To deeply respect (a person, animal, plant, place, thing or...) is to be open to letting them change your mind - which therefore changes who you are.
“We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience.” - John Dewey
I have deep respect for Jackie Stevenson, her horse herd and the community that comes together in Spirit of Leadership. I’d also like to acknowledge the ancestors and teachers who have come before. I'm honored to know Jackie and full of gratitude for everything she's taught me. My facilitation style improved after experiencing her workshop as a participant. I began to allow more ‘space’ in my workshops and consultations, allowing for the most important part of the engagement - processing time / reflection of the learning experience.
Jackie's facilitation style is one of incredible flexibility, building a plan that shifts as new things emerge (and are revealed) from the individual or group, or as other environmental factors such as weather come into play. In this you can see how open she is to people and animals of all kinds, making sure to take everyone's needs into consideration, and inviting richness to their experiences.
She helps us appreciate that labeling what happens as good or bad is subjective and personal - and a dichotomy that doesn’t always serve to acknowledge that which fits into neither category or both. When we approach others with curiosity instead of judgement we find ease in living a more generative life, drawing out people’s stories and getting to the core of our individual and collective truths.
"For the last 20 years I have fully integrated into my coaching and consulting work my personal respect and passion for nature, horses, the intelligence of our bodies and experiential learning. I bring this approach to my work and the work of my clients at a time when we struggle with the changes brought by a highly evolved technological culture and a less evolved relational culture." - Jackie
It's Jackie's "respect and passion" that are contagious in the best way! She naturally and subtly encourages us to relish opportunities for relating to it all… a person, animal, plant, place, thing or…. Before we know it we’re evolving into better versions of ourselves.
Want to learn from Jackie with me?
Hire her as your coach or bring a team to the ranch for a custom program! You won't regret it. Also, read her new book, Someday We'll Live Like Horses; Authentic Presence in Leadership and Life. It feels authentic itself - right from the soul - sharing Jackie's experience eloquently.
Join me in participating in the October Experiential Learning with Horses Professional Practitioner Certificate Program from Oct 17 - 21, 2018 at Pebble Ledge Ranch in Novelty, Ohio!
The program is hands down amazing. I keep going back! It's 5 days in nature with the community and horses at the Ranch where you are invited to notice the qualities in you and around you - a practice that can lead you toward personal mastery in your professional practice and personal life. It's not about riding the horses, rather understanding how each horse relates to self, each other and the humans in the field, contributing to the social and emotional intelligence of the herd. There's opportunity to connect and learn from others in the community. Oh! And there are boatloads of skills to pick up when we geek out on the theories behind the exercises, too!
ALSO, I'll most likely be facilitating a Visual Communication Mini Workshop with Horses on Friday night (October 19, 2018). We'll take notice of human language and comprehension (which includes lots of visuals from seeing physically to visualizing and imagining and drawing) and perhaps begin to understand horse language.
How to appreciate visuals? How can we use drawings to solve problems or find insights in big complex systems? How might the horse herd inspire us to expand our understanding? This mini workshop will integrate into Jackie's longer program and ALSO stand on its own if someone wanted to come out for just this!
