COW HUGGING NEW STRESS THERAPY

The newest Dutch trend to fight stress is workshops in Cow Hugging. Since swimming with dolphins is too expensive and too far away, the Dutch decided to start hanging out with cows.
A farmers wife wanted to show that things can be done differently in agriculture, after the disastrous foot and mouth disease in 2001. She explains: ‘I felt total imbalance. Everything had to be bigger, faster, cheaper and more. We do not only milk the cow, we milk her dry. We also milk out the land and ourselves. I started to get really unhappy about that.’ 

After seeing the useless killing of so many animals she wife started organising educative children’s parties. The farmers wife: ‘just to show where milk comes from and to promote the respect between humans, animals and nature. The initiative was such a success that the farmers wife could start a company.

Besides the children’s parties the farmers wife started with ‘painting between the cows’, and inspired by the different activities of grandma Duck in the Donald Duck comics, she started with ’cow hugging’. She states that children hug cows sort of automatically, ‘but if you want a man in a suit to do the same, you better call it training, teambuilding or a workshop.’ The rules for successful cow hugging are the four ‘R’s’: Respect for human beings, animals and nature; the Rhythm of nature; Rest to grow and Room to live and to be who you really are.

In the winter the cow hugging takes place in the stable, but in summer the best place for it is outside in the grass. The ‘cow hugging instructor’: ‘It is important to know that the land is from the cows, so behave as a guest. The first step is switching of the ego and to let the cow make contact out of free will.’

It turns out that one has to be on the same level of the cow. If she pulls back her head it means she does not want to hug, and you will have to find yourself another cow. One fourth of the herd is unconditionally ready for a hug. The rest needs time and a subtle approach, and a few do not want to have anything to do with the hugging. During the hugging the farmers wife explains: ‘I always compare the chewing of the cow with putting things into perspective. Think about everything peacefully and revise what happened in life.’ more features

January 15, 2006