WELCOME
Heart Connections Horsemanship is transforming into Equine Pathways and adopting a new logo (the one you now see on our pages).
As I relocate from Montana to Mesa, AZ, I am deepening what Heart Connections Horsemanship offered and expanding the scope of our very special brand of experiential services and horsemanship coaching.
Even though this website and our services are still being updated, please browse; and if you are interested in exploring possibilities about how I can support you or your program as an equine experiential learning facilitator and consultant, or as a horsemanship coach and trainer, please email or call and let's chat.
Nervous System
Well-being
What is it?
Introduction
Our capacity for wellness and growth personally and professionally depends on how safe and connected our nervous system feels in our relationships.
The Nervous System’s Role
When we feel threatened, our nervous system automatically diverts vital energy from tending to our health and wellness and directs this energy into the neuropathways that mobilize us for protection and survival. When the threat passes, a well-regulated nervous system will return this energy to the neuropathways that sustain all the things we want in our lives: calm, wellness, healthy relationships, learning, productivity, and balance personally and professionally. In other words, we are able to return to grazing after the lion is gone.
However, when our nervous system has been overwhelmed by trauma and stress, or neglected and ignored, our energy can become stuck in survival (depression, anxiety, fear, and anger) and we are unable to return to grazing. Furthermore, the neuropathways that form the infrastructure for all we seek can be short-circuited so that our nervous system lacks the capacity to regulate. So, no matter how hard we try to heal, grow, and thrive, our vital energy is trapped in the reactive patterns of survival -- the neuropathways of fight, flight, or freeze -- and unavailable to sustain well-being.
What our Curriculum Offers
Grounded in Polyvagal Theory and the neuroscience of safety, Equine Pathways offers interactive sessions with the horses that invite individuals and groups to partner with their nervous system by learning to recognize and appreciate their nervous system states and the states of the horses. During our sessions, we practice resonant listening. Resonant listening is the art of helping you feel seen, heard, and understood. This allows participants to experience trust and connection within themselves as they co-regulate with the horses.
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Because each session with the horses offers a carefully crafted embodied experience, participants are also actually helping their bodies repair damaged neurocircuitry, build new and more resilient neuropathways, which increases their capacity for authentic connection. Authentic connection is the key to grounding the nervous system (human and horse) in safety.
Becoming Conscious Creators
With embodied awareness and a regulated nervous system anchored in well-being, we have the foundational capacity to be conscious creators personally and professionally. And, if you are horse person, it will also transform both you and your horse so that you can experience deeper connection and partnership.
Why Experiences with Horses are so Powerful
​​Horses require authenticity to feel safe. Their sensitivity to nervous system cues offers honest, non-judgmental feedback creates a living classroom where learning is an embodied experience. Because the inherent nature of a horse as a prey animal is to seek safety in connection, regulation and co-regulation in relationship with a horse creates authentic connection where safety becomes more than a catch phrase, it becomes a state of being within the human and the horse.
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As we practice with the horses, we become more and more anchored in this state of authentic connection. We learn to recognize when the nervous system (our own system, another human's system, or the system of a horse) is activated into the protective fight, flight, or freeze responses -- anxiety, anger, shame, or depression -- and we know how to compassionately and consciously lead the system back to regulation and safety. We thus become conscious creators empowered to successfully navigate life's personal and professional challenges because we are safely anchored in a state of well-being.
Our Services
