The Stillness That Heals: How Animals and Nature Awaken the Soul

Speaker: 00:00:04

WSC Intro/Outro: This is when Spirit calls and you on your journey, are in the right place. This show is about magic, miracles and meaning shared through stories, interviews and channeled messages. We have so much to share about who you are and your divine mission here on the earth, let's get to it. When Spirit calls is right now. We've got another great guest coming up for you on when Spirit calls today.

Speaker: 00:00:37

Rev. Rose Hope: Our guest is Cayla Twerdochlib. Cayla is a certified Akashic Records practitioner, animal communicator and ceremonial guide and the heart behind deeply rooted healing, a sacred space where nature, intuition and spirit come together to support transformational healing. Her path into this work began during a time of deep uncertainty, feeling lost, disconnected and unsure of where she belonged, searching for meaning outside of herself left her even more unfulfilled, and it wasn't until she turned to the earth, the animals and intuitive practices that everything began to shift. They weren't just a source of healing. They became the heart of her work and the bridge that led her back to herself. Now she offers grounded, heart led support for those who feel stuck or disconnected, helping them uncover the guidance that's already within them. Cayla's work invites you to go back to your truth rooted in nature, stillness and the knowing that you already belong.

Speaker: 00:01:36

Hello. Hello, everyone. Welcome back. Thanks for tuning in to another edition of When the Spirit calls. You've learned a little bit about our guest, Kayla is here. Hi, Cayla, I'm so happy you're here. And you know, our journey started quite a while ago. You and I met many. Gosh, was it like 10 years ago now? Has it been that long? I feel like it might be about that and holy smokes, it has been such a privilege and joy to watch you move through your path and watch you step into such a divine space. So I'm so excited for our guests to learn more about you and your connection with nature and the animals and what you do to keep that connection alive and healthy for us. So I'm going to start things off in typical when Spirit calls fashion, I love to start with your story and what brought you to this place today. So would you fill us in and give us a little backstory to like, what brought you here now?

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:02:38

Oh, of course. And thank you so much. We have definitely been through a lot of different seasons, and I'm really excited to share you know where I'm at now. And I want to start off with this quote that just keeps coming up, and it says, the further we've gotten away from the Earth, the further we've gotten away from ourselves, and I feel so many of us can resonate with not even knowing what it feels like to be at home and our bodies and our lives and even the world, and that's where my story begins. For as long as I can remember, I have always been called the quiet one. You know, crowds, people would always say, Oh, you talk. You're so shy. After I would meet new people, friends would say, oh, you know, so and so they said they couldn't believe how quiet you were. And it made me so insecure, because I didn't really think I was that quiet, but it was almost like that comment made me think there was something wrong with me. So I would try and fill space and, you know, talk more or be more. But I found that I was tired all the time for trying to force myself into places, and later on, that found me in working in restaurants. When I was 22 I felt like I was in the perfect place. I was in a busy restaurant. It was really demanding, and there wasn't a lot of time and space for me to talk with people, or for someone to say, Hey, you're the quiet one. I could put my head down, and I could really work. And in the beginning, I really loved it. I loved the rush, the adrenaline of cooking delicious food and putting it out really quickly. But I found myself exhausted all of the time. You know, I would sleep 12 plus hours on a day off, and then wake up feeling like I hadn't slept in years. My body was aching like crazy, and my nervous system was in this constant state of fight or flight from being under all of that pressure at work, that adrenaline, and we started to experience some really severe acne. I had never had acne growing up, and I had extreme acne. And I kept thinking, I'm 22 I should not be feeling this way. I'm kind of starting to think to myself, you know, is this all my life is supposed to be? And so I started to do everything that I. Thought was the right thing. I dove into, you know, personal development, the books, the courses, the classes, exercising, eating better, and it all helped a bit. But the one thing that truly changed everything was when I connected with my horse. I was starting to dive into more of spirituality, and when I decided that I needed to connect with my horse, he was actually going through something really serious, too. At the time, he had these scabs. They're called scratches, and normally, if you get to them right away, they're not a bother. You treat them, and they move on, and they don't usually have that much of an issue or harm towards horses. But his wouldn't go away. He tried cream salves, ointments. I talked to people who had horses. I went to vets, I went to Google and nothing, all the things. And so a mentor of mine at the time, suggested that I bring him into a meditation. And I at the time, I thought, You know what, I'm really open to trying just about anything at this point. And so I was invited to, you know, close my eyes and take a breath. And instantly my horse came to me in this meditation, and I was guided to put my hands on his back legs, and I could see my hands were glowing, and they were warm and hot, and I was just breathing. I wasn't doing anything. I was breathing. And I kept sitting there and sitting there asking, you know, should I do something? He said, Just breathe. And after a few moments, he showed me that all of my pain, my acne, he was starting to take it on because he didn't want it to be a burden for me.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:06:48

Rev. Rose Hope: Wow, wow.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:06:50

And at the moment, I thought, Okay, this is really cool. This is awesome. But I didn't think much of it. So after the meditation the next day, I went outside to do chores as normal, and I noticed for the first time in over a year, I could scratch off each scab with my finger like butter. I was so excited, so I ran into the house, and I noticed that my acne, it was probably 80% less red and inflamed. And that was the moment there really changed everything for me. I started to really listen to the horses, to the animals, to nature, and I realized with them, I didn't ever have to perform. I didn't have to explain myself, and oftentimes I didn't have to talk to be heard. Just had to be and it was with animals in nature that I learned that silence isn't empty, it's full, full of knowing

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:07:49

Rev. Rose Hope: we can we just pull it That was so good. And I just, I bears repeating, yeah, isn't empty. I mean, I think that in itself is a huge like, my mind is like, you're right. It's not empty. I just I want that to soak into our listeners, because I don't know about you, but so often, you know, I find people are so uncomfortable with silence, and you had to learn to be comfortable with it at a very young age, because you were perceived as the quiet one. So silence was an ally for you, but yet you were made to feel like there was something wrong with that. And so I love this paradigm shift in recognizing that silence isn't empty. So like you and you were, you were, of course, going on to say something more there.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:08:42

Yeah, it was probably one of the biggest realizations is that it's not empty. It's full of truth, full of knowing and full of connection animals and nature. They didn't just heal me and show me this. They offered this opportunity for me to find my voice and to feel confident with it again. Wow, and now I just feel so passionate in helping people reconnect to their own inner truth through nature and animals and to remind people that healing doesn't always have to be through doing. It can be through sitting and listening. And I believe animals and nature are some of our biggest allies in this.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:09:28

Rev. Rose Hope: Oh, are they, though? Because doesn't nature teach us to just be? You know, I think about my cat over here, which you've done some healing work on as well. And I think about LUFA, my cat, and she can just be and still provide us joy, comfort, connection, and she's not working, you know what I mean? She's not thinking about, Oh, I better make sure I go and run my body on mom's legs. You know? She's not thinking that. And I think that that's just a such a part. Potent reminder for all of us, because, you know, especially for me, being the overachiever, chronic doer, you know, in recovery, I I noticed that that space and how if I am just in my being, sometimes that brings grace, sometimes that brings love, sometimes that brings light without me again, having to say anything, to do anything, but just in my being. And I remind my clients often of that where they say, Well, I don't feel like I'm doing enough. We are enough. In just our state of presence, we are enough. And I know people that have come into my life, and they just brought so much grace without them doing anything, they brought me grace in some way, you know, just with their presence. And I just think that's so powerful. So thank you for reminding us of what we can learn from that connection with animals and nature itself. I mean, of course, we are nature in ourselves as well, and I think that's the big remembrance, is that we are that, yeah.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:11:05

and I'd really love to share some of those lessons that animals nature have taught me, and I think they can be such a big help for everyone listening. And you touched on. The one that I want to go a little bit deeper into is animals. They bring us back into a state of love, and they teach us what unconditional love is. And if you take a moment, you close your eyes and you imagine this little, beautiful, fluffy, furry puppy in your arms. He's licking you and squirming around, and he curls up in your arms and takes a big yawn to have a nap. And in that moment, I'm curious, what do you feel?

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:11:51

Rev. Rose Hope: Well, I you know, immediately a smile came to my face, like, how could you not? You know, there was a playfulness that I felt too in that. And of course, this feeling of like that is love to me, like that's joy and love right there, you know, just that cuddling, that connection, and just allowing for that little puppy to just be that little puppy.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:12:15

And what I love about that is Abraham Hicks teaches us and shares with us that love is the highest vibrational emotion, and when we're in that state, those lower vibration emotions and feelings of fear and anger, they don't have space to exist. So when we're in that space of love, that's when our manifestations, our dreams, our desires, take flight. It's where the creativity comes back to the surface. So the more we spend time with animals, we're reminded, like you mentioned, that we are worthy and deserving of love by simply just existing. We don't have to do anything, we don't have to prove ourselves. And what I love too is this doesn't just show up in our emotional field. It reflects into all fields of the body and our human heart, the electromagnetic field of our heart, it extends 10 feet beyond us. But horses, it's actually five times larger than that. Wow, being in the presence of horses or animals can simply raise our frequency just by being there. Wow. Our subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between real or imagined. So if you are feeling you know fear or anger, and you bring in the element of a horse or an animal, you can breathe in love and exhale that fear and anger, and you've just raised your vibration.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:13:44

Rev. Rose Hope: I love this so much. It seems so ridiculously simple. Like, hello. But yet, oftentimes we're just kind of oblivious to that connection, that relationship, and I'll just give an example too. Like, we have a lot of bunnies running around this time of the year, and every time you see money like, Oh buddy, you know, right away, I'm just like, Oh buddy. Every time. And they, they bring in this, like, oh, you know, energy. And they're not doing anything except for running across the road or whatever, eating my eating my clover. But there's something that happens inside, you know? And I think about horses too, you know, I'm driving on the highway. Oh, look, there's horses like my eyes always drawn to those horses, you know, as I'm driving by. And so I think there's just some wonderful, potent reminder for us that it's not just the animals either. This is a human connection too, right? And if you understand that we've got this field, you said 10 feet around us. That's why, when we walk into a room, sometimes people are like, Oh, my God, it changed the energy. Or when you walk into a room and things haven't been so good, you. Can feel it right, like I can cut it with a knife. You know, the density of that room. So it's just such a beautiful pull reminder for us of that, that connection that maybe we can't always see and maybe we're too busy to sense. But of course, being invited to become more aware of that, so that we can receive the value of that magic, of that resonance, that love, yeah,

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:15:25

That invitation to slow down and just be in that present moment. And another big lesson that they have taught me and shown me is animals mirror our hidden emotions, and through that, they help us heal. You know, our brains, we have about 50,000 thoughts going through our mind every single day, and 95% of them are repeated, and they reflect our mindset and our beliefs. And so if we don't know which ones are supporting us or keeping us stuck, it's so hard to discern where to even start. And I believe that so many of us have been told that this idea of healing, and you know, living our best lives is so difficult, and it's going to take so much work. But animals also, they help us simplify this. And I want to bring back in horses. That's a very common theme for me, but horses are actually prey animals, so their first line of defense when they are to fight, it's not to fight, it's to run away. So they pick up on the most subtle energies, you know, body language, emotions, and so it's really an honor. When they choose to come towards us, they pick up on our energies. And when we allow ourselves to be true to our emotions, they come even deeper. Oftentimes we will say, Well, this horse ran away, or they're acting this way. They're picking up on what you're saying and what you're feeling, even if you don't know what it is we had this client, this story gives me chills every time she came to our line through horses. Event, yeah, when she came, she was experiencing so much physical pain, she needed a cane to walk, and she was waiting surgery. And so when she first approached the horse, the idea is to learn and communicate through animals or through horses. Sorry, the horse was jumping around, unsettled, and one calmed down, and she kind of looked at us like, what are we supposed to do? And I said, just breathe. Just breathe. And as she softened, the horse soften stopped and just stood there with her. And as she breathed with him, she started to cry, and all these emotions came to the surface, I don't know where this is coming from, and said it's okay, just breathe. And by the end of the session, she felt more grounded and calm, and her pain was a lot less, and she didn't have to take her medication for days after. So they remind us, and they create this space for us to feel safe, to be vulnerable and to simply just feel. And sometimes that's all we need, is that space.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:18:06

Rev. Rose Hope: Yes, it's so amazing. You know this, this woman that you used as this example, and the pain shadow in her body. And I think so many of us are experiencing pain in our body because there's so much emotional pain that we haven't allowed to be processed or or released, or whatever that might look like. And it's something that's really come out loud and clear for me too, as I've struggled with some left hip pain and left leg pain, I've really allowed myself to feel into okay. What is my body's actually saying to me and what is the nurturing that it actually needs? And I love that you can use the animals as an adjunct. And you know, as I'm thinking about I'm like, Oh my God, my cat totally lays by my left leg all the time. I'm just making that connection now, right? And so, how beautiful is it that we can now receive that that medicine. Yeah.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:19:05

They are natural healers, and they're always trying to point us in the right direction, just sometimes we've forgotten how to listen. But yeah, they are also so forgiving that they're they'll always be there. They always are there to support us and traditional love, like you said, conditional love, and that's the other piece that I find is so important, is they remind us why we need community, why we need to live together. There was a survey conducted in 2004 that showed our social networks are rapidly declining, and I believe they have in the past five years too, and we've been conditioned to believe that so many of us have to do it all on our own. Find your career, your purpose, go through some of your hardest moments in life alone, just so you don't inconvenience someone. But really that. It makes us more disconnected, more lonely and lost. And if we look at nature, it's totally the opposite. There's herds of wild horses, packs of wolves, schools of fish, and they're all traveling, eating and living together to support each other. And when one of those systems falters, they start to notice a big decline. And if you look at the Yellowstone National Park, they used to have packs of wild wolves everywhere. But in 1926 there was actually a government control program that took them out. And over the years, they saw that the elk population went up, birds disappeared. Trees were dying. The rivers were eroding, all because of one animal was removed, and so they put them back in, or slowly started reintroducing them in 95 and shortly after they noticed that the birds came back. The trees were thriving, the elk wasn't so overpopulated. The land was coming back into balance. And I think it's such a beautiful reminder, just like the Yellowstone, we're ecosystems too, and when we lose or disconnect from that wolf inside of us, it's not some you know, we have to burn everything down or fix it. It's this opportunity and invitation to reintroduce what's been lost inside of us.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:21:28

Rev. Rose Hope: I love that so much like now I'm like, Can we get a group of people together go to the forest now? Oh my gosh, that's beautiful, and it's such a potent reminder for us of the value of community and impact that one species or one group can have on the others. Kind of underestimate that, right?

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:21:54

Yeah, and I love sharing this story too, and a lot of the stories I share give me goosebumps. But there's this lady who lost her husband, and after her husband was gone, she was left to raise her six boys on her own and raise or take care of the farm. And she wasn't someone who often showed her emotions, but after the funeral of her husband, she went out to the field, and they had chickens and dogs and horses, goats, you name it. And for everyone who knows animals, there's always some sort of sound going on. She went out to the field, and all of the animals stood around her in a perfect circle. There was not one sound to be heard other than her sobbing, and they held her in her grief, and they held her in the stillness and the quiet. And so sometimes they can be some of our biggest allies and supporters, just holding us in that quiet, in that stillness. Wow.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:23:00

Rev. Rose Hope: Oh, I got goose bumps with that one too, you know? Yeah, there's just so much wisdom that is in our in the nature in our animals, that we haven't even let ourselves tap into. It's incredible. It's incredible. So, you know, obviously animals show us unconditional love. They bring us, they remind us of the importance of presence, and, of course, the power of community. Did I miss any? Did I miss something in that? No, but got it? Okay, good. So I'm curious, because you mentioned the horses a few times, and I know several equine therapists or Gestalt coaches that work with horses specifically. Do you know what makes the horses particularly savvy at the healing work and the emotional work compared to other animals?

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:23:57

I feel the biggest piece is around that prey animal, as I mentioned before, is they run away, but it's always also their big presence. You know, oftentimes in healing sessions, when someone comes to a horse that kind of avoiding those feelings and emotions, and the horse will simply butt you with his head, or he'll lean his head on you, and it's almost like an instant switch of the light that the emotions just start to pour out. There's also this sense of awe and beauty people experiencing forces that just see them as such, this beautiful, powerful animal, yeah, just makes it, you know, that draw to be around them.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:24:43

Rev. Rose Hope: yeah, you know, I always felt like there was such a majesty to them. Like it just to me, it was so special. And I grew up watching the Last Unicorn so, like, unicorns, horses were, like, pretty, pretty profound and special. Special to me, even growing up. And I would also add to that, you know, you mentioned that the horses have 10 times that vibrational field that we as humans do, obviously, that would be probably a factor in their ability to help us with their healing journey. But, you know, I loved, loved that. Yeah, there's a few different reasons for that, and not that we can't say, utilize other animals for healing. Of course, I know people that have cats that are healer cats and dogs that are healer dogs and all of those things. And so I guess the point in this is that, you know, any animal can be a source of connection and healing for you. But there is, of course, the practice of specifically using horses to really amplify and magnify that whole process or experience. So I think it's it's so enriched and so beautiful. So uh, Kayla, I know that you are doing like you're helping people kind of tune into their spirit animals. And so is this something that, like anybody can come and check out and explore us online.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:26:02

Yeah, definitely. There will be a few pieces below where people can come find me, but I'm actually going to be inviting everyone. I'm doing a five day free challenge. Oh yeah, it's going to be running in August. It's called the Nature Kingdom Connection Challenge.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:26:23

Rev. Rose Hope: Oh, pick me up

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:26:26

Five days, and I'm going to guide you through and help you connect to the different elements of earth, fire, water, wind. And I will be doing animals for people to come, and they also get to discover their spirit animal. And the whole point of it is to help people strengthen to the natural connections we have outside of us, and to feel more in tune with their own inner wisdom.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:26:52

Rev. Rose Hope: Love that so much and don't we need that more now than ever. And yay. So we still get to discover maybe a spirit animal or two. I know there's lots of different spirit animals, and I'm sure people are like, Oh, now you're talking spirit animals. Kind of like, give us some insight. So what are the different spirit animals? Do we have more than one kind of those basic questions.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:27:15

I personally feel that there's always a different animal that will come in dependent on what you're going through in life. I know for myself, I always have a wolf with me, but some days I will have just another animal that will come through. There's the power animals, there's dream animals, and I know there's one more, but just off the top of my head, it's escaping my mind,

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:27:39

Rev. Rose Hope: yeah, I know this, right? Power. There's power animals, Dream animals, and then your spirit animals. So, yeah, here, right? You know, it's so fascinating to me. I just want to share this little story. So many years ago, I did a journey with an indigenous elder, and he drummed for us, and he walked us through this, like, meditative journey, and we were to go and find our spirit animal. And I was like, oh, it's gonna be something cool, like a bald eagle, or like a wool for a bear, or something really neat. And what shows up for me is a beaver, a beaver, of all things. And I remember my ego while me thinking, like, Oh, I'm really a beaver. Like, oh, like, of all things. Why a beaver? But then I researched the beaver. I researched how they build strong, sturdy homes, of safety for their families, their tenacity, like there was so many qualities and characteristics that really resonated and landed for me, and I just had this much higher regard for the beaver after that. And so even though it's a little funny that I didn't get some like cool what I perceived as a cool animal. The Beaver is such a cool animal. And little did I know that many years later, I would buy a property that is like got hundreds of beavers on it, of course. But, you know, I also am aware that there's some other animals that come forward for me at different times. You know, a quick little example, even today, I went for a bike ride and I stopped to grab some water, and I looked down on my shoe, and I had this, like, green, vibrant spider. It didn't even look like it came from Earth. Actually, it was like, Is this an alien? I don't know, but it was like this green, almost like a fluorescent green, almost, it was the weirdest thing. And it just like, gently, kind of walked off my shoe and onto the ground. Is harmless, but I remember being like, oh, there's a message for me. I could feel that there was, like, something. So I haven't had a chance yet, since my bike ride this morning, to, like, look it up. And I'm definitely gonna look up the significance of the spider and tune into that energy. But I think, yeah, animals show up for us in different ways. And, you know, I think when I was a kid too, you know, I wrote about sea turtles. Love sea turtles. Every time I go to a beach, I'm making a Sand Sea Turtle. Bald eagles are another one that comes up for me, and they speak to me quite a bit. And then, of course, dolphins, they speak to me too. So I've got a few. Now that have shown their resonance to me and seem to come back again and again in these beautiful experiences. And so just an invitation for everyone listening, you know, to just tune in, tune in, to notice the animals that tend to show up and tend to come through. And of course, animals also are major connector to past loved ones, which I think is so incredible. A lot of my family who have passed show up as animals. I got deer, I got Robins, I got Cardinals. What else? Butterflies. You know, the list goes on. And so that's another beautiful way. I think that we we get to connect with with nature. So good. Okay, well, I can go down the rabbit hole, but I'm gonna save it for people to be more curious about your five day nature Kingdom challenge. I think that's amazing. So this is a free challenge. Anybody can access and sign up. We're gonna have those links in the show notes, any final words, anything else that you feel is on your heart to share.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:31:04

Yeah, I would just love to leave everyone with this invitation for the next week to go outside and slow down, to spend some intentional time with either nature just itself, or animals you know, coming back to the spider. Can you just sit there for a few minutes and notice what feelings and emotions or thoughts come to the surface? And the ask with that too is to not to judge them, to not try and fix them, but can you sit there with them and be in presence that is when you start to hear and feel and experience all the magic. So that would be my invitation for everyone.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:31:45

Rev. Rose Hope: I think that's beautiful. And had I had more time this morning, I would have sat with that spider, little one at a distance, of course. But I love this conversation. What a beautiful reminder. I want to go roll in the grass now, like I said, and get grouped together and go frolic in the forest. So thank you for inspiring us and bringing this to the service. So appreciate that. And you guys five day challenge. And I'm sure there's gonna be all sorts of insights and goodies that you're gonna get out of that experience with Kayla. If I know Kayla, that's one thing for sure, is you're gonna leave there with some golden nuggets to take with you. So check that out. Thank you everyone for tuning in, and I'm just going to plant a little seed as well, because we are also hosting a retreat in nature this summer called Ignite your heaven. And it's just outside of Edmonton, Alberta, in a beautiful, beautiful sacred land. So we are going to be outside and in a yurt, and we're going to be moving through metaphysical principles. You're going to leave us a certificate, and you're definitely going to be connecting with nature that weekend. So if you feel called, that also is available, and we'll throw that into the show notes as well, so you can explore that if you wish to Cayla, it was such a gift to have you, and thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to be with all of us today, and that reminder for us to go and be in nature and be present. Thank you so much.

Cayla Twerdochlib: 00:33:14

So happy you could join us today, and we hope that you found comfort and inspiration with wherever you are at right now, if you feel you received a gift in today's message, please pass that gift along to a loved one by sharing this episode with them. To continue this conversation, please join me@rosehope.ca and when you do, be sure to access your free gift by signing up for the when Spirit calls newsletter, I'm looking forward to connecting with you again soon.