[:en]I don’t work with animals very often. They just don’t seem to come my way. There was one time, however, that I did work with a small pretty dog, Beamer. This has remained an experience of some wonder for me. About eight years ago, I was staying at the comfortable and artistically nurturing home of my friend TJ Sebastian in Fort Worth, Texas. I first met TJ on that visit. I was teaching a class and TJ offered her guest casita to me for the ten days that the class met. She and her husband had several dogs they had taken in; she told me that ever since their kids had left home, her husband had been bringing home stray dogs.

All of the dogs1, each in their own ways, initiated contact, allowing or demanding some degree of touching, patting, scratching, and ruffling; the exception was the smallest, Beamer, a long-haired Chihuahua. I could see why. Beamer was so pretty and so small that I was sure she had been overwhelmed by the affection of strangers many – too many – times. I have a strategy with such creatures: give them their space and allow for the possibility that they will come my way on their own. And so, while getting chummy with the other dogs at the house, I just ignored Beamer, and Beamer stayed far away from me.

On my last day at TJ’s, I was sitting at one end of their long dining table across from TJ. We were drinking coffee, and sharing how glad we were to have met one another and how sad it was to say goodbye. Beamer was safe in TJ’s lap while we talked, only occasionally making guarded glances my way. I tried not to look at her at all. I didn’t want to alarm Beamer, as I thought it rather exceptional that she would share such close proximity with me for such a long period of time. I had my hands resting on the table, probably tapping and moving my hands around a little, as I have a habit of doing. The three of us – TJ, Beamer, and   I – had been sitting at the table for about fifteen minutes when Beamer, without warning, stood up in TJ’s lap and slowly pulled herself up onto the table. TJ turned to her while giving a questioning look, so I knew that getting up on the dining table was not a usual thing for even the littlest and prettiest dog in her house. Once on the table, Beamer walked over to me. TJ and I both shared even larger questioning looks. My left hand was turned up at the time and Beamer headed for that. She turned to face me, and then she backed up and managed to lay her belly right onto the palm of my hand. I didn’t move, and TJ and I said nothing; we continued to share various looks of surprise, expressing in our faces a little mirth and a little awe.

Beamer

I noticed right away that Beamer’s tummy was hot – too hot. I started seeing if I could find any mid or long tide.2 I felt some strong and fast mid-tide motions and pauses around the borders of her abdomen that I assumed corresponded with the region of her colon. As I was sensing, Beamer relaxed further down onto my hand, all the while looking me in the eye. I got the idea that she might be constipated. When working with the digestive track, I always like to start at the expelling end, to free restrictions from lower to upper. And so, as her expelling end, so to speak, was near to my fingertips, I began to palpate her colon from there. Beamer’s response to this was to rest even further onto my hand and fingertips and to keep looking me in the eye. Just a short distance up through her colon, I found a firm impaction. I manipulated this, trying gently to break it apart and send the pieces toward that expelling end. After less than two minutes, I felt a peristaltic wave start through her colon and the area of heat started to move and to cool.

I let my hand come to a rest to see if there would be something else to do, but very soon Beamer started to get up. She broke eye contact with me and tentatively stood in the spot over my hand for a few seconds; she then took a few steps, turned around, and began to walk carefully down the long table. TJ and I resumed looking at each other, but neither of us said a thing. As Beamer walked this runway, she did a few small stretches, picking up her pace and circling about a little. She then walked straight back toward me, stopped across from my face, leaned forward, and began to lick my face all over. I, of course, responded by putting a big smile on my face. I think TJ started crying, and I cooed back some loving things to Beamer.

After she had thoroughly covered my face with kisses, Beamer went back over to my left hand, which was still where she had left it. She made a couple of circles, and with her back turned to me, she laid her left hip right onto the palm of my hand. Needless to say, I found a few things to work with in the hip. The work even involved me wrapping my right hand around her and eventually holding her up to get the left leg straightened. During this entire process, she responded with full surrender and trust. When that work was done, Beamer, via TJ’s lap, got down from the table and first walked, then ran, around the table a few times before she quickly came back to me, asking to get up on my lap where more kisses, pats, and cooing ensued. I think I could have continued to work with Beamer, but I had a plane to catch.

I have not had the good fortune to stay   at TJ’s since then, but I hear from TJ that Beamer is still on the planet. TJ sent this recent picture of her to me, saying that when I met Beamer she weighed four pounds, but now only weighs three. I want to express my thanks to TJ and Beamer for an experience that continues to teach me many important questions and answers about the true nature of life, perception, and healing.

Endnotes

1. I say “all of the dogs,” but I do remember that one of the dogs they had brought in preferred to stay outside on the perimeter of the property, allowing himself to be seen and fed, but he was unapproachable to
2. Mid and long tides are used in Sutherland- style cranial work and biodynamic visceral See my article “Specific Indirect Techniques” on the library page of my website www.connectivetissue.com for more information on using the long and mid tides for assessment and for treatment.

Beamer: The Chihuahua That Somehow Knew[:]