Body Blog
Exploring mindfulness and healing through the body for both horses and humans.
Massage Tables and Horses
November 8, 2022
I had the honor to teach a Masterson Method® Equine Specialist Seminar in Montrose, Colorado a few months ago. Traveling to instruct is always filled with adventure, but this location was beyond my wildest dreams. Having spent a few years in the high desert of New Mexico, the landscape, smells, plants, and geography of Montrose reminded me fondly of my youthful years in Taos. Then, I was warmly welcomed into the home of the host, Jody Nixon, who also owned the facility, aptly named Metaphorse for the healing work that she does with horses, inspired by Linda Kohanov’s Eponaquest, using metaphors. The Masterson Method bodywork seminar to benefit both horses and humans in equine-assisted service programs was magical for all of us, but after the seminar was another gem: learning how Jody of Metaphorse offers healing.
The Metaphorse Facebook page has a beautiful banner image of two people lying on massage tables in a herd with horses all chilling around them, some hovering over the resting humans. I have heard of a woman in Canada who does healing with humans on massage tables with horses, but this was different. What Jody does is unlike any equine-assisted learning program I have heard of: she offers insights based on what she is seeing with the movement and behaviors of the herd while the client/participant just lies down on the table, doing nothing. She has learned that specific horses' movements carry meaning, and invariably, when she asks the person lying down on the table questions, that meaning is confirmed.
I had to experience this for myself. After the MMES Seminar, I had an extra half-day before heading to the airport and Jody graciously offered me a session. We brought the massage table out into the pasture, and this is what happened:
It was a beautiful experience, being in the valley between two mesas with a herd of 20 or so horses grazing, sleeping, lying down, and/or hovering over my head or feet. The messages Jody gave me, via the horses and their movements were these:
Self-care is important for me at this time (yes!)
It might be good to find ways to relax and enjoy activities with my husband (OMG yes!)
Who knew? How did she know? Jody is attuned to her herd, experienced, and trained in the Eponaquest model, which typically invites clients to engage in activities with horses in order to illicit meaningful metaphors. But instead of activities, she invites the client to rest on the table and see what comes up in the herd. Then she engages in dialogue with you to illicit meaningful metaphors.
This was perfect. I would never had received that wisdom so deeply or somatically if a therapist or coach asked me in their office, "Do you take time to care for yourself? Do you take time to do relaxing things with your partner?" But in this context, I heard and felt the importance of those deeply in my being.
The super cool thing is that 5 days later, without any prompting or sharing with my husband about this event or what I’d been guided to do, he wrote a note to me and our teens before leaving for work, "Good morning. I would like the family to find some form of collective fun. Any ideas?... Have a day of wonder!" I sent a pic of his note to Jody and she said it made her day!
Now, her horses are blessed with several staff members who attended the Seminar who now give back to these horses with The Masterson Method.