Stress can influence our experiences and success, and as a dog mom, it can also, in turn, affect our dogs and their behavior.    This episode of Enlightened by Dogs is the first part of the 2-part episode with Marika Bertram, who is an amazing dog trainer, one of my certified partnership coaches, and who loves to help dog moms in our community.    Marika shares her knowledge about stress, how to get stressed, and even how to deal with them. She also talks about the vagus nerve, some simple techniques that we could use to promote releasing that stress, and other important details on healing our reactivity loop.    In addition, Marika also discusses the importance of dealing with the feeling in our body, not just the thoughts that we have so that it doesn’t keep getting stored as trapped energy in the body and keep reappearing each time we're triggered.    Read more about Marika in her bio below.   Marika Bertram offers unique behavior and relationship consulting for dog families with a focus on holistic heart-centered coaching that will teach you the art of dog listening so that you can communicate with your dog on a deeper level and enjoy a well-behaved dog without obedience training!   Website links: www.revyk9.com, Facebook and Instagram is ‘The Dog Listener.’ I offer in-person and virtual programs that vary from 2 kickstart sessions to 6-month programs for the full foundation and support through your journey of transformation with your dog.   In this episode:    Marika's background  A better understanding of how stress influences experience and success   Releasing stress from the body   Quotes:   “It’s important to understand not only our own behavior but also our dog's behavior and why we get triggered or why they also get triggered.  And it seems like they literally can't hear us.”   “A lot of people don't know why they get stressed. Even though maybe their lives aren't that stressful, they're still experiencing stress.”   “Our brain has to make sense of the feeling in our body. So it triggers thoughts in our brain and then we react to these thoughts.”   “If we only deal with the thoughts that we're having, and not the feeling in our body, it just keeps getting stored as trapped energy in the body and will keep reappearing each time we're triggered.”   “If we allow the body to release this trapped energy, we can then begin to heal, and our bodies will be less triggered…. And then it leads us to become more resilient and feel safe, calm, and happy.”   “When you're in survival mode, you don't need to be social, you don't need to be polite to those around you. Clearly, you're thinking about survival and safety. So you're going to do whatever needs to be done at that moment for your body to survive.’   “We can't force ourselves or our dogs back to the green zone when it's in the red zone.”   “So it's only once our nervous system feels safe that we can actually return to that green calm state, and go from survival to being more social, where we actually start to feel safer… Make better decisions and act more consciously and mindfully.” LOVE TO LEARN MORE?  Become a calm and confident Dog Mom with a cooperative, happy dog ... without obedience training, or relying on treats or arousing games, or corrections of any type.   Here are some next steps:   SUBSCRIBE to Kathy’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/DancingHeartsDogAcademy/videos   LISTEN or READ Kathy’s Podcast and Blog on her Website: https://dancingheartsdogacademy.com/   GET STARTED work with Kathy: https://dancinghearts.link/foundation   LET’S CONNECT on the socials for more partnership tips and advice: -Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dancinghearts/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathykawalec/   LISTEN TO PODCASTS:Subscribe to the Enlightened By Dogs podcast in your favorite app! Don’t forget to leave us a rating and review – it would make Kathy very happy!   Subscribe on  Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify Connect on Facebook: facebook.com/