Q. Horse therapy & communicating emotion.

TrasaM

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I know from previous threads that there are a few reiki healers and horse therapists about so I have a question;
Today I was doing Masterson method on a racehorse and just after I started on the bladder meridian I started feeling very tearful and sad. At one point I though I was going to cry it was so strong. This was the first time I'd met this horse but was told that he's been having some behaviour issues stemming probably from physical issues. However he's only been here a couple of weeks so has still not settled fully.
So having tried to read up on why I had this response I've started to question whether it was him bringing out my sadness or me picking up in his. When I told his groom / YM she said he makes her feel the same when she handles him.
Any thoughts or advice very welcome. Please nicely.
 

Sugar_and_Spice

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I know someone who practices cranio sacral therapy, she says there are ways to protect yourself from taking on the pain of the person you're treating (not feeling that the pain exists but taking it on so it stays with you). I don't know how though.
 

cornbrodolly

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As an Alexander technique teacher I have sometimes felt emotions through touch, in both humans and animals.Its not wacky/crazy/bumbojumbo- our emotions affect our bodies, and tension can often be lodged in muscles. For example, its easy to spot a sad or happy person walking along the street ,without any verbal clues!
I think you are an empathetic and intuitive person , a neccessary gift for a good therapist!
Alexander teachers learn to remain detached [ cant really explain how ,except to say we remain calm and released and dont get 'sucked in' to situations] perhaps thats why we have a 3 yr period of training!
Re the horse ,I hope you keep treating him - is his stable regime conducive to a happy horse, ie turnout,fed well,horsey friends?- if it is not perhaps you could suggest ways to enrich his present life. If his new home is a good one,you may find over time the sadness ' shifts'.
 

khalswitz

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I know someone who practices cranio sacral therapy, she says there are ways to protect yourself from taking on the pain of the person you're treating (not feeling that the pain exists but taking it on so it stays with you). I don't know how though.

This. My mum is a Reiki Master, and she and I do reiki on my horse - and I am terrible at picking up his pains and keeping them. I NEVER had hip problems until I had him - he has a very tight hip on the side where I am now in pretty continual pain. My mum tries to take it from me, but says for some reason I hold onto that more than I do my own aches and pains. It's very strange. I have since learned how to protect myself from holding onto his pain, but I've really struggled to get rid of what I picked up from him in the beginning.

Regarding your initial post OP, the sacral chakra, relates to feelings of self-worth, and ability to relate to others. It can be influenced by how emotions were expressed or repressed during childhood. A blocked sacral chakra can result in feeling emotionally unstable or lacking in energy for life, and can also be linked to sexuality. Physically, can be linked to stiff lower back, kidney issues, constipation or muscle spasms.

Not sure how much that helps...
 

Calcyle

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I had a similar experience when learning to do cranial work. Horse was very reluctant to let me rest my hands on his head, and the other therapist handling him for me had her hands full trying to keep all four of his legs on the ground, and he was pulling some very ugly faces (neither of us had met this horse before, had been warned that he does like pulling faces when handled, but rarely goes further). After 5 or 6 different 'holds', he suddenly stopped, dropped his head and relaxed, and I nearly burst into tears, I had that sudden swelling feeling in my chest. A few minutes later, during a particularly intense hold, he snapped back out of it, and back to resisting a bit. However, when I stopped and walked out of the stable he whickered at me, and then did so every time I approached his stable door for the rest of the afternoon.

It seemed to me, that this was a horse with some emotional issues, who very much needed the therapy, but wasn't prepared to relax enough to receive it. The feeling of his energy dropping as he relaxed was incredible, I've never experienced such a strong reaction since (by me or horse!). In this case, I am certain it was me picking up on his emotional release, and he snapped back to being defensive when the next hold was too much pressure for him.

I've had some similar occurrences since, but never so starkly.

My only advice is to practice 'grounding' yourself, to shield yourself a bit.
 

TrasaM

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Cornbrodolly. Thank you. I do pick up on emotions from people a lot. I will keep in with him as YM is really pleased to get him some help. He's being very loved but she describes him as 'absent' when she's with him do it seems he's detached himself from life a bit. I did get him to really relax with me today and allowed his head to rest on my arm/ shoulder.
Khalswitz.
That's really interesting you picking up their pain and holding on to it. I think I'd better start paying attention to my own physical feelings too. I don't mind feeling their emotions as it helps in a way to understand them. Maybe I need my chakras balancing too.
Calcyle.
I had a very similar thing happen in training. The horse went down and gave the saddest baby whinny. Then stayed down on his side for ages. Me and two others were in tears watching him and the emotion that he have off was almost palpable.
Sugar and Spice. My friend sees a CS therapist so I'll have to ask her how it's done.

Seems that I might be on the right path anyhow. It'll be interesting to see how he reacts to me next time.
 

Tinypony

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Cornbrodolly. Thank you. I do pick up on emotions from people a lot. I will keep in with him as YM is really pleased to get him some help. He's being very loved but she describes him as 'absent' when she's with him do it seems he's detached himself from life a bit. I did get him to really relax with me today and allowed his head to rest on my arm/ shoulder.
Khalswitz.
That's really interesting you picking up their pain and holding on to it. I think I'd better start paying attention to my own physical feelings too. I don't mind feeling their emotions as it helps in a way to understand them. Maybe I need my chakras balancing too.
Calcyle.
I had a very similar thing happen in training. The horse went down and gave the saddest baby whinny. Then stayed down on his side for ages. Me and two others were in tears watching him and the emotion that he have off was almost palpable.
Sugar and Spice. My friend sees a CS therapist so I'll have to ask her how it's done.

Seems that I might be on the right path anyhow. It'll be interesting to see how he reacts to me next time.

I am a Reiki healer (something I don't normally mention). My Reiki master taught her students to protect themselves when they start to open themselves to the healing energy. (People who think this is all a load of... well, please look away OK?). I visualise a silver curtain coming down between me and the subject before I start offering the healing. If I feel any emotion or anything else starting to come back, I re-protect myself. Speaking about Reiki, it should only be an energising process for the healer, they should not pick up negative energy and shouldn't start to feel physical pain.

I'm very curious about the circumstances in training mentioned, when the horse laid down.
 
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khalswitz

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Speaking about Reiki, it should only be an energising process for the healer, they should not pick up negative energy and shouldn't start to feel physical pain.

See, my mum was told this back when she did her level one, but it kept being mentioned about protecting yourself. Later, after I started getting my hips pains, and when doing her level three, she had a long chat with her teacher about it - apparently as a reiki healer, you are used to balancing your own energies, and therefore hanging onto negative energies or pain doesn't really happen, especially as you tend to clear energy after doing a healing anyway.

However because I'm NOT trained in reiki, but am pretty sensitive to it and obviously have a close emotional bond with both my mum and my horse, apparently I picked up his pain without knowing better and guarding myself, and without the ability to balance myself. This is partly my fault, as I used to be very defensive about accepting reiki energy, and my mum found it very hard to get through to me. She taught me how to open myself up to the energy, but I obviously overdid it.
 

TrasaM

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I am a Reiki healer (something I don't normally mention). My Reiki master taught her students to protect themselves when they start to open themselves to the healing energy. (People who think this is all a load of... well, please look away OK?). I visualise a silver curtain coming down between me and the subject before I start offering the healing. If I feel any emotion or anything else starting to come back, I re-protect myself. Speaking about Reiki, it should only be an energising process for the healer, they should not pick up negative energy and shouldn't start to feel physical pain.

I'm very curious about the circumstances in training mentioned, when the horse laid down.
Thank you. I try practicing that.

The training incident;
I'd been doing the bladder meridian, neck region, and had been getting huge responses. We were told to expect licking chewing yawning but thus one started arching back and groaning as well. I stopped because it all seemed to be getting a bit much for him and gave him a break. When we went back in to resume as soon as his neck was touched he groaned arched then went down flat out on his side and whinnied. It was extremely emotional.
 

Tiffany

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I am a Reiki Practitioner also and had a similar experience when I was learning Reiki on horses. In my instance I just picked up the horse was very sad and handler explained that owner had gone travelling for 6 months and before this owner he had been abandoned so his sadness and mine made sense. Personally, I don't consider emotion a bad thing in fact it can be very liberating for you and the horse providing you haven't been drained of all your positive energy at the end of the session.
 

TrasaM

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Tiffany. I'm ok with feeling their emotions. It helps I think to understand what's going on with them. I think my biggest surprise on the initial training course what's just how emotional horses can be.
Because I'm new to it I started to question whether it was me being a bit tired and emotional. I'd hate to think that I'd added to his burden instead of alleviating it.

PS. No it doesn't drain me in fact quite the opposite.
 
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