A few months after our big black Lab Max
found his way into our home, he hurt his eye while playing outside in the woods.
The lid was swollen and he could not easily see from the eye. Although a
situation such as this might normally warrant a trip to the veterinarian,
something stopped me. On the surface, I worried that I didn’t know enough to
handle this problem. But on a deeper level, I felt
called
to healing.After cleaning and treating the wound, I
centered and focused on Max. He assured me it was a superficial cut and that
what he needed most was to close his eyes and rest.
“Trust yourself,”
he said to me as we ended our conversation. Later, I was struck by
the implication of those words, for trusting the call to healing was something
that would bring about a much deeper change than I ever would have imagined.
I did
some neck massage and energy balancing on Max while he rested. With
one hand placed lightly over his forehead and eye and another
resting gently at the base of his spine, I imagined soothing
pink-white light bathing his eye and flowing easily through his
body. Max slept deeply for a few hours. During the ten minutes or so
while I was working with Max, my daughter, Alyeska, who was then
four years old, watched intently. She wanted to know what I was
doing, what energy was, and how to find the pink light. When she sat
beside me and put her little hands on Max to help make him better, I
was reminded that we are never too young to participate in a healing
relationship.
Alyeska
then wanted to make a “potion” to help Max. What kind of potion, I
wanted to know. Like a magic spell? Laughingly, Alyeska said, “No,
Mom. Let’s make a potion of
real
healing things!” And so, together, we collected “real healing
things” for Max: a crystal (to see clearly), some tiny flowers (to
observe beauty), a penny (for luck). As we looked around for more, I
suggested that we make a pouch to hold these things for Max to wear.
Alyeska liked the idea. We sewed a small pouch and Alyeska drew a
red heart on a piece of paper to put in with the other healing
things, which by this time also included some dried mint and
lavender. Placing all of the healing things into the pouch, we sewed
it shut and tied it securely to Max’s collar.
From
the moment we placed the pouch on his collar, Max moved with a new
sense of pride. It brought tears to my eyes to see this change: it
was evident throughout his whole body and demeanor. Clearly Max knew
we had given him something special, that we had pierced beneath the
surface in caring for him, and because of this, he felt “beloved” by
our family in a deeper way. I was even more surprised to find my own
vision shifting, too. Something had happened in just a few short
hours, and suddenly I was seeing Max in a whole new light. I was
touched by what I hadn’t seen before: the enormous amount of love
this dog held for our family.
Of
course, it wasn’t simply the pouch or potion that brought about this
change but the energy that was activated throughout the process of
making the pouch. It began with the “call” to trust, to go with the
flow of events, to welcome others (my daughter) into the healing
venue, to open to unexpected ideas (the potion, the “healing
things”) and expand upon them (the pouch). Max’s hurt eye was merely
the symptom, and although we treated the symptom, it was what
happened beneath the surface where true healing occurred.
Sensing
Past the Symptoms
Symptoms are our body’s way of giving us clues, telling us that
something is not quite right. Symptoms such as cuts, broken bones,
or burns require immediate attention. To treat only the symptom,
however, and ignore the underlying problem that caused the symptom
in the first place, is to miss out on the deeper nature of healing.
Symptoms are often treasures, great mysteries that—if explored—show
us more about who we are.
For
example, was the reason Max hurt his eye (as opposed to his paw or
tail) an indication of something that needed to be seen more
clearly? Was the injury an invitation to become aware of another
perspective, to peer beneath the surface of things? Or, was it a
reminder that sometimes we need to pay more attention to ourselves
when racing wildly through the forest?
As we
embark on any deep healing journey, we will inevitably discover an
amazing interconnected network of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and
bodily symptoms. Deep patterns are involved—from cellular to soul
related, all reflected in who we are and what symptoms we have at
any given moment in our life. The holistic approach acknowledges
that our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual facets all play
an essential role in the totality of our being. We are not just a
corporeal body or a collection of thoughts or impulses—and neither
is any other animal. In all areas of healing, we need to listen to
the body as well as the mind; we need to hear the call of feelings
as well as the stirrings of the soul.
Finding Center
So,
what does it mean to listen to the body or sense the stirrings of
the soul? How do we do such a thing? First, we must realize that we
all fluctuate from moment to moment in the way we relate to the
world. Our “center” can shift easily, and often.
For
example, when we make cool, calm, rational decisions we are focused
in our head center. This center is all about our thoughts, ideas,
beliefs, and how we make sense of things. When approaching healing
from the head center, we want to know the facts. We might list
symptoms as signs or indicators and then search for patterns of
correspondence between the mental, physical, and emotional aspects.
We might seek insights from medical research, alternative healing
studies, ancient cures, and home remedies to determine the best
techniques to address the problem.
When we
have a gut feeling or instinct, we are often sensing from our belly
center. From the belly, we relate to the world in a visceral way.
This center tells us how we “stomach” ideas or “digest” information.
If we come to healing through our belly center, we learn to trust
our instincts. With practice, we can sense when things are not right
before physical symptoms appear, and we may even learn to pinpoint
what those things might be. Coming from our belly, we are guided by
hunches, instincts, intuitions, and feelings.
Our
heart center reflects our emotional connection to the world. This
center loves to have heart-to-heart talks and warm, meaningful,
heartfelt interactions. If we come to healing from the heart center,
we open ourselves to the deeper levels of another being—perhaps even
meeting at a soul level. A centered heart does not judge or
discriminate; rather, it sees and feels what is, accepting the world
with unconditional love.
To work
effectively with others in a balanced, healing way, we need to find
balance in our own centers. Drawing upon the wisdom of our head and
heart and belly, we make use of all our resources and find the most
appropriate responses for each situation. Using our mental
abilities, we assess a situation and discern whether emergency care
is needed or not. Using gut feelings, we sense underlying causes and
are intuitively guided to appropriate healing therapies. Using our
heart, we meet our patient in a profoundly caring, connected manner,
thus encouraging self-healing to begin.
While this sounds like a wonderful plan, the truth is that we will
all have moments of doubt and confusion. When I first saw Max with
his bloody, wounded eye, I was frightened. That initial fear knocked
me so far off balance that my head center seized up. It began
telling me that I knew nothing and could not properly treat a wound
and what was I even thinking to imagine such a thing? Luckily my
belly center did not jump into fear. Instead, my intuition felt a
different call. That part of me was centered enough to calm my
thoughts. As soon as I let go of my fears and began following the
flow of healing energy, doubt disappeared. My thoughts returned to
center and even brewed up some ideas to make use of specific healing
techniques. As I allowed my hands to touch Max, our hearts engaged,
and I felt a rise in consciousness to what was real and whole.
And
that’s basically how all healing works: sensing our way with all
facets of our centered selves, to simply “be” in that healing space
of unity. It’s from that place of balance that we feel the movement
of healing energy and begin to flow with it, thus becoming a tool of
deeper healing, not only for our animal friends, but for ourselves
and the planet as well.
Dawn Baumann Brunke
is the editor of Alaska Wellness and author of several books about
connecting with animals, nature, self and spirit. The excerpt above
is from her new book,
Animal Voices,
Animal Guides.
See
www.animalvoices.net for
more.
