Discover the Transformative Power of Horse Medicine: Insights from Equine Guided Learning
If you know me, then you know that I love horses and horse medicine. These gentle giants have been capturing my heart and delighting my senses since I was a little east coast city kid being introduced to horses on my uncle’s mountainside ranch out west.
Fast-forward 30+ years and today, in my personal life, I’m on a quest to become a cowgirl. When I’m riding or even just with a horse on the ground, it feels like therapy. It’s a release of negative build-up and an infusion of love through my core value of Unity with Nature.
Riding became my primary form of connection during the height of the pandemic. The horse medicine I receive from their presence is so consistently profound that I knew I wanted to weave it into my professional coaching and retreat work – but I didn’t know how.
Enter: Equine Guided Learning (or what I call Horse Medicine).
It’s described as the cathartic and healing way in which gentle and highly intuitive horses reflect human emotions and reveal behaviors that help you learn about yourself.
Shortly after having that vision flash, I was divinely connected to Lucina Vette, head of Equine Programming at the incredible Miraval Retreat Center in Tucson, Arizona.
After several phone calls and exchanges with Lucinda leading up to our in-person experience, I just knew that she and I were meant to be connected and to create something together. So I made sure to officially meet her and receive her gifts over the week of my 38th birthday.
To say it was life-changing is almost too cliché. But the truth is, it changed my life.
I knew there would be so much more to access with a skilled guide like Lucinda. What I didn’t realize was how fast, intense, deep, and profound it would be. Or how quickly I would be able to access the core of my being — my fears, my desires, and the energy that I’m creating around me as a direct result – for better and for worse.
Through 6 different equine-guided learning experiences – ranging from private sessions to guided meditations, and group sessions – I saw myself through horses through an entirely new lens with this new horse medicine I received.
Essentially, Lucinda, Tyler, and Joni (their fabulous equine team) set up experiences in which we were invited to engage with a horse as a way to understand ourselves better.
With something as simple as the exercise of inviting a horse to walk with you, you can learn a whole heck of a lot about yourself.
How do you behave if they don’t join you right away?
How do you respond when they do?
What do you do to set boundaries with your personal space?
How do you react when they do the opposite of what you want?
What reaction do you receive from stepping in or out of your power?
What stories do you tell yourself about what’s happening with you in the exercise?
And what does that say about where you are on in your journey of life right now?
Every single action and reaction was an invitation to look more deeply at the way you carry those behaviors throughout all aspects of your life. It was WILD how SPOT ON it was every single time!
These are just a few new pieces of wisdom gained from my Equine Guided Learning and the horse medicine I received:
- Your body holds critical information for growth. Listen and respond to it more often.
- Play is Powerful – it doesn’t have to be so serious! You can often get what you want when you stop trying so hard and start playing.
- Your energy creates a correlated response — whether expressed with fear or love. (Horses don’t lie!)
- Perceived disrespect is an invitation to slow down and listen to what is trying to be communicated.
- Boundaries must be set with power if you want them to hold.
- It’s possible to release all the build-up with one big exhale.
These are the horses who left their hoofprints on my heart.
I’m so very grateful for this new opening and expansion into weaving it into my professional work! I know it’s just the beginning of a new chapter of healing, power, and growth.
Miraval created the perfect container for new awarenesses to push to the surface and be seen for what they were – an invitation to the next level of consciousness. And I’m looking forward to MORE!
That’s why I’m putting my heart and head together with Lucinda to see what we might create together at Miraval in the future. It would be a weaving of my values-based mindfulness and permission to be human to work with equine-guided learning that would enhance our focus together. It’s a gift when you step into what you know is meant to be and you get to experience it all unfold – one step at a time, without judgment of pace.
So if this got you curious in any way, and you’re interested in being informed about those horse-related retreat opportunities with me and Miraval in the future sign up here.
Cheers to being on a journey to alignment!