|
Spiritual healing for horses as well as humans. Reiki Massage "Horse&Rider July 1998" Words Claire Hopper Photos Ian Bradshaw |
|
|
Reiki is
a form of spiritual healing that's over two thousand years old. It is a 'hands
on' therapy based on opening up energy channels -a little like logging on to
the Internet -but its simplicity defies logical explanation. Widely accepted
in the human field, Reiki massage has yet to be commonly used on horses.
However, according to Danny Pevsner FBHS MSTAT who uses it on many of '(the
horses in his yard, the benefits can be immense. Danny was introduced to
Reiki by Sally Tottle, a fellow Alexander Technique teacher, who gave him a
couple of Reiki treatments for pains and congestion in his chest. "It
worked," says Danny. "It was painless, quite pleasant, surprisingly
effective and gave me a lot of relief. From what I gathered, Reiki was quite
easy to learn. In fact, you don't really learn, you're initiated into it. It's
as if the power and ability to do it is instilled in you by the teacher. The
'first degree' of Reiki is
'hands on' and involves four initiations. These take a few hours and happen
over two consecutive days. Danny was initiated by Swedish born Reiki Master,
Kajsa Krishni Borang, who lives in London. Krishni has written a book. 'Principles of Reiki', in which she describes using
the technique on a herd of semi- wild deer in an ashram in India, as well as
on domestic animals. She feels a number of horse owners already have an
empathy with their animals and would have no problem with using the concept.
"If you spend a lot of time thinking about your horses, you're
connecting with them on a subtle level," she says.
|
"Horses are not
people, they are animals and we do not have to put things into words to
communicate with them. We by-pass the mind and communicate with energy." Reiki was rediscovered in
the last century by Dr Mikao Usui, a Christian headmaster at a university in
Japan. On a quest to discover the truth of Christ's miracles of healing, he
fasted and meditated for 21 days on the top of a sacred mountain. At the end of
this time, he saw symbols he had found in the Sanskrit scriptures written in
golden letters. For the rest of his life Dr Usui was able to heal, and he passed his power on to others; this is how Reiki came to be in existence today. So does
Danny Pevsner, a much respected rider and trainer, believe in Reiki? "I
believe in it as much as I can say that does work and I have got results. You
don't do anything with your hands except put them on," he says. "We
use it to calm horses and put them in a good frame of mind. It lulls them and
they can doze off, although occasionally horses new to it take a little time
to get used to it. |
If a
muscle has become very stiff or frozen and you do a treatment on it, it could
become very sensitive and so you have to go carefully and wait for it to build up." Linn Williams, Yard Manager and Assistant Trainer at
Danny Pevsner's Letchmore Farm in Hertfordshire, was convinced about the
effectiveness of Reiki after she banged a nerve in her knee on the side of
the indoor school. "I was in agony and it was getting really
swollen. Sally Tottle just put her hand on it for about two hours while we
watched television. The pain just went, I could walk and the following day it
hardly hurt at all." Linn went for an initiation by Krishni and felt it
was of enormous benefit. "One of my big problems is getting up in the
morning but for months afterwards I'd wake up full of energy. It balances
your energies as well, so you feel much better." Danny stresses that common sense is the guiding
factor: "If you get a back that was completely flat working properly and
then you put a rider on, the horse is at a bit of a loss and so you must be
careful as to when and how you use it. "I could make a case for using it either before
or after work depending on the animal. I can see that it would help before
competition in the collecting ring to help calm the rider as well as the
horse and create an affinity between them. "I often use it if I'm riding a horse which is
misbehaving and I'll put a hand on his withers or shoulders for a second
which helps him lose that edginess, especially if he is already used to
it." "I don't have unreasonable expectations of
Reiki and would not, for instance, say that it could cure arthritis but it
certainly helps to relieve painful symptoms and inflammation in the case of
injury. "
HORSE&RIDER JULY 1998 |
||||
How does Reikiwork? Few practitioners really understand or can explain how
Reiki (pronounced Rayki) works, only that it does work and that horses seem
to enjoy it. First degree Reiki is 'hands on' healing; second
degree is 'Reiki at a distance. ' Krishni is regularly contacted by owners who wish
her to send second degree Reiki to horses with problems. Many horses are kept alone, indoors for many hours
in a confined space (even if it is a large loose box,) fed an unnatural diet
with limited access to grass or exercise and expected to cope with many
happenings over which they have no control -such as traveling, competing or
racing. All of this is stressful to some degree with some horses coping and
performing better than others. Krishni feels Reiki would be
of immense benefit to all of them. "It is excellent for all kinds of stress
in an emotional, nourishing way. Horses recognize a Reiki touch as something new and
appreciate it, they don't move away and are happy to stay there." Reiki appears to bear no relation to groups of
muscles or joints and can be used anywhere on the body without making the
horse nervous. |
Krishni
explains: "If you think of it like electricity, the energy goes where it
is needed, where there is a lack. Obviously, if there is a problem area, you
would concentrate on it. "Your
hands get hot and this helps to soothe injuries. You can also use warm wet
towels to help transmit energy. You just
do as much as the horse feels comfortable with, perhaps an hour
every day on a serious injury or any length of time you like for
maintenance." |
According to Krishni
you can even use Reiki to energize water and feed, although it's often too
cold to stand around with your hand in a bucket of water!
HORSE&RIDER JULY 1998 |
||||
|
Danny Pevsner's assistant Linn has used Reiki on several horses who
have come to the yard for schooling. "It's hard to explain. It's the
weirdest thing, you have to trust your instincts. You put your hands on and
they tell you where they want you and when they've had enough. Some only like it for 10 or 15 minutes, others you
can do for a lot longer. It's really good for a horse that is crooked.
Muscles that are stiff tend to contract, so you use it on that side to help relax them and so straighten
the whole animal." Linn recalls an eight-year-old Thoroughbred who came
in for 10 days schooling. "He was a bit poor and very tight and tense,
everything hurt him. We did a lot of Reiki on him before we schooled him and
the difference was amazing. We definitely achieved more by doing the Reiki
before the schooling work than we could have achieved without it. He let go
and relaxed, so was in a good frame of mind to work. "You can also use it if there's an injury, it's
quite good for strains and very good for getting swellings down," Linn
continues. "The horses don't need it on a daily basis and in fact I
think you can overload on it and get too much energy!" Reiki has also been very beneficial for Linn's own
horse, Gaucho, a stunning skewbald four-year-old out of an Argentinian polo
pony. "He's a bit of a rogue and a fidget who was cut
relatively late as a three-year-old. My aim is to train him in dressage, but
he's proving extremely difficult. Basically, he has too much weight going
into his sternum which led to a big secondary problem with head shaking.” "When we started riding him a year ago, he was
very tense. He didn't mind you being on him but didn't like it when your
weight shifted. We used Reiki to relax and rebalance him before we rode
him." |
Gaucho is
very tense when ridden and is also something of a head shaker – Reiki helps
him relax and rebalance. HORSE&RIDER JULY 1998 |
|||||
