Tag: meditation

Continuing the story of Lydia, Me and our Family of Three https://amzn.eu/d/99yW3Qk

This morning, I wake with a sense of unease. I try saying affirmations but can’t settle, and decide to just rest into the feeling. It will pass.

Not so long ago, I felt an almost overwhelming sense of fear; almost but not quite. I drew on all the self-management methods I could muster, and it abated.

I let Lydia out into the back yard earlier.

We’re lucky to have a courtyard-cum-garden which is approximately square in shape, has a seating area, a paved area and some flower beds.

It is low maintenance and has become even lower maintenance since we got Lydia.

Lydia likes to dig. 

I decided to not try to stop her digging which means we have big holes in the flower beds.

Even so, or maybe even because of this, we have some self-seeded flowers blossoming – purple foxgloves and yellow Icelandic poppies.

She’s been quiet so far this morning.  When I checked on her earlier, she was lying down, looking up at the sky, following the pigeons in flight but not barking at them – not much anyway.

I’m encouraging Lydia to be “quiet”.  In doing this I’m following some guidelines from an on-line training resource I bought, that follows the principles of service dog training.

Lydia is approximately 9 or 10 years old.  She would have made an amazing service or working dog if she’d been trained from when she was a puppy.  She’s responding positively to the training I’m doing with her now, although it’s a slow process.  This is just as well, because I’m 69 heading towards 70, and slow suits me, especially as I’m learning too.

Trev heads out to yoga. He’s only just started going to yoga classes, tending to favour the gym, and a swim. It isn’t always easy to learn to do new things with your body and your brain as you get older, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

When I do eventually get out of bed I do a few physio exercises for my knees, then head downstairs.

I talk to Lydia, to let her know that we’re not going out for “w-a-l-k-i-e-s” yet. I’m going to meditate first.

It’s the Buddhist group meeting tonight, but I feel I need to meditate now, so I do.

I don’t have a formal routine for meditating at home.

I sit down in my comfy chair with a cushion supporting my back and my feet on the floor.

I put my hands in the position on my lap as we are taught in the class, and partly close my eyes, letting just a little bit of light in.

Surprisingly – to me – I don’t find it too difficult to concentrate on my breath this morning. I don’t have too many distracting thoughts creeping in.  I don’t time my meditation, just do it as long as I want to and can, and then feel ready to go out for our walk.

As is usual now, Lydia waits patiently while I put on her harness and leads. I reward her with a treat, get myself sorted with bag, phone and keys, and then we head for the door.

I ask Lydia to “sit” and “wait” while I open the door. This is all part of our process of learning not to rush, taking things step by step, being calm and not worrying about what may lie ahead.

I take her in the car to the walking place that we’re both most familiar with. We go to this spot at least three times a week, usually mid-week. It provides plenty of opportunity for stress-free walking and stress-free training with occasional but manageable encounters with other dogs.

This morning, we have one such encounter and I apply the techniques that I have been taught by the behaviourist that I recently consulted with.

The distance between us and the other dog and owner are less than they’ve been before, although we still have a couple of grassy banks and a drainage ditch between us.

Lydia does react but she also settles down quite quickly, and we continue on our way.  It is progress. We still have a lot of work to do between us, but it is progress.

I’ve brought some pieces of cooked chicken with me today, and we do some “heel” reinforcement work, as well as some repeats of “watch”.  We are building up muscle memory, hers and mine. I didn’t learn to respond positively to a lot of frightening and difficult to process situations when I was younger and neither did she.  We are on this journey together.