How Healing Works
Healing is a holistic and supportive therapy, promoting rest, relaxation and restoration for you and your animal friend, but how does it work?
Working across the whole of the body, and in each of the major chakras (crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral and root), energy healing supports the balance of energy in the body, smooths the energy and releases blockages. Healing also stimulates circulation and activates the parasympathetic nervous system, bringing a state of homeostasis and balance back to the body, allowing for rest, relaxation, restoration and healing to naturally occur.
The parasympathetic nervous system finds its origin in the sacral spinal cord and medulla and works in tandem with the sympathetic nervous system. Its core function is to return the body to a restful state of balance (parasympathetic) after experiencing a fight or flight response (sympathetic). It manages the rest, digest, heal and grow processes of the body. Horses are prey animals, instinctively using flight vs. fight to survive. This is core to their survival and it is not something we can breed out of them. Pair this natural survival instinct with other stresses like training, competition, transport, lack of pasture/outdoor space, herd and barn dynamics, etc. and what can occur is an energetic imbalance in the body. When that happens, the body system can maladapt to be more sympathetic dominant rather than being in harmony with the parasympathetic nervous system.
The sympathetic nervous system prioritizes survival and vital bodily function, and diminishes processes of restoration. When the body is in balance, the parasympathetic nervous system will automatically "turn on" after a threat (perceived or real) resolves and the body’s relaxation response will activate. However, when the sympathetic nervous system is chronically active due to lifestyle, stress levels or habits, the parasympathetic nervous system may become less active/dull and therefore unable to operate optimally to provide its rest, digest, heal and grow processes. Healing work helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, brining balance back to the body and providing an environment in which the body can heal itself, optimizing the animal's own healing power.