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QUINNTON IS BREATHING: in, out, in, out. I am breathing: in, out, in, out. My arms are wrapped lightly around him, the palms of my hands resting gently on his broad, warm chest. I am sitting on the floor in Quinnton's large, overstuffed, velvet doughnut-shaped dog bed. My legs are crossed with my knees wide so that Quinnton, my springer spaniel, can sit in the circle made by my legs. He leans back into my chest. My head is dipped, forehead softly pressing on the top of his fuzzy head. We are breathing, breathing.

Since I have my eyes closed, I cannot see whether Quinnton is closing his eyes or whether he is watching for the black squirrel that taunts him from the window. Inhaling slowly, I try to think of nothing. Silently, I count slowly as I inhale; count slowly as I hold my breath; then count slowly as I exhale that one long breath. I try hard to send away thoughts as I focus on counting my seconds of inhaling and exhaling.

Most of us feel so overwhelmed with dispatching the duties of our lives that we can barely sit long enough to read about meditation practices, let alone imagine we have the time to sit silent, counting our breaths. I was feeling similarly incredulous when I first read about learning to slow life down through meditation with your dog.

A copy of the book "How to Meditate With Your Dog" (Maui Media; dogmeditation.com) by James Jacobson and Kristine Medera came my way a few months ago. For weeks I began each workday by picking up the book and reading a few paragraphs at random. A voice inside my head scoffed at the idea of having the time and concentration to undertake meditation. Another voice in my head would argue, "Saying you don't have time means you need to slow down and take time."

Gradually, the allure of meditation chipped away at my resistance to learning to meditate with my dog. The morning came when I could no longer resist the urge to sit down and take on one more aspect of dog companionship.