I have recently seen a post introducing the idea of Equine Assisted Services, particularly in the context the ground-based activities that are often engaged to facilitate learning and therapeutic interactions. The wording of that post has challenged me to consider the foundations of this work. When I first learned of […]
embodiment
29 posts
The Clever Hans phenomenon At the beginning of the 20th Century the world has consumed by the capabilities of a horse called Clever Hans. Clever Hans and his owner Wilhelm von Osten created a great stir in the popular entertainment of time. According to von Osten, Hans was a very […]
How many times does this question come up when I have been training learners with Athena team or delivering Equine Assisted Services sessions? And how many different ways are there to answer it? Our understanding of horses has thankfully moved on from the view of them as mindless automaton, the […]
Yesterday morning my usually smooth and gentle Qi Gong routine was difficult, it was clunky and clumsy. At first, I wondered why. Why was my body behaving so insensitively? There was no sense, I knew this routine inside out, I was well practiced. What was going on? Then I realised […]
The literacy of feedback involves an understanding of the conscious and unconscious language within everyday exchanges. My work, wherever it s undertaken, consistently returns to one topic. The importance of developing a meaningful level of self awareness! Even if it is not the core agenda, it so often rears its […]
As an introvert that has lived a life that would have much more suited an extravert, I was profoundly moved to come across Susan Cain’s book “Quiet.” In fact I am just about to commence my third listen. One of the most meaningful personal learnings that came to me from […]
I came across an inspiring opening to a chapter recently in Erik Jampa Andersson's book "Unseen Beings" (Hay House, 2023) which I wanted to quote in full to kick off this reflection "Nature is not a place. We often speak of it as if it were a kind of stage […]
I first read of Plato’s “the allegory of the cave” in The Republic, when I was in my 20’s. To be frank it was a stretch to comprehend. Now increasingly close to 60 it is beginning to make a little more sense to me. Without trying to recreate the detail […]
“… without the making of theories I am convinced there would be no observation.” Charles Darwin (1860) in a letter to Sir Charles Lyell. The photo image that accompanies this blog is of a hand stencil from a cave in Borneo that is now recognised to be 40,000 years old. […]
So how do horses make us human? There is a question. Someone once asked me what my thinking was on there being empathy in the relationship between horses and humans. Empathy is generally described as the ability to put ourselves in the shoes of others. To understand their experience. "To feel […]