She solved PTSD AND depression with her horse work as the foundation.
I am filled with gratitude that Julia should want to share this, to encourage other people with depression and PTSD to know that there IS a sweet path forward and out of both conditions.
I chose this blog for today because there’s been a HUUUGGGE change of heart from the medical professionals about depression and anti-depressants that I’ll write about in the next blog.
Julia:
For nearly as long as I can remember I have suffered from depression and later post-traumatic stress disorder. I have received various therapies both main stream and alternative over the years. These have helped through crisis times, but the under lying issues have not gone away – until Jenny.
The following as an extract from my initial email to Jenny:
“I don’t know where to start – but here goes. I am 56. I live my life in continual fear. I have had a number of traumatic experiences both away from horses and falls from horses and a dog attack to my horse when I was riding. I know that I pass this on to my OTTB mare Grace who I have had now for 7 years. I think of how I used to ride my little New Forrest pony bare-back full-tilt across the countryside jumping and navigating whatever came in our path.”
Jenny suggested I start on the Journey to Feel program and I have not looked back and no longer live in fear. I progressed to Fast Track, together with some one-on-one sessions with Jenny.
Physical problems and events, which for 20 years had brought me to tears just thinking about them, have just evaporated like steam from a kettle after my sessions with Jenny. Sometimes there is understanding which is very validating.
The courses have given me the tools and skills to be able to help myself and my horses through any difficult times and build a totally new relationship with them.
It has always been my dream to be able to ride bareback again, and guess what with Jenny’s help I am. Not full tilt across the side of the hill, but walking in the brook and walking and trotting slowly up the paddock on my paint quarter horse, Rasa, who I started 2 ½ years ago when she was 6 ½ years, having lived in the herd with no interaction with people until this time. Rasa and I have been learning together applying what I have learnt from the courses. Grace, who has changed with my changes, helps out at times showing Rasa that rugs are OK or the float is quite safe.
For me Jenny has opened the door to a new way of being, being with myself, with others and with my horses. I cope with stressful times much better and Dave, my ever supportive partner, has also been thankful for the changes in me.
Depression and PTSD are a terrible combination to be suffering from. But here’s the thing – they are both fixable. Julia had four healing sessions over a period of months, along with her Fast Track program, where she and her horse were escalating each other’s confidence and healing.
Don’t skip over that last bit, because it’s really important – “she and her horse were escalating EACH OTHER’S confidence and healing.” This work isn’t a one way street. It’s reciprocal. You’re helping your horse while your horse is helping you in a lovely circular escalation of feeling good.
What makes Fast Track such a wonderful foundation for getting rid of PTSD and depression?
It’s the FEEL for your horse that’s the key. The same FEEL for your horse that all the really great horse men and women have that makes them so brilliant with horses, is the exact same thing that’s blocked up inside you causing depression and the stuck on rewind of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Let me explain that differently. We ALL have Feel for our horses. It’s our unique inner guidance system – our FEEL – that brings us understanding of our horse. FEEL tells us what we need to know, what to do and when to do it. The trouble is that we weren’t taught how to use it. One of the common things that happens when we don’t use our Feel the way it was designed to be used, is that it gets bottled up inside us.
Our Feel for our horse is the exact same connection that we Feel to people and other animals in our lives too. When we haven’t been taught how to use that Feel in that more general way, then that too gets all bottled up inside us, causing all kinds of problems. The sheer exhaustion of depression is just one of the things caused by all those misunderstood bottled up feelings.
All kinds of illness, back pain, arthritis, overwhelmed with sensitivity – these are all things that are also caused by these bottled up, misunderstood feelings.
Horses are so freaking wonderful I get goosebumps sometimes. Fast Track gets you REALLY good with the way that YOU feel your Feel for your horse. The better you get at Feel for your horse, the more understanding flows with your horse, the more it flows, more and more easily in the rest of your life too.
For the big stuff you might need more support like Julia did – she did 4 private sessions over a few months in addition to her Fast Track program to address her combination of depression and PTSD. Everyone’s different – lots of people solve their depression with Fast Track alone – some people take longer than Julia did.
I KNOW it’s a big deal. If you don’t know me, then start with this free healing meditation, check out the freebies in the sidebar (which you’ll find underneath the article if you’re on your phone) and talk to me on the contact form at the top of the page if you need to.
If you want to go straight to more info about the healing for people side of Fast Track, then click on the picture or heading below .
Fast Track – Healing for the person
Today’s photo is Julia and Rasa playing in the brook. She had dreamed of the confidence of riding bareback again and she did it.
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