What does “Quantum Touch” look like?
“It might look a little boring,” Alison Zeidler warns when about to demonstrate the technique on Gypsy, a 20-year-old mare.
“It’ll look like I’m just standing there.”
And indeed that’s all she appears to be doing - standing beside the horse, feet firmly planted, eyes closed, with one hand on its back and another on its shoulder.
The real action is all in her mind.
Zeidler focuses on her breathing and visualizes herself drawing up life force energy from the Earth.
It spirals up from the ground, into her body and out through her hands, into Gypsy’s sore back.
The horse accepts this energy in a placidly contented sort of way, chewing on a piece of rope.
Zeidler is the first certified Quantum Touch Practitioner in the Yukon.
She’s also a Registered Canadian Reflexology Therapist and a certified equine massage therapist.
Zeidler is now offering these services, and more, through her new business: Elemental Holistic Therapies
Through her work, Zeidler promotes the body/mind health of both people and their animal friends.
For us two-legged animals, Zeidler offers Indian foot massage as well as reflexology, which works by pressing pressure points in the feet.
For horses, like Gypsy, Zeidler offers massages.
For dogs, Zeidler offers a similar sort of message technique called Canine Body Work.
While these message techniques can offer everything from stress reduction to reduced pain to faster healing from injuries, Zeidler stresses that her services are not a substitute for medical/veterinarian advice or care.
Zeidler offers Quantum Touch for both people and their pets.
So, what is Quantum Touch?
Well, it’s a sort of new age - or newer age, anyway - Reiki, which Zeidler also practices.
Where the two differ is that Quantum Touch is less prescriptive - practitioners are given certain tips and techniques at classes and seminars, and then are told to do whatever feels best.
It’s so easy that even a child could do it.
In fact, children are often extremely gifted at Quantum Touch and pick it up fairly quickly - perhaps because they have more imagination and less of the usual hang-ups that come with maturity.
But even though it’s easy, the powerful effects can be astounding.
Zeidler gives the example of a friend, who was hit in the head by a goat.
The unusual injury required stitches and caused a lot of bruising. The woman’s vision was also “kind of weird,” said Zeidler.
“She’s an easy subject, I only worked on her for 10 minutes. And the next day people were going, ‘Wow, what have you done? It’s amazing, it’s almost gone.’”
Zeidler uses Quantum Touch, and her myriad other skills, to provide holistic therapeutic care.
If working with a horse, for example, Zeidler will talk with the owner about the issue, then take a look at the stable where the horse lives, what it eats, whether the saddle is too small, etc.
Then she communicates with the animal.
“Animals have so much to tell us,” she said.
“We just need to listen.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Ziegler was told that Gypsy had some pain in her hind quarters.
She started with some gentle effleurage - circular rubbing to get the blood flowing in an area - and then began massaging deeper with her fingers and fists.
After this, she did a little tail pulling, which works to stretch the spine.
Many horses love it, but not Gypsy. A few stomps of her hooves suggested she wasn’t too thrilled about having her tail pulled. So Ziegler stopped.
Next, Ziegler moved onto Gypsy’s back, gently rubbing the muscles around the spine.
Gypsy didn’t like this either and tried to move away from the massage multiple times.
And that’s where Quantum Touch comes in.
Zeidler believes in a holistic approach for herself as well as for her two- and four-legged patients.
Elemental Holistic Therapies is a way for her to achieve a balance in her own life.
“I work for lawyers in my day job so doing this sort of work is a nice change,” she said.
But Zeidler would happily let go of that balance if her fledgling business took off.
She’d love to be able to quit her job and do her therapeutic work full-time, she said.
“You bet, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
Zeidler has an office in the Horwood’s Mall on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.
She is able to visit her animal patients at their home or barn.
Although based in Whitehorse, she is willing to travel throughout the territory.
Contact and pricing information can all be found on Zeidler’s website at elementalholistictherapies.vpweb.ca.
Contact Chris Oke at chriso@yukon-news.com