Last week, someone posted an intriguing question about whether there was such a thing as E.F.T. for traumatized animals (Emotional Freedom Technique is an acupressure point tapping technique, designed to release trauma, among other things).

I said I’d ask Jane Miller, a clinical social worker who is author of Healing Companions: Ordinary Dogs and Their Extraordinary Power to Transform Lives, to see if she knew anything about this, and sure enough, she did.  She recommends checking out these websites for more information:

Jane herself teaches relaxation and stress reduction techniques for humans and their animals, integrating breathing techniques, Reiki (energy work), mindfulness meditation, guided imagery, acupressure points, canine massotherapy and Therapeutic Touch. You can view a demo of her technique on her website.
 
She says that her clients learn these techniques to implement with their psychiatric service dogs, to help decrease their stress levels, and to help build a beautiful bond.  She adds that most service dog organizations use some techniques, massotherapy or something along those lines, to help the dogs bond and decrease their stress as working dogs.
 
She discusses stress reduction techniques in her book’s sixth chapter, Dogs Have Issues, Too: Helping Your Dog Cope With Stress.

Some other favorite books of mine from last year: 

  • Priscilla Warner’s Learning to Breathe: My Yearlong Quest to Bring Calm into My Life

  • Caren Goldman’s Restoring Life's Missing Pieces: The Spiritual Power of Remembering and Reuniting with People, Places,Things and Self

  • Andrew Weil’s Spontaneous Happiness

  • Greg Anderson’s Breast Cancer: 50 Essential Things You Can Do

Okay, take care and be well.