My precious friend Garline weights 32 pound this days, in the wild the normal weight is about 16 lb according to her keeper Jason whom I had a chance to talked today while inquiring regards her overall health.
Garline rested close to the big glass wall near her burrow. I lowered myself down greeting her softly by name and starting touching her with the small circular motions she has become familiar with over the years. Sensing each other via touch I carefully pulled her up on my lab sitting on that large and flat window rock I had sat many times before. People gathered in front of the glass watching closely with wondering eyes. It took a few minutes to settle comfortable with each other which means the way my legs and arms hold her, the way her limbs and head can relax on my body. Applied some acupressure with the palm of my hand on her smooth-feeling torso, then acupressured her legs too. She usually likes pressure very much, it helps grounding the body as we breath together in unison. When I pulled her up on my chest applying pressure and then only using light TTouch she moved – I stopped, taking my hands off watching her and softly murmering to her ” where do you want to go”? She seemed unsure so I pulled her higher so that her head could drop down on my shoulder. We both visibly breathed,
I lay-ed back with my head bracing against the glass. Now she was happy, her body went limb with the release of a telling long, deep breath. Minutes passed and I needed to change position to take care of my crunched up neck. I looked at the sky above and decided to take her outside to get some warming mid-day sun.
I lifted her up and we walked down the corridor to the entrance of the outdoor area. The sunlight lit up a nice grassy spot where I placed her carefully down in.
It was instantly clear how much she enjoyed soaking in the warmth of the sun. Her head stretched up and froze in that position to get all of the sun as her body faced the winter sun from behind. After giving her some time to be I started ttouching around her head while her tongue flickered friendly at me a couple of times.
When the sun shaded her powerful tail she moved higher up and I used that opportunity to lift her onto an invitingly even leveled flat rock ledge linked to a cascading rock wall. She had a little wonderment going at first, checking with her eyes and tongue, turning her body, but then ever so quickly settled down with the relaxing sensations body therapy brings. As I was at head level with her I was the recipient of her long tongue flickering sweetly over my neck. I wondered what she is tasting, or are this expressions of affection one would not easily attribute to a member of the reptilian family? Knowing her so well I see it as affection and a form of reassurance that I am still there. A comfort she will never have to worry to miss. After some time had passed and to be able to leave her there safely alone I moved her down a ledge from where she could crawl effortlessly into the grass whenever she wanted. I recalled the times she fell from high up of an ill-designed rock structure in her heated enclosure and I did not want to take the slightest chance. Living so unnaturally and not exercised and perhaps to long toe nails from insufficient use she was not up to the task to be a secure climber which she likely would be in the wild.
Glancing at the image of her body in pure joy and bliss I said to myself ” oh’ what joy it is to see a result of merging factors – what we as humans would call relaxation – implemented by mindful touch, presence, warmth, stillness and quietness. Therefore the combo of healing touch, soul to soul encounter and warming sun leaves no doubt, it speaks about itself. Garline has captured my heart in an extraordinary way.
*TTouch = Tellington Touch
