Why I Read Out Loud to My Dogs

Photo by 2Photo Pots on Unsplash

I like to check in regularly with my dogs to see what kind of energy healing they want for that day. Sometimes they want Reiki, sometimes Chakra balancing, sometimes Psychic Surgery, and sometimes Pangu Shengong energy healing. 

When my senior dog, Max, let me know that he wanted me to read out loud to him for our session, I smiled. I felt silly at first, but I understood what he was doing. He wanted to show me some simple—and unexpected—ways we could shift our energy together.

Here’s why reading out loud to my dogs has quickly become a favorite energy healing activity for both of us.

1. Calming voices tell our nervous systems that they can relax.

When I asked Max what Energy Healing means to him, he told me that my voice is an energetic anchor for him, just as his physical body is an energetic anchor for me. (If you haven’t read I Asked My Animals What Energy Healing Means to Them yet and you’d like to, you can find it here.) Though I was surprised by his answer, it made sense to me.

Think of a voice that you find soothing, calming, grounding. You don’t just hear that voice in your ears; you feel that voice in your whole body. The voices of those we love let us know that we aren’t alone. They bring us into the present moment with each other.

When we read aloud to our animals, we create a soothing energetic bubble with our voice and invite them in.

2. Words shift our energy.

When we read something distressing, our body tightens and our breath gets shallow. When we read something pleasurable, inspiring, enlightening, or expansive, the cells of our body expand; there is space for deep breathing.

I like to read novels, non-fiction, and philosophy to Max. When I read something that distresses me, he can feel me get tense, and he gets up and leaves the room. His action helps me tune into my energy and invites me to shift it. (Because we humans often aren’t in touch with our own energy!)

When I read something to him that brings my energy into a good place, he settles in next to me. We cozy up in the big dog bed, blankets around us, for story time. He often drops into a deep sleep. Two year old Ziggy, the mini golden doodle who has lots of energy, comes close too. Sometimes she’ll curl up in the dog bed next to us; sometimes she’ll squeeze onto the big bed with us.

Chances are high that my energy was out of whack before this moment. Reading aloud to Max and Ziggy brings me back into alignment. This feels good to them—it’s an energy they want to be part of.

3. When we read, we form pictures in our minds.

We also feel things, and, of course, we think things. Animals are telepathic, and they can see the images in our minds, feel our feelings, and know our thoughts. When we’re having fun with those images, feelings, and thoughts, our animals get to experience the journey with us.

While they could access our inner journey even if we just read silently to ourselves, reading aloud to them is an intentional invitation to come along for the ride. It’s a much more soothing ride than the inner journey we take when we scroll through social media, which bombards our body with rapid-fire images, feelings, and thoughts along a constantly fluctuating spectrum from distressing to funny to anxiety-producing to inspiring, and we end up feeling more stressed or disconnected after.

Ever notice what your animals do when you get sucked into a social media hole? My dogs love to create an “urgent situation” that forces me out of it. Max might slip and fall behind me. Ziggy might start barking. The social media inner journey never feels like a warm, cozy dog bed.

4. Reading aloud helps focus our thoughts.

When our thoughts are scattered, or we are caught in a loop about what someone else said or did, or didn’t say or do, or when we are obsessing about the future, our energy follows our attention. When our attention is moving a mile a minute with our thoughts, our energy can become drained very quickly.

Our animals feel the frenetic energy created by our rampant thoughts. Sometimes they might mirror that energy to us by behaving frenetically. Sometimes they might choose to be elsewhere. Sometimes they might act out in an effort to snap us out of our thinking loop. It can be a lot of work for our animals when we get stuck in our heads!

Reading aloud for pleasure can be a fun way to bring our energy back to ourselves and focus our thoughts. If our thoughts are particularly loud and active, we might read silently to ourselves and discover that we haven’t comprehended a word that we’ve read. We show up differently for reading aloud—it requires more focus for us, and our bodies receive the energetic transmission from the words by speaking them.

Then our animals don’t have to work as hard to get us out of our heads and into a shared moment of consciousness with them.

5. Reading aloud fosters intimate connection.

Were you read to as a child? Do you remember the actual words you heard? Or do you remember the feeling of being read to? The experience of feeling cozy, safe, and excited by new worlds. There is so much more going on in these storytelling moments than the story. When we read aloud—to kids, other adults, or animals—we speak and listen together. We experience the pleasure of the sound of words together. We travel dimensions together. Our bodies sync up. We draw close around the words, as if huddling around a warm fire. We are here, safe in this moment, dreaming together. 

6. Our animals love when we take time for ourselves.

We humans are so busy-busy-busy! Our animals know that it is often easier for us to show up for them than it is to show up for ourselves. Creating a ritual with our animals where we read aloud to them takes us out of the constant stream of to do lists for a moment. Our animals benefit from a calmer us.

In my Animal Communication sessions, I’ve met many animals who are purposely driving their human crazy with some unwanted behavior. What the animal often asks from their human is for the human to create intentional time together with them. The animal knows that if the human mediates, naps, or reads to them, they and their human benefit from the sacred downtime. 

7. Reading aloud helps us get comfortable using our voice.

I haven’t always liked my voice. When I was bartending and no one could hear me above the crowd, I would yell, “I’m trapped in a little voice!” My voice has been made fun of. When I was in graduate school—actually in all of my schooling—I thought I would have a heart attack and die every time I opened my mouth in class.

I’ve come a long way since then, but still, my animals want me to embrace and love my voice, and not be afraid to use it. Ziggy models this in her barking. Max shows me how much he loves my voice by the way he responds physically to it.

My dogs make me feel like my voice is magic. Reading aloud to them helps me practice using my voice, in a beautiful, connected, and pleasurable way.

Give it try!

Create some intentional time with your animal and read aloud to them, then let me know how it goes! I’d love to hear about how this shifts their energy and yours.

If you can set aside some small pocket every day—especially the same time each day— your animal will come to know that this is story time together. Your nervous system will too :)

And if you’re a writer, try reading your words aloud to your animal. You get to practice using your voice and your words with an audience who has mastered unconditional love.  

WANT TO BOOK A PRIVATE INTUITIVE SESSION WITH ME? I just opened up a few new spots for one-on-one sessions in March for all session types, including Animal Communication, Intuitive Coaching, and Intuitive Coaching for Writers. I’ve also got new special pricing on packages of 5 and 10 sessions. You can learn more and book a session through my website here.