Konect Equine is launching new remote programs & youth camp in 2016

Last week Konect farewelled two very much loved team members. The ponies Tippy Toes and Serenity went to live with my extended family in outback Australia. It was a very sad and tough journey but they are both safe and happy in their new home and i cannot wait to visit them. Although this is sad news , something that is great about the process is that on the journey I was able to asses the option of running a rural youth camp next year. This along with other exciting developments including delivery of equine sessions to remote areas and the launch of Konect Performance and Change Management programs is making 2016 very promising. Watch this space ..... 

 

 

Register you interest via email emma_gander@hotmail.com or via Facebook

Consider who you surround yourself with, it can make a difference

Be mindful of those you surround yourself with, others can unknowingly have either a positive or negative effect on the way you feel. As feelings directly influence our quality of life and our ability to react in the moment this is something you should give fair consideration. I know when I work with or team up my horses I always give thought to how their individual energy will impact what we are trying to achieve. Same goes for circles of friends, or peers. Think about how being near them can make you feel or behave. Is it a positive or negative influence, do you think you become a better or poorer you for having them in your life . Do they respect how you feel and let you be your authentic self , or do you feel like you need to become someone who is different to your true self to be accepted. Do you feel encouraged and accepted by these friends , is their a sense of trust , or does being near them make your consider violating your morals and or doing things you would not normally do in order to be accepted. As an individual you should feel confident enough in the beauty of who you are to truly express and be accepted as yourself, if your in a situation where this is not the case perhaps take a step back and consider if this is right for you. Take steps to fully understand who you are and be comfortable in your own skin , once you are these decisions and many others will be so much easier.
Come and try a self discovery session at Konect Equine Wisdom and Wellness Centre visit our facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/KonectEquineWisdomandWellnessCentre

Only light can drive out the dark, changing your state of mind.

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you felt surrounded by emotional darkness, in a position where you found it very hard to focus on the positive things, a time where you felt that nothing was working and generally unwanted, unloved or even worthless?

I’m sure at some point everyone has experienced a similar feeling in their lives. What can you do to help bring yourself out of this negative or bad emotional state? There are several strategies one of my favorite is to use the principal that only light can drive out the dark. What I mean by that is to consciously change your focus from negative to positive, it’s not always easy but being aware of your current state, and what you can do to change it can be a wonderful fist step to intentionally spending more time in a better state, in a frame of mind that serves yourself and others in a positive way.  

I like to use a strategy I learnt called emotional flooding. The process involves thinking of as many positive aspects, things, people in your life as possible, and visualize these positive things entering your body and filling your heart with joy. As these positive thoughts, memories dreams flow into your mind your nervous system will start to feel joy, your body posture and physiology will change, and you will start to feel more grateful and happy. Together the process will change your state of mind, and will start to train the nervous system how to feel good and focus on the positive. The more you do this the easier it will be for your body to move to a positive state and out of a negative one.  Of course the reverse is also true. Where focus goes energy flows. 

Empowerment, Self Confidence & Awareness

The meaning of empowerment according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, is to equip or supply with an ability; to enable. The true force of empowerment can be felt when a person allows oneself to completely and wholly embrace this meaning , feeling free to utilise to its fullest such an ability . In today's modern society where we have access to a large amounts of information, at a fast pace and easier than we have ever had before, one would think we have never been in a better position to equip ourselves with knowledge....but just how much does this translate into ability and in turn empower us to live a life we dream of? 

The term empowerment is used seemingly freely in the modern era , we aim to empower employees, empower our children and ultimately empower ourselves. So just what is empowerment? I set out to discover not just the meaning of it, but the process behind achieving it.

The Personal Empowerment Institute of suggests you can learn to harness your authentic power enabling you to experience true joy and inner peace, by following nine steps .This process which includes establishing clear purpose and direction , thinking with your heart and honouring your true self would seem to be a great start. In saying that how do you begin to define such a purpose and direction?

Upon not only my personal journey but those documented by many others a very good first step is to begin to look inward. By that I mean becoming familiar with who you truly are , and what it is you bring to this world. Attune yourself with your core values and become the person you are most comfortable being. This includes the socio-psychological concept of self-confidence.

There are many factors that may affect self-confidence , or the self-assuredness in one's personal judgement, ability, and power.  These factors include social networks, activities, perception of self, and perceived perception by others. It may extend to body image and physical and emotional health. Understanding yourself through a personal discovery journey, can help you to gain wonderful insights into how your beliefs and emotional awareness impact your everyday life. In particular area's including sense of worth, resilience and ability to cope may be impacted as part of this process. 

Working with horses helps instill trust, self-esteem and confidence. Communicating and making a connection with animals who are full of grace and power is in itself a challenge, and when successful can be very rewarding. Awareness of one’s personal presence and physical being, having knowledge and consciousness is the foundation of good communication, in particular with equines.  The true leverage and benefit of positive interaction with horses can be found in the process of learning in the moment. That is not only are you discovering truths about yourself by receiving immediate and honest feedback, but to succeed you need not only acknowledge this feedback but process and apply new skills and levels consciousness. 

Learning or development of knowledge is a major step which contributes to empowerment, however translation of this knowledge into living consciously and being self confident and aware to me are a fundamental part of the process. Equine facilitated learning is key in enabling all these components to engage and create new mind maps and ways of thinking. When one understands and accepts who they are, the possibilities are limitless. 

  
Konect Equine Wisdom and Wellness Centre

Cognitive-behavioural treatment programs for children with anxiety, what makes them effective?

Given the high number of children I have visiting my facility experiencing anxiety, to help me gaining an understanding of what can help to overcome and manage the symptoms I undertook some research. I focused on evaluating the CBT based approach. The studies which included intervention programs both school and non school based, delivered mostly in group settings, and treatments delivered to children at a variety of ages from as young as 4 years old. Components of each intervention including structure and content, delivery methods, participant age and parent or teacher involvement were evaluated. Common themes between each of the interventions and a summary of the outcomes are established and key components evaluated.

This investigation has given me , and Konect Equine Wisdom and Wellness Centre the opportunity to review program content and delivery to ensure we are helping in the best way possible. One area of interest is the meaningful contribution to positive outcomes family involvement can have. I am looking at ways to further incorporate parents into sessions with the goal of transferring knowledge and skills to them as well.

Feel free to check out the full article here >>>>  The efficacy of Cognitive-behavioural treatment programs in reducing symptoms of anxiety disorders and promoting resilience in children

Desensitizing what it means for the horse, what it means for the human.

Creating an awareness of physiological and muscular reactions within oneself creates an understanding of the impacts of anxiety. By consciously and systematically training your body, through exposure to feared situations, you can effectively desensitize yourself, and your mind, to certain environments and or situations. 

This process which can be seen as a type of relaxation training , can be an effective method for dealing with anxiety and or related internalising disorders, or simply just as a way of managing or overcoming fear. Systematic desensitization can be employed in a number of ways, imaginal desensitization for example through the use of visualisation techniques, or in invo desensitization where the actual feared object or situation is employed. Another technique is through an experiential learning session with horses. 

Experiential, or in other words observed, pragmatic , realistic , down-to-earth , or practical manner is very much my preferred mode of delivery for this type of mind-body training.  Coming into contact with grace, power and beauty (all elements displayed by the deeply spiritual animal that is the horse), in an attempt to learn about ones self and the impact of physiology, sounds more like fun than a deeply profound learning journey to me. 

Not surprisingly desensitizing and sensitizing horses plays a part in training and communicating with horses. You can desensitize a horse by applying a stimulus, such as your hand or brush, on a certain part of the horses body ,  or a rope or halter on their face,  until a particular response is eliminated, for example accepting the stimulus and not moving away from it. By completing this process in a kind and systematic way you can teach the horse to accept them , i.e have no response. The reverse is also true you can sensitize a horse to a particular aid or cue teaching the horse to move away from that pressure. This approach to communicating with horses creates a very good foundation for learning about our individual methods of communication. Interacting with a horse in will give your immediate feedback about not only your body language/physiology but also speak volumes about your focus and language methods. The horse will see exactly what your feeling or projecting, and react in an way which will help discover your authentic self. Horses are extremely present and live in the moment , and they are masters at helping us do the same. 

Integrity, assumptions & Trust , Why they are important when communicating with horses.

Today some very important lessons were themed into one of my morning equine facilitated learning sessions. These were based on the principals of "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz. When communicating with horses these fundamentals are important and helped in a lot of  areas within today's workshop. Firstly  agreement 1 - Be Impeccable with your word , speak with integrity. Applying this when communicating especially with a horse is imperative , say only what you mean. If you avoid confusing the message with all sorts of  "white noise" or irrelevant misleading information, we get our intention across much easier. When a horse sees and feels congruence, or everything seems to be in alignment,  it will be more accepting and trusting of our requests. Basically you need to not just say and show what you mean , you must also feel it. Your intention needs to match your actions. Build trust by showing you are capable, dependable and fair. "Use the power of your word in the direction of of truth and love". This ties very closely with number 3 - Don't make assumptions . If you express what you really want,  and communicate clearly, you are better able to avoid misunderstandings . 2 -Not taking anything personally is another extremely important one when interacting with horses , they do not hold a grudge nor have an ego . This is why we need to ensure we do not let our emotions take control of our actions. If this happens and we let our fear, aggression, or frustration project onto the horse, we will only receive the same back. It will also destroy any trust that has been established. Self awareness and regulation of emotions are key to building a relationship and communicating successfully with a horse. 4 - Always doing your best is the most important approach here, if you are always doing your best in the moment and you remain flexible chances are you will succeed. Today was a very windy morning and this contributed to the challenge we undertook with the ponies. The wind added many elements to our fun session,  and required us to pay extra attention not only to self awareness, but our communication methods. In order to do this we needed to raise our consciousness in relation to our personal physiology , focus and language. We wanted to give not only ourselves but the horses the best chance of succeeding after all this was a first time attempt at trying to drive the horse from the ground.