Equine-Assisted EMDR Trainings now open! Learn more

EA-EMDR Training Held in Chandler, Arizona

The EMDRIA Approved EquiLateral Equine-Assisted EMDR training in Chandler Arizona was a great success this past weekend!

What an amazing group of folks who travelled from all over —- Israel, Hawaii, Virginia, Ohio, and New York. Long flights and long drives for all and I am thrilled so many travelled to Arizona.

I am grateful to everyone who showed up for themselves, the horses, and for the clients they seek to help through Equine-Assisted EMDR.

Upcoming trainings are listed on the Training page and I hope to see meet many new travelers at courses and events in the future.

And if you want to receive information right to your email with upcoming trainings, new blogs posts and other information on Equine-Assisted EMDR, sign up for our newsletter and/or join the EquiLateral™ Facebook group.

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What causes our systems to use dissociation as a strategy? The fact is, it’s all about attachment and trying to preserve it, but also managing the distress and conflict about that very safe drive to attach. There’s conflict. 
Feeling that our internal state, our emotions, were “held” by others, and processed, was a foundational need in childhood. To process it, as children, we needed the presence of an attuning other in the outside world, our caregiver to “hold” that distress to help us regulate, settle, calm, and let it move through.
When we grow up, our brain has a greater capacity to hold our emotional distress, a larger capacity for processing, and a deeper neuro-network of resources. Essentially, instead of an “espresso” size cup, our brain capacity is of a larger cup that is sturdier, can hold more, and can contain it all. And, while the emotions from our childhoods may seem bigger than we are, and the cup may seem unable to hold it, we can.
If we equestrians and equine-facilitated/assisted practitioners don’t get to this deep layer of material, it will show up in our work with clients and let alone in our horsemanship.  It will show up as the “oh oh” moments where we brace against, perhaps seeing our horses’ ear flick back, perhaps a misstep or stumble, move quickly, or even how we see and react in moments in the arena when we are co-facilitating therapy sessions with horses.