Embracing Deeper Connections-Self-Study

Moving Through Anticipatory Grief With Presence

Begin Your Journey

If you’re caring for an aging, ill, or senior animal and you’re starting to feel that heavy ache in your heart, I want you to know, you’re not alone. You might not have words for it yet, but it’s real, and it’s normal.

Maybe you notice your animal moving a bit slower, or you’re navigating new routines and diagnoses. There’s a sadness that sneaks in during the quiet moments. You want to soak up every bit of time you have left, to stay close and connected, but sometimes it just feels like too much. Maybe you’re wondering if you’re doing enough, or if you’re feeling too much. Underneath all this is something called anticipatory grief, the ache that comes from loving deeply and knowing change is on the horizon. It’s the quiet awareness that things are shifting, even before you can name exactly what’s happening.

I put this self-study course together because life with animals doesn’t follow anyone’s schedule. Sometimes, things change overnight. Sometimes, you need support at 2 a.m., not just when a live workshop happens to be offered. This course is here for you whenever you need it. Go at your own pace, come back as often as you want, and know that you’re always welcome here.

What You’ll Discover In This Self-Study Course

You’ll start to see that anticipatory grief isn’t a weakness or a problem to solve; it’s a sign of how much you love. The ache and longing you feel? That’s normal, even if it sometimes feels overwhelming. This course won’t ask you to “fix” your feelings or make them disappear. Instead, you’ll find gentle ways to recognize the little ways your animal is reaching out to you, and how your bond can grow even deeper during this time. Mostly, you’ll learn how to walk alongside your animal (and yourself) through whatever comes, holding both love and grief as you go. You might be surprised by your own steadiness, and you’ll know you don’t have to do this alone.

How This Course Supports You

  • You’ll get to name what you’re really feeling, so you can stop worrying that you’re “too sensitive” or “overreacting.” This ache isn’t just anxiety or sadness; it’s love. It’s human. You’ll start giving yourself permission to feel it all, knowing you’re not broken, just deeply connected to your animal.

  • You’ll learn how to ride the emotional waves instead of just trying to survive them. I’ll gently guide you to be here with what’s real, instead of getting lost in fear, guilt, or overwhelm. Rather than avoiding the hard stuff, you’ll see how possible it is to show up for your animal, and yourself, even when it’s tough. That’s where true presence (not just time together) starts to grow.

  • You’ll learn how to create real, meaningful moments, not just being together, but truly savouring the time you have. We’ll practice slowing down, noticing the beauty in the small routines, and bringing more warmth and gratitude into every day. It’s about making ordinary moments matter, so they become memories you’ll always cherish, no matter what comes next.

  • You’ll find little pockets of peace, even when everything feels uncertain. No, the hard questions won’t just disappear, but you’ll learn how to meet them with less fear, more grace, and practical ways to come back to yourself. When anxiety comes up (and it will), you’ll have gentle ways to ground yourself and a little more trust in your bond with your animal.

  • You’ll feel the sacred partnership you share with your animal, and how caring for them isn’t just a one-way street. You might notice, sometimes for the first time, that your animal is supporting you too. Even in the quietest moments, there’s a current of love running both ways. This course helps you feel that, so you can draw strength and comfort from your connection, even as things change.

What to Expect

You’ll learn how to stay present without bypassing difficult emotions, hold paradox (love and pain), and trust your internal signals.

Through teachings, guided exercises, somatic tools, journaling prompts, and reflective meditations, you’ll be supported in:

  • Strengthening your bond on a soul level, so you feel, as one participant shared, "more in tune with my dog and more confident in my ability to be there for him. I’m now able to not fixate on the end."

  • Cultivating inner resilience, "I finally feel like I can move through my emotions instead of being consumed by them," a client shared. "Thank you for teaching me how to be more present with my cat during this time."

  • Navigating this journey with greater clarity, love, and presence, so, as another participant described, "I feel so much lighter and able to flow with things as they change... I am in a place of almost complete acceptance, and I have said that I wouldn't change a thing. This is so new for me, as I was living with so much regret. But I now see the true beauty of where we are."

This course is relational and offers a safe container for your experience. It will not take away sadness or uncertainty, nor provide quick fixes. Still, it will help you connect with your inner resilience, navigate emotions with less getting stuck, and find more moments of peace and connection, enhancing your time with your beloved animal.

What This Course Is Not

  • This is not formal animal communication training or a structured technique-based course. Instead, it nurtures foundational perspective shifts that deepen connection on a soul level.

  • This is not a quick fix or solution. It does not remove grief, bypass emotions, or promise immediate relief. Instead, it provides tools and support to navigate uncertainty with more resources while opening to deeper connection and grounded presence.

How This Course Works

This is a slow, open-ended course designed to move at your pace. You are trusted to know what pace works for you.  Lessons are meant to be experienced in order, allowing each one to settle and integrate before moving on. There is no pressure to finish. Completion is based on what is enough for you in this moment.

This self-study is a deeper, inward-facing container. It’s best suited for those who are open to reflection, emotional honesty, and moving gently with their nervous system. No prior somatic experience is required, only curiosity, self-responsibility, and care.

A Note on the Structure of This Course

Each module offers somatic tools, journaling prompts, and meditations to help you stay grounded, short, gentle practices you can return to whenever you need them. Lessons vary in time and are purposely short and slow-paced.

This course is intentionally layered. Anticipatory grief is something you live with, not something to be mastered. You only need to move through the course and your grief at a pace that honours your capacity, your emotions, and the sacredness of this time with your animal.

A Note on the Structure of This Course

Each module offers somatic tools, journaling prompts, and meditations to help you stay grounded, short, gentle practices you can return to whenever you need them. Lessons vary in time and are purposely short and slow-paced.

This course is intentionally layered. Anticipatory grief is something you live with, not something to be mastered. You only need to move through the course and your grief at a pace that honours your capacity, your emotions, and the sacredness of this time with your animal.

What’s Inside: Course Modules

  • This course is designed to support the growth of your nervous system capacity and honour your unique pace.

    Module 1 is available immediately. When you complete it, Module 2 unlocks. When you complete Module 2, Module 3 unlocks, and so on.

    This means:

    • You move at YOUR pace, not on an arbitrary timeline.

    • You can take days or weeks with each module.

    • Each module prepares you for the next.

    • You stay grounded and resourced, not overwhelmed.

    Once you've moved through all 8 modules, everything remains available to you forever. You can revisit any module, anytime, as your journey unfolds.

  • The foundation of animal communication, discovering real connection, not just technique.

    This module gently opens your heart to the idea that true communication with your animal is a living relationship. You’ll slow down, listen, and begin to recognize the ways your animal is already reaching out, inviting you closer.

    Here, you explore the similarities and differences in how humans and animals communicate, and learn how animals use their sensory systems, bodies, and energy to communicate with us and the world around them. This module invites you to slow down, observe, and begin to recognize your animal’s unique communication style within your relationship.

    This is about learning how communication already happens and how connection deepens with new understanding, leading to presence.

  • A pause for integration. 

    This module offers space to notice what’s already shifting, within you and in your relationship with your animal, without needing to analyze or change anything. You’re encouraged to pause, reflect, and let new awareness settle. As one client put it, “I realized how much I had changed, just by giving myself permission to notice.”​

  • Why does this feel the way it does?

    This is a foundational, emotionally heavier, and reflective module.

    You are gently guided through the truth of anticipatory grief, why it aches so deeply and how it colours every moment. You’ll discover how your past experiences, unhealed losses, and even your childhood shape how you’re feeling now, opening you to begin to untangle guilt, regret, and confusion. Many have said this module was where they finally felt understood: “For the first time, I could understand how my grief had been shaped, and now see my grief as love, not something to hide or push away.”

    Because this material can stir emotional responses, this module includes a somatic support tool along with guidance on pacing yourself, taking breaks, and offering yourself care as you move through it. This module is not meant to be rushed. It’s a building block for integration.

    ​

  • Honest communication without overwhelm

    This module invites you into honest, heart-centred communication with your animal, allowing you to share your emotions without fear of burdening, overwhelming, or disconnecting. You’re supported in finding words and presence that feel true to your unique bond. Many have found that, after this module, “I could finally sit with my pet and say what was in my heart. It brought us even closer.” “The weight of hiding my feelings was lifted; I learned I don't need to do that anymore.”

    The emphasis is on presence, honesty, and respecting the bond, even when emotions are tender or complex.

  • Infusing love, pause, and intention into everyday actions

    This module gently shifts your focus from simply caring for your animal to deeply being with them. You’ll bring pause and intention into even the smallest routines, finding beauty in grooming, feeding, giving medications, walking, or just sitting together. “I started to see every ordinary moment as sacred,” a participant shared. “Now, our daily routines feel meaningful and less hurried.”

    The focus is on how presence and nervous system awareness can transform even the smallest actions into moments of support and connection.

    This is where many people begin to feel another softening both within themselves and in the relationship.

  • A paradigm shift

    This module gently redefines acceptance, not as giving up, but as opening your heart to what is. You’ll explore surrender as an act of deep love, meeting each change with less resistance and more compassion. Many people say, “I felt a weight lift, and instead of fighting the inevitable, I found peace in honouring every stage of our journey.”

    You are guided through the steps that gently move toward acceptance, while recognizing that acceptance is not a one-time event. This process may be revisited with each change in the journey, each new diagnosis, loss of ability, or emotional shift.

    This module supports learning how to meet each change along your journey with less resistance and more steadiness, again and again.

  • So you’re resourced when things get hard

    This module helps you build the inner strength to stay present through every emotional wave, not just in moments of crisis, but every day. You’ll learn somatic resources as practical tools you can call on whenever you need support. As one client reflected, “When I felt overwhelmed, I remembered I wasn’t alone, I had practices to return to, and that changed everything.” Rather than waiting until overwhelm hits, you’ll focus on gentle preparation, daily consistency, and nurturing self-trust, so you feel steadier and more supported throughout your journey.

    Rather than waiting until overwhelm hits, this module emphasizes preparation, consistency, and self-trust.

    This is about building a supportive inner foundation you can return to when needed.

  • Somatic Meditation: Tying everything together

    The final module is an invitation to true integration, bringing together all you’ve learned, felt, and practiced into an embodied sense of presence. Through gentle somatic meditation, you’ll notice your capacity for compassion, presence, and love has grown. Many return to this practice again and again, especially in the most tender moments: “This meditation became my anchor, I found myself returning, each time with a little more peace and clarity.”

    This is a practice meant to be returned to repeatedly, especially during times of transition, and one in which you notice your capacity changing, beginning to grow and shift toward greater inner resilience.

Begin the Course

A Course to Return To

This course isn’t something you finish and leave behind. It’s here for you, over and over, through every change you face in this time with your beloved animal.

You might find yourself returning whenever things change, when a new diagnosis comes, as you notice your pet slowing down with age, when choices feel especially heavy, or when grief shows up in new and unexpected ways. Every time you return, you may hear something new, because you’ll be in a new place, too. As your animal’s journey unfolds and your heart grows and changes, this material will meet you right where you are.

This isn’t a checklist or something to rush. It’s a living resource, a place to find comfort, grounding, and deeper connection whenever you need it. The love you have for your animal is what brings you here, and this course is about honouring that love.

What Actually Changes After This Course

Most people don’t finish this course and suddenly feel “done” or at peace with everything. That’s not how grief works. What you’ll probably notice is something quieter, but so much more meaningful: you’ll feel more supported and able to stay with yourself, even when things are hard.

Many people talk about a shift…

“I went from feeling lost and scared to being able to sit with my dog, feel the depth of our love for each other, and not be scared by it.” The ups and downs of anticipatory grief still happen, but now they’re met with more understanding and self-compassion. You’ll start having a steadier relationship with your emotions. Grief won’t disappear, but it won’t overwhelm you in the same way. There’s a new ability to pause, to breathe, to feel what’s happening in your body, and to take care of yourself, without being swept away by self-judgment.

This course won’t take grief away; it’ll help you learn

  • To walk with it. Grief is part of loving deeply, but now you’ll have ways to meet it. 

  • It can’t prevent loss; nothing can. But you’ll be more prepared, with inner strength and presence when loss comes. You won’t be left wishing you’d known how to be with it.

  • It doesn’t make the future certain; uncertainty is just part of this journey. But you’ll find you can handle the unknown a little better, feeling more grounded and able to find moments of clarity and connection, even when things are hard.

  • What this course really offers is a way to honour the sacredness of your relationship, even as things change.

What You’ll Carry Forward

Many people carry forward a sense of trust in themselves, in their animal, and in the relationship they share. They learn that they don’t need to have all the answers to be a loving, steady presence with their animal. And when moments of doubt, fear, or overwhelm return, as they will, there is now self-compassion and knowing you can return to the practices. The awareness you’ve cultivated becomes something you carry with you, not just now, but in the moments that come after.

You may come back to this course and hear the teachings differently each time. That’s not because you missed something. It’s because you’ve changed. This work stays with you, shaping how you show up in future relationships, with your animals and with yourself.

Here’s what many find themselves carrying forward:

  • A new relationship with your emotions. The waves of grief still come, but you’ll meet them with more understanding, self-kindness, and the ability to support yourself instead of being overtaken.

  • The wisdom of presence. Rather than living in dread or regret, you’ll know how to return to the moment, savouring and honouring the time you have, and making even ordinary days feel sacred.

  • Practices that ground and support you. When uncertainty or pain shows up, you’ll have tools you trust, and the confidence that you can return to calm, clarity, and self-compassion.

  • A deeper, more sacred bond with your pet. The connection you nurture now won’t disappear with loss; it becomes part of you, woven into your heart with gratitude and love.

This course won’t erase the ache of loving and losing, but you will move forward changed, more resourced, more resilient, and more present. What you learn here becomes part of how you show up for every animal you love and for yourself.

If This Resonates…

This course is available whenever you’re ready. The perfect time to begin is when it feels right for you.

Whether you’re just noticing the first subtle shifts with your animal, or you’re deep in the tender uncertainty of this journey, this course will meet you where you are.

If you feel called to walk this path with more presence, steadiness, and connection, I’d be honoured to support you.

Get Started In The Course

Frequently Asked Questions

Have questions? Take a look at the FAQ. If you’re feeling ready, go ahead and begin your journey.

Begin the Course

  • This is a self-paced course designed to move at your rhythm, not a fixed timeline. Some people move through one module per week. Others take a month or longer per module. There is no pressure to finish; completion is based on what feels enough for you in this moment. The course is meant to be returned to across the changes in this season of your journey with your animal. 

  • The course includes pre-recorded video teachings, guided audio practices and meditations, somatic exercises, journaling prompts, and reflective questions. All materials are accessible online, and you can revisit them as many times as you need.

  • You have lifetime access to all course materials. You can return to the teachings whenever you need support, whether that's next week, next year, or with a future animal companion.

  • No prior experience is required. This course is designed for beginners and those new to somatic practices. All you need is curiosity, openness to self-reflection, and a willingness to move gently with your own nervous system.

  • This course is best for people who want to be proactive, whether you’ve received a diagnosis, are noticing illness or changes with aging, and simply want to show up differently and be more present for your pet during this chapter of their life.

  • If you’re in the middle of immediate stress, an acute crisis, or facing urgent medical decisions, this course may not be the best fit right now. In those moments, it can be hard to take in new perspectives or slow down for deeper inner work. If you need practical, step-by-step guidance for end-of-life planning or questions to ask your vet, I recommend starting with my Preparing for Pet Passing video and support PDF. These resources are designed to support decision-making and provide important considerations for you, your family, and your veterinarian.

    Canadian Clients, click here

    US/Global Clients, Click here

  • No. This is not therapy or clinical treatment. It's a relational, educational course that offers tools, practices, and perspective shifts to help you navigate anticipatory grief with more presence and steadiness. If you're working with a therapist, this course can complement that work beautifully.

  • This course introduces a foundational, grounded, observation-based approach to deepening connection and attunement with your animal. It's not formal animal communication training or a technique-based program. Instead, it supports you in recognizing your animal's unique way of communicating and trusting your own intuitive sense of the relationship.

  • This course won't tell you what decisions to make. Instead, it supports you in developing the inner steadiness, presence, and attunement that allow you to trust yourself and your relationship with your animal as you navigate difficult decisions. It helps you stay connected to what feels true rather than being overwhelmed by fear or urgency.

  • No. This course does not remove grief, bypass difficult emotions, or promise immediate relief. It offers tools and support to help you stay present with your grief, build nervous system capacity, and navigate uncertainty with more care and connection. The goal is not to feel "better" quickly, but to be with what's here more gently.

  • The course is designed with pacing and nervous system capacity in mind. You're encouraged to pause, step away, break lessons into smaller pieces, or come back another day whenever you notice overwhelm or activation. This is not a course you're meant to push through; pausing is part of the practice.

  • There are no refunds. This course is best suited for people who are open to self-reflection, emotional honesty, and somatic practices. If you're looking for quick fixes, reassurance, or technique-based solutions, this may not be the right fit.

  • Each enrollment is for individual use. If you have a friend or family member who might benefit, please direct them to the course page so they can have their own access separately.

  • If you have a question that wasn't answered here, please reach out to me. I'm happy to help you determine if this course is the right fit for where you are right now.