Can animals meditate?

I think they must or they are able to rest with their eyes open sort half sleep or in a trance of soem sort. Or they are in a intense state of listening or sensing their surrounding so they can better protect you.

That's an interesting subject, polachicago! Though I have many stories and personal and family experiences as well as observations but I'll restrain myself to only some before I draw my conclusion. There is an interesting story about what happened when two philosophers, Farabi and Bu Ali Sina, one was expert in astronomy and other in medical sciences, were traveling together and had to stay with a farmer (or something else). Farmer insisted them to sleep inside the house while they insisted to sleep outside so that they can continue their discussion during night. Well, when the farmer insisted more, they asked him why he is so insistent? He replied that tonight it's going to rain. Farabi who was expert in astronomy looked on sky and said No, there will be no rain. Farmer said there sure will be rain and I'll not be able to open the door in the night as my hearing is impaired. They said we won't ask you to open the door as there will be no rain. Well, the farmer went and they slept. After a while clouds started appearing and in no time it started raining cats and dogs. They rushed and knocked the door and after quite a while farmer opened just to say, I was telling you that it will rain and you were not listening. They then asked how did you know that it will rain tonight. He replied that I don't know but whenever it's going to rain, my dog who, otherwise, sleeps on the roof, comes down to sleep. There are many interesting events in my family history but one is related to one of my great grand fathers when all the ducks (in his home) tried to stop him when he was going out a fine morning, while they never did it before. He was murdered the same morning after only an hour. I too have some experiences, I'll relate only one. I have a colleague whose neighbors have a dog, a mix of wolf and German shepherd. He always barked on strangers, in fact he barked on every one other than residents of his house. When I visited my friend, he started barking and I looked into his eyes. I tried to communicate him that I am not a enemy and he doesn't need to be worried or feel offended by me. He stopped and my friend was really surprised. He told me that he never saw that dog behaving like that. He actually told that even after one year of living there, that dog always barked on him. I have also seen some animals weeping and crying. Especially some horses who always cried on a specific day of the year, every year; while keeping their heads down and listening to some rhymes. I have also seen dogs, cats, goats, cows, elephants and other animals seeing a far off place in complete silence as if they are thinking. What I think is that animals have some great senses and attributes. They can feel things which are invisible to us due to these senses. They can also be communicated with as I have mentioned one experience. I think they are able to feel higher energy close to them and they understand things much better than we think they can.

I think that could be possible somehow. I mean I think most animals do pretty much anything that we can do on some levels.

I think they can- Because like you said they aren’t in deep thought about hey I wonder what is for dinner tonight- Or how can I possibly get the kids to the soccer game in time? I wonder what they are thinking about—are they meditating? How interesting- I never thought of that- I always just said- Carmen (our dog) is day dreaming again- she is dreaming of finding true love! lol

but how do we know what the dog is thinking? maybe we can be more like them of not worry about the furture, or what is the past, but enjoying what we have right now at the present time frame.

I cannot say about mediatation, but I do believe that God have definitely given thinking power to animals. Perphas, they cannot think, at the level of a human being. But they do think...and take a decision what to and what not to do...they have their reasoning powers.

yes they do meditate,,,,everything that have a soul and a brain can do it.

pola that was a surprising post, i really do not know what to say about it, i never thought about dogs and meditation. I always thought that animals can notice things that we can't. And it is said that when they are looking at far distance without blinking one eye they usually are seeing souls and ghosts. But i really do not know.

Yes, I think animals do meditate in a way. They do it naturally by just being. I practice zazen (Zen meditation) that roughly translated means, "just sitting". The aim is to still the mind and focus only on the breathing - inhalation and exhalation to the exclusion of all other thoughts. At this point we go into conflict with the ego, wanting to contemplate the past or future, which are considered to be illusions for they no longer exist. This consciousness is not easy to achieve and does not appeal to everyone. It can happen in an instance (for time is another illusion) or as a Zen master would say, will take many lifetimes. I have been doing this since the late 1970s and am still practising, but there are other advantages I have realised along the way. I am a therapist and many of my clients have taken up the discipline :-)

Excellent question I have noticed my dogs doing the same thing as if they are deep in thought and staring into space at times. Its also funny to see them sleeping and dreaming. Especially when they are barking in their sleep or I have even seen my dog run in its sleep.

i think as living thing and has brain, definitely they meditate or else how are some animals trained to undertake some activities. sure they meditate over whatever they're taught and try to remember them as well. htey also communicate with each other as well but we can't understand them.

Hi Pola, I had a Pom a couple of years back, when we moved to this house, didn't get used to the move. He would sit on the deck and stare off into the yard. My yard is 1382 feet deep, so he could see for a long ways. He wouldn't move or bat an eye, just sit there for hours. One day he took off down the road, we never seen him again. I wish I could have known what he was thinking, because if I knew I could have prevented it from happening. I miss my dog. I've since, got other dogs, but I can't replace the one that didn't want to stick around. I just wish I knew what he was thinking. Peace, Totty

We worry too much about stuff. Dogs and cats don't worry as long as they are being fed and well taken care of. Meditating is ridding yourself of all outside thoughts and worrys. As a rule dogs don't have alot of ridding to do. I'll bet this state of mind comes quite naturally to them. If you want to acheive this state as easily as a dog does..quit your job and find someone that will feed you and make sure you get your daily excersise and hugs and praises you just because you are cute/

I think its their personality of being si kin and watchful is guess. I don't think dogs are meditating as far as I know, I have 5 dogs at home, somehow they how to cure themselves whenever they think they're sick, they eat grasses which I din't think a medicinal herb but I know they are curing theeirselves.

I have seen this in thier eyes dont know what they are thinking or doing. I have been asked at times what I am doing or staring at when I have not even thought that I was doing it and when s=asked I cant recall what was on my mind lol

I believe that they can, They can think and learn. So why wouldnt they be able to meditate...? My dog senses when its ten oclock which is when she likes get into her bed to go to sleep....she knows the routines and habits and is a fast learner...Id say yes, but have any studies been done on this yet?

I do this frequently polchicage, but I call it dat dreaming.

my cat seems to always have something to look at, things I can and can't see. If I'm mad at her because of what she does, I will hold her and look into her eyes as I tell her that what she does is not nice and I love her so much. After several times doing this, I notice that she does it less and less often. I don't know if animals meditate but I have read about animal communicators and I wonder if I can somehow achieve this too one day before I die.

Isn't it amazing with pets in general...it's only us humans that are stressed out, frazzled, anxious, worrying...I notice in my cats, how they can be perfectly content just staring, with no concerns on their minds, they don't worry about bills or any of the other human activities...well, maybe they might worry when they're going to get fed next...LOL..I think we could definitely take a lesson from our pets...they have the art of chilling out down to a tee