We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ana Maria Vasquez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ana Maria below.

Ana Maria, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Below is an excerpt from my book, “Nature: Divine Experiences with Trees, Plants, Stones and Landscapes”

Well, let’s see what happens.” I leaned into the tree and placed my bare hands on its sturdy trunk. Immediately feeling self-conscious, I took a few minutes to center myself, clear my mind, and tune into the tree’s wisdom. I had everything to gain by trying this and nothing left to lose. In a span of 18 months, my life had completely fallen apart. I’d lost my job, my home, my relationship, and one of my soul dogs, and moved back home with my dad.

At the height of this low point, amidst the rubble of my former life, I decided to embark on a quest to discover the viability of the spiritual principles I’d been exploring for several years. This is where the rubber meets the road, I reasoned. Now is my opportunity to put my spiritual practices into action so I can survive this life tsunami. From that point forward, I began to take everything I’d been studying about the energetics of animals and the natural world, something I’d always had a strong connection to, and turn it into my living laboratory.

For as long as I could remember, my deepest desire was to be able to communicate with animals telepathically. If I had to rebuild my life anyway, then I wanted to do so in a more authentic and connected way. Intuitively, I knew that remembering my connection to all sentient beings was part of this process of embodiment. My spiritual teachers reassured me that everyone has an inherent ability to communicate with animals and nature.

“Your openness to recalibrating your energy field to that of the natural world and allowing it to raise your frequency will determine your capacity to connect with animals and receive their messages,” they instructed.

With the hope that they were right, that I really could communicate with the animal world, I mustered the courage to do a simple assignment they’d given me: Connect with a tree through my sense of touch, and do this practice every day for a month.

So, here I was, with my hands on the trunk. I began to talk to it, like I would a person.

“Okay, tree, I’m not sure I’m doing this technique right, or if I’m even touching you in an inappropriate place,” I nervously overexplained. “To be honest, I have a lot of fear that this won’t work for me. If it doesn’t, then what will I be left with? I so want to step into a more spiritually conscious life! If you can please take the small speck of faith that I have in this process and amplify it, I would be so grateful.”

Nothing in particular or special seemed to be happening as I spoke these words, nor when I did this same process for the next few weeks. Despite my doubts, I visited the tree every day, placed my hands on the trunk, and spoke to it with whatever was on my mind and in my heart.

Somewhere around the third week, while sitting in my living room in contemplation, I asked myself a question. As soon as I spoke the words out loud, I heard a verbal response that seemed to be coming from outside in the yard. A mixture of shock and joy pulsed through my body, as I realized the answer was being sent to me from the same tree I had been interacting with every day. From right there in the living room, I continued this extraordinary exchange with the tree.

“Was that you?” I asked it.

Yes, the tree responded, quite simply and clearly.

“How is that even possible?
”
No response.

“Well, if that was you, then tell me . . . what’s your name?”

I instantly felt the name Ruby.

“Ruby. Is that right?”

I felt a yes.

Elated that I was now in actual communication with the tree, the next question flew out of my mouth before I had time to censor it.

“I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but my desire is to talk to the animals. I’m in awe that you are communicating with me, but I’m not sure what to do with a talking tree! I guess I’ve never considered that a tree could talk! Mammals, birds, and reptiles, yes . . . but trees?”

Ruby responded with patience, and I sensed a chuckle. All of that ability is coming. Be patient. Connecting with me is part of the recalibration process.

For a split second, I half-questioned my sanity. Am I really talking to a tree or is this all in my mind? After all, I’ve been through a lot emotionally in these past few years and haven’t been myself lately.

To test myself, I decided to ask Ruby questions that I could easily verify through other means. I began with the most basic one. “What kind of tree are you?” I queried.

She answered: Red pine.

Hmmmm . . . a red pine named Ruby? Well, that’s right on the nose.

Later that evening, I researched the species of tree and, to my surprise, confirmed that Ruby was, in fact, a red pine. The next day when I walked out to the yard, I saw something that I hadn’t noticed previously. Ruby was one amongst a grouping of trees whose canopies overlapped. The top of her canopy was missing.

“Ruby, what happened to your top?” I asked.

As if on cue, I heard her answer: A big wind snapped it off.

The next time I saw my landlord, he was able to verify this detail. These question-and-answer sessions between Ruby and me continued for a couple of weeks. Each time, I was astounded by her answers and even more so by the fact that she was always correct. Being able to verify the answers really built my trust in Ruby. This eventually led to my asking her questions
around the next steps to take in rebuilding my life.

Gradually, my relationship with Ruby transformed into a genuine friendship. She even began to introduce me to the other trees in my yard, and a whole new world began to open up for me—one that was increasingly Filled with magic, possibility, and deep connection.

Not long after my 30-day experiment with Ruby, I had a mystical encounter with an animal who had crossed over into spirit and wanted me to convey a message to its human owner. My tree friend was right again. The guidance that came through Ruby resulted in a series of synchronistic events that began to unfold in the direction of my deepest desire.

Just as she had promised, my dream of speaking with the animal world has come true. Not only do I communicate with animals, I also help others around the world understand the messages coming from the animals and nature.

To this day, the trees continue to be my closest friends, confidants, and teachers. I’m eternally grateful for Ruby’s willingness to reach out and share her wisdom with a doubtful human.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a multi-sensory animal and nature intuitive, and a shamanic practitioner. Through teaching, speaking, and remote sessions, my connection with the natural world sources me in helping you understand the spiritual messages coming from the animals and nature. I’m masterful at guiding you in unpacking your intuitive skills so that the natural world can speak more clearly to and through you.

I receive messages from animals and nature through all of my intuitive channels. Meaning that I see, hear, feel, and know information that is coming from an animal or a tree.

Everything is energy. I’m a natural energy reader, an interpreter of sorts, and I lift the veil between what’s happening in the 3D world and the energetic patterns behind it. I’m able to tune in and see the places where your limiting beliefs are getting you stuck in old ways of being and showing up in the world, and how that’s affecting the animals you love. The animals act as mirrors to our inner landscape and help us make shifts that on our own we wouldn’t do. This becomes a game changer as our relationships with animals and nature becomes a spiritual path to unity consciousness.

I believe that we’re shifting from doing things to animals & nature, to being in collaboration with them. This inherently changes the way that we live on this planet and move through our lives.

I think it’s wonderful that I can talk to animals and nature, and I think it’s even more important that YOU remember how to connect and communicate with animals and nature. That’s really the focus of everything I do from private readings to the classes I offer, helping you stand in the power of your intuitive abilities.

Here’s a little more about my journey… In the span of 18 months, my life fell apart. I lost my job, my home, my relationship, one of my soul dogs died and I even had to move in with my dad! I was at a sink or swim point of my life.

I went on a quest to find out if the spiritual principles I’d been learning worked or if it was just a bunch of hooey to help us feel better about our situations.

I took everything that I was learning into my living laboratory and started over. I’ve always had a strong connection to animals & nature but I never considered myself an animal communicator. However, I’d heard it said that we all had the inherent abilities to communicate with animals.

I put my faith into that statement and set off to call in my abilities to communicate with animals.

At first, a tree began to talk to me, and not long after that, the animals showed up. I began to learn about how my own energy flowed and how my clairesenses came through my intuitive energy channels.

I love helping sweet souls like you unpack your intuitive backpack and connect with animals, nature, and your inherent abilities in powerful ways. This is when the magic happens… Here We Grow Again!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Hosting online summits is the strategy I used to grow my list and position myself as an expert in my field. I interviewed and learned from top people in the field of natural and holistic animal care. This allowed me to grow a list of people specifically interested in services I was offering. This also created a trust in the relationship between myself and those who listened to the summits I produced. When I offered my services, the people on my list already recognized me as someone with high standards and shared values. Whether you create an end to end online summit, or simply offer recordings of interviews to those on your list, it sets you up as a “go-to” person on topics in your field and gathers a community of like interests.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Growing up in poverty, I came away with the belief that if I truly wanted to be of service and make a difference in the world, I would have to give away my gifts and abilities. Being of service AND being able to pay your bills is not incongruent. In fact they go hand in hand. I believe whole heartedly in the old adage that says, when we all do better, we all do better. The more I am able to focus on my abilities and skills, the more I serve the world and make a difference in the lives of people and animals. As I am compensated, I’m able to take care of my needs and offer support to others in need. There are so many way for us to give back. I personally teach and offer pro bono services to those in underserved communities, as well as financially support several organizations that daily make a difference in the lives of people, animals, and nature. None of that would be possible if I continued to live in poverty. Barely getting by requires tremendous amounts of energy, mind, body, and spirit.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.intentiontraining.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/animalsasmessengers
• Other: Ana Maria’s Top 5 Ways to Connect with Animals & Nature https://anamariavasquez.simplero.com/page/275460-top-5-ways-to-connect-with-animals-nature-canvas