Mindfulness experts refer to this as “gentle curiosity”. ‘See if you can describe your surroundings to yourself in detail, but without comparing them to anything else. Instead, simply engage your five sense to appreciate what’s happening all around you, right then and right there. No zoning out, no criticising, no comparing. While on a walk, Linda suggests: ‘Challenge yourself to think in a new way on your dog walks. The reward? Increased wellbeing and a growing sense of belonging.’ Day 5: Be curious Greet others warmly, and when it seems appropriate, enjoy a friendly chat. ‘Why not use your dog walk to reach out meaningfully instead? Leave your phone at home and look around as you walk. If that’s the only way you reach out, you’ll end up feeling increasingly lonely. ‘When we text or email, we exchange information, but we don’t connect emotionally. Linda Blair, Clinical Psychologist, explains: ‘Did you know 70% of us never leave home without our phone? We believe smartphones allow us to us stay in touch, when in truth they often prevent us from making meaningful social connections. Or try some calm strokes to give you both a boost of oxytocin, the bonding “love hormone.”‘ When walking your dog, try to use cues consistently and keep a calm, happy, tone of voice to engage and connect with them. ‘Stop every few minutes and ask your dog to do their favourite trick – engaging the task side of their brain, dampening the emotional side. Try calm strokes up and down a small section of the lead to remove tension and give yourself an improved sense of calm. ‘Use little pieces of food scattered in the grass to engage their nose.
When walking your dog, try to use cues consistently and keep a calm, happy, tone of voice.’ Day 3: Make the journey as interesting as the destinationĬaroline suggests: ‘How often have you charged along on the on-lead part of your walk, desperate to get to the park to allow your dog off the lead? Try to change your approach – using the on-lead section of your walk as an opportunity to engage with your dog.
#Mindful walking plus
‘Over-talking to our dogs can raise their level of arousal, plus it doesn’t allow them the important processing time they need to understand what we’re asking. ‘MRI studies have shown that tone is also important for dogs, with higher pitches – or dog-directed speech (baby talk) – being the most engaging. ‘Sit’, ‘sit down’, ‘will you just sit’ might all mean the same thing to us but can be confusing for our dogs to understand. But we often assume that dogs understand our language more than they do. Day 2: Be calm and create real connections with your dogĬaroline explains: ‘Considering our dogs don’t use language in the same way as us, they’re very adept at understanding the ‘meaning’ of many individual words we use. Ditch the ball and enjoy some calm breathing while your dog gets their sniffing workout.
Sniffing actually has stress-reducing benefits, so it’s a much better activity for your dog to do on a walk than chasing a ball repetitively.
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