Losira Okelo

I was born in New York City to Ugandan parents. At three years old, we moved to Belgium. I begged my parents to ride after a visit to a horse farm on a school trip.

A few years later, we moved to Kenya. I continued riding for a short while then life shifted toward university and the search for meaningful work.

For over 15 years, I worked in international development working across five continents -designing programmes, leading trainings, and navigating complex organisational systems, then lots of freelance, gig work.

I have lived in and between many cultures, socio-economic layers, across languages, and inside expectations that didn’t often fit or accept me. That experience taught me  search for belonging, but also showed me how easy it is to lose connection to your own body along the way.

I have experienced and studied how the body is always trying it’s best to speak and repair even in our most difficult moments.

The long arc  of searching brought me back to horses. While working on a farm in Maine, I felt their natural intuition—as beings attuned to our energy and intention. It became the entry to being in and with the body and the wonderful wisdom of nature that was stripped from me and has been sucked from most of our experience of life.

I am currently based in New Rochelle, NY, USA on the ancestral lands of the Munsee Lenape people.

Qualifications:

  • M.A. in Adult Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
  • Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning, PATH International
  • Certificate in Somatic Embodiment and Regulation Strategies, Linda Thai
  • Certificate in Trauma and Addictions, Polyvagal Institute
  • Equusoma Somatic Practitioner, Level I and II training
  • Credentialled Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counsellor (in progress)

Our Mission

Bocheval’s mission comes from a horse named Bo.

I met Bo at Pegasus Therapeutic Riding. With me, he was gentle yet strong, wise, calm, attentive, and reassuring.

In 2021, Bo was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. The day before he died, many people came to say goodbye and thank him for what he’d meant to them.

As each person had their private moment with Bo, some of us stood aside chatting. I spoke with several people I was meeting for the first time. Each person shared that Bo had helped them be stronger, kinder, more secure, more loving, more confident, calmer — more “something” — and it was always “stronger and better.”

That touched me profoundly. Bo gave his best qualities equally to all.

It is in the essence of Bo that we give you the best of who we are.

Bocheval exists to restore connection between humans and the natural world through the grounded presence of horses and body-based awareness.

We offer equine-assisted learning and virtual embodied wellness sessions that help people live with with own strength, clarity, belonging, connection, and joy.

Rooted in Equusoma®, Somatic Experiencing®, Polyvagal-informed practice, and Indigenous wisdoms from around the world, Bocheval supports healing that is relational and compassionate — honouring the wisdom of the body and the innate spirit of the horse.

We believe all animals have unique gifts. Our practice is founded in consent with horses.

Bocheval honours their souls, personalities, and experiences. We value their conditions, well-being, and ability to express themselves.

In our virtual sessions, we listen into the wisdom of the body, your unique nervous system, and the calming power of co-regulation — knowing that being seen and understood, connection, and trust can steady us through the hardships of life.

We welcome everyone to these ways of unlearning and healing.