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Series 1: The Foundations of Perception

january 22 - february 16, 2018

Welcome.  Following is a brief clip from a live chat I did for the Free Body Language Intro in which we touched on the content for this course.

Healthy horses utilize all of their senses to assess their environment. It’s not in their nature to stop and think, or analyze how they are receiving information, or if what they are receiving is relevant.  They greet the world in reception mode – they hear, see, smell, taste and feel everything in their environment.

Perceiving so completely gives horses tons of information almost instantly.  A nervous system likes information, in fact, the more the better.  Receiving instantaneous feedback from multiple systems gives horses an accurate read in a split second.  That’s why you see herds of horses or other grazing animals pop their heads up and orient towards a potential threat virtually at the same time.  Just as quickly, they flee the area or go back to grazing as though nothing has happened.

This way of being in communication with each other and the world is efficient, effective and fosters a sense of ease.  After all, conservation of energy is key to survival for a grazing animal! They literally can’t afford to expend energy on over reacting to every little thing.  In a healthy herd of horses, you just won’t see a horse jumping around and spooking at every little thing.

All beings, including us humans, are born with the innate ability to connect with our environment in the same way horses do.  Can you remember being a small child and feeling a sense of curiosity and wonder - how everything you saw, felt and experienced was new and amazing? Do you still have that sense of childlike wonder or has life taught you dampen or diminish it?

This session lays the all important foundation for being able to re-awaken or refine our abilities to perceive the world on more equal footing with our horses. We will, in a sense, be stepping into their world! Week 1 and 2: Finding ourselves

January 22-February 2

Let’s begin with a bit of self-discovery.  We’ve all heard this before, but if we aren’t taking good care of ourselves it impacts every facet of our lives.  It seriously disrupts our capacity to communicate or connect with others, especially our horses!

Topics to be covered: Finding our health and coming into relationship with the bedrock of what is already working for us:

The basis for healthy interaction with our horses and the world around us.

Week 4 and 5: Expanding our awareness

February 5-16

Learning to expand our awareness to include multiple senses so we perceive the world more like our horse's do. 
Participants receive an e-mail Monday mornings for the four weeks the course runs, beginning January 22nd. The e-mail will contain written material, video and audio files of the written material that can be downloaded and listened to on the way to work, for example. You’ll be invited to join a private Facebook group where you can interact with other students and I’ll be available to answer questions and engage in discussions for the duration of the course.


Registration closes January 21st, 2018 at 9:00 pm Mountain Time