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These days most of us spend a lot of our lives rushing around. It is a bit like being on one of those hamster exercise wheels – constant motion. We want everything to happen right away. We want to see results right away, and if the desired results do not happen quickly then we get impatient. We live in a culture that encourages us to move too fast and do too much.
Now let us think about this in terms of food. There is “fast food” and “slow food”, the kind people have always made, and when it comes to taste and nutrition, I think there is no doubt which side wins! If we slow down a bit and take time to look around and listen to the world around us, then we begin to see things that we would never see when we are in a rush, and hear things that get drowned out in our mental chatter. The birds sing, the flowers bloom and we can take all that in and enjoy it.
When we slow down, we can become more aware of what we are seeing and hearing and reflect on what we are experiencing. We can take a deep breath, and with our exhale allow any tension we may be holding to dissipate. We can integrate our experiences. These days mindfulness has come centre-stage in many circles and that is the key.
In terms of TTouch this concept of “the mindful pause” surfaced at an Advanced Training held in New Mexico. Sally Morgan, who is a TTouch practitioner but also an Upledger CranioSacral Instructor, was attending the training and teaching the other participants some craniosacral techniques. One of the benefits of craniosacral work is helping a being achieve ‘Stillpoint’.
When a Stillpoint is achieved, the craniosacral rhythm comes to a pause, inducing a state of deep relaxation. As a result, this causes the sympathetic nervous system to turn down the volume which, in turn, reduces the fight-or-flight responses. This then allows the healing and restorative powers of the parasympathetic system to come to the fore.
During this training some dogs were brought in from a local shelter and Sally noticed that when Practitioners were doing TTouches on the dogs that ‘Stillpoint’ was often achieved on the pause of the end of the circle.
This was the birth of the “mindful pause” concept in TTouch. Pausing at the end of each circle and a quarter helps the person stay mindful of what he/she is doing. The pause can be short or long.
So, when might we pause?
Some instances when this could make an important difference are:
- When we first make contact with an animal
- When we give a signal – such as picking up the hoof of a horse; giving a forward signal when leading; when signalling for a stop; asking a dog to sit or stay…
- When we bring an animal towards an obstacle and we feel the slightest hesitation, we should pause before going over or onto it
- When we feel any resistance or reluctance to comply
Making Contact
Pausing when we put our hand(s) on a body before starting TTouches is like greeting the animal. A connection is established and gives the being a moment to decide whether it is comfortable with this connection and wants to continue.
A moment of stillness when we approach an animal can make all the difference to how the session and interaction will develop later. When we want to engage a horse, dog or person, instead of just marching up to them, if we walk a few steps and then stop for a moment, exhale and diffuse our gaze, this causes an animal to feel less invaded and it then allows them to meet us in the approach.
Giving signals
When doing groundwork or training or any other activity and we give a signal – such as asking a dog to come forward: people often give a signal and immediately pull if the dog does not comply. We have to remember that when we want to give a signal, this involves a number of different steps:
- the signal goes from our brain (the idea);
- to our body (to give the signal);
- to the animal’s body (through the lead and harness or collar);
- to its brain (registering the request)
- and finally back to its body (to respond).
We can also liken this to when we press a remote control to open a garage door. There is always a slight delay between pressing the button and the door beginning to open.
When we repeat the signal too soon or become insistent, it can put the animal off balance which means that he would probably adopt a less functional posture. The result is that the movement becomes less precise.
What we do with our body has a huge influence on the way animals respond to us. If we are unsure or hesitant ourselves, the pause gives us a moment to exhale and become more grounded. If we are out of balance, whether it is mentally, emotionally or physically, animals can ‘feel it’ when we interact with them, and this can affect how they will respond to us and what we ask them to do.
If we ask a dog to step on to a strange surface and he doesn’t comply, we should just give him a moment and exhale. The animal will then often do as we are asking. If he is still unsure, then we have to ask whether our communication is clear, and one way to remedy that is to divide what we are asking him to do into smaller steps which can make it easier for him to assimilate. Sometimes, just taking a break is enough. During that pause the animal has the chance to mull over what was being asked, and then he might be able to do it at the next try. It is a bit like taking a break from the computer when it does not do what we want.
Sometimes we have to ask why the animal is finding that thing difficult to do. As Temple Grandin has pointed out, animals may perceive some things quite differently from how we do, and this may be due to our relatively different positions and perspectives. We see things from a different height. Our dogs are much closer to the ground so they don’t have the same perspective as we do. Many animals are reluctant to step on to grids on the pavement in cities. Temple Grandin has shown that this may often be due to the fact that the animal sees that grid as a gaping hole and so tries to avoid it by going around it. Puddles are another challenge for many dogs due to the way the light reflects on the water and that may also seem like a hole to them.
When we ask a dog to do something, like changing direction or sit or come, we can ask and then count ‘one thousand and one; one thousand and two’ before giving another signal. If we pay close attention, we will generally notice that by the time we are finished counting the dog will have started to shift its weight, getting ready to do as we asked. If we ask again too quickly, the dog has to stop to listen and reorganize its body again before complying.
The pause allows the nervous system to integrate the information. This is true for people as well as animals.
When we are learning something new, we need time to process the information, to integrate it and allow the body and brain to connect what is happening.
When working with Tellington TTouch, a good philosophy to follow is “moments not minutes”. If we do a few TTouches and then pause, this allows the animals to know that we are mindful and will give them the chance to give feedback about what we are doing.
If you think in terms of a musical score or a piece of music, if there were no pauses between the notes, what we would have is a noise, not music. It is the silences that count!
However, the pause is not restricted to Tellington TTouch. When we do a zoopharmacognosy session, we offer the animal an oil and watch carefully to see what the response will be. It may be quite obvious or very subtle, and we have to hone our observation skills to collect as much information as we can. Then we may find that the animal will walk away or lie down and after a while come back to the oil. This is the pause in action here too.
As we continue with the session, offering more oils, we may find that sometimes the animal will decide to return to one of the previous oils. Here the pause has still been working even though in between other oils have been offered. The pause gives the animal the opportunity to absorb the information transmitted by the oil, assess it and assimilate it. The results may be seen immediately in some cases or after a few hours or even days in other cases.
The same is true when we work with homoeopathic remedies. We administer the remedy, perhaps for 3 or five consecutive days and then we rest, giving the animal’s body and mind time to assimilate the essence of the remedy, just the same as with the oils.
So, in conclusion I would say that learning to work slowly, giving animals time and space by introducing pauses in our work, not only benefits the animals but maximises the impact of what we do with them.
© Mary J. Rodriguez
