Today, ANH-Intl brings you something a little different! How would you like a way to contribute to your favourite, hard-working, change-leading, accurate, reliable, and effective natural health campaign organisation – while also learning a technique for developing peace of mind, which deepens the bond with your furry friends and supports vital work with rescued animals?  Just read on...

The bond between humans and animals

Many of us enjoy the close company of animals.  If they are not working animals, and sometimes even if they are, we refer to such animals as our pets, and they provide some of the most uncomplicated pleasure in our lives. What compares to the instant emotional charge when your cat purrs in response to a stroke, when your beloved dog capers in excitement when it's time for ‘walkies’, or when your loyal horse trots over the field to greet you before a ride? We humans have an instinctive connection with animals that has developed over thousands of years of side-by-side evolution, a relationship that has deepened in more recent times with the domestication of many species as both pets and working animals.

So deep is our bond with our animals that they can be key to our emotional and physical wellbeing. The elderly, in particular, derive multiple benefits from the companionship of animals, including feeling less lonely, lowered blood pressure and pulse rate, fewer doctor visits, reduced levels of depression and even reduced mortality from heart attacks – among many others.   The Cinnamon Trust in Cornwall, UK, believes that pets are so important to the elderly that it has been working since 1985 to, "Relieve the anxieties, problems, and sometimes injustices, faced by elderly and terminally ill people and their pets, thereby saving a great deal of human sadness and animal suffering". Many similar benefits exist for adults and children as well. 

Not surprisingly, therefore, many of us would love to have a closer relationship with our animals. Sometimes, and for reasons that may not always be obvious, the animals in our lives may be extremely nervous, 'difficult' or simply aggressive around ourselves and others, making it tricky to develop that bond of trust in the first place. Or we might choose to take on a rescue animal with seemingly difficult personality issues. This is where the Trust Technique comes in.

Mans best friend!

Introducing the Trust Technique

What would you say if you were told that the key to taking your relationship with your animals to a new level is as simple as clearing your mind of all thoughts, similar to meditation but even quicker and simpler? Or that this technique can offer the breakthrough with animals that are so distressed, for whatever reason, that even approaching them has seemed impossible? That, in a nutshell, is the principle of the Trust Technique, pioneered by James French.

James French with Ares in South Africa

The rationale for the Trust Technique lies in our co-evolution, says James. "Animals, and their roles with us humans, have been constantly evolving, and as a result they are now intertwined with our own psyche. The dog, for example, has evolved so much with us that they have learnt to read our body language, facial expressions and deeper internal feelings. Often, they know their owner like no other human could!

"This change has not just happened with dogs, but with all the animals that we call pets. And because animals are far more sensitive than us human beings, not just in terms of sight and smell but in how they can pick up on our feelings, it cannot be too much of a surprise that when we are going through emotional situations, our animals respond to this in a very unique way."

James is well known to Dr Robert Verkerk and Meleni Aldridge of ANH-Intl, and both have benefitted from his wonderful skill and expertise with animals over the last 6 years or so. The Trust Technique has been a natural progression of his work that Meleni has employed extensively in the rehabilitation of her own cat, Lily, rescued 2 years ago from a home where she suffered continuing abuse. While Lily has made great progress to date, the Technique still proves invaluable for dealing with her remaining behavioural issues, not to mention helping Meleni deal with the stress of campaigning!

The power of peace of mind

James found that quieting the mind has a profoundly positive effect on animals' emotional state. "We have accurately discovered that over 80% of animal behavioural problems that we have worked with are a direct reflection of human feelings. The animal will most likely have picked up the feelings you produce, and then express them through an undesirable behaviour. Imagine if you've had a stressful day at work: this shouts a stressful day of feelings to your animal.

"In these situations, it is absolutely pointless to only focus on the animal, as this is not the true cause. It is the environment, meaning the thoughts of the human, which needs to change. The Trust Technique changes the human feeling levels by creating a very strong present moment. When we decrease our thinking level and enter a peaceful state of being, rather than thinking, the animal that is close to us also picks up on this non-thought. The result we get is the animal enters a trance-like sleep state."

Someone employing the Trust Technique, therefore, changes their own mental state in order to calm and positively influence the behaviour of animals. In this way, animals can be seen almost as 'mirrors' of our own emotional state, highlighting when our own thoughts may be disordered and in need of some rebalancing. The Technique works just as well for animals with which the user is unfamiliar as it does for beloved pets, making it a highly powerful method for anyone wishing to work with abused and rescued animals. 

The Trust Technique in action

James has just released a brand new video introduction to the Trust Technique and his work with rescued animals, and if you like it, don't forget to click the 'Share' button to add the video to your Facebook page and send to others who might be interested. At the end of the video, and in return for a first name and email address, you can access five videos of James using the Trust Technique with Ares, an abused lion in South Africa. It's pretty amazing to see a full-grown lion, previously a traumatised recluse, rolling around like a sun-drunk kitten after a few sessions with the Trust Technique! Also, visitors to the Trust Technique website can view another introductory video about the method right away.

The Trust Technique helps animals achieve inner calm

But remember, the Trust Technique is not just about the end results for the animals – although that may be the primary motivation for many. It’s also a very powerful and immediate method of gaining personal peace of mind, enabling the user to deal better with stress and acquire much-needed perspective in decision making. We’ve all experienced how difficult it is to create a balanced response in an emotionally charged situation, or to take an important decision when we’re busy, stressed or anxious. Extensive research by the Heart Math Institute shows how peace of mind brings a rhythmic balance to both heart and brain waves, referred to as coherence. This coherence has been shown to improve cognitive functioning, increase the activity of the parasympathetic (‘rest and digest’ as against ‘fight or flight’) nervous system and create more efficient and harmonious functioning of the cardiovascular, nervous, hormonal and immune systems. By learning the Trust Technique, you could be a mere 60 seconds away from the peace of mind we all crave in challenging situations and the corresponding health benefits.

How do I get started?

If you like what you see and choose to learn the Trust Technique for yourself, a subscription of £12 (or equivalent currency) per month will enable you to help yourself, your animal friends and a nominated organisation — hopefully us! Clicking on this link or the introductory video link, both of which are repeated at the end of this story, will ensure that the Trust Technique knows that you came to them via ANH-Intl, and if you subscribe, we will receive a portion of the fee as described below.

The Trust Technique website operates on a content-release principle, whereby additional content is unlocked over time as a subscription continues and it doesn’t matter where in the world you access it from. In this way, subscribers can access tutorials from James showing how to use the Technique themselves. The course unfolds as follows:

1.     Stage One: Building Trust With Peace Of Mind

·       Includes four Steps

·       Step 1 is accessible immediately

·       Step 4 requires a total of 21 days' membership to unlock

2.     Stage Two: Teaching Animals With Peace Of Mind

·       Includes three Steps

·       56 days' total membership to unlock fully

3.     Communication: Picking Up And Delivering Feelings

·       Includes three Steps

·       112 days' total membership to unlock fully

By becoming a Trust Technique member, you will also gain access over time to numerous videos of the Technique in use 'in the field'. These show the remarkable results James has achieved over the years, working with so many different animals — from dogs to horses, cats to lions, and in situations ranging from South African wildlife parks to English catteries, horse rescue centres and people's homes.

However, the scope of the Trust Technique is not limited to enhancing our relationships with ourselves and with animals. For many people, the most important aspect of the Technique will be found in the final part of the tutorial, which shows how it can be used with other people. This section has two Steps, requiring a total of 154 days' membership to unlock completely. But don’t worry: if you don’t want to go this far, you can stop your subscription at any time and pick it up again at a later date if you so choose.

Helping ANH-Intl through the Trust Technique

The beauty of the Trust Technique's subscription system is that members can nominate an organisation to receive £2 of the monthly fee, every month for the length of the subscription. Nominate ANH-Intl, and you will be providing vital help to us in our work to promote and safeguard natural healthcare in all its forms – at the same time as learning all about how to develop peace of mind in your daily life and an incredible level of trust with your animals, however 'difficult' they may be. Not only that, but a portion of your membership fees also helps James and his colleagues to continue their pioneering work with rescued animals in different centres around the UK and the world. What a wonderful way of spending £12 (or equivalent currency) per month!

We hope that you will be sufficiently interested in this exciting new Technique to investigate further, and help, not one, but two worthy causes, as you help yourself and animals at the same time. And look, we didn't mention Dr Doolittle once...

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