08/31/2026
🐾🌿 From “half-yawns” to REM dreaming ✨ One day, a dog trainer called me 📞🐶—she’d had her dog for five years, and she’s a phenomenal trainer (and a breeder too), so this pup has been part of her life since puppyhood. Even with all her experience, there were unwanted behaviors she couldn’t reverse; she’d tried everything in her toolbox, and the patterns still stayed. So she reached out because she knows I’m a botanical self healing practitioner and wondered if essential oils could be the pathway to unlocking what was stuck so her dog could feel happier and healthier inside and out 🌿💛 I was truly excited to work with her—and deeply humbled that someone already so skilled in training would look beyond her own capabilities just to help a dog she loves 🫶🐾 During our session, one of the things I watch for when introducing oils is whether the dog can release tension and support self-regulation. Release can show up as yawning (often a full yawn), softer body/face, calmer breathing, and that “drop” from stress. But with this dog, she couldn’t even fully yawn 😞—she was doing a half-yawn only, like she couldn’t completely let go of the stress she was holding inside. And if you’ve ever been stressed and someone touches you or says something to you, you know that on-edge feeling—many dogs who can’t self-regulate keep that tension contained in their body, and then it shows up as behavior changes. I asked her, “Does she dream when she sleeps?” and she said not really—she hadn’t been seeing signs of dreaming. That was the big clue: her nervous system seemed to be staying in stress instead of fully settling into restful sleep. After she chose a few oils, we stayed in touch before our second visit, and she noticed something beautiful—her family had seen a change too: her dog seemed softer. She was yawning through the day, and the release looked more complete when her dog was offered the oils. Then she sent me a video 🎥💛—her dog was dreaming and actually entering REM sleep 💤✨ 🌿🐾
