Beyond Calm: Reclaiming Somatic Healing for All Bodies—Humans and Horses

While watching the herd this morning I felt confirmation in all that I had been chewing on this past week. I watched as Gracie bucked and leapt across the field, kicking up her heels at Maya and Skip. As her energy rippled throughout the herd, they each expressed themselves in different ways and then returned to rest and graze. I began to think about Maya’s past and the rigid confinement that was part of her daily life before she was rescued. I thought about the control and compliance Skip endured during his 20 years as a police horse and I thought about Gracie being labeled as wild, disobedient and “too much” from past so-called vets and trainers. I can relate and have even recently found myself in spaces that felt too restrictive, sterile and confined or too rigid to allow full expression.

In many somatic therapy spaces—there’s an unspoken expectation of what regulation should look like. Slowness. Stillness. Quiet. Neutrality. These spaces often treat slowing down and calmness as the ultimate goal, while expressions of intensity—whether through movement, vocalization, or passionate storytelling—are seen as signs of dysregulation.

But healing isn’t one-size-fits-all. At True Nature Integrative Health, we believe in expanding the definition of regulation to honor the full range of embodied expression—especially for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), whose natural rhythms of healing have often been pathologized or suppressed. This belief extends not just to the way we work with humans, but also to the way we interact with horses in equine-facilitated therapy and horse-human relationship coaching.

When "Calm" Becomes Control—For Humans and Horses

Many trauma-informed practices emphasize bringing the nervous system into a regulated state, but what happens when "regulation" is defined through the dominant culture-centered or for horses a human-centered lens? In predominantly white and western spaces, practitioners are often trained to view intensity—such as a raised voice, passionate speech, or expressive movement—as a sign that someone is dysregulated. While excitement and activation share physiological similarities (increased energy, faster speech, etc.), they are not the same. The key difference is whether the activation feels expansive and life-affirming (excitement, engagement, passion) or overwhelming and chaotic (dysregulation, fight/flight).

This same framework is often imposed on horses. The equine world frequently equates a "good" horse with a calm horse—one that is quiet, still, and obedient. When a horse moves, expresses energy, or reacts naturally to its environment, humans often respond by trying to shut that expression down—lunging until exhaustion, demanding "submission," or using restrictive tack to enforce compliance. This is a form of nervous system suppression, not true regulation.

For both humans and horses, authentic regulation does not always mean stillness—it can mean movement, release, and dynamic engagement with the world.

Culturally Attuned Somatic Healing: A New Framework for Humans and Horses

At True Nature Integrative Health, we are developing a culturally attuned approach to somatic therapy and equine-facilitated healing—one that moves beyond narrow definitions of regulation and embraces the full spectrum of embodied expression.

This framework includes:
✅ Honoring Multiple Pathways to Regulation – Healing can look like stillness or movement, quiet or vocalization, solitude or communal expression—for both people and horses.
✅ Recognizing Cultural & Species-Specific Trauma – BIPOC communities carry intergenerational trauma just as horses carry generations of domestication-based trauma.
✅ Avoiding Suppression & Over-Control – Practitioners and horse handlers must examine when they are imposing control instead of allowing natural regulation.
✅ Centering Power & Agency – Healing is not about compliance; consent can be mistaken for compliance, and it’s about reclaiming the right to feel, express, and embody one's truth—for both people and horses.
✅ Reclaiming Ancestral & Species-Appropriate Practices – Movement, rhythm, drumming, call-and-response, and communal processing are valid and powerful somatic tools—just as free movement, social connection, and instinctual behaviors are vital for horses.

Bringing This to Healing Spaces and Equine Work

This isn’t just about shifting individual practice—it’s about reshaping the way we approach somatic healing and horsemanship as a whole. Yoga, Somatic Experiencing, and other body-based therapies must move beyond white-centered and perhaps western medical model ideals of regulation, just as equine work must move beyond human-centered ideas of obedience and stillness.

At True Nature Integrative Health, we are committed to bringing this conversation into professional and equine spaces, offering workshops, consultation, and resources for practitioners looking to integrate cultural and species-appropriate attunement into their work. If this resonates with you, we invite you to join us in reimagining what embodied healing can truly look like—for both humans and horses. We are accepting new clients for equine facilitated psychotherapy to start in April and wellness retreats and workshops are TBA soon and will start in May!

📍 Learn more at True Nature Integrative Health