Spotlight: Shelley Wallen

Sometimes the dog is your favorite person in the household. Not that you don’t love your people family members with all your heart, but with the animals (even the cats) it’s just so simple. Your relationship with your pet requires less emotional wrangling and you can get down to enjoying each other faster.

Shelley Wallen and her two Shiba Inus had that kind of connection. Every bit a part of the family, Shelley’s dogs spent more time with her than even her husband. That is why she knew something wasn’t right when they both presented with allergy symptoms that affected their ability to digest as well as get comfortably through the day.

When she read an article about Healing Touch for Animals (HTA), Shelley immediately signed up for a training, though she had never before tried to practice any kind of energy medicine.

“I had received energy work myself for 15 or more years.” So, she figured that it might be helpful for her dogs too. “I didn’t know how it worked, just knew that it did,” she says.

HTA Origins

According to the organization’s website, Healing Touch for Animals stabilizes the energy system, allows the natural regulation of the immune system, which encourages the healing process and promotes well-being. It was founded by Carol Komidor and built on the same precepts and philosophies as Healing Touch for people developed by Janet Mentgen. With Janet’s blessing, Carol started adapting Healing Touch practices for her vet tech patients at work. Ultimately, Carol developed a series of trainings for other practitioners to learn the same techniques. Shelley attended one of these workshops and began her journey with HTA.

Today HTA is practiced throughout North America and in the Netherlands. The program is based in Denver, Colorado, but trainers are certified throughout the country and frequently offer trainings from Level 1 through 4. Advanced techniques are available after Level 4 and are still being developed by Carol all the time. The Denver office is sponsoring a Level 1 training this November, 2011. The organization website has more information at healingtouchforanimals.com.

Shelley says about her first experience, “I didn’t know what to expect, but was so impressed with the professionalism of the teachers and the course design.” She explains that the courses are accessible to any level of learner, but are helpful to novices and veterinary professionals alike.

Daiskui’s Story

After that first workshop, Shelley began working with her two dogs, Daiskui and Simon, and noticed an improvement in their allergy symptoms. But then Daiskui got sicker. She was eventually diagnosed with the blood clotting disorder, Thrombocytopenia. The family veterinarian began aggressive chemo treatment, but didn’t see results. He had asked Shelley to hold off trying HTA while he was treating with medicines, uncertain how they would interact. Towards the end, Daiskui’s blood tests indicated that the chemo wasn’t helping. The doctor gave Shelley the go ahead to do whatever she could to help. He wasn’t optimistic about Daiskui’s longevity.

“After four treatments of only Level 1 techniques, everything was back to normal,” Shelly recalls.

Daiskui’s blood test read as if she had never been sick at all. “I don’t know that it was just HTA that saved her life,” Shelley muses. “But it could have been what her body needed to work cooperatively with the meds. To me that combination is what saved her.” Daiskui went on to live four more healthy years.

In hindsight, Shelley thinks that earlier intervention with HTA would have saved Daiskui days of suffering and would have actually enhanced the allopathic treatments she was receiving. “But seeing those tests come back clean was a pivotal moment for me,” she says.

That moment was a powerful lesson for Shelley. When one of her reliable companions was so near to death and then miraculously healed, that was when she realized that there was something to HTA.

She knew then that she had found her purpose.

Three years later Shelley became a Healing Touch for Animals Certified Practitioner (HTACP) and started a small private practice. It has steadily grown and this year Shelley took the business full time. She also acts as a trainings coordinator for HTA.

Shelley’s practice is Energy Therapy, LLC. She primarily serves animals, however she can treat people as well. With training in Healing Touch for people and animals, Reiki, and sound therapy with tuning forks, her virtual medicine kit is voluminous. Shelley reports that of the three hundred animals she served this year, by far the biggest request is for pain management. She sees animals with motility (digestion) problems, as well as for pre and post surgery work.

“I also do a lot of end of life care; that’s where my heart is because of my experiences with my own animals,” she says.

How does Healing Touch for Animals work?

“HTA triggers a chain of physiology in body that starts with the relaxation response. It helps increase circulation and absorption of nutrients. It can regulate hormones, helps the body to release toxins and promotes the self healing process. All of this helps regulate immune system,” Shelley explains.

According to Shelley animals have all the same meridians and chakras as people, but they are more susceptible to a fright or flight response when being treated with energy work. Therefore, practitioners approach animals only from the spine, working off the back side chakras.

Shelley wants people to understand that Healing Touch can be performed incorrectly by untrained intuitives. “I wouldn’t want people to start work on their animals before taking at least a Level 1 training.” She says animals are especially sensitive. Providers have to be able to ensure their own safety and the safety of their animals. As well, she notes, “People come to me all the time saying they have been trying Healing Touch on their own. I ask them, ‘How do you feel when you are done?’ If the answer is tired, then I know they aren’t opening up like a big PVC pipe to the Universal Energy. They need to be trained how to do it properly.”

Service

HTA’s leaders believe in service to the community, which is why most Level 1 trainings wrap up with an opportunity to practice new skills at an area shelter. Volunteer Coordinator for the National Mill Dog Rescue, Kim Lehmann, works with Shelley to make this happen.

“We are so grateful that HTA chooses to work with our dogs. We and the dogs look forward to Shelley and her teams’ visits.” Kim says that the dogs gain a sense of peace and calm from the volunteer work. “Just a moment away from the chaos and fear is so helpful,” she says. Kim is enthusiastic about Shelley in particular: “Shelley is an outstanding practitioner. She is skilled, calm and very caring. Her energy is just what the dogs need.”

If it’s true that the dog is the favored household member, for Shelley, the reverse is also true. She’s the favorite of many dogs (and cats) too.

Corey Radman is a freelance writer living in Fort Collins. Her passion for story threads its way through all her work, which has been published at 5280 Magazine, Style Magazine, Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness, Get Born Magazine, and The Mom Egg. She can be contacted via her website at www.fortcollinswriter.com.