Hannah Zulueta Your Birthright
On disharmony, healing yourself alongside your dog, and what I’ve learned from my own three
When clients come to me about their dogs, I often notice something in the person too. Here’s what I’ve learned about healing both at once.
Your dog’s healing and your own are not two separate stories.
Looking at healing as a whole is core to how TCM works. Your own state is part of the same soup of energy your dog lives inside, whether either of you notices it or not.
What have I noticed working with clients over the years?
Through the years, meeting with clients to discuss their dogs, I’ve noticed something else in the room: a disharmony in the people caring for them, not just the dogs.
To be clear, I’m not your practitioner, even though I’m training to be a Doctor of Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Herbalism. Even though I’m only here to help you through food, I recognize that your own healing is part of the same soup of energy your dog lives inside.
I believe our animals come into our lives for us. When a dog is in a state of disharmony, it’s often surfacing something in us that hasn’t healed yet.
What have my own three dogs actually taught me?
I’ll use my own dogs to explain this.
One of my dogs was reactive for years and had environmental allergies. Healing her meant I had to get clear on how I communicated with others, and manage my own resentment and anger. That was the actual work, hers and mine, at the same time.
Another dog of mine tends to worry and shut down. She used to get yeast flares, rarely, maybe every three or four years, never the yearly pattern I once assumed. I asked myself what needed healing in me, and realized I needed to work through my own worries instead of letting them fester. I worked on expressing what I felt instead of holding it in, and on the basics: good food, solid sleep, enough movement, water. Those lifestyle pieces were just as important for her healing as they were for mine. She hasn’t had a flare since.
My puppy is the joy and light of the house. He’s timid and shy, but through him I’ve learned that I deserve to sit in my own joy rather than dimming my light.
Why would a dog even take on our energy?
Our dogs sense our energy and our vibrations, so our healing is very much part of theirs.
Think about walking into a room and finding someone festering and angry. You feel it, and you can walk away. Our dogs can’t do that. They just bathe in whatever we’re carrying, because they love us, and they take that energy on.
We often obsess over “fixing” our dogs because it lets us avoid looking in the mirror. It feels good to be their savior. But healing ourselves has to happen alongside helping them, sometimes even before.
Put your own mask on first. Then help the dog next to you.
So what do you actually deserve here?
You deserve happiness, joy, vibrancy, and health, because it’s your birthright. Once you hold that firmly as your own North Star, the messages you need start showing up. It starts with you and a steady mindset.
As you begin this, picture yourself in a state of wholeness. That doesn’t always mean happiness first. We tend to chase positivity and skip past our own shadows, when those shadows need room to move through and out of us too. This takes time. Give yourself grace. Every part of who you are needs to be processed before you can actually feel whole.
Every night and every morning, picture your dog in perfect health. Carry that image with you, and let it be your vision for them.
Wishing you, and your family, good health.
Healing your dog starts with the soup you’re both living in
My lane is TCM Dietetics, food built around the dog in front of you. If you’re ready to start there, I’m here.
Hannah Zulueta obtained her Certificate in Canine Nutrition from CASI Institute. She is also studying for her Doctorate in Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Herbalism from the esteemed Pacific College of Health and Medicine. If you’re as keenly interested in health for yourself, visit her website for human health: Satori Acupuncture and Herbs.
She resides in San Diego with her three dogs, Maggie, Orbit, and Mr. Higgins.
She is available for one on one consultations. She develops evidence-based recipes that meet both NRC and AAFCO nutritional standards while integrating the therapeutic food principles of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine into her formulations.
Additionally, you can find her sharing free content on Instagram.
