What Animals Teach Us About Healing

On 100 acres in Dalton, Pennsylvania, nearly 200 rescued animals have found a home at Indraloka Animal Sanctuary.

But something unexpected began unfolding there.

Those who care for the animals all too often discover that the animals have something to offer them, too.

That idea is at the heart of Indraloka and the life’s work of its founder, Dr. Indra Lahiri, an organizational psychologist who spent years studying human behavior, leadership and culture before bringing those insights into a very different setting.

On this episode of HarmonyTALK, host Greg Frigoletto talks with Indra to explore the connection between the two worlds she knows best: people and animals.

What can an animal teach us about trust? Why does simply being around another living being sometimes change the way we feel? And what can people who have spent their lives caring for others learn about caring for themselves?

For Indra, those questions are not abstract.

She has watched broken animals arrive at Indraloka after traumatic experiences and gradually learn that they are safe. She has also watched the people around them slow down, reconnect and begin looking at their own experiences differently.

That has led Indra to expand Indraloka’s mission beyond animal rescue.

Today, the sanctuary also works with people and organizations on leadership, teamwork and communication, along with burnout, compassion fatigue and secondary trauma.

And when it comes to healing, Indra has learned something else from the animals around her.

What happens to us becomes part of our story, but it doesn’t have to become our entire story for the rest of our life.