Somatic Experiencing®, NARM, and Equine Guidance® = Personal Mastery

How do they blend together for the perfect outcome?

This is my commitment to you!

To set the stage for this conversation, I have studied trauma-informed care for over a decade. In addition to my master’s degree, I have over 5800 hours of additional training, supervision, and certifications, including Somatic Experiencing®, Advanced NARM: Developmental Trauma, EponaQuest Worldwide Equestrian Services I & II, Eagala I & II, Nationally Board Certified Leadership Coach, Brene Brown certified Daring Way Facilitator, and Brene Brown Certified Rising Strong Facilitator, among others!

These various studies, interdisciplinary supervision, and certifications allow me to create tailor-made 3-hour Equine Guidance® experiences for you!

And, like all humans on the planet, I had to heal to make my life a reality! We all have dings, scratches, and dents that sit like shadows and triggers in our neurobiology. They begin in the womb and continue just through living. And if left unresolved, they serve as blocks to enjoying and thriving in the life we most desire.

I am most grateful to be sharing this with you now. I’m certain you’ll find gems in here that will serve you.

Trauma comes back as a reaction, not a memory.

~ Dr. Bessel van der Kolk

The most critical thing I’ve learned is that achieving personal mastery and abundance in life is not reserved for the vital few. It is available for each of us. But first, we must choose to dissolve the snags and shadows within our brain and neuroimmunology that serve as blocks! It’s like an emotional and Psychoneuroimmunological (the relationship between immunity, the endocrine system, and the central nervous system) cleanup or a defrag!

As a trauma-informed care expert, I am always surprised when I meet with clients who seek to uplevel their lives and are pretty positive that they have not experienced trauma of any kind.

Trauma can be as simple as a hurtful or insulting argument, relationship issues, disappointment, losing a job, not getting a job, separation, divorce, a Pandemic, you name it, etc.

These are all direct hits to our body, brain, and nervous system, which leaves shadows, triggers, and kinks in our psycho-neurobiology and left ignored, shoved under the rug, or unacknowledged.

The big issue for traumatized people is that they don’t own themselves anymore. Any loud sound, anybody insulting them, hurting them, saying bad things, can hijack them away from themselves. And so what we have learned is that what makes you resilient to trauma is to own yourself fully.

— Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk

For some reason, we’re inclined to write off violations to our organism, nervous system, heart, and brain, as just a normal part of life because, after all, haven’t we seen other people who have been through far more than we have? But, unfortunately, this comparison minimizes our selves, experiences, self-worth, and personal significance and is an avoidance tactic. 

Horses speak through body language and silent signals. It’s an energetic frequency that touches us in our knowingness to move, release, breathe deep, shift, grow, exhale, and relax into the safety of who we are.

~ Belle Shook, MC, NBCC, LPC, SEP, NARM, BCC

Imbalances in our nervous system can happen without us knowing it and may not be readily apparent to us, but they may be issues that even the closest people around us don’t or won’t communicate to us. Or it may be that it’s a source of gossip in a group of friends or with coworkers.

Too often, our blindspots keep us from knowing that we need a body, mind, and spirit cleanup! We all do!

If you’re experiencing self-doubt, lack, anxiety, unable to concentrate, decision-making issues, are easily startled, avoiding people or places, pounding heart, shakey, perfectionism, having ongoing medical problems, pain, easily upset, agitated, unable to trust yourself or others, self-blame, feeling anger and negativity towards ourselves and others, etc. Whatever it may be that you’re experiencing has its roots in trauma.

The stories we tell ourselves that we’re just fine are a direct result and reflection of how our nervous system responds to a traumatic event. With exceptional speed, the autonomic nervous system conversation between you and the horses transforms and regulates our neurobiology and brain. Our fragmented parts become coherent while dissolving those shadows and the debris left behind inside us.

Whether trauma will be a cruel and punishing Gorgon or a vehicle for soaring to the heights of transformation and mastery depends upon how we approach it.

~ Peter A. Levine

It is commonplace for me to hear clients say one Equine Guidance® Experience was life-changing even after years of traditional talk therapy. Their words include release, exhilaration, peace, joy, relief, happiness, self-trust, life-resilience, courage, greater creativity, more profound intuition, knowing conscious awakening, and more! Like a great release and exhale!

I urge you to take a look at your life like a tapestry of intricate, colorful woven threads that represent your life – relationships, health, vitality, finances, work, hobbies, home, beliefs, paradigms, environment, fuel, habits, wins, losses, disappointments, desires, stress, anxiety, triggers, etc. Is there wear or tear anywhere in your tapestry? If there is, that’s not a point of shame or blame. It is simply a wake-up call to retool!

Self-care is how you take your power back.

~ LALA Delia

I’m grateful to offer a diverse approach to your Equine Guidance® or Telehealth experience (more to come on Telehealth sessions soon) from decades of personal and professional growth and certifications as we support your healing, awakening, and transformation to your best, most authentic self. You can exhale now and take that in fully!

We dissolve those coping and survival strategies that may have served us as toddlers and teens, but they are worn out and do not serve us as adults manifesting the lives we most desire!

Ultimately, Equine Guidance® is about moving from trauma-bonding patterns to connected spirituality while gaining emotional balance and resilience with self and others. Through the guidance of the horse, clients reach emotional sobriety, insights, and awareness beyond the potential of traditional talk therapy.

Horses build upon our strength as we face fears and learn to maximize our individual and collective potential. Horses greatly accelerate the treatment of trauma, attachment disorders, addiction, complex PTSD, codependency, depression, and anxiety.

The difference here at Equine Guidance® is that no words are necessary. You are not asked to revisit or retell stories from the past. Instead, we ask you to show up with emotional honesty and a genuine desire to dust off and clean up from life experiences that have fragmented and cast shadows and triggers in your neurobiology. As a result, you will hear a language older than words while allowing the horses to guide you to a deeper understanding and knowing of your emotional and intuitive coherence & intelligence, creativity, and focus! Let the AHA moments begin!

“The essence of trauma is loss of contact with yourself, loss of connection to yourself.”

— Dr. Gabor Maté

I stand with you in this journey, assisting in interpreting the signals and guidance that the horses provide. You are never alone as you take this journey back to your authentic, coherent, and innate greatness. 

The opportunity to assist people in their healing journeys is what I’m most grateful for as well as my family, and our herd. We are here for you!

I hope you’ll join us soon!

Do you wonder if Equine Guidance® is for you? Let’s have a connection call – please schedule it at your convenience here – click on the Request Appointment button!

I invite you to join the four of us for a journey to your greatest self and well-being!
~ Belle Shook, MC, NBCC, LPC, SEP, NARM, BCC

Equine Guidance®: Know Thyself Through the Guidance of the Horse!