FROM THE MOMENT OF LEAPING THE GATE AND HOLDING ONTO CHARLIE, till the moment I left her in the veterinary surgery for the remainder of that night, I was almost unconsciously using another tool I am eternally grateful for - TTouchwork. Wherever my fingers touched, I was making circular movements; where my fingers couldn't touch I was imagining making circles or making them in the aura above Charlie’s physical body. I worked on her ears, I TTouched her paws, the tip of her tail… everywhere.

Linda Tellington Jones developed TTouch work (not a misspelling - it stands for Tellington Touch) almost 20 years ago and I could really dedicate an entire article to this wonderful work, which indeed I shall do in the future. For now, I will give you a little taster and recommend that anyone who shares their lives with an animal (even a human one!) get hold of one or more of Linda's books. Just reading a book and following the instructions will help you learn some techniques and each one has a slightly different effect. They all have wonderful, creative names that are easily remembered, particularly once one becomes acquainted with the story behind the christening of each one. A good example is the Python TTouch, which was named a after an 11-foot-long python named Joyce that Linda worked on during a demonstration at a Zoo Keeper’s Conference in San Diego. Joyce did not like the small circles Linda started with and became unsettled, causing Linda to intuitively switch to doing slow, small lifts under her body in order to stimulate her lungs (Joyce had suffered with recurring pneumonia). Joyce liked this and stretched out to her full length and relaxed, eventually turning to watch what Linda was doing, her nose almost on Linda’s hand.

TTouches build confidence, speed up healing, release tension and develop an animal’s ability and willingness to learn. They take animals beyond instinct, teaching them to think instead of merely to react. It is a system based on gentle circular movements, lifts, and slides that are performed all over the body. The intent of the TTouches is to activate the function of the cells and awaken cellular intelligence. A TTouch may be performed on one part of the body, but it is truly done on the whole of the body and each circular TTouch is complete in itself. Therefore, it is not necessary to understand anatomy in order to successfully speed up the healing of injuries or ailments, or change undesirable habits or behaviours. The intention is to release pain and fear at the cellular level. Neuroscientist, Candice Pert, in her book, Molecules of Emotion, has proven that emotions are held in our very cells and are transported to our brains via neurotransmitters. Scientists in Colorado discovered that the one-and-a-quarter circles of the TTouch simultaneously stimulate four different brain waves in humans and horses. Simple stroking, massage or repeated circles in one place did not do this. The machine used to measure this was invented by a guy called Maxwell Cade. Cade had discovered that this pattern of the four brain waves operating simultaneously represents what he called the ideal functioning mode of the human brain, which he named 'the awakened mind state'. This is apparently the pattern found in the brains of highly creative people and healers and there is no reason to believe this doesn't apply to all other animals, too - not just the equines and humans tested by Cade.

Maybe it is the connecting together of person and animal with focused intent and energy that makes the TTouches work? I don't know for sure. But I do know that they work - sometimes miraculously so. And I am certain that they played a major part - and still are doing - in helping Charlie recover from this horrific accident.

I know that doing the ear TTouch on Charlie immediately after her accident prevented her from slipping into shock and stopped her circulation from breaking down. Working the ears has a positive effect on the entire body and its organs. In acupuncture there are points on the ears that relate to every part of the body, so you can literally work on the whole body just by touching the ears. At the tip of the ear (this applies to humans, too) is the shock point; so making small circles there with your thumb can really help. Gently but firmly I repeatedly stroked Charlie’s ears from base to tip, applying a slight pressure to the shock point at the end of each slide. Her colour was good when we arrived at the vet's - indeed he was actually quite surprised this was so!

Two days later Charlie was allowed home, under strict supervision and care. Specialists had been called and any surgical intervention ruled out because she was still showing a deep pain reflex in one foot (a sign that things may improve) and because the risks involved in surgical intervention were great. Nonetheless, I was cautioned to not expect too much.

And so we slipped into a new routine of twice-daily TTouch sessions and healing, and four-times-daily physiotherapy (bending and flexing each back leg in turn for five minutes at a time). I called in our local (world famous) alternative vet practitioner, Chris Day, who introduced acupuncture, laser therapy and homeopathy. I also called a Reiki Master and Intuitive Healer, Jodi Canti, who is famous for her distance healing work. After two days Charlie still had no use in her back end (remember what the vet had said?). But on day four things began to change.

First came a twitch of the tail. We were ecstatic. Then the back left leg came into action. Next, she recovered bladder and bowel control (with us supporting her with a sling made from a towel). Then, during sleep, her right hind leg started twitching while she was dreaming. I immediately called the vet’s to tell them this fantastic news. More caution – “This could just be a 'something-technical’ response,” they said. “It means nothing really in terms of her regaining use.” “Oh yes it does,” we thought. And so it did.

Then came a process of emotional release. It was as if the trauma had finally caught up with Charlie on some level and she was remembering and releasing the feelings associated with it. She clung to me. She cried in the night. She shook. She became afraid of going outdoors and refused to go near the part of the yard nearest to the scene of her accident. But it passed.

On constant watch unless confined to her crate (a new addition to the house which meant we could leave her in a safe space if we went out for a while), Charlie was under my partner's supervision while I went out to do some shopping. On arriving home, I stepped inside the back porch, bent to undo my boots, and received a big wet kiss on the side of my cheek. I screamed! Charlie was standing next to me, tail wagging lopsidedly, looking decidely delighted with herself. Not only that, in order to reach me she had walked through two rooms, taken a sharp turn out of a doorway and navigated down six stairs… without falling! I was kinda mad that she had been allowed to do that (Pekka was on the phone, with his back turned toward Charlie, and, of course, never suspected she could possibly get herself up, let alone walk anywhere). But more than that, I was ecstatic!

Her next hurdle was being able to toilet alone, without support and without toppling over. Then came the tricky bit - convincing her that, as well as she felt, she really could not carry on 'yet' as she used to do whenever she presented us with toys she expected us to throw and scuttled towards fences she expected to jump. She had to be reminded that she was still in a healing process. And indeed still does!

And remember, this didn't all happen over months and months, this happened over a few weeks. As I write this, it is just five-and-a half weeks since her accident. Charlie has now regained almost full use of her left hind leg. Her tail still droops a bit at times, but it wags and balances her almost normally most of the time. Her right hind leg is maybe 60% functional and she still carries her back a bit hunched at the site of the injury, but improvements occur daily and no one is setting a time limit on her recovery. Since this happened I have received fantastic encouraging emails from all over the world recounting stories of animals that have been seemingly paralysed for months and have then recovered. I recount again a favourite saying of mine: Be realistic - plan for a miracle!

The other evening we took our first 'reasonably long' walk in a long time - short-cutting, but basically following the general flow of one of our longer trails - and there we met a couple of fellow dog walkers and one of Charlie's chums. They all stopped and stared in wonderment. “Is that Charlie?” they asked, incredulously. A seemingly daft question, but they went on to explain that they had been just a short distance away on a walk when the accident had occurred. (They hadn’t stopped because there had seemed to be plenty of supportive people around and they had been deeply disturbed by what they had witnessed.) They had been afraid to call and ask how Charlie was since then.

"The sound of the car hitting her was awful, like a cracking noise, then her screaming… and seeing her drag herself along with just her front legs… we were certain she had broken her back and could not survive", they exclaimed. They really thought they had just seen a ghost.

“Oh no,” I thought, "it would take more than that to knock the wings off my Angel.”

It is possible to spend time hypothesizing why such a tragedy occurred. Why, after the wonderful experience we had just enjoyed on our walk? Why she even went out onto the road? But I choose not to go there. Perhaps, deep inside of both Charlie and myself, there is a knowing, a contract we made before incarnating, but really the purpose is in the past. We are here now and that is all that matters.

If there is one main lesson I learned from all of this, it is to not listen unquestioningly to experts such as vets. They only know what they know, and they often are limited by their own self-beliefs. Sure, listen and take advice, but always remember to retain control of the situation. Animals are far from dumb in one sense of the word, but when it comes to being able to speak up for themselves at the vet's, they have to rely on you. If tragedy occurs in your life, I urge you to reach out in all directions and ask for help. Don't be railroaded into making any uncomfortable or irrevocable decisions by anybody! Collect information. Seek out people who have shared similar experiences. And know that we are surrounded daily by miracles... because you could just be about to witness one more.

© 2002 Elaine Harrison