Volume 6, Number 9, October 2007

Quote From Moshe: “I suggest, and I believe that I am right, that sensory stimuli are closer to our unconscious, subconscious, or autonomous functioning than to any of our conscious understanding. On the sensory level communication is more direct with the unconscious, and is therefore more effective and less distorted than at the verbal level.” The Elusive Obvious, p. 3

Aware, Aware Has My Little Dog Gone?

What is awareness? It’s a sticky sort of question, one that if answered correctly is probably wrong. Nevertheless, there are qualities to it that we can consistently describe-around, if not express in detail. We can talk about what awareness does, why we need it, when we are getting it and what it costs to lose it. I’ve been striving to do all of these things over the last six years of Possibilities.

But who has awareness? Better yet, is awareness something unique to humans?

Before I give you my opinion on that subject, I want to let you in on something called The Tellington Touch Method, designed by a woman named Linda Tellington-Jones, a Feldenkrais alumna who went on to create a method of working with animals. Clearly Ms. Jones thinks that animals have awareness.

I do too, and I want to explain, not only why I agree, but also why we should care.

In one sense, awareness is a measure of increased understanding or integration with the environment, including the creatures around you. It’s not a fixed thing, like having the Gettysburg Address in your head. It’s more amorphous, like happiness. Are you happy? Happiness is something fuzzy, something you can only measure in terms of how happy you were yesterday. Are you aware? Same thing.

What I find compelling about animals is that there seems to be such a huge variety of nuances between them. I don’t mean between the bobcat in the woods and your cat Fluffy. I mean the difference between your cat Fluffy and my cat Fritz. Without any scientific data on their side, people will swear up and down that their cat has a personality, that he or she understands them, or is talking to them.

I think that the level of interaction between a person and their pet indicates a higher awareness both in the person and the animal. On the human side, we’re certainly more aware of the surface features of the animal, whether or not it wants to be touched and so forth. But when petting it, we’re also interacting with it, talking to it so to speak. It lets us know where it wants to be stroked and, if we’re worth our salt as owners, we respond.

Pets benefit from this interaction as much or more than humans do. They wind up smarter, somehow. They learn to communicate with us, but not by learning our language. They have gained something else, perhaps a larger sense of their own self, an extension of the kind of thinking instilled in them by their mothers.

The awareness has practical benefits. Just as in humans, animals may live longer, healthier lives if given the opportunity to expand their awareness. The nicest thing about awareness, though, is that it’s a two-way street.

As a Feldenkrais practitioner, I benefit each time I give a lesson. I can’t just “change” someone and walk away the same. I interact with them in a way that calls awareness to both of us. I change myself as well.

It’s not so easy to get people to work with you. Even when you’re a professional, it’s hard to get clients, much less steady clients. Family and friends often don’t want to mess around with your Feldenkrais-thing. So how can you experience that sharing and increasing of awareness?

Animals provide some of the nicest opportunities for that kind of sharing. They’re very aware of themselves, and interacting with them in the right way can quiet you down considerably. If you pet a cat with awareness, changing the way you touch it depending on how it’s responding to you, then you’re tuning into something very basic and healthy.

This isn’t rocket-science, not even in Feldenkrais terms. We all have access to this kind of interaction. The animals certainly don’t mind. It’s good for them and it can be good for you. In this way, you can actually communicate with your pet to the degree it’s possible, and come out a healthier, happier person in the bargain.

All you have to do is recognize that animals have awareness! Not such a bad deal, is it?