About Holistequine

 

                                                         For the human Holistequine represents a journey of self discovery and Spiritual growth through horses. For the horse Holistequine represents a commitment to honour the horse's journey and to help improve their quality of life.

It is an evolutionary tale of how a love of animals led to a search for a more profound meaning of life and a deeper understanding of communication between species.

My journey began after recognising the horse's qualities of strength, determination and pure will. Qualities which would not only impacted on me as a person but how these qualities positively changed my place in the world and improved my relationship with everything and everyone around me.

Back in the early nineties in the preliminary days when Holistequin was in the process of formulating this new method with horses there were only abour six other people (in the USA) doing similar work and they called it Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. Now it has diversified under many banners,i.e. Equine Assisted Therapy, Equine Facilitated Learning and Equine Assisted Life Coaching each as diverse as the people conducting them.

 

The Holistequine research has led to the development of a system called Whole Body Intelligence and together with an understanding of how this biofeedback from the animals can positively influence everyone's life we have put into place many programs for changing lives.The research has been formulated into a system that involves human/animal and human/human interaction; it is a practical method that can have significant impact on personal, social and spiritual development and wellbeing.

This information is now available in a variety of Equine Assisted Therapy personal sessions, workshops and online horse courses

As we evolve into a new millennium we are increasingly being influenced by a different energy, the more sensitive "feminine energy" of the 2

However this "feminine energy" does not relate just to women but rather the feminine, intuitive energy within both males and females. It does not replace but rather balances the masculine energy that has influenced the past era.

This merging of the "2" energy requires us to see how we share our energy fields with every living being and how if we open the appropriate channels  we can connect and move into a feeling of "oneness", recapturing a feeling of living in the moment we had as children.

When we collectively achieve this "oneness" there will be no more conflict or wars because there will be no more separation of ideals.

Spiritual evolution into Oneness will see us rise above the dogma of religion into a new re-alignment of community, co-operation and collective Spirit of Oneness.

The way to achieve this state is by taking personal responsibility for everything that happens in our lives and we do this by understanding the significance of our own dualistic nature, and using the "mirrors" of which are all around us

 

To achieve this balance of harmony in our lives we need to open our feeling centre, which is the intuitive channel; the channel that facilitates our higher mission, and guides us to find our purpose or our passion in life.

 

 

The Holistequine horses have led the way to show us how to open these centres.

The Holistequine concept started 20 years ago and was created through a deep love and respect for all animals, but especially, it opened a connection with horses that show how they relate to humans in a Spiritual sense.

The desire came from a need to know more about how our own lives interconnect with our domesticated pets and horses. Over time we began to realise that as we learnt more about the animals around us we learnt more about ourselves.

As a practitioner of Natural Therapies, during my practice I witnessed the close relationship of my animal patients with their owners, often the animal taking on the symptoms of their carer. There was obviously something very special happening in the cases I attended. I wanted to know more about how the spiritual, emotional mental and the physical connection between the species was interwoven through energy fields. The Native American concept that every animal has a quality that we can emulate and integrate into our own lives is a philosophy very dear to us here.

Astrology in this decade is gaining more recognition and many people now (to varying degrees) feel that the "stars" have a certain amount of influence over their personalities. The word Zodiac literally means "circle of animals" so this being the case what hidden influence do the animals hold in store for us on our Spiritual journey?

Is the significance of this the fact that the animals are the "medium" between heaven and earth and that they can show us the way to unconditional love?

At Holistequine we believe that the future will see us increasingly working with animals as catalysts in healing, personal development and areas of education in emotional intelligence.

The Holistequine Whole Body Intelligence System works with the horse in online horse courses and private sessions in just this manner. Through the understanding of a phenomenon of Physics called Entrainment we developed a biofeedback model and a series of interactive exercises and began seeing some truly amazing results. Now neuroscientists are investigating Mirror Neurons, which will give greater validation to the W.B.I. System.

Animals generally and specifically the horse have one unique characteristic in common and that is that they serve mankind unconditionally. This "vibration of service" allows for them to be available as pure channels for human personal development and healing.

Just as the Martial Arts were developed by observing the stances and movements of the animals, so too, the Holistequine System was created after observing the finer interactions and social structure of our equine friends. Given no human interference horses live within totally functional social family structures their whole lives. They dispense justice with love and respect and most importantly they know how to communicate effectively and co-operate successfully as a unit, qualities that they can effectivly pass on to us humans.

The W.B.I.system is incorporated into the Equine Assisted Therapy sessions which have been developed through many years of insightful learning.

With our observations, over time we began to understand what was required to communicate successfully with the horse if we wanted to reach a desired outcome. During these years of interacting (with the horses) we not onlysaw the changes that we, personally needed to make to gain their respect and trust, but we also noticed  how we became more balanced, more "in our power" and had increased self esteem.

It was a case of; far from just training the horse we also had to be open up enough to see what we could learn from the horse and that once we overcame our human prejudices and let go of our ego the horse could become a powerful teacher. The more we let go the more we were rewarded with powerful insights.

The practical component of Holistequine (the Whole Body Intelligence.method) is now being put into Equine Assisted Therapy programs, programs to be used for positive change in the human condition. This cutting edge system has the potential to help many people. By healing a person's "whole energy field" or "whole body intelligence" health and wellbeing follows.

The W.B.I. system helps us understand and then integrate our conflicting internal dialogue (or the grasshopper mind). This "conflict within" hinders our communication generally; it hinders the relationships we not only have with ourselves but also our relationship with others.

As we stated earlier our broader goal is to research, strengthen and obtain a deeper understanding of our connection with the Animal Kingdom and in particular our "spiritual" relationship with the horse. Because the horse represents "freedom of sprit" he can help us set our own spirit free. Our equine assisted therapy work at the centre and our online horse courses are providing us with some amazing insights and feedback into shared energy fields which not only help us to understand how we are all interconnected but has also given us practical life tools to use in the future.

Over the many years of doing this work we have observed that somehow, by osmosis the energy field of (our special) horses have a positive impact on the human energy field. Clients also feel this effect; often they have arrived, for example with headaches, sinus problems, even depression and within 20 or so minutes of interacting with the horse they experience no more symptoms. We now know this has a direct link to a phenomenon called Entrainment.

Holistequine is a method or technique that endeavours to understands how the forces of Nature and the Animal Kingdom can act as tools for learning, healing and personal development. We have seen how these invisible forces of Nature influence us at the electro-magnetic level of our being and through our interactive work this invisible force can be utilized as a tangible tool for progress.

The wisdom and insights of the nature kingdoms can now enable each individual to reach their full potential.

The Lost Art of Self Expression:

As children we were always honest and always wanted to express this honesty to others, we though and acted in the moment.

However we then learnt or were taught that "you don't say that" or "you must not do that" and we soon worked out that it was better to be quiet and not offend anyone and consequently to varying degrees we stopped speaking our truth, internalising our thoughts and emotions.

Horses do not have this "flaw" in their behaviour. It is hypothesized that horses actually see auras and recognises this dishonesty or inability to expresss ourselves as a "lack", or seen as energy rather as a depletion or a hole in our personal energy field.

The Holistequine programs provide the tools to rediscover the art of self expression; to rediscover our spirit, that loving but truthfull person hidden inside of us all; the part that through a love of self has the courage to speak out.

Defining: What is our Spirit?

If we look at the true definition of "Spirit" and see it as "The vital principle or animating force within all living beings" With this definition we can then put spirituality into its more definitive perspective.

Becoming Spiritual (by Holistequine definition) is now, claiming your life-force, claiming your power, will or energy to be who you are, or learning, with love to claim your true potential and speak your truth.

It is with this intention that Holistequine, with the help of nature and our animal friends has come into being.

Holistequine: is the concept of "tuning in" to allow animals and nature to heal and enrich our lives.

Equine Assisted Life Coaching (equine assisted therapy) specifically involves interacting with horses to change one's energy field and reclaim our personal power; we then as practitioners go on to help others to do the same. This is only achieved when one is open enough to allow the Spirit (or energy field) of the horse (or other smaller animals) to direct us on our path.

The basic concept is this:

Just as actors depict characters in a play humans also have an alter ego or an identity that is an outer representation of their true Self. Working with the horse not only allows us to see both these aspects more clearly but also gives us the insights needed to integrate our ego with our higher Self

The horse, we believe is a highly evolved energetic being that communicates and reacts to others by sensing energy and reading body language. During our interactive sessions the Holistequine facilitator interprets the horse's reaction to the client and then uses this as a feedback mechanism for change.

The practitioner is able to see where the flaw (or energy block) is in the client and go on to correct any negative thought patterns he/she may be carrying (even if these blockages are at a subconscious level they will not escape the horses attention) We have found that when these negative thought patterns emerge amazingly enough all that is needed to correct the problem is for the client to reassess the situation from a viewpoint and understanding as an adult, not from the mind of a 5 or 10 year old (or whenever the trauma or belief pattern happened).

This work reveals blockages at all levels of body, mind or spirit and can even reveal issues buried deep in the subconscious mind of the client. Interacting with the horse in this manner is not only simple and non threatening, but it is also fun and very effective.

Because the feedback we get is arrived at through "feelings" the client seems to "know" that it is coming through the horse. For this reason the insight somehow bypasses our ego and is absorbed at a higher energy level. We are not getting the information from a person therefore it is not personal.

The Holistequine is a more complex method of equine assisted therapy and works on all of the chakras in the body but focuses primarily on the Solar Plexus and Heart chakra , like Pilates we see this Solar Plexus area as important not only physically but also emotionally and spiritually. It is the seat of personal power and the will so any energy blockages here or in the first and second chakras can manifest as low self worth and a feeling of being powerless, it can also contribute to a range of diseases and social problems. The potential of this method is that it heals the spirit. When the spirit is healed everything else falls into place or put more simply when our attitude and understanding of a problem changes so too does the problem.

What is "Holistequine" Equine-Assisted Therapy or Equine Assisted Life Coaching?

It is a totally unique approach to health, personal growth, self empowerment and fitness whereby the horse acts as the mentor and personal coach.

By interacting with the horse we can see and understand areas in our lives that are not working for us. The horse mirrors back to us our short comings, enabling us to address these issues and get on with our lives.

Our herd of 9 horses become the missing human extended family, giving us the discipline, confidence and self esteem that they give to their own horse herd or family.

Holistequine is a Holistic discipline that focuses not only on the spiritual, mental and emotional health of the client but also requires a physical regime worthy of our partnership with these strong animals. The physical side of the program incorporates stretching, breathing , yoga exercises etc. plus running and playing with your horse as part of a work out (this component is optional).

How Holistequine evolved:

This method was developed over 20 years by myself a Holistic Practitioner after observing the interaction within my own horse herd and subsequently the ongoing work with horses and people. Together with our students we saw how these horses had a finely evolved social structure, all knowing their relationship within the herd and all having respect for "horse authority". Antisocial behaviour is soon corrected by the head mare or stallion/gelding before it becomes a problem.

During our observation we began to understand how horses communicate, how they "read" energy, and body language and then interact with each other accordingly. The most important understanding was seeing how their energy field was affected by their own self -esteem.

We saw that the horse's level of self-worth was determined by how they had been treated and handled in the past by humans. Each person, during a life coaching session was drawn to a horse that "mirrored" similar issues to themselves thus enabling us to work through the particular problem. The 9 members of our herd have been together for up to 18 years the newest addition to our family, a beautiful Lipizzaner, a 12 month old filly called Etta.

We give our horse's unconditional love and acceptance emotionally, mentally and spiritually, allowing them to "be who they are". By allowing the horses to claim their own spirit we saw how their self esteem returned and they then used their power wisely. We had been operating children and adult's riding and interactive learning sessions for nearly 10 years. We developed Holistequine after understanding the level of emotional and mental skills that the horse requires of the rider before the physical act of riding takes place. The experiences gained from this include seeing issues like anger, frustration, low self esteem etc. be resolved with the help of the horse Due to these observations we saw the need to develop "Holistequine" into non riding personal growth and healing programs (now available as individually tailored online horse courses)

We work on the principal that: Every problem reflected outside of oneself is first and foremost an internal conflict. From our experience we have found that from a preventative perspective if the finer areas of our life are working for us it has a flow on effect to our external environment. When we are happy at our higher levels (of spirit) our mental and emotional health improves, our bio- chemistry changes and disease cannot get a foothold in the physical body.

How "Holistequine" works

For healthy social development we need relationships, we need to interact with "others" in our lives, i.e. partners, friends, family pets etc. These others ideally teach us to trust, develop and grow by mirroring back and giving us feedback, feedback not only to mirror our positive behaviour and traits but feedback also on any "negative" behaviour that is not serving us. Ideally from this if we care for that "other in our life" enough we correct any dysfunctional behaviour that we may have thereby improving our relationship with them.

Holistequine has developed these programs working with the horse as the mirror to the "other".

Working with the horse directly at this higher level of spirit we bypass our emotional defence mechanism thereby a pure channel is created. The Holistequine horse interacts with us unconditionally wanting nothing in return; he does not buy into our emotions or cannot be manipulated by us.

We grow and learn from all outer interaction with others, however often our association with other people is too confronting and we can become too emotional and do not feel relaxed enough to "drop our guard" and have open, honest communication. In many situations we are so busy being continually defensive with others that we do not hear what they are saying, we do not learn or grow emotionally.                                                                                 With the horse as a partner however we drop all defences and feel safe enough to make the necessary changes within.

Unlike a human mirror, animals seem to be able to do this mirroring without us feeling threatened.

There are hundreds of self-help books, seminars and courses, all with the promise to help us find inner peace and harmony in our lives and most of this information is very helpful, however we found that when we take in information through our 5 senses i.e. hearing, touching, seeing etc. the information is only absorbed at the intellectual level.

By working with the horse in these interactive programs there is an energy exchange, it is experiential in that we actually energetically integrate the experience so that it then becomes part of "who we are". We then "know" the information not just from the head but we also "know it" from the heart space.                   

At some deeper level it resonates within us as truth.

Meditation, music, the arts and being in nature all take us to the brain wave level of Alpha. Alpha too is the natural state of the horse and because of this she/he can help us to relax and learn to "be" in this state, a level of brain freqency where we can de-stress from everyday life.

As we practise working in this Alpha state we eventually learn "to become" this state in our everyday life. The horse, remember, interacts within his herd by non verbal communiction. When we start working with him he interacts with us by reading our energy field, seeing blockages in our energy field and then reacting to them thereby giving us feedback. These energy blocks are caused by our negative emotional state or our shadow side and play out as low self esteem, anger, lack of confidence, depression, guilt etc.

Imagine a light globe (100 watts) as our birth spirit potential, then, as we grow up every negative thought we believe about ourselves dims the glow just a little.We judge so called negative life experiences as failings, being told that we are stupid, lazy, useless etc.

All of these "impressions" have a negative effect on our "globe" and, as we get older our light diminishes to only about 60 watts or less). This "Wattage" reference point is now used by our practitioner as a gauge or "energy meter".

 We then work with this meter to correct the client's self image. We see "Holistequine" as a preventative, fun, Holistic approach to healing and personal growth at the level of body, mind and spirit. By meeting the needs of the body at the emotional/mental level we correct and heal any dis-ease before it presents in the physical body.                               This is the real definition of preventative medicine.

Who "Holistequine" helps

Holistequine equine assisted therapy helps anyone who has trouble with their personal power i.e. People who substitute aggression for power or people who are "too giving" and are then resentful because they feel they have "been used". It helps parents and teachers understand the dynamics of bullies and bullying and how the problem can be corrected. In our sessions we work with both parent and child, the same principles and exercises can also be applied to workplace bullying.

Fear is a big issue in today's society. Holistequine helps the client to understand and overcome fear by showing them how to have faith in themself and how to trust their intuition.

Fear and faith cannot co-exist. If you have faith you cannot have fear and if you have fear you cannot have faith. Because it helps the client see the problems that stem from "not being in your power " Holistequine can help anyone who has a problem with any relationship be it spouse, children , work colleges etc. It allows the client to see the imbalance in their personal power base and then to correct it.

Basically this technique can help anyone who has the courage to come face to face with their "mirror" and start dealing with their problems thus finding the balance in their lives. The aim of this training is for the participant to become "the iron fist in the kid glove".

As the horse represents Spirit he can help us on our Path of self discovery.

Many years ago if anyone asked me the question "What do you want?" I could not tell them as I did not know the answer. I did not know what I wanted because I did not know who I was.

All my life I had given my power away to someone else, either parent, teacher or partner. I ambled through life only being able to reclaim my power by getting angry. However over the years with the support of a loving husband and working with my horse family I now know who "I am",  not just who I am as an ego but as an evolving spiritual being.

The Holistequine philosophy sees every living thing as an expression of energy. Energy is neither negative nor positive it is just energy, and every problem in life is a result of a misguided use of that energy.

Because we "label" that energy as good or bad we inadvertanly label ourself and weaken our energy field in the process.

We believe that because everything is energy that there is no right or wrong just consequence of actions

We work with horses as an interactive tool to develop each individual's Higher Self potential. We see this process as a way to develop fitness of Body, Mind & Spirit. (in Life Coaching Programs)

At Holistequine we honour the Native American Philosophy that all of Nature is One and that the Animals are our brothers and sisters and can act as mirrors for us on our spiritual path.

At Holistequine we learn to "think with our hearts and Love with our minds".

Holistequine is a natural form of healing. Naturopathy by definition is - Healing with nature.

At Holistequine we see this work as the next step in vibrational healing. The horse becomes a channel to open the feminine, intuitive side of ourselves (E.Q.) which is then married with the logical left brain (I.Q.) to form a balanced relationship within both hemisheres of the brain.

As the founder of Holistequine I started studying Natural Medicine about 18 years ago, after that I continued on to study many of the Metaphysical Sciences. However, after working with horses I realised that, for me, equine assisted therapy was the future in teaching Life Skills and self awareness to human clients.

Holistequine then is healing with vibrational medicine through animals/horses.

Over the years I have found that many problems be they physical i.e. headaches, stomach aches etc. mental or emotional disturbances seemed to disappear after spending time around the horses.

From these observations and through the years of developing children and adult sessions we are able to create programs targeting specific problem groups.

We have much pleasure now in offering our insights and information (using the Whole Body Intelligence System) to everyone be they clients or students wishing to have a career in Equine Assisted Therapy,

Equine assisted therapy training (equine assisted life caoching) See online horse courses under Products

Equine Assisted Therapy Courses