Sammy Thompson - Animal, Human & Nature Therapies

Animal side…. Human side…. Nature side

For more than a decade, I have been an animal communicator and reiki energy healer for both humans and animals. It started as a search for help with depression; transitioned into a desire to help animals as much as they had helped me; and ended up as a path of service to animals, and the earth, and helping humans remember themselves as a part of the natural world and so find their peace, creativity and purpose.

I initially started working with an established animal communicator, to help grow my confidence and gain experience, and for several years ran the lost and missing animal division, working with a few other communicators in a supportive community with each other, helping to connect with lost and missing animals. During this same time, I embarked on an inward journey of healing, facilitated by the healing energies of Reiki, and through this inner journey, learnt how to be of service to assist other humans to finding inner peace, release and healing.

A deep sense of longing was growing with me, an awareness of nature and the earth being alive, and this longing led me to a workshop on the shamanic rites of initiation that have been gifted by the Queros shamans of Peru to the Western world. These rites of initiation (Munay-Ki) are gifted as seeds into the energy field, whereupon they germinate into their full potential when the recipient provides the right conditions in terms of inner healing, growing awareness, and a willingness to grow the self.

In 2015, I met the founders of Panthera Africa Big Cat Sanctuary, Cathrine and Lizaene Nyquist-Cornwall, who rescue and provide true sanctuary to big cats around the world (no breeding, trading or interaction… just sanctuary from breeding farms, canned lion hunting, zoos and circuses etc.). Since then, I have had the joy, privilege and honour to assist both the founders, and the animals they hold close to their heart, and consider these big cats my master-shaman teachers, teaching me how to connect and remember humanity as part of the web of nature and life that is the earth, and together with these cats, I teach regular workshops on animal communication to the human volunteers at Panthera Africa Big Cat Sanctuary.

It was in 2015 that I also met, and fell in love with, Platbos forest, South Africa’s southernmost indigenous forest with several 1000+ year old ancient trees, and on my doorstep! The forest steward, Melissa Krige, introduced me to talking to trees through her tree essences practitioner course, and from then on I became a student of the forest, and of trees wherever I meet them.

Melissa, the forest steward of Platbos forest, makes a range of tree essences from the flowers and leaves of the trees in the forest. These essences, like the Bach flower remedies, work on the principle that water holds vibrational memory. Melissa also makes ancient forest tree mists, combining the Platbos tree essences with indigenous fynbos essential oils and vibrationally enhanced ingredients, to create a range of exceptional healing mists. These essences and mists have been an incredibly powerful yet subtle tool, both in my own healing, as well as with clients, both animal and human.

In 2016, a student/friend asked me to support her to take reiki into the local animal rescue shelter, and through this group, what evolved at the end of 2017 was an invitation to co-found an animal haven, the Es la Vida Animal Haven, working to rehabilitate and rehome shelter dogs, as well as rehabilitate and retire traumatised donkeys and horses. Using a combination of animal behaviour training, animal communication, reiki healing, and a variety of other healing modalities, the haven animals soon became some of my strongest guides and teachers.

My path of purpose has become one of service to the creation of a world where everything resides in conscious awareness, respect, gratitude and grace with each other:

* Where civilised society learns to tread softly across the earth

* Where humans are healed and whole within themselves

* Where humans remember themselves as part of the web of life that is all around us, conscious and aware of both their animals, and of nature, being conscious, intelligent and aware;

* Where animals are given a voice and a choice and treated as respected individuals, where they are understood and, in being understood, come back to balance and health

* Where nature in all her forms... from trees to insects, water to earth... is treated with gratitude and respect

* Where humans love themselves enough to heal themselves

The earth is my guide; animals my teachers; and nature is my compass.

I bring an intuitive approach to each and every interaction, being and session that I am invited to be involved with.

Having animals and nature as my guides and teachers has taught me to work with integrity, intuition, and for the highest good, and I bring these qualities to my healing modalities.

I approach each session, client, ceremony, and space, in a way that sets myself aside, and lets me be open to what is best for each space, place, being, and circumstance.

This allows me to bring the best of each modality in my toolbox, to best serve and help the client, or space, in the way that best serves the highest needs of that moment, the space, the being I am working with.

My work is done on a donation basis. I provide guidelines in each category for those who request a ballpark average for donations and these guidelines are based on the average length of time I invest in each session. Please understand that these figures are not set in stone, and I will never turn away a being in need. By the same token, please understand that the donations are what allow me to continue to do this work, support my family, and continue to develop my skills.

I work internationally, and donations can be made via Paypal for international clients.

Many of the animals I am asked to communicate with are struggling with either health, behavioural or emotional issues, and mostly all of them have a connection to an underlying emotional pattern, just like us humans. Animals are emotional beings, just as we humans are. There are many scientists, professors and researchers studying and mapping the emotions in animals, so it is no longer considered wrong or incorrect to acknowledge emotion in an animal. (For just one of many researchers and info on this, look into Dr. Marc Bekoff’s work, www.marcbekoff.com).

Now as a human, it is often quite difficult to identify our own emotions, especially when a situation triggers a fear or anxiety. “Why are you feeling anxious?” can be difficult to answer. So, too with animals.

Over the years I have extended the work I do with animals beyond just “talking” and communicating with them, (as they sometimes don’t know why they either feel the way they do, or act the way they do), to include different modalities and techniques to help me understand the animal, their perspective, and their emotions better.

Being that we are more than just physical matter, we are all just a mass of vibrating frequencies pulsating at different wavelengths, the modalities I work with are mostly “energy healing modalities”. Our physical body is vibration slowed down to become physical matter, and so health issues at a physical level often have a cause in the higher vibrating emotional and mental levels.

In addition to reiki energy healing (an ancient healing technique rediscovered in Japan in 1920’s), I also work with muscle testing, (which is a method of bypassing the conscious controlling mind, accessing the subconscious mind and then working direct with the underlying subconscious mind), kinesiology and vibrational modalities and therapies (such as the frequencies of colour healing, sound healing, fragrance etc.), and I work with these interchangeably and varyingly, intuitively guided by what will be of most assistance to the animal and the situation.

Animals teach us that we are not just physical beings, we humans are the only species that limit ourselves to what our physical senses can inform us… and “prove” to us. Animals work across distance, time and space, through the heart and through energy, and it is on this basis that animal telepathic communication works, as well as healing across time and space.

In using a combination of the modalities I mentioned, in addition to the communication and physical healing, I also identify underlying emotional blockages, fears and anxieties, and use a variety of modalities to help gain deeper understanding, and to help realise, release and shift these blockages and emotional traumas within the animal, to the degree which they are ready to release an old, stuck pattern or emotion. I then identify a range of modalities and tools that can be used by the human, at home, to help the animal shift in the physical environment.

I work from a photograph, or face-to-face.

Animal Communication

Offering assistance in the following areas: (please see blogs for more detailed discussion on animal communication and each of the areas listed below)

Behaviour issues or problems – to help gain an understanding of the animal’s perspective, reasons for the behaviour, assist with new behaviour training etc.
Preparation for a change in their situation/environment – e.g. moving house; introducing a new human or animal to the home; going on holiday; humans going on holiday without animal; trip to the vet; renovating the home etc. etc.
Dealing with loss of a human or animal
Lost/missing animals
Animals in transition and end-of-life support – finding out whether they wish to cross over with assistance or not; preparing them for crossing over
Rescues / injured/traumatised animals – help to calm, help them to understand, help them to release "stuck" emotional patterning or trauma
Healing from injury – help them to understand, explain the process of healing
Newly adopted introduction and settling

Average donation: R650 per animal / session

Reiki Healing

Not just for healing physical injuries, the following are suggestions of areas where reiki can be of assistance: (please see blogs for more detailed discussion on reiki healing for animals)

Healing from surgery, injury, illness
Grief and the process of mourning
Rescues, traumatised and abused animals
Wild animals
Animals in transit
Anxiety, Reactivity

Average donation: R350 per animal / session

Mentoring and Guidance

I offer mentoring and guidance sessions and assistance to new animal communicators, reiki practitioners and those who work in energy healing with animals. Through skype/zoom sessions, one on one, and practical hands-on with animals in shelter, havens or at home, I offer my knowledge, and applicable experience to helping you gain confidence, deepen your understanding, and enhance your skills.

Average donation: from R200 per hour

Workshops and Courses

I offer workshops in animal communication and Usui Reiki with a focus on animals and nature. I also offer reiki practice days through the animal haven.

The prices are set according to the venue and other costs involved and are usually from R650 per seat upwards

I work intuitively and will bring to each session from my toolbox of modalities, what will best serve the goal / intention and highest good of the client with which I am working.

1. Reiki Healing

Reiki is an energy healing modality, a soft-touch healing therapy that has many benefits, the most commonly reported benefit being relief from pain, and a deep sense of calm and relaxation that lasts for up to several days after each session.

Not just for healing physical injuries, the following are suggestions of areas where reiki can be of assistance:

Healing from surgery, injury, illness
Grief and the process of mourning
Anxiety, Reactivity
Stress
Depression, sadness, lack of purpose, confusion in life

A session typically lasts between an hour and an hour and a half.

Average donation: R500 – R700 per session

2. Vibrational Alignment Sessions

Our human body is the result of a complex interaction between what we create in our thoughts and what we feel which our body reflects back to us in pain, ill health, anxiety, fatigue etc. etc.

The points of connection that link the mental, emotional, and spiritual layers with our physical body are the chakras. Recognised in many ancient healing traditions that pre-date our modern western medicine approach, chakras are perceived as wheels of energy at various points in the body, and will reflect physical imbalance and blocked or stuck energy, by being overactive, underactive, or out of harmony in some way with the rest of the physical being. Energy is frequency, and the frequency at which our physical body vibrates, determines the level of health and higher vibration we are able to access and channel through our body.

A vibrational alignment session focuses on bringing the physical body into harmony and alignment with the mental, emotional and spiritual bodies and supports in clearing blockages in the physical body, allowing easier access to higher dimensional aspects of your being. Clearing the energy paths into and through your body will allow you to bring these higher aspects of self into the physical body which in turn will influence your physical reality.

During a session, I will connect intuitively and vibrationally to the chakra system of your body, and through the use of a variety of vibrational tools I will lay out a healing support grid anchored by the chakra centres. The foundation tools for each attunement session will be linked via a set of crystal vibrational pyramids; and will include but not be limited to, colour, sound, sacred geometry, light language, and a connection to the earth and nature through plant and tree vibrational essences.

It is a profoundly supportive and multi-dimensional alignment experience, yet subtle and attuned to what you and your physical body are able to process at this point in time of your earth experience.

A detailed report will be sent after each session, set out by chakra centre, allowing you to meditate on the messages and images and so bring yourself further into harmonic resonance with the alignment session.

Average donation: R650 - R850 per session

3. Nature-based therapies

Sessions of healing, guidance and support that are held within natural surroundings, at places of power, where I will facilitate a connection with nature… be it tree, sea, cave or rock. The sessions will be done at the client’s own pace, and will take the form of either a conscious awareness walk, guided meditation, ceremony of release or of gratitude, reiki healing, or others as intuitively guided by the needs of the client and the natural space which is chosen.

Average donation: based on time, value, modalities, etc.

4. Platbos Forest Tree Essences and Platbos Ancient Forest Tree Mists

Platbos Forest is South Africa's southernmost indigenous forest, laying near Gansbaai in the Oververg region of the Western Cape.

The steward of the forest, Melissa Krige, developed a range of tree essences and ancient forest tree mists that are vibrational remedies.

These sessions are offered to help the client select the vibration remedy most beneficial to their needs and path forward. Assisting with the setting of the intention most suitable, and then selecting the essence and/or ancient forest tree mist most suitable to support that intention. Using intuition and pendulum dowsing, the mists and essences can be selected individually or as a group, depending on what is most beneficial and for the highest good of the client. This can also be done when selecting these essences and mists as gifts, the mist or essence will be chosen based on the photograph or name of the recipient.

Average donation: From R80 to R100 per person

5. Oracle Card Readings

Guidance sessions using oracle cards, where the client’s own guides and higher self are invited to bring messages through the tools of the cards for healing, clarity, guidance and support.

A variety of spreads are used, all selected intuitively and based on the client’s needs, and the guidance given. Each session lasts from 45 minutes to 1hr30.

Average donation: From R200 to R400 per session

6. Guided Meditations

Personalised guided meditations that are individually written and recorded to assist the client. These meditations are recorded whilst in meditation, attuned to your vibration, as well as to the intention I create with you as an intended outcome or goal for the recording.

Some examples of the types of guided meditations are as follows:

Healing inner child
Meeting and working with spirit guide, power animal etc.
Healing the past
Healing generational karma and trauma through dna healing
Creating and using an inner healing sanctuary
Journeying for guidance
Connecting with those who have crossed over (animal and human)
Relaxation, connecting, grounding etc.

The meditations are written and recorded whilst I am in meditation, connected to the client’s guides and to my own guides, and working with vibration to bring healing frequencies through the guided meditation to work with the client on all layers and levels of being simultaneously.Each meditation takes approximately 6 – 8 hours to create.

Average donation: R650 to R800 per meditation

7. Dream Interpretation

Entering a meditative space to connect with the client’s guides and using intuition to suggest interpretations of the dream to help the client unpack the symbolism, and find meaning and messages within the dream.

Average donation: from R200 per session

8. Personalised Healing and Retreat Days

The personalised healing and retreat days are high vibrational, energy shifting and healing experiences, where, as the client, you will be guided into and through reflection, awareness, releasing, letting go and healing of individual emotions, beliefs and/or situations. The retreat days will take place in beautiful and pristine areas of nature, where the power of nature will link to the power of the healing modalities to bring you, the client, inner peace and balance. As facilitator during these days, I will ensure the pace and vibration of the experiences are matched to your pace and current circumstances.

Average donation: from R1,500 per day

9. Mentoring and Guidance Sessions

For animal communicators, energy healers and shamanic practitioners, I offer mentoring and guidance sessions to help you grow and develop your skills and talents. These sessions will help you identify your blocks and self-defeating beliefs, perspectives and self-imposed limitations, and I will offer guidance, practice, tools and techniques to help you take steps onwards and upwards and help you become the communicator and healer you are passionate about becoming. Via skype sessions or in person.

Average donation: from R200 per hour

10. Workshops and Courses

I offer workshops in the following:

Usui Reiki, Level 1 to Master/Advanced. One day workshops
Shamanic practices, including the Munay Ki, and the 13th rite, the Rite of the Womb, and how to bring shamanic practice into your daily life. Workshops vary in duration, please contact me for more details.
Nature medicine; Connecting with trees in a forest setting; Connecting with Nature. Workshops vary from several hours to day-long, please contact me for more details.
Meditation workshops. Workshops vary from several hours to day-long, please contact me for more details.
Inner Peace – Outer Calm – a workshop teaching practical, easy to use, and incorporate tools to find inner peace in a stressful world. A two-day retreat/workshop.
How to develop your intuition using oracle cards, muscle testing, pendulum dowsing, and more

The prices are set according to venue, duration and cost:

Average donation for a one day workshop = R650 per seat.

Average donation for half-day workshop = R350 per seat.

All of nature has consciousness and is intelligent, it is just that our human form of communication (language) does not allow us to understand or comprehend this.

In person, via skype, or through guided meditation, I help you connect more deeply with nature, and help you find healing, solace and guidance through connecting with nature. Your special place and plant / tree / nature spot could be either in your garden, or in an untouched part of nature you know.

Working intuitively and in harmony with your desires, the following are some of the ways that your connection with nature can be deepened:

1. Healing with plant or nature ally

I help you identify and connect with a plant, stone, tree or nature ally within your environment... garden or nearby public space. Through guided meditation, dowsing using a pendulum, and intuitive work, I help you connect with your ally and discover the best way to work with your ally (e.g. wear it, bathe in it, use it in a lotion or drink it...)

Average donation: R350 - R650

2. Healing with Platbos Forest Tree Essences and Platbos Ancient Forest Tree Mists

Platbos Forest is South Africa's southernmost indigenous forest, situated near Gansbaai in the Oververg region of the Western Cape.

The forest steward of Platbos Foret, Melissa Krige, developed a range of tree essences and ancient forest tree mists that are vibrational remedies.

These sessions are offered to help the client select the vibration remedy most beneficial to their needs and path forward. Assisting with setting of the intention most suitable, and then selecting the essence and / or ancient forest tree mist most suitable to supporting that intention. Using intuition and pendulum dowsing, the mists and essences can be selected individually or as a group, depending on what is most beneficial and for the highest good of the client. This can also be done when selecting these essences and mists as gifts, the mist or essence will be chosen based on photograph or name of the recipient.

Average donation: From R80 to R100 per person in addition to the cost of the essences / mists

3. Guided mindfulness walks and vibrational healing experiences in nature

Through incorporating various modalities, such as grounding, earthing, forest bathing, mindfulness, meditative and vibrational awareness, the mindfulness walks take place in a variety of natural settings, including pristine fynbos, ancient caves, beaches, waterfalls etc. The setting, intention and type of walk is determined by your needs and wishes and level of fitness, and I act as facilitator and guide helping you to find inner peace, open yourself to the healing power of nature, and to experience a shift in awareness and connection with nature.

Length of time varies according to the nature spot chosen. Average donation according to the number of people = R500 half day for one person (approx 4 hours), R750 full day for one person. Sliding scale rates for groups.

4. Guided meditations towards reconnecting with nature

Guided meditations that are normally incorporated into the workshops and courses, that are designed to help you connect with yourself at a deeper level as a part of nature, or to help you connect with a teacher tree, or nature elemental. These meditations can be personally designed and recorded for personal ongoing use.

The pre-recorded meditations are recorded while in meditation, incorporating harmonics and attunement to a frequency and vibration that resonates with an intended outcome, e.g. healing, awareness, awakening. These are general meditations that anyone can use.

The personalised recordings are recorded while in meditation, specifically attuned to your name vibration, and to an agreed upon intention that I create with you.

The unique-to-you meditations are created from scratch for you, designed and written after discussion with and specifically set around your power place, focusing on connecting you with your personal plant ally, teacher tree, helping elemental energies, or nature spot, recorded whilst I am in a meditative space, harmonising with your vibration, and the frequency of the intention I create with you. These meditations take 6-8 hours to craft.

Average donation:

R 150 - R250 for a standard pre-recorded guided meditation, sent via dropbox or whatsapp

R 300 - R450 for a personalised recording attuned to your vibration and to your intention

R 650 - R800 for a uniquely crafted personal guided meditation, designed around your power place, plant ally, teacher tree and resonant with your vibration and frequency of the intention.

5. House clearings

The flow of energy through our lives and surroundings is important for health and harmony. Sometimes energy gets stuck or sluggish within our environment. Our houses are often boxes built without thought or consideration of the natural flow of energy, and arguments, worries and anxieties can build up within a space. Sick building syndrome is a term used when humans start to develop illness when spending time within a particular space, and clearing the energetic space can help.

House clearing works on a vibrational level, clearing up stagnant pools of energy, and working to lift the vibration and energy of an environment, bringing lightness, flow and healing to the space, and the beings who dwell within the space.

Average donation: R650 - R850 per clearing

6. Land and environment energy balancing and clearing

Human activity and human construction can block natural lines of energy that flow through the surface of the earth, and can lead to blockages in life, business, health and relationships.

Land and environment balancing and clearing uses several different modalities to identify and mitigate any blockages in the land or environment surrounding a dwelling, business, project etc.

Average donation: R650 - R850 per clearing

7. Ceremonies

Ceremonies are specifically designed conscious activities, undertaken in a specific way to meet an intention. The ceremonies offered here are designed to help humans bring themselves into partnership and harmony with the land they live on and /or work on, and are designed to raise awareness and gratitude, and connect the humans to the land, to nature and to an awareness of their spatial relation to both elements and directions within that space.

Average donation: R650 - R850

8. Workshops

I offer nature-related workshops in the following areas:

* How to connect with nature and with elements of nature.

* How to find yourself through meditation and mindfulness in nature

* Ceremony - what it is, how to create it and how to perform it

Public workshops are advertised through my facebook page, to the mailing list, and the venue's marketing channels.

Workshops offered:

* "Hearing Animals" Animal Communication workshop

* How to work with missing animals (for experienced communicators) - Workshop

* Reiki Energy Healing... Usui Level 1 to Teacher - Workshops

* Reiki for animals and nature - Workshop

* Workshops on meditation; beginning and deepening the practice

* Workshops on connecting with spirit guides

* Connecting with the wisdom and guidance of nature - a meditation and practical experience workshop

* Connecting with the wisdom of trees workshop

* Munay ki course

* Rite of the womb (13th rite) workshop

* Shamanic practice for the western society and how to incorporate it into your life

* Ceremonies specifically designed to deepen connection, gratitude and awareness

* Mentoring these practices within students

* Workshop intensives - a combination of any or all of the above held over several days

* One-on-one or small group retreat days to assist with personal growth and transformation

Please email send me an email to be placed on my mailing list, or to find out about attending a workshop or organising a workshop, walk, experience etc.

Sammy Thompson - Animal, Human & Nature Therapies

Connection and healing therapies