Experience the Magic: Connect with Horses and Discover Your Power Within!
Do you believe in magic? In the power of warm, resonant magic?
Experiential learning is powerful, especially when building a relationship, especially with a horse. Yet it is just part of the picture. For healing to happen, we need to begin to notice the patterns of our inner experience, and where we place our attention. The formation of neural pathways that shape our brains are stimulated by our behavior emotions and (energy in motion) especially in relationships with others. Where we focus our attention, consciously or unconsciously, our energy follows. This practice either reinforces old patterns or initiates new ones.
We all have emotions that we are very familiar with and know that if certain things happen, one or more of the emotions will flare up and dominate our awareness. (Limbic hijack) We also have underlying patterns of thoughts that accompany us all the time. So, the emotions we feel and thoughts we think (the quality of our consciousness) increases the energy and information flow, which strengthens our neural pathways. Which patterns of thought and emotion do you tend to strengthen? Do you do so consciously or unconsciously?
When you experience something unexpected, startling, or apprehensive, do you have the capacity to focus your attention? Do you direct your own inner experience or does your auto-pilot kick in? Can you slow down subjective inner experience and selectively focus your awareness where you wish to? According to Ernest Rossi, “we could say that meaning is continually modulated by the complex, dynamic field of messenger molecules that continually replay, reframe, and resynthesize neuronal networks in ever-changing patterns.”¹ In other words, it is possible to change your brain patterns.
The magic of being accompanied in present time, by a warm, resonant being, expands a person’s awareness of their own inner journey and their capacity to “see” from a larger perception. Peter Levine shares, “The spanning of time allows choice of the imagined options. This strategy, however, is only effective when the organism is fully present in the now…Only man routinely becomes lost in regret for the past and fearful of what will happen in the future… It appears to be a by-product of a loss of connection with our instinctual animal nature.”² The magic of being accompanied in present time is powerfully healing when that being is a magnificent, very sensitive horse, regardless of size.
At Healing You Sanctuary, our horses are recognized as sentient beings, we partner with them to co-create a field of healing. This means they are given freedom for choice and movement at liberty to communicate directly with both the facilitator and client. We practice deep listening. For many people this can feel uncomfortable at first, being up close to a large, very sensitive, 1200 lb. being. Yet it is exponentially healing when the neuroception of safety is monitored and maintained.
End Notes:
- Rossi, E. (2002). The psychobiology of gene expression: Neuroscience and neurogenesis in hypnosis and the healing arts (p. xvii). New York, NY: Norton.
- Levine, P (2010). In An Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.