Science:
1 : Knowledge about the natural world that is based on facts learned through experiments and observation. 2 : An area of study that deals with the natural world (as biology or physics) 3 : A subject that is formally studied the science of linguistics. Many of our flows were selected by cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Greyerbiehl PhD. She dedicated her life to experimenting and evaluating the different therapeutic tools that have been developed over the past centuries. She was also a licensed mental health provider, speech therapist and professor. Her unique perspective allowed her to follow her own clients for decades as they went through her method. She fine tuned her approach, adding and pruning as she observed the progress (or lack thereof) in her clients. When she neared the end of her career, she began teaching her method to small groups of students. Monique Ravesloot, the founder of EquineFlow, was one of those students. Monique took all Dr. Greyerbiehl's classes over the course of 4 years. Then, following Dr. Greyerbiehl's footsteps, she began to do the same; integrating Dr. Greyerbiehl's methods with horse assisted learning work, and other modalities that involved trans-consciousness elements. She observed how the method worked, adding and pruning as she went. At EquineFlow we follow scientific discoveries particularly in the field of neuroscience and hold our approach against these discoveries to see what we do still holds truth. This is a fluid, ongoing process that will never stop. We are aware of the ability of science to make things seem what they are not, by publishing research that is not peer reviewed, and that is funded by third parties who may benefit from a certain outcome of the research. We search for truth and work with our client in full transparency. Our work works, but science cannot always explain it yet. We are eager to see the day when science catches up with the light that shines within people that connect with their omnicognition. Right now, EquineFlow does not have the bandwidth yet to fund and staff scientific study for its efficacy, but this is something that is high on our list of priorities. Not because we want to check if it works; we observe this in our clients every single day; we see it in ourselves, and in our families with whom we have shared our knowledge. We would like to conduct a scientific study to corroborate what Dr. Greyerbiehl knew, what we know, and what our clients know, so we can anchor our approach in science and help people feel safe when working with us in our somewhat cooky model. If you are a researcher and this is something you'd like to help us with, please email monique@equineflow. We'd be absolutely thrilled to explore working with you on this.
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Our approach is called EquineFlow. EquineFlow signifies the importance of going with the flow of thoughts, without resisting, judging, trying to suppress or change thoughts, but move with them, just like horses do.
Thoughts and emotion are there for a reason, and we use intentional flows to engage them. In a flow, with assertive compassion for our thoughts, we can build relationships with the thoughts and feelings. When we engage, we learn what they are trying to accomplish for us at their core, and retrieve their messages, or core purpose. This core purpose is always benign, even if the thoughts seem not. The more we ignore the thoughts, the more obnoxious they become. Like wise, the more we engage them with assertive compassion, and genuine affection, the softer they become. Our flows are activities, exercises, question protocols to help engage thoughts. We introduce you with the flows, the intention of the flow, along with the neuroscience that supports them. Then you can reach within to check with your intuition (this is something that we help you develop) to see which flow seems right. All flows are intended to lead to a better integration of the whole self, and each flow approaches it from a slightly different angle. Flows depend on the practitioner and the client, and is a fluid integration of horse assisted journeying, felt sense, inner child work, voice dialogue, art therapy, play therapy, somatic experiencing, and about 20 more different things. There are so many options because each person, each horse, each moment, each practitioner has a specific dilemma, so offering the right tool at the right moment at the right time is vital. At the same time, since we invite the client, instead of leading / telling, they expand their ability to make strategic decisions. It’s beautiful work. In addition, flow is 'wolf' spelled backwards. We used to live with a wolf hybrid, Koya. She taught us a lot about the importance of going with the flow and we combine her wisdom with the wisdom of the horses, to help all reconnect with inner wisdom. The intention of our approach is restoration of our client's:
Our first session is always specific with an agenda, where we cover the basics, define scope and introduce specific lingo. The sessions after the first one are like this: 1. Welcome / small talk 2. Ask client what they would like to focus on. Invite client to poke around to see if there is something deeper beneath it. 3. Introduce a flow that matches the energy of client, the day, the farm, the horses, the time. 4. Ask client if that sounds like something they would like to try. 5. Go with the flow. Some flows are horse assisted, some are not. If they are not, we first invite the client to go see the horses for meet and greet, and ask the client ‘how was that for you?’. We do this to help the client ground. If something bubbles up already, we process it, then invite the client to move on to the flow without the horses. 6. After the flow without horses, we return to visit the horses again, inviting the client to reflect on before and after the flow, to build awareness of potential shifts and verify if the client feels the shifts are beneficial or not. 7. If the client only wants flows with horses, we stay with the horse and offer the client a series of flows that could help the client with what they would like to focus on. They can pick one, or reject them all and we’ll come up with something else together, or, and this happens a lot, the horses are already doing something that is stirring the awareness in the client, which allows us to help the client gain a deeper understanding of both the issue and the solution. 8. Ask the client ‘Would you like to be done with that?’ to signal the end of the session and to offer space for the client to decide if the work is done. 9. Small light hearted talk while we walk them back to the car. There are many ways of doing this work. This is what has worked for us for the past decade. It offers the client a lot of freedom to free-flow and make their own decisions, which is the intention at the heart of our method. |