How do you grow your capacity to love yourself? Is it possible to allow yourself to truly be who you really are, rather than who you've been told you are supposed to be?

The following experience was written by a client as she took time to reflect on these very questions.

 *****

“As I reflect on my experiences being in Gloria's classes and receiving resonate empathy, many things come up for me.  When I first joined her tele-calls several years ago, speaking up or even answering a question triggered my body and mind into complete overwhelm.  Many times I would be curled up on the floor under a blanket praying that I would not be called on, not even having the resources to request that I just listen in.  (I didn't even know that just listening in was even an option.)  

I joined the class because it was recommended by my coach.  She felt that it would be a safe place for me to receive support in community with others.  Well, that was most...

Moving a human from trauma to healing requires the restructuring of emotional response. Both primary and secondary process emotions (conscious and pre-conscious) must be engaged and soothed (regulation of the sensitive limbic region of the brain). This must come in the form of new experiences.  The experience of limbic neuroplasticity (the laying down of new neural pathways and responses) was deeply and beautifully expressed by a client in the following testimonial by Rhoda Ingstad. 

*****

“Wow!  What an eventful journey I have been on since my healing session with horse!  During my session I couldn't tell what was going on in my head or body.  In the session you made the observation that the horse was making the greatest amount of expressions (licking, chewing, and yawning, etc.) during my session. I was not aware of that.  Yet afterwards I felt that my whole chest area was cleared of tension and angst.  It made no sense to me! While I was...

I've been thinking about grace a lot lately. It really got my attention the other day when I was working hard outside with my husband, preparing a section of land to fence in as pasture for my horses. It was good, hard work, and I could see my dreams becoming reality before me. 

Dreaming out loud I told my husband, "So, I'm thinking we'll put the fence out this direction," motioning with my hands to show where the fencing would go across the field. 

He invited me to walk with him as he showed me how he envisioned it would all come together."The fence will come out this way and go around the raised beds..." As I followed and listened to him I began to feel bewildered. This was not how I had imagined it would be, or what I thought we had agreed on. I began to pepper him with questions, my cadence shortened, and I felt my throat tense up.  

Before my eyes I saw him shut down - and for the life of me I couldn't understand why! "Are you angry?" I asked him with...

Why do wealth and health so often intersect for wise people? And how can you become one of them? If you could be paid to do what you love – what would you be being paid to do? Notice the first image or thought that springs up. How does that feel in your body?

Are you aware that in many ways your thoughts, emotions, beliefs, visualizations, and aspects of your spiritual life like prayer and meditation, can change the energy field of your body in a way that affects your gene regulation? And the genes most readily affected by them are your stress genes. The wealthiest and best-informed people have had access to this kind of information many years ahead of the general public.

The connection between unresolved emotional trauma and disease is one of the most well-established links in medicine today. Yet new research reveals that when a subject vividly recalls a past trauma, and then applies an energy therapy, the emotional trauma attached to the memory often dissipates...

How do we lose our vital essence? And how can we reclaim vitality? Many of us today don't feel completely whole, as if we are not all here. When we begin to become aware of this, we can open to the possibility of reclaiming the intimacy we once enjoyed. With support, we can recover our soul, the vital essence of life.  

I share with you today, a clients' story, about welcoming back lost parts of herself who were willing to begin the journey home to wholeness.  

"What is trauma?  Well for me it was total annihilation of my personal existence and I lost all feeling of any sensations. I didn't consciously know this because my body and mind were blank; trauma completely numbed my capacity to sense any emotional or physical pain.  Even my brain went numb so that I didn't miss having fun, laughing, or really living.  

Trauma is timeless so when I got triggered, my body reacted as if the trauma was happening NOW, in the present moment.  Whether the actual...

Who are your voices? And what are they saying to you? We all have these internalized voices. Do you recognize what they represent to you in your life? Horses can support us to acknowledge what is in the moment.

One day as one of my clients stood with her back to the corral, her eyes were closed and her arms hung at her side, I guided her through a body-centered process; her horse stood at the gate, his mouth licked and chewed as she tapped into her body’s wisdom.  She first noticed fear in her belly, apprehension in her heart space, (her horse lifted a front foot and set it with a bang on the metal gate), she named fear in her belly once more, as tears sprang to her eyes and she crumpled forward, “I wasn’t going to cry, I never let anyone see my fear.” 

“You never let anyone see your fear… and you weren’t going to cry.” I paused a moment, “I’m guessing a little part of you might be needing acknowledgment what...

What are two challenges you face moving forward? I have always wanted to learn how to drive a horse; my heart’s desire came true with Diva, at a Mindful Horsemanship Program several years ago. 

I remember stepping into the arena to stand behind Diva, I gathered the long reins in my hands, and prepared to move out.     

“What is your intention?” My coach asked.   

“I’ll move out to the right and pause by the big barrel, then make a big circle moving from right to left coming back down through the center of the arena.”  

“Want to step it up a notch?” she asked with a grin as she stood the big barrel up and moved small barrels to stand parallel in the center of the arena.   

“Sure!”  

“What are two challenges you face as you move forward with your vision?”  

“Hmm…” I thought for a moment, “being available...

Did you know that Horses can read your thoughts and emotions? They have an innate ability to give honest feedback and naturally use their bodies to "know" the world. As sensitive, sentient beings, they are in a unique position in the animal kingdom to teach us in ways never before possible - accelerating learning exponentially in ways we can apply to our lives immediately that creates lasting change.   

I remember working with a group of youth one day, during an activity each participant wrote down on a tag something they treasured and wanted to protect about themselves. Then they each shared what they treasured with the group, and tied their tag onto the chosen horse's mane. One girl, we'll call her Anna, shared, "I'd like to protect who I am, meaning everything about myself, cause I'm accepting who I am!"   

Next, as a group they built a boundary they thought fitting for that horse and attempted to keep the horse, which now represented what each one...

When people experience trauma, their symptoms may last months or years, with triggers that can bring back memories of the trauma accompanied by intense emotional and physical reactions. Today I want to share with you how one of my clients experienced stepping into the constellation field with a horse.

Terrified of not mattering, being abandoned, and cast aside in her relationships, she came to Healing You Sanctuary to begin to heal her traumatic history. We went outside to the round pen and I asked her to build a magic room, a place she could go and feel safe. There were a variety of materials available in the round pen, and I had turned out Saphira, my mare, to provide female companionship.  Let me share her experience in her words. 

"Being asked to build a place to feel safe felt confusing. I put a chair and a stick and string in the round pen. I thought, "I really don't need anything to feel safe with Saphira." So I just stood, looking at all the other things and...

Have you ever noticed something when you were all alone and it both shocked and horrified you? I have. Let me tell you a story…

"NO!!!" I felt a flash of heat as I screamed in silent horror. 

Rushing upstairs to look in the bathroom mirror my worst fear was realized. I saw the beginning of a stress sore on the corner of my mouth. Without conscious awareness my inner alarm triggered panic to flood throughout my nervous system. With ghastly images becoming more hideous by the second, I frantically searched through the cupboards, looking for my prescription to head off this atrocity.  

As the panic attack triggered an asthma attack, and my breathing became very shallow, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Wide frightened eyes, raised eye-brows, and frozen facial features. Slowing down, I held my own gaze, and watched as it slowly transformed into one of recognition and then the warmth of gentle kindness. 

Silently, I acknowledged what it was like to...