Animal Healing
Healing Animals With Thought, Attention
& Prayer
by Dr
Silvia Hartmann
Creator,
Energy Healing For Animals
Healing Animals With Prayer, Energy &
Intention
by Silvia Hartmann
When holding out one's hands over an injured animal to
channel universal healing energy, there is still a part of
the process that is very physical indeed. You can feel your
hands tingling, sensations in your body, and you can see the
animal in front of you responding with little twitches,
yawns or how it relaxes out as the healing progresses.
Healing by intention, on the other hand, is pure magic -
making changes in the physical world by thought alone.
Now you may be forgiven for thinking that this is an
unusual approach, yet it is the oldest one there is. Every
religious ceremony thought up by every one of the people of
Earth that ever lived is there to simply create an
environment where intention becomes reality.
When an African shaman waves a rattle at a patient, it is
not the rattle that will heal; it's the intentions of the
healer and the healee that will bring about the changes.
This is often misunderstood and therefore, many mis-beliefs
and superstitions have arisen over the millennia as to what
that is that really brings about the change.
In the end, it is the intention that brings about the
change.
There is by now a vast body of scientific studies,
carried out under the most exacting scrutiny and often
carried out by scientists in order to de-bunk the idea that
intention alone can heal, that simply prove beyond a shadow
of a doubt that it really, really works.
A medical doctor and practising internist, Larry Dossey
M.D., says, that if instead of intention there had been a
new drug on trial, the results would have been splashed all
over the medical journals and it would have been heralded as
a new wonder drug.
The method used for focusing attention so successfully
was the age old human ritual called "prayer".
Here's just one example of such a study.
In a Californian university hospital, there was a prayer
group that would meet and pray in one of the wards. The
doctor in charge, an agnostic and a trained scientist, was
at first irritated; when the people in this ward began to
get better faster, a couple of patients made near miraculous
recoveries and the staff began talking amongst themselves
that this worked, he became positively irate.
"It's only the placebo affect," he said, "it's just those
patients believe in this superstitious mumbo jumbo nonsense
and they make themselves better." (!!)
And so he set out and designed an experiment, using yeast
as the "patient". Some colonies of yeast in sealed
containers got prayed over, and some in another part of the
hospital did not.
Imagine how the doctor must have felt when the results
showed clearly and irrevocably that in every case the yeast
that had been prayed over had grown significantly more
strongly.
This experiment was repeated dozens of times with
different religious persuasions and even with agnostics. The
results were always the same. The yeast *always* did better
when someone sat there and focused their attention on
helping it to grow.
Then the experiment was turned around and penicillin was
put into bacterial cultures. When the healing intention lend
strength to the bacteria, they did not die off completely
and some cultures continued to grow strongly in spite of
living in a toxic environment.
From these and literally hundreds of other experiments
along the same lines, the following key elements emerged:
1. It doesn't matter if the one that's receiving the
prayer understands the process or is even aware of what'
going on (well obviously yeast, bacteria and wheat cannot!.
This knocks the idea on the head that this is simply a
variation on the so-called Placebo effect.
2. It doesn't matter what, if any, religious persuasions
the person/s who send the intention hold dear (some of these
experiments were conducted by religiously linked research
institutes, and try as they might, they could not find any
advantages in using Muslims, Christians, Buddhists or
agnostics, respectively!).
3. It doesn't matter how the prayer is created. This is
particularly interesting, because tests were conducted that
had people singing, praying, sitting silently or just
talking about how much they wanted the yeast to grow. (This
is old news to those who are familiar with prayers; of
course they can be spoken, sung, thought about or
visualised; artists offer up prayer in the form of pictures,
sculptures, music, buildings and poetry, just to mention a
few).
4. It doesn't matter how far away the sender is from the
receiver (this truly freaked the scientists more than
anything else!) - trials where the yeast and the intention
senders were in two different hospitals on opposite sides of
the world, still came out positive. Nowadays, this is not
quite so astonishing to the scientific community anymore,
since their understanding of Quantum Spaces in which time
and space are entirely meaningless, seems to be catching up
with what religions have been talking about since the dawn
of mankind.
5. Although there is always some improvement, it is
impossible to predict which individual patient, plant or
yeast culture will show the most dramatic improvements. So,
out of 12 pots of identical strains of bacteria trying to
survive in a penicillin solution, 3 may thrive more than the
others. To this day, how this happens has defied
explanation.
6. The one thing that decides more than any other factor
on the effectiveness of prayer is how much sincere intent
there was in the sender/s. In the tests, when people just
sat around reading magazines or watching TV, the yeast
behaved as though there was no-one there at all and showed
no significant changes in resistance to disease or growth
rates.
It is curious to speculate as to why the tremendous
amounts of scientific data on this simple process have not
led to using this cost effective and potentially very useful
form of healing and therapy in every hospital in the world.
I have a notion that modern medicine tends to have the
attitude that it should be "healing my way, or it's the high
way".
To me, the truth of the matter is that an understanding
of the "all there is" is not complimentary at all. It is the
missing half of healing.
Really, there isn't much to it. It is very simple indeed,
can be done at any time, anywhere, and absolutely cannot
hurt either the sender nor the receiver; plus,
statistically, there's a far, far better chance to achieve
results this way than to win a lottery. Yet people do buy
their tickets, week in, week out; so consider what we can do
if we give this matter of intention for healing and change
back the place it so rightfully deserves in our lives.
As so many practical aspects to do with living
consciously in a world that consists of the invisible as
well as the visible realm have become folklore from a
distant past to many in the so called civilised Western
World, let's have a quick reminder of how to bring back the
act of focussed intention, or prayer if you like, into our
daily routines.
A Place For
Healing Prayer
Theoretically, it doesn't matter where or when you pray.
Practically, every single human culture that ever was on
this Earth found that a special place from which prayers
would be offered on a regular basis seemed to made the
process more effective. As I am not a regular churchgoer, I
have a household altar (much like a few billion Hindus,
orthodox Christians, Muslims and others too numerous to
mention all around the world - just in case you think I'm
the one who's a bit strange here!).
In my case, it's a small bookshelf in my passage way.
It's got some fresh flowers on it and a candle. On my
father's birthday (he died some years ago), I put his
photograph there for a week; when my dear GSD Rio died, a
photo of her was on it. On mothering Sunday, my children put
their home made cards for me there; and if I have a
particular problem, I might place a token object there (such
as a £1 coin when there's money troubles) to physically
represent a particular concept of thought.
People I know who aren't very religious in the formal
sense either and have found the benefit of such an
arrangement, have all kinds of things on their special
little cupboard or shelf: little ornaments, crystals,
pictures, what have you. It doesn't matter really, but what
does matter is that after a while, as soon as you step up to
your place of prayer you will automatically go into a
"prayerful" state of mind, centre more easily and right
away, and be able to offer prayers congruently and naturally
as a part of your daily life.
Especially when there's upheaval and trauma, this is of
great practical help to keep things in perspective and your
mind in focus.
Now I'll have you know that I do not spend hours
meditating there (I've got a business, two kids, three dogs
and five cats plus I like to live a little as well), but
it's there, reminding me there's more to life than dirty
dishes and unpaid bills; and I always offer at least a quick
"Thank You For The Day" before I go to bed (if only through
gritted teeth on occasion!).
You do not need a household altar, however. A special
place in your garden, in nature or in your house that you
keep for contemplative prayer will serve equally well if it
is used routinely and often. A friend of mine has a part of
her garden as a "garden of remembrance", with a rose bush
for each one of her animals planted when they died. It is
certainly a most peaceful, tranquil and loving spot to be.
How To Pray
A feeling of tranquillity and calm is generally held to
be a good state for prayer. In practise, this means that you
are either alone or with someone who is completely with you
in what you are doing. Stillness is also appropriate, though
not necessarily silence - some people find new age or some
classical music very calming and beneficial, as can be
sounds of nature, such as birds and running water.
Although you can pray anywhere, at any time, and it would
be nice if you did, it is not ideal to try and pray when
there is chaos all around you, phones ringing, dogs barking,
children screaming, and someone making fun of your activity.
I think an important part of prayer is to find a time, a
place, and a state of mind that suits you and fits in with
your needs. Sometimes you have to create this for yourself
first - literally carving a moment of stillness from all the
other demands of life around you. Incidentally, in the olden
days that was the true idea behind not going to work or play
on Sundays. Whoever came up with that idea must have known
that it is in people's nature to get so involved with their
daily affairs that they need to be made to stop once in a
while and contemplate Life, the Universe and Everything.
Mary VS Martha
There a number of different types of prayer. Many people
tend to think of prayer as just a petition to a higher
force, for example, but there are a number of others.
The main difference is the Mary prayer vs. the Martha
prayer.
The Mary prayer is non-directional; this is best
expressed in the Christian prayer "Thy will be done". It
expresses trust in the processes of life and beyond, and
when you pray in this way, you are aligning yourself to the
higher forces around you. In any situation where you are not
quite sure what you should pray for, I would highly
recommend that the safest course of action is a Mary prayer.
"The Universe is unfolding as it should", "Divine right
action is always taking place in my life", and "I trust that
all events are for my highest good" are examples of this
kind of non-directional prayer.
In the Martha prayer, you are being more specific and are
using your powers more directly to achieve a desired
outcome.
Types of Healing Prayer
1. Healing
Prayers Of Petition
These are prayers that ask for something for yourself -
"I want something (to happen)..." These are much more
profound if you focus on something positive, such as health
regained, the Even Flow, or a forward movement TOWARDS a new
state of health rather than to ask for something to "not get
worse" for example. These types of prayers are very good for
advancing the natural healing processes and giving much
needed support in every way.
2. Healing Prayers Of Intercession
These are prayers that ask for something for someone else
- "I want something (to happen) for ..." In essence, the
same rules and regulations apply as to No.1, only this time,
YOU are focussing on ANOTHER and you are praying on their
behalf. Please note that, "I pray for him to live and regain
his health," is far more powerful than the negative, "Don't
let him die ..."
These are the common types, and now on to a very
important group that is not so often thought about in our
society.
3. Healing
Prayers Of Adoration
Sometimes it's difficult to put into words concepts such
as adoration. It's like paying homage on a grand scale to
someone, something or the universe at large. If you've ever
stood on a mountaintop or have seen a spectacular sunset and
you were flooded by the most amazing feelings of wow!
(sorry, words fail me here!), that is probably the closest
to describe a prayer of adoration. Moments of intense love
for a partner, child or animal also have an aspect of this
indescribable feeling of humility in the face of so much
wonder. In my opinion, a healing prayer of adoration is one
of the most powerful forms of healing prayers imaginable and
it is truly unconditional, very profound and very holy.
4. Healing
Prayers Of Thanksgiving
As a society, we're very ungrateful. There's so much good
in each and every one's life - you know, lack of starvation,
having a roof over your head, being able to buy and then
read a book on healing your animal with your own still
functioning eyes, that sort of thing! - never mind the
miracle of the world in which we live with its wondrous
places and shapes and colours within the amazing ocean of
the universe as a whole, I reckon we should be in a
continuous state of giving thanks and offering prayers of
thanksgiving every day we're allowed to be here. But sadly,
we're more often like the spoilt children at Christmas time
- we open one gift, then discard it and look for the next
pretty wrapper to tear apart, never stopping to explore the
possibilities of the gift or indeed, to stop and to offer a
prayer of thanksgiving. These are very healing indeed.
5. Healing Prayers Of
Joy
I don't know, but seeing we've become too cynical to
adore anything, and too spoilt to give thanks to anything,
could this be linked to the fact that "joy" is hard to find
in our lives? And indeed, being who we are, can we even spot
it when we meet it? Joy, bliss, ecstasy (not the synthetic
form, the real thing) are concepts that are as alien to the
grey "real" world we have constructed around us as are God
and Love.
Prayers Of Joy are simply a celebration of being alive. I
make you a deal - you aim to have a reason to give such a
prayer more often from today, and so will I. With more joy
there must surely be more light and less darkness in this
world.
When you are using prayer to help to heal your animal, I
want you now to go back through the list and not just look
at how prayers of petition and intercession can be of use,
but take a note that the others can sometimes be even more
powerful in beginning to move the healing energies towards
you and your animal.
So, bearing all this in mind, let's move on to using
Martha prayers for the best of all concerned and especially
when you wish to heal.
A most crucial question to ask before you start, is:
What Kind Of Healing
Should You Ask For?
As I stated at the beginning of this section, healing is
not only about the abatement of symptom or about staying
alive. I really believe that there are often occasions when
the creature or person in question has concluded his or her
path in this world and has, in a metaphysical sense, decided
that "enough is enough" and is ready to leave.
I also believe that before you enter into what is an
extremely powerful process, you should give some thought of
what you're going to ask for.
This has two purposes - firstly, it will help you make a
much more positive representation of your outcome, and
secondly, it will clarify greatly a number of other issues
that might not otherwise arise - such as, in truth, are you
doing this for your animal, or is it really for yourself?
So your first prayer might be for yourself, to clear the
path, as it were, and you might literally ask,
What Should I Pray For? or What Is The Right Outcome In
This Particular Situation?
Ask again and again if you're not sure, and I would
advise you not to proceed until you are congruent.
Alternatively, if you're not getting an answer, this might
be an indication that you are advised to use a "Mary Prayer"
from the section before and align yourself in trust to the
processes of life in action.
"Positive Thinking"
In all the experiments on focused attention we mentioned
before, the ones who prayed were instructed to concentrate
on well being, on growth, or simply on love.
When someone prays for a loved one that's sick, it can
often happen that negative thoughts overwhelm this person -
the prayer starts off with "Get well" but then goes on to
negative thoughts like, "I need you, I wouldn't know what to
do without you, Oh my god, please, please don't die!"
Although there is a great deal of psychic energy behind
such a cry for help, and although such prayers seem to be
answered on occasion, I would advise you very strongly to be
as positive as you possibly can be.
1. Focus on your love for your animal because your
animal, in every sense of the phrase, transcends the
physical malady that is now part of their body. This might
make you feel very emotional but also clearer.
2. Phrase all your verbal requests (whether you write
them down, speak them aloud or just think them in your mind)
in the positive, because your mind, which is the connection
to the mysterious processes no-one understands, cannot deal
with negatives. Don't think of a blue tree - and what do you
see? Don't die on me, don't get worse, don't suffer
horribly, don't lie in a hospital bed - what do you see in
your mind's eye? Point taken?
I appreciate this is much easier said and understood than
done - catch your negative thoughts when they occur through
old habit and make a point of mentally re-phrasing them into
something that you would want in your life instead.
3. Speak to your animal in a focused and very loving
fashion. Do not do this unless you are calm and centred
within yourself - the animal really needs you to be strong
and confident when he or she is sick or suffering. Wailing
and whining and tearing out of hair in the animal's presence
is bound to make him or her feel much worse - they just
don't know what they've done to make you this upset and
there's nothing they can do to make you feel better - and
this is not going to help the animal mobilise his or her own
healing resources to the best of their ability.
Modern
Healing Prayers: Affirmations
Affirmations are positive statements of both outcome and
intent that will help your mind concentrate on what you want
to be true in your life. At the same time, repeating
affirmations can bring these things into your life if you do
not already have them.
As we are trying to help your animal, affirmations are
great when spoken to the animal with meaning and with love.
I have known many very excellent results from using positive
affirmations with a wide variety of animals.
Speak your affirmations slowly, with real meaning and
with love.
The actual words used are only a small part of the
process.
You might like to use phrases like:
- You are loved.
- You are safe.
- You are protected.
- You will always be a part of me.
- Whatever happened in the past, it is over.
- You are safe with me in the now.
- Whatever changes happen in your body, I love you for
who you are.
- I surround you with harmony and peace, with love and
joy.
- I will always be by your side, loving you and
protecting you.
- You are a part of the universe, as am I. I am here
for you.
- I create an environment of love so you can heal.
Trust in love.
Healing
Visualisation For Animals
Visualisation, or imagining, is a very powerful method to
bring about physical change through intention using your
heart and your mind. It is used extensively in personal
development, religious practises, healing, and magic.
"Seeing with your mind's eye" is something anyone can do,
but often people think they can't because the end result of
a visualisation doesn't "look" like what you receive through
your eyes - you might just have a feeling or a thought
instead. Some people cannot consciously visualise at all due
to having shut down this particular representational system
as a result of traumatic scenes they "did not want to see";
if you cannot visualise, don't worry. You can do all the
other things in this book and that will be more than enough.
Going back to the process of using visualisation for
focusing healing intent, let us say, your animal has a wound
that is not healing well. Using visualisation, you would
look at the wound and "see" (imagine) it closing, mending,
healing, until there's only normal skin and fur.
A different but also effective way of using visualisation
for healing is to "see" (imagine) the affected area being
bathed in a gentle, healing light of a colour that pleases
you personally.
Or you might imagine the whole animal being enclosed in a
cocoon of healing light; this is a good strategy to use in
between other healing treatments, at the vet's, or just
anytime you're thinking of the animal. The animal does not
have to be within sight for this to be effective.
Another strategy is to imagine the animal in good health,
glowing with health, recovery completed, and both of you out
on a favourite walk.
A shamanic healing
approach is to create a special healing platform in your
mind, where you and your animal will meet, and you can talk
and use energy healing in those realms, guided by your
higher self and for the greatest good of all concerned.
These visualisations are also a very practical way to
keep your mind focused and positive, and stop you from
descending into "oh no" type of thoughts and emotions which
are not very helpful to you or your animal - remember, your
states of mind transfer to the animal and if you can keep
your end up, your animal stands a much better chance to do
his or her bit in the healing process.
Being
Strong So Your Animal May Heal
If you are seeking to heal an animal that lives with you
or to whom you are mentally, emotionally and energetically
very close, your own states of being become extremely
important.
I know from personal experience how important it is for
you, the one the animal trusts and loves and the one through
whom he or she experiences the world around them, to be as
calm and centred as possible. With my children too I have
experienced many, many times that just being there, and
being calm and positive, has allowed them to relax and view
the necessary medical interventions without fear and in good
faith.
Having a animal is very much an exercise in "being there
for someone else" and when a loved one is sick, the one that
isn't has to provide the strength, the hope, the anchor to
hold on to when there's pain and fear, literally become the
light at the end of the tunnel.
I do appreciate that sometimes it gets all too much and
one can become emotional or distraught. As we've said many
times before, this doesn't help the healing at all, and
might be very detrimental to your own health and well being,
so I would suggest the following.
1. If you are caring very in depth for your animal (and
this might require much physical effort as well as mental
effort), you can become tired and despondent if you don't
take good care of yourself.
YOU are a vital medicine for your animal, so you should
make sure that this medicine is pure and in good condition -
you know what it's like, medicine can soon turn to poison if
it's past it's sell by date or stored in the wrong
conditions.
So DO make sure that YOU take good care of YOURSELF as a
part of the treatment - this means rest and relaxation,
switching off completely with a walk, bath or a movie if
necessary, and, very importantly, allowing your friends and
relatives to give YOU some extra strength or practical help
if necessary.
2. If you find you're getting worn out and despondent,
STOP and review what you are doing. Something's got to give
- but let it be the housework, the paperwork, other people's
expectations, rather than you.
3. If you get over-emotional on occasion, try crying in
the garden rather than around your sick animal, and go back
when you're more centred. I'm not being hard hearted here, I
just know that over-burdening any animal with human emotions
isn't good for their long term health anyway, and especially
not when they're already ill.
4. If your animal is very seriously ill or dying, offer a
prayer of gratitude for whatever time you've had together at
least once a day.
To conclude, let me back up on the basic principles we've
talked about.
The
Seven Principles Of Intention Healing For Animals
1. Focusing attention for healing is a very deeply
personal activity. You should use the form you are most
comfortable with, be it praying, imagining something,
visualising something, using spoken words, singing, just
thinking about something or a mixture of all of these. What
comes naturally to you is what is going to work best so
trust your intuition for what is right.
2. You can do this in your mind anytime, anywhere. Your
intentions transcend both time and space, and distance is of
no importance.
3. Healing by intention work best when offered heart and
soul - therefore, make sure you know what you are trying to
achieve and that you are absolutely clear that this is the
right thing. If you are unclear or unsure, focus on "Thy
will be done" or a variation of this in keeping with your
own faith.
4. Healing by intention works best when it is offered
with love, and in faith and trust.
5. If you are using prayer, remember it is not just about
petition and intercession. Remember the prayers of
thanksgiving, adoration and joy - they carry enormous and
profound healing power.
6. Arrange the physical world so it works together with
your spiritual activities. This is called "acting in
accord".
7. YOU are ANY living creature's most important
complimentary medical treatment.
Copyright S. Hartmann July 1996
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