Inner Wisdom

                “Would you like to meet Sophia?”

                I opened my eyes and looked around the waiting room. I must have dozed off while I waited for my friend to finish her doctor’s appointment, because an older woman was suddenly standing directly in front of me, nodding and smiling. She had on pink scrubs and was holding the leash of one of the biggest Standard Poodles I had ever seen. I sat up straighter in the hard plastic chair and blinked a couple of times. I hadn’t slept well last night—okay, at all—and, I admit, the chance to catch a quick nap was a welcome respite. I had been very stressed and worried about my friend these past few weeks, and I almost resented this interruption. However, once I shrugged off my sleepy confusion and oriented myself in the room, my irritation melted away. I suddenly noticed the gentle, warm pressure of the dog’s chest and right shoulder leaning into my right shin. Sophia’s long, delicate chin rested on my knees and she looked up at me with soulful brown eyes.

The woman gave her dog a loving scratch behind the ears. Sophia pressed her right shoulder even closer against my leg and let out a soft sigh. “Go ahead and pet her if you like. Sophia is a therapy dog. She will stay with you as long as you like, or until you get up if you have to go.”

“No, I’m good.” I noticed that I was smiling as I leaned over to rub the dog’s shoulders, patting and stroking her the way I gently scratch my horse’s withers. The large waiting room had suddenly shrunk to the three or four feet of space that Sophia, her handler and I were occupying. The tightness and tension in my shoulders bled away as I also released a slow, steady exhale. I could tell right away—from these physiological changes going on in my body and the sense of deep relaxation that I was feeling—that I had drifted into a light form of hypnosis. What was happening? How did this dog and her handler know how much I needed this encounter at that moment?

Animals’ intuition never fails to impress and astound me. Throughout my life, my cats always seem to know when I am sick. They stay close to me and curl up beside me on the sofa or in bed, feline versions of Florence Nightingale that are determined to keep a close eye on me until I recover. My horses—first, Geeves and now Galahad—always become very protective and even careful around me when I don’t feel well or if my confidence wavers during a ride. Similarly, when my mom and I met Monty Roberts at an Equine Affaire event many years ago, Mr. Roberts explained that his Mustang, Shy Boy, always sought out people in the audience who seemed to need a little special attention. Well, that little Mustang came right over to my mother and me. I definitely wanted and hoped he would come over to us; but my mom was especially excited and emotional about this encounter.

Today, I just had a sense that the dog was singling me out for this attention, because she was suddenly there in front of me, looking at me, nuzzling me. Since I had been sleeping when this pair entered the waiting room, I don’t know how many people they had already visited before they got to my corner against the wall. But once Sophia came over to me, she stayed in the same position pressed against my legs for at least 20 minutes. There were a few other patients sitting nearby, but I was the person the dog and her handler hung out with for so long. Even when other patients and their children came over to meet her, Sophia stayed close to me. I wasn’t even officially a patient today, but I definitely needed and appreciated the kind of gentle comfort that she was able to provide for me this morning.

 

                 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014

Learning From the Masters: Monty Roberts, Part 1

     Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

Me with Monty Roberts at the Pomona Equine Affaire in 2008

     I did not remember his name the first time I heard of Monty Roberts. But I always remembered what he taught.
     Let's go back about 20 years. At the time, I hadn't ridden or even spent any significant time around horses in about a decade. I was living in Southeast London, doing my post-graduate degree. But my fascination and infatuation with them was still strong enough to influence where I chose to live: My landlords--and now, friends--owned a horse; my landlady rides and competes in dressage.
     On this particular night, I was curled up in an armchair, watching a documentary about a gentleman from Solvang, California. The subject of this documentary was very personable and  soft-spoken. He provided background about his difficult (abusive) childhood and his subsequent work with, training and advocating for the welfare of horses. Then Mr. Roberts explained how his gentle, respectful philosophy of "Join-Up" was based on his observations of how horses naturally interact with herd members in the wild. 

    

     The program showed him do this at a riding stable--I think the event was a motivational seminar of some kind for business executives. No whips, no ropes, no harsh words. Just a man and a horse that had never been handled before. Mr. Roberts explained what he was doing the whole time, and in about 30 minutes the horse was following him around the arena. Afterward, several attendees gave emotional impressions of what they had witnessed. He admitted that people often became emotional at his seminars (some even faint); he went on to explain that witnessing or experiencing this kind of human-horse interaction was very cathartic when there was abuse or trauma in the person's past.

     Then, the documentary showed him using "Join-Up" techniques to gentle the wild Mustang, Shy Boy, in the middle of a Nevada desert.

     Several years ago, I had the honor of meeting Mr. Roberts and Shy Boy at Equine Affaire in Pomona, California. By then, a friend at my barn had re-introduced me to his work. I only had to read a few pages of The Man Who Listens to Horses to realize that this was the man featured in that documentary I still remembered watching when I lived in London. I still feel the hairs on my neck prickle when I think about how his interactions with horses bring people to tears, and a wild Mustang colt to trust him implicitly.

     And then I heard him introduce/describe each of the horses in his demonstration as   "equine students"...and I was blown away. 

     Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.