Equine Facilitated Sand Play
About Equine Facilitated Sand Play Therapy
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Sand Play is a cutting edge healing modality, a creative & powerful way to process what lies outside of your conscious thinking mind in a safe, supportive way.
The client, supported by a trained "holder", chooses from a large collection of figures and builds a miniature “world” in the tray of sand that reflects what is going on in their lives, allowing them to process inner thoughts, struggles, and concerns through the figures. ​
By making changes in their make-believe world, clients are often empowered to make similar changes in their real world.
Horses & Sand Play
In 2018 Gretchen Morgan (Licensed Clinical Social Worker and founder of Lighthouse Counselling & Sand Play Training Center) together with Sally Nilsson (experienced Eponaquest Equine Facilitated Learning facilitator and co- founder of Tula Vida), explored combining the power of the sand with the wisdom of the horses - and they were blown away by the depth, insight & meaning it added to client experiences.
Horses both support the process & engage with the figures.
Equine Facilitated Sand Play is a profound experience, awakening your consciousness and inner feelings. Working with the sand, supported by your horse, can reveal and shift whatever is asking for your attention to heal.
Sally explains: "Horses have an incredible capacity to sense what is going on inside us, and to support and guide us to explore, connect with and discover ourselves in a safe way. This is what Sand Play is accessing too so we thought together they would be a powerful combo - and the horses seem to love it!”
Gretchen continues: “Even we were amazed at first by how interactive and engaged the horses were, not just as a calming and supportive presence but seemingly able to indicate, move – and even choose - figures that turned out to be hugely significant for the client.”
"A profoundly insightful & healing experience." Client, 2021
