Equintelligence

16/06/2024

Quote of the week:

“To interrupt a habit is to make it visible; it is to turn it from a compulsion to a choice.” (Charles Eisenstein, The Coronation)

26/11/2023

03/10/2023

Here is some evening magic from a few days ago:

22/05/2023

"Hold this thought: Right when you are most defeated--suicidal, perhaps--exhausted, positive of perpetual failure: this is when the epiphany is likely to arrive. One needs to be beaten down to think, and to think so as to escape. To escape death or boredom or the second act that simply will not do as you wish. Or the marriage that is stalled. Whatever is bearing down on you is a great teacher. Calm down and listen and crawl from beneath it a better person." --Harold Pinter/Interview with James Grissom/

Photo: (Jurgen Schadeberg/Getty Images, 1968)

08/10/2022

Interesting question and pertinent to the work we do…

"You are constantly becoming a new person," says journalist Shankar Vendantam. In a talk full of beautiful storytelling, he explains the profound impact of something he calls the "illusion of continuity" -- the belief that our future selves will share the same views, perspectives and hopes as our cu...

11/09/2022

"To heal is to touch with love that which we previously touched with fear."

~ Stephen Levine

Image by Lola Delabays Komor, Unsplash.

23/05/2022

My new gang enjoying the rain and the resulting luscious green stuff! We are now fully up and running, sessions available Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and some week-ends 🐴🐴🐴

27/04/2022

“There should be a special word for the peace of horses. Their company brings release from the whirring anxiety of the ordinary mind. Their beauty is a continual wonder, which is free from the human taints of self-consciousness and vanity. Their strength is without arrogance or the craving for power for its own sake.”

~ Eleanor O’Hanlon, ‘Eyes of the Wild: Journeys of Transformation with the Animal Power, The Book of Horse’, p.232.

Image by Rihaij, Pixabay.

09/04/2022

Just had a client cancel as he tested positive, so there is a session slot free at 4pm this coming Sunday, near Woodbridge. If anyone would like to take it, pm or use the website contact form:

Personal and Professional Development with the help of Horses

11/06/2021

Co-facilitated a large group of children with Michelle Budd at Kent Equine Faciltated Learning. It was such a joy to witness the immediate impact Michelle’s wonderful horses had on the children’s ability to notice and communicate their thoughts and feelings. Michelle is so good at creating an atmosphere of calm acceptance and curiosity, it was a joy to work with her and those wonderful children!

(We cannot publish clients’ pictures, this one is from horsyplanet.com)

02/06/2021

Lovely appreciation of the work we do. We all work slightly differently, but the transformative power seems to be present in all kinds of approaches:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-leicestershire-57284179

Intensive care sister Amanda White, who lost her nephew to the virus, says the therapy "reset" her.

02/06/2021

Someone recently said to me: "The most important thing is to live without fear.", and my immediate question was: "Yes, but HOW do you do that?". This talk describes very well one experience of how to do it:

Dina Rezk describes how she made a friend of fear following the murder of her mother.

24/02/2021

Great news and another reason why everyone should love horses:
"Recent studies conducted by the Institute of HeartMath provide a clue to explain the bidirectional "healing" that happens when we are near horses. According to researchers, the heart has a larger electromagnetic field and higher level of intelligence than the brain: A magnetometer can measure the heart's energy field radiating up to 8 to 10 feet around the human body. While this is certainly significant it is perhaps more impressive that the electromagnetic field projected by the horse's heart is five times larger than the human one (imagine a sphere-shaped field that completely surrounds you). The horse's electromagnetic field is also stronger than ours and can actually directly influence our own heart rhythm!
Horses are also likely to have what science has identified as a "coherent" heart rhythm (heart rate pattern) which explains why we may "feel better" when we are around them. . . .studies have found that a coherent heart pattern or HRV is a robust measure of well-being and consistent with emotional states of calm and joy--that is, we exhibit such patterns when we feel positive emotions.
A coherent heart pattern is indicative of a system that can recover and adjust to stressful situations very efficiently. Often times, we only need to be in a horses presence to feel a sense of wellness and peace. In fact, research shows that people experience many physiological benefits while interacting with horses, including lowered blood pressure and heart rate, increased levels of beta-endorphins (neurotransmitters that serve as pain surppressors), decreased stress levels, reduced feelings of anger, hostility, tension and anxiety, improved social functioning; and increased feelings of empowerment, trust, patience and self-efficacy."
***This beautiful photo is by Andrew Ryback Photography, LLC taken at the World Equestrian Center - Ocala.

24/02/2021

Lovely post describing the “side effects” of just being with horses...

Great news and another reason why everyone should love horses:
"Recent studies conducted by the Institute of HeartMath provide a clue to explain the bidirectional "healing" that happens when we are near horses. According to researchers, the heart has a larger electromagnetic field and higher level of intelligence than the brain: A magnetometer can measure the heart's energy field radiating up to 8 to 10 feet around the human body. While this is certainly significant it is perhaps more impressive that the electromagnetic field projected by the horse's heart is five times larger than the human one (imagine a sphere-shaped field that completely surrounds you). The horse's electromagnetic field is also stronger than ours and can actually directly influence our own heart rhythm!
Horses are also likely to have what science has identified as a "coherent" heart rhythm (heart rate pattern) which explains why we may "feel better" when we are around them. . . .studies have found that a coherent heart pattern or HRV is a robust measure of well-being and consistent with emotional states of calm and joy--that is, we exhibit such patterns when we feel positive emotions.
A coherent heart pattern is indicative of a system that can recover and adjust to stressful situations very efficiently. Often times, we only need to be in a horses presence to feel a sense of wellness and peace. In fact, research shows that people experience many physiological benefits while interacting with horses, including lowered blood pressure and heart rate, increased levels of beta-endorphins (neurotransmitters that serve as pain surppressors), decreased stress levels, reduced feelings of anger, hostility, tension and anxiety, improved social functioning; and increased feelings of empowerment, trust, patience and self-efficacy."
***This beautiful photo is by Andrew Ryback Photography, LLC taken at the World Equestrian Center - Ocala.

19/11/2020

Angela says it so well!

Unshackled by goals, expectations and agendas is by far the most profound way to approach equine facilitated interactions.

Bringing an open heart and mind and a sensitively attuned body enables us to fully open up to the potential that can arise when horses engage with us from a place of authenticity, freedom and power.

In Donald Kalsched's words: "... it means staying open to the unknown - to a mystery at the center of our work".

This mystery envelopes all involved - client, horse and facilitator, taking all of us beyond anything we could intellectually expect or egotistically want, deep into the mystery of life itself, unbounded by species, time or space, and ripe with an unknown place we may find ourselves in.

This isn't mystical woo-woo nonsense, it is simply remaining open and practicing allowing our ego to let go of control; trusting our equine colleagues, and simply following the slow unwinding of the thread that will take our client exactly to the place they need to go.

Angela Dunning
The Horse's Truth
www.thehorsestruth.co.uk

Photo by Freddy Alfred Krupa.

20/05/2020

This is an extract from my colleague Angela Dunning’s brilliant book “The Horse’s Truth”. It is worth reminding ourselves now and again that it is important to consider who we can share our deepest feelings with:

Being true to yourself doesn’t mean sharing your feelings with everyone.

It’s easy to make mistakes when we first learn how to speak our truth and share our feelings, after a lifetime of suppression and holding them back for fear of ridicule and rejection. We learn the hard way as we grow when and with whom it is wise to share our depths with.

Therefore, authenticity is best accessed when accompanied by wisdom and intuition.

Choose who you share your true feelings with.

Be wise.

It’s okay to protect yourself from those you know can’t accept and receive your truth. It’s okay not to share with certain people or in certain communities. Keeping your truth safe is not the same as denying how you feel or regressing to being unable to speak your truth. Rather, it is a wiser, more mature way of relating and one of the deepest forms of self-care you can practice.

Use discernment, it is your best ally.

Often in our dreams our emotions and feelings are imaged as small vulnerable animals. So it can help to imagine protecting your emotional life as you would your best animal friend, who you always rush to protect in your dreams. Keeping them out of harm’s way, safe, secure; loved and cherished. Knowing when it is safe to let them run free and express themselves.

Know who and what your safe spaces are. And know that there is always someone who is able to receive us in all our messy glory, always someone who can sit with us in our pain and uncertainty. And we will thank ourselves for knowing when the time is right to share.

Angela Dunning
The Horse's Truth
www.thehorsestruth.co.uk

Art work: 'Girl with Cat' by Franz Marc.

16/04/2020

The new Equintelligence flyer - any good ideas for where to display them, do let me know!❤️

28/03/2020

Wise words from Koelle. Not easy, but well worth playing with!

“Let yourself play without the idea that it’s supposed to be hard or challenging. See if you can relax into the truth that your presence is enough, that you already have the tools you need, that you already embody what it is you are looking for.”

- Koelle Simpson

Keep Reading: https://koelleinstitute.com/discovering-power-presence/