Chi

NEWSLETTER Volume 2, Number 7, July 2005

As I described briefly last month, I spent the last week of May at the Western Montana School of Equine Massage www.equinetouchmontana.com where I earned my certification as an equine massage practitioner. The 60 hour certification process is extremely intense and I have spent the last month processing the techniques and concepts I learned ­ working on my own horses and on several others ­ and reflecting on the whole experience.

We learned a number of different massage techniques ranging from percussion to hands-on energy balancing, and in the process learned how to read the muscles. This, combined with our study of equine anatomy, had the effect on me that our instructor Coreen Kelly warned us of ­ I will never look at a horse the same way again! Certainly in this past month I have explored these lessons further, learning how different horses respond to the different massage techniques and which are most effective for certain muscle conditions. But what has surprised me, and really shouldn’t have, is the energy work involved in equine massage. Coreen studied massage in Beijing, China and teaches from a holistic perspective, so we spent a considerable amount of time talking about life force energy, chi. I have studied the concept of chi, or its Hindu equivalent, prana, in my yoga training, but I have never experienced it as powerfully and directly as I have in my bodywork with horses.



As part of our massage training, we students were taken to a variety of barns, stables, and ranches so that we could work on a range of horses. One afternoon we went to an outfitter’s stable and I was assigned to massage an old gelding called Blaze. Coreen warned us that sometimes when you work on horses you get pictures from them; as you connect with the muscles, you connect with them also on an energetic level. Blaze was tired, too old and thin really to be working any more, yet he was still carrying packs or dudes into the Montana mountains. He was a lovely client to massage, appreciative and exhibiting all the releases we students hoped to achieve, yawning, soft eyes, swaying… but I knew this was just a brief rest for Blaze and I began to pick up floods of images from him, mostly sad ones. By the time I had finished I felt sad indeed and drained of energy myself. In stark contrast, last week I gave a full body massage to my friend Ann’s old gelding, Echo. Echo too had done his time as a pack horse, and is probably almost exactly the same age as Blaze. These days however, and for the past decade or so, Echo has been the undisputed leader of a small herd of horses living at a lovely farm with sheltered paddocks and lush pastures. He gets the best farrier work and nutrition possible, and just enough work to keep him active and engaged. As I worked on his muscles, I found myself beginning to laugh. Echo is a happy horse! His muscles are tight in some places as you would expect, but he immediately showed lots of physical and emotional releases. Echo also generated pictures but, unlike Blaze’s, his were joyful, contented images. As Echo was led back to his pasture after his massage, he swayed and yawned, and left me feeling relaxed and happy myself.

I have become more interested in animal communication recently, especially after reading Anna Clemence Mews and Julie Dicker’s book “What Horses Say” (see womentalkhorses Newsletter, March 2005). It is an interesting extension for me because in my academic career I have taught and extensively studied nonverbal communication, and visual imagery. The work of animal communicators like Julie Dicker, and Temple Gradin, can begin to convince even the most skeptical reader of the possibility that animals do communicate to us in pictures. Besides, as Jane Smiley points out in her recent book A Year at the Races, “Horse communicators are controversial among horsemen, but popular… [Besides, if] I could make that mental leap from my trembling, uncommitted, inexperienced four year-old colt to the greatest money-winner ever [Cigar] in a heartbeat. And feel a surge of confidence! On the magical thinking scale, horse communication seemed sane by comparison.” Sane, yes, and very real. For me serious study of equine massage has made me see, listen to, and read horses differently. It is a process that has set me on a new journey, I’m not sure where that journey will take me but I am sure the ride will be fascinating.

Anna Banks, Editor womentalkhorses.com
Anna Banks
editor@womentalkhorses.com
Moon Hill Ranch, Idaho