Magic and Mystery in Equine- Facilitated Psychotherapy
By Leigh Shambo,
MSW
According to the web dictionary Wikipedia, "Manifesting is a
term often used in metaphysics to refer to the belief that one
can by force of will, desire, and focused energy, make something
come true on the physical level."
Today
many people recognize that we can influence our reality by what
we pay attention to; this is the magic of manifestation. Our
attention seems to activate the Law of Attraction, which
Wikipedia defines as "...the metaphysical "principle of life"...
you get what you think about; your thoughts determine your
destiny."
This is the mystery of
manifestation.
Horses
are able to teach people a lot about the mechanics of
manifestation and attraction.
....
In equine facilitated psychotherapy (EFP),
the focus is not on perfect horsemanship, but on helping a
client to discover and develop congruence of body, mind and
spirit, a state that is greatly helpful in creating positive
manifestation cycles in all kinds of situations.
I think of a small
client I’ll call “Missy”, a diminutive 7-year-old red head, who
just last week had her first session in a therapeutic riding
program where she has been referred for emotional problems.
Missy’s partner in this lesson was Leah, a very kind (and
strong) Norwegian Fjord mare, and Missy was leading her on a
lead line, her first time ever leading a horse.
In her
first attempt to halt Leah, Missy stopped and said faintly
“Whoa…?” – but Leah just kept walking! Missy’s feet started
moving again as she got pulled off balance. “Breathe out, bend
your knees—and pull! Yes, that’s it, she’ll stop!” I said to
Missy. The furrows made in the arena dirt as Missy dug her
heels in were only about 8 inches long by the time Leah stopped
and looked at Missy as if to say, “Oh, did you want something?”
The
next halt went a little better, no furrows at all and better
timing (therefore less pressure) with the pull on the rope.
Here is the magic: soon, a proud straight little girl with a
confident voice will bend her knees first, glancing at Leah to
make sure she noticed, and both will stop together, with no
voice command and no pull on the rope. And here is the
mystery: as she learns this, she will also start talking about
her feelings, and she will begin to heal. Those who know her
will be able to see the law of attraction in action. The
fearful and angry child that Missy has been is attracting more
wounding experiences (like being labeled emotionally disturbed,
for instance); now the healing child who begins to voice her
feelings will begin to attract they sympathy and support of
others who can help.
With
some clients in EFP, we use a “horse whispering” model that
encourages free play (within a safely controlled environment)
between a loose horse and a person. Anyone who has watched a
talented “horse-whisperer” in action recognizes that the magic
they demonstrate is not supernatural at all, but the careful
application of specific principles designed to work with, and
never against, what the horse is offering. Horse whisperers
tame frightened or unruly horses, and effect change in
long-standing behaviors such as aggression or refusal to do a
particular thing, like loading in a trailer. These results are
evident in a very short period of time, with a minimum of effort
on the human’s part and a maximum of respect toward the horse.
The secret of horse whispering lies not in outer method, but
in the horseperson’s inner awareness of the energetic cycles of
manifestation and attraction.
Horse whispering works like magic, the effects are
magical, yet the process itself is almost scientific-- a
carefully applied set of energetic principles, combined with the
discernment to understand which principle wants to take priority
in a given moment. In EFP we help clients discover and explore
these principles, and practice the moment by moment discernment
to effectively apply them. Even horse beginners experience
“horse whispering” success when they are privy to the energetic
principles affecting the horse-human interaction. The ultimate
goal of horse whispering is to activate the “join up” response
in the horse, an especially concrete example of the law of
attraction.
Inevitably, clients generalize the principles very quickly to
their human environments. Recently, a young college student
I’ll call “Susie” began EFP. Susie, now 22, has experienced
anxiety and depression since the age of 13. Traditional office
therapy and medication have not been very helpful, and currently
the emotional patterns were threatening to undermine her
relationship with her fiancé. Having some horse experience as a
youth, Susie felt that the equine context for treatment held
some promise for her.
In
Susie’s first session we focused on the principle of emotional
awareness, and Susie met all five horses in the HEAL herd. With
her new awareness, she noticed that each horse she interacted
with aroused different feelings in her, and that in some
meetings she picked up emotional affect that actually belonged
to the horse. She spent the most time with the Arabian gelding
Ameer in an unstructured “reflective session”. Ameer was
clearly attracted to Susie, even though she didn’t feel
attractive—she felt vulnerable and very weighed down by her long
struggle with her “symptoms”.
Ameer
didn’t try to interact; he simply chose to graze in the grassy
paddock right by Susie’s feet, following her wherever she moved
while also doing his own thing (consuming as much grass as
possible). Susie’s own comfort level told her that this was
what she really wanted from other people, and especially from
her fiancé. She articulated this as the ability for each person
to stay in their own psychic space, being responsive without
trying to deny or fix the feelings of the other person. In her
second session, we explored in more depth the concept of
invisible boundaries. When she arrived for her third session,
Susie excitedly told me of the success she was experiencing in
her relationship, and of her fiancé’s very positive response to
her as she practiced the principles of boundary clarification in
their relationship.
Harnessing our capacity to manifest positive outcomes for
ourselves is (for each of us) simple in some situations, and
very challenging in others. Thus,
most of us
have a rather uneven experience with manifestation, to say the
least. We may feel effective at manifesting good (or at least
influencing for the better) our life circumstances in some
domains, but find in others that we get stuck in repetitive,
largely unconscious manifestation “cycles” that are less than
optimum, or even downright frustrating!
In EFP, people can
examine in detail how energetic patterns either help or hinder
manifestation potential, and the horses are reliable guides in
helping people discern the difference. As
one client participating in EFP said, “The
horses taught me to become more conscious. I’m able to focus
my intentions congruently now, although that’s not always easy.
But then it seems like my goals begin to manifest with relative
ease.” She paused for a minute, and then giggled. “In fact,
that’s when it seems that others are ‘joining up’ to help me get
just what I want!”
Author
Leigh Shambo,
MSW is a
clinical therapist and educator whose
first career was horse training and instruction. Leigh
is widely recognized for her articulation of the
horse-human bond and its application in therapeutic and
learning programs. She is the founder and lead
therapist for
Human-Equine Alliances for Learning
(HEAL), a
non-profit charitable organization that supports
equine-assisted services and programs for healing,
personal growth and riding/training.
Leigh is an Advanced
Facilitator
graduate of Linda Kohanov's Epona Center
apprenticeship
program and is EAGALA
certified.
