Jesse Sternberg Interview - Enlightened Dog Training ~ JeanBookNerd

Photo Content from Jesse Sternberg

Jesse Sternberg is a mindfulness teacher, meditation instructor, and master dog trainer. The founder of the Peaceful Alpha Project, he has been working with animals for more than 30 years. He lives in Toronto, Canada.

Greatest thing you learned at school.
The greatest thing I learned in school is to be comfortable being myself. (I was jewish in a small town and definitely didn’t fit in when we first moved there at 12 years old)

Beyond your own work (of course), what is your all-time favorite book and why? And what is your favorite book outside of your genre?
My favorite book outside my genre is a hero born, jin yong (it’s translated from chinese and is basically the harry potter meets kung fu, it’s just extraordinary)

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
My most rewarding experience since being published was watching my son’s pride in me. He’s in grade 5 and is so proud. He takes the book to school and reads in his spare time.

Has reading a book ever changed your life? Which one and why, if yes?
Reading a book has definitely changed my life. The seven spiritual laws of yoga, by deepak chopra, gave me the confidence and courage to become a dog trainer 15 years ago. The rest is history.

What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
The biggest distraction is my emotion and inner monolog. Staying focused, determined, and vibing high became my dedication.

Can you tell us when you started ENLIGHTENED DOG TRAINING, how that came about?
I’ve known that I’m deeply creative since childhood. I used to take all my toys apart and build new ones. As a young adult I loved building businesses (for investors or myself), then eventually, I discovered writing. And I love that the most!

FAVORITE QUOTES FROM ENLIGHTENED DOG TRAINING

My favorite quotes from the book are within the table of contents. It’s just so interesting and unique and captivating for people who are into mindfulness and love their dogs. Here are a few samples:

The Secret Language of the Animal Kingdom
The Peaceful Alpha: Commanding With Respect and Love
Zen and the Art of Deflating Aggression
Healing Neurosis and Anxiety: Yours and Your Dog’s
Power Objects: The Source of Your Dogs Embarrassing Behaviors

Random Facts About Enlightened Dog Training
I actually didn’t think I wanted to write this book. I had never done something like this and didn’t like writing as a kid. Three years ago I sold my dog business and decided to pivot my life around. After a month of just resting and relaxing, I got an epic download. Inspiration for writing a mindfulness based dog training book hit me, and my spine tingled for hours. I knew I had no choice but to develop the skill and participate in the marathon that all writers come to know about.

Journey to Publication
I couldn’t have been luckier. My background is in business writing. Making concise, eloquent business cases is what I was trained to do in University. I hired an amazing agent who had a connection with one publisher. We wrote an amazing query letter. Three months later we heard from a subsidiary of the publisher, out in the UK. My book landed on the desk of another publisher who happened to be into mindfulness and loves animals. How amazing is that?

Writing Behind the Scenes
I try to stay consistent with my own personal practice of keeping my mind clear, my body healthy and my emotions elevated. I don’t try to write anything until I’m in that state. I’ve forced it before and it usually looks like hours of grinding with nothing decent written down. The alternative, which took me two years to master, is waiting for the flow state and the inspiration to hit. Then bee-lining it to the computer and allowing the flow to be released. The other lesson I learned is to sit on my work for a while before I release it to an editor. This gives me fresh eyes to improve what I wrote (or ditch it and start over).

Which would you choose, True Love with a guarantee of heartbreak or have never loved before?

I think true love with the guarantee of heartbreak sounds great, minus the ending. You have to taste life though, don’t be afraid of loving.

Which incident in your life totally changed the way you think today?

Once while on ayahuasca I hallucinated that an octopus was strangling me to death. It felt so real, like I had a conscious death or something. My relationship to the feeling of fear has been required since. I have a lot more courage now.

Weirdest thing you’ve seen in someone’s home?

One of my friends had a 16 year old pug. She loved it. Eventually it passed on. She took him to the taxidermy. Looking at this old stuffed real dog in her home is so weird!

First heartbreak?

Divorcing my wife and mother of my children of 10 years after I realized that I had realized that we were no longer compatible together. I still love her and always will, but not romantically anymore. (fun question!!! lol)

A complete guide to raising and relating to your pet in a mindful way that leads to calm, intuitively-obedient dogs

• Reveals the principles of the secret language of the animal kingdom to help you communicate with your pet and read their signals

• Offers cutting-edge, unique solutions to everyday canine problems by looking at behavioral issues through the lens of your pet’s emotions

• Shares training exercises and powerful meditative practices to do with your pet as well as on your own to help soothe anxiety, overcome aggression issues, and transform tension into harmony

Are you aware of the body signals through which your dog shares his or her perspective of the world with you? Understanding the language of your pet allows you to communicate better and naturally transform your dog into a calm, relaxed companion for life.

In this guide, meditation teacher and dog trainer Jesse Sternberg reveals the principles of the secret language of the animal kingdom and offers commonsense yet unique solutions to everyday canine behavioral problems. Using case studies that resonate with every pet owner and dog lover, he explains how most of our pets’ issues arise from intense feelings caused by the environment, ourselves, or prior conditioning and how these emotions are acted out by the dog.

Combining mindfulness teachings with animal psychology, Jesse suggests training exercises and powerful meditative practices to do with your pet as well as on your own to help build a calm and peaceful mindset for both your dog and yourself, so eventually you will find yourselves aligned and able to gracefully master even unexpected situations. Enlightened Dog Training offers unique training techniques for soothing anxiety, healing neuroses, overcoming aggression issues, and transforming tension into harmony. Communicate nonverbally with your dog using the signals dogs use with each other and address problems with leash training and guarding resources and territory.

Helping you cultivate empathy, awareness, and confidence to become the peaceful alpha your dog craves, this guide shows how to strengthen your human-animal bond, communicate with actions, and command with respect and love.

You can purchase Enlightened Dog Training at the following Retailers: