Connecting With Your Soul Dog: A Grief Meditation

A gently guided journey to connect with your Soul Dog after they have died. Allow yourself the space to feel both the grief of their loss and the gratitude for their life. All Write To Be You meditations offer a writing prompt at the end, so you can deepen your practice through journaling.

Transcript

Welcome to Right To Be You,

A creative sanctuary where I invite you to join me on a guided journey and then if you choose to arrive on the page and greet what has emerged during the meditation.

Welcome to this space of connecting to your soul dog.

I know if you are listening it's because you are feeling the depths of a profound loss.

Your beloved creature has crossed into another realm and you are feeling bereft without them by your side.

The world feels emptier,

Your heart feels hollow and even your home holds the endless echo of the sounds of your precious dog,

A painful reminder of how present they still feel in their absence.

I want you to know I too have felt that pain and that bottomless grief and often have felt so alone with it.

Today I am inviting you on a journey alongside me to connect with your baby,

To call them home to your heart and mind where your relationship can and will continue to evolve so you can forever be a comfort to each other.

Even by closing your eyes and choosing a comfortable position,

Perhaps you will choose a place where you used to sit or lie with your beloved.

Just take a few moments to sink into that place,

Allowing yourself to feel supported by the cushions or surface beneath your body,

Offering yourself a wide open permission to let the tears flow if they rise to the surface.

Now that you are settled,

Bring your attention to your breath as it moves through your body.

Welcome in three deep breaths,

Breathing in through your nose,

Expanding your belly as you inhale fully and then slowly exhaling through your mouth,

Feeling a complete release as your belly deflates like a balloon.

And then again,

Breathing in through your nose,

Expanding your belly as you inhale fully and then slowly exhaling through your mouth,

Deflating like a balloon.

And now one more time.

When you have completed your three deep breaths,

Just allow your breathing to return to a natural rhythm.

Notice the space you have created inside of yourself to feel more at ease,

Even with the grief,

Even with the pain,

Even with the loss.

I'm now going to invite you to imagine yourself outside in nature,

In a place where you and your dog used to spend precious time together.

It might be in a park or a neighborhood walk or a beach or on a hike or in your own backyard.

Return to this spot in your mind's eye.

Call forth any smells,

Sounds,

Temperatures.

Is there a breeze or warm sun or bird song or the sound of voices?

What time of day is it?

Early morning,

Late afternoon?

Picture yourself in this spot,

Alone,

Holding the profound sadness of the loss you are feeling,

While also breathing in profound gratitude for your fur baby,

For the connection you shared,

For the life you lived together,

The fun you had,

The adventures,

The games,

The cuddles,

The crazy times,

The cozy times,

The love you poured into each other,

The commitment you made and the sacred rock solid loyalty you shared.

Allow that gratitude to wash over you in a wave.

Grief is not the only shape shifter.

Gratitude can ebb and flow alongside the sadness,

Creating grand swells of love in your heart.

And now,

As you practice holding grief and gratitude together and breathing them both in,

I invite you to imagine the sounds of your baby that you still hear so often like a past echo.

It might be the jangle of their collar,

Their paws on the ground,

Their boisterous bark or their playful panting.

And then,

As you look into the distance,

You see your girl or your boy bounding towards you.

Your whole being is filled with joy and you crouch on the ground and hold your arms wide open to welcome them and you call their name.

If they crossed over because of old age or illness,

You can imagine them now in their earlier years,

Full of energy and exuberance.

You meet and greet each other in a blissful reunion,

Falling into each other's arms,

Happily receiving licks and love or gentle nuzzles or wild wiggles,

Their tail wagging with pure undiluted happiness.

Take a moment to recall the feeling of your dog's fur or coat,

Soft or curly,

Smooth or coarse,

The weight of their body,

The wetness of their nose,

The smelliness of their warm breath,

The tenderness of their touch,

The pads on their paws.

Don't rush through this moment.

Do not anticipate their loss again.

Just surrender to the pure and unconditional delight of being reunited.

Hold your baby close.

Tell them how much you love them.

Gaze into their eyes and from the foundation of gratitude that you carry in your heart,

Tell them now,

Thank you.

Thank you for everything you gave me,

Everything you taught me.

Thank you for all the memories.

Thank you for always being there.

Thank you for your unconditional love and thank you,

Thank you,

Thank you for choosing me.

We belong to each other and we always will.

Take these moments to drink up all the affection your sweet beloved wants to shower upon you.

And now I will be quiet for a few moments to give you the opportunity to do something special together,

Something that the two of you always used to do.

It might be throwing a ball,

Playing tuggy with their favorite toy,

Tummy rubs,

Or giving them their yummiest treat.

And as we draw this time together to a close,

I want you to get very cozy with your girl or your boy.

They might now be on your lap or on your bed or snuggled in close.

Kiss them softly on the top of their head and ask them,

Without words,

If they have a message for you.

Is there something they want you to know?

Is there something they want you to do?

Is there a lesson they still want you to learn from them?

Listen deeply to the answer.

And when this meditation is finished,

I invite you,

If you feel inclined,

To write in a journal for a few minutes.

Take note of how you are feeling and pay close attention to the messages you received from your soul dog.

If you feel inspired,

You might also take this time to write them a love letter.

Before you open your eyes,

Return your attention to your breath.

Find yourself back in nature.

Your baby can come with you.

And it is also time to let their physical form go again.

It is time to accept they are now transformed and transcended.

They are forever inside of you,

Even though you can no longer see them outside of you.

Your bond is unbreakable,

And you can return to this guided journey again and again whenever you need a more tactile connection.

But for right now,

Blow a kiss on the wind.

Know that you can hold both grief and gratitude at the same time.

And be gentle and kind to yourself as you move from this inner landscape to your outer landscape,

Knowing that you carry your dog's endless love with you wherever you go.

Reviews

When I searched soul dog on insight timer I really didn’t think anything would come up… this is exactly what I needed today… and likely many days in the future. Thank you so much for this blessing, wishing you and your animal companions peace and love.

This was exactly what I needed. I've been missing my sweet baby girl so badly since she passed last Monday. I've been trying to connect with her, but the loss of the physical is so overwhelming. This made me smile a little for the first time. I'll be returning to this meditation often. Thank you so very much! 💔❤️🐾

beautiful please do more! It’s really hard to find meditations on connecting with a soul pet

Thank you for taking the time to dedicate this to our fur baby, my baby has been gone a few years but still miss his presence everyday