How to Meditate With Your Dog: Steps, Benefits, Types & More

While people were slow to take meditation seriously here in the United States, it took hold, and now many people swear by it. Now, there is dog meditation, which isn’t the downward dog but is a meditation style you can try with your dog or any pet in your household. You’ll have more success with your dog, for example, than with your cat, which isn’t going to sit still if it doesn’t want to.

So, if you’ve considered meditating with your dog, you might wonder how to do it. Also, what are the benefits of meditating for you and your dog? We’ll answer these questions and more below.

What Is Dog Meditation?

Meditation has proven to have a wide variety of benefits when it comes to humans, so why not when it comes to dogs? It’s said to reduce stress, help with anxiety levels, reduce inflammation, lower blood pressure, and even help to prevent chronic disease. These are benefits to humans, and some dogs may likely experience similar benefits, primarily related to relaxation and reduced stress when engaging in calm, positive interactions with their owners.

How to Meditate With Your Dog

While there are more than a few ways to meditate with your dog, we’ll give you one of the simplest ways we know in the section below.

What Are the Benefits of Dog Meditation?

As with human meditation, there are quite a few benefits to dog meditation.

Strengthens Trust and Safety

Dog meditation can build trust between you and your pet and may help your dog feel more secure. It can help your dog feel grounded, strengthen your bond, and support a sense of safety in familiar environments.

Reduces Stress

Calm, positive interactions with you may help reduce your dog’s stress, whether from being in a new environment, having someone or something new in your home, or another stressor. These are just a couple of the benefits of dog meditation. However, one of the most important reasons to meditate with your dog is bonding time for you and your furry friend.

Types of Dog Meditation to Try

There are a couple of dog meditations you can try with your dog. These include the following.

It’s important to remember that every dog is different, and not all dogs will take to meditation or the activities above. Don’t try to force your dog to try meditation with you. Be patient, take your time, and it will come.

Final Thoughts

While dog meditation hasn’t become trendy yet, it probably won’t be long until you see people everywhere meditating with their dogs or even their other pets. Meditation is good for stress relief and much more when it comes to humans, so it may also support relaxation in your pet through calm, positive interactions. Try one of the types of dog meditation above to see how well it works for you and your furry friend. You can use treats to reward your dog after a brief session, but over time, some dogs may begin to associate the activity with positive experiences and become more relaxed during these sessions.

• See Also: Benefits of Dog Yoga for Pets & Their Humans

Featured Image Credit: cottonbro, Pexels