Energy and the Power of Healing

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to go on about this for a long long time 🤣♥️,” Nina texted after our experience with her beloved OTTB gelding, Val.

It started when I got a panicked phone call from her. Val was acting weird, neurologic, like he couldn’t get his head up. He was refusing to eat his grain and moving around with his nose on the ground. He always ate his grain. As we talked, she sent me two videos, one of Val outside, acting distressed. Another in the stable: Her other horse Hero eating; Val with his nose on the ground, occasionally attempting to raise his head, but always dropping it immediately, his eyes anxious.

As a bodyworker I can’t diagnose, and I hadn’t seen anything quite like this before, but my sense was something was stuck, his TMJ probably, and my gut told me releasing his fascia might bring him relief. But still, what if something was broken? What if he were neurologic and needed vet care?

As we talked through the options, we decided to try a remote session. If we didn’t see improvement she would call the vet. Circumstances were less than ideal. She had nowhere secure to prop her phone and no earbuds, so communication was a bit spotty. Hero knocked the phone down once, and some of the time I could see only part of Val. And yet…. And yet….

Nina started by approaching Val. His distress was such that he moved away immediately, nose still down, but with clear intent to stay away from touch. “Let’s use energy,” I suggested, and gave Nina a few suggestions to help ground her. We’ve worked together many times, so soon she was more settled and able to send quiet Reiki energy in Val’s direction. I directed her to the poll area, not touching, but teloi to the spot where she could “feel” his energy. When I asked could she feel it, she said yes. Then she moved carefully down the line. Sometimes he moved away. Sometimes he stood stock still, looking deeply inwards. She followed his lead. Gave him space if he needed it, then asked again. Waited as he processed. Let the little releases have their moment. After a bit, he started nibbling the hay on the floor. Occasionally he would lift his head a little, then drop it again, but his eyes were less distressed. Soon she was able to move her hands with a light touch to his SI area, to hold and wait there as he grew thoughtful. He was now in a space where I couldn’t see either of them well, but she knew what to do and she finished out the line. At some point Val turned towards the camera, lifting his head part way and holding it there. Nina said something about going down the hind leg and I responded, and just as I started to speak, Val fully lifted his head, walked straight towards the camera with his ears and eyes on me, and then went to his grain bucket.

Oh my heart. 🥹

The image below is a screenshot of the videos Nina sent initially, plus a little of the ensuing text conversation.

Fascia is astounding. It’s a 3D matrix interwoven all throughout the body, a vehicle for communication between the brain and everything else, a structure that stores memory and emotion. It’s viscous and osseous. It can change form with the lightest touch. Intentional, mindful gentle communication with it ripples through the body. Recently I worked on the tail of a horse who could only chew on one side. As I worked with her tail, she started chewing bilaterally again.

Horses have huge energy fields. If you tune in, you can feel it – prickles in the hand or fingers, heat, a sense of springy pushback against your own energy, then a melding. It’s strange, feels impossible, and yet in physics energy and matter are equivalent. I’ve seen horses physically change from work done at a distance. I’ve seen them tune into each other’s bodywork sessions, and benefit, the muscles softening, the stride lengthening. I have pictures of Sadonis taken 20 minutes apart, his body looking completely different in response to a session that was mostly energy.

 

Val’s beautiful response to Nina’s gentle energy, his ability to tune in and let go of the tension in his fascia, then his willingness to invite her in to touch the fascial line (which really is touching the entire fascial matrix, because it’s all connected) is a testament to the incredible power of horses’ connection to the non-physical, something so many of us struggle to recognize.

I am grateful in all ways for horses who teach me, for owners who trust me with their beloved friends, and for the power of healing.