Feeling grateful this Thanksgiving for a lot of things but one of the biigest, after a wonderful life with Bernie, my husband, is our animals. I am grateful for a life with our wonderful animals. I am grateful for our ponies and mules and all they have been teaching me, and for their great companionship.

I am grateful for our dogs. I am grateful that Lucky was saved from a horrible life by the Lassen County California Animal Control and that she found her way to us. I am grateful that her puppy, Diggity, who was born at the shelter on Thanksgiving last year, has made it to one year old after surviving Parvo, a broken leg and a venomous snake bite. I am grateful to all the veterinarians, animal rescue people, law  enforcement and litigators who do their very best to keep animals safe and healthy.

May everyone Have a Happy Thanksgiving and may those who have animals take a moment to be thankful for them and all the people who work to keep animals happy and healthy. 

Mindfulness and Attunement, Two Important Concepts For Improving Connection When Working With Animals

Recently, among enlightened animal trainers, there has been a lot of talk about two very important ways of being when building a good partnership with an animal. They are, number one, being present, a clear, non-thinking, non-judgmental mind frame, "anchored in the here and now," and number two, being super aware of the animal's reactions, also called attunement. Attunement in this context is an awareness of an animal's reactions on a deep level so that the animal feels seen, felt, and understood without judgment in a harmonizing way. It is now clear to many how useful both of these aspects are when working to build connection with animals. Many well-known and enlightened trainers have their way of working with and imparting these concepts.

The Trust Technique

In my opinion, one of the most elegant, simple and effective ways of using these concepts when working with animals is James French's Trust Technique.

The Trust Technique's main premise is the understanding that people and animals share feelings. The Trust Technique's method of "Creative Reaction" is made up of two parts. One is for the human to become present, using what the Trust Technique calls the present moment, in which one stares at a spot on the ground, keeping their body absolutely still. This puts one's mind in a non-thinking state. The person shares this space with the animal by focusing their spot right in front of the animal's head. Animals respond strongly to a person completely in a non-thinking, meditative state. They usually get sleepy and when fully peaceful with the feeling, they will lie down and enter a healing, dream-like state.

The second part is for the human to carefully regard the animal as it responds to the feeling of peace, coming out of the present moment and completely listening on a felt level to the animal every time the animal's mind comes up and then reentering the present moment to re-offer the feeling of peace as the animal's mind comes back down. Because, as James French says, "peace and unpeace can not be in the same place," the animal will eventually, if well regarded, dump their unpeace and become peaceful.

What happens during a Trust Technique session is the unfolding of a special kind of micro-story that is experiential and non-verbal and does not need to be put into words. It is shared between the human and the animal, who are present together and vitally aware of one another on the most profound level. It is a completely felt space between the regarded (animal) and the regarder (human).

The micro story revealed by the animal during a Trust Technique session is most often indicative of the main emotion that causes the problem or issue for the animal in their relationship with their human partner or in life. Because humans and animals share feelings, when they interact this feeling is shared between them. It does not matter whether the feeling originates with the animal and is picked up by the human or vice versa or if the feeling is shared between them; working with the Trust Technique can break these negative emotional cycles.

In the Trust Technique the human takes responsibility for the relationship by entering the present moment, a non-thinking and peaceful state. They then offer this feeling to their animal and regard them carefully as they react to the feeling. This deep state of awareness and attunement by the human allows the animal to feel fully felt, seen, and understood.

There is healing and the ability to change for the regarded when this story is deeply felt but not judged by the regarder. The animal can then reevaluate how they feel about themselves, the other and/or their situation in the present moment and begin to let go of trapped stress, physical pain, and/or emotions. Because the emotion is occurring in the here and now it can be dealt with through the whole body and can be let go of if the animal is allowed to express their reaction fully.

Over time, this work can lead to the forming of new neural pathways in the animal's brain and more authentic perceptions of the world around them. That means that an animal can, for example, let go of something they may be holding on to based on a past experience because they are able to process the old emotion, let it go, and form a new understanding based on new information from the here and now, where nothing, say scary, or painful or frustrating is occurring.

By getting present with the animal and carefully regarding them as they work towards finding peace, the person also becomes more peaceful and is now reacting only to the animal with them and not a version perceived by them, either from the past or the future. This state of both the human and the animal reducing their thinking levels puts the relationship on a better course, one with an enhanced shared feeling of trust and confidence in one another.


Mirror Neurons

This process of attunement, brain-to-brain coupling, or what is achieved through "mindful regard," as it is called in the Trust Technique, is possible because of mirror neurons. Mirror neurons are neurons in all mammals' brains, allowing them to react to others' reactions as if they were their own, causing the synchronization in brains. Once synchronizing the human can help the animal to bring their mind down by holding a meditative state.

This kind of communication transfer, attunement, brain coupling or "mindful regard" can lead two brains, the human's and the animal's, to synchronize beyond and regardless of the communication content and together find peace.

Over time, this kind of work can lead to a deeper sense of trust, confidence, and connection between the animal and the human.


Example Frida The Distrustful Mule

I have found the work with the Trust Technique so effective with my own animals that I decided to train to become a practitioner. During my training, one of the animals I have worked with is a little mule named Frida. Frida is very shy of strangers and has trust issues when dealing with humans. She is scared to be caught by anyone but her owner, who worked for two years to gain the trust to catch her without driving her into a stall. She is fearful of being touched, handled, and haltered.

I visited Frida six times to practice the Trust Technique with her. It took three visits for her to come up to me to be touched voluntarily, with no treats or force. In fact, I strongly felt that this little mule wanted to get over her fear of humans. Below are my notes from the 3rd session doing the Trust Technique with Frida.

Today's session added a new color. It felt like a new dimension opened up to me today. I entered the barn. Both Frida and Picasso were standing right at the gate of their corral. Both their thinking levels were low *(3), so I just entered the corral without offering the *present moment before I entered as I had done in the previous two sessions. Neither of their thinking levels increased. Picasso started to sniff my pockets for treats, which I did not have.

Frida was eager to see, too, and though she still was cautious and kept Picasso between us, she did not seem alarmed at all by my presence. She reached over Picasso's back to sniff my hand. I offered them both 30 seconds of the present moment, as neither had increased thinking due to my entrance. They both did some *licking and chewing. Picasso started to sniff my pants and my boots. Frida stepped up and took a good sniff of my hand. Both's thinking stayed at a 3. They were trying to make certain I did not have any treats.

I offered the present moment again. Frida stepped up to me and stuck out her nose. I held out a crooked finger to give her a slow stroke on the nose. My hand made contact. She accepted it at a level 3 but, then left *to walk a small circle and have a lick and a chew to release the unpeace this touch had brought up. I regarded her until she'd finished her process of release and re-approached me again. I was standing very still the whole time.

She came right up in front of me and stood very close. I did 30 seconds of present moment. She stuck out her nose again, and I again offered her the touch. She allowed my touch to stay with her for a moment, and then she walked another very small circle and had another lick and chew. I did some more present moment, and she came back into my space and stuck out her nose. We did this process for a while. She would come in for the touch, then walk a small circle in one direction or the other, do a lick and chew and be back again.

After we had been doing this for a while, *she added a little rhythmical tail swishing to her little small circle walk. I decided on the next approach: I would deliver the present moment but then not touch her even when she stuck her nose out towards me.

She came in very close to me while I was doing the present moment, stood right in front of me, and raised her nose so that it touched my belly just above my hands, which were folded in front of me. Her chin and halter strap came to rest on the backside of my hands for a moment. She rested with her head there, but then she realized that the halter was touching my hands, and she jumped back, walking the biggest circle of the day, away from me (all the other circles had been very small and close to me). She came to a halt about 15 feet away from me. I was standing very still and had not moved at all since coming out of the present moment to regard her. She looked over at me, then did a whole series of *wide open-mouthed yawns and eyeball rolls.

She then walked right back over to me, stood right in front of me, and stood very close. Her nose was almost touching my stomach. It felt like she was really asking for my help to give her the confidence to stay for the pats. I did the present moment. She stuck her head a little closer as if she wanted me to touch her forehead. I moved my finger very slowly up to her forehead. She tilted her head slightly as if asking me to touch her. I did, and then she made her small circle, and I regarded her.

The next time she came back and did the same thing, I imagined as hard as I could her accepting the stroke. I envisioned her staying for the whole slow, gentle experience as I moved my hand down her forehead in a very sweet caress. She presented her forehead. I gently reached up to offer the caress, and she stayed for the whole thing. Then she took her small circle walk and came back for another round. Again, I imagined first just what it would be like, and it was. She stayed. Then I pictured her taking multiple pat strokes on her forehead, and she did. She stayed!

A note on Picasso. Picasso stuck around being my helper for the first 20 min or so. Then he left and went to snooze in the empty stall attached to the corral. Right near the end, when Frida was starting to accept the pats on her forehead, Picasso came over and stood right next to Frida, facing me. He was at a level one and sometimes 0. It seemed like he had reappeared here to be her support as she found her confidence to stay for the pats on her forehead.
It was an incredible experience for me today, and I could really feel the communication between Frida and myself. I love this Trust Technique so much. I can truly sense its effectiveness.

* Present Moment in the Trust Technique is practiced by staring at a small spot on the ground in front of the animal's head and keeping the body still. This focuses the mind in the here and now, a non-thinking and authentic space. Staring at a spot in front of the animal's head invites the animal to share this feeling of the present moment with you. This state makes an animal feel peaceful and sleepy.

* Thinking Levels in the Trust Technique are defined from 0, a complete dreamlike, asleep state, to 10, which would be a full-on panic.

* Licking and chewing is a sign of acceptance of the present moment. This is usually followed by the animal's thinking levels dropping.

* Movement like walking circles and tail swishing are expressions of an animal's unpeace rising to the surface. This is part of the process the animal must go through to be peaceful, as peace and unpeace can not be in the same place.

* Yawning and eyes going sleepy are signs of an animal releasing, coming down and giving into the feeling of the present moment.

By the end of my six sessions, Frida was beginning to trust me a lot more. She would come up for pats of her own will, though still shy and nervous of quick moves. I shot the selfy video below during the sixth session, our last day working together. In the video, you can see her voluntarily staying to be petted even though she is still a little nervous.

I later held a Trust Technique consult with the owner. When I asked her to name the emotion she felt

when thinking about Frida's trust issues, she said, "It made me feel a bit frustrated." At first, I failed to see how they were both sharing the feeling of frustration. I understood why the owner, who had been trying so hard for two years to gently and slowly gain Frida's trust, was feeling frustrated by her slow but evident progress. I had a harder time accepting that Frida’s main feeling was also frustration. Then I thought back on my sessions with Frida and how hard I had seen her try to overcome her fear of interacting with me. That's when I realized that Frida was also frustrated by her own slow progress in getting over her fear of humans. She really does wish to interact with them. The Trust Technique is helping her to finally change her perception. She is learning that it is ok to trust.
To learn more about the Trust Technique, receive a free introductory course or buy the highly informative and comprehensive video course that will allow you to use the Trust Technique with your own animals effectively; click this link. https://trust-technique.com/product/messages-of-trust/tt/316/

If you live near Lenoir, NC, I am currently looking for dogs to work with for my training. I am offering free consultations; if interested, please email me at [email protected]. I also have a page about the Trust Technique: www.consideringanimals.com/the-trust-technique.html. Here you can also find out about booking a session for me to work with you and your equine. Pricing is listed on that page.