Did you know that we have three nervous systems?
There is the one we are taught at school including our brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. This beautiful system is the manager of our lives with the brain receiving and sending information to and from all parts of the body. It houses our rational selves, is responsible for thoughts and for actions and for coordinating our response to the other nervous systems. It is the nervous system of MIND.
Then there is our gut. There has been a lot of research on the guts recently and we now know that our guts have a rich and complex life of their own. Your microbiome is a rich collection of bacteria, fungi and viruses that not only helps you to digest food, but is now seen as an organ in its own right, the gut having a nervous system all of it’s own. The gut’s job is primarily to keep us safe and instinctively we know that; we talk about gut instinct. It is the nervous system of BODY.
Finally our hearts have a nervous system of their own too, which is separate from the brain, which is why your heart can continue to beat even when in other ways your nervous system has closed down. Our heart is the beacon of our emotions; no wonder then that love is so strongly associated with this part of the body. It is the nervous system of SPIRIT.
Each of our nervous systems radiates into the electromagnetic field that surrounds our bodies, known in different cultures as the aura, wei chi field or dvadasanta. Whilst there is mixed scientific evidence for the existence of auras, they feature strongly in many belief and healing systems. When our nervous systems are out of balance then their resonance into our auric fields can become incongruent, particularly when the three systems are not in harmony with each other. In our modern world, it is easy to let our mind over rule other parts, making pragmatic rather than heartfelt decisions. We recognise this in our language. How often have you uttered ‘should’ve followed my heart?’ when a decision you’ve made doesn’t work out, or felt jangly or unwell when asked to do something you really feel is against your beliefs and values.
Notice too that we are often able to employ the mind to silence the other parts. We are extremely effective liars. We lie to ourselves frequently; not resting when we are tired, ploughing on when we are ill, agreeing to do things that we know are bad for us or we simply don’t want to do. I see it all the time on yoga mats with students cranking unwilling bodies into shapes they are just not ready for, despite my best entreaties to listen to our bodies and treat them with respect. And yes, honestly, I do it myself sometimes too.
Most animals, horses, cats and dogs especially lean into our auras and it is simply not possible to lie to them. Horses operate in this energetic plane all the time, and they can sense into our electromagnetic field, our aura, to detect our overall state. If the three elements of our nervous system are not in line, they can spot it a mile off! They are four legged, walking, barking, whinnying lie detectors!
To illustrate: On Thursday I woke up feeling exhausted, depressed, angry. It was also the day I had planned to take my little, grey mare, Gemma out for a stroll. I caught her easily and calmly enough, muttered kind words, gave her breakfast. But as soon as I started to lead her along the road away from the farm, she dug in her heels and calmly and kindly refused to move until I took her back towards her field mate. On Friday, after Reiki and a little yoga practice, feeling back to myself, we tried again and she walked away from the field like a dream.
Yoga means union, a bringing together or mind, body, spirit, the three nervous systems of the brain, the gut and the heart. When our nervous systems are congruent, our auras emit harmony too. Yoga helps us to harmonise and unite all parts of ourselves, and when we are truthful and whole in ourselves we radiate that and our animals pick that up. This means they can recognise who we really are, what we are asking of them and you know, lots of ‘behaviour’ just seems to melt away.
Try it!