Uhane Nui O Nai’a: Connecting With the Great Spirit of the Dolphins December 4, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Interspecies Communication, My Life, Photos.Tags: dolphins, interspecies connections, Keiko, Sunlight on Water
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This is me giving the "Hang Loose" sign underwater
Early yesterday morning saw a full moon casting a “moon river” over Kealakekua Bay as Lynn Powell and I were the first to arrive slightly before 6:30 am at one of our favorite spots to hang out with wild dolphins. We waited quietly on the shore for about 20 minutes and then many dolphins began spinning and jumping out of the water and tail-slapping, not more than 100 yards from shore! The water was totally quiet – the quietest I have seen it in that bay since I began swimming there almost 20 years ago.
Swimming together as one pod.
It's not easy getting good photos of dolphins underwater, even when they are quite close. Here they are swimming around us, checking us out.
Lynn Powell is the jeweler who makes the angel bracelets I often give to participants in my trainings. She swims most days when she is home and not flying somewhere around the world as an airline attendant. We had an awesome swim together today. For more than 90 minutes, dolphins were swimming really close to us, looking me right in the eye. There were many groups of 4 or 5 dolphins swimming close to each other as they do – often rubbing sides and sometimes bellies. It’s fascinating to watch them move through the water in small groups or pairs – as though they are holding hands! Many were picking up leaves and dropping them in front of me in a clearly playful gesture, and they seemed to like it when about 8 swimmers hung out together in the water watching them. I had the feeling we were looking like a pod of dolphins to them.
I had a similar experience 15 years ago in the same bay when Joan Ocean and I went out in a zodiac (a rubber boat) and five dolphins stayed with us for more than 2 hours. Joan had brought a few big leaves out and dropped them and the dolphin kept circling and delivering the leaves back to us.
Each year in February during the TTouch for You & Your Horse and the human weeklong retreat, TTouch for You, we take everyone to swim with the dolphins with our friends China and Melainah of Sunlight on Water. We’ve often been in the water with more than 100 dolphins all around us. Swimming with dolphins is one of the most profound and rare interspecies connections a person can make. Why don’t you join us for one of these spectacular trainings and experience this for yourself?
This is the boat we ride on when we go out with Sunlight on Water during our Hawaii trainings.
Today’s dolphin experience was reminiscent of the Dolphin Guided Journey I often lead people on. We recorded one such guided journey at this year’s CELLebration in Santa Fe, and at some point this winter I plan to have a podcast of the Guided Dolphin Journey for those who would like to take it together.
Another dolphin experience: with Keiko (from the movie "Free Willie") when I worked with him before he was shipped to Oregon. When I got in the water to swim with Keiko, the dolphins kept surrounding me, seeming to want to participate.
My first dolphin encounter with "Holy Fin" (you can see the hole in her fin) at Monkey Mia, on the west coast of Australia. I had met her 2 years before and stayed in almost daily communication with her. This was my first visit back after 2 years and she came right up to greet me as though she knew me. It's the only time she did this. I tell the story in my book, "The Tellington TTouch: Caring for Animals with Heart and Hands" - a about my travels around the world working with many different species.
TTouch Experiences: Linda Hoover, PiT from Colorado Shares Hers December 2, 2009
Posted by enlightenedhorsemanship in TTouch for You.Tags: Linda Hoover, TTouch Experiences
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The following TTouch experience of Linda Hoover, Tellington TTouch PIT (Practitioner-in-Training) could inspire one of you to help yourself with TTouch the next time you have hip pain or any other pain. It’s really helpful to learn how much you can help yourself by applying the work we do for animals. We now have more than 2000 cases of the various ways TTouch can help people. It’s what everyone discovers when they attend a weekend or weeklong TTouch for You training. For more than 15 years we have been using body wraps for dogs, cats, horses and humans. We have had remarkable and unexplainable shifts in body awareness and relief from pain or lameness over the years. Here is one more example of the changes that can result from a TTouch body wrap.
My Hip Story
by
Linda Hoover TTouch PiT
As a (newly minted) TTouch Practitioner in Training for companion animals, I have witnessed first hand some of the wonderful things TTouch equipment and touches can do for animals. I’ve seen posture and gait change, I’ve seen shy, nervous, or reactive animals become calmer and more balanced. But last week at a class in Utah I experienced myself what TTouch can do. It was so profound that I really want to share it.
I’ve had trouble with my right hip all my life. I have a slight case of scoliosis, and my right leg is about a half inch longer than my left; my right hip is higher than my left. Most people wouldn’t notice it when I walk, but I am aware of it, and it periodically causes problems. At the extreme, upon occasion, my hip will go slightly out of joint with an audible POP. I must then pop it back in immediately, which I can do. Yoga has helped me with that. More commonly, as happened last week, something like sitting on a hard floor for too long can cause a real ache. I don’t know whether it gets out of place by a millimeter or two, or whether the arthritis that I have there flares up. But the result, over the past two and a half decades, is that when it happens I am in for not less than a week of unpleasantness. In the hip itself, it isn’t so much a sharp pain, as a relentless, ever-present grinding ache. It doesn’t matter whether I sit, stand, or lie down, nothing helps; it’s just that some things make it worse.
I had spent nearly an hour sitting cross-legged on the floor, as Debby Potts was showing us some things about working with various cats. When I started to stand up, I groaned inwardly, because I realized I had really blown it. It was only the second day of class, and I had just done something boneheaded that was going to interfere with my ability to work the rest of the week. Not to mention, I was going to be hurting, with no relief, for probably a week; and the two days driving home over the mountains were going to be miserable.
Over the course of the day it worsened, and I got little sleep that night. Even when I could doze off, if I moved at all, the ache woke me up. I got up the next morning limping, and really ticked off at myself. When I went to class, I asked Debby if she could wrap me. Having been wrapped in classes before, I knew it could be soothing, and in my mind that was what I was hoping for. Perhaps just some slight pressure against my hip might lessen the ache, it seemed.
It was a hectic day, with other groups sharing our space, so the morning passed before the opportunity arose. By then, my leg was going slightly numb, as usual. I hadn’t been able to sit much, and mostly kept moving around. If I did sit, I had to stretch the right leg out, and try to take pressure off the hip joint.
Debby started the wrap at my shoulders, checking to see which position I preferred and went around my torso and hips, then down the right leg. She asked if I wanted to stop below the knee, or go to the ankle. It seemed like a good idea to go all the way down, so that’s what she did. Then she asked if I wanted to do the left side also. Because of my yoga experience, I prefer to be balanced; what is done on one side is also done on the other. She concurred, based on her experience. So, with me wrapped me my feet, checking to be sure the wrap was comfortable. She asked me to walk around, or do whatever I needed to do, and she resumed class.
I walked up a couple steps, and down a hallway. Within seconds, I was stunned by the information that came flooding in. I immediately realized that I was barely bending that knee. The next thing that registered was that I was also not flexing my ankle and foot. I assume that I was instinctively trying to protect my hip from jolting with each step. But what was happening was that instead of the problem being JUST in my hip, it was now involving my whole leg. I went back and reported that. Even with fairly good body awareness from yoga, I had never picked up on that before. Debby was pleased, and told me to keep moving. I could then because of that increased awareness bring intentional movement to the knee, ankle, and foot, and, in so doing, the discomfort began to diminish, that rapidly. As it began to diminish, my walk became more normal.
I took the wrap off when we needed to go to another location to work with cats. When I walked into the building, I could feel my stride lengthening and becoming more normal, and the discomfort continued to lessen. I forgot something in the car and went back out to get it. Returning, there was about a 2′ drop from where we parked to the sidewalk, and without even thinking, just from the joy of less painful movement, I hopped down, instead of going around, as before, and trotted into the building. When I got inside, Debby was looking at me with a grin, and gently reminded me not to overdo it! I really didn’t even realize what I had done—I was just moving normally! I found myself moving more freely and energetically, as more time passed. We did take a picture of me in the wrap; my regret is that none of us thought to take a “before” picture, because I know my stance and posture had to have visibly changed. I never dreamed there would be a need for a “before” picture, because I didn’t expect a significant “after!”
Over the next few hours, I continued to wear the wrap off and on and she showed me how to do it for myself. That evening, we went out to eat, and sat on metal patio furniture. It wasn’t till the end of the evening that it even registered on my brain that I had, indeed, been sitting comfortably on a metal chair. Normally, on the day after a hip problem started, I’d have been hard-pressed to sit even on an upholstered chair for any length of time. That night, I slept soundly, and woke up feeling quite good. To my amazement, the ONLY indication of what had happened was a very small, specific, familiar tenderness on the side of the hip itself, and that was so minimal, I only mention it in contrast to what would normally have been a second miserable morning in a row. I kept moving all day, with only a minimal awareness of my hip.
Toward the end of the day, we were sitting outside on some flagstones, and after a while, I did have to stand up and flex my leg and shift my weight back and forth slightly. These are things I ‘m used to doing for relief, so it’s kind of automatic, but usually I’m trying to make an extreme ache go away (unsuccessfully), and in this case, I was just maintaining flexibility.
I had another great night’s sleep, and the next morning, to my utter astonishment, there was NO ache in my hip WHATSOEVER! This has NEVER happened in all my years of dealing with this. And, since I am now older than I have ever been, it would not naturally get better on its own; it should be taking longer to get over it. I have never gotten over an episode like this (from inital hurt, to all the aches ebbing away) in less than a week. It has taken longer, even. I just kept beaming from ear to ear every time I reported on my progress to Debby and the class. To quote some folks, “This stuff really works!”
Has this fixed what’s wrong with my hip? No, the structural issues are still there. However, when it happens in the future, I will be able to remedy it myself with wraps, and having it happen will no longer be a week-long sentence. And having experienced it myself really brings another dimension to my understanding of just what it is I can bring to the animals I work with. To know that I can genuinely make a difference, and know how it feels (not just head knowledge), has taken my concept of what it means for me to be a TTouch practitioner to a whole new level, and I am a better person (and practitioner) for it.
–Linda Hoover,
Colorado
P.S. You can see why I was so stunned by what happened with my hip when Debby wrapped me. It was life-changing on several levels. I been noting with interest that my hip has not gone out since, though there have been several situations where it normally would have (long trips in our truck, and other things). The change has been more long lasting than I even anticipated. I will have to share that with Debby!
Also know that you can very often help yourself by applying Raccoon TTouches on the hip area as you walk, or as you are lying on your side in bed with your leg raised to parallel to the bed with a pillow. I have the same problem as you with a hip, and if I walk too fast my hip aches. I can TTouch the pain away in a couple of minutes with Raccoon TTouches. Try it any time you get a twinge and let me know how it is for you.
If any of you readers have self-help stories, I love to hear them. It’s how we know over the past 20 years just how much TTouch can help the two-leggeds.
Cats Are Trainable–And That’s Not A Punchline! November 30, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Cats, Companion Animals.Tags: Cats, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33800570/ns/health-pet_health/from/ET
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I just found this wonderful article about a kitten kindergarten class at the Houston SPCA that teaches felines how to work — or at least learn tricks — for their food.
photo courtesy Pat Sullivan | AP
Sam Connelly tells of the time that she and her cat Storm observed a Canine Good Citizen test while they were waiting for their feline agility class to start.
“I’m watching the dogs and I commented to the evaluator, ‘My cat can do all that,”‘ said Connelly. “At the end she said, ‘Want to take a shot?’ like it was a big joke.”
To the evaluator’s surprise, Storm passed the test, successfully performing commands like sit, stay, come, down, and walking on a leash.
Storm is a cat who does some of these things for a living. He helps Connelly train lost pet search dogs in Maryland by hiding and waiting to be found.
But training cats isn’t just for professionals – human or feline. The Michigan Humane Society has a Pawsitive Start program that uses volunteers to train cats in their shelter in useful and fun behaviors like the high-five and walking into a carrier.
(more…)
A Message to All My Friends on This Day of Thanksgiving November 27, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Heart Hug, My Life, Spirituality, video.1 comment so far
Rachel Allen, P1 for Companion Animals in California, Shares Her Journey to the Divine Matrix at the CELLebration November 26, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in CELLebration.Tags: CELLebration, Rachel Allen
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Heart Coherence is a term describing a state of being when all bodily systems are synchronized at a high performance state. When a group comes together sharing a common intention, each individual is like a tuning fork resonating to the vibration of others nearby. At the 2009 CELLebration conference in Santa Fe, NM, 77 TTouch inspired human beings experienced profound heart coherence from the moment we gathered together. Linda Tellington-Jones, the founder of the Tellington TTouch Method and TEAM, led us to a place of higher awareness and connection through her presence, her compassion and her infinite wisdom.
Rachel Allen P1, CA and me
The church bells of the neighbouring Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi serenaded our conference with regular chimes, a melody that has been heard in downtown Santa Fe continuously since 1887. From the deck outside our conference room a statue of the Saint could be seen gracing the church entrance. In the type of synchronicity that seems commonplace with TTouch, St Francis of Assisi is historically known as the patron saint of animals. I believe we all felt his presence as our conference delved deeply into the realm of compassion for and communication with animals.
Presenters from Canada, the US and Germany delivered enticing seminars on topics ranging from the practical and scientific to the spiritual and divine. A few of the topics that were visited included techniques for managing fearful, reactive and aggressive behaviour in dogs. A veterinarian from Germany gave a detailed presentation on hormones and disease in dogs and horses, focussing on explaining hyper and hypothyroidism. We entered into an Animal Assisted Interventions Program that has helped inner-city children and teens gain self-confidence and communication skills through respectful contact with animals. We were taken through 27 years of TTouch programs that have helped children learn about themselves and gain compassion for animals all over the world. A touching presentation brought awareness to the concept of hospice for our animal friends who are in their end-stages of life. Through meditation we were taken on a journey into the world of animal communication. A heart-warming slideshow demonstrated the existence of interspecies communication the world over.
The most important gifts of learning that I have brought home with me are not of the kind that can be taken down as notes in my book. While I did learn valuable techniques and information that will help me with my clients, the most significant learning I received was the integration of some key concepts into my own being. We must acknowledge that we are all connected, quite literally, through our electromagnetic fields. Linda speaks of the Divine Matrix, a web throughout the universe on which we all exist. Each thought we have, each emotion we allow ourselves to experience impacts that web in either a positive or negative way. What are we choosing to put out to the universe?
Becoming mentally and energetically ‘ready’ before we begin the work is an essential component of TTouch. This involves clearing our minds of all thought and connecting ourselves to the grounding energies of the Earth. We must be 100% present for TTouch to have a maximum effect. The idea of intention is one that I always discuss in my workshops, however, I did not fully appreciate its significance until I witnessed what it can do. Linda uses the phrase, “Remember your perfection,” with each circle she performs. She literally speaks to the cells of the body through her intention. It is crucial to be able to see each being at their highest potential. This means clearly visualizing the desired behaviour or level of health that we are looking for. We must be able to feel it and experience it as if it has already happened. When performing the work, we need to consider our own reactions to what we see. The most successful practitioners have trained themselves to not react at all. After the moment of witnessing an unwanted behaviour or a decreased level of health, most of us react (outwardly or inwardly) with emotions such as fear, pity, sadness or anger. These reactions cannot be disguised. But what if we choose to meet fear with self-confidence or reactivity with stillness? When we demonstrate appropriate emotions or behaviours it is easier for the animals to make the desired change.
What inspired me the most at CELLebration to take my journey with TTouch to the next level was the people. Everyone was at a different place with TTouch in their lives, but there were similarities of character that were impossible to overlook. A selfless devotion to the work and to the animals (and people) whom they help was a common thread connecting everyone. Some practitioners have dedicated decades of their lives to increasing the awareness of the need for the world to see animals as equals, treating them with respect and dignity. Others have dramatically improved the wellbeing and standard of living of animals and people by performing the work with passion and dedication. Each day was filled with touching and almost unbelievable stories and of how TTouch has changed lives and improved situations.
By the time that Linda led the closing ceremonies on the final day, each one of the participants had experienced an incredible journey. We were touched, moved, inspired and motivated. And as for the heart coherence we created over those magical four days? It didn’t diminish after we all went our separate ways. When we are united with a common vision of raising vibrations through gentleness and kindness, we truly do have the power to change the world.
❤
Rachel is a P1 for Companion Animals living on beautiful Vancouver Island in BC, Canada. TTouch has been in her life for about 4 years. She left a career in health care two years ago to begin a home business teaching workshops, holding presentations and working with clients. Rachel travels the mid and southern communities on Vancouver Island spreading the TTouch work and promoting compassion for animals wherever she goes. “TTouch has changed my life and the lives of all the animals I know. What a blessing to have this gift at my fingertips.” Rachel is also a freelance writer contributing TTouch and animal related articles to a local community focussed magazine, The Beacon. She lives in Victoria with her wonderful husband, Chris, their soon-to-be first child, and her beloved canine companion Maximus.
Rachel Allen and her canine companion, Maximus
Message From A Morton Bay Fig Tree November 10, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in My Life, Spirituality, poetry.Tags: Message from a Morton Bay Fig Tree, Santa Fe, TTouch CELLebration
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Dearest TTouch Family around the world.
I’m writing from Santa Fe, getting ready for our TTouch CELLebration. and I am feeling that it is time to reach out and get ask you all to help spread this wonderful work around the world, each in your own way.
It is time to put our heads together and find a way to spread the word.
I have endless inspiration but not so much physical energy for organization any more. My work is to support and inspire and love you all and the animals, and mineral, plant and nature spirits.
I want to send you all the messages we are handing out at the conference. Here is one of my favorites, a message I received from a Morton Bay (Australia) fig tree in 1982. Feel free to post this to any TTouch group you belong to. In the picture, the blurry little fairy in the tree is me! ♥
It was this tree that gave Michael Roads his groundbreaking book: Talking with Nature.
The following transmission is a message from an ancient Morton Bay Fig Tree which I received directly from the tree at Coffs Harbor, Australia, September 10, l982.
This marvelous tree is said to be more than 1000 years old, and is the tree-spirit who gifted Michael J. Roads with wisdom for his first book, “Talking with Nature.”
I was staying with Michael and Treenie Roads at their home in Coffs Harbor when Michael suggested I take my journal in hand and visit with the tree.
As I approached, the following words came into my mind and I immediately began writing as I walked. I had many such transmissions in my following six-week walk-about in Australia so I didn’t actually read the message until I returned home to Carmel, California and was sharing my journal with my friend, Tom Mitchell.
When Tom read the message he insisted I publish it, and actually took my journal and had the poem printed. For years I shared these words in my horse demonstrations and followed the message with a few moments of silence to honor Nature and this connection to Divine Spirit — to God.
Inspired by the poem that Oprah read on the 5th lesson in the series of On-line Lessons with Oprah and Eckhart Tolle, based on his book, “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose,” I realized I needed to once again share this ancient wisdom.
The words “Heaven On Earth” have come to me in many such transmissions from rocks and trees and Atlantian poems over the past two-plus decades. I interpret the meaning simply. When we re-member our Oneness with Divine Spirit — with All That Is — with Presence — as Eckhart Tolle so gracefully describes this Knowing — we experience this feeling of Heaven on Earth, Now.
TTouch Success for Post-Operative Recovery from Shoulder Surgery October 31, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in TTouch for You.Tags: Linda Troup, shoulder surgery
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I received this email and photos from Linda Troup, a TTouch practitioner in training in Escondido, California. Linda’s success after her shoulder surgery demonstrates the way TTouch can assist medical interventions and physical therapy as an adjunct to traditional care.
Friday, October 9th I had outpatient shoulder surgery. They went in and removed some large bone spurs that were beginning to damage my rotator cuff. They also removed part of my clavicle and cleared out some arthritis. As part of the procedure I was given a “block” and my shoulder, arm & hand were completely “dead” for about 24 hours.
As soon as I got home, I began doing Raccoon TTouches all over my shoulder and down my arm. I couldn’t feel them — it was as if I were doing them on someone else. I continued doing the touches off and on every day.
Yesterday (the 15th) I went for my recheck and to have the stitches removed. The doctor was very impressed with my recovery. I’m down to one pain pill a day when I go to bed at night. I also have a wide range of motion that is not common until over 3 weeks after surgery. The doctor then asked if I could put my arm behind my back at all….I said “Like this?” You should have seen his face! He was amazed at my lack of bruising, pain and range of motion, as was my physical therapist, who, I will see again today. I plan on driving myself!
I do have weakness on the left side that we are working on. According to the surgeon I’m way ahead of the curve!
Linda Troup, Escondido, CA
This is me one week post-op. Look at my range of motion!
One week post-op--I
Gallop to Freedom September 22, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Books, Horses: T.T.E.A.M., My Life, Travel.Tags: Cavalia, Elizabeth Kay McCall, Frederic Pignon, Gallop to Freedom, Guizo, Magali Delgado, mouth TTouch
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Coming Soon to Horse and Rider Books.com and a book store near you: Trafalgar Books’ Gallop to Freedom, by Frédéric Pignon and Magali Delgado, the founding stars of Cavalia.
Hollywood meets the publishing world in this video trailer for Gallop to Freedom. Pictured are Frédéric and Magali on the beach at Paradise Cove in Malibu, California, with Magali’s Lusitano stallion Dao; the couple’s wedding day in France on horseback (Magali’s dress was designed by Jiki, who also designed Princess Caroline of Monaco’s wedding dress); a shot taken by USDF gold medalist Linda Alexander Walton, who caught Magali aboard her stunning buckskin stallion Mandarin in a tiny patch of grass behind the Big Top, right before the equestrian spectacle Cavalia left for Europe.
Scheduled for release in mid-October, Gallop to Freedom presents a touching, mind-opening perspective on horses and life as Frédéric and Magali share the events, experiences, and the horses that shaped their training philosophy and the principles they embrace. Visually captured in 187 stunning photos gathered from names like Frédéric Chehu and Gabrielle Boiselle, Gallop to Freedom is a tribute to the power of writing from the heart while communicating the rare and remarkable relationship the couple has with horses (and one another).
Frédéric and Magali ‘retired’ from Cavalia last December after six years on tour and have since been busy training horses and working on the family’s Lusitano breeding farm in France. But you can “be there:”
Gallop to Freedom is like experiencing a visit with Frédéric and Magali–to their family’s breeding farm in the South of France, performing in North America and Europe, watching them train. It includes touching details never written before about Templado, the Lusitano stallion who was the catalyst to restructuring their lives with horses.
–Elizabeth Kay McCall, publicist
Frederic and I with Guizo
I am so grateful for the opportunities i’ve had to work with Frederic and Magali and share TTouch with them in Germany at Equitana, in Los Angeles and Dallas when they were on tour with Cavalia, and at their home in southern France. It’s always a treasure for me to spend time and work with Frederic and Magali because I believe they are able to connect with horses in a way that most people only dream about. I am convinced their horses enjoy this magical inter-species dance as much as we all enjoy participating as witnesses to this extraordinary heart connection.. I know that Gallop To Freedom will inspire so many horsemen and horsewomen to see their own horses, their families, friends and themselves with new eyes and new appreciation.
Guizo stepped in for Templado when he became ill
Pictured here is the stallion I worked with in Dallas. Guizo is the youngest stallion of the three who worked at liberty in the spectacular Cavalia show. He performed beautifully, but was concerned about the older stallions and had a tendency to bite at them. Frederic had been managing this by keeping Guizo slightly apart on the upper stage and asked me if I had any thoughts of how to give the stallion more confidence to stop this habit. I showed Frederic how Mouth TTouch can effect the emotional behavior of a horse by quietly working the outside of the mouth with the flat hand and then slipping the thumb into the mouth. At the same time it is important to hold the intention of the behavior you want – in this case to hold the vision of Guizo keeping his mouth quiet, breathing normally and relaxing around the other stallions. As you will know if you have read my Trafalgar book, The Ultimate Horse Training and Behavior Book for the 21st Century, working the lips and nostrils affects the limbic system – the part of the brain that controls emotions and as well as effect learning. It sounds so simplistic, but it worked! Frederic told me that the first evening he took maybe 30 seconds when Guizo entered the arena and spoke quietly to him, lowered his head a little, and slipped his thumb into the mouth. Guizo was able to work quietly together with the other stallions for the first time!
Check back for links to YouTube videos from my visit with Frederic and Magali later in this month.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROLAND–Dinner in Kaja & Grom Wonderland September 8, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Animal Ambassadors, My Life, Photos, Travel.Tags: Darja and Andrej Znidarsic, Dr. Crusic, Kaja & Grom Tanch, Maj, Roland Kleger, Roland's birthday, Slovenia
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To celebrate the Animal Ambassador and TTEAM/TTouch Center of Slovenia last September, Darja and Andrej Znidarsic organized the most memorable event I have ever witnessed for the opening of Ranch. One hundred guests were invited for an evening that began and ended with the music of the 50-piece Ljubljana Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Dvorsak at one end of the riding arena. Roland and I were honored by a lovely hula performed by a graduate of their Kaja & Grom program. One of their very talented students played a violin solo from horseback. Several students demonstrated their riding skills jumping bridleless. A local dog club showed off the skills of their dogs trained for animal assisted therapy. And Andrej ended the evening by bringing Simon’s Lippizaner stallion Maj front and center stage to demonstrate some new tricks he had taught him just for this performance. The evening was a resounding success.
After that introduction to Slovenian hospitality, I didn’t think we could every top that performance and I was quite surprised when Darja informed me that they had planned two special evenings in honor of Roland’s birthday this year. I had no idea what to expect but didn’t let out a peep to Roland. On the birthday evening at 7 pm Darja asked me to be sure Roland stayed in his room as friends began to gather. Twelve men from Andrej’s A Capella choir arranged themselves in two rows in a semi-circle along the side of the house under the second story window of our bedroom and began to sing traditional Slovenian songs. What a super surprise for Roland who has been involved for years with music and singing in Hawaii. Black Forest cake and champagne followed and it was a delightful evening.
The next day Darja kept saying, “Just wait until tonight for a big surprise.” She was very secretive and made me promise I would not go near the stable after 5:00 pm. I could not imagine what was going to happen with the horses and was told we would not know until 9:00 when Dr. Crusic would arrive with his wife. The evening was to be a celebration for Roland’s birthday as well as Dr. Crusic’s, which was 2 days ealier.
The moonlight music
The ¾ moon was not yet above the horizon when we headed for the stable area with only candles in paper bags to guide us from the house to the outdoor arena. In the middle of the pitch-black outdoor arena was a hand-made, natural wood table set for 6 people in a U-shape with settings for two couples on each side. Several of the pine trees in the woods surrounding the arena were lit up about to 20 meters skyward, and we had the impression the dwarfs and fairies from the forest might join our party. There was only the light of candles on the table and about 7 meters away was a small stage with a harp and violin stand lit by 4 candles in 2 tall, antique-looking candelabras. During dinner, Dr Crusic, his wife, Roland and I were serenaded with classical music from the opera “Thais” by Jules Massenet and “Fantaisie”, op 124 by Camille Saint Saens.
our fabulous candlelit table
Dinner was a 4 course gourmet meal prepared in the stable with different wines accompanying each course.
THE MENU:
Herb and flower salad with an emulsion of olive oil and toasted hazelnuts
Fresh tuna tartare with green apple and cucumber and lemon air
Organically farmed sea bass with slightly jellied clam soup and lentils
Slovenia Wonder Cake from a receipe from Uros’ grandmother
Plum pie and pralines
See how magical it all looks in the dark of the evening, with only candles for illumination?
How they managed to prepare this mouth-watering feast in the stable aisle I cannot imagine! I have not drunk wine for many months, but on this special occasion I partook, and I must say I don’t believe I have ever enjoyed wine more.
Dr. Crusic and Roland cut the fabulous Sovenian Wonder Cake
This entire evening was like a Hollywood production. We had no idea what to expect and I have to say, it was one among the most magical events of my life! The company, the candlelight, the night air, the absolute silence of the surrounding pine trees. sitting in the sand arena, the feeling of fairy folk in the forest surrounding us, the conversation of health, quantum physics, the music, the moonlit magic, the gourmet food and wine––priceless! The fact that it was a surprise was extraordinary.
Dr. Crusic brought some special homeopathic remedies as gifts--so appreciated!
Investigating TTouch As A Complementary Therapy for Hypertension in Laminitic Horses September 8, 2009
Posted by enlightenedhorsemanship in Case Study, Horses: T.T.E.A.M..Tags: ACP, blood pressure, founder, hypertension, Jo Pogson, laminitis, Sarah Fisher, TTEAM UK
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I’ve been following the investigations of Jo Pogson of the UK, a TTouch practitioner and colleague of Sarah Fisher, in her efforts to help her horse, who suffers from laminitis. It is interesting to think that TTouch could be used to reduce or eliminate the need for pharmaceutical drugs that treat the hypertension that often comes along with founder and laminitis.
Jo’s words touch me deeply. There are not adequate words to express the gratitude I feel each day for the quality of the people who are drawn intuitively to this work – and for the dedication of all who pass it on by teaching. To my sister Robyn and Sarah Fisher and all the brilliant instructors and practitioners who share this special connection to animals and their people around the world, I am deeply grateful. Thank you for taking the time to write and please pass along your knowledge and enthusiasm.
Heart hugs,
Linda
On Aug 24, 2009, at 9:30 PM, Jo Pogson wrote:
Hello Linda,
I am trying to find any and all research that has been (or is being) done to identify the effects of TTouch on lowering blood pressure.
In association with my farrier, I am intending to approach a large and prestigious veterinary practice locally, armed with this research and the request that they ‘test’ it for themselves. It is our hope that this will lead to them seriously considering TTouch as a workable alternative to their current practice of treating laminitic horses with ACP drugs.
I have a personal interest in this research: one of my horses, who had been out on loan, came back to me badly foundered with rotation of both pedal bones in her front feet. She is now making a steady recovery and, of course, I am using TTouch to help her cope the best she can.
I have now forwarded the research* you sent to my ‘foot man,’ Mark. He has already started talks with our veterinary practice around the use of ACP to lower blood pressure and voiced his concerns. He will be asking them to consider TTouch as an alternative. I’ll let you know how things progress.
I have been trying to gather the words to express to you the deep and lasting impact that TTouch has had on me, and failing miserably! When Sarah Fisher described her feeling of ‘coming home’ I really connected with it. That is exactly the feeling I had. Since my early childhood I have been searching for a way of working with horses that ‘felt’ right. So many of the teachings I have had in the past just simply felt wrong. I moved away from the traditional path many years ago and did my own thing and it was an amazing feeling through my very first TTEAM training to discover that many parts of the work were things I was already doing. To find a ‘family’ who were approaching and working with horses in this way was one of the deepest emotional experiences I have had. It seems so inadequate to say ‘Thank You’ to you for discovering this work and for trusting so much in your intuition to take the work forward. I know your work has transformed many lives; I wanted you to know that mine is one of them. Bless you and thank you for your personal involvement.
Very best wishes,
Jo
* Cecilia Wendler did her PhD study on the effects of TTouch on: An Investigation of Selected Outcomes of Tellington Touch in Healthy Soldiers. There were 168 in the study, which “demonstrated a highly significant difference in mean blood pressure and heart rate between two groups. with effect sizes ranging from .58-.95 for MBP changes and .62-.72 for HR changes.”
Another study done in Moscow by veterinarians at the Bitsa Olympic center helpful for the reduction of stress hormones in sport horses resulting from TTouch.
It would be wonderful to have a study specifically related to pain reduction. One of the Russian veterinarians did a paper on that subject in the case of a champion dressage stallion who foundered and was rehabilitated with TTouch.
From Slovenia With Love and A Special String of School Horses August 29, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Animal Ambassadors, Horses: T.T.E.A.M., My Life, Travel.Tags: Daniela Zurr, Darja and Andrej Znidarsic, Dirk Geise, Ingrid Wild, Kaja & Grom Rach, Kim Cox Carneal, Slovenia, Susanne Geise
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from Slovenia
Back on the road again and finally having time to write here in my blog. I get so focused and busy when I’m home that it just doesn’t seem to happen!
It’s 5:30 AM here in Slovenia at the Kaja & Grom Ranch and it just seems natural to pick up the pen and start sharing our road experiences. Oops, I mean turn on my trusty computer named Spirit and let my fingers fly.
It was hard saying goodbye to Rayne and heading out on a 3-month teaching tour. But I knew she was in good hands when our house sitter from Germany, Dirk Geise, greeted Rayne upon the day of his arrival with a kiss on the top of her snow-white, Westie head. She accepted him immediately as well as his soft-spoken, lovely girlfriend Julia. Dirk met Rayne 4 years ago on his trip to Hawaii with his Mom, Susanne Geise, who is a gynecologist and certified TTouch for You Practitioner. Interesting that Rayne accompanied Dirk and Julia enthusiastically on their early-morning walks on the golf course, something she is not always prone to do with new dog sitters. She can do a lot of sniffing and investigating to see who has passed before. Rayne came to us 11 years ago when she was already 5 months old and learned from the beginning that we would only be home with her 5 months a year. The rest of the time she has dog-loving people who come from Europe or mainland U.S. to spend the time in Hawaiian Paradise. She now thinks that anyone who comes to visit us may be her next sitters. We don’t always find dog/house sitters who can spend 2 or 3 months – the usual length of our teaching tours. This time, for instance, Dirk and Julia will be there for 2 weeks. Then Kim, my assistant who lives in my condo just up the street, will take over for a week and introduce Ingrid Wild and her family to Rayne. Ingrid is a TTEAM/TTouch Practitioner 2 from Germany and this will be her first trip to Hawaii. Ingrid took some of the photos for my book, The Ultimate Horse Behavior and Training Book. Ingrid will be with Rayne for 3 weeks and then hand the gauntlet off to Daniela Zurr and her partner who will stay until Roland returns and then she will be coming to Santa Fe to present at the TTouch CELLebration!
Daniela is a Level III TTouch practitioner for Companion Animals and a TTouch-for-you-Practitioner. She is also a veterinarian working in a holistic veterinary practice and has a degree in behavior medicine with a special interest in the brain, cell communication and the interactions between diseases and behavior problems. Mostly working with dogs and cats, she also practices reptile medicine and uses TTouch on many different species. In addition to animals, Daniela is certified as a TTouch for You Practitioner for humans. Her presentations on cell communication and the interactions between diseases and behavior problems are fascinating, clear and applicable for every dog owner.
Kim Cox Carneal, who has picked up the mantle as my right-hand support for social networking – she advises and inspires me to twitter and keep up my Facebook and manages my blog – drove us to the airport. It is almost 2500 miles just to get to the California coast, so we paused in San Francisco and stayed overnight. We have been working such long hours on the CELLebration that once we hit the hotel room we decided to take some time off and watch a movie until 1:30 AM. It was inspiring and fun and I wish I could remember the name to recommend it but its gone!!
I slept in until 9 a.m. and then headed out of the hotel with my trusty Alpine sticks to walk along the jogging trail that borders the water north of the San Francisco airport. I have been walking with Alpine walking sticks since June and now find walking a totally different experience. I have them instead of normal Nordic walking sticks because that was all that was available at our sports outlet on the island. I don’t know what the difference is because I’ve never had a close look at a Nordic stick but maybe they don’t collapse and fit into a suitcase like mine do. Anyway, it’s amazingly invigorating having that clicking rhythm and movement of my arms. I’ve been doing what I call “dolphin breathing” for many years to oxygenate my body – to activate those little lung balloons called alveoli – and I had a refreshing walk. I’ve lost 16 pounds between June 9 and today and am thrilled beyond words.
I’ve been on one diet or another since I was 12 years old and this was the easiest and the most necessary since I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic after my annual medical checkup. I’m going to write about how I did it another time since I’ve been on many diets nothing has been as easy or felt any better than this way of eating. Perhaps its because of the dire necessity. I am determined to get my body under control and not fall into type II diabetes like a friend of mine did after ignoring the seriousness of the pre-diabetic warning.
We boarded the United Airlines 747 at 2:00 pm and no words can express my gratitude for the upgrades to business class. The new intercontinental airplanes have amazing seats that flatten completely so if you are inclined to sleep, it’s possible. However, they also have standard plugs for computers so I spent most of the 9 hour flight on my computer, with time out when I began to flag, to fit in 2 movies – “The Proposal” with Sandra Bullock (one of my all-time favorite actresses) and a movie called something like “the Ghosts of My Girlfriends” – actually enjoyable.
Slovenia 2009 marks my 4th year with Darja and Andrej Znidarsic at Ranch Kaja & Grom!
We landed in Ljubljana, the capitol of Slovenia, at 1:00 pm after a 3-hour layover in Frankfurt. I wish I could find adequate words to describe the beauty of this country. Towering mountains and green forests and fields surround the tiny airport. We drove through many long tunnels through the mountains and passed small herds of sheep and cattle grazing on the slopes above picturesque houses, all with large vegetable and flower gardens, reminiscent of my childhood memories of the garden of my grandmother. Maybe that’s why I love this country so much. It just seems like we drop out of the sky into another era, not so rushed, somehow more organic and heartfelt.
Speaking of heartfelt, that is the feeling I have as I sit in the quiet of the morning when only the roosters are crowing and no one else has stirred. This house is completely made of wood, something we rarely experience and it gives a very different feeling. Pinewood floors, walls and ceilings, much of it lovingly built by Darja and Andrej Znidarsic.
When we drove in there was a large group of children and parents ready for Andrej to give a final riding lesson to show the parents what the kids had learned during the week.
We all headed down to the riding arena, took our places in the grandstand along the side of the arena, and were treated to one of the most inspiring human/animal connections I could imagine. What was so unusual, you must be thinking. The attitude of the horses! Here were 4 school horses who have been working all summer, with a different group of children each week, and yet they looked interested and happy. I don’t ever remember seeing a group of school horses looking happy. It made my heart sing because the horses gave me the impression that they knew they were participating in giving these city kids special gifts that they would remember for countless years to come.
And these horses are no spring chickens. “Enter,” the 18-year-old, 17-hand bay Warmblood gelding is the designated leader of the column. His ears were always up in spite of the fact that he is a little stiff, yet gave me the impression of being pleased to work. The second in line, 25-year-old Lipizzaner Jaddan, trooped along as though his whole aim in life was to give his inexperienced riders confidence. That was the way he looked through three groups of children, each group riding for about 20 minutes. The 15-year-old, shiny black half-Arabian mare, Gaia, was aiming an occasional, half-hearted bite at the rump of Jaddan, while 17-year-old Arabian gelding Pegasus brought up the rear without having to be pushed or held back.
I compare this to the times I’ve watched a column of school horses, in several countries, creating real havoc for inexperienced riders, either hanging back so the rider was desperately banging on the horses ribs with her heels, feeling desperately inadequate, or the opposite, where the horse is too fast and the rider is hanging on the mouth in an attempt not to override the horse ahead. None of this happened here, in spite of the fact that some of the children had only ridden 4 times in their entire lives. How did Andrej manage this? By controlling the horses from the ground with a lounge whip which he used gently only a couple of times to ask Enter to move on a little. I say gently, because his voice is always soothing and encouraging – never demanding – for both horses and riders.
These kids, the majority of them very inexperienced, proudly demonstrated to their parents some of the riding exercises they had learned. With the reins dropped on the horses’ necks, they rode at the posting trot with their arms out to the sides, with arms above their heads, behind their backs, and did the sitting trot – sensibly holding onto the saddle pommel to make this difficult exercise more comfortable for themselves and their horses. When they finished and lined up in the center of the ring each rider first bent forward and hugged their horses around the necks and every one of them was able to demonstrate trust of their horses by standing straight up in the saddle and bowing to the spectators-–a remarkable feat considering so little riding experience. The horses stood stock still for this and then each one good-naturedly accepted a smooch on the neck as their riders said goodby for the last time, before the next group came in to mount.
If you’ve never observed the average school string you cannot imagine how unusual the attitude of the horses was.
More About Ranc Kaya & Grom and the School
Darja and Andrej, sometimes with the support of their children, 20-year-old Manca and 17-year-old Alijaz run the programs. This was the end of nine weeks of summer camp. Each week 15 children between the ages 7 and 18 come to spend 5 nights. Over the past 20 years there have been kids from Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Croatia, some years from France, Germany, Russia and China. Two weeks are reserved especially for older kids, one week for children 7 to 12 years old, and the rest of the weeks are made up of kids of mixed ages. Each year they take a special group of 5 to 7 boys, ages 13 to 18 who come from France with 5 teachers. These are teenagers who are living in a home that is part of a national French organization for youth who have been confined due to criminal activity and one more incident will land them in juvenile jail. The success of the program is due to the fact that if one boy errs his entire group will be incarcerated. Darja and Andre have been working with this French organization annually for the last three years and Darja feels their success is due to the horses and the fact that, instead of seeing the boys as bad, she holds the highest potential for each child.
Besides the summer camp, beginning each year in April children come from the school districts all over Slovenia for half-day, one day and three-day ranch experiences that includes TTouch and TTEAM with the horses, forest skills, interactive games and spending time with the horses, dogs, sheep, chickens, goats and a potbellied pig. They learn to TTouch and communicate with the animals, ride, and connect with the Spirits of the forest, draw, cook, and camp out in the woods that surround the ranch.
I first met Darja at Equitana in Germany 14 years ago and she was completely taken with TTouch and the whole TTEAM method. She has since become a Practitioner 1 for Horses and is working on her companion animal certification. 2000 children a year have been learning TTouch at Ranc Kaja & Grom and last year their ranch was made an official Animal Ambassador and TTEAM and TTouch Center. If anyone wants to work with children I highly recommend spending some weeks interning with Darja who is one of the most innately brilliant teachers I have had the privilege of knowing. To see a collection of photos from the summer go to http//picasaweb.google.si/aljozazo/7net16821809TTEAM1#.
Awareness to Bliss August 28, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in TTouch for You.Tags: Laura D'Ambrosio, TTouch for You
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I received a link to this wonderful story from Laura D’Ambrosio, who attended a TTouch for Humans training in St. Paul last spring. I want to share this story with you.
This past spring, I attended a TTouch for Humans workshop in St. Paul conducted by the founder of TTouch, Linda Tellington-Jones. I’ve been interested in TTouch since the early 90’s and am now more than halfway though the certification program for companion animals. So when I found out that Linda was teaching a workshop near my home, I jumped at the opportunity.
A little background for those unfamiliar with TTouch. TTouch is a system of gentle circular touches, lifts and slides that works at the cellular level to activate the body’s potential. The intent of the TTouch is to activate the function of the cells and awaken cellular intelligence. Linda describes it as lighting up the cells and reminding the body of its perfection. Scientific studies show a significant shift in brainwave patterns to an “awakened mind state” when a person or animal gives or receives TTouch. This mental state is one that enhances intuition, creativity and insight and can only happen when the body is fully relaxed.
Back to the story. On the second day of the workshop, Linda had the group stand, shut our eyes and shift our weight. She wanted us to be more aware of our bodies’ inner structure. “Feel your skeleton,” she encouraged. I shut my eyes, swayed a bit, and visualized my bones – I pictured the huge femur connecting my hips and knees, my ribs moving slightly with each breath, my skull and jaw. I’m often aware of my muscles and ligaments, especially when I need to release the tension I hold in them but I’d not contemplated my bones like this before.
I sat back on my chair and remained acutely aware of being a skeleton supported by muscles and covered by skin. “Amazing,” I thought to myself. Linda was talking about a new topic but my focus stayed inward. As I basked in my skeletal awareness, I thought more about each bone being a community of cells. How magnificent! But if each bone is a collection of cells, then so is every muscle holding onto a bone. So too my liver, my skin and my stomach – each one a community of cells.
As my awareness shifted to the cellular level of my body, I felt awe at the miracle that is my body. I clenched and extended my fingers, I swallowed, I took a deep breath, I shifted in my seat with acute consciousness of the brains’ signals, the nerves firing and the movement happening. Gratitude flowed through me and I sent silent thanks to these communities. I sent a special thanks to my liver for clearing all the toxins I consumed for so many years without appreciation for its thankless cleansing. I could feel a warm response rise from within. Odd but gratifying.
Then I remembered Linda talking about how cells communicate using light and I saw, or rather felt, it’s hard to describe, the light glowing in the gaps, permeating my body and expanding beyond my physical body. Light streamed in from above into my head and from below into my feet. Bliss crept in to join gratitude and I didn’t move, didn’t think, not wanting this feeling to stop.
As if that wasn’t enough, as I gazed at the circle of people, I saw each person glowing, with light flowing from above and below. And I saw that we are not self-contained individual units. Our lights blend with one another and more gloriously with the room itself, the earth and beyond. For a timeless moment, I felt oneness and the pure joy and love that is the essence of the oneness.
Linda was talking about a new TTouch as I reentered the workshop. I had no idea how long that experience lasted. The blissful feeling of oneness dialed down to happiness, the acute awareness of the cellular communities faded but I remained alert to my bones for the rest of the day.
As I write this a few months later, I find I can easily snap into awareness of my bones and organs. And with a little effort, I can sense the communities of cells and the cellular communication. I would like to constantly tap into in that blissful oneness but while I can visualize the picture, the feeling remains elusive. Isn’t that the goal of enlightenment though? If I get there, I’ll let you know. I’m just grateful for the moment I had and to Linda for creating the possibility.
Isn’t that fabulous? Thanks, Laura!
Paying Careful Attention to Our Health: Supplementation May Help! August 27, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in My Life.Tags: blue green algae, dietary supplements, E3Live, vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency
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I was inspired to write this on the plane over the big pond at 33,000 feet. I’m traveling to Europe on one leg of my annual trip to spread the word about TTouch!
Many people have commented over the years on my level of energy, and how it does not seem to diminish in spite of my 72 years. Our family has always attributed it to our good genes. But recently my sis, Robyn Hood, made the comment that it probably has to do more with the fact that my Dad had us from a very young age on supplements. I remember when I was 14 years old being sure to take my alfalfa pills with me when I spent a week on a horse ranch near Calgary, Alberta, riding some of the young horses I was asked to ride in the 9 day Calgary Spring Horse Show. I was sure happy to have those alfalfa pills to sustain me, because the food I was fed was not the diet our Mom had us on and the alfalfa pills sustained me through the experience. No wonder I think like a horse!
In August we had a family reunion with my sisters Robyn and Susan and brothers Gerry, John and Randy. When we were discussing this subject of genes or diet, Randy remembered that we were all taking Abundavita, one of the very first multi-marketing products! Any of you who know our family know that Robyn and Randy and I have been in multi-level marketing of Super Blue Green Algae since its beginning. I am convinced that the algae is one of the contributing factors in my health. I might add that since Blue Green has changed hands, I have switched to what I consider a phenomenal product, E3Live, that I have in liquid form when I’m at home in Hawaii. Otherwise I travel with capsules. I think I must have been a dinasaur in a previous life because when I down my 2 tablespoons of liquid green algae each morning I love to imagine I am a long necked dinasaur standing knee-deep in a swamp sticking my head under the water to get a giant mouthful of algae. I love the image of it dripping and hanging out of my big mouth as I savor the sound of my jaws crunching! Bet you cant imagine that! By the way, if you’re interested to read about E3Live go to our website. We have it for horses and humans. However, its not a multi-marketing product, and if you want it in the liquid form it can be shipped from the company or directly from our website on dry ice like I get it in Hawaii.
I was inspired to write this blog to pass on some very important information from Norma Tango (ntarango@earthlink.net), a really good friend of mine, who is the queen of networking and publishes an weekly email on goings-on around Santa Fe.
During my annual check up this year I discovered that I have a serious depletion of vitamin D and my nurse practitioner, Annie Rafter started me on liquid drops of D-Forte. Hard to imagine me being depleted when you consider my daily walks and teaching outside but apparently it’s common. So please check out your vitamin D levels, and make sure you get enough of that liquid sunshine one way or another.
Aloha, Linda
Take good care of your cells--keep the lights turned on!
In primates, the action of ‘turning on’ an optimal response to microbial attack only works properly in the presence of adequate vitamin D, which is actually a type of hormone that circulates in the blood and signals to cells through a receptor.” A new study has concluded that one key part of the immune system, the ability of vitamin D to regulate anti-bactericidal proteins, is so important that it has been conserved through almost 60 million years of evolution and is shared only by primates, including humans – but no other known animal species. Even though the “cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide” has several different biological activities in addition to killing pathogens, it’s not clear which one, or combination of them, makes vitamin D so essential to its regulation. The research also provides further evidence of the biological importance of adequate levels of vitamin D in humans and other primates, even as some studies and experts suggest that more than 50 percent of the children and adults in the U.S. are deficient in “the sunshine vitamin.”
Reprinted from a free-access article: “Exaptation of an ancient Alu short interspersed element provides a highly conserved vitamin D-mediated innate immune response in humans and primates,” Gombart AF, et al. BMC Genomics Jul 16, 2009.
Source: Oregon State University, Corvallis, news release, Aug 18, 2009
September 7 SPOGA 2009 Cologne Germany: Be There! August 26, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Books, Horses: T.T.E.A.M..Tags: Klaus Balkenhol, Klaus Balkenhol: Success With Sympathetic Hands, Roland Blum
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I would like to invite you on September 7th at 1:30 p.m to visit the Dobert booth, representing Albion Saddlemakers, at SPOGA 2009 Cologne. Together with Klaus Balkenhol, filmmaker Roland Blum will present his new book, Klaus Balkenhol: Success With Sympathetic Hands.
Beginning in 2005, Roland Blum made dozens of trips over hundreds of hours to observe and film Klaus Balkenhol in the saddle and on the ground with a variety of different riders and horses. Nothing was ever set up for the camera. These observations gave birth to five films with seven hours of footage. In the book, the reader builds his or her own inner film aided by photographer Jacques Toffi’s fabulous pictures. Klaus Balkenhol says in this book how much the Tellington TTouch Method has helped his horses! If you’re in Cologne, drop by and visit with Roland Blum, and pick up a copy of this book.
What We Can Learn About Phantom TTouches from A Rescued Dog: Holding the Intention of Healing and Perfection August 23, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Companion Animals, Dogs, Rescue Amimals.Tags: distance healing, gratitude and joy, Gregg Braden, intention, Phantom TTouch, Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer, The Intention Experiment by Lynn McTaggart, The Spontaneous Healing of Belief
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I received a very interesting though sad and sometimes horrifying email through our TTouch® Yahoo Group from a very dedicated TTouch Practitioner trainee who works with rescue animals in Escondido California. The dog Linda Troup describes has suffered immensely. But it is my hope that this suffering will be lessened with the work that Linda is doing. Through the work of Phantom TTouch (and for those who are inexperienced in this area there is useful evidence of the effectiveness of remote healing, and as my grandfather used to say about body work for horses, “it can’t hurt”. In this way anyone interested can work to lessen the pain of all beings and improve the quality of their lives.
I need help with Phantom TTouches and TTouch from a distance so I can work with a severely injured dog named Sam. I don’t think he will accept touch right away, and I doubt there will be many places on his body I will be able to touch safely.
To be honest this very linear-thinking girl is having trouble grasping the concept that doing touches in the air will do anything for the animal. Can some of you that have had results doing this share some stories with me that may help? Here’s the story:
I was contacted by the shelter where I volunteer about a dog that came in yesterday. He was called in from the Indian reservation when he wandered into a pow-wow. If he lives, and they are really trying their best, he will go into foster care to heal his wounds, both physical and emotional. The potential foster mom and I discussed my doing TTouch on him when he gets to her. He will be at the shelter a minimum of 5 days by law but in all honesty he will need that 5 days in medical care just to stabilize. He was found with parts of his flesh hanging off the bone. At first they thought he had been tortured. Now they think he was mauled by hungry dogs on the reservation. His wounds were so severe and badly infected that he had a maggot infestation. He is still being treated for residual maggots today. His throat is a mass of wounds, his back is starting to scab over but there remains a very deep crater. The inside of his back right leg is laid open to the bone.
The shelter has him on huge doses of antibiotics because the infection was so deep. He already looks so much better after just one week. His spirits are up and he is just the sweetest being ever. He is a shepherd mix about 9-10 years old. I will visit him as long as he is at the shelter and I’ve already made arrangements with his foster mom to help her when he goes to her house This is where I hope Phantom touches will get us started.
My question is do I have to really understand Phantom TTouches and truly believe they will work for them to do so? Or can I just do what is described to me and it will work on its own, therefore helping me understand and believe? I’ve heard they are valuable but I just don’t know how to move from questioning and wondering to performing and believing.
I really think they are what will open the door for this poor boy.
–Linda Troup, Escondido CA
http://touchnpaws.blogspot.com
Do not worry about the graphic nature of your descriptions. The more others know of the location and extent of his injuries, the better they can help him from a distance. It appears from extensive studies of distance healing that the more specific the information, the more effective the remote healing. I think the more we study and learn about this, the more effective we can be. In The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart, in part 11, chapter 5, there is much information on various modalities of healing and the role of intention. In chapter 6 you will find details on the modalities and effectiveness of prayer.
Also in Gregg Braden’s books, The Spontaneous Healing of Belief and Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer, there is invaluable information on healing. In the Spontaneous Healing of Belief and Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer, it is taught that to aid successfully in healing you must feel gratitude for the fact that healing has already happened. Visualize the healing as complete and feel the joy that you will feel when Sam is healed.
These teachings support our basic TTouch message to the body, “Remember your perfection.” I visualize the cells communicating ideally and send them support for re-membering (weaving back together) wherever the damage has occurred. I often imagine going into the body with permission and holding appreciation for the brilliance of the way our cells function. It reminds me of the movie “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” when they go on a journey into the body. Maybe my memory is incorrect but I’ve held the vision for more than 50 years!!
Rather than seeing the damage to Sam, hold the vision of the repaired area and practice feeling the gratitude and joy you will feel when the healing is complete. According to Gregg Braden, that “feeling of gratitude and joy” is an important part of the the success of prayer. And whenever I work with a being, human or other animal, I hold a prayer that supports their highest good.
That our bodies function as they do is a miracle when you stop to think about it. We have (according to various books) between 50 and 100 trillion cells in our bodies and they all function without our conscious thought. It’s impossible to imagine. I love the description of Peter Fraser and Harry Massey in their book, Decoding the Human Body-Field, that 1270 cells would fit in one inch, and if you imagine an atom the size of a pea, an average size cell would cover a half mile in comparison! All these trillions of cells work in unison.
I just love sending my body appreciation for this miracle that functions in the universe that is see as my body. I think it’s valuable to become acquainted with this miracle of the cells and learn as much as we are drawn to. It also takes practice to learn to trust and to put aside doubt in the amazing healing potential we all have – healing ourselves and supporting the healing potential of those – like Sam – who have somehow made their way to us for help.
Thank you for all you are doing. Heart hugs to you and Sam and all the others whose lives you TTouch.
A Birthday Message and Heart Hug June 30, 2009
Posted by enlightenedhorsemanship in Heart Hug, My Life, TTouch for You.Tags: 72nd birthday greeting, heart hugs, Power Animals from Mollie R. Kent
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Dear TTouch Family, 
It’s a lovely German custom that on one’s birthday, the birthday girl gives gifts to all her friends. So I have been musing all day over what I could send to all of you who belong to this world wide TTouch Family who are passionate about animals, and dedicated to making a difference on the planet.
First of all, I send my love, and my deepest appreciation for each of you around the globe who recognize the gifts our animals bring to our lives. It is such a blessing for me, and such an honor to know you, and to share this passion.
Roland and me on June 30, 2009
This morning I took time to enter the world of the brilliantly colored fish who make their home in the waters off Hawaii. Roland and Sandy Rakowitz and I snorkeled at The Place of Refuge, and I counted 31 varieties of fish. At the edge of the lava, where we slipped into the water, was a sign asking swimmers to respect the dolphins and give them space while they circle in the bay as they sleep. Amazing to think they can swim and sleep!!
I love swimming with the dolphins off the boat as we do each February with our TTouch groups, and we went out with Captain China on the Sunlight On Water boat last week to give Sandy the amazing experience of spending time with dolphins in the wild. But I must say, as thrilling as that is, I get the same joy from snorkeling with the pairs and small schools of fish while they make their way thru their coral homes.
As I was swimming this morning I was sending Heart Hugs to all of you and thinking of each part of the world where I have had the joy of interacting with you. Way down south in South Africa, and Botswana, and Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, (I name them separately because I am thinking of you in these spots on the earth) and all over Canada, and every state where we have trainings in the U.S. (I won’t name them but I am moving around the map in my mind as I write this and thinking of all of you in each of these states), and Mexico, and Russia and Japan and Israel, and Ivo in Venezuela, and Italy and France and Australia. And I send love to all the dogs and kitties and horses I’ve had the privilege of connecting with in my travels. Just thinking of you all makes me giggle with joy!!
I wanted to choose a card for you all from my deck of animal cards from South Africa, but I can’t find them, and so, for the first time, I am using a small deck of Power Animals from Mollie R. Kent. They were a gift last year.
I chose ELEPHANT: Ancient Power, Strength, Royalty, Smell, Social
Elephant is feminine energy with a society similar to ours. Loyalty to family members, ability to help elderly, sick and offspring. They teach us to develop a community. Look at your family issues. Is nurturing needed? Do you need to examine your family values?
Affirmation: I will examine my family position; have the strength to make necessary changes and guidance to create a beneficial environment for all those I love.
When I read this card I realized it could refer to our individual families or our greater TTouch family. And what I have been missing is a way to communicate with you all – around the world – not just by sending Heart Hugs – but connecting through the internet. I am in the process of working on a series of teleconferences with Sandy Rakowitz (who did the first one last month) so that we can all stay closer in touch, share the wealth of TTouch knowledge for working with our companion animals, horses and humans, and be inspired by the wonderful stories that flow from all corners of the world. We all need that inspiration in order to keep our enthusiasm. I love the definition of enthusiasm as “the breath of God”.
For me enthusiasm is the key to happiness — along with gratitude — and remembering to count my blessings each and every day. It only takes a few minutes and has been shown to make a huge difference in our mental, physical and emotional health.
My inspirational faeries and orchids
One of my favorite inspirational decks is called the Inner Child Cards: A journey into fairy tales, myth, and nature. So I decided to pick a card for us all from this deck. What “stuck to my fingers” was Jack and the Beanstalk Number X11:
“When this card appears in your reading, see your life and primary relationships from a fresh perspective. Meditate for clarity. Improve your posture and realize that your spine is like a spiritual beanstalk that carries divine impulses up and down your body. Realize that you can conquer giant problems with just a little bit of enlightenment. You can change your world through the power of positive thinking and the ability to visualize yourself steeped in abundance. Turn over a new leaf. Go with the flow. Surrender to your spiritual destiny.”
I am so enjoying this time feeling as though I am talking directly with each one of you who read this message. May this year bring you health and abundance, courage and strength, joy and re-membering the special gifts you bring to the world. Remember that all of us working together can make a difference as we practice understanding, tolerance, forgiveness and love – for ourselves, our animals and our fellow beings who walk this precious planet.
Heart Hugs and Blessings, Elelelinda
PS I started a blog last year, which I have had fun writing, but while I was on the big tour to Equitana, south Africa, Germany and all over the U.S. from March 11 to June 9th I was unable to keep it up. I’ll be back on this summer sharing some of my experiences on my blog, Changing The World One TTouch At A Time.
I so enjoy the yahoo groups we have around the world and try to pop in from time to time but my schedule has been a little overwhelming. For all of you in the companion animal Practitioner Training, I have recently been enjoying the blogs of several of our Companion Animal Practitioners-in-training, and the peppy equine blog of Kim Cox Carneal called Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch. I know there are many blogs out there and I would love to hear from all of you who have blogs so we can list them on our website. I’m home for the summer so I have some time now to check in.
And if you are on facebook or twitter I am beginning to connect. My twitter name is tellingtonjones but friends are having difficulties finding me. It’s just new so it may take some smoothing out. I just found my facebook password after months of trying to reconnect and had a blast today finally confirming dozens of you who had asked me to be your friend. I’m finally connected! Meet you on facebook? Xoxoxoxox
The TTouch Heart Hug Step-by-Step: 
• Place one hand on top of the other with palms at the center of your chest over your heart chakra. Visualize the face of a clock on your chest, under your hands, with six o-clock at the bottom of the circle closest to the ground.
• Beginning at six o-clock, inhale and exhale while slowly and gently pushing the skin in a circle and a quarter, (in which ever direction feels best to you) with a consistent rhythm, stopping at 9 o’clock.
•Take another deep breath in and out with your hands remaining quietly at the 9 o-clock position.
• Take a few normal breaths and focus on the air going in and out of your lungs.
• Repeat the Heart Hug several times followed by quiet focus on your breathing.
When you feel at peace, send a prayer of Thanksgiving for all the beings on the planet, with the message “Remember Your Perfection” from that quiet place after each Heart Hug.
Love and blessings,
elelelinda
Linda’s Tick Tip May 31, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Uncategorized.Tags: Lyme Disease
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I just finished a delightful week-long Companion Animal training in New Jersey with 22 enthusiastic participants from 11 states. We had lots of fascinating dogs and 2 kitties visiting us during the week. We spent some many delightful hours in the May sunshine on the grass and under the shade trees on the back lawn of the Grange working the dogs through the Playground for Higher Learning exercises – in the Labyrinth, over the balance beam and the star obstacle, over unusual footing, through cones and over ladders. It was very rich in learning experiences.
We had one little challenge, and I do mean little. The tiny deer ticks are out in full force this year in New Jersey – as well as Virginia where I had just been teaching.
We made an announcement to watch for ticks for the enlightenment of participants who flew in from areas where ticks are not so prevalent.
I have a tip to share about ticks and its not about TTouching them. It’s about a new treatment when Lyme’s is suspected but the tick cannot be sent for identification. In the past it was common to take a prolonged dose of antibiotics just to be sure not to get Lyme disease.
The day after our New Jersey training ended I was in Minneapolis teaching a TTouch for You training. As I was washing my hands I noticed on the underside of my wrist a tiny black dot with a red circle around it; Classic deer tick sign that is said to carry Lyme disease. The tiny intruder was fully embedded so I did not see a possibility to get it out alive.
At the lunch break on Saturday I went to an emergency care center and a very nice doctor dug out the tick. I was pretty concerned. The doctor said the tick could have traveled with me from New Jersey or it could have been a Minnesota tick. Just an hour before I discovered the ring and the tick I was eating a late night snack with a friend, Harriet Crosby, while she casually pulled 5 big ticks off her arms! She had been lying in the grass watching beavers in a pond earlier in the day and was totally unconcerned about the ticks. She has been treated previously for Lyme and was told by her doctor that she is immune, although I have been told that is not possible.
A tick bite is potentially very dangerous. My sister, Robyn, had Lyme disease and although she was immediately treated with antibiotics she had a bad reaction. And I have a friend who many years ago was bitten but misdiagnosed and had to close down his veterinary practice and do years of alternative treatments. He has never recovered and still has related joint and heart issues.
You can well imagine I was very relieved to discover there is a new treatment when Lyme is suspected but the tick cannot be sent for identification.
It’s a one-time prophylactic dose of 200 ml of Doxycylcine that should be taken within 72 hours of being bitten. The doctor said it’s a brand new treatment and many might not know about it. I sure hope it did the trick but I feel fine and am still enjoying the many experiences we had during our week together.
If you are walking in the woods and one of the big fat ticks latches on to you or your dog or horse, I have had success removing hundreds of those big ones by carefully turning them counter-clockwise and backing them out without leaving the head in.
Have a great day and remember to do some Heart Hugs and send appreciation for the animals, friends and family through the divine matrix and around the world.
Blessings,
elelelinda
© 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
Tellington TTouch Goes High Tech May 31, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Horses: T.T.E.A.M., TTouch for You.Tags: EmWave, EquiTempo, Freeze Framer, HeartMath, high tech, Jim Garrison, Pam Wooley, WiiFit
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“In this age of high tech, we need high TTouch.” Those prophetic words were uttered by Jim Garrision during a trip to Russia when he was the Director of the Esalen Soviet/American Exchange Program many years ago. At the time I was a citizen diplomat opening doors behind the iron curtain working with the Russian equestrian team.
I was reminded of this concept this past week during the 5th annual Virginia Tellington TTouch Training for Horses, organized by Pam Woolley. Pam is a Tellington Practitioner 2 who has frequently escaped the Virginia winters to co-teach with me in Hawaii in the TTouch for You and Your Horse trainings. Pam also collaborates and studies with Wendy Murdock, a brilliant, cutting-edge riding instructor and author whose background includes Tellington TTouch, Feldenkrais and Centered Riding. Wendy specializes in the bio-mechanical interaction of horse and rider.
Pam is combining Tellington TTouch Training with some of Wendy’s High Tech ideas for her riding students, using the EmWave from the Institute of Heart Math, the WiiFit Video Game and an iPhone application called EquiTempo.
Sunny the Appaloosa gets accustomed to the EquiTempo
The TTouch/high tech combo has priceless benefits for developing trust between horse and rider and reducing stress in the rider. We have been incorporating the FreezeFramer, a form of the EmWave in our TTouch for You Trainings in Germany for several years. The EmWave is a small pocket-size device that is simple and effective and helps the rider to focus, slow down, breath calmly and transition from the daily rat race or a high profile job. It attaches to your ear and emits a clearly audible tone indicating when you’re in heart coherence. It’s silent when the rider is in a state of stress or anxiety.
I suggest you visit the ITunes store online and order the EquiTempo for only $1.99. It’s brilliant! You can set it for any tempo at the walk, trot and canter to accommodate a slow or speedy horse. Both horse and rider respond to the rhythmic beat and horses appear to enjoy the tempo and adjust their stride to the steady tick, tick, tick.
Gin rides using the EmWave
I asked Pam if I could watch her give a lesson using the combination of the EmWave and EquiTempo. It was fascinating to observe the attractive Appaloosa gelding of Kim Ginn adjust his stride to the tick, tock of the EquiTempo on her Iphone. I asked Kim to write me an email about her experience with these high tech aids.
Kim’s email:
Being in professional services, I am very busy person who is often pulled in many different directions at work depending on the needs of my clients. I love this aspect of my job, however, it brings along stress and distraction which does not carry over well into my equine world.
One of the most amazing talents of a riding instructor is to recognize when his/her students are not breathing….it is so funny to me that so many riders need a reminder from their instructors to breathe…. breathing is such a natural thing for most of us! It is more amazing me to how much this affects the horses….who is to blame them? When riders don’t breathe their bodies get clenched and what horse wants a super clenched human pinching their backs at a trot? I, for one, was not doing a good job of leaving work at work and carry a lot of stress into my riding….and for some reason I could not ask for a trot and breathe all at the same time! Pam has been working with me on breathing and heart coherence (doing heart hugs which I really enjoy) and recently started using the EmWave in our lessons. The EmWave allows me to work on my breathing and get into heart coherence before I ride and monitor my coherence during lessons. My horse, Sunny, really appreciates it too — It is so amazing that once I breathe and my body relaxes that Sunny does as well. How about that? We have been especially successful in using the ear piece and riding with the EmWave in my pocket. I can hear the dings and dongs and know that I am breathing well…..if I don’t hear them then it is a reminder to work on my breathing. Also, this allows me to see how Sunny reacts when we are in and out of coherence. This is a great lesson for all riders to experience.
Pam Wooley playing the WiiFit for Equestrians
Visit Pam’s website at FlyAway Stables at Brookhill Farm, a Tellington TTouch Training Certified Equine Center Virginia, to see the exceptionally beautiful, peaceful, historic, Middleburg, Virginia. This is truly horse heaven with many acres of rolling green pastures, one of the prettiest, most elegant, horse-friendly courtyards I have seen anywhere in the world. The lovely wood-lined stalls are 16 by 10 feet, a comfortable size unheard of in this day and age, and, weather permitting, the horses are turned out all day into 5 acre gently rolling grass pastures.
If you happen to live near Middleburg, Virginia check out the facilities for lessons or boarding. Pam has two stalls open for new boarders at this time. And mark your calendar for the 6th annual five-day Virginia Tellington TTouch Training for horses, June 9 to 13, 2010. We are planning a special pre-workshop day June 8th for for a small group of people who have attended three or more week-long trainings. Sign up early at TTouch.com to be sure to reserve a space since the training was full this year.
© 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
Animal Emotion: It’s for the Birds! May 26, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in animal emotion.Tags: animal emotion, interpecies connections
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At a recent weeklong TTouch for Horses training, I made the observation that one of the horses there seemed very grateful to be with his person but felt “he was only a horse,” so could not feel such emotions. Fortunately, there are many people who are awakening to the realization that horses (and all animals) do feel emotions and, thanks to the internet, we are seeing truly remarkable examples of animal emotions and interspecies connections.
Kathy Wells, who graduated from the 3-year TTouch Companion Animal Certification Training in New Jersey on May 21st, sent the following stories of 2 birds – a Goldfinch and a Swallow – who lost their mates. The stories were emailed to her from her friend Nancy and its my pleasure to pass them along to you.
An incredible thing happened to me the other day, compounded by another incredible thing! As I was driving down the road, I witnessed the most incredible thing I had ever seen in nature: minutes before I reached it, a female Goldfinch had just gotten hit by a car. Right before my very eyes I witnessed a male Goldfinch going back to her, apparently trying to help her get up. I drove around them carefully and then turned my car around and headed back to see if I could help them, but by the time I got back and parked my car it was too late … she had died, and the oncoming traffic had scared off the male bird. What a sad, yet incredible event to witness. I felt truly blessed to have seen such a thing take place. Then later that day, when I checked my email … I received the following email with another incredible tale, very strange indeed … I just felt compelled to share this story with all of you.
There is more love among animals than the average person who has no pets can even imagine.
She had been hit by a car as she swooped low across the road
The female swallow has been fatally injured.
The male swallow brings the female food and attends to her with love and compassion
[/caption]He tries to move her … a rarely-seen effort for swallows!
Apparently aware that his sweetheart is dead and will never come back to him again, the male appears to cry
He brings her food again but finds her dead
At last aware that she would never return to him, he stood beside her in sorrow
Millions of people in America, Europe and India cried after viewing these photographs. The day these photos were published in France, the newspaper that carried the story sold out. Yet many people believe animals lack intelligence and emotion.
© 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
Annual Downtime in Virginia Reveals A TTouch Success Story May 15, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Companion Animals, Horses: T.T.E.A.M., My Life.Tags: Pam Wanveer
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The week after my May Virginia training for humans in Charlottsville, Virginia, and the weeklong TTouch training for horses with Pamela Woolley, I spent four days at the home of TTouch Practitioner Pam Wanveer and her husband John Hurd. This downtime with Pam and John has become an annual event and I have the pleasure meeting many of Pam’s regular TTouch clients with their dogs. I took this photo of Pam doing a Heart Hug on Reggie with Mike getting ready to practice, and am pleased to share Mike’s remarkable story of how Pam and TTouch made such a difference to Reggie.
Reggie’s Story
by Mike Hummel
Pam Wanveer doing a Heart Hug on Reggie with Mike getting ready to practice
In September of 2007 Reggie, our eight-and-a-half-year-old blue merle Australian Shepherd mix, tore a ligament in her back left leg and had surgery. Needless to say, the surgery took its toll on our formerly high energy, active pup, and her recovery was a slow arduous process filled with physical therapy at home and at the vet. Two months after surgery, right around Thanksgiving, the vet pronounced her sufficiently healed that she could resume most of her normal activities with the caveat that she still needed to build strength and stamina. We took her to one more physical therapy visit after that and looked forward to continued improvement.
But instead, Reggie’s recovery started reversing itself. Before surgery, Reggie could handle an hour walk in cooler weather, no problem. Post-surgery, we had slowly built her up to a 20 minute walk with some hills thrown in for strength-training. Suddenly, after her last physical therapy treatment, Reggie walked about five minutes and sat down. By the end of that week, she refused to go on walks at all. Our spry eight-year-old dog now officially seemed like an old dog. Even more alarming, the problem seemed to be in her non-surgical leg (not uncommon, since it was being forced to compensate for the weakness of the other leg).
The physical therapist’s answer was more physical therapy and more medication, but I suspected that they had been pushing her too hard in physical therapy, and Reggie’s the kind of dog who will do whatever you ask of her. A couple of acupuncture treatments didn’t seem to do much for Reggie, and I decided to try a different approach. I had some experience with getting alternative “body work,” and a friend who is a bodyworker told me about “TTouch.” An investigation of the TTouch website revealed that there was a practitioner, Pam Wanveer, nearby in Silver Spring, MD. Feeling that things couldn’t get any worse, I made an appointment with Pam.
After the first visit, you could tell Reggie felt perkier. Pam treated Reggie with TTouch and other gentle hands-on modalities. By the third visit, she was jumping around at home again, though her strength and stamina were a long way from what they had been. Over the next few months I took Reggie in once or twice a month. She continued to improve. Pam also suggested I contact our veteranarian about a ligament supplement to fortify Reggie’s non-surgical knee (our vet had heard of it and okayed the use of the supplement), as well as cutting the fur under Reg’s paws shorter to allow her to feel the floor better. We also spread small rugs all over our slippery Pergo kitchen floor as Pam suggested. Pam was full of helpful little tips like this.
With regular visits, careful monitoring, diligent but regulated exercise (no more Frisbee jumps, at least not for a long time!), Reggie started improving. And there were unexpected benefits to the treatments. Reggie, who over the years had begun retreating more and more into corners out of the way, began seeking out petting more and more. Every night, she would plop down between my wife and me for “double love.” Slowly, her amazing agility and then her power returned. She had slept downstairs ever since the surgery, our staircase being just too much for her. One night, she popped in to our bedroom as if to announce “I’m back!” And although we didn’t encourage it, she started jumping again, and even standing up on her back legs (something I thought she’d never do again).
Where once I would monitor her every trip into our backyard to make sure she didn’t overextend herself, she now spends hours and hours out there every day, and is back to terrifying squirrels with blinding bursts of speed. We’ve resumed a lot of her agility play (though no Frisbee—after all, she is now ten!), and she is back to zigging and zagging, and doing her patented 360 degree spin move! We thought we had an old dog who was on her way to a steady decline. Although you can sometimes see a hitch in her step (the surgery changed the structure of one leg a bit by placing a metal rod in it), if anything, she feels better than she has in years. When I tell people Reggie is ten, they’re surprised—“She’s so frisky and spry!”
We owe Pam a lot for saving Reggie’s other leg, helping rehab the damaged one, and also giving us back the Reggie we had when she was young. More affectionate, more confident, more fun than she has been in years! And Reggie loves Pam—the mere mention of her name makes both of Reggie’s floppy ears stand straight up!
© copyright 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
From Cat Fancy Magazine: The Cats of Pollsmoor Prison by Sandy Robins April 16, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Animal Ambassadors, Cats, Companion Animals, Interspecies Communication.Tags: Cape Town, Cat Fancy Magazine, Cats, feral cats, Nelson Mandela, Pollsmoor Prison, Rita Brock, Robben Island, Sandy Robins, South Africa
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This is a heart warming article by Sandy Robins* in CatFancy Magazine that really reveals how animals can be ambassadors for kindness and love if given the necessary assistance. In this case, Rita Brock, a South African lady who would not accept the word “no,” gave the assistance needed to bring feline animal ambassadors to a maximum secirity prison, where they helped to soften the hearts and minds of prisoners.
I am presenting this article here with Sandy’s permission.
You can subscribe to CatFancy Magazine by picking one up at your local pet store or veterinarian and returning the subscription card or going online to any of the magazine subscription sites to find the best deal. Here is one site: the Cat Channel.
Nestled in the foothills of the picturesque, vineyard-clad Constantiaberg Mountains in Cape Town, South Africa, in Pollsmoor Prison. The maximum security facility once housed Nelson Mandela, the country’s most famous political prisoner from the apartheid era who later became the country’s first black president. Today it houses murderers, rapists, notorious gangsters and a unique feral cat colony that impacts the lives of those around them.
Prisoner Wayne Gregory with his "cellmate," Nibbles
The Cats’ Story
In the 1960s, Nelson Mandela and his anti-apartheid associates were taken to Robben Island, a desolate island prison six miles off the coast of Cape Town. The wardens, bored by their jobs and plagued by rats that infested the buildings, brought a handful of cats with them from the mainland as pets and put them to work taking care of the rats.
In the 1980s, after Mandela had spent 18 years on the island, he was transferred to Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison in Cape Town, and the facility on Robben Island was closed with new plans to turn it into a museum and wildlife reserve. Meanwhile, the handful of cats that had been living there for the past few decades had multiplied into a feral population of hundreds, and suddenly the authorities were after them, claiming they were decimating the wildlife on the island. Out went a call to shoot them all.
Enter animal lover Rita Brock. When the story hit the headlines, Brock was appalled.
“The concept was out of line with the new focus on the island, namely to be a beacon of humanity,” she says. Together, Brock and the local SPCA went to the island to assess the situation firsthand. They couldn’t find a single cat. There weren’t even any footprints, leading Brock to believe that perhaps it already was too late.
Finally, SPCA members negotiated with prison authorities to get permission to conduct an extensive search on the island and remove every cat they could trap.
They were given a six-week permit and immediately went to work. Sadly, they only managed to trap 24 cats. In the end, only 15 cats were healthy enough to be relocated. But where to take them?
Somewhere along the line, somebody suggested Pollsmoor Prison, mainly because it has large, self-sufficient farmlands as a part of the facility,
Brock says.
It was agreed. The cats from Robben Island would follow in Mandela’s foot steps and go to Pollsmoor Prison. Their new home would be a barn net to a freshwater dam in some corn fields. Special feeding stations would ensure they always had food.
Too Many Cats
Prisoners hung sheets out of the windows to give the cats access to the cells
However, when Brock visited the prison for the first time to organize the feline relocation, she couldn’t believe her eyes. There were cats everywhere: disappearing into drains, peering out from behind rocks and hiding in the tall grass. She also noticed several sheets hanging out of the prison windows. She learned that many prisoners were letting starving strays come into their cells by hanging sheets for them to climb. The prisoners were looking after them and sharing their food with the hapless creatures.
That’s when I realized that, apart from simply releasing the Robben Island cats here and monitoring them permanently, I would also have to take care of all these other feral cats,
she says. Brock approached the authorities for permission to introduce a trap-neuter-return program and to supply the inmates with proper food and veterinary supplies to assist them with the feral cats they’d adopted. Surprisingly, they agreed.
I will never forget the day we released the island cats,” Brock recalls. “It was a moment of triumph, but when I saw them rushing off into the bushes, I felt I was losing my babies. My only thought was ‘Please let them be safe.’
Safe they most certainly are. Help has come from a surprising source: The prison wardens and members of their families have taken it upon themselves to assist with the daily feeding and to keep an eye on them while patrolling the prison grounds as part of their duties.
Brock has the aded ongoing responsibility of raising food donations to feed the cats, as well as supplying prisoners with flea treatments, de-worming pills and products to treat ear mites.
With her smile and gracious determination, Brock fought more red tape to get permission for CAT FANCY to visit the prison and interview inmates with feline companions.
Prison Pets
Rita Brock with Warden Solomon Malan, who helps with the feral cat program
The day I went to meet prisoner Wayne Hutchinson, his beloved cat Spookies had been missing for several days. When he alerted the warden at our meeting, the kind officer used his authority to launch a full-scale search through the prison section to locate the missing pet. She was found several days later, trapped on the roof of the prison, and reunited with her caregiver.
“She’s been living with me for a year,” Hutchinson says.
she’s totally stolen my heart and changed my life around. I have been going crazy without her. I was abused as a child, and she has taught me how to love and learn the errors of my ways.
Prisoner Gregory Henry brought his beloved tabby named Nibbles to meet me. Henry was making plans with Brock for his cat to go into foster care when he’s released, until he has organized a secure place to live and is able to take full-time care of the cat outside of prison.
“She really looks out for me,” Henry says.
If I am sleeping, she will come and nuzzle my neck to make sure I am OK. She also knows I hate cockroaches, and if one comes into my cell, she will show me where it is so I can get rid of it. She has taught me what it means to be considerate of others. Who knew I would learn life lessons from a cat?
Together these men and many other cat-loving inmates have worked tirelessly within the prison walls to teach other prisoners about animals ad have converted many gangsters (who previously only saw cats as objects for abuse in gang initiation ceremonies) to treat them as creatures to love and respect.
Making a Difference
Rita Brock puts down food for the cats
While many prisons around the world allow inmates to have dogs, teaching them how to look after and socialize them to improve the animals’ chances of adoption into loving homes, the Pollsmoor Prison cats change the loves of everyone who comes into contact with them.
Feral cats living within the prison walls
As for Brock, her work is never done. These days, she has a special pass giving her carte blanche to come and go through the prison gates. She has set up a free spay and neuter program to help prison staff living on the grounds take care of their own pets, and she is working to reduce the feral population by finding cats loving homes with the help of the no-kill rescue group The Emma Animal Rescue Society (TEARS). The search for food donations and more volunteers is ongoing, yet Brock does it all with a smile and the satisfaction of knowing that one person can make a difference.
——–
* Sandy Robins is an award-winning pet-lifestyle expert who appears regularly on TV, radio and in international publications. She is an obsessed pet owner to her cats Cali and Fudge.
For information about the Pollsmoor cats, email Rita Brock at tears.org.za. TEARS is a registerd South African organiztion.
© 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
The Next TTEAM® Training for Horses In Virginia April 7, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Horses: T.T.E.A.M., Trainings.Tags: Brook Hill Farm, Linda Tellington-Jones, Pam Woolley, T.T.E.A.M., The Next TTEAM® Training for Horses In Virginia, TTEAM Training
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May 6-10, 2009 in Middleburg, VA at Brook Hill Farm. I will teach this five-day TTEAM® Training for Horses.
Nestled in spring-green, rolling hills of Piedmont, Virginia and lavishly dotted with dogwood blossoms, the stone barns at Brook Hill Farm provide a snug haven for horses arriving by trailer from around the country. Tellington TTouch Practitioner Pam Wooley’s capable staff see to it that visiting horse owners can return to their hotels at night secure in the knowledge that their horses are safe and well cared for. Training participants without horses get lots of hands-on time with these horses.
At this training you can learn about the TTEAM training approach, which encourages optimal performance and health while presenting solutions to common behavioral and physical problems. TTEAM horses demonstrate marked improvement in athletic skills and increased willingness and ability to perform. Not only does the horse benefit, but also a deeper rapport grows between horse and rider because of increased understanding and more effective communication.
TTEAM covers three phases: learning exercises done in-hand, the Tellington TTouch and riding techniques.
T.T.E.A.M. Training participants in San Marcos, Texas, September 2007
Some of the topics covered will include:
• How to improve performance
• Ground exercises to help improve balance, self control and focus
• How to apply TTEAM first aid techniques while waiting for the veterinarian
• How to use the TTEAM equipment like the Balance Rein, Neck Ring and Bodywrap
• Ways to speed healing and recovery from injury or illness
• Why issues such as nervousness, laziness, trailering problems, attitude difficulties and stiffness occur and how to solve them in a safe, positive way
If you have a commitment to bringing your relationship with your horse to the next level, Tellington TTouch Training for Horses will take you there. Regardless of your discipline, preferred breed or level of experience, you will learn the tools and techniques that foster the magical partnership between you and your horse that most people strive for a lifetime to achieve.
A T.E.A.M. Training participant does TTouch on the face and uses the body wrap in preparation for walking the labyrinth
Combining the pioneering Tellington TTouch with special ground exercises and under-saddle work, this training method offers an approach based on cooperation rather than domination and understanding rather than control. Working with interesting and diverse horses, this training introduces the basic body work and its applications, as well as exploring the role and purpose of the special ground exercises and Tellington tack under saddle. You will learn to chunk down the training process into incremental steps that are scientifically proven to reduce fearfulness in horses, thereby increasing potential for learning.
You have several opportunities to work with me and other experienced TTEAM practitioners. Every training has its own special flavor, and in the Middleburg horse country you will find yourself surrounded by like-minded horse lovers in a spectacular and historic setting.
You will also begin to see your equine companion with new eyes. Innovative opportunities for working with your horse will begin to crystallize. You will be empowered with the “gift of possibility.” With an open mind and an open heart, you will come away from every training enriched with new and marvelous tools.
A Tellington Training is a gift for both you and your horse. Why miss this opportunity? Trainings fill quickly so register soon. I look forward to meeting you!
Questions? Email or call 866-4-TTouch (866-488-8624). TTEAM USA can help you develop the relationship with your horse that you’ve always dreamed of.
For further information, call the TTEAM USA Office:
866-4-TTouch (866-488-6824)
P.O. Box 3793
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
Phone: 505-455-2945
Fax: 505-455-7233
Price: $950.00. Early bird price is $855 if paid in full prior to March 16.
Contact: TTEAM Office 800-854-8326 or trainings@tellingtontraining.com. Learn more or Register for this training.
© 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
Come Join Us for a TTouch For You Experience! Here’s Your Invitation! April 4, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in TTouch for You.Tags: TTouch For You Training
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You are invited to join Linda Tellington-Jones PhD (Hon)
Internationally Renowned Teacher, Author, and Visionary
May 1-3, 2009 In Keswick, VA for A TTouch-For-You Experience®
• Learn and share a simple form of caring touch that activates the healing potential of the body, releases pain, stress and fear, and fosters well-being.
• Experience the unique physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of TTouch as both giver and recipient.
• Feel nurtured and supported by everyone around you.
• Return home energized, enriched, empowered and a little more enlightened.
The TTouch Experience
TTouch is a system of gentle, mindful touch that works at the cellular level with the intention of activating the function of the cells. Developed by Linda Tellington-Jones as a part of the Tellington Training method for horses and other companion animals, TTouch has been used effectively for humans for more than 20 years.
As you practice these simple, gentle movements on yourself or others, you will realize a newfound sense of well-being, empowerment, and renewal.
Relief from everyday physical and emotional issues such as headaches, backache, chronic pain, depression, and anxiety is a common experience.
Many discover a means to enhance relationships beyond the constraints of language, finding new ways to nurture one another, and reaching new levels of understanding, appreciation, and empathy.
These observations are supported by a rich legacy of anecdotal evidence; hundreds of letters from people from all over the world describe how TTouch has effectively relieved a vast range of health issues, enhancing personal wellness and quality of life. This body of evidence has inspired formal research and clinical applications of TTouch in health care and education. Nurses, massage therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and physicians are successfully integrating these techniques into their practices, to manage anxiety, acute and chronic pain, and to support healthcare procedures. Many healthcare professionals experience much needed relaxation and stress relief for themselves, as well as in their patients.
This Weekend of Renewal is for:
• Anyone seeking a new approach to self-care
• Couples
• Mothers and daughters
• Caregivers
• Educators
• Healthcare professionals
About Linda Tellington-Jones, PhD (Hon)
Pioneer, teacher, trainer, and author, Linda Tellington-Jones has forged new paths in the understanding and appreciation of the animal/human relationship, and has offered instruction in her gentle and aware approach to animal and humans for over 30 years. In 1978 Linda graduated from the first American four-year professional training in the Feldenkrais Method of Movement Education with Israeli physicist Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais at the Humanistic Psychology Institute of San Francisco. Prior to that training, she co-authored a landmark book on equine massage entitled, Massage and Physical Therapy for the Athletic Horse, based on the teachings of her grandfather, William Caywood. She had already been applying this equine massage for 10 years for sport horses when she first adapted the Feldenkrais Method for humans to work with horses and other animals. In 1983, building on her experience as a Feldenkrais practitioner, Linda developed a new form of gentle bodywork that activates cellular function and reminds the body of its potential for perfection. Her remarkable approach honors the mind, body and spirit of all living beings
In 2007 Linda was inducted into the Massage Hall of Fame and in 2008 she was awarded an honorary PhD from Wisdom University of San Francisco, California.
Linda has taught Tellington TTouch for healthcare professionals in collaboration with Dr. Cecilia Wendler, RN, Ph.D., CCRN, at the University of Minnesota, and has developed a 3-year certification course for professionals in Germany. She leads an annual six-day retreat in Hawaii.
Feedback from Past Participants:
“I was amazed to discover the profound transformations that took place by simply practicing, receiving, and observing all the techniques in the course of our work sessions and Linda’s demonstrations. My aches and pains, anxieties, emotional barriers, faded away as the days went by, leaving in their place a sense of space and clarity, and a feeling of warmth, openness and fellowship towards all those in my company. I was struck by the way in which TTouch affects the emotional and spiritual aspects of well-being, as well as balancing the physical body. The act of connecting to another through TTouch opens a pathway for compassion to flow. This was a most profound experience emerging from such a simple activity.”
–Angana Shroff, TTouch Practitioner for Animal Companions, TTouch-For-You Participant, 2004, 2005
“The power of TTouch for me is this: It gives me something to give to my patients when there is nothing else to give. I cared for N. for four nights, doing TTouch on him twice a shift all those nights, and he never quit saying how profoundly important TTouch was for him.”
–M. Cecilia Wendler, RN, Ph.D., CCRN, U. of Wisconsin – Eau Clair
“The TTouch has been an invaluable tool for me in my work as a physical therapist. Most important is the fact that I can teach this work to anyone – family members, friends, and other healthcare professionals. It does not take any specialized knowledge of anatomy and physiology to do the work and get the same results. It is safe, non-invasive, and cannot harm anyone. It is a perfect way to teach patients something they can do for themselves and their own families.”
–Kathy Cascade, Physical Therapist and Instructor of the Tellington TTouch Training Method for Animal Companions
Registration Information
Enrollment is limited to 30 Participants.
Registration is $375; Family discount and Guild Practitioner discounts are available.
To register, Contact: Holly Sanchez Email Holly Sanchez or call 800-854-8326
Tellington TTouch Training
PO Box 3793, Santa Fe, NM, 87501
Downloadable registration packet available
Local Coordinator:
Sandy Rakowitz, TTouch and TTEAM Practitioner
434-973-8864 or Email Sandy
Feel free to contact Sandy or the TTouch Santa Fe home office for assistance with transportation, dining suggestions, local accommodations and any other logistical questions or concerns.
Tellington TTouch Success: Don Diego March 30, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Case Study, Horses: T.T.E.A.M..Tags: Brigitte Schworer, Don Diego, epiphysitis
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I am so fortunate to receive accounts of Tellington TTouch® at work from some talented and dedicated horse professionals around the world.
Swiss horse trainer Brigitte Schworer has been a TTouch practitioner for horses for almost two decades. She recently sent me this TTouch success story from Switzerland. It demonstrates how patience, understanding and Tellington TTouch can save a horse’s life. After Equitana in Essen, Germany, Brigitte sent the following email.
The horse: Don Diego, Oldenburger gelding born 1/6/2005, currently 170 cm. Born a twin but his brother died at birth.
Sire: Don Vino, Donnerhall, Consul
Sire’s sire : Cor de la Bruyere, Marduk
In May 2008, Beate Meyer introduced Diego to our TTEAM online group, asking if there were someone who lived close by to help him. I saw the email and said to myself “not me.” But in August 2008, I received an email from his owner Gila Rogers (friend of Roger Russel) with the request to contact her since all other options to help with Diego’s education had been exhausted.
I told Mrs Rogers that I was busy until late fall and also did not have room for another horse. Still, after I called her I drove to her place to see the horse.
The circumstances Diego were living in were not ideal for a 3-year-old horse. He had a large box stall with paddock, but the groom said that he was rarely let out to pasture as most of the staff had trouble leading him out. If he was allowed in the pasture, he had to be alone because owners of the other horses were afraid of him.
I spent two and a half hours with the horse. I saw him run free in the indoor arena, and contemplated and contemplated, trying to decide if he was too much for me. I knew that if I took him on, I had to be strong enough and fight for him even if others at the stable would be negative towards him, something I was sure would happen. If Diego stayed there, he would end up at the slaughter house quite quickly. In spite of his excellent pedigree, he would not be able to find a suitable buyer.
When he was younger, Diego had a epiphysitis and it left him with a front leg that turns inward at the knee. The owner said it had healed completely, but it left a change in the bone which cannot be fixed. The only suitable buyer would be a pleasure rider not interested in showing. But for those riders he has to be easy.
My decision was final. At the end of those two and a half hours of thinking, I knew he could come to my place. I did not really want to, but Diego picked me.
Diego’s history:
Mrs. Rogers took Diego’s mother in when she was very sick. The mare was moved from the south to the north of Germany. There the owners saw that she had really good papers and asked to have her bred. Mrs Rogers agreed and a stallion was chosen. Diego and his brother were born a year later, but his brother died at birth. The breeder was vey disappointed because the wanted a filly. Nobody took care of Diego.
When he was 5 months old, Diego’s mother died and he was placed with a Haflinger mare. He was alone without other foals or other horses. I cannot understand how careless people can be. The Halfinger mare left shortly afterwards and Diego was placed with a very disagreeable mare. She chased him away from his food and all over the pasture. Soon afterwards it was getting difficult to touch Diego. Since there were no other young horses to play with, he changed his character and started to become aggressive with people.
Diego’s owner checked up on him occasionally, but never went to see him. One time she did visit him and noticed that one front leg was not straight. She called for a vet and discovered he was suffering from epiphysitis. At this point, it was too late for surgery and Diego would be deformed for the rest of his life.
Everybody was afraid of the young horse, so he was gelded when he was a year old. Nobody wanted to enter his pasture and food was thrown over the fence.
When he was 2 years old he was taken to the farrier for the first time. He kicked several times and the farrier hit him in the belly with an iron bar, which resulted in a torn muscle.
When she visited him again, Mrs. Rogers noticed that Diego was extremely thin. He was just skin and bones. The vet found an infection in his gums, which caused him to stop eating. The caretakers had not noticed it.
Mrs Rogers had Diego moved from the north of Germany to Bavaria. There Diego gained his weight back in the spring of ‘08. The owners of the new stable promised that he would be rideable in 3 months and that they could sell him. However, nothing was done with him, which may be a good thing.
Mrs. Rogers brought several prospective buyers to see Diego. He showed his bad side every time: reared when being led, was difficult to lead and would not longe. He attacked the woman trying to longe him by rearing and kicking.Diego’s training with TTEAM:
He came to me on September 22nd. He was polite leaving the trailer and went into the paddock where he could have a look around. I could approach him without problems, but I was careful because he had been described as a dangerous killer.We spent 2 days becoming friends. I asked a former riding instructor to help me. On day 5 Diego showed his bad side for the first time. He reared in the pen facing different people and was very aggressive. He did not show this reaction to me or Iris.
It was not advisable to enter Diego’s stall when he was eating grain. He would flip out and bite at everyone, so we started feeding him his grain outside in the paddock. With the gate open so I could retreat, I stroked him with the wand and inched closer with my hand. After first rejecting me, he got to a point where he enjoyed being touched. Two days later I stood beside him in his paddock. Diego was eating and I was TTouching his left side while Iris was TTouching his right side.
Diego grew used to being TTouched in the paddock, but the stress was too great for him when we tried doing it in his stall. He was very agitated and needed much more time.
We started with regular leading using the wand and chain. He learned to balance through the labyrinth. We used the Homing Pigeon so we could both be safe. I think he needed us on both sides so he did not feel so alone. Soon the leading worked quite well, but he kept chewing on the chain. I let him because I thought it helped him settle. When I felt it was getting too much I lovingly took the chain out of his mouth and rewarded him with some mouth TTouches, which he greatly enjoyed.
Diego was never able to work more than 15 minutes at a time. He just could not concentrate that long. I TTouched his neck, back and carefully included the belly and front legs with Lying and Clouded Leopard and Abalone TTouch.
Picking up his hooves was only possible from the front as he kicked with great precision, even kicking sideways. He never missed. I stroked him with the wand along his entire body.
Raccoon TTouches on his face were very important. I found the points that really helped him settle and used those often. He was pretty quick to accept the ear work and I printed some information from an acupressure book about the points around the ear and treated those with Racoon TTouches. I found a point in the acupressure book that helps with aggression. I carefully worked with his hind legs, and after two days the horse was not recognizable. I could TTouch his entire body, brush him and do bodywork. I even added Python Lifts on his legs.
Diego was also allowed to run free in the indoor arena. We let him trot and canter, which he loved. He became more trusting and we were careful never to chase him, just asked him to keep moving around us.
We started to longe Diego, starting with Iris on the outside as an anchor, which he was used to from the Homing Pigeon. Diego cooperated quite well right from the start and never tried to attack me. We soon changed to a longing cavesson and longed him in all 3 gaits. He will sometimes turn around when he is going to the right and we have recognized that this is his way of playing with us. However, we don’t allow it and calmly ask him to turn again and continue to the right.
Six weeks later we put a saddle and rider on him. I started by being led at the walk by Iris and we then switched so I led and Iris rode. Soon we are able to ride alone at the walk in the arena. Diego responded nicely to our signals and always did what he was asked. One month later we asked for a trot.
In the beginning of December he was getting quite good with his legs so I asked the farrier to come and trim his feet. I prepared the farrier that Diego might be difficult and that he needed to remain calm. I worked Diego briefly in the indoor arena and then brought him into the aisle with a large bale of hay in front of his nose. I wanted to set up a very relaxed situation, but it was busy at the barn. Two veterinarians were working, there was another horse and one owner and all of us working with Diego. However, he was perfect and did not pull his leg away once. We were very happy with him!
Diego munches calmly while he is being shod
PROUD, I am really proud of him and ourselves!
Pretty good!
Two weeks later a really good physiotherapist came to the barn. She worked on Diego and opened the left shoulder. I watched and was amazed to see his front leg change during the session. He is now much straighter.
Since the session I can now lift his left front leg much easier and do leg circles and work the shoulder. He is also trusting enough that I can work his tail, hind end and do pelvic tilts.
I don’t really know how the heart coherence works, but I am sure that it is working for us. I am very calm and full of love and compassion for him, even when he is having a bad day. I watch that I regulate my breathing and I am never anxious when I work with him. Diego settles as soon as he hears my voice, even if I am three meters away from his stall. This is necessary when he eats grain and people walk past his stall. He hates fast movement and loud talking if it is done by strangers. He is fine with me and Iris.
Diego is very unsure when people are afraid of him. It makes him aggressive and he threatens. I had a bit of a situation recently. I was brushing him and his stall neighbor’s owner, Jessica, was brushing her horse and rushed to get him a treat. As she ran past us Diego pinned his ears and reared a little bit. I took his halter and pulled him towards me. His ears shot forward and he gave me a gentle push. I talked to Jessica, who said that she is very afraid of Diego. I took her into his stall and asked her to pet his face which he really likes. When she stood in front of him he backed away and was insecure right away. I asked her to place her hand on his halter which caused Diego to take a deep breath. Jessica was amazed when she realized that he had been afraid of her. It was easy for me to be the mediator. Diego kept checking in with me and if I had been nervous or aggressive, he would have done the same.
However, he can also settle me down. Even though he is unsure about strangers, on one occasion he gave me confidence in the saddle in a difficult situation. Some children were playing in the barn while I was riding in the arena and they were making a lot of noise. I got very angry and yelled at them because I was about to ride Diego and did not want him to become upset and throw me. As I mounted I was still agitated and he took a deep breath and started walking and trotting, ignoring my foul mood, changing it immediately. He gave me the idea that I could trust him, even though he was only three and a half years old and had been ridden only six weeks.
I think he can feel my heartbeat, knows that he has a permanent home with us (Iris wants to buy him) and he really knows us. I can yell at him and he does not become aggressive. He acts like a small child who loves his parents.
I don’t know if this is right, but I always tell my students that if they want that an animal or human trusts them they have to trust them first and then they can trust you.
Iris is learning equine therapy for challenged children. My goal is for Diego to become a therapy horse. He has been able to catch up on his youth and is living in a herd of 40 horses. I am sure he will be okay. It may take a lot more time, but we have lots of time for him.
– Brigitte
© Linda Tellington-Jones 2009
Conference on Humane Education, April 24-25, 2009 March 23, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in My Life, Travel.Tags: Green Chimneys, http://www.aspca.org/, http://www.greenchimneys.org/
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As I mentioned before, I will be speaking at the Conference on Humane Education at Green Chimneys in Brewster, New York on April 25, 2009. The goal of this conference is to explore the improvement of the long-term prospects for animals and their caregivers.
I thought I’d post the colorful and informative conference brochure for anyone wanting to attend. This should be a very interesting and exciting conference hosted by the ASPCA.
© copyright 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
Notes from Equitana in Essen, Germany and Email All the Way From Australia and South Africa March 20, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Companion Animals, Travel, email.Tags: Australian Equitana, Equitana, Robyn Hood, Trailer Loading
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I am writing from from Essen, Germany where I am presenting at Equitana, the world’s largest and first international equine expo:
I very much enjoy the enthusiastic emails that reach me over the internet from around the world. In November my sister, Robyn Hood, presented at the Australian Equitana and taught several workshops around the country. Robyn and her husband, Phil Pretty have a herd of more than 100 Icelandic horses at their farm in Vernon, British Columbia. Robyn, now often assisted by their daughter, Mandy Pretty, teaches TTEAM and TTouch workshops around the globe. Linda Crestani sent us a follow-up from one of Robyn’s recent trainings in the land down under often called Oz. Check out Robyn’s websites at Icefarm.com and TTEAM Canada.
Mar 15, 2009, Linda Crestani wrote:
Warm greetings Linda and Robyn,
Here are some photos of Annie (Ancestry) at five days old, already TTouching is underway! I apologise for the delay in sending. Annie is now seven weeks and thriving. She is exhibiting the most animated trot and flying changes,and enjoys her ttouch sessions daily. A most friendly and lovely temperamented foal which I believe is due at least in part to TTouch.
I had a success story following the TTouch method of trailer loading on Saturday. My black 2 year old filly has not been shown for some time due to her explosive kicking and rearing when previously floating. She came here last May suffering pneumonia, transported interstate. Finally healthy, on trailer loading she would calmly enter the float (trailer) then without warning rear or lash out behind. After catching one of her rear kicks to the chest, I decided to stop floating (trailering) her until a safer way (without force ) could be found. Along came Robyn and ttouch at the Canberra clinic, along with Ro Jelbart’s assistance. Thank you Robyn for the excellent session on trailer loading with the Brumby mare “Sally.” Many thanks to Ro Jelbart for her practical sessions with her own horses she allowed me to stand in on. On Saturday I was able to load my filly safely, allowing her to walk up the ramp and load herself with a “walk on!” (dingo) with a tap on the croup. No pulling or head holding or any restraint. She did walk on perfectly by herself and floated perfectly to the show an hour away. Well she was calm and brilliant and won Champion Cob mare and returned home again without drama. The return trailer loading even easier. The “bad fear” cycle had been broken, thanks to the skills TTouch has given me. If a friend had not witnessed it all, no one would have believed it to be the same horse.
Thank you all so much again.
Linda
From horses in Australia to cat ambassadors in South Africa:
Today I received an email from a friend of Lily Merklin’s. Lily one of our German TTEAM/TTouch Instructors for horses and is also trained in psychology. She is working on a doctoral dissertation that includes work with cats in prison settings. Lily’s friend “Rhona”, (not her real name) has been working with prisoners in South Africa who are allowed to keep cats during their incarceration. Lily wrote to “Rhona” to see if we could meet when I am in South Africa in April. As it turns out, Rhona has apparently been including TTouch with her kitty work for years since attending a weekend workshop with Eugenie Chopin. Eugenie is a TTouch Practitioner 3 and heads the South African Tellington TTouch Training. Check out Eugenie’s brilliant website loaded with inspiring TTouch stories.
Rhona’s correspondence to Lily:
Am thinking of you often and would love to get a copy of your dissertation. I was so excited when you contacted me as I believe there are no international boundries if it comes to animal lovers – and every thing we do has huge effect if done with right intentions. Just had a most wonderful lady from Paris visit me last week. She volunteers for a rescue organisation there.
Linda Tellington Jones – one of my all time heroes!!! I am absolutely delighted to know you mentioned me. Just knowing this makes me very happy and proud.
I did the local TTouch 2 day workshop years ago – I think in 1999 – with Eugenie Chopin. It changed my approach to my pets. I purchased the video at the time and circulate it all the time to all my rescue friends. It is now worn to shreds.
Also purchased the book : Getting In TTouch with your cat ….use it all the time. First question I ask anyone who wants to help … have you heard of TTouch???
I help feral/stray cats – the prison cats are just one of many many colonies I try and help – the TINY bits of TTouch I know make a HUGE difference.
Have just set up a small unit of a new property of a local rescue organisation to house pregnant/new mommy cats – often very stressed and in need of TLC. I assist in the most desperate of areas. Cats are not popular and are used in witchcraft (sangomas).Prison very tough but am doing my utmost to survive. The cats seem to take it in their stride….
I will forward a recent article from Cat Fancy magazine – Sandy Robins managed to get “into prison” with me last year and wrote a wonderful article.
And her email to me:
Dear Linda, wonderful to hear from you – I will do my utmost to meet you!
Your work reaches so many people and animals – it is absolutely fantastic! I can not count the animals I know who benefitted from TTouch… to add them up worldwide would be mind blowing. Thank you for bringing joy to the world, animals and people.
Have to laugh – Tribe of Tiger by Elisabeth Marshall Thomas is one of my favourite books. Love reading.Purrs from
“Rhona”
© 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
New Page: About Commenting Here March 20, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Uncategorized.4 comments
I have added a new page to clarify my feelings on your comments here at Changing the World One TTouch At A Time.
Here is what the page says:
Everyone on the Internet has a different idea about how to interact online. Likewise, bloggers have their own ideas about how they want discussion of their ideas to proceed.
I receive upwards of 600 emails a day. I have a lot of energy, but I’m not superhuman! I can’t possibly answer each of them. Writing this blog is a means of communicating with all of you, and generating compelling exchanges of information.
I welcome all comments and questions here. Please understand that I may not be free to respond to them all. It is possible that another reader may have something to say, so don’t forget to check the box that informs you of follow-up comments through email.
© 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
Green Chimneys March 20, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Companion Animals.Tags: Green Chimneys Conference
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I will be speaking at a very special conference at Green Chimneys in New York state and hope some of you can join us. Green Chimneys is a non-profit organization, recognized as the worldwide leader in animal-assisted therapy and activities. Green Chimneys provides residential treatment for children and a special education school that focuses on care for animals and nature, promoting a philosophy of dignity and worth for all living things.
Michael Kaufmann is the farm manager there and a long time friend. He was the education director of the SPCA and the AHA and a very caring and experienced animal and people person. Michael wrote:
The two days are set up as a progression and all speakers will be involved both days. What we also want is that the speakers have a chance to really be available to the audience in a personal way that often is not possible. Your actual “presentation” piece is a short 45 minutes on Saturday “A new way to Experience Relationship with Animals” You will present in our indoor arena – with microphone -with all participants sitting down. You may work with any of our animals that you select ahead of time and my thought is to just share not just the TTouch, but your general philosophy about animals and people and the relationship. The theme of the conference is “Experiential Humane Education”- the main undercurrent is that in order to really care and know animals, people of all ages must actually experience and live with real animals- not apart from them. We want to expand the concept of “animal” to not just include the dogs and cats we live with- but all animals. So really- in essence – the workshop just underscores what you, myself and many others have been trying to model and teach for many years – it’s the same song – just on a different day, in a different context.
I am working with a calf and a student at Green Chimneys
© 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
Pono Pono: Just Three Minutes March 11, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Spirituality.Tags: Age of Aquarius, Aloha Center for Spiritual Living, Aunty Mahealani Henry, Science of Mind Church
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A week after Valentine’s Day, Roland and I attended services at the Aloha Center for Spiritual Living, a Science of Mind Church. Aunty Mahealani Henry led the service, saying that we do not have to wait until 2012 for the cosmic shift that has been predicted for decades. We are already experiencing the shift of consciousness. And the biggest lessons we have to focus on are forgiveness and compassion.”
Roland Kleger, Linda Tellington-Jones, Aunty Mahealani Henry, and Karin Freiling on a boat ride where the volcano flows into the sea.
One of the Hawaiian concepts of Pono Pono that Aunty teaches is striving for excellence in living and eliminating drama in our lives. Until now she has taught that whenever we are faced with a traumatic event we could acknowledge it for 3 minutes, really address the drama for 3 minutes, and then let it go. Now she teaches that we should give any drama 3 seconds! And then go back to a state of excellence or deep appreciation, gratitude and thanksgiving. That gives me lots of food for thought and a striving to keep my heart open and practice that state of gratitude that brings happiness.
At the base of Kilauea, where the lava flows into the sea, creating the foundation for new land, new life. As fire and lava meet cool water, light flashes to signify the birth of new life at the bottom of the sea.
Ahui Ho,
Linda
© 2009 Linda Tellington-Jones
Valentines Day 2009 – The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius February 14, 2009
Posted by lindatellingtonjones in Spirituality.Tags: Age of Aquarius
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Dear friends and TTouch Family,
The following “heads-up” about the dawning of the age of aquarius was emailed to Robyn and me by Brigitte Heyer, one of our TTouch practitioners down-under in Oz (Australia). Brigitte attended my TTEAM trainings in Germany many years ago and gifted me with a tile with a horse drawn on it that I believe she made herself. I have treasured it all these years and it moved from Carmel, California to Santa Fe with me in 1987 and to Hawaii in 1997 and is in my kitchen here in Hawaii as I write this. The horse on the tile reminds me of this photograph taken by Gabreille Boiselle, of me on this magical Lippizaner who I believe loved to imagine himself as my unicorn. In January Brigitte sent me the following message about this special time on the planet, and I put it on my calendar. This morning I awoke at 5:22am and sat in the living room working on emails. Brigitte’s reminder popped up on my computer screen and when I read it I realized the significance of this day.
In 1968 I was present in San Francisco at the opening of the play Hair where – as I remember it – the song “The Age of Aquarius” was sung. It seems unbelievable to think that all the astrological alignments sung about in that song will occur on Valentine’s Day.
I had with me our whole class of students who were attending our 9-month residential Riding Instructor training at our Pacific Coast School of Horsemanship at Badger, California. My husband (at the time) Wentworth Tellington and I brought the students to San Francisco for the weekend. We were also were in Golden Gate Park that Sunday for the famous “be-in” which most of you are too young to even know about! Shannon Yewell Weil was there as a student that year, and I am going to attempt to contact some of the other students who were there with us for that event. If you were there please contact me. Actually I should put this out through the site that finds lost friends.
Back to the present moment: As it turns out, tonight we are hosting our TTouch for You students at our annual banquet prepared by our own super-chef, Andre Freiling. Andre and Karin Freiling have come to spend a month with us in Hawaii for the past seven years.
As a group tonight, at we will be sending Heart Hugs around the planet with intension to celebrate this dawning. Know that each one of us who is aware of our Oneness with All this Is – with Divine Spirit, have and are contributing to the co-creation of this change. Phenomenal to think how Barak Obama and all who supported him have been bringing our awareness to this change to work together for these past many months.
If you have not yet read Gregg Braden’s Divine Matrix: Bridging Time, Space, Miracles, and Belief, now is the time to order it and dive in. You will find new inspiration and understanding of our connectedness and miracle of being.
I’m going to post this on by blog that you can read by going to http://www.ttouch.com and click on the blog on our home page. I would love to hear from you – where you are and what thoughts you have – and if you joined us in sending the Heart Hugs around the planet!! You can post your thoughts on my blog site or email me directly.
Much love and Heart Hugs, EleleLinda
NOW TO THE NEWS:
On February 14th at 7:25 am Greenwich Time which is 9:25pm Hawaii Time we will celebrate the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius. You can celebrate it then or on Universal Time which means 7:25am wherever you are around the planet.
A rare astrological concentration brings together a number of planets together with the North Node – denoting higher purpose – in Aquarius that energizes and inspires the possibility for Transcendental breakthrough in some perhaps seemingly intransigent situations.
We measure our global sense of both space (latitude and longitude) and time (universal time – UT or GMT) from the prime meridian located at Greenwich, England. So we can perceive the collective influence of this momentous astrological event by looking at the alignment from this globally ‘centered’ perspective.
When we do, something extraordinary and exquisite emerges.
At dawn on 14th February the day dedicated to St Valentine, the patron saint of Love, the Moon in Libra enters the seventh house of relationships. And Jupiter and Mars are aligned in Aquarius in the twelfth house of spiritual transformation.
Forty years ago, the intuitive words of a song called Aquarius, brought the dawning of the new age into our collective awareness:
When the Moon is in the seventh house
and Jupiter aligns with Mars.
Then love will rule the planets
and peace will steer the stars.
IT IS THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS
At dawn on 14th February the Cosmos actually embodies this perfect alignment to support our collective manifestation of love and peace and dawning of the Age of Aquarius.
The Aquarian chart of 14th February reveals an incredible concentration of cosmic influences blending with the energies of Aquarius in the twelfth house.
Expansive Jupiter and energetic Mars are aligned with the higher purpose of the North Node. The presence of Chiron the wounded healer offers us the opportunity to heal the schisms that have separated us for so long. Neptune emphasizes collective humanitarian movements and the co-creation of social justice. And the presence of the radiant Sun
enlightens the entire alignment.
Mercury also in the twelfth house but just beyond the cusp in Capricorn, allies with transformational Pluto to communicate and anchor the Shift throughout our global structures and institutions.
The Moon in Libra in the seventh house emphasizes harmonious real-ationships.
Venus in Aries in the first house energizes and empowers Dynamic co-creativity.
And whilst Saturn the great task master in opposition to Uranus the unexpected awakener is suggesting an ongoing confrontation as the dregs of the unsustainable old paradigm reluctantly give way to the untested hope of the new, their placements in Virgo and Pisces brings practical altruism and visionary inspiration to the transition.
At 7.25am on 14th February – and for the 18 minutes of the alignment, I invite you, in the universal heart, to add your own intention for love and peace and to co-create the dawning of the Age of Aquarius to that of the Cosmos. In whatever way feels appropriate for you, you may choose to align with7.25am (UT) or 7.25am local time energizing a wave of intention that will surge around the Earth.
I would love to hear from you – where you were and what thoughts you had and what you sent out into the Divine Matrix on this propitious moment in our universe. Much love, EleleLinda
