The Way of The Horse - Feeling our True Feelings

For most of my life I have had a passion for not only physical healing, but for healing on an emotional and spiritual level as well - and that has led me to all sorts of discoveries and insights over the years.

One area that I have had enormous trouble with myself though, is learning to feel and indentify my true feelings - versus what I think I “should” feel in a certain situation.

For various reasons that I won’t go into here, I grew up doubting my own feelings and always believing that what I felt was “wrong”.  So getting back in touch with my truth and not doubting what I feel, is a continuous journey that at times I travel well, and at other times I definitely don’t.

Just lately it came up again where in a certain circumstance I have ignored my true feelings and pushed them aside, in favour of choosing to believe what someone was telling me about a situation, rather than trusting in what I was feeling about it.  As it turned out, my feelings were spot on, and it was another reminder to not ignore those physically based sensations that you might call intuition, sixth sense, or just a feeling.

So rather than beat myself over the head about it, (well OK, when I stopped beating myself over the head about it!) I decided to explore the realm of Equine Facilitated Therapy - where horses are utilised to help us connect with our more authentic feelings and emotions - horses do not allow us to mask our truth.

Having grown up with horses and having a deep connection with them, I have been interested in this area for quite some time.  Horses are very good at picking up what is called “emotional incongruity” a term used to describe the act of hiding one emotion by trying to feel something else.

The horse will not let you get away with that, and will sense the truth behind the mask and will feel off balance and unsafe in your company.  When working with a human facilitator who is experienced in the nuances of equine behaviour, they can assist in translating the horses interactions with you, to assist you in recognising your patterns of incongruence.

It is a fascinating area and one that I could write about in depth - but suffice to say that I had my first experience of this work yesterday, and it was very interesting.  Already I have gained some insights that are quite valuable and I felt a raise in my energy that came just from interacting with such magnificent creatures.

Of course there are many ways / techniques / therapies to help us connect with our feelings, but I just know that this is going to be one of the most enjoyable! 

I will keep you updated on my progress with my equine tutors, and will write more about this area of healing in the future.