Remember Your Stillness

Oh my goodness, Session 3 is now under my belt and I'm officially "half way" to being a P1 Practitioner for companion animals! My dearly-beloved husband is encouraging me to consider taking my 4th training earlier than November... even if I have to fly to the location. There's Oakland, CA in August... that's out near family and with an instructor I have yet to experience. Incentive!

We had a great group of people at this training! Sadly we lost 2 fine ladies to "life" calling them away early on, but I want you to know that they are both doing well. I hope to see them again in the future.

We were blessed with dogs that really needed help. Here's how their week went:

Pandora
A lovely mix who began the week as a busy, nervous dog who could not be still. She also resisted mouth and tail TTouches (stores of emotion). ~ By weeks' end, Pandora was a whole new dog. She had come to like mouth and tail TTouches and had relaxed considerably into a calm, centered, balanced dog who could lie down and be content.

Izabella Izzy is a 1 1/2 year old Vizsla who has experienced a couple of really stressful experiences and now has serious fear issues in which she shuts down completely and becomes unresponsive. I've known Miss Izzy since my 1st training session (which was hers as well). At our first TTouch training session, I hardly saw Izzy. She rarely left her crate. ~ At this session she would shut down upon hearing the tractor trailer rigs outside the building and it would take her nearly an hour to recover. By weeks end, her (tractor trailer) recover time was TEN MINUTES! No joke, Izabella experienced HUGE advances in her fear issues much to her Mommy's relief. She also let us know that she prefers to be addressed by her full name, Izabella.

JoeyThis lovely little dog and his person, Kandi came all the way from Utah to seek out Linda's help with Joey's serious barking issue which the husband can not deal with, stressing the issue more, right? Joey began his week shaking violently all over and barking endlessly at every little noise. His trembles may be in part to the possibility of having lime disease. ~ By weeks' end, Joeys' barking was dramatically reduced to just a brief alert (and not at every little noise) and his shaking was all but history. Here he is pictured wearing a Halti as a comfort band to help reduce stress as the face/mouth region is a storehouse of emotion.

Nestle Nestle is also a reactive barker who didn't know he could stop himself. He began his week with the usual "bark, bark, bark!" at everything and everyone. Linda (pictured with Nestle) and I worked a lot on TTouches with his ears, tail, and mouth area (He LOVES his "Auntie Linda").
~ By weeks' end Nestle was a much more contented dog. Still a bit reactive, but much less so with much more ability to "collect himself". As I left my family's home (where I stayed) he did not react at all to the utility workers in their yard. This was huge!

On our last day Linda took us on a mental/visual journey. This proved quite powerful for many folk and it was quite a tear fest afterwards! My own journey is what I've named this entry. A doe (deer) came up to me and putting her nose to mine, breathed into me the words, "Remember your stillness". Now when I'm working on anything (especially TTouch), when I recall her words within me, a stillness comes and a shift occurs both within myself and the one I'm working on.

Magical.