Pour ceux qui connaissent le Feldenkrais, le TTouch a beaucoup de sens, la méthode a ses origines dans ce travail qui a été développé pour les personnes, il a aussi un élément de toucher et de mouvement. Les principes de base consistent à aider le corps à utiliser tout son potentiel en lui rappelant toutes les différentes façons dont il peut bouger. Cela développe la conscience du corps et élimine les tensions. Cela peut encore vous sembler incompréhensible, et je vous invite à essayer une leçon de Feldenkrais pour vous aider à comprendre.
En ce qui concerne les ânes... Je donne un coup de main à une association qui sauve des ânes. Je veux partager avec vous la façon dont j'utilise le TTouch pour vous donner une meilleure compréhension des possibilités et, je l'espère, vous motiver à faire du TTouch avec vos ânes !
Il y a différents types de situation avec les ânes de l'association, la façon dont j'utilise le TTouch varie dans chaque situation. Je sélectionne les outils TTouch qui sont les plus pertinents pour chaque âne en fonction de sa situation. Voici quelques exemples :
L'âne craintif ou timide
Le travail à distance avec la baguette Tellington ou le TTouch peut être utile pour les habituer aux gestes utilisés pour toucher leur corps un peu plus loin dans le processus. Ce n'est pas un travail de desensibilisation mais plus habituation, on travail en dessous leur seuil de peur. Nous avons beaucoup de façons différentes d'utiliser notre main pour toucher les ânes, parfois en glissant sur les poils, parfois en soulevant ou en déplaçant la peau dans un mouvement circulaire. Chaque façon le toucher est un peu différente et l'objectif est de trouver quelque chose que l'âne aime vraiment et peut accepter - chaqu'un a ses preferences et tolerances tactiles - quand on peut commencer à travailler le toucher et à libérer de l'ocytocine - l'hormone de la confiance - on est encore un pas plus loin sur le chemin de gagner leur confiance.
Certains ânes aiment les gens ET apprécient le toucher, mais peuvent avoir peur d'être toucher sur une zone particulière, peut-être parce qu'ils ont eu une blessure ou douleur, ou ils ont eu une mauvaise expérience. Le processus est très similaire pour eux, avec l'avantage de pouvoir les mettre en confiance en touchant des zones qui ne les inquiètent pas, et puis de parvenir à toucher la zone difficile. Il se peut que la zone soit encore douloureuse ou tendue et que le travail tactile puisse la réduire les tensions - mais vous devez d'abord établir une confiance suffisante pour qu'ils vous permettent de toucher la zone.....
L'âne âgé
Souvent, un meilleur équilibre et un travail sur la proprioception peuvent les aider à mieux supporter certains soins de routine comme les visites chez le maréchal-ferrant.
L'âne jeune
Ces ânes sont souvent "faciles" dans le sens où ils n'ont pas connu la cruauté
humaine ou les mauvais traitements, et il s'agit simplement de leur montrer ce
qu'est la vie, de
leur apprendre des compétences qui les aideront dans leur nouveau foyer
adoptif. Il peut être intéressant de voir comment ils apprennent différemment
en fonction de leur caractère, certains sont plus confiants que d'autres.....
La méthode Tellington nous donne d'excellents outils pour travailler avec les ânes de manière respectueuse, calme et douce, et il est extrêmement gratifiant de voir les ânes sortir de leur coquille et devenir plus courageux. En plus, en tant qu'effet secondaire, nous aussi benificerons du travail en developant nos competances dans la proprioception en motricité fine pendant l'apprentissage !
Si vous pensez que le TTouch pourrait convenir à vos ânes, une formation interactif est prévu cet été en français ! [inscription]
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How can TTouch help donkeys?
Sometimes people who don't know much about TTouch find it hard to understand. Is it energy? Is it fascia release? Is it massage? The difficulty stems from the multitude of situations where TTouch can provide solutions and our desire as people to put a label on everything... Tellington TTouch itself is the touch element of the Tellington training method, and so that means it's only one set of tools within the method. Other tools include detailled observations, ground exercises and Tellington body wraps. In all aspects of the work we are influencing the body and it's posture, so without a doubt influencing energy and fascia, but it's a mind AND body approach, my favourite way of explaining is to talk about the nervous system, body awareness and body availability. The basis of everything is listening to the donkeys... in our interactions where we may be finding solutions to behavioural problems and training issue - the donkey's well-being is the central aspect. The fact that we have so many options allows us to adapt to the indivual - and we all have our very own unique nervous system.
For those familiar with the method Feldenkrais TTouch makes lots of sense, the method has its origins in that work which was developed for people, it has both a touch and movement element in the same way TTouch does. The basic principles involve helping the body to use its full potential by reminding it of all the different ways it can move. This develops body awareness and removes tension. This may still sound unintelligible to you, and I would invite you to try a Feldenkrais lesson to help you understand.
When it comes to donkeys... I am currently helping out with a charity that rescues and rehomes donkeys. I want to share with you a little of how I am using TTouch to give you a fuller understanding of the possibilities and hopefully motivate you to do some TTouch with your donkeys!
There are different types of donkeys at the association, how I am using TTouch varies in each situation. I select the TTouch tools which are most relevant for each donkey depending on their situation. Here are a couple of examples:
The fearful donkey
This can vary from being untouchable or difficult to approach, to being concerned about touching one particular body part such as their legs. We want the donkeys to be confident enough that we can touch them all over, put on head collars easily and pick up all of their feet easily. For a prey animal, having a foot held in the air can be very scary - it means they can't run away or defend themselves - and even worse if they have sore feet or bad balance ! If the donkey is difficult to approach or touch, I will often use positive reenforcement training to motivate them to interact, with games such as "touch this" and "follow me". This lays the base for being able to put the head collar on with their co-operation, it stimulates their curiosity and helps take them out of the fight/flight mode. For some this takes no time at all, for others where the fear of humans is so well installed, it can take much longer to change their nervous system default.....
Work with the wand or TTouch from a distance can be helpful for getting them used to the gestures used for touching their bodies a little further on in the process. We will be working underneath their threat threshhold while habituating them to these movements. We have lots of different ways to use our hand to touch the donkeys, sometimes sliding over the hair, sometimes lifting or moving the skin in a circular motion. Each way of touching feels a bit different and the goal is to find something the donkey really likes - which might be different to the touch his friend really likes.... to start doing touch work and releasing Oxytocin - the trust hormone.
Some donkeys do like people AND enjoy touch but may be fearful about touch in a particular area, perhaps they have had a previous injury / pain / bad experience, the process is very similar for them, with the advantage that you can build confidence by touching areas they don't have any concerns over and slowly build up to being able to touch the area of difficulty. It might be that the area still has pain or tension and the touch work can reduce this - but first you have to build enough trust that they will allow you to touch the area.... Often better balance and work on proprioception can help them cope better with some routine care such as farrier visits.
The elderly donkey
Currently all the really elderly donkeys at the association are female, so I call them the grandmas. These ladies have some physical issues such as arthritis, their bodies aren't as supple and elastic as they once were - though you'd be surprised by how well they can move when they get access to a new field, even at 40 years old they are capable of a buck and a galop.
For the elderly donkeys I do a lot of bodywork, aiming at them having great body awareness, great balance and being very relaxed, thereby giving them the best chance to manage their body issues, keep them moving about enough to keep the arthritis at bay and gets lots of good sleep. Low stress equals a healthier immune system, stress can come from physical and mental stressors like pain and fear or anxiety, (if this all sounds a bit familiar, it's relevant to us too...) so if we can help reduce these we can hope for a better performing immune system and more efficient use of energy - which can be relevant when our donkeys don't have so many functional teeth any more and getting enough energy into them can be a challenge.
The young donkey
These guys are often "easy" in the sense that they haven't known human cruelty or abuse, and it's simply about showing them what life is about, learning life skills that will help them in the new adoptive home. Teaching them to lead, pick up feet, walk over unusual surfaces and possibly long reining too. It can be interesting to see how they learn differently based on their characters, some are more confident than others....
The Tellington method gives us great tools to work with these donkeys in a respectful, quiet and gentle manner, and it's hugely rewarding to see the donkeys coming out of their shells and getting braver. In addition, as a side effect, we also benefit from working on our fine motor skills and proprioception while we learn !
Scroll up for donkey pictures in the French version of this article.
If you think TTouch would be good for your donkeys, then there is a course coming up this summer online in french !