We want you to discover the best version of yourself.
Businesses
The walls of an office or the sands of a site can bring about behaviours and emotions that arent conducive to the values and ethics of an organisation. More time is spent at our workplace achieving tasks and objectives than at home with friends and family doing the things that bring joy and passion to the lives of each human. Then we take these workers and put them into classrooms (more walls) and expect them to grow and develop. Can you seen the irony? Take them outside, let them touch the earth, the warmth of a horses coat, feel the fresh air and rediscover what it is that they love about their career, their role. Let them reignite the motivation to push further, to be the best they can be not just for your business but for their families and most of all for themselves.
Personal
It’s not selfish to want to grow, to seek out that drive you feel you might have lost. Nor is it selfish to try and find out why you might be feeling a particular way towards others. Maybe you need to learn how to set boundaries, or maybe you want to find away to be grounded, maybe your not even sure, and that’s ok. People undertake EAL for many reasons, infract there are so many reasons it would be impossible to list them all let alone even know what some of them might be.
It could be your own leadership style that you wish to understand more, it could be confusion over where you want your career to go. It might be balancing time between children and your partner and/or friends. Quite often its the journey that sheds light on what’s needed.
Individual
Individual sessions offer a one on one experience where clients can thoroughly explore their observations and interactions with the horses and myself to discover where they are in their life now and where they would like to be. An individual session can be much more fluid than a group. It can be dynamic and offer an atmosphere that is calm, private and emotionally safe.
Group Based
Group based EAL is a wonderful way for a team to find cohesion, to have open discussions about the group dynamics but also to be quiet and let those more silent members explore and observe for themselves. Leadership styles can be challenged and the horses can offer unique herd structures that groups can watch over, understand, describe and apply. Group sessions tend to be more structured to ensure each individual has the same opportunity as the next.
Men and Horses
Having worked with men my whole career in various blue and while collar environments I can certainly appreciate the challenges that men face in the new world. Navigating new terminology, new chains of command, new expectations and conflicting demands that often cross over between a working day and family needs. Spending time one on one with a horse or even as part of your peer group can offer an insight into how this might be broken down into understandable components. Sometimes you dont have to talk, you dont even have to touch a horse. Just be present, observe and offer yourself an opportunity to reflect.
Becoming an Adult
Phones, social media, career choices, leaving school, making new friends, leaving old ones behind. Life can be complex, a maze of choices! Horses can give space to find safe and healthy thought patterns that can help emerging adults find a path that is true to them. One that gives then authenticity and individuality away from the expectations of others.
Horses and Children
Horses offer space for individuals to find themselves in a world otherwise filled with noise and expectations. Horses have no expectations of their humans, they do not care what you are wearing, who your friends are or how many you have nor do they care what your grades. They only care that you are authentic, that you have integrity. While remembering that H.E.A.L. is not a riding school and rather a facility that offers equine observation and interaction, our herd can help children with the ever increasing expectations of todays world. Horses help them to read body language, to make adjustments to their behaviour and understand boundaries. The horse in this photo has her ears back, a wonderful observational opportunity for a child in a safe environment.
Women
Sometimes we make life hard for ourselves, we try to take on the world and believe that we need to be something we are not. Sometimes we feel beaten to a pulp, exhausted from life and feel that we have lost our identity. Maybe we have! Maybe we have created a persona that is no longer authentic. Maybe life has hardened us or maybe you have done it to yourself because you believed the worlds opinions matter. Its ok to be you. Its ok to want a hobby, to want to dress a certain way. Just as men need to feel they can be themselves so too do women. Sometimes we need a reality check, a reminder that no one needs to conform to an expectation that is a choice. I choose to iron my husbands shirts because he works hard and I am grateful for that. But that is my story. Let horses help you find yours.
Seniors
Loneliness can be profound! It is heartbreaking to watch so imagine how it must feel. I’ve felt loneliness, I’ve felt grief and I’ve felt helpless. Seniors are navigating a unique stage of life, one that is hard to comprehend. Simply touching a horse physically or emotionally can offer a moment in time. A moment to recall when they were young and maybe rode themselves, a moment to sit back and ponder on the laughter of trying to clamber onto a horse far too tall when they were very small. H.E.A.L can offer space for seniors to reflect in company, the share a story that maybe their family havent heard or are tired of hearing it over and over. Horses are happy to listen to the same story and even happy to stand in quiet contemplation.
A modern approach
It’s essential for us that our clients get personalized suggestions on who from our team is the best match. Its also essential that our client understand that EAL is fluid, it changes, adapts and can be unpredictable, just like life. For this reason be open minded, let your guard down (while remaining safe), allow yourself to be part of the moment, the process and be patient with the journey.