Feeling Down? Let Your Dog Help!
If you’re feeling confused or disconnected, this simple awareness exercise with your dog can show you the way. I‘ve always felt dogs are our best allies to help us trust what we feel in our hearts – without restriction.
The biggest complaint that I hear from friends and clients is a constant lingering sense of feeling down, unfocused and confused. The usual pick me up rituals don’t seem to work anymore. Frankly, right now many people and their animals are bored with the same old routine or ritual. Something that worked before just doesn’t seem to hit home now. We’re all seeing great change in our needs and wants, no matter what species we are. The one thing that does seem to be consistent through harder times is the need to get balanced and feel better … differently than before.
This kind of feeling is certainly not uncommon right now as our personal lives and the outer world goes through an epic tornado. There are so many natural remedies out there to stay happy, focused and out of a mild depression. Well, I can only comment on what I know best and have taught my clients and so many others through the years. And those remedies almost always include your dog. You love your dog and would do anything for her. But do you really know the benefits your dog can provide you through troubled times above and beyond the love and joy you experience with her?
Your True Guide
I call dogs the compass to our true intuition when storms are brewing. It costs us nothing and no one must know. Dogs are our truest confidants and our soul’s guide to what’s truly important and what our heart knows to be true. Our dogs are in the moment, non-judgmental (well most of the time). But are you? Now what?
First and foremost, it’s important to find a quiet simple awareness of your dog’s behavior when you’re not at your best. Is she more anxious, moody or down? Does she act out to get your attention? If that’s the case and it’s unusual for your dog, then it’s probably time to partner together and turn the ship around. Let me show you how.
Creating Awareness
Start with slowly calming your and your dog’s breath.
*Sit quietly side by side or lie down next to your dog. Place your right hand on your dog’s heart and your left hand on your heart.
*Take five long breaths. Inhale and exhale as you both get comfortable.
*Then, once comfortable, clear your mind of everything other then the flow of breath moving through you and your dog. A good image is picturing the breath circling between the two of you like a non-obstructive stream of moving energy.
* Once you’re in a steady groove of breath flow, then focus on what’s been troubling you or the family dynamic. Hold that vision in your mind while observing the flow of your breath to your dog.
What to be aware of while focusing on what ails you, when breathing with your dog.
Does your breath get heavy or “broken” when you look at what is troubling you?
Is your dog more restless when your mind or breath is in a troubling spot?
Do you try to avoid what you’re feeling?
Take as much time as you need to let this awareness harness what bothers you or your dog together. It’s a completely non-judgmental moment. It’s there between both of you to feel supported and safe to start working it out.
With each breath visualize yourself and your dog as a clear circle of energy, breath and space. Once in this space, just observe. Eyes closed and quiet, this is the time to start honing your intuition and feeling mechanisms (as I like to call them)!
Test yourself by asking … can you feel what you need to know with no over-thinking? Know that your dog isn’t over-thinking this moment. And even though there’s only a moment when you feel what’s needed (whether from you or your dog) … at that point take a deep breath. Allow your whole self to fill up with what the energy feels like, rather than putting it into words.
Life Lessons from Your Dog
The feeling the two of you found together allows your heart to understand. The quietest subtle moment holds the most awareness about what troubles either of you. Your dog can help you find that. And in the end the goal for any of our journeys is to expand, heal, understand – and get the knowledge to do so in the cleanest way possible. It’s not always easy to do … but it’s something dogs do in spades. I‘ve always felt dogs are our best allies to help us trust what we feel in our hearts – without restriction. Part of the lesson in our human life and in the canine world is to surrender to change, connect with the heart and adapt to our individual stories, while always progressing forward.
It may feel as if we’re living in very restricted times and need to change and adapt within those times. But we can observe our dogs as they see NO restrictions – even if they’re instilled in them. They ultimately will still change and adapt to their natural order. It keeps them connected to themselves, nature’s movement and the larger view of their existence. That is, what you might also call faith. Again, something your dog has in abundance. And something we as human beings can start quietly learning and appreciating … if we can partner with our canine equals differently.
Change the mission, up the bet and try this new tool. It could help how you solve problems, see yourself, your dog, family, work and every choice in between – and it costs nothing to do. And it can be as discreet as you need. You deserve that; and your amazing dog is more than happy to show you all the magic she truly holds. Untapped and yet to be seen. Now is the time to SEE! Your dog is just waiting for you.