I Admit It, I’m a “Helicopter Parent” to My Pups and I’m Not Alone…Recent Research Suggests This May Be a Good Thing…

Researchers Reevy and Deldago, conducted a national survey of 1098 pet owners to learn more about the human-pet bond.  They measured their participants’ personality types, attachments to their pets (e.g., My pets and I have a very special relationship, My pet means more to me than my friends do)  and whether they identified as a “Cat Person” (19%)  a “Dog Person” (38.4%) “Both” (38.6%) or “Neither” (3.5%).  The majority of the participants lived with their favorite pet. 

10 Tips for a Successful Pet-Centered Meditation/Petitation Practice

Petitation is a type of meditation that you do with your pets.  We call it the peanut butter cup of health, meditating is great for you and so is having pets.  Therefore, it follows that Petitating is an excellent practice to enhance your health and well-being.  

Petitating deepens your connection with your pet and can help with relaxation and relieving anxiety for both of you.  Petitating also helps with mood regulation and sleep.  To learn more about Petitations, visit our website—www.petitations.org 

Here are 10 tips to keep in mind when you Petitate

1. Pick a time when your pet is already somewhat relaxed—this will help a successful Petitation practice and will happen more and more as you develop your practice
2. Find a comfortable position for you and your pet—as long as you don’t fall asleep, I recommend being comfortable so it is something that is pleasurable and you are more likely to do it
3. Try and incorporate Petitation as a daily habit, at least once a day.  Although I can’t always do it, I find starting my day with a short Petitation and ending with a longer Petitations works well for me
4. Start small, only a few minutes at a time—meditating is just like working out in a gym, you have to develop your meditation muscles with practice
5. Don’t force it….if you or your pet aren’t in the right space, try again later—forcing it will only make you and your pet miserable
6. Make sure that you prioritize Petitating—you and your pet are worth it
7. Don’t let it get you frustrated or stressed if you or your pet are having a hard time.  Petitations, although they are easier than other types of meditations, can be difficult. But, they are well worth it for improvement in physical and emotional health and a deeper connection with your pet
8. Try to incorporate different types of meditations or Petitations—this can include Basic Petting Petitations and Gratitude Petitations as well as the other ones we offer—I find that including different types keeps me and my pups interested
9. Do what works—If you like silent meditation or meditation to Steve’s music then do that, if you like guided meditations, there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s all about focusing your mind
10. Have fun—meditating/Petitating doesn’t have to feel like a chore.  It’s one of the most enjoyable part of the day for me and my pups

Pets are Social Bridges Between People and Enhance Neighborhoods

Social support is extremely important for physical and emotional health and well-being.  To better understand this, scientists in Australia and the United States led by Lisa Wood studied the impact of pets on social connectedness. 

We Know that Pets Help Adults, But How About Kids?
Here are 10 ways that pets can help Children: by the ASPCA

https://www.aspca.org/parents/term/ten-emotional-intelligence-lessons-taught-by-pets

Hopefully Pets Will Have Protection Against Domestic Violence—A New Bill Is In the US House of Representatives

 On March 4^th, 2015, a bill was filed in the United States House of Representatives that has the potential to protect our furry friends in the most tragic of circumstances, domestic violence.  The Pet and Woman Safety Act of 2015 would protect pets defined as any domesticated animal that is not used for commercial reasons from the abusers by:

• Adding pets to those protected under the federal stalking statute—this means the stalker would be subject to fines and/or imprisonment if they through travel, electronic media or other means place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm or death for them or their pet.
•  Include pets as the subject of interstate protection orders.
• Amend the section of restitution owed to the victim to include veterinary services related to domestic violence.
•  Create an Emergency and Transitional Pet Shelter and Housing Assistance Grant Program to award grants to eligible entities to carry out programs to provide assistance to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and their pets.  The bill provides for $3,000,000 in funding for each of the first four years of the program.  This would include things like shelter provisions for animals and veterinary care.

The Myths of Multi-Tasking...Sharon Salzberg Explains Why

We often feel that multi-tasking is a more efficient way to function in our fast paced lives.  However, research shows that multi-tasking is actually detrimental to high functioning.  Click here to read an article by meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg on multi-tasking:

Stay Tuned for Our Compassion Petitation...Here's One Reason Why

Compassion meditation was shown to reduce mind-wandering and therefore promote health.  To read the article, click here.   We will be introducing a Compassion Petitation in the fall.  We can't wait to share this with you!

This is Quan Yin (sometimes spelled Kwan Yin or Gwan Yin), the Chinese goddess of compassion.  For more information on her, click this link.