Welcome,
This is Joni and I'm going to be guiding you in a meditation that you can do with your dog.
Our dogs are so important to us.
They can offer us such stress relief.
Just their presence can bring us so much.
This is a practice that you can do with your dog and some tips and tricks on how to really take advantage of that shared stress relief that the two of you can share together.
So let's get started.
I recommend that before you try this practice with your dog,
You take some time and play with him or her.
Take them outside for a walk or to play catch and maybe even play with them a little bit inside so that they're ready to settle down.
Or maybe if you have an older dog like I have,
She'll be able to settle down rather quickly.
So once you've gotten some of that energy out of your dog,
Go ahead and sit or lie down and snuggle him or her if they will sit in your lap or if you need to sit on the floor with them.
And take some time to first really try to make eye contact with your dog.
You know our dogs need eye contact and they get a lot out of our body language.
It's really the main way that we communicate with everyone,
Human or animal.
As humans we don't really realize that so much but our pets most definitely tune in to our body language and eye contact is a huge part of that.
So try to even just have a few moments where you're making eye contact with your dog and through that eye contact let them know how special they are to you,
How much you love them and how much you mean to them.
You can do that through your eyes.
You can also do that with words.
You can actually tell your pet how much you love them.
So I'll give you a moment to do that and as you perhaps continue to speak softly to your dog start to pet him or her.
Really thinking of petting and massaging their whole bodies.
Petting them from their head to their ears,
Their necks,
Down their side body,
Around to their backside,
Just touching them wherever you know they feel comfortable with you touching them.
Maybe just touching the pads of their feet and exploring what the pads of their feet feel like.
Again only if it makes your dog feel comfortable to do that and you'll know.
She'll let you know or he'll let you know.
As you pet your dog really from head to toe I invite you to be truly present with the sensation of their fur.
Is their fur thick or is it thin?
Is it soft or is it coarse?
Is it curly or is it straight?
Are they shedding right now or are they not?
Just really feeling,
Petting them,
Being fully in the moment,
Noticing their feet and what the soles of their feet feel like.
Are they rough or are they soft?
And then as your dog perhaps starts to really relax and settle down perhaps you can close your eyes or lie down with your pet so that both of you can start to really relax and you might keep your hand on him or her but maybe you can close your eyes and also start to tune into your pet's breathing.
Maybe feeling the rise and fall of their ribcage or belly and at the same time noticing your own ribcage or belly rising with each breath in,
Falling toward the spine with each breath out,
Notice how your dog's breath is different or similar to yours.
Just focusing on the sensations,
The movement,
The flow of their breath and of yours.
Noticing if anything in particular has shifted with your dog,
If they feel heavier to you,
If their body feels heavier toward the ground or into your lap.
Have they started to really relax?
Whether they have or they haven't,
Try to start to breathe a little deeper yourself.
Long slow inhales through the nose,
Long slow exhales through the nose or through the mouth.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
You can sit here with your dog for as long as the two of you need.
You can let go of the deep breathing and just continue to relax or you can continue to breathe slowly and deeply and notice how your dog responds when you are ready to wrap up this session.
Maybe you can begin petting your dog a little bit more and once again perhaps you could offer some eye contact or some words of love and appreciation to your pet who brings you so much joy taking this time with him or her on a regular basis,
Allowing them to be part of your mindfulness and meditation practice.
Thank you for joining me and my dog Shiva thanks you for joining us today.
Remember to breathe deeply when you are stressed,
To give your dog a snuggle and to give them lots of treats.
Take care and be well.
