Pavlov's Dogs

Let’s talk about Pavlov’s dogs and what this conditioning reflex phenomena has to do with your Equi-Energy Gem Mala bracelet.  First, let’s review the concept that came to be known as Pavlovian conditioning.  Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov while studying the salivation response in dogs, actually came upon another more complex concept by accident.

By nature, a dog will salivate when he sees his food.  This is a natural reflex that is “hard-wired” in every dog that has eaten food from the time he is a puppy.  Because it does not require specific “learning”, it is considered an unconditioned response.

The breakthrough moment came when Pavlov discovered that the salivation process in the dogs could be brought on by another visual object, sound or event that the dogs learned to associate with the food.  For instance, he realized that after many sessions, every time they even saw the lab assistant that fed them, the dogs would start to salivate even before he handled the food.  The lab assistant, which was originally a neutral stimulus (produced no response) became a “trigger” to that response because the dogs associated the lab assistant with the unconditional stimulus (the food).

Pavlov further developed this concept by using the sound of a bell as the trigger to salivate.  This was accomplished by ringing a bell shortly before presenting the food.  The dogs would start to salivate simply by hearing the bell after a time period of conditioning.   This new conditioned behavior of salivation is called a conditioned response (also known as a Pavlovian response).  The neutral stimulus (the bell) has become a conditioned stimulus or “trigger”.

Ok, so now after that review, I’m sure you recall learning about this in Psych 101, but how do we apply this to our Equi-Energy Gem Mala bracelet and reaching our goals?  Well, a really successful meditation process of visualizing and manifesting should be done every day and throughout the day, which can be a time consuming process.  Let’s face it, as busy equestrians that juggle our time between jobs, family, animal care….the list goes on and on, we can’t always stop to do the mindful mediation that’s necessary for us to succeed.  However, (and here’s the important piece) if we can condition our brain to use the mere sight of our mala as a TRIGGER (see next blog article), we can benefit from our positive self-talk on a constant and continual basis with little effort from us to manifest our wildest dreams!  

My next article details how I use triggers in my Equi-Energy Gems Bracelets to condition your brain to play those positive thoughts over and over in your mind.