The verdict: Snow Leopard
Posted by lisa on Jun 29, 2008
While doing my second degree attunement today, my Master saw a snow leopard.
Image by Tricia Shears, Creative Commons Attribution license
A quickie definition of Snow Leopard as a Totem:
Overcoming Demons & Haunts, Renewal of Vision & Vitality, Self-reliance
So very, very tired after my attunement. I fell asleep early only to be woken by Fergus who wanted to go out and then get Reiki. Unusual for him. I think his skin is really bothering him. Now, he is sacked out and I am awake at two in the morning.
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All Aflutter- Second Degree Attunement
Posted by lisa on Jun 27, 2008
I receive my second degree attunement tomorrow from my Master, Aileen D’Angelo. I spent the last few days studying the symbols I’ll be using from now on. My last attunement was very interesting and life was especially bright and shiny for some time after. That time Aileen said she saw the image of a fox while she attuned me. I’m eager to see if there is anything new this time. Wish me luck!
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Music of the Earth: On topic if you use your imagination
Posted by lisa on Jun 26, 2008
I had a pretty good day, but I think the best part was reading Mark Morford’s April 23rd column on SFGate, on the deep musical hum made by the earth. You need to read the whole thing, but here are a few quotes:
“The Earth is humming. Singing. Churning out a tune without the aid of battery or string or wind-up mechanism and its song is ethereal and mystifying and very, very weird, a rather astonishing, newly discovered phenomena that’s not easily analyzed, but which, if you really let it sink into your consciousness, can change the way you look at everything.
Indeed, scientists now say the planet itself is generating a constant, deep thrum of noise. No mere cacophony, but actually a kind of music, huge, swirling loops of sound, a song so strange you can’t really fathom it, so low it can’t be heard by human ears, chthonic roars churning from the very water and wind and rock themselves, countless notes of varying vibration creating all sorts of curious tonal phrases that bounce around the mountains and spin over the oceans and penetrate the tectonic plates and gurgle in the magma and careen off the clouds and smack into trees and bounce off your ribcage and spin over the surface of the planet in strange circular loops, “like dozens of lazy hurricanes,” as one writer put it.”
That’s some amazing description. The best part is when he uses his imagination to try to explain it:
“Me, I like to think of the Earth as essentially a giant Tibetan singing bowl, flicked by the middle finger of God and set to a mesmerizing, low ring for about 10 billion years until the tone begins to fade and the vibration slows and eventually the sound completely disappears into nothingness and the birds are all, hey what the hell happened to the music? And God just shrugs and goes, well that was interesting.”
It goes on from there to more possibilities, swinging out into the solar system and the galaxies, and back in to explore how all humans and animals seem to have an inborn love of music. You need to go read it. Go on, now, you can come back later.
….
Thanks for coming back. My only disagreement with Mark is that I can’t wait for science to figure it out. It’s a wonderful mystery to contemplate as it is, but seeking complex explanations sparks my imagination just as much mystical ones.
To belatedly tie it back into massage and Reiki, sometimes I idly think about the music we play during sessions, and how much more smoothly the energy flows when the music is playing. I always thought it was simply relaxing for the client and rhythmic for me, which made everything better. Perhaps, though, the music facilitates the connection between us, by tapping into that primordial rhythm that surrounds us all.
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Dog Behavior, Part II: Fergus
Posted by lisa on Jun 25, 2008
Observations of some of the dogs in my midst…
See Part I: Smitty
Fergus, a terrier mix, came to me at 8 weeks, from a southern shelter. He’d been there for at least two weeks, so he was separated young from his mother. He did have a sibling with him. He is now 5 years old and 62 pounds.
Fergus was doing beautifully at four months, over his fear of children and other dogs and in puppy kindergarten, when he was hit by a car. He spent four days in ICU at Angell before they repaired his broken leg. He had to drop out of kindergarten and refrain from play for over two months. He healed perfectly but missed out on valuable time learning how to act with other dogs. He is also more anxious generally and likes to control the situations he is in, barking at anyone who raises their voice, hugs, or otherwise offends him. I prefer to think of him as he is in the first image, but he is more often cross, as in the second.
Notice the tight mouth, with corners of the mouth drawn forward. This is reminiscent of Smitty’s mouth when he was being jumped on by Teddy. Here, however, Fergus is peeved at a rude forklift. [Click images for larger versions.]
Fergus is exquisitely gentle with children and pretty good with puppies, but doesn’t know quite how to act with other adult dogs. He wants to play but doesn’t know quite how to invite it and tries to control the other dogs when they get too excited (in his opinion.) He has improved a great deal at giving and interpreting dog signals, but he may always be a little backward due to his anxiety. I try to take him on long treks with other dogs, as he seems happiest when walking or running side by side with them.
On the trail with his friends Abe and Autumn, Fergus is relaxed, tail up and curled, mouth open. He is in his element in the snow.
I may try Anxiety Wrap so that he can relax more in clicker class, and get more out of socialization time. In my Tellington Touch seminar last week I learned how to wrap dogs in various ways using ace bandages. I wasn’t sure it was possible to look more silly than Anxiety Wrap, but….
If it works, who cares? I’ll report more when I know.
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Dog Behavior, Part I: Smitty
Posted by lisa on Jun 20, 2008
Observations of the dogs in my midst…
Smitty is a 22-pound Jack Russell/ Scottish Terrier mix, approximately 1 ½ years old. Smitty joined our household at about six months of age. Prior to that he had a home in Tennessee, which he lost in a fire, ending up in a shelter, and then rescue. I fostered Smitty and kept him because he fit so well into our family.
Smitty loved to play rough with Fergus, and pulled out all the guard hairs on Fergus’ muzzle, with Fergus’ encouragement. After Smitty grew up, Fergus tolerated play infrequently, and Smitty seemed more easily cowed when they did play , less irrepressible (See image below.). I noticed a change in his play with other dogs as well: fewer Matrix-style Ninja moves and more avoidance when things got rough. He would avoid play with his lab friend Zee entirely, unless Zee lay down, which would cause Smitty to pounce with glee.
He seems to hate it when any dog tries to jump on his back. He will try to circle away and avoid these dogs. He has an air of being oppressed. One example is the Coton puppy, Teddy, whose favorite move is to jump on the back. Teddy is considered the brat of his puppy kindergarten class. Smitty does not like him at all. (Fig 3, below the fold.)
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Puffer Fish Reiki
Posted by lisa on Jun 14, 2008
I was sending Reiki to my sister’s fractured vertebrae as we watched her fish tank. Some new creatures had cropped up on the glass and were eating other new creatures. Her puffer fish was hanging out at the back of the tank, scritching himself on the rocks and swimming through the filter bubbles. But then he swam up right to the glass and hovered, watching us. I asked him if he wanted Reiki and put my hand on the glass, just for fun. He stayed a while, left, and came back again a few times. I confess I didn’t feel the same connection I do when sharing with a person or dog. Perhaps because I can lay hands on them. I ‘m hoping that after my second degree attunement this month I’ll be better at sending through barriers and over distances.
Next I want to Reiki a snake!
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Picking up on cues
Posted by lisa on Jun 11, 2008
One of the tenets in Kathleen Prasad’s Reiki Code of Ethics is
I always ask permission of the animal before beginning, and respect his or her decision to accept or refuse any treatment. I listen intuitively and observe the animal’s body language in determining the response.
If this is your goal, it is extremely important to learn what an animal is saying to you through his body language and vocalizations. A dog (usually) tries to tell you several times that he doesn’t want to be touched on the back before he finally snaps. You have to become a master at reading these signals, to save your fingers, and to save the session.
A massage isn’t like a skin scraping or Xray that must be done– nothing bad is going to happen if you work the left scapula but not the right, or skip the back for a session. The dog will reap fewer benefits in that session, but will learn to trust that you will listen to his wishes.
I firmly believe, especially with energy work but also massage, the animals understand more than we do about their bodies. We might not know about the clot or tumor in his leg, but he knows that leg feels uncomfortable and it gets worse when you touch it. There is no harm in backing off a bit, and letting the owner know there might be an issue in that leg.
“Listen” also for times the animal asks for longer treatment in a certain spot. Work it more or at least return to it often. Responding appropriately to his cues will strengthen your relationship and perhaps help a condition that he is aware of and you are not. Later I will write about how to recognize these signals, and some ways to eventually get around to that forbidden spot.
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Changing careers
Posted by lisa on Jun 11, 2008
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
attributed to Mark Twain
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Massage Class, Take 2
Posted by lisa on Jun 9, 2008
The second massage class with the boys was much more successful. I “cheated” and gave them something to reduce anxiety, which worked wonders. I’ve used Quiet Moments before and it usually takes the edge off, but doesn’t entirely relieve a specific anxiety like separation or car anxiety. Today their behavior was like night and day, so I think they most likely felt a little more familiar with the school and the people.
As far as the massage goes, Smitty allowed me to do a full sequence and ended up belly to the sky, blissed out. Fergus allowed two students to massage him. At the beginning I needed to keep one hand on him, too, to keep him calm, but not for long. I’m so proud of my boys. It wasn’t easy for them but they got past it.
I doubt anyone will choose to use Fergus for their Massage Techniques 1 final exam next week, but I’ll bring him and lots of treats, just in case. We have two written exams and a massage practical. Cross your fingers for me.
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Massage by the pond
Posted by lisa on Jun 4, 2008
After work I pulled some weeds then relaxed in a chair by the pond. I practiced massage on Smitty, who sat in my lap, and shared a ginger ale with John. The Smit was cooperative and let me do most anything. I could see his back muscles in the lumbar region shiver as I performed deep pressure down the sides of his spine.
Apparently many dogs hold tension in the lumbar, just as many humans do in our traps. It makes sense, I suppose, since the canine spine is horizontal. The sacral vertebrae are interlocked with the pelvis, and the thoracic vertebra get some support from the ribs, costal cartilage and the intercostal muscles. The lumbar vertebrae are just hanging there with just fascia, cartilage, and muscles to hold them in place.
As I worked on Smitty we watched Fergus fishing in our small pond. He is “friends” with out two year old fish Napolean, who we hatched from an egg stuck to a water plant. He looks like a comet, orange and white. We just replaced our missing second fish with Josephine, a shubunkin. 
God knows what she thinks about Fergus swatting at her, but Napolean and his erstwhile brother would taunt him, pulling on his paw fur and darting away, hiding under his belly and laughing at him. He will stare at the water for 45 minutes, hunting for fish. It must be good intellectual exercise, all that concentration and aiming. And pouncing.
Massage by the pond watching Fergus’ tail wag at merely the thought of fish… it doesn’t get much better, does it?
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