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Energy Work and EFP/EFL
Mary Lynn Szymandera
“Energy Work.” We hear the word “energy” in relationship to EFP or EFL
a lot but what does it really mean and how can we use it? In the
Pavillon Equine Program, each client begins and ends his/her
horse-facilitated sessions by doing “energy work”. The client begins
the six-week process by completing a bonding exercise and ends the
process in the round pen experiencing two-way communication with the
horse. During the last exercise, the horse receives information from
the client mentally. I am not talking about body language here or even
verbal cues. The client streams pictures of what he/she wants the horse
to do. The client then stands in awe as the horse does what has been
asked through the visualization.
.....
Do I have your attention? I hope so. Because
this is an amazing skill -- one that everyone can develop. Of course,
the horses have been doing it all along. We just have not recognized it
or gotten past our own limited belief systems. So, let me take you
through the process by which we achieve this amazing result.
The
bonding process with the horse begins the relationship building process
that continues throughout the six weeks of treatment. Subsequent
exercises of grooming, team building, trust and control exercises
proceed from this point. Meanwhile the client is in residential
treatment learning about himself, his addiction, relapse triggers and
recovery. Some even become emotionally stable enough to address deep
emotional issues and unresolved family of origin issues. All of these
things can be underscored at the barn or triggered at the barn and
resolved in the group process. By the time the client is ready to leave
treatment, he or she has come out of denial and begun to identify some
of his/her own strengths. Their view of themselves has shifted to
include their spirituality and connectedness to others and they have a
new level of intimacy with themselves.
Just before discharge, the client has his/her final equine session,
which includes the opportunity to do two-way communication with the
horse. Each client chooses the horse he/she wants to work with and that
horse is turned loose in the arena. The client goes to the center of
the round pen and stands facing the horse. There are no lunge lines or
lariats or any other “tool” to apply pressure to the horse in the pen.
The client grounds himself and begins to project his energetic field
toward the horse from his heart. When he can sense the line in the
sand, where his energy field meets the horse’s energy field he asks the
animal for permission to move forward and he begins to move toward the
horse. If the horse tells him to stop with a turn of the head, a flick
of the tail or flattened ears, the client stops and takes a ½ step
backward. This is the beginning of setting up one side of the
communication. The client is stating through body language that he
“reads” the horse’s intent and will respect it. The client repeats the
request to move forward into the horse’s space and moves ahead again
until he feels “connected” to the animal. At that point, he asks the
horse what the horse wants him to do. (The client can do this aloud or
silently in his mind.) The client is instructed to take the first
picture that comes to his mind and do what that picture is showing him.
It usually takes several attempts before the client can begin to
recognize what is projection and what is really coming into his open
mind. The horse is a good teacher. He will respond appropriately with
each attempt until the client receives the accurate picture and
experiences his own “open mind.”
We
know animals communicate by streaming pictures because they do not have
the frontal lobe capacity for language, as we know it. Temple Grandin
has helped us understand this phenomenon in her book “Animals In
Translation”. Once the client is consistently receiving pictures from
the horse, he is given the instruction to ask the horse to do something
and to stream that picture through his mind just like a movie. This
exercise requires focus and intention for the horse to capture what the
human had been visualizing. It usually takes a few moments and, could
possibly require facilitator assistance for the client to raise his
intention high enough to achieve the required level of focus. Once the
client does this, the horse will do what the client had been
visualizing. “Ecstasy” is a word most often heard to describe this
experience. It truly is an ecstatic moment to connect at this level and
experience inter-species communication. Sometimes the client will
experience blocks to this ability to communicate with the horse. In
these instances, the client may be encouraged with questions to help
him/her identify the belief system, negative messages, doubt or other
ego defenses that are sabotaging the process. Very rarely does someone
fail to break through those barriers.
Energy work and interspecies communication cannot be accomplished
without a thorough understanding of grounding. We often do this with
Chi Gong exercises to help the client “conceptualize” the experience of
his/her own electro magnetic energy field. By opening the meridians
with Chi Gong or yoga people are grounded and in their bodies enabling
them to “open their hearts” which creates the conduit for intuitive
understanding and connection with others. What we are doing is like
building a bridge of energy between the client and the horse. This
bridge carries the mental pictures back and forth between horse and
human. We are using the heart to build the bridge/energetic link/conduit
etc. We are using the mind to focus and imagine/create the pictures that
we are sending to the horse. We also use the mind to interpret the
pictures we receive from the horse. We are using our Spiritual self to
experience and express the love, compassion and positive regard that are
required to communicate our trustworthiness. We use our physical body,
i.e. posture, to communicate confidence and personal power and inner
authority.
Unity, communication, intuition, healthy boundaries, love,
transformational experiences are just a few of the outcomes of learning
about our energetic fields and discovering our innate ability to
communicate with horses, and for that matter, all animals. At the
Pavillon, we give our clients this experience as a powerful way to
demonstrate all they throw away when they pick up their drugs or
alcohol. It is a very effective tool. I have also used this exercise
to help people own their power-- not “power over” but “power with” in
all of their relationships. You have been using visualization to create
your life and your world since you were a child. It is time to become
conscious of this gift and the energetic power behind it and to take
responsibility for visualizing/creating a world of connection, peace and
abundance for all.
For
more information about animal communication, I suggest you read “The
Language of Miracles” by Amelia Kinkade. In Amelia’s book, you will
discover your own ability to communicate with any animal effectively.
Mary Lynn Szymandera is a licensed substance abuse counselor who
has been working at Pavillon International, (a residential
program for the treatment of substance abuse and co-occurring disorders
), for the past 15 years. In 1999, Mary Lynn began taking clients from
the residential center to her barn and doing experiential "Bonding"
which produced
significant results in reducing denial and identifying treatment issues.
In 2000, Mary Lynn developed a three day intensive Equine Facilitated
Psychotherapy program that has been the foundation of the program
Pavillon residents receive today. You can reach Mary Lynn by email at:
marylynns@pavillon.org
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