Natural Lifemanship Events Archives - Page 2 of 5

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

by Bettina Shultz-Jobe, LPC, NBCC | Dec 12, 2023 | Equine Assisted Trainings, Natural Lifemanship Events, Personal Growth

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. My sentimental heart loves this sweet little rhyme.

I’m generally not superstitious, but I do love tradition. I find safety, connection, and predictability in this passing on of customs and beliefs. For generations, brides and grooms have abided by this list as a way to incorporate cherished people, objects, and memories into a sacred ceremony. Arguably, the most sacred of all ceremonies. A ceremony about new beginnings, new life, love, and commitment.

Rooted in Tradition

At our wedding, I wore my mother’s wedding dress, new shoes, and a turquoise necklace Tim had given me. Almost all of the decorations at our wedding were borrowed from many dear friends who contributed to our special day in precious ways.

When Natural Lifemanship formed a relationship with That’s the Dream Ranch, it was a new beginning for us, a wedding of sorts. This partnership is all about love and commitment and the building of a new life for our family, our business, and our community. The renovating and remodeling of the thirty year old, mostly furnished 12-bedroom inn, that we now call the NL HomePlace, was a labor of love – so much labor and so much love went into every single room. I have said many a time that each room has something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue – like any sacred experience should.

So, what is meant by this little rhyme? This Old English rhyme dates back to the 19th century and all meanings are just theory, so here are mine.

Something Old

I’m a huge fan of antiques – objects with a story that tether us to the past. Sometimes it feels easier to just burn it all and start fresh, but when we do that we lose the wisdom of those who have come before us. The wisdom of our fellow travelers who have prepared the way for us – who have walked the paths we tread. We also lose the profound learning and joy that comes when we repair a relationship, a life. . . or an armoire. Throughout the Inn we have done the painful work of choosing what goes, deciding what to keep, and what needs repair. Each room has something old – something from the past to remind you that you are not alone. Something with a story.

Something New

There’s nothing like the smell of a new car, a new saddle, a new home. Let’s face it, the musty smell of something old is no joke. The ozone machine has become an important member of the NL team here at the ranch. Something new represents hope for the future and an acceptance of where we are now – what is. The new allows us to embrace change and progress and possibility. As we purchased new furniture, bedding, and artwork, I held the belief close to my chest that healing is possible and that the old can be repurposed in a way that plays well with the new.

Something Borrowed

We need each other. We need support. Something borrowed is about having the humility to ask for help and accept support and nurture from others. It’s also about community and family – the kind we create. I have always dreamed of living in a neighborhood, where I could run next door to borrow a cup of sugar or a stick of butter. It is our dream to create this kind of home for you. Each room has something borrowed – something our NL family has contributed to our grand purpose.

Something Blue

Specifically, turquoise. . . the NL turquoise. Well, this is just good taste! Need I say more?

Welcome Home

It is our deepest desire that when you come through the gates of the NL Headquarters, you feel something right away. When you step foot on our land and cross the threshold of your bespoke room, you feel an energy that prepares. An energy that pierces your soul and prompts your heart to say, “I am safe here. I am protected. I am ready – to learn, to grow, to heal, and to transform.”

It is our desire that this place, our HomePlace, prepares the way – for profound growth that even extends to those whose feet may never touch this land – those whose lives you touch. Your life is our legacy – a responsibility we take very seriously and hold with great tenderness.

We have prepared this place so that you may find what your soul seeks – maybe a new beginning, a bit of healing and growth, a renewed sense of love for and commitment to yourself and others. May you connect with the deep history of this place, and with those who have come before you. May you find hope. May you be supported and nurtured. And may you grow to love turquoise. . . because that’s just good taste. 😉

May you be at home here. May you find true belonging here, at your HomePlace.

Also, if you register for an in-person training at the NL Headquarters in Brenham, Texas before December 31st of this year you will get free onsite lodging in our little inn.

I hope you can join us in 2024.

Because We Were Together

by Bettina Shultz-Jobe, LPC, NBCC | Nov 28, 2023 | Equine Assisted Trainings, Natural Lifemanship Events, Personal Growth

In 2020 the NL team got together on Zoom for a Christmas party. One of our trainers, Courtney White, guided us in a very robust and super competitive scavenger hunt. I’ll spare you most of the details, but, basically, The Jobe family won. Just sayin’ *shrug shoulders*.

I’m fairly certain we left our friendly competition in the dust when we were the first to find “poop” in our house. As it turns out, Cooper had coprolite in his bathroom. Petrified poop won the game! It really was fun. Truly.

Since we couldn’t be in-person.

At Interconnected 2020, our first online conference, we connected through movement and music at the beginning of each day and through Fireside Chats (with an actual fire on our end) each evening. Each of us made nature mandalas in our little part of the world and shared pictures of them with each other. Our entire community went to great lengths to connect through the distance. It really was amazing.

Since we couldn’t be together in-person.

In 2021, at our Love and Grief conference, which was also online, I remember several powerful moments of intense connection, where with tears in our eyes, we felt deep in our bones that we were attended to. We knew that we were not alone. We held grief in one hand and love in the other, and we were changed. It, truly, was beautiful.

Since we couldn’t be together in-person.

Fast forward to 2023, our most recent in-person experience, the NL Sacred Landscapes conference. Imagine 75 people walking silently at dusk, some with lanterns, some with drums, some sprinkling cornmeal and tobacco or anointing oil as they moved. Our intention was to christen our community in our new home at the NL Headquarters and to bless the land that holds us.

We began by listening to Mary Oliver play the kalimba – a sound we not only heard but felt vibrate throughout our entire body. A vibration that can’t be felt online, and that has been shown to have all kinds of physical and emotional benefits.

As we walked, we could hear each other’s steps, breath, the rhythmic friction of our clothes. The science of biological entrainment tells us that our hearts began to beat in rhythm with one another. Our brain waves began to dance in tandem. We certainly didn’t need science to tell us about the powerful energy exchange occurring, but science does happen to support our experience.

It was palpable – it was powerfully felt and no words were needed.

Because we were together in person.

As we came upon the Back Forty at the NL Headquarters, the sun was setting as we watched the silhouette of our horses running across the top of the hill. We all stopped and watched in silence – a thin moment I will never forget. Never. My words don’t do it justice. The pictures don’t even come close to capturing what that moment was like, but those who were there feel it now.

We were changed.

Because we were together in person.

That moment was transcendent and transformative – it is a moment I will continue to come back to throughout my life. We were connected. With each other. To the ground on which we walked. With the sky. The trees. The horses.

This kind of connection changes us. It just does. There is a lot of science to support what happened in that moment, but we didn’t need an explanation because we had an experience.

At the top of the hill we did a calling of the directions to set up a sacred space (within us and around us) to do sacred work. We took a moment to look at each other – mirror neurons firing, co-regulation creating a tremendous amount of safety and nurture, our social neural networks lit up like crazy (if we must employ a bit of science to explain the magic of the moment) – we took a moment to really see our tribe, our people, the people doing this world-changing, legacy building work.

My body is still buzzing as I recall our time together, in person.

As we walked the rest of the way home, I could hear people sniffling or openly weeping. We were together. Research suggests what we already know to be true – being physically together simply can’t be replaced online. It just can’t. Our physical bodies need each other to survive, to grow, and to heal. My heart needs your heart – literally – and yours needs mine.

Research shows that if we are within 6 feet of each other our hearts will start to beat in rhythm. My eyes need your eyes. When we are physically together, eye contact affects our pupils and field of vision which affects our nervous system. My nervous system needs your nervous system, the electromagnetic field of your body, to regulate. It’s how our bodies work. My brain needs your brain. When we are within about 6 feet of each other, our brain waves begin to entrain. Mirror neurons fire like mad when we communicate face-to-face – it’s not the same online.

In a very physical sense, we need each other.

I am so thankful for zoom and online learning. Truly. It has made NL so much more accessible. It has provided a way for us to disseminate so much more information, but research shows that it can’t replace face-to-face interactions. It CAN powerfully augment them. It is certainly a powerful alternative when in-person experiences are not possible.

Online learning has made it more feasible for us to focus on the experience you get when you take the time to be with us, because you have already learned foundational information online. I love and deeply appreciate online learning, and I believe we can embody what we learn online.

Embodied online learning is a practice. That said, most of the time some in-person experiences are necessary to move beyond practice to embodiment – we must all wisely choose which experiences we will do while being held by the energy of place and person.

Nowadays, we CAN be physically together.

Place matters. We prepared a place for you. People matter. We are thrilled to serve you, be with you, and walk with you.

This year we want to make it possible for you to be with us, in person, at your NL home. When you register before December 31st at midnight for an in-person training in 2024, onsite lodging at the NL HomePlace Inn will be included in your registration fee.

We hope to be with you in 2024.

Welcome Home.

Check out our winter and spring 2024 calendar here.

Sunrise Summit – The FULL Conference Schedule with Session Descriptions

by Laura McFarland | Oct 10, 2023 | Natural Lifemanship Events

ABOUT Sunrise Summit and Sacred Landscapes

Sunrise Summit is an online conference, Oct 13-14, 2023. ALL sessions will be recorded and available for viewing through February 10, 2024. Please note that CE Credits are available only for those sessions that are attended LIVE during the conference. In addition to having access to all of the Sunrise Summit recordings through February 10, 2024, attendees will also gain access to the three keynote recordings from the in-person Sacred Landscapes conference, which will be held Nov 8-11th, 2023 at the NL Headquarters in Brenham, TX (view full Sacred Landscapes schedule here). Sacred Landscapes registration INCLUDES Sunrise Summit! Sunrise Summit registration may also be purchased separately for those who are unable to attend Sacred Landscapes in person.

Sunrise Summit Schedule

FRIDAY, OCT 13, 2023

9:30 – 10:00 AM – Opening Ceremony: Gather, Arrive and Connect.

Bettina Shultz-Jobe will usher us to more deeply arrive into our spaces and our bodies, and guide us as we begin the practice of embodied online learning.

We’ll also share time together with special musical guests the Darling Daughters.

10:00 -10:30 AM – Break

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM – ReWilding the Psyche: The Transformative Power of Earth’s Landscapes – Keynote presentation with Mary Reynolds Thompson

“Tell me the landscape in which you live and I will tell you who you are.” -Ortega y Gasset

The mythologist Joseph Campbell wrote that more than meaning, “what we are seeking is an experience of being alive.”

And yet the modern world is structured to keep us tamped down and tame. It teaches us we are separate from the natural world, cut off from the great wildness that sings from mountaintops and calls to us in the river’s flow.

During this experiential talk, Mary will guide us through five Earth archetypal landscapes—deserts, forests, oceans and rivers, mountains, and grasslands––that hold essential aspects of our own wild psyches. As each of us finds our own particular way into the metaphors of the landscapes we start to see how these places are braided into the core of our being.

The vast emptiness and aridity of deserts; the mystery and darkness of forests; the flow and depth of oceans and rivers; the granite and grandeur of the highest mountain peaks; the sense of belonging we seek in the grasslands—all bring us closer to the core of who we are.

Enticing us, challenging us, illuminating us, Earth’s archetypes engage our deepest imaginations. In both their wounded states – as in mountaintop removal, clear-cutting, pollution – and in their pristine ones – pure streams, virgin forests, native grasses – they make clear that what we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves.

12:00 – 1:00 PM – Lunch

1:00 – 2:30 PM – Breakout Sessions

A Welcoming Practice: Creating a Space and Place for Clients, Equines, and Providers to Thrive – with Beverly Walsh

Whether you are new to Equine Assisted Services (EAS) or a “seasoned” professional, join us to share in practices that create a sense of welcome and safety for the clients, providers and equines in order to thrive and offer their highest good.

We enter into the field of Equine Assisted Services to do good. Yet in order to do good, a practice must be sustainable; financially, physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually. Daily practices that support the business of doing business will be presented.

In this workshop you will:

Be presented with ideas regarding the practice of creating a welcoming space and environment that allows for the sense of safety and wellness necessary to get to our highest good.
Learn how to be in a practice that creates an invitation so that clients, equines and providers can stay in a sense of flow that allows all to be effective, connected, and regulated in good and challenging circumstances.

Research on the Benefits of Horses Satisfying Attachment Deficits and Depression – with Dana Kasper, PhD, LPCC

Brain development in infants is dependent on having a predictable, consistent, warm caregiver in a safe environment within close proximity for establishing a secure attachment.

Secure care creates the infant’s internal working model that determines a human’s self-concept and their view of others and the world. These internal mental structures, or schemas are constructed in response to how they were cared for and determines their ability to regulate emotions when upset.

Intermittent care, harshness, or neglect may result in psychopathology, which often includes depression. An absence of innovative treatment approaches aiming at attachment deficits and depression exists (Bowlby, 1969; Maroney, 2003; NIMH, n.d.; Nuccini et al., 2015; Read et al., 2014; Sanders & Hall, 2018).

Examining the centrality of attachment and attunement within the context of safety is presented from the neurobiological perspectives of attachment and social engagement theories.

Research on factors salient to Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) and related to attachment deficits and depressive symptomatology will be reviewed.

Outcomes will be presented from research that includes but is not limited to the psychobiological elements reported to increase the bond between humans and horses. For example, concepts of safety, sensitivity, and attunement are found to be germane aspects of EAP in the treatment of mental health disorders.

Practical applications of these findings will be presented for working with others when providing EAP.

2:30 – 3:00 PM – Break

3:00 – 4:30 PM – Breakout Sessions

Home on the Ranch, 23 Years Lessons Learned in an EAS Practice – with Cynthia Rank-Ballas

Cynthia Rank Ballas will share her 23 year experience of owning her own equine psychotherapy practice and working at home. In this experiential presentation she will share the glory and the hardships of managing contracts and how to hone in on the ideal match for your talents and experience to help others heal.

There is a tremendous need for our work, but be careful what we wish for, it may come true!

We will ponder how to embrace the responsibilities involved, how to create long term successful relationships with co-facilitators and staff. How to protect our private space and open our ranch to the healing for clients, creating healthy boundaries for both.

We will discuss the importance of minimizing risk, and how to feel safe and protected.

Group members will participate in somatic exercises both for the staff and the clients. We will create an opening for celebration and how to focus on what is working and create a pathway for personal and professional success.

We will discuss how to avoid burnout. We will share the magic of Touched by a Horse medicine cards to provide additional support and wisdom, adding tools for creating insight and celebration on our journey.

Cynthia began her journey in 1998 with Adventures in awareness, was a member and certified by EAGALA in the early years, now holding her professional certification with the Association for Interactive Equine Professionals. Her interest in Neuroscience and connection has led her to join up with Natural Lifemanship, and continue a life of learning. She has presented at conferences, most recently for the Spirituality Conference at Southwestern College.

Exploring the Framework of Healing Stories: How to Gently Guide Unfolding Stories Toward Positive Change – with Bill Woodburn

Join us in exploring the concepts and structures behind what makes a story healing and how to gently guide unfolding stories toward positive change. We will challenge seeing stories as just distractions and explore practical counseling skills to transform repetitive, closed stories, into healing moments.

Are you attending the Sacred Landscapes Conference in November? If so, the session with Bill will provide important foundational concepts that will guide your experiential learning on site with him. We encourage you to attend live or watch the recording of this session before attending Sacred Landscapes.

4:30 – 5:00 PM Break

5:00 – 6:30 PM Breakouts

Building the Business of Your Dreams with Your Heart, Your Soul and Your Mind – with Shannon Knapp

All of us in EAS are passionate about making this amazing healing work available in our community, AND we also need to think about HOW to make it work for all of us: the community, the horses & people, and also the bank account!

I know when I started, I loved horses and wanted to help people, but knew NOTHING about running a business. Since then I’ve learned many, many lessons, good and bad, culminating in our celebrating 20 years of helping horses and humans!

Join me for a look at the biggest missed step in opening your EAP/L business, as well as the top three choices I’d change if I could go back to opening Horse Sense of the Carolinas 20 years ago.

We’ll also have ample time for Q & A, so bring your questions!

Our Internal Tribe: The Internal Voices Formed Through our Identity Development and Family Messages – with Carol Joy Hollis-White

Within each of us is a tribe of voices that have been formulated through our identity development and family messages. Presentation offers a visual and o formative representation of the tribe that makes up our “identity pie” As the song by Sarah Bareilles says, “mixed up and baked into a beautiful pie”.

Objectives:

Understand identity development
Understand and identify internal tribe
Understand and identify messages that are carried by each voice in the internal tribe.
Learn which voices need to be strengthened and which voices need to be given less power in order to create balance.

SATURDAY, OCT 14, 2023

9:30 – 10:00 AM – Gather and Connect: Our community will gather, connect and prepare for the day, together! Bettina Shultz-Jobe will usher us to more deeply arrive into our spaces and our bodies, and guide us as we begin the practice of embodied online learning.

10:00 – 10:30 AM – Break

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM – The Origins of Movement and Repatterning of Motor Skills to Support Transformation and Healing – Keynote presentation with Mark Taylor

In this presentation, Mark Taylor will outline the Basic Neurological Patterns: the embryological, fetal, and infantile processes through which mammals and humans develop the ability to move in space and interact with their environment.

We all have strong movement patterns and underdeveloped ones, the combination of which produces our unique styles of thought, perception, behavior, and expression.

When the movement patterns are balanced, we call it the Satisfaction Cycle: the capacity to yield, push, reach, grasp, and pull—the fundamentals of our movement vocabulary.

By understanding the cycle and the patterns, we can invite in the process of repatterning—the reorganization of motor skills that support transformation and healing.

Are you attending the Sacred Landscapes Conference in November? If so, Mark’s session provides important foundational concepts that will guide your experiential learning on site with him. We encourage you to attend live or watch the recording of this session before attending Sacred Landscapes.

12:00 – 1:00 PM – Lunch

1:00 – 2:30 PM – Breakout Sessions

Processing Traumatic Memories: A Principle-Based Introduction to an Embodied and Multi-Modal Approach – with Bettina Shultz-Jobe, Kathleen Choe, and Kate Naylor

What is it that really helps a person process a traumatic memory?

With a variety of modalities in the field of trauma it can be difficult to know which to choose – however, underlying all of these modalities are a shared set of principles that guide the work.

In this presentation, led by our Co-Founder and CEO, Bettina Shultz-Jobe, along with NL trainers and leaders Kathleen Choe and Kate Naylor, we will explore common trauma processing principles; not just techniques, but the principles that fuel their effectiveness.

Drawing from approaches like SE, EMDR, IFS, TIR, Somatic Movement and Psychodrama – the presenters will offer an introductory look at NL’s revolutionary and embodied multi-modal approach to the healing of trauma.

This presentation will teach concepts, principles, and techniques that we will then demonstrate and practice experientially at Sacred Landscapes.

Are you attending the Sacred Landscapes Conference in November? If so, the session with Bettina, Kathleen, and Kate will provide important foundational concepts that will guide your experiential learning on site. We encourage you to attend live or watch the recording of this session before attending Sacred Landscapes.

Integrating the Internal Landscape for External Connection: Utilizing Rhythm, the 8 Beat Cycles, Interoception, and Energy to Create a Safe and Sacred Space for Healing – with Fritzi Glover-Strowmatt

The relationship between interoception and energy is key to connection with self and other living beings. Awareness is key to keeping the rhythm of the session connected and congruent for progress.

Exploring the internal landscape of regulation and how it affects the external connections with the environment is essential for creating a safe and sacred space.

Exploring the neuroscience of rhythm and how to utilize a beat to create regulation and interoception for optimal awareness. The how is in eight beat cycles integrating the right and left hemispheres.

2:30 – 3:00 PM – Break

3:00 – 4:30 PM – Breakout Sessions

Neither Here Nor There: Supporting Immigrants through EAS as They Find a Sense of Place in a New Land – with Kathleen Choe

Immigrants often struggle with having a sense of place. They may have lived away from their country of origin long enough to not feel they belong there any longer, but may never feel that they belong in the country they’ve chosen (or been forced to) to live in either.

This workshop outlines the experiences involved in adapting to new places and the challenges of creating safe spaces both internally and externally to create a sense of belonging: a place to call home.

The nuances of language, especially in understanding the vocabulary of emotions in a new culture, and the baffling and often confusing decoding of customs and mannerisms across cultures will be addressed in depth.

Changing the World One Relationship at a Time: Advocacy & Systemic Change Thru A Relational Lens – with Sara Sherman

In our rapidly evolving world, where systems and structures are continually adapting, it becomes increasingly evident that a transformational force is needed to navigate these changes successfully.

It’s a force grounded in the very essence of our humanity – our capacity for connection, empathy, and understanding. This force is harnessed through relationships.

Relationships ARE the vehicle for change.

It is this guiding principle that lies at the heart of this presentation. To truly effect change on a systemic level, we must commit to embracing the principles of secure attachment in every facet of our lives. It requires us to venture beyond our comfort zones and adopt these principles as a way of being, understanding that connection and perfection cannot coexist.

Our relationships, with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us, are the vehicles through which we can catalyze profound and lasting transformation.

Join Sara Sherman as she shares her personal journey of embodying these principles in all aspects of her life. She will shine a light on the highs and lows, the successes and challenges, and the transformation that has occurred through this practice. Transformation within herself and her personal relationships, her organization and team, collaboration with outside organizations and with the community at large.

Sara’s journey is not just an individual story; it is an invitation for all of us to join in this embodied movement toward systemic change. It’s a call to action to infuse these principles into our professional work, our organizational structures, and our communities. Through her experiences, we will gain insight into how these principles can be a catalyst for positive change on a broader scale.

4:30 – 5:00 PM – Break

5:00 – 6:30 PM – As Little As Necessary, As Much As Needed: A Discussion of Intentional, Principle Based Equine Care – Keynote presentation with Kate Naylor in conversation with Tim Jobe and Tanner Jobe

The basics of equine care varies quite a bit from farm to farm, from place to place – often, we are bound by logistical constraints and the status quo of convention. But, what might it look like when we can build a herd, and a farm, from the ground up…and with the principles of Natural Lifemanship as a guide? Could we build something that allowed our equines to grow into their fullest, most authentic selves? Could our relationships with them support this, rather than hinder it?

And even if we can’t build from scratch, how can we approach herd management with intention and purpose each day? Living Natural Lifemanship principles doesn’t just change how we are in the round pen – it influences each moment, and each choice we make.

Join Kate Naylor as she speaks with NL’s Co-Founder, Tim Jobe, and NL’s Director of Equine Professionals, Tanner Jobe. Learn how they operate from the principles of Natural Lifemanship each day – from the strategic planning of spaces and places for their equines to gather, to the often rote task of feeding each morning, and everything in between.

6:40 – 7:00 PM – Closing Ceremony with the Darling Daughters

Remember – all sessions will be recorded and shared with ticket holders, so even though you can only attend one live, you’ll have access to both presentations in each time slot until February 10th, 2024. CE’s are only available for live attendance.

The Top Five Questions Our Certification Students Ask

by Laura McFarland | Oct 10, 2023 | Basics of Natural Lifemanship, Natural Lifemanship Events

By Laura McFarland and Bettina Shultz-Jobe

Natural Lifemanship Certification is a journey that involves taking the Fundamentals of NL and the NL Intensive and then seeing clients while occasionally meeting on zoom with seasoned NL practitioners to get individualized support regarding your specific clients, horses, facilities, funding sources, and more. Consultation and mentorship is the lifeblood of the certification process, and it is where we get to know you best and learn what you need from us most.

This year we have specially curated workshops for our conferences, Sunrise Summit and Sacred Landscapes, to address the top five concepts our students regularly tell us they are grappling with.

Concept # 1: Is it really necessary to use pressure or make requests?

For years we have been answering this question cognitively in blogs like this one, on consult calls, and in many of our trainings. Many of you have heard us communicate that pressure simply is. It exists implicitly in any relationship in the form of expectations and desires and it exists explicitly in the form of requests. It is literally gravity on our body, and is needed to help us wake up in the morning and move throughout life. Oftentimes, our mind follows this train of thought, but our body resists!

We all have a reaction to the word “pressure” – many of us have a complicated, sometimes even negative relationship with the word and idea. This year we are going to take a fresh look at the principles of pressure from a somatic perspective, so that you can explore your own personal relationship with pressure, energy, and requests – and how that relationship impacts your world both in and out of the round pen.

Our relationship with pressure is often the result of our most early attachments – when we explore our body’s experience of pressure we are standing on sacred ground – what better place to delve into this concept than at a conference dedicated to exploring the sacred landscapes within us and around us.

When Sacred Landscapes Roots Pass holders attend the November 8th workshop, “My Relationship to Pressure: Exploring a key principle to better understand the Natural Lifemanship process,” they can count it toward two consult hours as part of Basic NL Certification! (this is a savings of $350)

Concept #2: How do I increase my energy in a calm and connected manner?

This question is very much related to the first one. It comes up ALL the time. Once we realize that making requests is essential to building trust and connection in our relationships and we understand the concept of pressure intellectually, we may still struggle with managing pressure within our own bodies. For example, increasing pressure while using the least amount of energy (an NL principle) requires that we increase our body energy while staying present, calm and connected. This can be super challenging for any of us who have experienced an increase in body energy as something frightening or associated with disconnection, especially in our early relationships.

So, we asked Jennifer Harper, founder of Mindfulness with Horses and Little Flower Yoga, to tackle this topic: “Mindfulness with Horses: Not just for calming down!”

According to Jennifer (and we agree!), “Many people hear mindfulness and think about calming down. Slowing the breath, slowing the body, and finding stillness in the mind. While these can be powerful aspects of a mindfulness practice, they are only a small part of the story. Mindfulness supports our capacity to be present and embodied at ANY energy level. It offers us practices to stay regulated while accessing our power. Stay curious while increasing body energy. Stay grounded during big movement….”

In this 3 hour workshop Jennifer will guide you to explore ways to increase your energy without escalating emotion, supporting your ability to communicate clearly and powerfully with both horses and humans.

Concept #3: Detachment – do I really have to?

Detachment with connection is another area many people find themselves grappling with as they learn NL – another topic we have covered in blogs, webinars, and numerous trainings. Detachment (distance, space, boundaries) does not necessarily mean disconnection, yet it can certainly evoke anxiety, which we feel in our bodies. If you cringe at the thought of asking for detachment, you are not alone and we hear you!

Tim and Tanner Jobe are preparing a workshop you will not want to miss: “How to Stop Hating Detachment.” (We tried to come up with another title, but this one just stuck!)

In this workshop, Tim and Tanner Jobe will talk about and demonstrate how to harness the power of connected detachment to enhance relational development and reveal fun and exciting pathways for growth and even greater intimacy.

Concept #4: What about my horses’ relationships within their herd? What about their relationships with the EAS team? How do the NL principles apply?

The Natural Lifemanship principles extend to all of life’s relationships. This is why NL is such an effective approach to partnering horses and humans for therapeutic and learning purposes. However, in what ways do the NL principles extend to all of life’s relationships for our equine partners, who dwell in a herd and who spend their days working with their human partners offering equine-assisted services? We have several excellent workshops that will explore these two aspects of equine experience.

In “Getting Along: Facilitating Healthy Relationships within your (Horse) Herd”, Tim and Tanner Jobe share how they go about nurturing the bonds within the herd itself. This is super important to equine welfare and development, especially when equines are working in EAS settings.

Rebecca Hubbard and Reccia Jobe explore the ways in which the relational dynamics between equines and human practitioners impact the general healing landscape for clients participating in equine-assisted services. You won’t want to miss “The Human-Equine Relational Landscape: How Practitioner Treatment and Interactions with Equines Impact the Healing Landscape.”

In “Creating a Holistic Wellness Program for Your Horses: Incorporating Energy and Body Work” with Michelle Holling-Brooks you will be invited to look beyond the basic nutritional and traditional training needs of your horses. This session will dive into the different components of a truly holistic approach to working with and caring for our equine partners’ body, mind, and soul. You will also have the opportunity to learn and practice balancing your own energies as well, often the missing but key component.

Michelle Holling-Brooks will also present on “Developing the First Stages of Building a Secure Attachment for All (Including Horses) – Trust, Respect, and Willingness.” In this workshop you will explore the foundational skills needed to support clients and horses in building secure attachment. Michelle will introduce you to the first three pillars of what she calls the “Bridge of Connection” – building trust, respect, and willingness for ALL beings; horses and humans alike.

Dr. Amanda Massey is an AVCA certified animal chiropractor. In her presentation titled, “How to Assess your Horse’s Physical Discomfort to Help Them Thrive,” she will explore how stress impacts our equine partners. She will be giving demonstrations and sharing her experiences as an equine chiropractor to tell if your equine partner is experiencing discomfort from past traumas and how to improve their adaptation to environmental stressors with bodywork and chiropractic care.

Question #5: How do I integrate somatic work and movement into the services I provide?

We have numerous presentations, workshops, and practices that address this topic!

First of all, every single keynote will help you integrate the body and movement into your work and your life. Our community circle will guide you in the experience of some of these practices.

In “Healing Relationships with Place and Space: Engaging with the environment to foster transformation” Kate Naylor will guide us to consciously explore both space and place in our work, experiencing the deep healing that is found when we sink into our interdependence with the natural world, embracing the connection being offered in everything we do.

The keynote presentation with Mark Taylor and Bettina Shultz-Jobe, “Moving Through Space: What We Can Learn from Observing Movement in Session.” In this presentation, Mark introduces sixteen patterns of movement that allow us to move on land. You’ll learn to observe these movements within your own body, and how to observe patterns of movement when facilitating a client in session with a horse.

Another excellent movement focused workshop is offered by Kathy Taylor, who teaches: “Moving in Three Dimensions: A Simple Framework for Using Your Body to Establish, Maintain, and Nurture Connection While Working with Clients and Horses.”

Yet another workshop, “We Hold it All: A Sacred Root” by Jessica Benton, invites us to pay special attention to the root of our spine and pelvic floor and how this space in our bodies houses our emotions, histories, belief systems, and important functions. This root space deserves time, mindful connection, and healing.

Finally, in “Deepening the Satisfaction Cycle,” Mark Taylor invites participants to increase their sensory awareness of movement, to embody the Basic Neurological Patterns, and to explore their personal relationship to the elements of the Satisfaction Cycle (yield, push, reach, grasp, pull).

There is more! Check out the detailed schedule here.

So, why can this conference count toward certification for the first time ever?!!

Because the presentations listed above barely scratch the surface of what can be learned, experienced, and embodied at our conferences! The learning at this conference will be rich! You can read every single presentation description here if you want more detail!

If you are a Roots pass holder for the Sacred Landscapes conference, you may attend the “My Relationship to Pressure” session on Nov 8th and it will count for two individual consultations (a savings of $350!).

When you attend the Sunrise Summit (LIVE or watch at least 12 hours of recordings) and Sacred Landscapes in person either November 8th – 11th (Roots Pass) or 9th – 11th (Community Pass) you can apply the conference toward a speciality training, which is one of the requirements for Advanced Certification (a savings of up to $2,000 + travel and lodging!).

This is a bit of an experiment for us. There are so many presentations that we believe will profoundly contribute to your specialization in this field. We look forward to your feedback.

**To apply the NL conference toward a specialty training for Advanced NL Certification, you will intentionally choose your unique specialization path at the conference and share with us (in your certification course) how the conference contributed to your specialization in this field.

We hope to see you there!

We Are All Creators

by Bettina Shultz-Jobe, LPC, NBCC | Oct 10, 2023 | Natural Lifemanship Events, Personal Growth

I have a close, yet at times conflicted relationship with the creative process, as I suppose many of us do.

My ambiguity goes way back to family dynamics, sibling rivalry, and all kinds of messages about my artistic ability that I internalized and then generalized to include all things creative. Some of these messages were somewhat inevitable – I mean, my ability to do the things that people typically think of when they think of artistic ability is severely compromised and, if you will, underdeveloped. I mean, really, it’s bad. Even my stick figures could use some serious help.

In my twenties I had legitimate panic attacks related to the need to draw anything. Anything at all. And if said drawing would result in any sort of assessment, the terror was even worse.

When I was getting my masters degree in counseling we were asked to draw a horse, a tree, and a person during an assessments class. In previous classes I had always managed to be absent on the “art therapy” day, but given that this was a summer class I could not exactly miss the entire day. AND I didn’t know it was coming.

I found myself in the bathroom hyperventilating, and feeling ridiculously foolish. . . and shamed. Later that evening, I told my roommate, who is absolutely the best artist I know (in the traditional sense), about my “horse, tree, person meltdown.” With gusto, I explained to her that I am NOT creative! She calmly and in a very matter of fact manner said something along these lines, “What do you mean you’re not creative? Of course you are. You are made in the image of a Creator – creativity is the very essence of the Divine.”

It’s been a process, but I believe now that in that moment with my sweet friend I began to find myself and embrace what I was created to do. I truly believe that we are ALL created TO CREATE – each of us in different ways. When we lose our ability to create, or when it is taken from us, we begin to lose our humanity.

The creative process is the process whereby we find life and meaning and purpose. It is the process whereby an idea is born, grows, develops, gets squashed, gets repaired, changed, or reinvented, and then somewhere along the way comes to fruition through a progression of thoughts, feelings, and actions, and then ultimately it is something we let go of. We share it with others. Sometimes this process is quite personal, but most of the time it requires relationship and collaboration with others.

The creative process is inherently part of experiential therapy and learning. The art of walking alongside people on their healing journey while holding space, holding the frame, gently guiding, supporting, and co-creating. I am definitely an artist, and I get to work with all of you – fellow artists, each of us refining our craft every day.

There are at least 5 key stages of the creative process:

Preparation, Inspiration, or Brainstorming;
Incubation, absorbing, or processing;
Illumination – the “AHA moment” where it all comes together;
Evaluation – deciding if it is worth doing;
Elaboration – bringing your idea to life; and
A step I added – share it, release it, let it go.

The depth to which I love this process is matched by the depth to which I hate it. Truly. I get to create a lot through Natural Lifemanship – webinars, websites, blogs, programs, etc. BUT, my absolutely favorite creative endeavor is the NL Conferences. It’s also the thing I hate the most, truth be told. I think this community probably doesn’t need me to expand on this much, but the creative process can be just gut-wrenching at times. Those of us with a drive and passion to make a difference in the world, know all about the blood, sweat, and tears that go into our work. The labor of birthing anything is, at times, painful – pain beyond what we ever thought possible. Of course, the elation, connection, and love deeper than you ever imagined is what makes it all worth it.

Creativity is not just the work of artists, musicians, writers and designers. It’s an inherent part of the human experience, one that manifests in our daily lives as well as our work with clients and horses. At its core, creativity is our ability to envision new possibilities and create meaningful experiences that deeply resonate, which is exactly what we got to do when creating the Sunrise Summit and Sacred Landscapes conferences for you.

Here’s a deeper look at the creative process that went into designing this year’s NL Conferences and how we have infused every aspect of the conferences with meaningful experiences that you can’t get anywhere else.

Phase 1: Brainstorming

I LOVE brainstorming and dreaming. I have learned that some people in my life really enjoy this too, and others are annoyed because VERY little in the brainstorming phase ever really comes to fruition. I have learned that some people want to move straight into the evaluation stage, and so I feel like they are poopooing on my ideas, so it’s best to engage these types when I’m ready to evaluate if the idea is really worth doing.

This phase requires absolutely no commitment, so it’s my comfort zone for sure. Also, it’s a very important part of the creative process because it is where we find inspiration. During the planning for our upcoming conference we found inspiration in the natural world and in the many ways that we are nature. We found so much inspiration as we explored ideas about inner and outer landscapes, and how our horse and human herds live within these spaces.

Mary Reyolds Thompson has explored many of these concepts for much of her life – I almost cried when she agreed to do the online keynote for Sunrise Summit, opening our entire conference. By the way, if you missed the Sunrise Summit, you can still access recordings.

However, I gain the most inspiration for our conferences from relationship with our students – there always seems to be something we are collectively grappling with. NL has brainstorming documents planning themes, presentations, and flow for many more conferences to come. Have I mentioned how much I love this stage?

Phase 2: Incubation

This is the phase where you just set it all aside, and don’t purposely think about your idea. I do my best incubating during the rhythm of making dinner for my family. I have to keep my computer in the kitchen for this very reason, because it’s when my thoughts are incubating that my best ideas come. I take notes, I keep brainstorming, and it is inevitable that during one of my periods of incubation, it will magically all just come together. AHA – that’s it!

The NL Headquarters has been under all kinds of construction, and like many construction projects it has taken way longer than planned. This has given us a little forced incubation time. Incubation is typically not my jam – that’s why it happens when cooking, folding laundry, or in the shower. What I can say, without a doubt, is that unless I walk away and sit on it for a while, the next stage never really happens.

Phase 3: Illumination

Usually, all the preparation, inspiration, and incubation sets the stage for a clear moment of illumination. This moment happened during a call with one of our students as we were talking about feeling a bit lost and displaced as our digital community has grown.

I sense deep in my soul that our wider community is grappling with an innate desire for place.

Since 2020 our world has become more and more digital. It has allowed all of us to expand in powerful ways, but it is also the great paradox in the human services professions, because our field is one of connection, relationship, and hands-on experience. In this digital landscape, especially one in which most of our students have trained only online with us, to have a place that our NL Family can call home is simply magical. In this stage (which I circled back to later) I felt a strong sense that this conference would be all about introducing our community to their home with us.

Phase 4: Evaluation

Very few ideas actually make it past the evaluation stage. This isn’t always my favorite part because I feel like some of my best ideas die here because of practical things like money. Damn!

This is where we put pen to paper, do surveys, collaborate more, and try really hard not to get defensive when others think our idea isn’t worth doing. It’s here that you decide if you are going to forge ahead or go back to the drawing board.

Stage 5: Elaboration

Elaboration is all about bringing your idea to life. The active work of creating, destroying because you hate what you created, starting over, making mistakes, crying, cussing, and all the feels. Sometimes LOTS of cussing, but once we’re into this stage we don’t quit, because we know that it matters. It is important and worth doing. Even when we begin to doubt that it was the right decision we remind ourselves of the journey we went on to get here.

Stage 5.5: Illumination Take Two During Elaboration

The blood, sweat, and tears happen in the elaboration phase, and sometimes the thing you are creating takes on a life of its own. I love when this happens because it means I get an extra dose of illumination! Illumination feeds my soul and keeps me going when we’re in the trenches of the thing that matters. This also helps me prepare to let it go, because I begin to realize that it was never really mine.

This year as we were planning Sacred Landscapes, I found myself focusing on the experience we are creating more than ever – the experience continued to draw my attention and my heart. This conference is all about the EXPERIENCE!

We have planned how we will walk together (we discussed this a bit in this webinar), how we will move together, and how we will transition from one thing to the next. How we will be together has become of the utmost importance as we plan. I have attached the NL Principle of the Circle which will guide our time.

You will get to explore and move throughout our NL Home to find all kinds of treasures – literally, we’ve been shopping for and planning a treasure hunt for you. Walking, moving, exploring, and finding little gifts left just for you. We have thought deeply about how you might spend your time between sessions.

Mary Oliver and I have spent an enormous amount of time in prayer, meditation, and thought as we plan the community property blessing that will take place the first night, and as we prepare for how we will come together as a community in preparation for each day and as we integrate all we have learned at the day’s end.

Each evening two food trucks will arrive so that you can linger on property for a bit longer. One ice cream truck and a taco truck called “The Raging Taco” who tells us to “Surround yourself with tacos, not negativity.” Yes please and thank you I say! Thank you NL Conference for telling us what you need! Of course you needed tacos and ice cream!

The Darling Daughters will play their folk music rife with sweet harmonies and healing stories during our Family Dinner the first night and at our opening and closing ceremonies for the online conference. Terri Schanen with the Darling Daughters is a NL certification student and she reached out to us because she has written songs inspired by previous conferences. Experience, experience, experience! Yep, this conference has taken on a life of its own.

Each evening you can go home and rest or you can pick your flavor. . . at the ice cream truck and then from among a litany of activities to quiet your mind and your body, or energize it in a way that intentionally creates space for incubation and integration. There will be sound healing, drumming, meditation, story telling, and cowboy poetry, allowing us to connect with each other in new ways.

The teaching at this conference will be mind-blowingly good. We’ve told you all about the presentations on Facebook, and you can see the detailed schedule for Sacred Landscapes here, complete with all presentation descriptions. We know they’ll be good, which is why this year we are allowing NL certification students to apply conference attendance toward parts of Basic and Advanced NL Certification requirements (details can be found in your email).

This conference is about experience in every single sense of the word – even the tacos matter!

Jonathan Stalls beautifully (and unknowingly) summed up the purpose of this year’s conference in his book WALK: Slow Down, Wake Up, and Connect at 1-3 Miles per Hour when he wrote:

“It’s a practice of giving oneself to what can be learned or gained through experience and not just ideas of the mind. Once this embodiment takes shape and begins to live within you, the mind often has no choice but to let go and to adapt. You move with, cry with, and laugh with the story and the song of who you walk with. There is no turning back to what were only ideas.”

This, my friends and my NL family, is what our conference is all about. It’s a practice that we engage in together. I promise you it will be worth your very precious resources – all of them.

Stage 6: Share it, Release it, Let it go

I added this stage because this one is often the hardest for me. To officially be finished and share it with the world can feel so vulnerable. I have been frozen by perfection many a time at this stage – I’m ready to let it move from my hands to yours, but have just one more thing to change. . . and then another. . . and then another. . . and on and on. I must admit that solid deadlines do wonders for this struggle. The conference is coming y’all!

This conference will soon be yours. It will belong to all of us. We will create together. I have butterflies in my stomach as I adjust just one more thing and trust that what the NL team has created will be exactly what it is supposed to be. Registration closes on Thursday, October 19th, and we come together on November 8th. I hope you can join us!

Sacred Landscapes – The FULL Conference Schedule with Session Descriptions

by Laura McFarland | Oct 10, 2023 | Natural Lifemanship Events

Curious what our Sacred Landscapes conference workshops, keynotes, and other activities are about? We’ve included the entire conference schedule below with descriptions of each session! Please note that times are subject to change.

Please also view the schedule and session descriptions for the Sunrise Summit Online Conference, which takes place Oct 13-14, 2023, and is included with Sacred Landscapes registration! Sunrise Summit may also be purchased separately.

******************

WEDNESDAY, NOV 8, 2023 [For ROOTS Pass Holders]

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM – Check-in for Roots Pass Holders

2:00 – 4:00 PM – My Relationship to Pressure: Exploring a key principle to better understand the Natural Lifemanship process – with Bettina Shultz-Jobe, Tim Jobe, Kate Naylor, and Tanner Jobe

We all have a reaction to the word “pressure” – many of us have a complicated, sometimes even negative relationship with the word. So why does The Natural Lifemanship Institute insist on using it?

Whether you are brand new to the NL approach, or a seasoned veteran, this presentation serves as an important exploratory introduction to the principles of Natural Lifemanship for those just getting to know NL, as well as a deepening into the concept of pressure, for those already familiar.

Join Founders Tim Jobe and Bettina Shultz-Jobe, as well as trainers Tanner Jobe and Kate Naylor as we guide you in an exploration of your own personal relationship with pressure through interactive exercises – and how that relationship impacts your world both in and out of the round pen.

5:00 – 7:00 PM – Property Blessing for Roots Pass Holders and Speakers – with Bettina Shultz-Jobe, Tim Jobe, and Tanner Jobe

The brand new Natural Lifemanship Headquarters is the landscape that inspired our first in-person conference in years. Our dream is that this land, already sacred, will support the NL community in growing even more connected.

Please join us as we walk the new property and invite several community members to bless the land in their own cultural traditions. Your participation is valued, as this sacred landscape is meant for each and every one of you.

7:00 – 8:30 PM – NL Family Dinner and Live Music for Roots Pass Holders and Speakers

Roots Pass Holders and Invited guests will enjoy a family-style meal with the Natural Lifemanship Staff and Volunteers for the Sacred Landscapes Conference.

Live Music provided by the Darling Daughters!

THURSDAY, NOV 9, 2023

7:30 – 8:30 AM – Check-In for Community Pass Holders

8:30 – 8:50 AM – Welcome Opening Community Circle

Gather in the arena pasture, surrounded by tall trees and the open sky, as Bettina and Mary officially open the conference through rhythm, music, and movement – setting the tone for the rest of the weekend.

9:00 – 10:30 AM – Healing Relationships with Space and Place: Engaging with the environment to foster transformation – Keynote presentation with Kate Naylor

Our interdependence with the natural world around us is evident. Remembering this, from our head to our toes, is deeply healing. When we consciously explore both space and place in our work, we remind our clients, and ourselves, of the connection being offered in everything we do.

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM [Choose one of the following 6 workshops]

Exploring a Relationship to Self, Country, and Other – with Jane Faulkner

How can we strengthen our capacity for cultivating healthy relationships with ourselves, the land we call home, and fellow beings? Our minds constantly seek stability and connection in a rapidly evolving world, yet it is our bodies that possess innate abilities for true connection and healing.

In this experiential workshop, we will immerse ourselves in the world of somatic practices to explore diverse avenues for forging connections with our inner selves, the natural environment that surrounds us, and the intricate web of life that binds us together.

Throughout our journey, we will uncover the unique role of horses in supporting and enhancing this transformative process.

Exploring the Inner Landscape with Embodied Practices: Discernment and the Enneagram (Part 1 of 2) – with Kathleen Choe and Laura McFarland

Discernment comes in layers. It is a search for our innermost truth when we find ourselves in new territory, both familiar and unfamiliar. After all, we bring our familiar inner landscape to every new encounter and so navigating the new requires awareness of the familiar.

Without this awareness, we are limited by the defenses and fears of our personality structures and we perceive and act within the new landscape in the same ways we’ve perceived and acted within the old. Thus change becomes impossible and truth remains hidden.

Using the Enneagram as a tool for mapping out our personal roadblocks (limiting beliefs, defenses, fundamental fears) together with embodied practices* with and without horses, we will each explore and construct our unique paths of discernment.

Part 1 of this two-part workshop will entail teaching and discussion, while Part 2 will be mostly experiential. You may choose to attend Part 1 only, or Part 1 and Part 2 (but not Part 2 without Part 1).

Birds Eye View and Wise Mind: Where Ecotherapy, Animal Assisted Therapy, and Mindfulness Intersect – with Dr. Christine Strayer

This presentation is designed to teach clinicians how to combine Ecotherapy, Animal Assisted Therapy and Mindfulness to benefit clients with a variety of diagnosis. Natural Lifemanship principles are interwoven throughout the presentation to demonstrate how they are the guide for Ecotherapy and AAT.

Objectives:

Identify the hypothesis linking AAT and Ecotherapy.
Recognize how nature and animals can be mediums in therapy.
Utilize Natural Lifemanship Principles within AAT and Ecotherapy with a variety of clients.
Understand how to practice and teach metacognition (Birds Eye View) for perspective taking, interdependence and more.

Connected Nutrition: The Gut is our “Second Brain” – with Gabby Remole

The goal of this presentation is to give an overview of our brain-gut connection, the gut as our “second brain”, and how nutrition can affect our mental health (for better or worse).

Food can be such a wonderful connector.

This presentation will explore how food can help improve mood and can assist in addressing depression and anxiety. Food samples will be provided as well as some take home recipes. The presentation will also touch on assisting those who have limited access to healthy produce and foods (a more macro approach).

The idea is nutrition connected with self, others (family and clients) and community.

We Hold it All: Sacred Root (Part 1 of 2) – with Jessica Benton

The root of our spine – our pelvis is a sacred world of emotion’s, history, belief system and important function. Typically, we give it little thought unless dysfunction takes over.

No matter which end of this spectrum we are on, this space deserves time, mindful connection and healing. From tension to atrophy, we will explore the relationship that our lives have on this powerhouse of stability and regulation.

Working thoroughly with our pelvis and posture blends beautifully on or off of a horse as our belief of self meets the physical world and holds no place for denying that – that we are sacred, we take up space and we hold a truth.

Creating a Holistic Wellness Program for your Horses: Incorporating Energy and Body Work (Part 1 of 2) – with Michelle Holling-Brooks

Recent breakthroughs in science are confirming what the ancient healing arts have always known: Our health is influenced by more than just the physical world and our body has an innate ability to heal and restore itself to balance if we can look at health on more than just one plane.

We now know that our mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies also play a HUGE part in our overall health and wellbeing. The concept of approaching health with a holistic wellness program is not just for humans, but for all beings, including our horses.

During this breakout session you will explore looking beyond the basic nutritional and traditional training needs of our horses.The session will dive into what are the different components of a truly holistic approach to working with and caring for our equine partners’ body, mind, and soul.

You will also have the opportunity to learn and practice balancing your own energies as well, often the missing but key component.

12:30 – 2:00 PM – LUNCH

2:00 – 3:30 PM [Choose one of the following 6 workshops]

How to Stop Hating Detachment – with Tim Jobe and Tanner Jobe

Do you cringe at the thought of asking for, what NL calls, detachment? (distance, space, boundaries. . .)

Does it, at times, seem mean, pointless, and arbitrary?

Detachment doesn’t necessarily mean disconnection, but try telling that to the feeling in your body.

Tanner Jobe and Tim Jobe will talk about and demonstrate how to harness the power of connected detachment to enhance relational development and reveal fun and exciting pathways for growth and even greater intimacy.

Expanding our Internal Landscape through Relational Consciousness with IFS Equine Engaged Psychotherapy (Part 1 of 2) – with Jenn Pagone and Jenn McPeak

Relational consciousness converges connection with Self and another in a deeply embodied way when applying the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model to equine engaged psychotherapy.

This presentation will provide participants with a foundational understanding of IFS and specific steps to deepen trauma-focused processing.

Equine professionals will be offered a distinct lens for recognizing parts and attachment patterns in equine partners during sessions. Natural Lifemanship principles will be highlighted as an important standard of practice of constant consent and permission both internally and externally.

The team approach will be explored as an important component of relational consciousness and emphasize the Self-to-part relationship.

Upon conclusion of presentation, participants will have gained a foundational understanding of IFS and practice skills to safely use with their clients.

Exploring Inner Landscape with Embodied Practices: Discernment and the Enneagram (Part 2 of 2) – with Kathleen Choe and Laura McFarland

See full description in morning workshop block.

During Part 2 of this two-part workshop, participants will be invited to explore embodied enneagram-informed discernment practices with a horse. You must have attended Part 1 to attend Part 2.

The SEEN Keystones: How a Facilitator Mindset can Enhance You and Your Sessions – with Lynn Thomas and Amanda Graham

How can we continue increasing psychological safety and deepening the work we do as facilitators?

This presentation will provide a facilitation mindset, incorporating story, that can inform, impact, and guide how you engage with your clients and horses, and provide a thought process in choosing your interventions.

The SEEN Keystones; Sense of Self, Empowering Mindset, Externalizing Story, and Natural Flow, provide a set of questions facilitators can ask themselves that will have a positive impact on your sessions while honoring your authentic self and style of practice.

The workshop will share the SEEN Keystone questions, theoretical foundations and the effect on psychological safety, and demonstrate application during a session incorporating horses. There will be discussion on how a facilitator mindset and the SEEN Keystones can be applied with and benefit your approach and interventions.

We Hold it All: Sacred Root (Part 2 of 2) – with Jessica Benton

The root of our spine – our pelvis is a sacred world of emotion’s, history, belief system and important function. Typically, we give it little thought unless dysfunction takes over.

Creating a Holistic Wellness Program for your Horses: Incorporating Energy and Body Work (Part 2 of 2) – with Michelle Holling-Brooks

You will also have the opportunity to learn and practice balancing your own energies as well, often the missing but key component.

4:00 – 4:15 PM Closing Community Circle

At the end of each day, we will gather together again in our circle, to process the day through embodied practices.

4:30 – 6:00 PM – Food Trucks and Enjoy the Space! Treasure Hunt, Decorate Walking Sticks

Raging Bull Tacos and an Ice Cream/Dessert Truck will be available from 4:30-7:30p to anyone who would like to enjoy dinner on the property and stay on-site for evening activities!

“Surround yourself with tacos, not negativity”

6:00 – 7:30 PM [Choose one of the 4 evening activities]

Drum Circle – with Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver will be leading a drum circle to celebrate our collective rhythm – which is a testament to the heartbeat of our community. Come join the circle with us!

Horse Centered Meditation and Prayer Circle – with Rebecca Boger

This workshop will cultivate conversation and connection with the Sacred Wild for those who love horses and being in nature and are curious about their own spirituality!

This un-mounted, contemplative, nature-based experience will allow participants to explore a horse-centered way to communicate with all of creation by becoming more present and attuned.

Becky has been offering this monthly 90 minute program to the public since 2017. She weaves meditation and mindfulness, somatic awareness, the expressive arts and self reflection practices into the circle time to help participants come into the present moment and become more aware and integrated in their bodies, minds and spirits.

Healing Stories – with Bill Woodburn

Using psychodramatic techniques, we will enact our own stories in a safe and supportive space to directly experience how they interact with our calling as healers.

By doing this, we bring our own powerful, healing stories home and live them fully as we go forward. This is a great way to learn the techniques of psychodrama by experiencing them firsthand.

Participants will be offered space to share and enact the stories which support or limit their journey as healers.

Cowboy Poetry – with the Jobes and NL Team

Cowboy Poetry is not just about words — it’s a journey through time, a celebration of our heritage, and a reminder of the timeless bond we share with nature, our equine partners and one another.

Gather round for Cowboy Poetry under a canopy of stars. Listen to the fire crackle and hear the messages unfold.

Tim, Tanner and Reccia Jobe, recite poetry they’ve written as well as some from other cowboy poets – including members of our NL community. Even Cooper and Mabel Jobe will join in the fun, as well as our very own Jenn Pagone and Rebecca Hubbard.

Grab a chair and join us around the campfire for an unforgettable night.

FRIDAY, NOV 10, 2023

8:30 – 8:50 AM – Welcome Opening Community Circle

Mark Taylor will guide us to “embody the ocean” as we prepare our minds and bodies for his keynote address. Join us in circle today to wake up our bodies and prepare for a fulfilling day of learning, experiencing, and connecting.

9:00 – 10:30 AM – Moving Through Space: What We Can Learn from Observing Movement in Session – Keynote presentation with Mark Taylor and Bettina Shultz-Jobe

Mark will introduce the sixteen land-based patterns that allow us to move on land: variations on spinal, symmetrical, asymmetrical, and contralateral organization.

Each participant will then be invited to experience those patterns within themselves before observing him facilitate Bettina in a session with a horse, utilizing the movement patterns to support both functional and relational dynamics.

Participants will be invited to train their eyes to begin to see the patterns in play.

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM [Choose one of the following 6 workshops]

The Human-Equine Relational Landscape: How Practitioner Treatment and Interactions with Equines Impact the Healing Landscape (Part 1 of 2) – with Rebecca Hubbard and Reccia Jobe

The equine-human relationship is a foundational concept in equine assisted services. How equines are treated inside and outside of sessions forms the bedrock of clients’ experiences in equine assisted services whether you provide psychotherapy, coaching, physical therapy or occupational therapy.

Relational strengths and weaknesses between equines and service providers inevitably appear in sessions and can impact the client experience in any number of ways from harmful to supportive, degrading to empowering, and more.

In this workshop we will explore how our inner and outer experiences with our equine partners impact the healing landscape.

Moving in Three Dimensions: A Simple Framework for Using Your Body to Establish, Maintain, and Nurture Connection While Working with Clients and Horses (Part 1 of 2) – with Kathy Taylor

Relationship is the core of therapeutic work with both clients and with horses.

In this workshop, we will explore an embodied approach to the skill of healthy relating. This framework offers a top-down/bottom-up way to work with clients and horses.

Beginning with an experiential overview of the framework, I’ll demonstrate how working with dimensions supports our inner experience and self-agency, and how we can cultivate connection with others, and, ultimately, create a meaningful collaboration. We will also explore how this dimensional framework presents in horses.

Next, I’ll demonstrate how sharing this framework with clients can provide them with increased awareness of their own embodiment and better access to their felt senses. The dimension framework offers the client and therapist a common language to talk about their experiences.

I’ll share practical examples and case studies and will demonstrate live, with a horse, how to use the framework to create and build a healthy relationship. This will include principles for practitioners for maintaining attunement in sessions with horses and their clients using this new lens.

While the presentation will focus on working therapeutically with horses, this approach can be applied and practiced in many different contexts and relationships.

Expanding our Internal Landscape through Relational Consciousness with IFS Equine Engaged Psychotherapy (Part 2 of 2) – with Jenn Pagone and Jenn McPeak

Relational consciousness converges connection with Self and another in a deeply embodied way when applying the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model to equine engaged psychotherapy.

This presentation will provide participants with a foundational understanding of IFS and specific steps to deepen trauma-focused processing.

The team approach will be explored as an important component of relational consciousness and emphasize the Self-to-part relationship.

Upon conclusion of presentation, participants will have gained a foundational understanding of IFS and practice skills to safely use with their clients.

Processing Traumatic Memories: A Principle-Based Introduction to an Embodied and Multi-Modal Approach (Part 1 of 2) – with Bettina Shultz-Jobe, Kathleen Choe, and Kate Naylor

What is it that really helps a person process a traumatic memory? With a variety of modalities in the field of trauma it can be difficult to know which to choose – however, underlying all of these modalities are a shared set of principles that guide the work.

Learning will be didactic and experiential.

Come prepared to learn both personally and professionally!

Psychodrama – Healing Stories in Action (Part 1 of 2) – with Bill Woodburn

Join us in exploring the concepts and structures behind what makes a story healing and how to gently guide unfolding stories toward positive change.

We will challenge seeing stories as just distractions and explore practical counseling skills to transform repetitive, closed stories, into healing moments.

Developing the First Stages of Building a Secure Attachment for All (Including Horses) – Trust, Respect, and Willingness (Part 1 of 2) – with Michelle Holling-Brooks

The benefits of helping our clients develop a healthy secure attachment style are numerous. Learning how to cultivate a secure attachment style allows us the ability to step into resonance with our amazing, beautiful, and empowered authentic self!

Having healthy connections, to ourselves and others, also unlocks the ability for us to heal and grow.

However, the “how-to” part of changing or healing our attachment style can be difficult to maneuver.

Dr. Lisa Firestone states, “One of the proven ways to change our attachment style is by forming an attachment with someone who had a more secure attachment style than what we’ve experienced. We can also talk to a therapist, as the therapeutic relationship can help create a more secure attachment. We can continue to get to know ourselves through understanding our past experiences, allowing ourselves to make sense and feel the full pain of our stories, then moving forward as separate, differentiated adults. In doing this, we move through the world with an internal sense of security that helps us better withstand the natural hurts that life can bring.”

For us the therapeutic or coaching relationship also includes an additional relationship – the horses. This breakout workshop will focus on exploring the different “skills” and components that set-up the first foundation skills needed to support our clients and horses in how to actually start building a healthy connection.

Michelle Holling-Brooks will introduce the participants to the first three pillars of what she calls the “Bridge of Connection” – building trust, respect, and willingness for ALL beings; horses and humans.

Participants will have an opportunity to explore, practice, and ask questions about the very same concepts and activities that she utilizes in her practice to help start every horse and human off on the track of learning the essential skills for developing an earned secure attachment for all.

12:30 – 2:00 PM – LUNCH

2:00 – 3:30 PM [Choose one of the following 6 workshops]

The Human-Equine Relational Landscape: How Practitioner Treatment and Interactions with Equines Impact the Healing Landscape (Part 2 of 2) – with Rebecca Hubbard and Reccia Jobe

The equine-human relationship is a foundational concept in equine assisted services.

How equines are treated inside and outside of sessions forms the bedrock of clients’ experiences in equine assisted services whether you provide psychotherapy, coaching, physical therapy or occupational therapy.

In this workshop we will explore how our inner and outer experiences with our equine partners impact the healing landscape.

Mindfulness with Horses: Not Just for Calming Down! – with Jennifer Harper

Many people hear the word mindfulness and think about calming down. Slowing the breath, slowing the body, and finding stillness in the mind. While these can be powerful aspects of a mindfulness practice, they are only a small part of the story.

Mindfulness supports our capacity to be present and embodied at ANY energy level. It offers us practices to stay regulated while accessing our power.

Stay curious while increasing body energy. Stay grounded during big movement. It’s wonderful to have the tools to calm our body and nervous system when we need them. But it’s also important that we can power up without losing our capacity to attune to ourselves and others.

Join Jennifer Harper, founder of Mindfulness with Horses, for this interactive workshop exploring ways to increase your energy without escalating emotion, supporting your ability to communicate clearly and powerfully with both horses and humans.

Moving in Three Dimensions: A Simple Framework for Using Your Body to Establish, Maintain, and Nurture Connection While Working with Clients and Horses (Part 2 of 2) – with Kathy Taylor

Relationship is the core of therapeutic work with both clients and with horses.

In this workshop, we will explore an embodied approach to the skill of healthy relating. This framework offers a top-down/bottom-up way to work with clients and horses.

While the presentation will focus on working therapeutically with horses, this approach can be applied and practiced in many different contexts and relationships.

Processing Traumatic Memories: A Principle-Based Introduction to an Embodied and Multi-Modal Approach (Part 2 of 2) – with Bettina Shultz-Jobe, Kathleen Choe, and Kate Naylor

Learning will be didactic and experiential.

Come prepared to learn both personally and professionally!

Psychodrama – Healing Stories in Action (Part 2 of 2) – with Bill Woodburn

Join us in exploring the concepts and structures behind what makes a story healing and how to gently guide unfolding stories toward positive change.

We will challenge seeing stories as just distractions and explore practical counseling skills to transform repetitive, closed stories, into healing moments.

Developing the First Stages of Building a Secure Attachment for All (Including Horses) – Trust, Respect, and Willingness (Part 2 of 2) – with Michelle Holling-Brooks

Having healthy connections, to ourselves and others, also unlocks the ability for us to heal and grow.

However, the “how-to” part of changing or healing our attachment style can be difficult to maneuver.

For us the therapeutic or coaching relationship also includes an additional relationship; the horses. This breakout workshop will focus on exploring the different “skills” and components that set-up the first foundation skills needed to support our clients and horses in how to actually start building a healthy connection.

4:00 – 4:15 PM Closing Community Circle

To close Day 2, Mary Oliver offers the circle an experience of rhythm to regulate our bodies and ready our minds to move into the evening.

4:30 – 6:00 PM – Food Trucks and Enjoy the Space! Treasure Hunt, Decorate Walking Sticks

Raging Bull Tacos and an Ice Cream/Dessert truck will be available from 4:30-7:30 PM to anyone who would like to enjoy dinner on the property and stay on-site for evening activities!

“Surround yourself with tacos, not negativity”

6:00 – 7:30 PM [Choose one of 3 evening activities]

Sound Healing – with Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver will be leading a sound healing session to help balance our energies and give us rest.

Come ready to sink deep and be nurtured by the music.

Labyrinth – with Shannon Knapp

A labyrinth is not just a path, but a sacred journey that guides us to our center, and back out into the world.

Shannon Knapp will invite us to step into the labyrinth and allow the winding path to clear our minds and enhance our focus. It’s a journey within, to find stillness amidst the chaos, clarity amidst the confusion, and answers amidst the questions.

Come walk with us.

Cowboy Poetry with the Jobes and NL Team

Cowboy Poetry is not just about words — it’s a journey through time, a celebration of our heritage, and a reminder of the timeless bond we share with nature, our equine partners and one another.

Gather round for Cowboy Poetry under a canopy of stars. Listen to the fire crackle and hear the messages unfold.

Grab a chair and join us around the campfire for an unforgettable night.

SATURDAY, NOV 11, 2023

8:30 – 8:50 AM – Final Opening Community Circle

Opening our final day, we will come to the circle to ready our minds and bodies for another exciting and engaging day of learning. We will also begin the process of saying good-bye.

9:00 – 10:30 AM – Thin Places and Relationships in a Thick World: Cultivating Places and Relationships that Transcend – Keynote presentation with Tim Jobe and Bettina Shultz-Jobe

Have you ever heard someone talk about a “thin place?” A thin place is a place in which the perceived distance between our day-to-day and the Sacred is exceptionally narrow; a place where our encounter with something other-wordly pierces our soul and captures our heart.

Tim and Bettina Jobe will be exploring how we can create and nurture not only places, but moments and relationships that transcend, transform and heal – sacred pauses in everyday life. (And, of course, the NL horse herd will help Tim and Bettina present.)

11:00 – 12:30 PM [Choose one of the following 5 workshops]

Nature Connected Play Therapy: The Implementation of Play while Honoring the Power of Natural Setting with Animal Connections – with Emily Schmidt

Both research and experience has shown those in the helping fields that nature enhances the well-being of children.

From regulation to expression, engagement in the natural world provides tangible benefits. Equally proven is the power of play.

Those who bravely work with the youngest of clients have for decades leaned on clinically proven modalities that comprise what is commonly called “play therapy”.

What can lead to a challenge, however, is the effective implementation of play while honoring the power of a natural setting. How does one successfully allow the benefits of both nature and play to enhance rather than distract from each other?

In my presentation I hope to offer connected and experiential insights into the blending of play therapy into settings such as outdoors, with horses and other natural places.

Topics include the inclusion of unplanned connections (frogs, the barn cat, insects etc.), planned connections (horses, ponies etc.), non-directed play and directed play activities.

I also hope to help equip professionals to gain confidence in working with parents, documentation, case conceptualization and treatment planning. This includes an overview of the use of play, how to use principles of non-directed play in nature/with horses, directed play activities that help with specific therapy goals and ways to include the whole family into the process.

My hope is that participants will gain an increased awareness of ways to use the power of natural surroundings to enhance the healing process of play.

Mindfulness with Horses: Not Just for Calming Down! – with Jennifer Harper

Many people hear the word mindfulness and think about calming down. Slowing the breath, slowing the body, and finding stillness in the mind.

While these can be powerful aspects of a mindfulness practice, they are only a small part of the story. Mindfulness supports our capacity to be present and embodied at ANY energy level. It offers us practices to stay regulated while accessing our power.

Stay curious while increasing body energy. Stay grounded during big movement.

It’s wonderful to have the tools to calm our body and nervous system when we need them. But it’s also important that we can power up without losing our capacity to attune to ourselves and others.

Getting Along: Facilitating Healthy Relationships within your (Horse) Herd – with Tim Jobe and Tanner Jobe

We talk a lot about the relationship between horses and humans. But it doesn’t end there.

At Natural Lifemanship, we believe in nurturing the bonds within the herd itself.

Don’t miss this important conversation (and demonstration within the herd of course!) with Tim and Tanner Jobe about the important relational development within your horse herd.

Chiropractic Demonstration: How to Assess your Horse’s Physical Discomfort to Help Them Thrive – with Dr. Amanda Massey

How does stress impact our equine partners?

Dr. Amanda Massey is an AVCA certified animal chiropractor specializing in treating sports injuries with fascial distortion model. She will be giving demonstrations and sharing her experiences as an equine chiropractor to tell if your equine partner is experiencing discomfort from past traumas and how to improve their adaptation to environmental stressors with bodywork and chiropractic care.

Deepening the Satisfaction Cycle – with Mark Taylor

This will be an opportunity for participants to increase their sensory awareness of movement; to embody the Basic Neurological Patterns; and to explore their personal relationship to the elements of the Satisfaction Cycle (yield, push, reach, grasp, pull).

This will be an all-abilities movement workshop, and loose and comfortable clothing is recommended.

12:30 – 2:00 PM – LUNCH

2:00 – 4:00 PM – Closing Ceremony – with Bettina Shultz-Jobe and Mary Oliver

Join Bettina and Mary one last time, to wrap up the day, to wrap up the conference, and say farewell to the circle.

The community circle of Natural Lifemanship is not just the one we see when we are together, but also the one we carry in each of our hearts – say goodbye to the conference circle, and take the connection of NL with you.

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Welcome Home

Because We Were Together

Since we couldn’t be in-person.

Since we couldn’t be together in-person.

Since we couldn’t be together in-person.

It was palpable – it was powerfully felt and no words were needed.

Because we were together in person.

We were changed.

Because we were together in person.

My body is still buzzing as I recall our time together, in person.

In a very physical sense, we need each other.

Nowadays, we CAN be physically together.

We hope to be with you in 2024.

Welcome Home.

Sunrise Summit – The FULL Conference Schedule with Session Descriptions

The Top Five Questions Our Certification Students Ask

Concept # 1: Is it really necessary to use pressure or make requests?

Concept #2: How do I increase my energy in a calm and connected manner?

Concept #3: Detachment – do I really have to?

Concept #4: What about my horses’ relationships within their herd? What about their relationships with the EAS team? How do the NL principles apply?

Question #5: How do I integrate somatic work and movement into the services I provide?

So, why can this conference count toward certification for the first time ever?!!

We Are All Creators

Phase 1: Brainstorming

Phase 2: Incubation

Phase 3: Illumination

Phase 4: Evaluation

Stage 5: Elaboration

Stage 5.5: Illumination Take Two During Elaboration

Stage 6: Share it, Release it, Let it go

Sacred Landscapes – The FULL Conference Schedule with Session Descriptions

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