Maybull the bulldog was confused. A stranger was kneeling beside her, doing something peculiar.
The stranger, Deborah Spindler, a former public health nurse and current certified Healing Touch practitioner, was rotating a pendulum above Maybull's body to analyze her chakras. The chakras, the six centers of energy located along the backbone, are regarded in Eastern medical tradition as the connection between the inner body and the rest of the world. If the pendulum made wide circles around a chakra, it meant the chakra was open, but small circles indicated blockage and possible physical or emotional problems.
Pet owners, says Spindler, are beginning to realize that techniques such as Healing Touch, already used in area hospitals such as Abbott Northwestern, can help their animals as well. Several Twin Cities veterinarians have begun to include Healing Touch in their practices.
Maybull's root chakra is blocked
Maybull is fairly healthy for an 8-year-old dog, says Spindler, but there are energy blockages on the root chakra (the grounding chakra) at the base of her tail, and the sacral chakra (the relationship chakra), positioned just below her navel.
Bodywork practitioners like Spindler can often feel or see energy in their patients' bodies. "Maybull has very strong energy at her heart chakra, the center of unconditional love," she explains.
Helping the fearful, sick or abused
A lot of Spindler's work is done with frightened and fearful dogs. She's aided dogs that have been sick or abused. "We work with dogs that have internalized trauma and magnified that trauma in biting and other negative behavior," she says. "The treatments help release the blockages and open the animals to learning new behavior."
