Energy Imbalances
All is vibration, and what has the appearance of conflict is better understood as dissonance or discord, energies seeking resolution in harmony.
.........Dhyani Ywahoo in "Voices of our Ancestors"
In the articles "Understanding Energy" and "Energy Therapies for Horses," we talked about electromagnetic energy and what we called subtle energy. We then discussed the various energy therapies that are used to balance energy flows throughout the horse's body. The question then arises: What caused the energy flows to become unbalanced?
As discussed, everything that exists is made up of atoms containing electrons which orbit around the atomic nucleus. The movement of these electrons creates electricity, which in turn creates an electromagnetic field. All the electromagnetic fields of all the atoms in the horse combine to form the larger electromagnetic field of the horse, which radiates outward. We also discussed that in terms of resonance. We said that the orbiting electrons create a frequency for each atom, and when all the atoms combine, all their frequencies combine to form the unique resonance of the individual horse. These same principles of electromagnetic fields, or resonances, apply to anything and everything which the horse comes into contact with.
The natural world around the horse (the earth, rocks, water, plants and other animals) also has resonance and puts out frequencies that positively feed the resonance of the horse. The horse's resonance is also fed by the colors and smells from the natural world surrounding it. All this combines in harmony to form a healthy, well-functioning organism. It is this harmonious blending of the electromagnetic fields of the horse and all the horse comes into contact with that regulates the health and activity of every cell in the horse's body. These electromagnetics govern the chemical activity inside cells that conventional methods try to manipulate with drugs, herbs, natural remedies, and to some extent, surgery and other conventional treatments. It's important to remember that the chemical activity in cells is initiated by electrical signals; thus, the chemical activity that conventional methods seek to influence is always secondary to electrical activity. Electromagnetics is primary; chemical is secondary. Electromagnetics causes the chemical.
The brain is in contact with the outside world at all times through "neurons" on the surface of the skin. Neurons are receptors and transmitters; they are electrochemical substances which make up the nervous system. The nervous system is made up of trillions and trillions of neurons which receive and transmit information to and from the brain. The neurons in the skin are the same composition as the neurons in the brain itself...thus, the brain instantly knows what is happening outside the horse through the signals sent by neurons. Neurons also instantly signal the brain about what is happening inside the horse's body. Neurons can be thought of as the antenna of the brain--they keep the brain informed about what is going on not only inside the horse's body but also in the environment around the horse.
Neurons communicate to the brain by "firing," which influences other neurons to fire, and the signal reaches the brain. The brain dictates a response to each signal which dictates how cells react. The important thing to realize here is that these neuron signals are not limited to one part of the body, but every neurological response has an effect on many other areas.
Neurons, being electochemical substances, react to electromagnetic fields. Thus, they react to every electromagnetic influence which the horse comes under, and since everything that exists generates an electromagnetic field, the horse's neurons react to everything around the horse. This means that the horse's brain instantly interprets everything around the horse as either good or bad--supportive or detrimental--and instantly signals a response. So...think for a minute. When your horse comes up on a bridge and won't cross it, or comes up to the door of an indoor riding arena and won't go in, one way to think of that is that the brain is reacting negatively to the electromagnetic field put out by that bridge, or the area around the bridge...or to the electromagnetic field put out by that door or the arena. When your horse shys away from anything, including you or another person, on the fundamental level that is a result of the brain reacting negatively to the electromagnetic field put out by that object or that area or that person. Why does the horse's brain react negatively? Because it senses something detrimental; it senses something harmful which it feels would be best to avoid. That's a somewhat different interpretation of why horses shy away from things...and it certainly has nothing to do with being spoiled or with not knowing who the "alpha" is or with you not knowing the right "tricks" to get your horse to do what you want it to do. It simply means that the horse's brain has interpreted whatever it is as being something potentially harmful. If you'll stop and think about that for a minute, you'll probably realize that the horse's brain may well be right--what it's shying away from IS in fact potentially harmful...and that might even include you (or at least other people).
But let's get back to how the energy gets unbalanced. When the brain senses something that it feels is detrimental, it dictates a response. That response may be to flee, or it may be to initiate some sort of protective mechanism inside the body itself to defend against the detrimental influence. Of course there are limits as to how effective this protective mechanism is, and sometimes it is not sufficient. In this case, we say that the detrimental influence was overwhelming. And so it has a detrimental effect on the horse. The electromagnetic field which was encountered and recognized as detrimental is able to negatively influence the resonance of the body and slow and disturb the electrons in their orbits. Usually, this results in no immediate ill effects. It is only after repeated exposures to this detrimental influence that the results accumulate over time and visible symptoms occur. Thus, by the time you recognize something unusual (by the time symptoms show up), the electromagnetic currents have been imbalanced for some time. As a result of the electrons being disturbed and slowed down in their orbits, the cells themselves become unhealthy and don't function properly. After enough cells malfunction and become unhealthy, eventually tissues are affected, and the horse shows symptoms. This is the explanation, on the electromagnetic level, of how horses become unhealthy.
Now think back on what we said in the article on "Energy Therapies for Horses." We talked about subtle energy, how it controls and regulates the electromagnetic energy. In the case of a detrimental influence disturbing the horse's harmonic electromagnetic field and the healthy orbiting electrons, the subtle energy tries to restore balance. This is the self-healing mechanism of the horse at work. (Please refer to the article on "The Unhealthy Horse" for an explanation of the self-healing mechanism.) But sometimes the detrimental influence is so great and has done so much damage over such a long time that the subtle energy flow itself is disturbed. It is now that energy therapies are in order to restore the smooth flow of subtle energy.
So to answer the question as to how the energy becomes unbalanced, we can say that the horse is exposed to detrimental influences over time that overwhelm the body's capability to deal with them, and as a result the electromagnetic field of the horse becomes so disturbed that the smooth flow of subtle energy is interrupted. But, to correct that, it's not just a simple case of coming in with some sort of energy therapy to try to restart the flow. You absolutely have to remove that detrimental influence. The failure to do that is the reason so many people are disappointed with energy therapies--they expect them to negate the detrimental influence, and sometimes that's simply not possible. You first have to find and remove the detrimental influence, and then an energy therapy can help rebalance the energy. No energy therapy should be thought of as a magic wand which enables your horse to withstand whatever detrimental influences are thrown at it.
Now let's talk a little about accumulated toxins. Toxins are anything that enter the body and have a negative effect on the horse's electromagnetic field. It could be something the horse ate, something in the water or in the pasture, residue from medications, supplements, processed feed and wormers, or it could be substances that settle from the air, or it could even be cellular memory of traumatic influences from the past. In other words it can be either physical or emotional. (Please don't underestimate the power of emotions, even in horses...emotions account for about one third of health and wellness.) In the unnatural world in which we and our horses live, it is said that 80% of health and wellness consists of elimination of toxins, either physical or emotional. I read an article not long ago about a chemical that is used to make drapery and upholstery fabrics flame retardant. This chemical has been implicated in several neurological disorders in humans, to the point that it is banned in all EU countries and many other countries as well...but is still used in the United States. To illustrate how insidious such toxins are, traces of this chemical have recently been detected in cow's milk. Somehow or other this chemical is released into the environment, cows are exposed to it, and traces of it appear in their milk. And this is just one chemical...think of all the harmful chemicals in use today and all the even more harmful chemicals that were in use in the past but are now banned...but traces of them are still linger in the atmosphere and in the soil and in the water. Many of these things accumulate in the body over time--the body is unable to eliminate them. Also consider that many man made things that are in common use today and are thought to be harmless will no doubt prove to have been harmful down the road. So it is impossible to live today without exposure to toxins for which no one really knows what the long term consequences are. Is it any wonder then that your chance of developing cancer today is 1 in 1, compared to just 1 in 100 in the year 1900? Is it any wonder that there seems to be an unexplained epidemic of chronic founder? From an electromagnetic point of view, it is not the physical presence of these toxins that makes them harmful, but it is the fact that they cause imbalances in the electromagnetic field of the horse and disruptions in the flow of subtle energy.
There's something very important to recognize when thinking about the brain detecting potentially harmful influences. When neurons fire to send a message to the brain, it's not a straight-line thing. It doesn't just affect one part of the body, but many parts. Neurological disturbances have an effect on many different, and seemingly unrelated, body parts. What does that mean? Well, assume your horse has a hoof problem. If you want to find the cause, you might look for a disturbance somewhere in the hoof, and many times that will be the case. But it's just as possible that the disturbance is far removed from the hoof itself. The same is true with any problem. The affected organ or body part may or may not represent the site of the disturbance. The disturbance may be far removed from where you notice the symptoms. That is why people sometimes have so much trouble solving a hoof problem, for they look only to the hoof for a solution, when the source of the problem actually is somewhere else.
This realization can lead to another interesting point. When the horse has a problem, we look for some kind of physical cause-and-effect relationship. That's because we're conditioned by the conventional. We see problems as something to be "fought," and we look for the "enemy"--in this case the cause of the problem. Then we proceed to fight the enemy, whether it be by conventional means or alternative means. There is no better example of this than those who "fight" cancer, and this attitude has become so ingrained in our society that if you don't have the "fight" attitude, it's assumed you are crazy. There is no shortage of "weapons" to use in the fight, and no shortage of new and ever more expensive weapons coming on the market. But...even if you use alternative means to "fight" a problem, that's really a totally conventional way of approaching problems--search for the enemy and destroy or neutralize it. There is another way to approach problems.
Problems don't have to be seen as something to be fought. They can be seen as opportunities--opportunities to grow and to change something, opportunities to make things better. Problems can be seen as signs that something is not right, that something we're doing is not right and needs to be changed. That "something" can be seemingly unrelated to where the problem manifests itself.
How you interpret a problem depends on your perspective.
Not long ago a couple talked to me about a lameness problem their horse was having. They were searching for a way to "fight" the problem, a way to make it go away. In their minds, the problem was "the problem." I gently told them that the "problem" was actually their interpretation of the lameness issue being a problem...that they could interpret the problem as an opportunity. I told them it was a problem only because they saw it as a problem, but that they could just as easily see it as an opportunity. Well, they looked at me like I had just landed from Mars. They were hoping I would give them a recipe to solve the problem, but I ended up telling them to look for an opportunity in the problem, to look for what the problem was trying to tell them, to where the problem was trying to lead them. In a big building full of people selling "solutions" to problems, they probably never expected to hear what I told them, and they couldn't accept what I told them. So, I will make a prediction: They will continue looking for a solution to this problem, for a way to fight it, but they will not find what they are looking for, for they are looking in the wrong direction. They will join the ranks of countless numbers of horse owners who search in vain for years and years for "solutions" to problems, because they don't understand what problems really represent, don't understand the opportunities for growth which problems present.
It all goes back to how you choose to look at things. If you take the conventional approach of fighting problems, you look at the world in dismal terms--the world is oriented toward chaos and disorder, and you must continually fight this in order to survive. But if you look at the world differently, you can see things in positive terms--the world is oriented toward order and good, and the forces present in the natural order of things tend, in the long term, toward harmony and wellness. It's almost a religious viewpoint, and it's your choice which view of the world you choose. But I hope you choose the view of orientation toward harmony and wellness, because in the final analysis (and this is the ground of all energy therapies) it is our perceptions that determine reality.
Back when I used to do a lot of hoof care work, I got a lot of calls from people wanting to try barefoot. I got to where I could tell whether barefoot would work for them just after talking with them on the phone for a few minutes. Those who said something like, "Well, I really don't think it'll work, but I want to try it" never had success, but those who said, "I know I can make this work" always had success. And that was in spite of the fact that they had already tried the magic trims put out by the self-promoting gurus...and didn't have success. You see, they had already decided, before they called me, that they could make barefoot work, and they did. They made whatever adjustments were necessary. Their perception was that they could ride a barefoot horse, and they did...but not necessarily the same way they did with shoes. They were willing to see the challenges presented by a barefoot horse as an opportunity.
