Maggie Kelly LPC

Something unexpected made it onto my training list this year: Therapeutic Fly Fishing with EMDR. 🎣

I've been fishing since I was a kid. That's me in the second photo with my twin brother, who clearly did not share my enthusiasm 😂

Long before I'd heard the words "bilateral stimulation," I knew the water was where my nervous system went quiet. Years later, as an EMDR therapist, I understood why.

Fly casting is bilateral stimulation, the same left-right rhythm behind every track on my EMDR Music YouTube Channel channel.

And through the lens of Dr. Stephen Porges' polyvagal theory, the river is working too. Moving water carries much of its sound in the mid-frequency range, the same band as the human voice. Low rumbles signal threat, high pitches signal distress, but mid-frequencies tell the nervous system: you're safe.

Bilateral rhythm through the cast. Safety cues through the sound. Co-regulation with nature itself. My two worlds were talking to each other all along.

That's why I'm training in TF-EMDR® through the Seiyu Institute, the first formal integration of EMDR and therapeutic fly fishing. And I'm bringing it to Colorado. 🏔️
✨ Single sessions: a half-day of EMDR on the river. No fly fishing experience needed.
✨ Intensives: multi-day, retreat-style work for deeper processing.

Healing doesn't only happen in a therapy office. Sometimes it happens with cold water running over your waders and a line in your hand.
Interested? Reach out at [email protected]