Pdfdownloader.lain.in 187243568 More Adventures of the Great Brain
Eponicity Equine Facilitated Learning ~ ExplainedLeft Brain vs. Right Brain Explained Since humans...
Transcript of Eponicity Equine Facilitated Learning ~ ExplainedLeft Brain vs. Right Brain Explained Since humans...
Ho Leaves and Lizards Arenal Volcano Cabin Retreat
inCosta Rica
Contact us for more information at:
Eponicity
Equine Facilitated Learning ~ Explained
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
What is Equine Facilitated Learning (EFL)?
Interaction between horses and people designed to create
experiential learning and development
No prior horse
experience
necessary!
What is Eponicity’s
Equine Facilitated Experiential Learning (EFL)
• The way horses sense, think and behave can help humans better understand how we sense, think and behave
Equine
• Activities are uniquely designed, facilitated and de-briefed to deliver profound and powerful experiences
Facilitated
• Having an experience is a powerful way to learn and create sustainable change (rather than just books or lectures)
Experiential Learning
“Fast track” personal learning
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Horses….
• Magnify and reflect emotions (the science behind this is explained more in the next pages). This ability means they can help us see what we are feeling (which we often suppress).
• Highly sensitive animals, they respond to subtle changes in our body language and energy, providing immediate and objective feedback on our presence in that moment.
• Powerful non-verbal communicators, in their behavior during an exercise they can show us what our body language and “non-verbal” communication is saying to others.
• Interacting with horses and understanding their “language” helps us rediscover our own sensing abilities and how to balance our intuitive knowledge, and what our body is picking up instinctively all the time, with our logical reasoning.
Impact on us….
• Examining our own reactions to equine behavior leads to powerful new insights into our own natural abilities and talents.
• This self-reflection and discovery enhances and promotes our personal and professional growth.
• We can learn a great deal about teams, leadership and setting healthy boundaries from natural survival wisdom and herd dynamics.
• EFL exercises create an opportunity for us to understand our own impact – the horse does not judge us or watch the clock so we can keep on practicing until we figure out what works well for us.
Contact us for more information at: [email protected]
How do Horses Help Humans?
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
To really understand
how horses help
humans, we must
first understand things from the horses’ point of
view…
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
5 Key Concepts about Horses
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Horses are prey
60 million years of evolution
Herd Animals
Live in the present
moment –non-
judgmental
Energy based, non-verbal
communication
#1 The Horse is Prey
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Prey and predator see the
world very differently
A prey animal must rely on its
senses to survive – one mistake can cost it its life
#2 Designed to Survive over 60 million years
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Imagine a time-line
representing 60 million years, as long as a football field
Then imagine putting your
little finger on that time line -that is how long
horses have been
domesticated (10,000 years)
The rest of the time they have
just been hunted and
wild...so that’s how their
senses remain..
Humans
have 6
million years
of evolution!
(10 x less)
Evolved to Understand Intention
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Evolution has fine-tuned the horse’s ability to understand and accurately interpret intention, notice how they feel when
sensing the intention and reacting to that emotion, their life depends on their ability to sense, feel, and respond to emotion.
1 liter per beat
4 oz per beat
Comparing Hearts - the Sensing Center
The electrical signal from
the heart is 60 times
stronger than the brain and
5,000 times more powerful
electromagnetically than
the brain.
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
• A growing body of scientific research suggests that decisions are actually made by the brain and body acting together, and the heart plays a particularly significant role
What is that “gut feeling”?
• Studies show that electrical activity in the heart creates a magnetic field much larger than that of the brain
• Scientists at the HeartMath Institute are discovering that this electromagnetic field contains certain information or coding and that signals generated by the heart have the capacity to affect others around us
Electromagnetic field research
• S.Q.U.I.D. Machines (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) are used in scientific studies to measure electromagnetic energy generated by the heart
Measuring fields
• The horse’s large heart projects a powerful electromagnetic field which may explain their extraordinary sensing capacity
• In EFL activities, we experience these as “energy layers” when interacting with the horse
Horses as sensors
The Heart as a Sensing Center
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Body Atlas Reveals Where We Feel Happiness and ShameBy Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, December 30, 2013
Studies by the HeartMath Institute indicate that our electromagnetic field
changes according to our emotional state
Horses have the ability to sense these fields, they pick up these changes - we cannot hide what we are feeling from a
horse
Remember that their life depends upon their ability to read emotional
“state” or intent
When we try to suppress our emotions, the horse sees this
incongruence and gives us feedbackduring EFL exercises
The Eponaquest approach sees emotions as information and looks at
the message behind the emotion
Our Emotions Revealed
Horses sense, magnify and reflect back what is actually going on around them –
transmitting it through the whole herd. For example if a horse sees a lion, his electromagnetic field will change to show Fear and he will magnify it so the other
horses pick it up instantly. These horses then also magnify it through their fields etc. such that it spreads through the
whole herd and – before our human senses notice anything – the whole herd will turn and run away together.
We see examples in nature all the time, herds of animals, birds or fish moving seamlessly together,
seeming to flow as one body with synchronized movements.
They are reading the “invisible” energy – it’s not magic, just science!
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
How can this help us?
Horses can help us feel
and identify our emotions
Horses magnify emotions so that we become aware of them and can
process or let go of them
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
A horse you are working with wants you to be a
good partner / an effective herd member
(remember in his mind, his survival is at stake)
so by magnifying your emotion, he can help you
be aware of it so you can process it (and not use
all your energy trying not to feel it or keep it
hidden, like we often do). Then you can be a
good partner or leader for him. To a horse,
hiding his fear would make no sense, he needs to
act on it
Once we become more aware of our emotions
and learn tools for processing them, they
become a great source of information (e.g. I am
scared, what do I need to do to feel safe)
We often look like this sign to a horse!
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Practicing Congruency
How can this help us?
We have the opportunity to practice our own impact
without fear of judgment
Horses read electromagnetic fields - when we
mean what we say, and say what we mean, we make
sense to the horse
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
The horse gives immediate
feedback in his reaction, positive or
negative. The horse has no agenda and
does not judge so feedback is truly
objective and we can keep practicing.
Learning through experience is the best
teacher, it sticks
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Left Brain vs. Right Brain Explained
Since humans evolved to use language, we have
relied more and more on the so-called ‘left brain’, the side that processes
logic
As a result, many of us find it hard to access our
‘right brain’, the side where our creativity,
instincts, natural sensing wisdom and intuition lie
The price of this over-reliance on the ‘left brain’
is that it becomes dominant, stifling the
‘right brain’ and separating us from our instincts and natural
senses
The horse is powerfully intuitive and instinctual and can help us learn to awaken and access our
‘right brain’
When we connect both sides of our brain and balance
logic with intuition, we can operate at our
full potential
How can this help us?
We practice using our senses and
intuitive knowledge, balancing our “right
brain” intuitive wisdom with our
“left brain” logic to find our full
potential
Logic and reason alone will not keep horses alive in the
wild
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Interacting with horses in EFL activities
using horse “language” encourages us
to find and access our own senses and
non-logical wisdom. When we are not
connected to our natural sensing
abilities the horse gives us immediate
feedback in his reaction – we start to
notice how much time we spend in our
“left brain” and how much capacity we
are missing out on...
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
“Beyond the veils of language
and the noise of activity,
the most profound events of our
lives take place
in those fleeting moments
where something else shines
through,
something that can never be
fixed in language,
something given as quietly as
the gift of your next breath.”
-John O’Donahue, Theologist
#3 Communication is Non-Verbal
Like humans, horses have interpersonal dynamics and
are communicating with each other all the time
They interact with each other in powerful, non-verbal ways and are masters at reading and interpreting non-verbal
communication
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Horses assess the relationship and intention in that
moment and situation to
determine their reaction
There is no “judgment” of you, just a reaction to whatever is going on in that moment
• It’s not personal, it’s helpful
Discerning the “Relationship”
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
How can this help us?
Horses can (in their reaction to a situation) reveal
things to us immediately
about our beliefs, intentions or fears
Horses are extremely
perceptive of human non-verbal communication
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
For example, they notice doubts
before we even know they are there. This
unspoken dissonance is also present,
though often unacknowledged,
in human interactions and can lead
to unintended negative impressions or
outcomes. During EFL exercises, horses
help us to notice our unfocused intention
or unresolved emotions so we can
consciously choose what to do with them
Awareness is a powerful tool
#4 Horses are Herd Animals
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Herd dynamics require a defined hierarchy and
identified leadership roles
Order in the herd creates structure. Structure creates
safety and protection
Horses move in and out of different roles depending on
what is needed to best support the herd
They constantly re-assess their environment – if they follow a bad leader they will
not survive
Herd DynamicsLinda Kohanov, founder of Eponaquest and author of The Power of the Herd: A Non-predatory Approach to Social Intelligence, Leadership and Innovation, describes the following key roles in her studies of herd dynamics:
Leader: heightened knowledge of terrain, food, predators; calm and focused; sets effective boundaries; motivates through inspiration
Dominant: “drive and protect” orientation; moves the herd from the back; manages disagreements/power plays; protects valuable resources
Nurturer/Companion: holds the herd together; appreciates diversity; increases socialization through affection and connection
Sentinel: heightened awareness of the big picture; scans environment so that others can securely interact, rest or do their job; alerts others to predators/dangers on the horizon
Predator: acts to cull what is no longer needed; sensitive to energy and resource drains -can make tough decisions during lean times; offers additional protection from predators
Each role has its benefits and challenges – the most effective and respected herd member is one who can move fluidly in and out of these roles when appropriate, without avoiding or over-emphasizing any particular one
This powerful yet relatively simple model can help us understand instinctual behaviors that
surface in groups of social animals, including humans
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Predatory v. Non-Predatory Power
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
The most effective leader uses predatory power effectively when necessary (and only when necessary)
How can this help us?
We can learn a great deal
about teamwork,
leadership and setting healthy
boundaries
Horses’ survival depends on
following a good leader and on well
functioning, balanced herd
dynamics
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
A horse is likely to respond well to you
when you have the characteristics of a
good leader (e.g. you know where you are
going, you believe in yourself etc) so you
can practice and refine when you are at
your most effective and what may not be
working for you
#5 Horses Live in the Present Moment
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
Unlike us, horses don’t judge things (as good/bad) or try to explain things on the
basis of what “should” be done
Instead they sense, magnify and reflect back what is actually going on around them –
transmitting it through the whole herd so the others can react/act on it (like heading for
grass or running from a lion)
They don’t get stuck in the past or worry about the future - they stay present to
stay alive
How can this help us?
They show us how to stay present and escape our
mind-chatter
As instinctive prey and herd animals they live
very much in the present (not in the past/future or in their minds, as we
tend to) and in full awareness of what is around them, and will
respond when we do the same
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
For example, in one of our EFL activities
you may ask your horse to follow you
without any lead rope (free will). You may
notice that when you are present and
paying attention he will follow, and as soon
as you get distracted he will simply not
follow (he will lead himself to stay safe).
So you get to understand how easy/hard it
is for you to stay focused and to practice
what works best...
© Eponicity 2019 www.eponicity.com
“Awareness is the
greatest agent for
change.”
Eckhart Tolle