The other day I was talking to somebody about the challenges we face in the practice of meditation. How we can use breath, mantra, song, stillness and posture to narrow our attention in order to dive deeper into a meditative state. And then it dawned on me…how simply both of our dogs are capable of going directly into this state, not that they are necessarily sitting either in lotus or at all. Maybe they are never out of this state in the first place! Nevertheless they have the inate ability to become focused on a single thing almost instantly.
Our female dog, Yindi, sees me holding a treat and wham…her eyes don’t leave it for a second. She doesn’t blink, bark or move. She’s focused. Our male dog, Koele, sees a cat out on our walk and nothing is in his attention more than where that cat went, what it was doing and how he’s going to “catch” it. He becomes utterly oblivious to my gentle coaxing of “leave it”. Focused.
Our dogs are both Golden Retrievers, smart, loving, playful and part of the family. It’s in their nature. They have times when they are at home, eyes half closed, gently breathing and appear to be fully present. They are great teachers of knowing what they want and staying focused on it. If what they want isn’t immediately present, they wait patiently until that walk, pat or food comes around.
Why then, is it so challenging for so many of us to not become distracted by the busy thoughts that swirl in our heads? Is it simply a canine/homo sapien thing? Perhaps. But my intuition tells me that the dogs are able to get to the heart of their feelings and are in a now, in this moment, present way of living. They show unconditional love and trust. They don’t hide behind complexities or excuses, but just thrust their feelings out there for all to see and experience.
My thought for this week is to tap into my own inner downward or upward facing dog. To let go into the experience of life, including emulating the ease of becoming focused on a single, seemingly simple thing like my breath or a mantra.
If my dogs can do…perhaps so can I!
