A THOUSAND YEAR FLOOD.

It has now been 50 days since the rains began that changed the front range landscape of Boulder, Larimer, Jefferson and Weld counties of Colorado.  We survived the “flood of Biblical proportions.”  I have written about it many times, but produced nothing worthy of sharing but serving as a cathartic stress release.  For weeks I suffered from a low level anxiety; trouble sleeping, shortness of breath, and my stomach didn’t feel right.  In fact, I feel like I ate my way through the flood, snacking all day long as I huddled close to my radio listening to what was happening to my physical realm.

At one point I talked with my sister and she could totally relate to how I was feeling. Three years ago she was caught at home ~ alone with one dog, two cats, two horses, and a dozen chickens ~ during an ice storm that left her without electricity for 10 days.  She moved into survival mode, doing what she had to do to take care of everyone, securing water was difficult. She ended up getting sick from attempting to heat a portion of her home with a propane space heater. But everyone on her ten acres lived. The story had a satisfactory ending. For the rest of the winter she, and many of her friends in southern Missouri, had a panic attack every time a storm set up which could bring a layer of ice to their world.

We survive. Katrina, Sandy, massive tornadoes, rampaging forest fires, shifting, sliding, unable to stay the same ...

Slowly it passes.

Below is an excerpt from my friend, my astrologer, and my writing buddy, Jyoti Wind’s astrological newsletter. Her words moved me; she said it better than all of my ramblings and I asked her permission to share it with you here. 

Dear friends, The human and emotional toll of a natural disaster is deep and encompassing.It scars the landscape of one’s thinking so that one returns again and again to that abrasion.  A collective atmosphere of shock and stress grows into a thought form, an energetic, that permeates the area more than the mud and water, and takes a while to recede.  Relief aid, a listening ear, an offer to help are the balm that wipes clear the window onto the future. Possibilities then become visible.

We are in the process of shifting. It doesn’t have a clear demarcation line of when it started, but in the last one and a half years it has felt like there was an escalation. We have another one and a half years to go. And again, there won’t be a stopping line, and end. It may begin to feel that there is more of a flow instead of a push.

Meanwhile the push to change old patterns continues.  Looking at how you have changed over the past one and a half years might be an interesting undertaking. Blessings,Jyoti

For more information and to contact Jyoti Wind:
http://www.writes-of-passage.blogspot.com
http://www.aweeksworthofwomen.blogspot.com
www.jyotiwindastrology.com

3rd Annual Equine Gestalt Coaching Method Summit 2013

This event was held on September 20, 21, 22 in spite of the fact that Boulder County, including Lil Bit North Ranch - home of the Touched By a Horse program - had suffered through a flood of “Biblical proportions” just one week earlier.  Access roads into Boulder County were just beginning to open up, but every one managed to make it in and the event was a HUGE success.  Melisa Pearce and her staff did a superb job and the program ran smoothly and efficiently.

For me, introducing our new anthology, Touched Buy a Horse; Equine Coaching Stories, Edited by Melisa Pearce, was an incredible highlight. As assistant editor, I am fantastically proud of this book which includes stories and poetry by 21 different authors. The theme was to describe what equine gestalt coaching looks like, how it has affected us personally, and what our healing herds of horses are offering as our loyal partners in this venture. This book is going to make a BIG difference in helping people understand what we have to offer in the expanding genre of personal coaching! Trust me, you are going to want to read this book!

Our keynote speaker was Larry Freeborg, a pioneer in the development of equine-guided groups such as EGEA (Equine Guided Education Association) and EAHAE (European Association for Horse Assisted Education) and has followed the development of the Horse Assisted industry for the last decade. I was lucky enough to catch his talk every day; he is highly intelligent, thorough in his history of this fast growing business, and spoke on planning and business development topics for professional coaches that were important to everyone.

Other Speakers included: Kimberly Beer, professional photographer, graphic designer and Platinum Solution Provider for Constant Contact.  Melanie Mulhall, an award winning author, writing coach and served as primary editor on our new anthology. James Fitzpatrick III, CPA, had the dubious honor of speaking to us about financial planning first thing after lunch on Saturday. He rose to the occasion and gave a wonderful presentation. And on our final Sunday, Mark Guynn, of Guynn Training Center, gave a riding demonstration of Melisa’s three year old Gypsy Vanner horse, Rua Prionsa’s ("Pri") debut under saddle. It was a beautiful thing to watch!

 

 

 

You can stop Dancing NOW ~ the Rains have Come !!

I attempt to sit here at my computer and work, but I, like many residences of front range counties in Colorado, am in a state of heightened alert. This morning I fed all of my critters, trying to find a decent place to drop hay as my north pasture has turned into two lakes, Lake Louise and Lake Annette.

Still in my muck boots and raingear, I decided to gas up my pick-up truck. After making an emergency run to Black Forest one evening to pick a hopeful nurse mare for an orphaned foal,  my truck was still on empty. Not much use if I were to need it quickly. Plugging in the electric to my horse trailer I notice that I don’t have head lights on the truck.  Humm, when did that happen?  Is it because of the rain?

Back at home I walked the perimeter of my little house and check my roof drains.  We have had approximately 5 to 6 inches of rain in the last two days and I need this water to move as far away from my foundation as possible. They are calling for four to six more inches of rain in the next two days.  Everything is looking good. When I came inside and pulled off my boots  I popped down to the basement to make sure it was still dry (it is) and to hit the “Rain Delay” button for my lawn sprinkler system.  Certainly not going to need that for a while.

I sat in silence for a minute and said a prayer for all of us. I imagined sunny days and how wonderful the next cutting of grass hay was going to be. I “see” my barn full of sweet smelling hay = green gold.

I am supposed to have lunch in Boulder with my old study group and our teacher who is in town from Namaste Retreat Center in Wisconsin. At this point in the early morning, I doubt if that is going to happen but I decide to take a quick shower and be ready for whatever happens next.  My radio beeps again … the National Weather Service alert is saying to stay away from Boulder ~ schools and businesses are closed, roads are flooding, at least one bridge has washed away, and they are evacuating residential areas around Boulder Creek. Well, at least my hair looks nice!!

I just came in from feeding a lunch snack. I pulled out a couple of flakes of good grass hay and careful put it in metal tubs that I had dumped the rain water out of.  It is disheartening to watch my horses reach in and flick it out with their noses where it will land on the mud and poo muck ~ they will probably not eat it now.  Really? I work hard to secure good feed for you guys and this is how you treat it? They look at me innocently and I wish that I could bring them all into my house and we could read books, sip tea and eat crackers and cheese.

They say, “Don’t worry about it, we are fine. It is all gonna be okay. “

I let their confidence seep into my bones and I know they are right.

Hay in the barn

I accepted the work and preformed the assignment,
received my payment and deposited the check,
bought the hay and filled the barn,
all with a smile on my face, grateful for this lifestyle.
LIFE is GOOD !!

Expressions – Part 10 of 10

The Beasts Know It

If you know that all is well, you know all you need to know.
And if you know life is supposed to be fun,
you know more than almost anybody else knows.
And if you know that the way you feel is your indicator
of how connected you are to Source,
then you know that which only a handful of Deliberate Creators,
respective to the total population, really know.
The beasts all know it.
Your animals know that all is well.
Your animals live in the moment.
They understand the power of their now.
They expect the Universe to yield to them.
They don't worry or fret or conjure or make laws or rules or try to regulate.
They are Pure Positive Energy.
Your beasts vibrate more on the Energy scale of contentment than of passion.
Their desire was set forth from Nonphysical, and continues to be set forth by those,
like you, who want Energy balance, who want sustenance.
The difference between the beast and the human
is that the beast is more general in its intent.
The human is usually less blended, usually less allowing of the Energy to flow,
but is more specific.
And that is why the human is seen to be the Creator
while the beast is more the balancer of Energy.

                                                                                                       
 – Abraham,  Abraham-Hicks Publications,  dailyquote@abraham-hicks.com 

Dear Reader, thank you for allowing me to share my ever growing vision of how horses can heal us.  I am constantly in awe and grateful for being so blessed to have them in my life.                              And with grace, the journey continues.

    

Expressions – Part 9

HOW CAN THIS BE?
IS THIS FOR REAL ????
ARE YOU NUTS ?????

How do we ever know healing works? 
You take a couple of aspirin for a really bad head ache. Time goes by and you suddenly realize that your head ache is gone and you feel better.  That is good medicine.

You walk into a round pen with a thousand pound animal. They gaze into your eyes, they do a body scan from top to bottom and place their forehead on your chest and breathe deeply, or offer to walk with you as you explore a new way of being, and when you walk out of the arena you feel better. That is good medicine. End of story; happy ending to the story actually!

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, “Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience.”  Empirical knowledge,  that which is gained from my own experience or those of my peers, has always meant more to me than any scientific paper or book leaning.  I suppose it is true, I only appreciate science when it finally realizes and acknowledges something that I “knew” was true all along. < I honor science but it is not my #1 guide to explaining my life exeperiences. >

I have not spent hours perusing the internet looking for factual data to back up my belief that horses have the ability to heal humans. But I know that I am not alone in this belief.  At this point in time Wikipedia does not have an offering for this topic.  However, if you search the internet for “healing with horses” you can find many, many websites and advertisements, so we humans know that it is happening. Science is not interested in us yet, but when it is, we will have the experiences and the stories to offer.

What is vitally important to me is I finally found a way that I can bring this knowledge to my fellow humans, walking beside my horse. Through equine gestalt coaching, I can partner with horses to holistically heal the many ills of the body/mind/spirit that we two-legged’s suffer with/from. My dear friend Patricia once said, “If every person on the earth was a healer, we would still have lots to do.” I am not totally sure what she meant, but I “know” it is true.

When I watch a horse stretch its neck forward in an extended yawn, I say “thank you.”  For there is a very good chance they have just extended their healing hoof to me and removed negative energy.  And I am appreciative.

 

Here is a picture of my two little donkeys who very much wanted to be a part of this report.                      
Just looking at them may make you feel better.          
We hope so!

 

 

 

 

 

BB Harding and I are offering a one day retreat at Dragonfly Farm in Platteville, Colorado. 

We have a fun filled day of playful exploration.

Come on out and join us!