Animals – Companions or Healers?

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INVC NEWS

New Delhi,

Anyone who has ever had a pet knows the healing power of animals. Having a pet makes you feel needed and loved. A pet provides you with a responsibility outside yourself. Animals lower your blood pressure, relax you and help you cope with stress.

Dr. Madhu Kotiya, a tarot card reader and spiritual healer and Sonam Chawla Bhatia, who is also a tarot card reader are sharing some tips on animals are healers and good companion too.

Pets can also help us learn to let go of feelings of anger and resentment. Releasing these emotions, though, can have a lasting positive impact on mental health, and many individuals work with mental health professional to reach a place where they are able to let these and other related feelings go. Pets do not hold on to these emotions, and the support of animal companions may allow many people to shake off anger and resentment more easily.

Pets do not always adhere to the plans their humans have mapped out, plans that can often make us feel as if we are on autopilot. This may seem like a disadvantage initially, but when we consider more carefully, we may find something in this to appreciate. When we embrace distractions and accept the fact we are not in control of everything around us, we can begin to come unstuck from self-imposed or preconceived ideas and restrictions on how things should be. Letting go in this way can be empowering and help us tremendously as we work to lead a better life. As a result, we are often able to more clearly connect with things as they really are and accept the fluidity of life.

Pets do not ruminate about the past and what could have happened or worry about what the future holds. Pets live in the moment. By following their example, we can more easily overcome counterproductive mental activities and stay focused on the present. Remaining mindful and focused on the present can help reduce anxiety symptoms, for one, but numerous findings support other lasting positive effects on mental health as a result of mindfulness practices.

Pets accept us as we are, which can help us accept ourselves. A key aspect of the healing process from the emotional aftermath of a trauma is self-acceptance. Pets love us unconditionally and accept us without question. When we love and accept ourselves in the same way, we may find a smoother path toward healing.

Pets demonstrate the importance of self-care. A hungry pet needs to eat. A pet who needs to go out needs to go out. When pets are tired, they sleep. When we are mindful of and able to prioritize and satisfy our own basic needs in the way our animal companions do, we are taking care of our physical and mental health so we can better address symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other effects of trauma and PTSD.

Those of us who own pets know they make us happy. But a growing body of scientific research is showing that our pets can also make us healthy, or healthier. That helps explain the increasing use of animals — dogs and cats mostly, but also birds, fish and even horses — in settings ranging from hospitals and nursing homes to schools, jails and mental institutions.

According to NPR, The benefit of pets in the medical world actually dates back more than 150 years, says Aubrey Fine a clinical psychologist and professor at California State Polytechnic University. Studies dating back to three decades ago found that just petting one’s own dog can lower blood pressure; and more recently, studies have been focusing on the link between interacting with animals and the release of the hormone oxytocin which has powerful effects on the body’s predisposition to heal and to grow new cells. But it was only in the late 1970s that researchers started to uncover the scientific underpinnings for that bond.

The animals don’t judge, or criticize you for how you look, what you wear or your political views of the world. No, that doesn’t exist in the animal kingdom. It seems that in the animal world, all they want (besides a few earthly needs) is to be with you and love you for who you are. Imagine that! What a great simple lesson for all of us. To just BE! No judgment; just love and acceptance. It is through this simplistic view, that the enormity of it takes hold. Animals are what humans aspire to be. They live in the now and operate from unconditional love.



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