Sound healing for people and pets with Kathy Dale

by Caroline Vaught | Sep 13, 2019

Happy Fall ya’ll!

Well it’s not exactly fall here in SoCal, but my Southeastern roots (hence the use of “ya’ll”) are feeling the change of seasons just the same (ahem… college football)

Today I want to spend some time diving a bit deeper into a core component of our vision for Cat & Craft – healing.

I’m thinking about making this the first installment in a series of posts on the topic. After all, it’s the primary motivation behind creating a space such as C&C – for the cats in need of loving homes and people in need of unconditional love.

Meet Kathy Dale

Kathy is the owner of Conscious Pathways Coaching.

She reached out to me one day about the work she does for people as well as animals via vibrational sound healing (read on and you’ll learn what that is).

I found this fascinating… so much so that I want to share it with you in the form of a brief interview I did with her.

I hope you enjoy!

[Caroline] As I understand it, the purpose of your practice is to help people and animals work through emotional blocks such as traumas, negative emotions and fears so that the individual can experience restored well-being (physical and emotional), increased confidence, and has room for love and joy in their life. I’d love our readers to understand how vibrational sound healing support these objectives? 

[Kathy] “Vibrational sound healing with tuning forks is a gentle, non-invasive and effective way to release physical and emotional blockages, allowing for increased energy, improved physical health, and enhanced emotional well-being.

When we experience trauma, we don’t always have the resources necessary to process the painful or difficult emotions when they arise.  Whenever we suppress an emotion, it becomes stored in our energy field. The emotion will continue to look for ways to express itself until it is released.  Oftentimes, that expression is through the manifestation of physical pain, illness, disease, or chaotic life circumstances.

Tuning forks can identify these pockets of stagnant or incoherent energy and balance them through sound, vibration and intention, allowing us to fully process and neutralize the trapped emotion.  Although the memory itself remains intact, the negative emotional charge no longer exists. Remarkable changes and healing can occur once these cellular memories are cleared.

Tuning forks work with the physics principles of resonance and entrainment. 

Our bodies are like musical instruments which become out of tune over time due to stress, anxiety, physical pain, and emotional traumas.  Tuning forks can diagnose and correct distortions in our body’s energy field. They act as a mirror showing us where incoherence resides within and around the body.  Once identified, the body auto-corrects itself through the process of entrainment to specific healing frequencies. This is akin to the phenomenon of hanging two pendulum clocks on a wall that are swinging at different intervals.  Eventually, the more powerful pendulum clock will entrain the other clock so that they fall in sync with one another.

The frequencies of the tuning forks that I use are not set to the modern Western musical scale.  They are instead precisely calibrated to ancient Solfeggio frequencies (a six-tone scale used in Gregorian chants) and Fibonacci ratios (mathematical patterns that are found in the human body and throughout nature) that are specifically designed for healing through the harmonization of body, mind and spirit.

The tuning forks that I use are made from high-grade aluminum alloys.  These alloys produce pure tonal quality, longer ring tones, and produce an infinite number of overtones.  Tuning forks modulate brainwave patterns, and balance the Autonomic Nervous System, allowing us to enter into deep states of relaxation where self-healing can occur. 

So tell us how you began to share your skills with animals? 

“I initially began working with animals to find relief for my cat Walker’s asthma. Walker had been on various medications and holistic remedies for nearly a decade to manage his frequent asthma attacks.  I knew that weighted tuning forks (known as Osteophonic or Otto forks) released nitric oxide, which reduced inflammation, increased vascular flow, and improved immune function. The weighted tuning forks had the added benefit of mimicking Walker’s own purr.  I noticed a pattern where Walker’s asthma attacks would stop if I could get him to purr. This was a huge ah ha moment for me. 

The next time Walker had an asthma attack, I placed the stem of an Otto tuning fork directly on his chest and rubbed his back with my other hand.  Within a minute or so, he was breathing normally again. This technique worked much faster than the inhaler I had been using. Not only did the tuning forks work quickly, they had no adverse side effects.  Walker also seemed to enjoy the familiar soothing vibration of the tuning fork. I realized that the healing effects of tuning forks reached much further and deeper than I ever could have imagined. From that point forward, I knew that I wanted to help both people and their pets with vibrational sound healing.

I’m in the process of reading a book called “Animal Lessons, Discovering your Spiritual Connection with Animals” by Danielle MacKinnon and the author quotes, “Animals are here to help us evolve by connecting with unconditional love”. This rings true in my soul based upon my own life experiences, what are your thoughts given the work you have done and your own first hand experiences with animals? 

“I love Danielle MacKinnon’s work and believe she has a keen understanding of the symbiotic relationship between humans and animals. I agree with Danielle that animals are here to teach us unconditional love.  They show us in a quiet yet masterful way that love is not something that can be learned from a left-brained, analytical perspective. Rather, it is something that must be felt and experienced from that deeper, unseen place within our hearts. 

Have you ever had the experience of breaking down in front of your pet on a bad day?  From my own experience, they affectionately and loyally sit with you, holding space without judgment, making you feel as if everything in the world is going to be okay.  In that place of raw vulnerability, we feel completely safe, secure and loved. There’s no expectation for us to feel anything other than what we are feeling in that moment.  We are fully accepted and unconditionally loved, allowing us the gift to process what we need to process in order to heal.

Not only do animals teach us about unconditional love, they teach us many other invaluable lessons such as patience, gratitude, and living in the moment.  Much like tuning forks, animals act as mirrors showing where we are out of balance in our lives. They gently guide us into making adjustments that lead to our continued evolution and growth.

In return, people can help animals by becoming more aware of their own energy when they are in the presence of their pets.  People are not always aware of how sensitive animals are to energy. Living in states of perpetual stress, anxiety or fear, can unintentionally affect our pet’s health and well-being. 

We influence the lives of our pets in a variety of ways. We not only control their external environments (where they live, what types of foods they eat, their social interactions, how little or how much exercise they receive, etc.), but we influence their emotional well-being as well.  By nourishing our own physical, emotional and spiritual needs, our pets are naturally healthier and more balanced.”

Based on your experience, what signs or signals do you receive that tell you the animal is receiving a benefit from the treatment?

 “A majority of the benefits that the animals receive are reported to me post-session by their owners. From my own observation during a session, animals are normally active, alert and oftentimes curious when I arrive.  Within a few minutes of being exposed to vibrational sound therapy, the animals become much more relaxed. By the end of the session, most of the animals I work with are either asleep or resting comfortably. In cases of extreme stress or physical pain, I see marked improvement in their physiology by the end of a session.  Some of the benefits that have been reported to me after sessions are increased energy, much calmer demeanor, improved sleep, decrease in aggression, increased appetite, and reduction of pain and/or swelling.”

Are there any signs a pet owner could look for that might point out an energetic unbalance or block that vibrational sound healing might help address?

“Some signs that a pet owner could look for that might indicate an energetic block or imbalance could be lethargy, changes to the appetite, new or unusual behaviors, aggression, excessive chewing or licking, pulling out fur, etc.

It’s important to note that I do not use tuning forks to diagnose specific illnesses or diseases in animals.  I encourage pet owners to consult with their veterinarians if they believe their pets require medical attention. 

I would also invite pet owners to rule out any external cues in their pet’s environment that may have contributed to these physiological or behavioral changes (i.e. moving to a new home, new additions to the household including people, animals or things, changes to their diet, new lights or sounds, etc.).  Again, animals are very sensitive to energy and to change of any kind.  

Change can create undue stress on pets, which can be easily alleviated through sound balancing.  Sound balancing with tuning forks allow animals to enter into deep states of relaxation required for healing.  It is in these deep states of relaxation that stress responses are disengaged, allowing for an animal’s natural healing responses to be turned back on.”