Meditating is good for me, right? And I’m fortunate to have beautiful spaces where I can sit and be one with the universe. Plus I have a very good dog to protect me. Perfect… sometimes.
Other times, like today, the protection gets in the way of the meditation. Jesse saw something across the creek as we headed to my favorite spot high above a quiet pool. The hair along his spine lifted and he growled low in his throat. I had him on a leash so I looped it around my wrist in case he took off. 
That was not a smart move.

There was a great crashing in the underbrush across the creek, and Jesse let out a huge mastiff bark and lunged, hauling me behind him. I got my foot stuck on a branch, went down on my knees, and finally freed myself from the leash.

Jesse was gone, up and over the hill, while I was left nursing two very bruised knees, grateful that I’d managed to get loose and wasn’t being dragged through the underbrush.

He came back. We made it to the meditation spot, and we tried to meditate, we really did, but he was so jumpy and on-guard that he made me nervous. And when I tried to focus on my breath, all I could think about was the throbbing in my knees!

I still wonder what he was chasing. It made a lot of noise, and the area had more underbrush than deer generally like. I’m betting a coyote – it sounded big, and bears should be hibernating!