Seated Meditation Practice

The muse loves it when I practice. She helps me to understand what a real downward-facing dog looks like and, as I take my seat, she settles beside me. For at least three seconds.

While I am shifting my mindful focus to the breath or to thoughts of peace and gratitude, she is beginning her subtle attempts to un-seat me. Although sometimes unsuccessful, these campaigns are always energetic and persistent, as is she.

Highly strategic, she begins by selecting her crunchiest, noisiest bone and proceeds to gnaw enthusiastically, while insinuating herself into my lap.

Then she brings gifts, among them her goopiest tennis balls, and her furriest blankets. These she offers ceremoniously by draping and dropping them on me. Slurpy face licks are thrown in for good measure.

By the end of the practice, I am often covered in bones, balls and blankets. Perfect.

Poochbuddhas know that  practice is about focus and acceptance. The muse was helping me to sharpen my focus and deepen my acceptance by providing distractions.

Seated meditation practice

Practice over, The Muse usually calms herself, curls up and drifts into a deep sleep, confident that her work here is done. Such a Poochbuddha.

Here! Now!

Poochbuddhas know that Now is all there is. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is a dream - the only living we ever do is in the Now.

The Muse is well aware of this. Her focus is that bird, those squirrels, this meal, this walk, this treat, that dog, that cat, that other dog.... Dwelling on missing the mailman yesterday or longing for a swim tomorrow isn't part of her reality. (Although she does have an uncanny way of ramping up the back-seat-barkfest when we near The Trail or The Other Trail or Spencer and Willow's House or The School Yard Where We Play Fetch, so she remembers, apparently,  Places Where There Will Be Fun).

Poochbuddhas know that The Present (name no coincidence) is where everything happens. It's where we can make choices to react or respond to what life sends our way. We feel our feelings, think our thoughts, and take our actions in the Now.

So being fully here makes perfect sense. We can change what we do/think/feel/choose right Now. We can't change the past or the future (or other people or the truth - but those are posts for another day).

The Muse loving her Present

Poochbuddhas know that when they are dwelling in the past or the future, they are more prone to feelings of  regret, guilt, anxiety, envy, and remorse. Better to be right here right now, yes?

A friend asks,  Where are your feet right at this moment? Why not be here with them?

Gratitude

The enthusiasm with which the muse devours her meals always amazes me. She gets the same food, day in and day out, and yet her gratitude never wanes. She shows the same excitement for the same forest trails and local parks we visited yesterday and the day before and.... In fact her enthusiasm begins when she hears me open the car door and mounts to a happy, shrieking crescendo as we approach the parking lot.

Serious eating

The Muse demonstrates her gratitude

PoochBuddhas live in an ongoing state of gratitude. Rather than focus on the negative (what, this food again? This trail?) they remain grateful for whatever is in front of them right now. Even the tough stuff is a source of gratitude for the lessons it brings.

A focus on abundance over lack creates a sense of PoochBuddha Peace that radiates and affects everyone in their presence. They know that each day we receive abundance that exceeds the capacity of our awareness.

If The Muse kept a gratitude journal (other than the one constantly in her mind) it would say food, walks, treats, naps, stretches, soft furniture, bones, sticks and it would then repeat as infinitum.
What would yours say?

Play!

PoochBuddhas are play-masters. They know that play is heart-centred and rejuvenating.

The Muse adores play and takes every possible opportunity to introduce it into our day. Her play bow is never subtle and always irresistible. Favourite play includes keep-away, fetch, and tug-o-war. Her energy for play knows no bounds. She has done a great job of training me and always wins with grace and humility.

PoochBuddha play includes everything and anything: witty repartée, goofing around and helpless belly-laugh -snorting are all fair game. PoochBuddhas play with kindness and abandon in equal measure. They play until they are plum tuckered out:

The Muse after Serious Play

PoochBuddhas don't take themselves or their lives too seriously. They are open to fun and lightness even on dark days.

Ever noticed how often the Dalai Lama giggles?

PhotoCredit: http://www.welt.de/politik/article2368248/Dalai-Lama.html?pg=7

Sit!

A favourite suggestion for PoochBuddhas is sit.

For some, it means a path to a treat. For others, enlightenment. Either way, taking your seat and just being for a while has rich rewards.

Have you ever watched a pooch focus on a treat? PoochBuddhas who practice sit are developing single-minded focus. This can help with day-to-day mindfulness, and can reduce monkey-mind chatter.

I'm not sure about the focus for Hailey's meditations, other than the treat itself (usually evidenced by attractive twin lines of drool), but one of my favourites is:

inbreath: welcome (to the universe, to peace, to whatever your heart desires)
outbreath: thank you.

Repeat until nirvana occurs or treat is received. Simple, but not easy.

The Muse at Practice

PoochBuddha focus during the sit

An alternative to the thank you part is, of course, vigorous tail-wagging.



Stay!

Stay is a tricky one. The PoochBuddha develops staying power through long practice and patient-loving-kindness. The Muse can stay seated for a few minutes on a good day and is soon distracted by, oh, pretty much anything.

I can relate.

The Muse in a very impressive Stay among the Spring Trillia

Easy to sit, challenging to stay sitting. Easy to start, challenging to stay on to the finish. Easy to stop, challenging to stay stopped...

These days, we are bombarded with distractions.

[ Dis-Traction: suddenly whatever traction we were gaining through focus and attention is lost. (Hmmm... does that mean that Abs-Traction is a good thing?) (wait - that was a distraction right there) (Whoa... too many brackets!) (Oh look, string* ) ].

The antidote to distraction is mindful awareness, so that we return our focus to the one person//thing/task right in front of us. Breathing in and breathing out is a good place to start. Focusing on and returning to the breath is a way to stay.

PoochBuddhas prefer mindfulness over multi-tasking. One task, one conversation, one challenge, one day at a time.

Simple but not easy. Stay.


[* Borrowed with gratitude from a favourite client -- she knows who she is :-)]

Muddy Treasure

So the PoochBuddha loves mud.
(Have you noticed lately how often we begin sentences with so? When did this start happening? I prefer it to um. So the evolution of language is so interesting).


Hailey-the-Muse will always find the muddiest puddle within a five km radius and proceed to explore it with PoochBuddha enthusiasm and focused intention. Joy ensues, as does vigorous shaking in order to spread said joy. On hikes at this time of year she masquerades often as a chocolate lab.


For Hailey, mud is treasure.

PoochBuddha who looks a lot like Hailey in the spring

PhotoCredit: Flickr.com post: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iainalexander/1509680604/

PoochBuddhas know about jewels in the mud. They search relentlessly for the treasure in everyone. Our jewel-essential-selves are slowly revealed by life's challenges and joys. Kinda like those stone-polishing-tumbler things. More tumbling, more sparkle. Treasure revealed.


Our job here is to uncover the jewel within each of us, a task that begins with knowing the jewel is there. I suspect that all babies are born knowing this about themselves. We forget, though, and the eventual dis-covering of the jewel is our life's work.


If we are awake, we will recognize and learn from PoochBuddha guides along the way. Some are furry and all are muddy.

PoochBuddha? Huh?

PoochBuddha sounds a bit like what you say when you see a VW Beetle on a road trip, just before you punch your sister/brother/spouse/friend in the shoulder.

In fact, it's a combination of two of my favourite things/concepts/creatures in The Universe. And the more time I spend with pooches (mine and others) (time well-spent in my view) the more Buddha-like they seem to me. Fully present. Joy canine-i-fied. Gratitude on four legs. Happy the way little kids can be happy. No regrets. No resentments. Kind, and at the same time, very clear about  their boundaries. Always completely who they are -- authentic. Comfortable in their own skin, even those Shar-Pei guys.

Pooches are born as old souls. They can teach us pretty much whatever we are open to learning. Except maybe calculus. (But they sure know about time and space and cosmic strand theory. )

Why PoochBuddha as the title for this first-effort blog? No idea really. Just liked it. *
I am curious to see how it relates to future posts, and will do my best to stay grounded in PoochBuddha wisdom. Meanwhile - here is my PoochBuddha muse, two years ago.

* Orange I like too, and it seems to fit here.