Ember's Upset Belly - Good Enough Mom

Ember and I at Lincoln Center (2019)

This morning I heard Ember coming towards me before throwing up in front of my bed. I remembered she ate something off the street last night and I was glad she got it out of her system. I comforted her and told her I was sorry she was not feeling well.

She received: 

A hug 

One Minute Reflexology for Animals 

Paw Reflexology on all 4 paws

Belly Rubs 

Chest Rubs 

During our walks, she was slower than usual and she was more insistent than usual on where she wanted to go, and I think she was definitely weakened, but we did play a little catch and fetch towards the end of the walk, and she chewed on a stick. 

Reflecting on this morning, I was very moved by the fact that she came to me to throw up (no, I don't want her to be in pain ever, that is a given) and I was wondering whether that means that she trusts me, that she knows I will comfort her. I believe she definitely knows by now how good Reflexology is for her. Yes, always wondering if I am good enough a dog mom, but our reflexology practice definitely supports her. Every once in a while I get flooded with a dose of endorphins caused by my gratitude about the existence of One Minute Reflexology for Animals. I really do, and I am glad I followed my heart. 

If you'd like to try it with your pets, here is a pdf of One Minute Reflexology for Animals found on the ICR website:

And here are videos of a few random morning sessions with Ember, please make sure to read the description https://youtu.be/j3HQ9O-EblU?si=KPEaXo_AX2PUzb7u

Thank you for reading,

Birgit and 🐾 Ember 

Birgit Nagele, ARCB, LVCY, TCTSY-F, she/her

Reflexology & Yoga (chair)

Trauma-Informed Care 

🐾 One Minute Reflexology for Animals/ICRPaws

https://icr-reflexology.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Paws.pdf

Asking for More Food in Three Ways?

 



Yesterday morning, Ember's breakfast portion was a bit smaller than usual. We had run out of raw food. The dry food was the usual amount. I figured it was perhaps ok because a pet parent friend of ours, suggested yesterday that Ember could lose a bit of weight. I pointed at my belly saying that it was in the family:-). 

As I started to get engaged with a work matter, after feeding her, she did something unusual:

1. She dropped one of our many "rescued balls"  (we find balls often in the park) next to me on the couch. Hm, does she want to play? Generally she immediately embarks on her nap after breakfast. I accepted her invitation to play a bit because it is always great fun. In the park when we engage in ball play she gets treats, for catching/fetching dropping. 

- Then it occurred to me that she might still be hungry. She had noticed that there was less raw food.  

2. She had also returned to her bowl but that does happen from time to time. 

3. And she also looked at the coatrack which was very odd since we had a long walk as most of the time and just gotten back. She tends to look at her leash and harness hung up around walk time but obviously my coats are hung up, too.

Was she telling me to get my coat and go buy raw food?  

Wow, just wow, Ember! 

- I conclude she said to go get dog food. 

- And perhaps she figured that if she engaged me in ball play, she would get treats which will make up for the smaller portion. 

What did I do? I listened. I gave her more treats, and I was reminded to make sure to buy her raw food. 

- I personally have made many observations since I embarked on my reflexology for animals path in 2010 surrounding Mowgli and Ember supporting the fact that animals are sentient beings, individuals, the ways they communicate, their intelligence, their spunk, etc. 

As for animal communication: I will never forget the black bear mom signaling with a growl and eye contact with me - my eyes glued at the bear family's every move for an hour or so - that she and her four (!!) adorable cubs were about to leave the pine tree (very close to the deck we were on) and that she needed space to do so, kkrrr, she was giving us a friendly warning, just in case.

I immediately understood and it took her quite a while to manage her four cubs because they were so playful and not in a hurry at all to leave the area. I have since several videos of mom bears dealing with their cubs. Absolutely precious.  

Because of our reflexology practice, my curiosity about Ember and animals in general increased. I find animals endlessly fascinating and they give me strength, hope, and so much joy. Who needs people? Just kidding. I am fascinated by people, too. 

The reflexology practice is trauma-informed*  (see link) and fosters Ember's connection to herself and  also our connection to each other. We have come a long way. She had deeply entrenched trauma caused by early life abandonment, she was taken in as a stray by the Bowling Green Humane Society and came to New York in a van full of dogs with Muddy Paws and before we adopted her on November 26, and she had at least two foster families in about two weeks. 

Thank you for reading, 

Birgit and 🐾 Ember

Birgit Nagele, ARCB, LVCY, TCTSY-F, she/her

Reflexology & Yoga (chair)

Trauma-Informed Care 

🐾 One Minute Reflexology for Animals/ICRPaws

https://icr-reflexology.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Paws.pdf

*One Minute Reflexology for Animals was part of my final paper  (2019) to become a TCTSY (Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Facilitator). The TCTSY methodology I have found can also be applied to reflexology, and has been applied to Weight Lifting (TIWL).  

One Minute Reflexology for Animals ICR Paws Update in ICR March Newsletter

One Minute Reflexology for Animals/ICR Paws is covered in the March 2023 ICR Newsletter.  - Thank you, Liza Thomas and ICR. 

Here is the new link to our initiative on ICR website:

icr-reflexology.org

While the first page is the practice itself and thus for layman and reflexologists, the second page (shared below) contains additional information, such as translations, and milestones (the short version) which might be more interesting to reflexologists (associations) interested in getting involved and includes a mention of DR (distance reflexology as per Dorothea Kreidl). 

The mentioned newsletter contains both pages. 

Thank you for your visit.

Best wishes,

Birgit Nagele, ARCB, LVCY, TCTSY-F, she/her

Reflexology & Yoga (chair)

Trauma-Informed Care 

🐾 One Minute Reflexology for Animals/ICRPaws

https://icr-reflexology.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Paws.pdf

YOU TUBE English, German, French; One Minute Reflexology for Animals/ICRPaws

Some time  around Christmas I finally got it. I suddenly knew exactly how to do a video of One Minute Reflexology for Animals without obsessing about what I was wearing or how messy my hair was. 

I set up the phone camera and started giving Ember her morning session. Unlike Mowgli she did not have a reaction to the video, maybe because the camera was not reversed. I took that as her approval!

The topic video had come up in meetings with colleagues and I was hesitant. But it would indeed be an additional way of sharing the practice. And sure enough, I ran into someone who said she was a more visual person and could not do much with the pdf instructions. Thank you, Karen. 

Because I shared the practice with my cousins (thank you for your feedback, Anja and Eva) and a friend in Austria, I decided to do a video in German as well, and then I remembered I had studied French for years. I had to look up most words and I hope it came out ok. 

Two native French speakers were supportive. Thank you, Stan and Eddy! 

Please note it is possible that your animal friend does not like their face and/or some of the (reflex) areas touched or does not show a visible response.

Please respect your animal friend's comfort zone. It is about meeting them where they are at because it is a trauma-informed practice. 

https://youtu.be/j3HQ9O-EblU (English) 

https://youtu.be/rAFhVg3zYRM (German) 

https://youtu.be/-PGvE3PKVps (French)

(Me and videos: One day many moons ago, I recorded a morning reflexology session with Mowgli. When I watched the video afterwards, I saw Mowgli's reaction when he noticed it; I was using the reverse feature.  

Also Mowgli was with me one day when I thought like everybody I had to start posting videos on IG to announce something. I was totally obsessed with getting it right, looking good of course, oh and the light, oh and what was I wearing. - I looked at Mowgli who was patiently waiting at Rustic Overlook in Central Park. I was thinking how pathetic this was, when our morning walk usually was all about relaxation and nature. What a waste of time! I learned from that. Thank you, Mowgli.) 

Thank you for reading, 

Birgit Nagele, ARCB, LVCY, TCTSY-F; She/Her, Reflexology & Yoga (focus: chair) 

Trauma-Sensitive Care 

-  You are welcome to use and share our complimentary One Minute Reflexology for Animals/ICR Paws Perhaps it is as helpful to you as it has been for us. 

https://icr-reflexology.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PAWS.pdf 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/glimpses/?r=nametag

ICR Hosts Promotion of Reflexology Internationally /Local Efforts in NYC

REFLEXOLOGY IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER!!!

⇉Reflexologists from around the world

Hosted by ICR International Council of Reflexologists with reflexologists from around the globe in many languages:  

2020 World Reflexology Week events on zoom

will take place from September 21-25.  

- These events are open to reflexologists and the general public. 

- I personally am excited to moderate the German language presentations on September 25, 2020 with

Helga Dittmann: Chronic Stress Relief with Foot and Hand Reflexology

Stefanie Sabounchian: Strengthening the Immune System with Ear Reflexology 

Here is the link to schedule for the weeklong presentations,  languages, and registration:  

https://icr-reflexology.org/2020-wrw/

⇉Locally in New York City

⇉It all began in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1999 with a proclamation of the Governor of Hawaii (see document).  Bill Flocco, one of the Founders of ICR is credited with WRW. 

⇉As for myself 

I came to reflexology via interest in my feet/health as a yogi.  It was for self care initially, but is now work, too.  Both are too much needed to not share and educate about them.

Happy World Reflexology Week, 

If you are interested in Reflexology/Yoga (mostly Chair Yoga), with a trauma-informed practitioner, feel free to contact me.  I hope to be back in the studio at the end of October but am available online with 

⇉facilitation and 

⇉remote sessions 

⇉ offering samples of 10 minutes  reflexology sessions in honor of WRW 2020 throughout October (feet, hands, face, ears). 

Best wishes to All of Us during this difficult time with layering crises, 

Birgit 

A few mindful breaths can at times allow for more ease...

Dogs; Lockdown and Separation after Lockdown?

A voice, clapping again? 

“There are no books for getting your dog happy at the end of a pandemic," says Arianne Cohen in a recent Bloomberg article  (see link at bottom of page).

I am sharing a little bit about how Ember seemed affected by the changes surrounding the unfolding of  the Covid-19 Pandemic here in New York City. 

At the very beginning of the lockdown Regal quarantined/isolated for three weeks in PA with Ember.    Ember had a ball, she loves the country where she learned to swim and gets to be a bit wilder and spends a lot of time outside.  

Reflexology and “Our Best Friends’ Crisis” (ICR Newsletter/ICR Paws 🐾)

This article I contributed was published in ICR Newsletter September 2019.

Later that month the ICR conference took place in Anchorage, Alaska where #ICRPaws was introduced.

#ICRPAWS is a collaboration between One Minute Reflexology for Animals and ICR (Thank you, ICR). 

This is an invitation to pet parents to treat their pets to reflexology and to reflexologists to visit their local shelters and introduce stuff to the practice to support them in their efforts supporting animals, working together to support our best friends or perhaps participate in other ways. 

Please, note some reflexology at home is not comparable to a visit from your local reflexologist. 

Best wishes to all of us during this difficult time.  Thank you for your visit as always,

Birgit