Rachel contacted me a couple of years ago through social media . She had been experiencing severe pain after a serious horse-riding accident. She studied many resources, including the strategies presented in Back in Control. She developed her own version of the concepts presented through an equestrian model.
Here is the link to her article that was just published in The Plaid Horse magazine.
She was on my Back in Control radio podcast, and we had a great discussion about her time in the abyss, and how she found her way out. I am going to let you listen to her story, and you’ll recognize the concepts of deep healing with the most basic one being taking full responsibility for every aspect of your care and life. The opposite energy is blame, anger, and feeling sorry for yourself, which fires up your inflammatory response and pain.
Introduction to her first podcast:
Rachel Sydney Garfield is both a therapist specializing in pain and trauma as well as a competitive horseback rider with an amazing story of her own. She had a miraculous recovery in the aftermath of her back breaking horse fall in which she broke three vertebrae. She went on to compete as a jumper 18 months later, wrote a book called “Stay the Course” (which will be published soon) about the pain management framework she discovered during her recovery process. Her framework is based on the methaphor and training principles of horseback riding which she titled “ The Equina Way.” Rachel has a rich full life and continues to ride, compete and live largely pain free” Follow her at Rachel Sydney equestrian on Instagram and YouTube.
Introduction to her second podcast:
In this episode, Dr. David Hanscom continues his discussion with Rachel Garfield, a therapist specializing in chronic pain and trauma. She discusses the principles of healing, which she calls The Equina Way framework. The framework involves reflection, repetition, and release, which are based on the training principles of horseback riding. She highlights the significance of perseverance and having something to live for, which helped her overcome pain and achieve her goals.
You cannot conquer chronic pain, and it requires skill to move through, past, and above it. The same performance skills she used in high-level horseback riding, allowed her to not move forward into life, but thrive. You may say to yourself, “I’m different, broken, and I can’t heal. These ideas are not applicable to me.” Think again. Every person that eventually heals begins in this dark place. I call it the abyss for a reason. I am convinced that anyone can heal if you give your body a chance.
She clearly points out that you don’t need a horse to heal, and rhythm of any kind can help you move forward. Face your adversity, embrace it as a chance to improve your skills, and move forward into the life you want.