coming together, and we're all supporting each other's journeys. Thank you for that. We say thank you to the Divine Animal Kingdom, the Brothers and Sisters of the Light, and to the loved ones in our lives that help us feel part of a community. Whether they're two legged or four, winged or finned, and we take a moment as well now to just acknowledge your beauty, because you're beautiful, and as the animals tell us, when you but recognize your beauty, and how beautiful you are, you will create your lives from that space, and so we realize that even in death, there is life. And in everything, there is beauty. Thank you. And Namaste. You can take as long as you'd like. Coming back. Tonight, I had a request from my beautiful Breaker Dawn to share some of her life story and the many lessons that she has for us. In fact, after she passed, many of you knew that on the Solstice. She had chosen to go, and so we honored her wish with compassionate euthanasia. And since then, she's installed herself as a guide for me. With her true sense of sass and self worth, she installed herself right behind me, in the middle of my shoulder blades. In my blind spot where I can't see her because she knew that even when she was 28 years old and her body was failing, I still thought she was beautiful, even though I know on the other side, she probably has regained her youthful vigor, and maybe her form looks more like it did when she was younger. She knew that I thought her form at 28 was beautiful. was so beautiful that she is very happy for me to remember her that way. And so she set herself up in my blind spot so that I can't see her, but I think of her in the form that she was in toward the end. Some might have considered it a diminished form, but her spirit was so strong that although her body was weaker, I didn't find it diminished at all. And that's how she'd like me to remember her. She told me that she installed herself there because from the beginning of my Reiki journey, even though I didn't understand it, my horses, Buddy and Honey, set themselves up as my Reiki guides. And one of them, Buddy is to my left, Honey is to my right, and they walk with me. into this whole journey. They've walked with me the whole way. And I was very confused at first. I asked them, how can you be my Reiki guides? You're still living. And they said everybody knows that horses can walk between the worlds. So they didn't find that it was different at all, that they could be a Reiki guide to me, even though they're living here on the farm with me. But Breaker Dawn set herself up between Buddy and Honey. And she said, she actually set her nose on it. at the part of my back that often the part of my spine that often is sore and gets a bit of a kink in it. And she says, whenever I'm reluctant to step into a part of my path, that's good for me, she's going to take her nose and give me a shove into it. And in fact, she used to use her nose to give us a shove quite often in life. So it makes sense that's what she decided to do. So Breaker Dawn was with us for 16 years from the time that she was 12, and we noticed about three years ago, she was going blind. And we noticed that her teeth were having a harder job keeping, chewing her food. And so her body condition was it took a little bit to keep her body in good condition. She was still one of the prettiest moving horses in my pasture though. She was so beautiful, but her body was wearing out. So each year for the past three years, she would have Rough days one winter, two winters ago, I thought she was ready to go, and she just wasn't enjoying life at that particular winter, and I said, Are you ready to go, break or dawn? And that's the gift of animal communication. She said, No, not yet. And I was a bit surprised. Her demeanor didn't, she didn't seem to be having that much fun. I guess it was two years ago. She was 26. But later that year Bertina, my assistant, lost her dog. And her dog had been with her for quite some time. And Bertina and Don have a very special relationship. Bertina Don is as much Bertina's horse as she is mine, maybe more. And Dawn explained to me, after Bertina lost her dog, that she was aware that was going to happen and that it wouldn't have been fair for Bertina to have to lose both of them the same winter. It would have been very difficult for her. The following year she had a great, actually, The following summer she didn't enjoy fly season. She never did. Last summer, she didn't enjoy fly season. And she said she was ready to go. And we asked her, okay, great, please tell us when. And after she got through fly season, she changed her mind. She was happy to go through another year, which was lovely. But then we always check in with her now and then. And After the veterinarian was out to float her teeth or to do her dental work this year, he said, look, she just doesn't have much for teeth left to grind her food. There's not much more we can do for her. And so I knew That's usually with horses there. That's the time when they're coming toward the end. So I asked her, and in fact, she said yes, and she would let us know she, she was getting ready. And then she let Bertina know she was ready to go. So I touched base with her and I said, have you thought about when? And I was thinking this was in June, early June and I said, have you thought about when you would like to go, might have even been mid June or, no, I think it was early June, and I thought she would say November, sometime before winter. She said June 27th. very specifically. And it was much earlier than I thought, but I contacted the veterinarian and he was on holidays then. I was also going to be away. So we asked her if June 21st would work. She said it would. And then that's very difficult though for people to do. You always wonder, you question yourself, gosh, did I understand that right? Am I making the right decision? I had a number of other animal communicators. Just double check. And she was very happy with that decision. And so I think that's such a gift through animal Reiki and animal communication, just that opportunity to be able to ask an animal what they prefer. Sometimes I even wonder, I think it's kinder. So one of the things that as Colleen and Robin. And Sue and I were creating ICRT Animal Reiki, and we were just listening to the energy. One of the questions that the animals told us to ask when an animal is getting toward the end of their life is, Are you prolonging their life or prolonging their death? And Everybody knows the answer to that. As animal Reiki practitioners, we don't make a decision for our clients. We don't advise. This is a very personal decision that's between every animal and their human caregiver. We support whatever decision. an animal caregiver makes regardless, if, even if that's not a decision we would make, we always support it. And so the question though, that we invite our clients to ask is, am I prolonging their life or prolonging their death? If you're prolonging their life, then by all means continue on. But if you're prolonging their death, then maybe It's time to make a decision and every person knows the answer to that if they really look deep within themselves and are very honest about it. As we were working through, though, this section on death and dying and so on, and how we can support people in that situation with animal Reiki, We discovered through Colleen's little mini horse Gator he actually asked her to write a section on behalf of him for compassionate euthanasia. Now Gator had a few crises in his life. He was getting very aged, and He said, I would rather not go at a time of crisis. That's going to be harder for you, harder for me, harder for the vet. It's just going to be harder for everyone. So what he advised Colleen and her partner, she had a, another woman who was part caregiver or of Gator. And what she advised them to do is pick a day that's good for you, and good for the veterinarian, and good for me, before I'm in crisis, and let's, make this a beautiful ceremony, rather than a horrible and difficult event. Based on this knowledge, that is, of course, what we decided to do for Breaker Dawn was Compassionate Euthanasia. Interestingly, I, my veterinarian is a very compassionate individual and he's been with my horses. Since we moved to the farm 25 years ago in 1999, he came out and worked on my first horses then, and he's been with them all along, and so he's known Breaker Don for the last 16 years, and it was very important to me that He do this, but I also know that this is very difficult for him. He's very kind and I knew that coming out and assisting with this might put a strain on him. And so I let him know, just I sent him a message ahead of time and said, by the way, there is going to be some animal Reiki here all around you. And and I know that for veterinarians, compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress disorder is very real. Anybody who works with animals as a caregiver of any kind, because of course the human is an animal as well but particularly animals in medicine, so that would be nurses, doctors, veterinarians, etc. Many of these people struggle with compassionate euthanasia because It can be so difficult to be in those situations. So I just, Breaker Dawn wanted me to offer him the gift of Reiki to help lift. any this for him and in fact he really appreciated the offer but he wanted to let me know when he arrived that situations like this where we plan it for an older animal before they go into crisis were so much easier for him than then the other situations he had been in and he actually explained that last November going into winter, he had 11 animals with planned compassionate euthanasia, because here in my part of the world, we have to, with large animals we do have to bury them before the ground freezes. So November is our last. Opportunity for animals that might struggle to make it through the winter. And he actually spoke about how much he appreciated breaker, Dawn's going this way and the planning and so on. One of the things though that I want to touch on is that in the course of the last. Fifteen years as an animal communicator This is a conversation that I have had with a lot, probably hundreds of people, is around the time of an animal's passing. And quite often people want an animal communicator to touch base with the animals, and so we do, and just find out if they're ready to go, if they're not ready to go. I have to say that most people already know the answer to that. intuitively. And so in the majority of the cases, the animal was ready to go. There were a few that were like, no, I've got a couple of good years left. But for the most part, the animal said, he or she already knows that I'm ready to go. And what's beautiful in being an animal communicator at that time is that you then have the opportunity to give messages to the animal's people, to their beloved people, and also from the people to the animal. And so there, you're able to facilitate this really lovely. two way communication. Quite often I've had animals that have said, I've had people that were ready to mortgage their homes to undergo an expensive treatment that would keep an animal around just a little bit longer. And in situations like that, animals have said to me, Oh, please tell them not to do that. And things like that. But the messages are always beautiful and and rewarding. But I have permission to tell you a story about a beautiful dog named Jasmine, who was the dog of a friend of mine. And sure enough, our conversation was Jasmine was ready to go. So my friend made arrangements, but the veterinarian wasn't immediately available. I think she had to wait two or three days. And. There was nothing that could be done about that. And the last two days for Jasmine were not pleasant. They were really rough. And so my friend asked me to speak with Jasmine again on the spirit side and asked, as many people do, does she forgive me for the difficulty at the end? And I'm so grateful that she did because Jasmine gave me a life lesson. She put it into context, what all of the other animals have shared with me over the course of having this conversation. She showed me in pictures so that I could really understand it. She showed me a beautiful bucket of water and it was a handmade wooden bucket that was the best. finest craftsmanship I had ever seen, and it had a beautiful rope, but you could tell just looking at the water in the bucket that if you could taste that water, it was going to be the most refreshing, beautiful water you have ever tasted. tasted. You just wanted to dive your head into it the way that a horse does and drink it. It just looked so life giving and so refreshing. It was the most beautiful water I had ever seen. And then she drew my attention to just above the bucket. There was one drop on its way into the And Jasmine said, Please tell my beloved friend that My life, our life together was that bucket and that water in that bucket. It was beautiful and fulfilling and everything either of us could have ever hoped it would be. And she said, my death was that drop. And she said, please ask her to focus on the bucket and not the drop. The bucket of water and not the drop. And so they had 12 beautiful years together in a relationship that can only be described as a soulmate relationship. It was really special. When you saw the two of them together, you could just I don't know. She was a beautiful dog with a beautiful spirit. And my friend is a beautiful girl. And it was one of those things, like when you saw them together, you just, your heart got a little bit lighter and warmer. And, you knew. And so many times our animals have told me that You do have to feel the grief. Mary's Horse Jock told me that when you lose someone, a little piece of your soul pulls out and leaves with them, that's attached to the relationship cord, but when you allow that little gap in your soul to heal, much the same way you would allow a It just depends on your relationship and where you're at. There's no right or wrong. But in any event, that little, that gap does heal. You have to let yourself feel the sadness, but it will heal. And Jacque told me when that heals, You can then connect with your loved one on the plane that they're at. Now, Sheila, I just wanted to ask you because you, Dawn, before she left, we were able to have a birthday party for Dawn. And because everything was planned we invited, she's touched a lot of people. a lot of people's lives here at the farm. And she's been very special to so many. She's taught people to ride. She's taught them to open their hearts. She's just been an incredible teacher and friend and companion to so many. Humans and even other horses and so on. And so we invited a lot of the people, anybody who wished to come and say goodbye to her birthday party. She had a piece of her own cake. She had a whole bunch of treats and raspberries and you name it. And And it was really lovely. And that was just, that was on her actual birthday, her 28th birthday. And then it was just not quite a week later that it was time for her to go, or just around a week later that it was time for her to go. Now, Sheila, you were with her at the end. I was wondering if you would say a few words today because you're a death doula, you have worked with other, in this situation with other people and you, you were still surprised by how the how everything went. So if it's all right, if I spot you up, spotlight you, I'm going to just see if I can bring you on with me. There you are. And I just wonder if you would mind sharing your impression, Sheila, and what you noticed when you were here.
Sheila:Dawn was very special to me, too, and she was my introduction to horses. I had a huge fear of horses, and through meeting her I just connected. She just walked over to me and stood there, and I reached out a little bit to touch her nose and her neck and then I just felt it. I felt it's okay. Don't be afraid. We're okay. And it just, yeah, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Yeah. She was a mentor to me, too. She helped me with with healing other animals. I'd call on her psychically and she'd be there. She she was instrumental in saving a horse in the Caribbean. And he now has a wonderful life and it's directly attributable to her. She even gave him a name. Thank you. He didn't have a name.
Pamela:He didn't have a name, yeah, and she told
Sheila:you he was noble. She called him noble, yes, which he was an Arabian stallion and he was indeed noble. Just a lot of wonderful things about Don. It's making me a little bit choked up. Yeah her passing was still have her because I walk every morning in this. Forest on the island here in Miramichi, there's a, an island in the middle of our river and there's a causeway. And I take my dog, Charlie, every morning for a walk in this forest. And and she joins us sometimes, if she's up for it. She's just so irreverent, though. She will tell me whether she's up for it this morning or not. She's got this Brooklyn accent, and she's quite, quite the feisty little girl. But, what I see is her, yeah, restored to her former form. Even though I thought, just like Pam, she was beautiful. Even in her final days, she was the most beautiful horse I'd ever seen. Anyway we Yeah, that morning I got to meet the vet, and there was Pam, myself, Rutina, and another lady and so we walked out in the field and, I really didn't know what to expect. I'd never been through anything like this before, and anyway. I had brought, I brought some lavender from my garden that was growing in my garden in Miramishi and put it in her mane and talked to her for a little bit and she just slipped away peacefully and I said she had a beautiful death. It was befitting of who she was. She just slipped away and she went to sleep and that was it. But as she slipped away, what I saw was this white gorgeous horse rising up out of her and just going up and up and up and up and on her back legs.
guest:And,
Sheila:And I think we had I was so completely amazed that, I think I saw a unicorn horn on her head. I think I did. And you, Pam, explained to me why that was. Yeah. So yeah, that was, it was one of the most awe inspiring deaths that I have ever experienced, and I've experienced a few.
guest:Yes. But
Sheila:it was beautifully done. It was a great honor to a great friend, and I know she appreciated it. Thank you. She's with me in the mornings in the forest. I, I call it my green cathedral'cause I'm walking through these paths and the leaves are overhead like this and I'm talking to her in the Green Cathedral in the morning
Pamela:oh my gosh. I love her. Thank you, Sheila.
Sheila:Thank you.
Pamela:She. I had to leave the following morning to go to the Omega Institute and present as a presenter at their Reiki conference and presenting on my book and so on, and Omega Institute is such a very special place, but she traveled with me and she was with me the whole time with all kinds of Messages. And she said to me, now, in life, I wouldn't have been able to be with you, but now I can be with you always. And she was very clear that she's not, sometimes our animals reincarnate, and she was very clear that she was not going to, that she was going to stay in spirit form so that she could be with all of us. And At the Omega Institute during the meditations and things, people were saying, I saw this white horse. And one woman came up and said, I had mentioned that we had just lost her, but I didn't say anything about her, what color she was, what breed she was. And the woman said, I saw this black and white Appaloosa. And I just chuckled because of course, she had in her later years. But when we first got her, she had big, dark, black eyes, and she was black and white. She was quite black and white, but she just grayed over time. And as I was leaving the Omega Institute, there is a beautiful little spot. Just my presentation went extremely well. The bookstore sold out of my book, and I thought, wow, I've arrived. And And then it was time to head home and I had a very long drive and the weather, there were thunderstorms and a little bit of a tricky weather to drive in and I was going to be getting home very late. And I passed by this tree and under the tree it said, Leave a rock, take a rock. And there was this beautiful crystal, rose quartz and clear quartz crystal pendulum there. just in the leave and take pile. And so Breaker Dawn said, there, I put that there for you. You are supposed to take that. So I brought the, this beautiful rose quartz pendulum. And I thought, what a lovely gift. And just as I was processing my own grief. And today, unbeknownst to me, my husband just found it, or I wouldn't have known about this. This is actually a piece of horsehair pottery. For those of you who are on YouTube, I'm just, I've got a, you can see this, and what it is it's beautiful pottery. This is just this gorgeous piece. It's much, much larger than I thought that it was, Sheila, and it's this gorgeous piece of pottery that a friend of Sheila's made for each of us, for myself and Sheila and Bertina, that As they're firing the pottery, they just lay a few hairs, and so we had collected a few of her mane and tail hairs, and they lay a few hairs on it, which forms the pattern on the pottery. I just I'm in awe and I can't believe that it just showed up here today while I was out and in town just in time for Breaker Dawn's podcast. So I think that's amazing.
Sheila:I felt it was really important that it make it to your house today. And so yes, but the one thing I should mention about it before I forget, because I probably will, It cannot be in a sunny room because apparently it will deteriorate the horse hair. Okay. Maybe in your living room or something. Bring it on special occasions, your podcasts.
Pamela:I will move it because this is a very sunny room. Oh, I'm
Sheila:I'm so glad you like it. I love it. Thank you.
Pamela:Sheila, thank you so much. And I mentioned, does anybody else have a story? Anybody who's here today? I'll go ahead and take you off the hot seat, Sheila, and remove the spotlight. But does anybody else have a story or questions or anything you'd like to share today? If you would, I'd be happy to have you just go ahead and speak up.
guest:Hi, Pam. It's Lisa.
Pamela:Yeah, I'm going to turn the AC off. Sure. We can hear you just fine.
guest:I wanted to share that about a year and a half ago in November, you did a podcast where we did a meditation. I think it was when you had the horse that had had to have surgery, right? And yes, and then you led this beautiful. meditation that was something about, my memory of it was, is there anything unresolved had to do with death and things that were unresolved and that's all that I remember. But my cat came in during that meditation and was on me while we were doing that meditation and the very next morning she had a very sudden death. She was old, she, and she had some health issues. But it was as if that meditation, it was we came to this realization that it wasn't unfinished business, it was, and I think she knew that I was ready, and not that I thought that I was ready, but on some energetic level, that meditation that you led, it was unbelievable, because it was literally the next morning, and it was sudden, and it was quite, unfortunately, dramatic and required, and, it wasn't planned. But that was how she chose to go to not to drag it out, I think, to have, just that it was time and let's just do it. But it was amazing, and then she came to me in a dream after it was actually not a very good dream, and then I was disturbed, so I was online and scrolling, and I found a post by a woman who does and she was looking for a Reiki practitioner to come in and work with her and her forces. And I was like, Kitty D woke me up so that I could, do you know what I mean? Because your heart is going to scroll like you never, it's totally random, like you see. That was like, she brought me to this one, who's now a good friend of mine, and I work with her whole herd, and she really led me and Laura to horses, so it was just beautiful how it all unfolded, but it was emotionally, it's devastating to have to say goodbye, whether it's planned or not. It was just heartbreaking, but I did want to share and make sure that it came right after your
Pamela:meditation the next morning. the next morning. Yeah. Amazing. Lisa, thank you for sharing that. And you brought up some really good points. Quite often, that is how they want to go is just quickly. And then they want us to go ahead and process our grief because we have to, but then to go back and don't stay focused on the grief, not on the drops, stay focused on the life that we had together. And, They will guide us, I think, from the other side. They seem to have this level of awareness. And that's so beautiful. I'm so grateful that it turned out that way. And I think Simba, in his wisdom, he knew what he was doing when he set that up, to be the subject of the podcast like that. Thank you. Did anyone else have anything you wanted to share before we move into Breaker Dawn's lessons today?
guest2:I'd like to share quickly about Eleanor. I had found a puppy on Campobello Island when I took my Animal Reiki master course, and she was my soulmate. And she was very special to me. And but she, I had her about four months and I noticed her health declining and she wasn't gaining weight and she was only about seven months old, but we took her to the vet and she explained to us that she was in kidney failure. And there was nothing we could do to save her. And so we had to put her to sleep to help her cross. And about a month later, I had a session with Pam and Pam helped me with a lot of grief around the situation. Especially because I knew that her and I had a very special connection. And so she decided that in her afterlife, she chose instead of. Reincarnating, she's here with me. And and one of her lessons that she's here to help teach me and help me to work through is boundaries. I've been working through that on many different levels throughout my life but it was a really, it was a really interesting situation and what I had realized as well is that, A lot of times animals will hold energy for us and in her transition, what I had realized is that she was holding energy. She had no boundaries. So she was actually holding on to our pain and some of the pain in our house.
Pamela:So it was a beautiful lesson, Amy, and she was such a beautiful dog. Oh my gosh, so gentle and kind and loving and sweet and
guest2:Yeah. And so it was it's been a whirlwind and a lesson, yeah, and I'm just grateful for her and for Pam, for you, Pam. So thank you.
Pamela:I'm grateful for you. Thank you, Amy. Oh my gosh. Thank you. Anyone else? Oh, Joanne said, and I should mention Joanne she gave us some beautiful crystals to bury with Dawn, and we did and Bertina and I each kept one, and one went with Dawn, and she went with a beautiful crystal. peony flower and the beautiful lavender and pine cones. And Joanne said that Don taught her so many lessons and she's forever grateful. And she showed her what it feels like to have self acceptance and how to feel self love. And that's, Absolutely one of the life lessons that she asked me to share tonight, Joanne. Right on, and thank you. And in her sassy way, of course, because yes, she was very sassy with her Brooklyn accent. Thank you. Anyone else want to share before we move on to the lessons? Something
Sheila:just occurred to me. The pine cones that she was buried with came from the Green Cathedral where she joins me in the morning. Of course they did. Isn't that amazing? There you are. How wonderful. Just as you said pine cones, I went,
Pamela:Oh yeah, they came
Sheila:from the Green Cathedral.
Pamela:Yeah. That makes sense, doesn't it? Yep. Thank you everybody for your sharing. I really appreciate it. I want to move on and just tell you a little bit more about this beautiful girl and the lessons that she has for us. I basically met her 16 years ago, and I wasn't actually going to look at her so much as a stallion that was also for sale. A gentleman who had some really great. Appaloosa Bloodlines was getting out of horses. And and he, for health reasons, and he wanted them to go to a good home and they were very fairly priced or, and so I went to see them and my husband said, you can't take a stallion. There are too many children and it's, it's safety risk. And he was right. So we decided, we looked at her as well, and I decided, you know what, I'll take her, but. Because she had amazing bloodlines. She was related to, for those of you who know about horses, there are two horses that at that time that had won the triple crown, there was Man O War and Secretariat. And so Breaker Dawn was related to Man O War. And the stallion was the only Appaloosa stallion who had come down directly, really, through the Appaloosa lines related to Secretariat. And I decided to breed her with the stallion and the stallion was about to be castrated before he went to his new home. Nobody really, he was a great horse, but stallions take additional care and housing and so on. And no one was really equipped for that was interested in him. Rei Kurdan came and was going to have a baby with this stallion. But when I did meet her, I really felt, she was a broodmare, and I really felt, wow, there's a lot more to this horse than that. I felt she was a little bit underappreciated. When she arrived, the first thing she did when I turned her out in the pasture was she loped around the entire pasture. 40 acres that we have here pastured checking the fences and she loped around them two or three times in the daylight. It turns out that Breaker Dawn had a condition called night blindness and it's really interesting. She can see in the full daylight but not in the in between so she can't see at dawn or as it's or at dusk and she can't see if she goes into shadows. And so what she wants to tell us from that planning that she did by running all the fences and checking them was A, she was checking her boundaries. B, she wanted to let us know that she was planning and preparing for the times when she couldn't see them so that she would know where they were, where the boundaries were, and be able to uphold them and not get herself into trouble. She also wanted to teach us that there's more than one way to see. So even though she wasn't going to be able to see with her eyes at different times of the day, she would be able to see with her muscle memory after she had gone around and memorized the route. I think that's also a really great lesson about adaptability. In the face of challenge, so just that single act. It was really remarkable, and I think that she wants us to see that we all have potential in this. Breaker Dom wasn't here for very long, and her name was Breaker, and She had been here for probably a month when I looked at her and said, you're sweet though. You're not, Breaker is not the right name for you. And I tried changing her name, but she didn't understand. But later on, when an animal communicator came, the first, before I could do animal communication, the first thing she said was she doesn't like her name and she'd like to change it. And so we looked on her registration papers and her name was Daybreak Dawn. And so we realized from that we could change it to Dawn, but by then, by November, she had arrived here in June. We had been calling her Breaker for a while, and it was hard to break the habit. So one of my students Dan, suggested that we call her Breaker Dawn, and I'm so grateful for that, if you're listening, Dan. Because we did, and eventually, we were able to, sometimes we would call her Don, sometimes we would call her Breaker Don, but she let us know that she liked both. And there's a couple of lessons there for us. The first lesson is just trusting your intuition. Because my intuition, only weeks after she arrived here was that's not the right name for you. But when it didn't immediately click, when I started trying to call her Dawn or trying to, I gave up. And so she, that was a message in trusting your intuition. And also, she wants us to know that this is a lesson about if things don't fit you, change them. If, and she said, if your name doesn't fit you, change it. If the place you live doesn't fit you, change it. If your clothes don't fit you, if the sex doesn't fit you, change it. Be who you are. Change the things that are not you and that don't fit you, which I thought was remarkable. And so the other lesson in that is be true to your nature in all aspects of your life. of your life. About five months after she arrived with us, unfortunately, Breaker Dawn lost that dear baby that we were all so very excited about. And she was just six months pregnant of a an 11 month horse pregnancy. And she went into a deep depression and all she could do was stand and stare at the woods for about a month. And just after a few weeks of this, we didn't know what to do at first. We left her out of the lessons, but that didn't seem to help. And if anything, it almost seemed to make her become more withdrawn. And so a little bit of time with people that brushing her and loving on her seemed to make her feel a tiny bit more comfortable, but we really didn't know what to do to help her. And it was, There's an expression that Louis Bourgeot, my husband's friend, told him recently at my husband's father's funeral, who also recently passed and left a big hole in our hearts. Louis Bourgeot said his father used to say, Dans la mort, il y a la vie, or in life, in death, there is life. And if you think about it the way that When a tree dies or the leaves of a plant or a tree die, they go back to the earth and bring life to other species. So there's always the ability to waken out of grief to the love all around, and Breaker Dawn showed us this. So after a few weeks of just trying to figure out what I could do to help her, I started studying essential oils, and it took an awful long time back then, in 2008, 2009, to figure out what essential oils, how to even administer essential oils to horses and what essential oils and how to do it and all of that. But finally, after about a month and a half to two months armed with this, and she was still staring off at the woods, maybe I'm exaggerating, I can't remember, but it seemed like it was that long. I finally figured it out and went and got the essential oils. And I'd had this thought, in the books I'd loved Heart, the Heartland series of books, which are horse books for every young person, Amy's mother the character's mother used to offer essential oils to horses. So that's what gave me a clue to even try this. And so I went out and I tried essential oils and they were so effective. at helping Dawn move through her grief and depression and come back to us. She didn't come back fully. She, but she only came back about 90%, but that's okay. After just a few sessions with the essential oils, she was able to shed a lot of that heavy energy. And so The lesson that she wants to give us there and that's actually what led to our whole line of essential oils that we have today that have helped so many hundreds and even thousands of people. And the lesson in that is the ability to awaken out of grief to the love that's all around you. And I think that every one of us has that opportunity, the love is there, and we may have to stay sleeping in the grief for a little while, but when you are ready to waken out of it, There is love everywhere. Another thing that Breaker Dan did was she didn't baby her riders. She was so funny. And she wasn't a dangerous horse. She was very safe. But if her riders were not paying attention, and not doing the job they were supposed to be doing, she would just scrape them off and look at them and say, sucks to be you. She had no remorse whatsoever. It was on them if they fell. And it was, anytime they fell it wasn't because of anything nasty or anything that they, that she had done. It was because of their own inattention. or a mistake that they might have made, or that I might have made, but she didn't take responsibility for other people's issues, and that's the lesson in that. She was who she was, and they needed to be who they were, and they needed to take responsibility. for themselves. She I just got the biggest kick out of that. We have two horses here, Buddy and Star, that will just about turn themselves inside out to keep their riders on their back and make sure that they don't fall. Star will even stop to make sure that a rider doesn't fall off of her. And Dawn didn't have that compunction at all. If they fell, It was on them. Another thing that was really unique about Breaker Dawn is she was always at the bottom of the pecking order in our herd. And she often was the horse that got picked on. And she couldn't have cared less about that. She was so completely comfortable. With who she was, could you please live in the classroom? And she never bothered to try to climb any ladder. She never bothered to try to move up in the packing order. She literally did not care. what others thought of her. And in the meantime, she would go to horse shows, even as the last horse show she attended, she was 21, and she came home with a ribbon, which is unheard of. She was winning at the shows. Her sweetness, one over people, one over other horses. She just so accepted who she was. She really didn't care about the rest. So the next lesson she wanted to leave us with is just about self acceptance. and being comfortable with who you are. And she also very clearly told me as I was preparing for this podcast, she wanted you to know that you don't have to change who you are to be part of a group. It's important to maintain your individuality. And also it doesn't matter where you are in the pecking order of the group. She acknowledged that everyone has the need to belong somewhere and to something. But when we do, the way we belong is up to us, and our acceptance of it is up to us. And we also don't need to accept any groups that we don't want to belong in. She never ever changed who she was for anyone. Don also, though, being so low in the packing order, Very early on, Big Buddy fell in love with her. Now Big Buddy is one of the bigger horses in our herd. He's a little, he's quite high in the packing order. And their relationship was that of a married couple for most of the 16 years. He's much younger than her. And we always joked that she was a cougar having such a much younger man. And the two of them were just always together and googly eyed over each other. So from that, she formed this alliance and partnership, and then Big Buddy provided protection of her. He was very chivalrous and it was beautiful. She always had to put herself in the barn every dawn and every dusk when she couldn't see, just for her own safety. And she just managed that herself. She put herself in every, Dawn and every dusk, you would find Breaker Dawn in the barn. Big Buddy didn't always used to go with her, but a couple of times she got beaten up by some other horses while she was in there. And then he began going every time with her. And he would stand between her and the other horses so that nobody could get at her. And toward the end he would often bring her into the stalls ahead of the other horses so that he could position himself. So that he could protect her, especially as she became more aged and infirm, and it was just so beautiful to see. I asked her what the message was in forming these partnerships and alliances, and she said it was quite simple. You don't have to do all the jobs. That was the message she wanted to give us there. Nidan was a beautiful mover. And she was spunky and sassy right up until the end. Once more, her message is around authenticity. She said, be who you are and love who you are, no matter who that is. At the end of her life, I, we all, the four of us who were here with her, noticed The relief and freedom, that was the predominant feeling that we all felt, just the relief and freedom at the end when she was able to shed that earth suit that was no longer working for her. And it was just so beautiful and predominant. I asked her, what was the message in that? And she said, it was, Always revel in your freedom. And she wanted to let me know that freedom was always available. And it makes me think back to I can't think of his name, Frankl, the beautiful survival of Auschwitz. who kept himself going by just saying they can't control my thoughts. So even when you have no freedom in one or another or any area of your life as that beautiful person did, freedom was always available to you. And she showed me that although she was blind for the last three years, She had other senses, so she could still smell, she could still hear and so she even showed that as even if one gift or one ability isn't available to us, just use the others. Freedom is always there. Revel in it. And the last message that Breaker Dawn has for us today is that I think she faced everything, every situation in her life with courage, grace, and tenacity. And she wants us each to know that we can do that too. So I'd like to move into a meditation today to just help us integrate some of those lessons into our own lives. And to that end, I'm just going to invite you to make yourself comfortable, close your eyes. Place your hands comfortably on your body, giving yourself Reiki, taking a few deep breaths and just allowing yourself to relax and be fully present here in this moment in time. I invite you to imagine that you're here with me at the farm, Hidden Brook Farm, and that we're together, all of us, in the pasture with the horses. And just imagine roots extending from your feet deeply into the earth, grounding you firmly. Feel the energy of the divine earth rising up through the roots, filling your body with a tremendous sense of stability and peace. We now call upon the energy of Reiki, inviting it to flow through and around us, visualizing the Reiki symbols. In your mind's eye, the power symbol glowing brightly, strengthening the flow of the energy, the harmony symbol bringing emotional and mental balance, and the distance symbol connecting us to the wisdom of the past and present, across all time and space. We also invite the spirit of wisdom, courage, and adaptability to join us bringing these qualities into our meditation. And if there are any times when you have felt guilt or grief or shame or blame, imbalanced empathy, I invite you to just let that go now and just allow the energy to take care of you for you. It is always unfortunate that our animals don't live as long as we do. And I invite you to just release any pain that may be lingering over any animals that you have ever lost. in the past, even if they are human or two legged. I imagine, I invite you to imagine that you're standing here in this beautiful meadow with us, the sun shining warmly, and in the distance you see a beautiful white horse surrounded with soft golden light. And as she approaches you with her life lessons, You feel a deep sense of both peace and love. And this wise, gentle presence begins to communicate her wisdom to you. She invites you to reflect upon a time when you felt unappreciated or misunderstood. She asks you to consider how you were able to trust your intuition to make any necessary changes in your life. And she applauds you for embracing being true to your nature in all aspects of your life. She invites you now to think of a challenge that you faced where traditional solutions didn't work. Remember how you found an alternative way? Planning and preparing to overcome the obstacle? Feel that energy of adaptability. that you tapped into, filling you with confidence now in your own abilities to face challenges. She invites you to recall a loss that led to unexpected growth or discovery. She reminds us that just as nature shows us that in death there is life, we can find love and growth even in the most difficult situations and even in grief. She invites you to consider moments when you allowed others to take responsibility for their actions instead of carrying their burdens yourself. She says this teaches us to focus on our own path instead of the paths of others. To live our lives and allow them to live theirs. She invites you to consider a situation where you felt that you were at the bottom of a hierarchy but still comfortable with who you were, not caring what others thought. She invites you to embrace self acceptance and always being comfortable with who you are. Never feeling a need to change. She asks you to remember a partnership or alliance that provided you with support and protection. And she asks you to acknowledge that you don't have to do everything alone. She invites you to think of how times when you expressed your true self with spunk and sass, moving gracefully through life's challenges. She invites you to love who you are and be who you are. She invites you to feel into the relief and freedom that comes from releasing what no longer serves you. Is there something in your life that no longer serves you? If there is, you can form an intention to let it go. She reminds you that freedom is always available to you and if one gift or ability isn't accessible, just use another. And finally, she invites you to embrace the courage that you have shown. In facing life's challenges with grace and tenacity, and to remember that you have the strength to continue doing so. As you stand here in the pasture today with this wise presence, I invite you to visualize a gentle beam of Reiki light connecting your heart To this source of wisdom, not breaker dawn herself, but higher wisdom source, this beautiful light carries the qualities of wisdom, courage, and adaptability into your being, integrating them deeply within you now. And so we allow the Reiki energy to flow through us, cleansing and healing any areas of tension or imbalance. And we just notice the lightness and peace that comes from this healing, understanding that the spirit of wisdom is always with us, guiding and supporting us. And we'll remain here for a few moments. Just allowing the energy to heal and cleanse any areas of imbalance or tension. I take a moment now to say thank you to Breaker Dawn for her presence in my life and some of your lives. And for the lessons that she brought us here today. I invite you to gradually bring your awareness back into the room. And whenever you feel ready to just open your eyes, refreshed and empowered, I invite you to remember, as we were told in Animal Reiki, when you love yourself, you create your life from a place of love. Rikurdan's wisdom and courage and adaptability are qualities we can all embody. I encourage all of us to bring these lessons into our own lives. Thank you so much for being with us or for listening to this special episode in honor of our dear Breaker Dawn. We'd love to hear from you if you have any stories or experiences to share, but until next time, take care, keep shining your light. Remember, as you love yourself, you will create your life from a place of love. Be love. Thank you for being the light that you are in the world. Namaste.