Wednesday I went again to work on my friend (and animal communicator) Eileen's cats, MacDuff and Misty. I am working on both of them in hopes of making them both more comfortable so that they will become more comfortable together in the household after a while. Eileen has had MacDuff for several years and Misty, who is 12, was brought into their home recently after a neighbor passed away.
Our appointment was a little later in the day than the previous appointments, which was interesting because the energy seemed different. The cats seemed more energized to me today. In the beginning of the session, I was only able to do a few touches here and there on one cat and then on the other, and then they walked away. I used a cat toy which was a stick with a shoelace on it - I used the stick part to do some circles on either cat. They both seemed a bit more wanting to play than to settle at first. MacDuff was not so eager for me to touch him with my hand, whereas before he had been ok with me touching him right away. I did see though that they seemed comfortable sitting in closer proximity to one another than they had been before.
I had to let go of my expectations and "meet the animals where they are", as we say in TTouch. Misty was comfortable with me sending her Reiki from about a foot away -- she started tucking her front legs underneath her, and began to close her eyes, looking very cozy. Shortly after this, MacDuff went to sit on a window perch in the kitchen, one of his cozy places. I slowly went into the kitchen to see if he would be ok with me touching him.
I consciously slowed my energy down as I started to work on him. I realized that my energy was a little too much, and I needed to let go of expectations and just clear my head and be in the moment with him. As I did this, I started to feel in synch with him.
I started out with little raccoon touches in the center of his forehead, which appeared to be relaxing to him. I also did some touches on the outside of his mouth and jaw, which really seemed to release tension. I did raccoon touches around the base of his ear, and was surprised that he really relaxed into these, as Eileen has told me he generally does not like to have his ears touched. I did these touches very slowly, with a pause at the end, to allow him to process.
Then I decided to try some TTouches on his body, though I knew that touching the body would be a big step for him. I did abalone touches (circular touches using the whole hand) EXTREMELY slowly with a pause at the end, then sliding my hand to the next location as I worked down one side, then the other. At the end of the second side, he gave me a little hiss to let me know he was done. I told him I was sorry that I didn't stop a bit sooner - that is a really tricky balance, to know how to push the limit a little but stop just short of them having had enough. Maybe next time I'll do it :)
Eileen and I also paid a visit to a neighbor's place where she was taking care of a hamster and a frog. The hamster was not in a mood to socialize but the tiny water frog seemed quite energized by having some attention. Eileen was speaking with him and I did a few circular touches outside of his tank. Here he is pictured below.
Thank you Misty and MacDuff for reminding me that I have to be patient and sensitive to what you are ready to do in the moment.
I had a phone call from Eileen several days later and she told me that Duff and Misty always do better after I have a session with them, and that they really were getting more and more comfortable around each other - that there is less hissing and fussing from Duff etc. I told her that I am learning so much from them as well. Animals have so much to teach us, if we are only patient and quiet enough to really listen.
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