The Shift Diaries

There’s a program on the National Geographic channel that is ostensibly about dog training . Featuring Cesar Millan as “The Dog Whisperer,” this program demonstrates practical application of many concepts of the Shift in consciousness. Cesar doesn’t do traditional dog training. There’s no mention of learning to sit, stay, or heel. What he says about what he does is, “I rehabilitate dogs and train people.”

I’ve trained dogs and horses, and it was clear to me that the animal was never the source of the apparent problems. I could get on a problem horse and quickly have it behaving. The owner would get back on the horse and in minutes be struggling with the problem again. Working with problem horses was a lot easier than training their owners.

The Dog Whisperer reveals the same dynamic. Cesar works with dogs that seem completely insane, out of control, dangerously aggressive, and neurotic to the point of no return. Within a very short amount of time (a few minutes to a half hour), considering how entrenched the unwanted behavior seems, he’s got the dog behaving calmly. And this is done with almost no words, no commands, and no violence. In fact, Cesar is so skilled at directing the dog’s energy with his energy, that often it’s hard to see that he’s doing anything at all.

The owners are usually dumbfounded. How could it be? This dog was impossible! They’ve tried everything! Other trainers have failed to make a difference! Cesar is a miracle worker!

The next segment of the program involves Cesar training the owners—always a lengthier and slipperier proposition. For the dog owner, the unfamiliar good dog Promised Land beckons enticingly from the threshold of the familiar. However appealing that vision may be, though, most of the dog owners Cesar works with (like most of us working with Shifting) return repeatedly to familiar automatic responses as they struggle to develop new habits of noticing what they’re doing that isn’t working, addressing this in a relaxed but intentional manner, and choosing new beliefs and associated actions that get them desired results. For the dog owner, it usually takes lots of practice to become familiar with calmly reconfiguring energy in the face of automatic responses.

Cesar leads the dog owners away from familiar energy expressions by insisting they “master the walk.” The walk is not about taking the dog for a walk, although that’s where the practice takes place. It’s about establishing and maintaining a new energy expression. In perfect accordance with the Shift in consciousness, “mastering the walk” is about focusing on the  process, instead of the outcome. The desired outcome is the natural result of mastering the process.

Watching Cesar Millan at work is like watching a realized master of Shifting. He unerringly locates the issues in the household that are masquerading as dog behavior problems. He tells the owners that dogs are always ready to be in the present, which is how he is so easily able to shift their energy expressions. He actually said the words, “You create your reality,” to one couple.

I watch and re-watch the programs in this series and always come away feeling inspired, soothed, and uplifted. I don’t have a dog, nor do I want one, but I do want what Cesar Millan has—complete clarity about what it takes to calmly reconfigure energy.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 14th, 2006 at 4:50 pm and is filed under Recommended resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There’s a program on the National Geographic channel that is ostensibly about dog training . Featuring Cesar Millan as “The Dog Whisperer,” this program demonstrates practical application of many concepts of the Shift in consciousness. Cesar doesn’t do traditional dog training. There’s no mention of learning to sit, stay, or heel. What he says about what he does is, “I rehabilitate dogs and train people.”

I’ve trained dogs and horses, and it was clear to me that the animal was never the source of the apparent problems. I could get on a problem horse and quickly have it behaving. The owner would get back on the horse and in minutes be struggling with the problem again. Working with problem horses was a lot easier than training their owners.

The Dog Whisperer reveals the same dynamic. Cesar works with dogs that seem completely insane, out of control, dangerously aggressive, and neurotic to the point of no return. Within a very short amount of time (a few minutes to a half hour), considering how entrenched the unwanted behavior seems, he’s got the dog behaving calmly. And this is done with almost no words, no commands, and no violence. In fact, Cesar is so skilled at directing the dog’s energy with his energy, that often it’s hard to see that he’s doing anything at all.

The owners are usually dumbfounded. How could it be? This dog was impossible! They’ve tried everything! Other trainers have failed to make a difference! Cesar is a miracle worker!

The next segment of the program involves Cesar training the owners—always a lengthier and slipperier proposition. For the dog owner, the unfamiliar good dog Promised Land beckons enticingly from the threshold of the familiar. However appealing that vision may be, though, most of the dog owners Cesar works with (like most of us working with Shifting) return repeatedly to familiar automatic responses as they struggle to develop new habits of noticing what they’re doing that isn’t working, addressing this in a relaxed but intentional manner, and choosing new beliefs and associated actions that get them desired results. For the dog owner, it usually takes lots of practice to become familiar with calmly reconfiguring energy in the face of automatic responses.

Cesar leads the dog owners away from familiar energy expressions by insisting they “master the walk.” The walk is not about taking the dog for a walk, although that’s where the practice takes place. It’s about establishing and maintaining a new energy expression. In perfect accordance with the Shift in consciousness, “mastering the walk” is about focusing on the  process, instead of the outcome. The desired outcome is the natural result of mastering the process.

Watching Cesar Millan at work is like watching a realized master of Shifting. He unerringly locates the issues in the household that are masquerading as dog behavior problems. He tells the owners that dogs are always ready to be in the present, which is how he is so easily able to shift their energy expressions. He actually said the words, “You create your reality,” to one couple.

I watch and re-watch the programs in this series and always come away feeling inspired, soothed, and uplifted. I don’t have a dog, nor do I want one, but I do want what Cesar Millan has—complete clarity about what it takes to calmly reconfigure energy.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 14th, 2006 at 4:50 pm and is filed under Recommended resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.