Relational Rupture and Repair With Horses: Polyvagal and Somatic Applications in Trauma Work

This 3-day workshop will provide a mixture of lecture, discussion, personal exploration and experiential learning to deepen your awareness and skills in working with horses and humans in a trauma-informed way. More specifically, you will learn more about interspecies neurobiology, interoception, neuroception, co-regulation, coherence, and attunement through a somatic and relational lens. Practical exercises will support you to: learn to track the rhythms of your own nervous system and those of your clients and horses; to recognize re-enactments, thresholds, trigger stacking, pendulations, and state shifts; and to grow the window of tolerance as clients and horses renegotiate the nuances of relationship, boundaries, touch, and communication with one another. Ethics, equine welfare, ethology, and the latest research will also be discussed as relevant, as will resources to further your learning and growth in these areas.

Registration will be limited to 12 people to support student engagement, integration of concepts, and to respect the horses’ comfort. Some activities will be demonstrations, others will be supervised practices. Students will get to experience certain activities directly and others as active observers.