Healing with Animals and Energy with Ellie Laks

She taught me that death is not the end of a relationship. And then many other cows taught me that I could sit and be still.

Give me a second. Welcome. Welcome, Allie. Today we have the incredible privilege of speaking with Ali Lacks, the visionary behind the gentle bond. She's amazing person because she's not just an animal rescuer, she's a healer, just like Guru Nanda is. And she's an author and a profound advocate for the deep connection between humans and animals. Through her journey, she has actually witnessed first hand how animals can transform people's lives. Through her journey, she has found that there is healing can be in many, many different ways. And we'll explore today talking to her about her emotional and spiritual lessons that she has learned through animals and how we can correlate it with what I learned in Ayurveda and Guru Nanda is doing and that healing principles of how we have actually adapted as humans from animals more than anything else. So let's get started. Thank you, Ali, for giving us the time today.

I'm just really grateful to be here and to be discussing these things. I think that there needs to be way more conversations like these in the world. So I'm excited to be here and talk to you.

You often talk about animals being healers. It teaches that true healing is about restoring balance, whether it is physical, emotional or spiritual. In your experience, how do rescued animals help humans find balance and healing? Much like Ayurveda does, rescued animals help.

Us in so many, many ways. First of all, specifically with rescued animals, they have gone through trauma, they have gone through pain, they've been abandoned and hurt. And the fact that they have been able to forgive and trust and heal themselves is remarkable. And I think that's one of the factors and the key elements to healing people. Because all animals have things to teach us and ways to heal us. But the fact that our animals are rescued and have gone through trauma is something that our guests can really identify with. To know that, yes, they've gone through trauma as well, but. But so have our animals. And so it makes them feel less alone. It makes them know that everyone has a story and it inspires them that they can heal through their own story. Because our animals have, by the way.

Now that we are talking, just an emotion came in my mind. My own dog, his name is Bruno, the younger one, we have two dogs and he is actually a rescued animal in a way that somebody did not want him. And they left him after a few days of his being alive and they left him at a clinic at A veterinary veterinarian clinic. And the veterinarian called and as it would have been, we took him in. And the most amazing dog in the world. The most amazing, the most loving dog in the world. So I can correlate with that. As you know about Guru Nanda, I'm sure you've read a little bit. Guru Nanda bridges the gap between the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda and the modern wellness. And many of the Ayurvedic practices that Guru Nanda is all about, like oil pulling and aromatherapy use nature's gifts of healing. You know, like flowers, lavender. You smell it, you calm down. Have you seen animals instinctively using elements of nature, like certain plants, herbs or environments, to heal themselves or others? Like, have you seen this in your practice?

Yes, absolutely. I mean, nature is here for all of us. And, you know, in hundreds of years ago, we were deeply connected to the earth and to the trees, the water, the skies, the rocks. Every element in nature we were connected with and it healed us. And in our modern world, we're getting further and further away from natural nature and animals and ourselves. And so at the gentle barn, just like Guru Nanda, we need to return to nature and to animals because they are here for us. I had an emu who was very distressed. We had just rescued him and he had to go through a 30 day quarantine. And so he was in our quarantine room and he was very distressed. He was pacing back and forth and he was getting so worked up that I literally thought he was going to have a heart attack. And nothing I could do could calm him down. I was talking to him, I consulted with the veterinarians. There was nothing we could do to calm him down. So finally I turned to my essential oils and I used essential oils to fill the room with the nature smell of healing. Within five minutes, he was laying down, his eyes were closed and he was completely calm. And that's how we got him through the 30 day quarantine until he can go out into the barnyard. It was amazing.

It is amazing. I know emu oil has been used in some pain creams. What is your feeling about things that are happening when people are using some of these animal products? How do you feel about that?

So unfortunately, emu oil comes from killing emus. And I actually think that that's where Earl escaped from. He was on an emu farm and he escaped. So for me personally, I want to move away from this idea of enslaving others, exploiting others, and using others for our own Gain. I think that that is where things get out of balance and we start to destroy nature and ultimately we're destroying ourselves. And through the Gentle Barn, we try to really encourage people to work in harmony with nature and animals, to not exploit or enslave, but to work together to lift each other up. And so I'm vegan myself, and we try to encourage other people to maybe gently explore the idea of veganism in harmony with all of nature, because that will really bring things back into balance where we can live in harmony together and share this beautiful planet with each other.

And that's to quite some degree Ayurveda recommends, unless it is somebody has some specific conditions. They they recommend being kind. And the nature would be kind to you if you're kind to nature, is what they say. My next question would be that Ayurveda emphasizes the importance of energy and vibration in healing. Animals seems to sense energy in ways that humans often can't. Have you ever witnessed an animal at Gentle Barn intuitively comfort or heal someone in a way that felt beyond explanation? And I'm going to come to some incidents too, but I'll take your answer first.

Yes, we get to see that magic at the Gentle Barn every single solitary day. One of our programs that we offer to herding humans is our cow hug therapy sessions. And one of the most miraculous parts of the cow hug therapy process is that the cows intuitively know what the people are going through and they know what they need to heal. So when people come for our cow hug therapy sessions, we don't ask what they've been through or why they booked their session. We respect their privacy. And if they want to share, they can share. But we don't pry. But the animals seem to know. And if someone is feeling really heavy and needs to laugh, the animals lick them or play with them and get them to laugh and smile. If the people need grounding or centering, the animals simply climb, close their eyes and meditate with the people to help them do that. When people are in real trauma and in grief and despair and distress, the animals wrap themselves around the people and hold them. And just recently we had someone who lost their home in the recent LA fires. She lost everything. And she has been suffering not only from the loss of everything, but prior to that she was helping take care of her husband that suffered a brain injury for the last 12 years. So she's had a long over a decade of suffering and she's had to be very stoic and strong and get through it and keep going and she came for a cow hug therapy session. I knew nothing about her story until after the session, but our cow, Madonna literally wrapped herself around this woman and held her for 45 minutes. And when the woman finally came up for air, she shared her story with me and said that that was the first time in 12 years that she had shed one single tear because she had to focus on being strong. But with Madonna's embrace, she was able to cry and let some of it go. And it was amazing. I didn't know her story, but Madonna knew exactly what she needed.

So very similar to. Since you're talking about cow hug, it is a very common thing in India. I don't know if you know about Indian culture, but when I was young, my grandmom means I had in class five in my second terminal. I had very little marks in one of my subjects and I was really crying. And my grandmom took me to this cow hug therapy. I don't know if it was called therapy at that time, but she took me like five houses away was a cow yard where we used to get milk in the morning. There was this cow and I was like a little scared to go next to it because I would go to take the milk, but I would always stand outside. And my grandmom said, no, don't worry. She took me in and she said, just hug, hug the cow. And I hugged the cow. And it was. I felt so calm, so calm. And she said, pray what you want. So I prayed. I said, okay, I want to be doing better than. I studied a lot and I want to do better. And in the final exams, I remember I was in like number four in the class and I was like, I'm just relating it to this whole thing now that you're talking. I never thought about it, but it's a common thing in India. People live together, the mother in law, sister in laws, they all live in the same big house, joint families, so they can't talk to each other. So a lot of times I've seen a lot of these women are actually going to these places, the cow place, where they take the milk out and they just start hugging the cow. And now I can kind of relate that how this is probably their free psychologist session with the cow. I'm just thinking, listening to you, this is probably the reason.

That's a beautiful story. Yes. Cows have so much healing and wisdom for us. And I love how your grandmother knew that and took you there.

And cows are actually called mother in Indian, means they don't eat beef, they don't eat cow. And the reason is because as a child they feed you cow's milk. And the belief is that if you're going to drink milk from something, you better not eat it up. So it's like your mother replaced. Now this analogy may not work for people in America or normal people here. And I don't want to be professing them to do anything. It is their own, everybody's own thought process. But that is what they believe in India. So the next question is the gentle bond isn't about rescuing animals, it's about transforming human lives through them. Correct. Have you ever seen an animal heal a person in a way that mirrored Ayurvedic principles such as reducing stress, improving emotional well being, or even aiding physical recovery?

Yes, I have. One of the most miraculous things that I have seen during cow hug therapy sessions was a mom who lost a baby at only eight weeks. She was absolutely devastated, of course, and could not move forward with her life. And she wanted to live again, she wanted to be okay again. And she kept trying in therapy and all different ways to heal and she just couldn't. And her parents were really worried about her, her therapist was really worried about her. So her therapist actually recommended that she come to the gentle barn for cow hug therapy. And when I brought her into the pasture once again, the cows knew what this woman had been through. And I ushered this woman into our cow pasture and brought her to our matriarch, the mother of all the cows. Her name was Karma. And Karma had also lost children before coming to the gentle barn. So I knew they had a lot in common. And because she was our matriarch, I knew she would be very wise and soothing for this woman. So I brought the woman over, I sat her down, and she leaned into the shoulder of Karma, who was laying down meditating. And this woman, in the embrace of Karma, closed her eyes and. And unbeknownst to her, while her eyes were closed, every single other cow in the herd came quietly over and laid down until every single solitary cow was had created a circle around this woman. And they all closed their eyes and they all started to meditate. And so I closed my eyes and joined them and I started doing energy healing along with the cows on this woman. And it was very obvious and very clear that these cows were intentionally forming a circle of healing around this woman to give her energy healing and to heal her. Everybody stayed in their position with their eyes closed, meditating for about an hour. And after an hour, the woman opened her eyes, she looked around and saw all the cows encircling her. And she started telling stories of her son that she had lost. And we laughed and we cried and we held space for her. And when she had said everything that she wanted to say and felt the love and the healing embrace of all the cows, I walked her to her cow and said goodbye. Three weeks later, her parents called into the gentle barn and said, we cannot thank you enough. You have saved our daughter's life. She is now moving forward in her talk therapy. She is now looking to go back to work. You resuscitated her and nothing else would. Thank you so much. And that is the healing power of these cows. They are wise and intuitive. They know how to do energy, healing and meditate. And they can reach inside a person unlike any other therapy I've ever seen.

So a quick question. In your gentle barn, is it mostly cows or do you have other animals as well?

We do have other animals. We are home to horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, peacocks, llamas, emus, donkeys, and dogs. And they all contribute to humanity and do so much for people, especially opening their hearts to the beauty intelligence of animals. But the cows specifically help with people that are in deep grief or trauma.

In yoga, for example, we do up dog pose, down dog pose, and we have frog pose. Why do they choose animals to do these poses?

Because these animals do the actual poses themselves. I think that all these poses have been learned from animals. And having the privilege of being surrounded by animals all the time, I literally see cows do those poses. Or there's like a. There's a cat pose and a cow pose and a downward dog pose. Are dogs, cats and cows do these poses every single day? I think these natural poses.

So basically they are the originators of yoga. And the yogis, probably thousands of years ago, saw the cat actually, or the do like this and then camel, do like this, or cat and camel or whatever they call. So basically, they derived all the wisdom from. From animals and they kind of combined it together and maybe created yoga, I guess. And they. They said, okay, if. If you actually are in a certain pose, you will have a wisdom or you'll probably have a better flexibility of certain part of the body. That's probably what it is. Do you believe in this?

Yes, I believe that animals are the founders of yoga and meditation. My dogs do downward dog every single morning. That's how they stretch when they wake up.

And when you say meditation, how. Why do you say meditation? Do you think these animals actually meditate?

Yes, I see My animals meditate every single day.

Which one is the most meditative animal amongst all your animals?

I think every single animal takes time to be in the stillness and the quiet. But most obvious are the cows. The cows literally lay down, close their eyes, and it is visibly clear that they are meditating. And being next to them while they meditate, their energy is incredible. Their energy is so strong as they exude their love, their energy, and their wisdom to anyone who is near. And, you know, unfortunately, people are the only animal that really don't have a consistent meditation practice. And, I mean, when we do, it enriches our lives exponentially. But when we don't and we get lost in the busyness, that's when we detach from ourselves. And so that's something that the animals are always offering us and teaching us is that reminder to take time to meditate, be in the stillness and the quiet, to return to ourselves. It's so important.

And I also see that my dog, whenever he gets a chance, even if he sees a little sun coming through the window at a certain spot, he'll just climb on that spot and sit in the sun. He wants to take the vitamin D more than any human. So I feel like they have an intuition that, okay, they need the sun so that they can get that vitamin D and heal themselves. Have you seen that with other animals as well?

Yes. Just yesterday I was hosting a cow hug therapy session for a family that had lost their home in the recent fires. And it was like in the high 70s, it was quite warm out yesterday, and every single solitary cow was in the sun. And one of the people said, God, I wish they were in the shade. And I said, well, they're sun worshipers. They have to be in the sun. So it forced us to be in the sun with them.

Most of us probably lost the sun because we were already always in a building or in a house or never taking the sun. And then we are popping in vitamin D pills and probably having a hundred other problems. I went into a lunchtime yesterday and I went in the sun. And California, we're so lucky. The sun is so sweet at this time of the year. It's March. Oh, my God. I was like, yesterday I wanted to stay there for 30 minutes and just pray. Thank God for the sun. So these animals probably know it. That's why my dog wants to see the sun and really go in there and be there. The next question is about scent, because Guru Nanda started as a aromatherapy thing, and scent is a huge part of Ayurveda it's called Gandha Vidya. And emotional healing occurs with scent is what Ayurveda talks about. Guru Nanda uses essential oils for relaxation, stress relief, and better sleep. Now I see that animals also seem to respond to certain natural senses instinctively. And by the way, there is no animal in the world like a dog who can smell anything and find anything. So have you ever noticed any calming effects when animals are exposed to certain scents or certain environments? Yes.

I already told the story of how the essential oils completely transformed and calmed our stressed out emu. And it seems funny because, you know, you're talking about the power of smell. We refer to it as taking the dogs out for a walk, but I actually refer to it as taking the dogs out for a sniff and pee because they don't really want to walk as much as I do. They want to smell everything and gather intelligence, gather information. And I mean, some dogs, their smell is really a superpower. But better than dogs is our pigs. Our pigs can actually smell up to two miles away. So they know better than I do what's going on in the neighborhood, what food people are eating all the way down the street. So it really is a superpower of theirs. I'm also an animal communicator, and when I speak to my animal clients, sometimes they'll talk to me about, like, you know, when I'm talking to a cat, they'll show me how the cat has bionic vision. When I talk to a dog, they'll show me like, they're really sensitive to loud noises because they have really sharp hearing. But sometimes I talk to animals and they'll show me that their sense of smell is a superpower and they can smell. Unlike us, humans are able to. But essential oils and incense and using natural aromas are a big part of the healing that we do here at the Gentle Barn for our animals. Because just like people smelling nature, certain scents can trigger a calm stress relief, just like you said, certain. So it really is a big part of the work that we do here at the Gentle Barn is using essential oils to elicit calm and peace in our animals.

Just a strange question. Is there a specific thing that these cows or dogs or one of these animals likes to go to? Like they want to go near a particular plant?

Yeah. Honestly, our cows know when people are wearing leather on their shoes, on their feet, and when people go into the cow pasture and they're wearing leather, you would think, like, what? How's a cow going to know? And they otherwise ignore people's shoes. They could care less. But when someone is in the pasture wearing leather, the cow will specifically go up to their shoes and smell them and lick them as if they're apologizing to the spirit of that animal that they're wearing. It's really interesting.

I want to talk about loss. Loss is something we all experience. When my dad passed away, I was, like, blackened out for several months. But you've had to say goodbye to so many animals that literally become a part of the family. For example, dogs live 12 to 16, 18 years, but they become so tight. I know one of the influencers that I worked with, she would go to the grave of her dog, like, every day and post Instagram stories about it crying. How do you process grief when one of your rescues, cube, passes away? And how do the children who visit the gentle barn learn from those moments? And there's something incredibly unique about the way children and animals communicate without words, right? You can tell children something, and they can communicate without actually knowing the language. And same thing with animals. I can tell my animal something or sometimes even I even think of something, and my animal already knows about it. How do they communicate? And what is it about that connection that makes it so powerful?

You know, it's really interesting. I wrote a book recently. It just came out. It's called Cow Hug Therapy, Available to read or listen to on Amazon or anywhere books are sold. And I thought that I was writing a book about some of our most extraordinary animals and how they saved human lives and the wisdom and the lessons they have for all of us. But it turns out, through all the stories, stories that I told, that most of the stories ended up with the animal passing away. And I write in my book how I dealt with it, how I dealt with the grief, how I got through it. And so I thought I was writing a book about cow hug therapy, but it turns out to be a book really about loss and grief and recovery. And the animals themselves have taught me so much about loss, watching their reaction when their loved ones pass away away. And I remember one time, it's that same cow, Karma. We had another cow pass away. Her name was Witness. And she passed away. And the whole family gathered to say goodbye to her, and then gathered afterwards after she had left her body to kind of support one another. And I closed my eyes and I told karma, I'm so sorry for your loss. And she said, what are you talking about? What loss? And I said, well, Witness just passed away. I'm sure you're sad. And she said to me, there is no such Thing. Thing as death, there's no such thing as loss. Witness's spirit is right here next to me, and I can access her and talk to her and communicate with her whenever I want. You humans think that when there's a loss of the body, there's a loss of the spirit, and it's not true. And so she taught me that death is not the end of a relationship. And then many other cows taught me that I could sit and be still and connect with that animal whenever I want, even though with my eyes open, I can't see the animal, I can close my eyes and connect with them. And I think that that is one of the biggest pieces that I've learned to recover from grief. Because when we think that the relationship is over, it's very, very painful. Once we realize that the relationship continues after the animal has stepped out of their body or our loved one has stepped out of our body, then there's healing in that, because we know that we can continue to love one another beyond the physical form. And so that is a real, really big piece. And that's something I think that children understand inherently. I don't think they understand it logically, but I think when we're children, the veil between the physical life and the afterlife is blurred. And I think children can sense spirits and they can understand a deeper communication. And I think the older we get, the more indoctrinated we are to this Western civilization that if we can't see, see it, or prove it, it doesn't exist. And then that leads to so much pain. And so if we can return to being childlike and understand that connections and love never dies, then it helps with the grief a little bit.

Interesting. Very hard, touching to listen from you, because now I'm realizing I grew up in a society which worships cows, and I really never learned more about cows when I was young. And today I'm getting a lesson from somebody in America. So next time when I go to India, I'm going to actually. Or I'll come to one of your gentle barn and actually touch them, feel them, and learn about cows. Because to me, pets is all about dogs and other things.

Please come to the gentle barn and hug our cows. I would be so honored to have you here in person and reconnect to your roots.

Great, great, great. Give me a second. So your wisdom and stories were pretty touchy. You reminded us that animals are not just beings to be saved. They are teachers, healers, and companions of our journey to the wholeness. Thank you for sharing your heart. Today and the incredible work that you do. And for those who feel inspired, I would suggest that they should go to Gentleborn and become a part of the mission to create a more compassionate world. It's very important in today's life especially.

So.

I give you 60 seconds to talk about your Gentle Barn, Ali, and tell people more about it or anything else that I might have missed out. Sure.

I'd like to invite everyone to check out the Gentle Barn on our website, gentlebarn.org if you're anywhere near Nashville, Tennessee or Los Angeles, California, come visit in person. Come get a cow hug. I would be honored if you would come and visit us. And to learn more about cow hug therapy sessions and the wisdom that animals have for all of us, the insight into their hearts, into their intelligence, and the ways that we can heal ourselves and our planet by seeing animals more clearly. I invite anyone to come and read my book, Cow Hug Therapy, or my first book, My Gentle Barn. And to find out more about me and the animal communication, medication and energy healing that I do, people can check me out at Ellie Lax.

Please do ellie lax.com thank you Ali and Namaste.

Thank you. Namaste. Thank you so much.