Immediate and Cumulative Benefits from Tellington TTouch^® Program Reflected in the EEG of An Anxious Mare

Robin Bernhard, LCSW, MEd, Sandy Rakowitz, Jessica Eure, MEd, EdS

Linda Tellington-Jones has created a gentle non-invasive system of bodywork comprised of specialized circular touches, lifts and slides that improves focus, balance and motor function, enhances learning and even promotes trust and communication amongst its users. Over the past 30 years, practitioners have seen both immediate and cumulative benefit from its use in training and healing animals and in healing the relationship between animals and their owners. After attending one of Linda's 5-day workshops in April 2005, I wanted to see if these techniques could help my injured mare to be comfortable while healing from a ligament injury and help us to improve our ability to communicate so that her balance problems under saddle would not degenerate into rushing out of control.

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Integrating the Tellington TTouch^® Method in Guide Dog Training

by Janice K. F. Lloyd and Elizabeth Roe at the School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia

The Tellington TTouch^® method is used to reduce stress and relax animals so they can learn more effectively. It aims to increase an animal's body awareness and balance by using a combination of techniques that include specific touches, body wraps and leading (movement) exercises. This article discusses the method and its potential role in guide dog training.

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Face, a Reluctant Show Dog
by Practitioner Kathi Lehman.

Face, a longhair standard Dachshund, came to TTouch^® as a Champion show dog. Vicki and Bruce Walsh were Face's owners and breeders. The Walshes have bred and shown dogs for thirty years. They had tried all the normal show dog training and socialization with Face, but while he was champion, he had developed bad behavior patterns.

Face had managed to finish his championship, but he was afraid of everything. He is an exquisite dog, but he is very nervous. At times, Face would totally loose it in the ring, and it would be everything Bruce could do just to hang on to him. He was very afraid of loud noises and would go into freeze at times. Face did not ever eat very well and was a very poor traveler. If Face had a "good" day and managed to win, he would totally refuse to walk on to the winners' platform to receive his award or have his photo taken.

Bruce brought Face to me ready to give up on Face as a show dog. My assessment was that Face was very tight in his stomach area and generally not very present. Face was very sweet but did not make any kind of contact really with anyone.

I used a body wrap and a Halti on him. When Face had his TTouch^®  "clothes" on we just walked around for about three minutes. Many performance dogs have been over stimulated by their dog jobs and sometimes very short easy sessions are the way to begin a breakthrough with them. I also did a short basic session of Clouded Leopard TTouches and mouth work. I used a pressure of about a three with the TTouches. His tail was limp, so I did some gentle tail-work as well. Then we took a break of about an hour.

We let Face wander around mv place, visit with other dogs and wear his body wrap in this very relaxed situation. He wore his body wrap for about 15 minutes. He then had about an hour to relax and process his first session.

I then put the Halti back on and the body wrap back on and gave Face some food treats. We very slowly did the labyrinth. At first, Face was very nervous, and I used a wand to coax him along with me. We then put him into the Homing Pigeon and lie was a bit more confident with Bruce as the leader. When we added the platform, Bruce commented that Face would never go up on that. Using the Homing Pigeon, wands and bits of food treats, we managed to get Face to climb up on the platform. I then did another ten-minute session of bodywork and Face went home.

Bruce brought Face back the next weekend and we began with the same light bodywork. Face was still very tense in his body with his gut area really feeling like a knot. Face had a much easier time with the confidence course this time. We added his stepping over a couple of low poles. These low poles are made by cutting swimming pool noodles in half. At first, stepping over something was very hard for Face, but he managed. My hope was that by asking him to pick up his feet tjat he would become more aware of his feet and his body.

Face went to a dog show the next weekend. He did better. Bruce felt he was calmer and more responsive. He won and he was willing to walk up the little ramp and take his ribbons. Bruce was also able to get a photo of Face standing on the little platform and that was another first.

The Walshes live two hours from me. They wanted Face to have more TTouch sessions, but the drive was a bit much. I offered to take Face for a week of TTouch camp. I repeated the sessions as described above. I added an evening session of slow gentle bodywork including Raccoon TTouch and lots of TTouch mouth-work. It took four sessions before Face seemed to have a real relaxation response. I did not really think any true progress had been made, but he was a nice dog and I had enjoyed working with him.

Face went home. The first call I got was asking me what I had done to make him eat. The Walshes had not mentioned the issue with Face eating, so not only had I not done anything, but also, I didn't even know it was an issue! I had just fed him, but I had done a bit of TTouch on him prior to each meal because I was trying to maximize our week.

The next week, Face went to the dog show. He did very well. He was more relaxed than ever. He even ate little treats called bait in the ring.

The Walshes asked me to work on Face at a dog show. I did a couple of sessions on Face at nearby dog shows. These sessions included some bodywork prior to his being groomed for the ring. I did note that his tail did not feel as disconnected anymore. Hoever, his stomach area was still tense so I did Abalone TTouches on that area with a very slow lift at the end.

I went to ringside and used the lines on the floor to make a little labyrinth. Prior to asking Face to walk forward in our invisible labyrinth, I did a few circles on his rump above his tail. Then as we started out, I did a little flicking TTouch like the horse-leading position and Dingo to encourage him move out and use his rear legs. This warm-up seemed to work quite well. In the ring, Bruce would do light mouth-work on the outside of Face's lips prior to the judge examining Face.

Face has gone on to learn to enjoy his job as a show dog. He now lives with a very nice handler, Loreen Hogan. Loren keeps Face as a house dog when he is not at the shows and they have bonded very well. I taught Loreen some TTouches and she has continued his sessions. Face became the number one ranked Longhair Standard Dachshund for 1999.

"I guess horses, like people, can develop a dislike for something over a period of time, especially when it becomes associated in their minds with some similar, but bad experience. Out elder mare, Canadair, developed a real hate for paste worming over a period of years, until our only recourse was to fit her with a snug, stout halter, lash her head firmly against a solid pole (of the power-pole type!) and wait until she gave up resisting, sighed, and let us do it. 

"She always looked faintly surprised after, as it was never (in recent years) as bad-tasting as she’d expected. Mind you, she's not an evil-minded horse, never bit or struck at us, just tried with all her strength and skill to keep her mouth out of reach. It took, I suppose, no more than five minutes in all, from haltering to worming, but it was nerve-wracking for me to handle her enormous resistance.  In fact, I always postponed worming the entire stable until me son who was very quiet and cool with horses could be home to help.

"Then I learned the mouth work at a Tellington TTouch weekend clinic and before the next worming day I gave the mare some “treatments.” Hey! She loved it! The mare that disliked anything going on around her head! We decided to try the worming sans power-pole, just my son’s hand on her halter, head over stall door, but essentially free to charge backwards. I worked the gums, played piano on her tongue, gently worked the nostrils, sides of the mouth and then slipped in the paste wormer - MAGIC!! No fight, no fuss, and all over in a matter of seconds! No fluke either; we’ve wormed twice since the breakthrough.  And next time I’m going to have a go at doing her all by myself!"

   – Pat Ritchie  in Alberta

Combining Tellington TTouch and Feldenkrais for extreme arthritis in knee due to poor posture. Client: female - 48 years old

This patient had her first surgery when she was 18 years old. When bending the knee at a certain angle she sometimes would loose control of her right knee and fall down. Repositioning the ligaments should have helped, but the surgery was not successful.

To avoid falling the patient developed the habit to straighten the knee instead of bending it while walking.  Due to many years of this poor way of moving a strong case of arthritis developed in her knee. In March 2006, she once again underwent surgery on her meniscus.  This surgery, followed by intense Physiotherapy also did not bring any relief and required weekly drainage.  A friend suggested she'd come to me for a Feldenkrais session.

I combined TTouch for You and Feldenkrais as follows:

With specific Feldenkrais exercises we searched for the "right" gait, the physiological movement of the walk. The ankle had "forgotten" that it had to move, there was no possibility of up or down movement. The leg was lifted by a swing of the hip, foot and knee remained stiff.

With the lightest impulses, we organized the body in a way that foot, knee and hip were able to "learn" to move properly. To heal the arthritis in her knee I treated the patient 20 minutes at the beginning and end of each session with TTouch on her right leg with the following TTouches:

Abalone pressure 1, two-second TTouches on the whole leg including knee starting at the hip down to the foot.

Lying Leopard pressure 1, one-second TTouches on the inside of the upper thigh down to the knee and then on the outside of the upper thigh.

Raccoon TTouch, pressure 1, one-second TTouches around the area of the knee and later directly on the knee.

At the end of the session Lying Leopard with pressure 1, one-second TTouches on the entire leg and ending with octopus on both legs.

After three weeks, the ankle has much more movement. The knee is starting to bend and the hip slowly leaned a new movement. we continued working on the movement of knee, foot and hip with Feldenkrais. I also use TTouch on the knee including in positions that are similar to a normal gait, with the patient standing with one leg ahead of the other, putting some pressure on the ligaments and tendons. I used the following TTouches:

Abalone, pressure 1, two-second TTouches on the right leg.

Raccoon TTouch, pressure 1, one-second TTouches around the knee and along the path of the tendons and ligaments going up to a pressure 3.

The fluid build-up in the knee has noticeably been reduced and the patient is using less pain medication.

After six weeks of therapy:

On flat ground and light incline the gait is normal. When the patient gets tired there is a slight unevenness in her rhythm. She puts more weight on the strongest leg and keeps it on the ground for two seconds while to injured leg stays on the ground for one second.  Only when she walks downhill is there a chance of the knee collapsing on her. There is no more access fluid in her knee and it no longer needs to be drained.  The patient is NOT using ANY pain mediation

The case study is not yet finished, but it showed very clearly how the combination of TTouch for You and Feldenkrais encouraged the healing of an old condition.

Marie-Jeane Dufour, Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and TTouch for You Practitioner

By Robin Bernhard LCSW, MED

The universality of Linda’s methodology is unique to TTouch. Linda didn’t have to develop different techniques to teach horses, whales, snakes, parrots, cats, dogs or humans. TTouch works for all species. Through touches that are universally understood, Linda and her students of TTouch, invite their animals to participate in harmonious mutual communication; cell to cell and heart to heart. In her book, Tellington TTouch, Linda states: “Instead of seeing the TTouch as something that I do to animals, which would create separation between us, I view the circles as a way to come into cellular harmony with them, a way of allowing my cells to speak to theirs. At a cellular level, no living thing is alien to any other, and so the sense of connections remains the same whether I’m working with a gerbil or a lynx, a kitten or an elephant.” Both the practitioner and the animal benefit from the mutual communication.

Linda believes that the TTouch practitioner’s intention for healing is communicated from the person to the animal (or person to person) on many levels. These intuitive ideas are now being scientifically documented by The Institute of HeartMath with new research about mind-body communication and the heart. Research at The Institute of HeartMath has shown that we can regulate heart rhythm coherence by holding positive feelings and intentions. Increased heart rhythm coherence produces more alpha brainwaves, enhanced awareness and improved cognitive performance. Alpha frequencies induce a state of tranquility, not unlike the tranquility experienced during TTouch, and interestingly, alpha brainwaves are associated with peak performance. The results of the research at the institute of HeartMath supports the hypothesis “that the changes in brain activity that occur during states of increased psychophysiological coherence lead to changes in the brain’s information processing capabilities. Results suggest that by using heart-based interventions to self-generate coherent states, individuals can significantly enhance cognitive performance.” It would be very interesting to see if TTouch enhances heart rhythm coherence. I suspect that it does.

The heart produces an energy field that can be measured for five feet in all directions. It is quite possible that all species are able to perceive influences from another being’s heart from a short distance. When humans communicate and touch is involved, the brain registers the heartbeat of the other in the EEG, physiological evidence that we are influenced by another’s heart rhythm chaos or coherence. Research has shown that horses are sensitive to the heart energy fields produced by humans and that humans are sensitive to the fields produced by the horse’s heart. The practitioner of TTouch knows well the experience of peace that comes while engaged in the practice of TTouch. Scientific knowledge about the energetic communication from the heart suggests that TTouch practitioners are energetically engaging their animal partners at the deep level of the heart. When the TTouch practitioner consciously holds the intention of healing and a compassionate attitude to generate heart rate coherence within the self, the person or animal being touched benefits from the calming influence of the energy field created by the practitioner’s heart. The research at the Institute of Heart Math suggests that the heart to heart engagement is reciprocal and thus, we have the beginnings of scientific documentation for the experience of healing intention, compassion, respect and positive regard that is part of TTouch practice.

There are more neurons running from the heart to the brain than from the brain to the heart. Some research suggests that the heart directs brain regulation and not the other way around. Linda has stressed the importance of holding a compassionate attitude coupled with the desire to support healing as the correct mind-set for the TTouch practitioner to allow the heart to influence the work. The research on the power of the heart from The Institute of HeartMath documents the scientific basis for what Linda understood intuitively about the heart’s influence on TTouch outcome and the mutual benefit for the practitioner and the animal when the practitioner intentionally generates a genuinely positive heart felt connection between the self and the animal during a TTouch session.

On the other hand, forceful methods generate fear and impede “thinking” as the horse moves into its instinctual fight/flight survival mode. During fight/flight activation, thinking is shut-down in favor of split-second non-thinking reflexive reactions that the horse can’t control. It is often in this fear driven state that horses can’t meet the demands placed upon them, for which they are frequently punished and pushed further into fear, pain and freeze responses. Instinctual reactions may be activated through a dominating relationship, and animals can be managed through such training methods. TTouch does not elicit instinct driven behavior mediated by the limbic system, rather Linda seeks to calm the limbic system and stimulate learning that is mediated by the cortex through a relationship infused with a heart-felt connection.

TTEAM News International October, 1989 Vol 9 No 3 Pp. 21-23

Bonnie Lieuwen of College Station, Texas attended a workshop with TTEAM Instructor, Copper Love who encouraged her to write about how she had been using TTEAM in her special education classroom.

FOCUS: As a special education teacher I am most concerned with my students increasing their focusing skills. As we all know, if a person can focus & concentrate their focusing skills then they can expand academically, emotionally, socially, and physically. Sort of like a snowball effect, expanding in their skills, independence, and self-esteem. In my thirteen years of experience, this was the first year that I taught at the elementary age level (ages six - ten). Due to the students' handicaps, young ages, and extreme amount of energy, focusing was not one of their strong qualities. I tried many different techniques to increase their focusing skills with very little growth for the effort that was expended. It was not until I began using some TTEAM techniques that I started to see notable growth.

Other areas that I saw results from using TTEAM with the students were: body-awareness/use/carriage, relaxation, and decrease in hyperactive behavior. Increase in socialization, increase in behavioral self-control, increased awareness of self, others, and the environment, increase of following directions skills, decrease in aggressive behaviors, increase of willingness and enjoyment of being touched and touching others, the skill of waiting, increased feelings of acceptance, increased feelings of bonding and trust between student and teacher, and more I'm sure.

In special education there are so many variables and different specialists that work with these children (speech, adaptive p.e., physical/occupational therapists, counselors) and everyone has good input into the growth of these children. It is always difficult to pinpoint the most effective techniques and many times it is a combinations of everyone's input. But I do know that when I began using TTEAM, I began seeing exciting changes and other people (plus parents) were reporting these changes too. I will not be working with these students next year so I will have no idea of the lasting effects in their growth. Please remember these are only my observations and feelings. It is my gut feeling that TTEAM had a crucial positive effect on these children.

In the following paragraphs I will briefly tell you about the TTEAM activities and adaptations I used and the five students that received the most TTEAM energy. The time span was about two months, but not on a daily basis. In fact I found myself becoming very frustrated that I did not have the time I wanted to spend doing TTEAM. I saw the benefits and ached with the thought "if I only had more time to spend individually with each student."

In a school setting I thought it might look odd to use my horse wand so I substituted the wand with a drum major's baton. I found it worked well because it has the two white rubber ends and I could remind the kids to look (focus) at the white tips (we called then marshmallows). There are many stick things that would work well (is conductor baton, a painted stick, etc.) I just happened to have the baton.

With the baton we did:

• open the gate
• walk, turns, backward walk, run
• wave to stop
• dagger; this was especially for "J" who I will tell you about later.

Obstacles: I used sticks that were about 6 ft. by 1 inch (they were light weight and easy to arrange).

• Labyrinth (varying the pattern)
• cavaletti (arranged at different heights/distances)
• star
• the "pick up sticks arrangement

Other obstacles:

• a tic-tac-toe design. I would use the baton to point to a square for the student to step into, this one worked very well for teaching them to focus on where the baton point, for increasing the awareness of space and feet placement, and for waiting in one place.
• Box Lids. (I'm sure you have seen when stores cut in half, all the way around, a case of canned soda and each box part is about 2 inches high, well that is what I used). I would arrange the boxes on the floor in varying patterns and again I used the wand to point to the box I wanted the student to step into.

The boxes and tic-tac-toe were terrific for a group because I could direct one student and while the one student learned to wait in one space I could direct another, and so on. This really helped my students that were very compulsive in their movements, They had to think in order to control their bodies. It was a great exercise!

Other things:
Labyrinth - when the students became skilled in these (in the beginning they would plow right through the sticks, absolutely no awareness of the sticks or that they were plowing through) I made the addition of two labyrinth patterns. We used chairs with wheels and without. It was really neat to see the students expand from plowing through, to thinking their own bodies through, to having enough control to push a chair through the pattern.

Flashlight - After they had learned to focus on the baton I would sometimes use a flashlight beam instead of a baton. I would turn down the lights and shine the flashlight to direct them in the obstacle patterns. This is interesting: I had used a flashlight all year hoping to increase their focusing skills, but it was not until they had learned to focus on the baton that they finally were able to truly focus on the flashlight beam.

I did not get a chance to use the following ideas but I thought they might be good.

• Rope: Take a long rope or several ropes to make varying obstacle designs.
• Tires: Substitute the large tires (used with the horses) with bicycle tires or tubes, hoola -hoops, or some other light weight circular shapes.
• Rag squares pattern.
• Pulling a wagon
• Varying the body movements through the labyrinth: while crawling, hopping and running.

And of course I used the wonderful "CIRCLES"!

Students: J., N. , K. , M. , C.

J. (10 yrs, he has a mental retardation handicap, very hyperactive) - when J. came to
my class in late October he walked with his shoulders hunched over, head down towards the ground, and his hands hold in a wrapped position on top of his head. His body language told that he was hiding within a shell. He did not talk, he only made a very occasional vocal sound (but he had Used words occasionally throughout his life). He was shy and withdrawn socially, would not focus on anything or anyone. He would not follow directions and when he was corrected on behavior he would fall to the floor with tantruming, crying and screaming. He frequently hit peers or tried to play too aggressively. He would often, just out of the blue, take off running away from staff. He was very hyperactive and easily over excitable.

I tried many techniques to improve his posture, nothing had much effect. In the month of February I tried doing circles on his shoulders, neck, and back. These areas were extremely tight, by my feel and by his own reaction. It was interesting that while doing the circles he would lower his arms but they would return minutes after I stopped doing the circles. Daily I did circles on his shoulders, back, and neck and daily the length increased that he would leave his arms down. At the end of March, after I had attended a TTEAM clinic, I began increasing circle time/ body areas and incorporating TTEAM activities. With the increase of TTEAM I began to do, J. really improved in all areas. His major growths were truly observable by the end of May. He walked upright, hands down with only an occasional verbal reminder, he learned to walk and stop which greatly helped staff because it decreased the number of times they would have to run after him. He made great leaps in his ability to focus and attend to tasks, and he began using words to state his needs i.e. water, bathroom, ball, play, others' names, bus, etc. Socially he became more aware of those around him and he was interacting non-aggressively. At lunch time all my students had a regular education student for a lunch buddy. Each of my students would sit with their lunch buddy at the lunch buddy's class table. Daily I watched J's interactions with the lunch class/ buddy become more calm and appropriate. He became more calm/relaxed and he definitely increased his ability to follow directions and to accept correction calmly. I feel sure the TTEAM obstacle activities had a great effect on his self-control, focusing, increased awareness of' his environment, and the decrease in his compulsiveness. J. loved the circles so much that he would take my hand and show me where he wanted circles, he also would try to do circles on others. It was a total joy to watch the growth he was making.

N. (6 yrs. mental handicap, slight degree of' cerebral palsy). M. had extreme baby behaviors: he refused to follow directions by excessive tantruming, hitting, spitting, crying, and throwing himself on the floor. He was extremely dependent on others to do things for him. Very low focusing abilities and very short attention span. When N. first came to my class in October I thought if this child learns to remain in his seat for five minutes it will be a miracle. Well N. passed that goal up by far. He made wonderful progress with a lot of physical guidance and verbal direction. He had already come a long way when I began doing TTEAM with him in the end of March. And once again I don't think it was coincidence that this student began to make progress more rapidly when I began the TTEAM. N. resisted the circles at first so I had to stick to the 'flick of the bear's paw" for the first week. After that he was very receptive to the circles and by the end of May he would ask for circles. I feel that N. made a lot of emotional progress in body awareness and use. It's as if he had discovered his body and its movements. N. also grew in independence and in following directions. I could see him improve and feel good about the TTEAM obstacles and learning these simple task directions seemed to carry over into following directions in other areas.

K. (7 years. Learning Handicap, hyperactive). K. was my speed student. He sped through everything just to get it done. His focusing ability was very poor. K. was in my room only in the morning so the only TTEAM I did with him was the Circles and the baton, open gate, walk, stop. I feel this greatly improved his ability to slow down and to focus. I would also let K. run in a circle around me plus focus on the baton and verbal directions. This seemed to be effective in releasing his excess energy, increasing his focusing, and increasing his following direction skills. K. seemed to react to the circles very emotionally. Some days he was very resistive to the touch. He was a child that did not feel comfortable with touch. Several times after I began circles on him he would have crying episodes (not within the circle session, but at later times). I took the circles very slowly with K. in case they were causing the crying. In time he became more receptive to the circles and the crying episodes ceased.

M. (10 yrs., Mental retardation handicap, very cerebral palsy, Used a walker to walk). M. came to my class the last month of school so he did not participate in a lot of' TTEAM. I observed some progress that I feel was a result of TTEAM. M. was not happy in our class when he first came. He had recently moved from another town where he was very happy in his class. I feel the circles helped him feel more trusting and bonded in our class at a more rapid speed than he would have without the circles.

C.* (9 yrs., regular education. student that was placed in my classroom due to severe emotional and aggressive outbursts within his regular classroom. C. is very intelligent, creative, and sensitive.) A teacher's aide worked with him in a partitioned off area of my classroom. I worked with him for 30 minutes a day. We worked on social/personal skills, breathing, guided imagery, and of course CIRCLES! C. loved the circles, especially on his face. He told me the circles made him feel relaxed and peaceful. We used the circles many times when he was feeling upset. Every time he would feel better and refrain from inappropriate or aggressive behavior.

I hope that I have at least been able to cover the highlights of what I feel TTEAM did for my students. I'm not sure who benefited the most from TTEAM - my students or me. I do know that now I have seen the benefits with my horses, with my students, with myself and I thank you for sharing TTEAM with the earth.

NOTE: TTEAM is an acronym of "Tellington TTouch Equine Awareness Method." Since this article was written, Linda decided to use a brand name for all the facets of the TTouch organization. Currently, that is Tellington TTouch^® Training.

TTEAM News International December, 1987 Vol 7 No 5 Pp. 5-6

I want to share some of my experiences of the last few weeks: introducing TTEAM to elementary school children. So far I've given four presentations - ranging in length from one hour to a week - to students in Grades 1 through 6. Forty-four children have earned Animal Ambassador Certificates. An additional estimated 200 have had hands-on experience doing Raccoon or Clouded Leopard circles on a horse.

Animal Ambassadors International^® and TTEAM^® were presented to the teachers as ends in themselves and as vehicles for learning empowerment. I wanted to demonstrate that TTEAM can be more than just an interesting sidelight to a school program. It can be a valuable adjunct to the program itself.

To that end the two week-long units that we did were by far the most productive. They gave us time to set specific goals and objectives that addressed both cognitive and effective modes. For example, last week I worked with Celeste Klmerico, who has charge of her school's Gifted-and-Talented and Remedial program. One of the really exciting things Celeste wanted to do was bring these two groups of kids together in a week-long Animal Ambassador unit. One purpose for doing this was to raise the prestige and confidence of the remedial group, to make it easier for them to leave their classrooms each day for "Special Ed." Meanwhile the kids at the other end of the spectrum would be gaining practice in sharing their skills and being supportive while everyone broadened their knowledge of animals and natural history through TTEAM and an imaginative search for a special animal to befriend, protect and learn more about.

Although with each program I realize how much I have to learn. I'm excited about the programs we are doing right now as well as possibilities and plans for the future. Out of the two week-long units a workable, flexible framework has evolved that include the following components.

• Introduction to TTEAM, Animal Ambassadors International and the stuffed toy animals on which they will learn and practice the Tellington TTouch.
• Live animal demonstration with Tehya, a horse, and Bud, a dog – both gentle, beautiful animals who are Ambassadors to the children from the whole vast Animal Kingdom.
• An imaginary, guided tour with Linda aboard a winged horse throughout the animal habitats of the world, looking for a special animal to befriend and protect.

This journey begins at Monkey Mia, in Australia, swimming with dolphins. The children loved making the sound of dolphin-breathing. They journey to the California coast, where sea otters spend almost their entire lives in the surf, rocking to the music of the waves.

On the beach they meet the winged horse, first as a toy animal with wings shaped like hands; with their TTouch it becomes the magical, gentle horse who carries them to Africa, to Australia and eventually back to North America.

The drawings from my coloring book are used to give framework and focus to the imagery. Last week I ended the journey with a recording of wolf howls.

Then everyone rises from their chairs and joins hands in a Friendship Circle while they choose an animal to befriend and protect.
 

• Back to the left-brain mode. Over-night I have drawn a picture of each child's animal. This is not as difficult as it may sound because many children choose the same animal. Last week we had four eagles. The children use library books to research their animal's color, plus several interesting facts about the animal, which they will write down. They'll also color the animal.
• Children who complete the research may wish to write a poem about or for their animal.
• Validation: Children read their presentations before their classmates and are awarded their Certificates.

It is necessary to remember that this program must be flexible in order to meet the needs of the children with a wide range of abilities. For example, last week we had a gifted first grader, at least one hyperactive older child who usually can best be reached only on a one-to-one basis and a gifted eighth grader who chose to design her own project based on the TTEAM newsletter.

In evaluating the children's responses it is important to point out that most of the children we've worked with so far have been in remedial programs. The hyperactive children are tremendously exciting and challenging. They'll wear you out, but when a hyperactive child sits still for an hour - working on his project - you know your program has got to have some strength.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about ways in which a TTEAM-Animal Ambassador program, with additional components of art and guided imagery, can be used in a whole-brain learning approach. A lot of credit must be given to teachers and teachers' aids, who know how to make the most of a program like this. I have learned so such from the teachers!

Every program we've done so far has served as a springboard for further activity, some initiated by the children themselves. Anne Gahley's remedial classes began asking for more animal books to read, an indication that we provided incentive to nonreaders. One child elected to redo her project. Ms. McCathryn's 'Introduction to TTEAM' was the start of a month-long Animal Unit for Second Graders. Dorabeth Adams plans to use our poetry writing venture as a start to help the children develop vocabulary and imagination in creative writing. Some of Celeste Almerico's students may bring their pets to school to give a TTEAM demonstration for the other children. Her 8th grade is working on a special project to send to Linda.

I believe the program is powered, to a great extent, by the live animal demonstration. The children appear to be positively affected by the presence of the horse. Perhaps they are awed by the horse's size. They press close to the rails of the portable corral, watching the TTouch being done on the horse. They are quick to notice the horse's every reaction. When their turn comes to enter the corral, one at a time, their eyes are shining with pride and anticipation. I am amazed and delighted at how much they have learned working with the stuffed toy animals, and at how well they remember the names of the different TTouches.

When they got to the dog there is sudden laughter. They have invented a new name: Lick of the Dog's Tongue.

I would like to conclude with a poem written by an eight year old girl on behalf of' her animal, the elephant.

Freedom
Is a gray elephant
Eating in the jungle.

Happiness
is a burnt umber elephant
With her calf in the rain forest.

Sadness
Is a brown elephant
Asleep In the zoo.

NOTE: TTEAM is an acronym of "Tellington TTouch Equine Awareness Method." Since this article was written, Linda decided to use a brand name for all the facets of the TTouch organization. Currently, that is Tellington TTouch^® Training.