Energy Therapies for Horses
If you do not have an understanding of the energy basis of matter, please read the article on Understanding Energy before reading this article.
All that exists is made up of energy and depends on energy for its continued existence. Atoms are the building blocks of physical existence, and they consist of confined energy and the energy of electrons whirling around the nucleus. Even dead and inanimate objects depend on energy, for without energy, there would be no atoms and no existence. Thus, existence depends on energy. "Energy Therapies" are methods used to influence energy and include, but are not limited to, acupuncture, acupressure, massage, light therapy, color therapy, Reiki, sound therapy, prayer, frequency therapies, meditation, and so on. These methods employ different means and might have different understandings and interpretations of what they are trying to do, but they are all similar, for in the final analysis they are all attempts to influence energy.
Horses are very receptive to energy work. One reason is that they are gregarious beings and like to be around humans, and thus like the attention they are getting. Another reason is that they are more attuned to their environments than humans. And another reason is that they are not influenced by a culture in which they are socialized to see everything in purely physical terms from experimental science and are not bombarded by advertisements for the conventional...they don't see the TV ads and magazine ads encouraging them to ask their vet about a new pill. Plus, they are less impressed by the egos of conventional M. D.'s with their half million dollar a year salaries.
Energy is like the money in your checking account. In order to write checks, you first have to deposit money in your account, and in order to continue writing checks, you have to continue to deposit more money...otherwise the balance in your account will drop to zero, and you won't be able to write any more checks. The simple process of existence (for example, think of a rock) expends energy on the atomic and molecular level, and so for existence to continue, that energy must be replaced. In the same way, the process of life expends energy, and for life to continue, this energy must be replaced.
Where does this energy come from? Well, I guess that depends on your perspective. Some might say it comes from God, some might say it comes from somewhere out in the Universe...there are all sorts of perspectives about where it comes from. But, for our purposes, it doesn't matter where it comes from. All that matters is that it is there--that it comes from somewhere. So we'll leave the question of where the energy for existence comes from for others to argue about, and just accept that it is there.
In the article on "Understanding Energy," we talked about electromagnetics--about how everything is composed of atoms that contain moving electrons, and about how moving electrons produce electricity, which produces an electromagnetic field. It is this electromagnetic field that governs the "health" of all that exists. But what governs the electromagnetic field? Well, it is the energy that we spoke about above; the energy that energizes the electrons, that provides the basic energy on the atomic level. This energy is called "subtle energy." Subtle energy can be thought of as that which holds everything together; it contains the information that governs all of reality; it is what binds or holds atoms and molecules together; it is the basis of existence. It is what traditional Chinese medicine calls Qi (or Chi), what the Hindus call Prana, what Christians may call the "sustaining power of God." It is the basic, fundamental, organizing energy on which all existence depends. It is not electromagnetic energy, but it is on a level above electromagnetic energy, which controls electromagnetic energy. It is the "music of the spheres." Subtle energy is the energy which all forms of energy therapies seek to manipulate.
Let's talk specifically about the horse. The horse expends energy as it lives and exists, and this energy must be replaced. How is this done? Thinking purely on the physical level, we might think of food and water. That's the conventional way of thinking about it--all the energy that the horse needs to continue to live and exist comes from what it eats and drinks. There's no doubt that the horse does consume energy in the form of food and water. But are there other sources, sources that are vital to life and existence, but that lie outside the realm of the physical?
Think back to when I said that even a rock uses energy to exist. This is because it requires energy for the electrons in all the atoms that make up the rock to continue spinning in orbit around the nucleus. A rock doesn't eat or drink, so how does the rock receive this energy? Well, it receives it in a nonphysical manner; it receives energy from the earth and from the atmosphere; it receives subtle energy. Energy radiates from the earth and also comes from the cosmos, through what is termed as "cosmic radiation." Don't make the mistake here of assuming that this subtle energy is something physical that can be measured with scientific instruments. Some of it may be measurable, but this type of energy is not existence itself (and thus can't be quantified) but rather is the stuff that existence is made of. This might be getting a little too philosophical for some of you, but please have patience here, because this is essential to understand if you want to understand alternatives, because it all depends on stuff that it beyond experimental science.
This is not as far fetched as it might sound. Think of a plant. A plant doesn't eat, it manufactures its food through photosynthesis...that's why plants need light to survive. Plants use sunlight and other forms of cosmic radiation to manufacture their own food. So...you see...the idea of receiving energy through cosmic radiation is not as wierd as it may seem. Every blade of grass in your horse's pasture is manufacturing food right now from cosmic radiation (of which sunlight is a component).
Let's think about something else...all life on earth depends on plant life. Plants are the ultimate source of the food for all life on earth. This is obviously true for horses, for they just eat plants. But even for animals who eat flesh, somewhere down the food chain you'll find a plant-eater. In fact the food chain of the Earth, seen as a whole, begins with plant-eaters; there's a plant-eater on the bottom rung. Animal life depends on plant life...and where do plants receive their food? From cosmic radiation (photosynthesis). That means that even on a purely physical level, all life on earth ultimately depends on and is nourished by cosmic radiation.
Just as plants and rocks receive energy from the earth (environment) and cosmic radiation, so does everything that exists, including the horse. This is the origin of Yin and Yang in Chinese medicine...Yin seen as the earth energy, Yang seen as the cosmic energy...Yin underneath the horse to receive energy from the earth, Yang on the upper side to receive energy from the cosmos. So your horse depends for its existence not only on food and water but also on the energy it receives from the earth and the cosmos--the subtle energy. This is the basis for all energy healing, including eastern methods like acupuncture, acupressure, and Reiki, and also including methods such as frequency therapy, color therapy, light therapy, sound therapy, visualization therapy, projection therapy, etc. This subtle energy is not seen as secondary to food and water but is seen on a level above physical existence and is essential to life and existence. It is the recognition that this energy is vital that separates a method from the conventional and moves it into the realm of what is popularly called "alternatives." (It's worth noting here that herbal remedies and so-called natural remedies are ususally not true alternatives, because they are just using herbs and natural remedies as pharmaceuticals--a very conventional thing.)
So, how does the horse receive this energy into its body? Different interpretations of energy therapies have different interpretations of how the energy is received. In Chinese medicine certain points on the body are seen as receptors, and these are called acupuncture points. From there the energy is distributed throughout the body to wherever it is needed through pathways called meridians. The Reiki view sees the body as having energy "centers," called Chakras, which influence the energy balance of the entire body. Other interpretations might view the energy as being received through areas of the hands, feet, or ears, or through neurons on the surface of the skin. For reasons that will be obvious once you delve deeper into energy theory, it's really not important how you view the receptors. The important thing is that the body does receive energy. The other important thing to note is that in all the different interpretations, the body not only receives energy through these areas but also relieves itself of excess energy. Thus, the body is constantly receiving and giving energy...energy flows into and out of the body. It is this constant energy flow that gives the horse life and existence.
A state of unhealth (either physical or mental) is seen as the result of a disruption in these energy flows--either energy is not being taken up properly, not being distributed throughout the body properly, or excess energy is not being distributed throughout the body so that it can be dispersed and released back into the environment. Parts of the body either have a lack of essential energy or too much energy. The goal of energy therapies is to compensate for that, to ensure the fluid flow of energy TO the body, THROUGH the body to where it's needed, and then back OUT.
There are several ways of achieving that. The most familiar one is acupuncture, where a needle is inserted in one or more acupuncture points, with the goal of either sedating or stimulating that point to lead to energy balance. Another is color therapy, where colored light is used to provide for energy that is lacking or sedate areas with too much energy.
But the most fascinating, and I think most useful, way is through contact. This would include acupressure, Reiki, or massage. In these methods the handler is seen as the conduit of energy to the horse, or the conduit that relieves areas of excess energy. The handler can also act as a bridge between areas of the horse's body that are lacking in energy to the areas that have too much energy.
Let's look at a simple example involving energy, one that most people who have worked with horses for any length of time are familiar with. Assume a horse kicks you on the leg. It hurts...and chances are you will instinctively grab the kicked area with your hands, and you might even rub back and forth over the area with your hands. What has happened here? Well, on an energy level, the horse has transferred a lot of energy to a small part of your leg with that kick. Your leg hurts because of this oversupply of energy (in the words of Dieter Mahlstedt, "Pain is the cry of tissue for flowing energy.") You grab your leg and the hands on the leg act as a channel to disperse the oversupply of energy from that small part of your leg throughout the rest of your body, where it is eventually released from the body. You might rub back and forth, which helps stimulate the dissipation of the energy throughout your leg. Eventually, as the energy is dispersed and released from the body, the kicked area no longer hurts.
This example illustrates two methods that are used in energy work. The first is where you instinctively grab your leg. This is similar to techniques used in Reiki, where the hands of the handler act as channels either providing energy to energy starved areas or draining energy from areas with too much energy. The second is where you rub your hands over the kicked area. This is similar to techniques used in acupressure massage, where you massage back and forth over an area where too much energy has stagnated, in an effort to relieve the blockage and let the excess energy be dispersed.
Let's look at getting kicked from an electromagnetic viewpoint. As the horse's hoof slammed into your leg, not only the physical aspect of the hoof slammed into your leg, but also the electromagnetic aspect...that is, the hoof's electromagnetic field. When the energy of the hoof's electromagnetic field slammed into the electromagnetic field of your leg, the hoof's electromagnetic field influenced your leg's electromagnetic field through the process of induction and disturbed the electrons in their orbit, slowing them down. This resulted in the damaged tissue on the skin of your leg and also the bruises and soreness afterwards. So you see, the damage you see in the bruised leg is not really the result of something physically solid slamming into your leg, but it is the result of energy slamming into your leg and causing disturbances not at skin level, but on the atomic level. The kick didn't just make your skin bleed under the surface (which is the conventional explanation for a bruise), it disrupted the electrons in their orbits around the nucleii of the atoms making up that area of your leg.
This brings us back to the subject of resonance and electromagnetics that was disussed in the article "Understanding Energy." Dieter Mahlstedt, quoted above, was a German who brought the concepts of Chinese medicine to Germany in the late 1950's. But he didn't let himself be limited to the traditional Chinese concepts, preferring to broaden himself in all areas of energy handling. He wrote, "Every contact with another living thing represents a 'handling.'" We can understand what he meant if we think back on electromgnetics. We know that everything, whether living or inanimate, generates its own resonance, its own electromagnetic field. And we know that through induction, that electromagnetic field will influence to some degree any other electromagnetic field it comes near. Thus, when we come near the horse, especially when we touch the horse, our electromagnetic field influences the horse's electromagnetic field. Our electromagnetic field either supports and strengthens the horse's electromagnetic field or it disrupts and weakens it. In the same way, anything that comes into contact with the horse's electrmagnetic field will either support and strengthen it or disrupt and weaken it. Another way of saying that is that anything that comes into contact with or close proximity to the horse has the effect of an energy handling to some degree.
So, to sum up about energy therapies, they all have the same goal--a smooth flow of subtle energy into the horse's body, through the body, and back out again. The methods used to achieve that may be different, though. I always encourage people not to sweat so much about choosing the "proper" method...just pick one and go with it. The end result should be the same. There are two words of caution in order about energy work. First, as stated above, every contact with a horse is, on a certain level, energy work, because the energy of the handler will influence the energy balance of the horse. Thus it is necessary that the handler bring the right energy balance in him- or herself. The most important thing here is intention. One with true healing intent will have the most success. Second, please don't regard energy therapies as some sort of "magic wand" that will make things turn out the way you want them to turn out.
