After coming in from seeing Bodie outside in the car, I need to do some work with Aidy.
The first exercise is called taking responsibility
and it's a very direct tool to see how the animal and the human are interacting with each other. It
is a really powerful exercise and helps us to see the bigger picture in their relationship.
We're going to go into present moment around him and we're going to start working with him
so we can get peace of mind. It's going to be quite interesting with him because he's not
peaceful at the moment so we're going to have to overcome that for him by getting present
and even before when I got present, he had to try and come into my space so, you know, we're
going to help him to let go of all of this. This is stage one and I'll show you exactly how we're
going to do it. First of all- The second exercise I need to teach Ady is the present moment.
Getting her mind focused on her senses and into that peaceful state of being
so that she can then share this feeling with Bodie and help him to be peaceful with his situation.
After learning the present moment, it was time for us to share this with Bodie.
Sitting on the floor is a great way to bring Bodie's attention towards us and when we have the
animal's attention whilst being in a present state of mind, then it will start to influence them.
What you're noticing is that you're getting present, you're doing a beautiful job,
he's going and he's starting to relax. He's having to yawn out the emotion,
he's starting to relax and when he really gets relaxed, he has to come back up again
and that's where he's finding it hard to be that relaxed. So you just keep the focus there so that
he now has to go through this process. He might whine, he might get fidgety, he'll come back,
he'll lie down, he will yawn again and we keep going until he's completely gone.
Okay. So I think you're doing really well so really focus on what you can see, hear and touch.
Push him very, very gently. You're not rejecting him but he's also got to be okay in that space
of being peaceful so all he's trying to do is to get you to stroke him so you're not
so quiet in your mind but we need him to be quiet. That's where his release is going to be.
It's also a lot of stomach grumbling going on when he's having to relax,
which only makes sense. So here we go, really engage in what you can see, hear, touch.
Well done, really engage, you're doing really good.
So there he goes, he's going down again so can he stay there or will he get upset?
All you're doing is just supporting him with peace of mind
and he's not used to this peace of mind at all.
Ady's doing really well. It's very hard to keep your focus when there's a lot of noise happening
so she's really keeping her attention,
acknowledging any thoughts that come up so that she can stay in this present moment for Bodie.
As you can see, rather than going into the present moment, he's trying to get Ady to think
by moving around her, nudging her and again, she's really kept her focus.
Ady's focusing on her spot, she's not looking at Bodie. You would find that if
you actually looked at the dog, it would be almost impossible not to be thinking.
And after a period of time, you can then just say to him but this is how it's to be, good boy,
you're doing really well. Okay, so you're giving him praise but it's not up in the air,
it's just well done good boy. So you give him a nice good boy just there, lovely.
Well done. He's going through a huge process right now and all you're doing is supporting
him by being present and we have to keep doing this until he completely crashes
and this may be that you do it, you know, today, tomorrow, you know, for a week that
you actually spend just five minutes sitting down, getting present. You'll find it'll be
different from your everyday stuff because you're purposely bringing his mind down and
we can feel straight away, he's uncomfortable with that. He goes well, I can't relax because,
you know, it's like the whole world might cave in, it's all going to be a problem. So what
you're seeing is he goes because he feels it and then he comes up and I've got to look at this,
well, I've got to do that and then he goes and he goes oh well, I can't do that. So we're
just encouraging him to go closer and closer. You often find that he'll want to touch you somewhere
when you're doing this. It's absolutely fine but if he's trying to make you think
by pushing, touching then you have to just very gently move him away
because that's going to affect your thinking levels.
At last, it feels like Bodie's starting to find
a little bit of a quieter mind so he's now looking for somewhere to settle himself down.
You just stay present and he settles.
Now you can shuffle back a bit so you can still see him. That's brilliant.
If you feel you've slightly lost his attention, put your hand on the side.
Lovely, that's it, now get present again.
And you can do that again very gently. Lovely, that's it, beautiful.
By bringing Bodie's attention back by lifting the hand and placing it on the sofa,
brings his attention back into Ady's present moment.
Lovely, well done. So obviously it's very relaxing for you. All that tension in the tummy going hey?
Yeah. Well done but what you've done, you've done it beautifully. You brought his attention to you.
Did you notice the difference? Yeah. He then really feels that present moment, can't even keep
his eyes open. Yeah. And now we've actually got him to a place where he's starting to get comfy in
himself with the present moment. This is going to be really key. The hardest time is the first time
especially after what we've just done. All of that anxiety
and then we've helped him to to come right back down so you can say well done to him.
Lovely, look how soft he is now. So, ready? You get present again, see what happens now.
Lovely. Now, you can see, now you can bring your attention to me.
Now you've got him present, you can be normal and then you can just teach him to come back down if
he wakes up, you can just get his attention, get present and he'll go back down again. You know,
it's different from him just being with you and going to sleep. You know,
this is actually you directing his mind but you've gone somewhere where he's not familiar with. He's
not used to going there and he was like, I don't know if I can. So you know once a day,
it won't take as long as it just has, it'll take five to ten minutes. Aw, look. Look at that!
So you can see that your present moment, look how strong that is. You know,
I'm finding it hard to even wake him. He's been desperate for this. So have you. Yeah.
You know, absolutely desperate for a bit of peace of mind.
So, you know, I have great pleasure in sharing with you, if you do this for 10 minutes every day,
you know, that's also a really important place in your relationship. Where this originally came
from or where your feeling of this originally came from, which is not just the car but in
your past right down to childhood and where this has come from his past, which might be wherever
back there when he was a puppy, even that first car travel. All of that, you're now resetting.