CAN HORSES HELP HUMANS HEAL THEIR WOUNDED HEARTS?
By Sharon Bringleson
Have you every cried while watching horses race, giving everything in their heart and every fiber of their being to run their race, do their best, give it their all? I have consistently been moved to tears at seeing their willingness to run from their heart, fully engaged in their life purpose.
Horses have helped me heal a heart-crushing wound and find the “heart” to run my own race….to live my life, forgiving and learning to trust the opportunities that Life brings me. As a result of what horses have taught me, I now offer an opportunity for others to work with horses to heal their own hearts.
I have been blessed to assist many horses in facilitating people into transforming choices during workshops and individual sessions. In a very small safe group, individuals are presented with information about how past painful experiences are stored in the body, affecting present day choices. Then in experiential exercises with the horses they step into an energetic opening to come into a new choice-point from a place of self-acceptance and self-knowledge.
I remember guiding one lady in particular, into an inner awareness of this tight, heavy place in her chest and she tapped into the memory of a profound loss from early childhood. As she accessed what she really cared about in that situation, she examined her current option to engage her heart’s desire in the present moment with her chosen horse partner. She stepped into the container and I watched as the two of them connected heart to heart physically and emotionally while standing side by side, seemingly transported into some very expanded state of higher truth as they gazed toward the mountains. The energy in the arena was of profound stillness…time seemed to stop. I felt awe and a timeless presence. At that moment, sunlight broke thru the clouds and bathed the space where they were standing. She came back to the group actually glowing, weeping tears of joy and shared that she had experienced both she and the horse covered in energetic gold dust or speckles. She voiced that her heart was open to Life and Spirit for the first time in a very, very long time.
Is your heart bruised or closed down due to injuries from relationship from others who have disrespected you, dominated you, violated you on either a physical, emotional, mental or spiritual level? Any painful event that involves our ability and choice and voice to care about something, can also be a place where we close off our connection to ourselves and others….we disconnect and close the energetic doors to our heart.
These choices made in response to an event can create long lasting patterns of relationship that lead to empty lives, devoid of authentic connection. Engaging with horses in an environment that provides physical, emotional, mental and spiritual safety, with guided processes from a trained facilitator can open up closed heart patterns for renegotiation and reconciliation.
Horses are aware of our inner intentions and internal dialogue as well as our outer body language and communication. They respond to us from this very high level of sensitivity and awareness and as a result mirror and reflect back to us as we learn to shift our awareness and to make and embody new choices about caring for our heart and the heart of others.
This process of connecting with them while being simulataneously aware of one’s old way of being and while holding one’s new and true heart’s desire, is both cathartic and transformational. It transforms people at a very deep level, it changes their perception of themselves, their perception of horses as a species and their perception of Life.
Sharon Bringleson founded the Center for Horses and Healing in 2006 to ground into our culture a new paradigm of relationship between horses and humans. She sees her work as Helping the horses evolve the humans. She offers ongoing workshops and individual sessions in the northern Colorado area. She has an eclectic spiritual background in energy healing and education, shamanism, somatic archaeology and holds an advanced instructor status as the Epona approach to equine facilitated experiential learning.
Contact her at 970-631-2379 or www.centerforhorsesandhealing.com for more information.
Or see more articles and Sharon’s listing on the Holistic Herd website: http://holistic-herd.com/center-for-horses-and-healing/
