Sometimes revelation comes in the most unexpected and remarkable ways.
As I’ve said, I’ve come to know that when we connect to animals in our lives, we can recognize them as our teachers – guides who may come to support us at just the right times in our lives.
I was graced to have such a guide.
When the dog who would change my life was eight years old he showed me one of the many lessons he had to give.
One day my glorious standard poodle Brio suddenly collapsed on the street, unable to move his hind legs. This dog, this wonderful being was the love of my life, my soul mate, my soul dog.
I was devastated.
But it was this apparently tragic event that opened me to the power of energy healing.
They say that we don’t open to new possibilities until we hit bottom. They say that when a door closes, another one opens.
The universe was about to open a new door both for Brio’s wellbeing and for my belief in a world beyond our earthly, material existence.
When I first rushed Brio to my vet, she could not find anything obvious that could be causing his virtual paralysis—no broken bones, no pulled muscles. So what followed were weeks of visits to specialists and multiple tests.
First, we went to the cardiologist who found nothing to explain Brio’s condition. Then the orthopedist. Still no explanation.
And then the neurologist who did a battery of tests, including an fMRI. His prognosis was not good. He told me Brio had something wrong with his neck and spine.
He said Brio had degenerative myelopathy—like Lou Gehrig’s disease with dogs—a condition that would continue to worsen.
He probably would never walk normally again, much less run.
I could not believe it.
Brio was still relatively young. And now I was facing the likelihood that for the rest of his life he would no longer be able to run with the wind on the beach, or even walk properly.
I remember coming home and sitting with my dog on the kitchen floor, thinking…
This can’t be. It can’t be.
I was driven to do anything that might help Brio. So I moved past my skepticism with anything outside the realm of Western medicine and decided to call an animal intuitive and healer whom a friend recommended.
She lived in Colorado. I was in New York City. She didn’t know Brio or me.
I held out little hope that she could help. But I had nothing to lose.
The healer, Alecia, was calm and professional, completely unemotional. She only asked for Brio’s name, breed, and age.
She was quiet for some minutes. I gathered that she was trying to connect somehow with Brio.
Finally, she said, “I don’t feel anything wrong with his back or spine.” I was shocked. It was hard to believe. Maybe she was just telling me what she knew I wanted to hear.
But Alecia asked me to give her a few minutes while she worked on Brio. I had no idea what she was doing. I thought she’d probably find something wrong after all and agree with the vet.
But I waited.
Some time passed before Alecia resurfaced.
She said, “The energy wasn’t flowing right through his neck and back to his hind quarters. I worked on it and now it’s flowing better. I should do some more work in a week or so. But he will get better. You’re going to have your dog back.”
And so I did.
After a few more sessions over the phone with Alecia and some weeks, Brio began to walk normally. And then he started to run again.
We had several more wonderful years together.
It seemed like a miracle. Some invisible force had healed my dog.
After this experience, I had to accept that it is within the realm of possibility to connect in some inexplicable way to another being over a distance with no physical presence—beyond boundaries of space and time.
I had to believe that there are realities that we cannot perceive through our five physical senses.
This was the great lesson that transformed my life.
At one time, I would have raised an eyebrow if you’d told me such a profound realization could come through a dog.
Now, I know that it was perfectly natural, even intended, that Brio should show me this truth.
He would reveal much more to me in the years he was physically with me and he continues to do so from the world of spirit.