Somatic Healing
Healing with horses
Where the nervous system settles, the body speaks what words cannot reach, and real healing becomes possible.
Where the nervous system settles, the body speaks what words cannot reach, and real healing becomes possible.
As herd animals and prey animals, horses’ survival has always depended on reading the truth of what’s around them — not what’s said, but what’s felt. That makes them extraordinarily honest company. A horse doesn’t respond to the version of you that’s holding it together; it responds to what’s actually moving underneath.
This is the beginning of something researchers call co-regulation — one nervous system finding its way toward calm in the presence of another that’s already there. It’s still a young field of study, and we hold that honestly rather than overselling it. But what we witness, week after week, is people meeting a 500-kilogram animal that has absolutely no interest in their job title, their diagnosis, or their bad morning — only in whether they’re safe to be near. For many people, that’s the first honest mirror they’ve had in a long time.
There’s no single way to be with the horses here. Some days it’s simply a pat over the fence and a quiet chat — connection, nothing more required. Other days it’s a wordless hour standing together, letting non-verbal communication do the talking. For some, it becomes a full somatic session, working with what the body’s been carrying. And for others, the horses’ calm, steady presence sits alongside reiki, amplifying the energy work already moving through the body. However you arrive, the benefits meet you there — a slower heart rate, a steadier breath, more capacity, and a nervous system quietly remembering what safety feels like.
$150 · 60 minutes · one-on-one
This isn’t riding, and it isn’t talk therapy. It’s ground work — slow, deliberate time in the horse’s space, guided by a practitioner trained to read what’s happening in both bodies, human and horse. Somatic work starts from a simple premise: the story lives in the body before it ever reaches words. Alongside the horse, you’re invited to notice — breath, posture, the urge to step back or move closer — and to let the horse’s response become information rather than judgement. It’s gentle, it’s unhurried, and it meets you exactly where your nervous system is, not where you think it should be.
NDIS: Equine Assisted Therapy at Yoga Farm is available to NDIS participants under self-managed and plan-managed plans. Get in touch to discuss how your funding can be applied.
$250 · 75 minutes · one-on-one
A rare pairing: somatic therapy combined with the ancient, hands-on tradition of reiki. The reiki energy that Anna works with is amplified in the presence of horses. People describe this session as a doubling of stillness. The horse’s steady, regulated presence seems to deepen what’s already a quiet, receptive state, and many leave with a sense of having been met on more than one level at once — body, energy, and something harder to name. We won’t claim it as medicine. We will say it’s one of the most requested sessions on the farm, for good reason.
Enquire$300 · 2¼ hours · private or group
Time with the horses first, then time on the mat — long, held yin postures that ask very little of the muscles and quite a lot of the mind. It’s a pairing that makes sense once you feel it: the horses open the door to presence, and yin yoga gives you somewhere quiet to stay a while. The horses’ steady stillness goes first, settling the nervous system before you even reach the mat. Then slower breath. Lower heart rate. A quiet easing of anxiety — less something to measure, more something to feel, a calm and presence that settles into the body and stays there. A session that asks nothing of you except to stay.
EnquireNone at all. This isn't about riding — it's about being present with the horses on the ground, and that's a skill they'll help you find, not one you need to arrive with.
No — the work happens on the ground, in the horses' space, not on their backs.
That's more common than not, and it's welcome here. Horses tend to meet nervous energy with patience rather than judgment — often, the nerves settle faster than people expect once they're actually standing in the paddock.
We always begin with a grounding outside the horse yard — opening the senses, calming the mind, settling the nervous system. Once you're regulated, the horses sense it, and that's when they let you into their space. From there, it's your time: you might simply pat, brush, and connect with the horses through non-verbal communication, or move into a somatic therapy session, where we talk through whatever you're carrying.
This isn't traditional talk therapy. We don't go into timelines or details — we work with how the body reacts, not the words. We can't change the past. What we can work with is what's been left behind: the discordant energy that activates when something's triggered. The horses amplify that movement, that shift. It's something you need to feel to truly understand.
My training is somatic-based. This isn't traditional talk therapy — it's a guided, embodied experience where the horses and your body do the work that words often can't reach.
We work with a herd of six horses. Which horse shows up for you can shift from session to session — that's part of the work, not a detail to control.
Yes — sessions are ground-based and practitioner-guided. Throughout, my role is to keep you safe, to gently guide you back into your body if things get intense, and to monitor how your nervous system is responding the whole way through. If a horse chooses not to engage, that's not a failure of the session — a horse's boundary often mirrors something worth sitting with, and it becomes part of the work itself.
Yes — the property is wheelchair accessible.
Closed-toe shoes and comfortable, weather-appropriate clothing — you'll be standing on paddock ground, so layers are a good idea whatever the season.
Both. You can book a private Equine Assisted Therapy or Energy Healing session, or join a group offering like a Fire Horse Session.
Reach out to ask any questions and find the right starting point. There's no pressure — just a conversation about what might suit you best.