Pack Wellness

Everything this. ❤

Movement & mindfulness classes, both in-person and on Zoom, resuming for Fall after Labor Day!

“Y’all, having sled dogs has been so good for my body image. And not because mushing is a joy-filled, physical outdoor activity, although that’s true. It’s actually something much simpler than that.

I grew up learning that all bodies are different. Okay, yeah, that’s true. Whatever. All bodies are different. I get it.

And then I started caring for sled dogs. and I feed and train and massage them, teach them as puppies and ease them into retirement. We get to know each dog so well. And once we started doing this, do you know what became EXTREMELY OBVIOUS?

Get this: All bodies are different.

But I don’t mean this in some flip way. I mean it in a bone-deep, beautiful, complicated way.

All of the dogs’ bodies are so different.

Some of them eat thousands of calories a day and are still complete stringbeans. They eat literally three times as much food as everyone else.

Some of them can eat, like, a tablespoon of kibble, and the next day they need a bigger harness. They’re easy keepers; their bodies naturally want to be bigger. Which is good! Easy keepers make great sled dogs.

Some of them can start training in September and are immediately ready for long runs. Some of them need to ease into training slowly. They need gentler workouts—and more training sessions—before they can keep up with the rest of the team.

Some of them want to run 1000 miles. Some of them feel their best during shorter, faster runs. And, occasionally, some of them aren’t that into running at all.

Some of them have disabilities. Some of them were born with bodies that make everything harder for them, and they need extra care and understanding to really shine.

The point is, THEIR BODIES ARE SO DIFFERENT. But the differences aren’t good or bad. They just are. We don’t love Talese more or less because he’s skinny, or Colbert because he’s a chonkster. The idea makes no sense. It’s absurd.

And, like, my body is like that too. It has its own set points, its own levels. So does yours. The dogs’ bodies aren’t up to them, just like ours aren’t. There’s no value judgment. They are what they are.

And every single one is magnificent.
The end.” ~

4th of July fireworks are an issue and an inflection point at the heart of what Pack Wellness is all about—a place where wellness for humans, our communities, our animals, our wildlife, and our environment intersect.

Many people think fireworks are “harmless fun” and an “important tradition”, but hundreds of peer-reviewed studies about the physical, psychological, existential, and ecological impact of fireworks say otherwise. As the daughter of a Vietnam veteran with complex PTSD, fireworks were never part of our family traditions—not even watching them on TV. We had sparklers and noisemakers and party crackers, but never fireworks. For good reason, as anyone who’s read The Body Keeps The Score will know—many civilians have PTSD, too.

Over the last decade, as I’ve gotten more and more involved in animal welfare and social justice work, the issue of working to ban or at least move to silent fireworks has become increasingly important. More pets go missing on 4th of July (and New Year’s Eve) than the rest of the year combined, which is a biannual nightmare for those pet owners and for the shelter and search & rescue volunteers tasked with trying to find & reunite them with said owners. Not to mention all the rescue volunteers, foster families, adopters, dog trainers, dog boarding teams, vet techs & veterinarians who get zero sleep the entire holiday weekend and never get to enjoy it themselves because they’re holed up in closets with traumatized pets, administering holistic & western medicine and calming wraps, attempting to drown out the loud bangs with soothing white noise or classical music, hearts breaking watching our beloved animals suffer. In Rome over New Year’s Eve 2020, hundreds of starlings that sought shelter in a leafy neighborhood literally dropped dead of fright from fireworks, bumping into each other in a panic and having heart attacks. Every wildlife refuge around the world can share similar stories from several other species that die from fireworks fright, as well—or bolt and abandon their nests.

And as the climate crisis marches on—as evidenced by the heat wave facing the Pacific Northwest this week—fireworks are always a disaster in the making, from starting wildfires to the smoke and pollution they create that pours through the windows of marginalized & lower income communities without central AC—many of whom, especially in our BIPOC communities, already have a complicated relationship with the history of July 4th.

Mental health professionals also argue that in our post-pandemic world of frayed nervous systems after a year of literal global existential crisis for the entire human race and the resulting trauma, that excess stimuli like fireworks are the last thing any of us need. Not to mention the annual spike in hand and face injuries caused by fireworks that will tax our already exhausted health care workers & hospitals.

So, if you’re still reading this, please just SAY NO TO FIREWORKS. Embrace sparklers. Find other ways to experience wonder and awe and celebrate with your beloveds. So that we can all finally one day celebrate, together, in a world without the fear of trauma for your “harmless fun”.

Graphics courtesy of The Forever Dog

As we begin to process the past year and a half, let’s not forget our pets’ nervous systems in this expansion & contraction healing phase.

Dogs, and children—all of our mammalian dependents—match their heart rates & nervous systems to ours. They can become anxious & disregulated because we’re anxious & disregulated. They sense & feel out our body language, heart rate & breathing to check their own neuroception, a term coined by Dr. Stephen Porges in to describe how our subconscious mind processes feelings of safety in any situation.

Two major recent studies from research prove that not only has the pandemic had a deep impact with potential long-term effects on our nervous systems & behaviors, but it has deeply impacted stress levels & behaviors in our pets, too. Anyone who has read knows that stress that we don’t literally move through can get stored in the body as trauma—our bodies AND our pets’ bodies. This is something I’m deeply invested in personally, professionally, and as a longtime animal welfare advocate/rescuer, and one of the reasons pre-COVID that I started laying the foundation for what Pack Wellness is becoming.

We’ve created a world (especially in capitalistic America) that depends on us acting as humans in captivity, as my teacher says, working all the time with very little connection to nature & the natural world, rewarding those mammals with the highest “tolerances” & “resilience” for constant stressors & spikes in adrenaline & burnout, and making us feel guilty for taking time to rest, digest & integrate our experiences. Our homes & offices are unhealthy places for us, and where we go so do our pets. We have work to do to heal each other, in so many ways, but embodiment practices like yoga & Ayurveda & give us powerful tools to yoke together to bond & heal our packs & communities.

Come find out where to start tonight at 6:30pm CST in our weekly Zen Den Yin Yoga class on Zoom, link in bio. Free if you need, always donation based. 50% of all donations through mid-June are going to 🐶🕯🧘🏻‍♀️✨

Happy to who are my reasons why, my favorite teachers & teaching assistants, the inspiration behind & my professors of connecting to the wisdom of my human animal. Join us at 6:30 CST tonight for a very special donation-based Zen Den Yin Yoga class—or for any of our 4 weekly Zoom classes through June—to help us raise much-needed funds for Pixie & Jack’s rescue, ✨🧘🏻‍♀️🐶

http://PackWellness.Eventbrite.com