In her book, The Tao of Equus, author Linda Kohanov shares her personal journey, revealing that it wasn’t until she fully embraced the wisdom of the horse that she finally felt comfortable being human. With this revelation as a springboard, Episode 22 weaves together, strand by strand, a beautiful story of what it means to be human.

As humans, each of us has the innate capacity to sense truth. In the absence of conflict or resistance, the doorway to wisdom, clarity, and the next possibility opens, and an ancient, lost language re-awakens within us. But somewhere along the line, we forgot.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years ago, our ancestors began building societies. Alongside these advancements came rules and structures that gradually confined humans within societal "boxes," dictating what is considered “right” and “normal.” And eventually, we also began creating our own individual boxes, layering them one within another and burying our true selves beneath countless layers of confinement.

Horses, on the other hand, do not recognize boxes. They see straight through the layers of “stuff” we have accumulated and reveal to us the truth: there are no boxes. They guide us into awareness of how deeply we have sheltered ourselves from ourselves. We are then left with the work of shedding the layers and uncovering our authenticity, as well as supporting others on their own journeys of self-reclamation. Horses have generously agreed to be our guides on this journey, to walk us home, if we let them.

Podcast Participants:

Will Brown - https://palmandlotus.com/
Jillian Kreinbring - www.jilliankreinbringinspired.com
Gray Kyle Graves - www.wholehearthorsemanship.com
Leanne Haight - www.facebook.com/leanne.haight
Chris Adderson - www.forthehorse.com
Kerri Lake - www.generationofharmony.com

Consider, for a moment, what it might be like to be truly competitive, but without a combative edge or drive to dominate. Is it possible?

Competition can give us so many great things: community, physical and mental challenges, and goal posts by which to measure our progress - it can bring out our best and showcase our preparation, dedication, and talent. The darker side of competition is when we are motivated by comparison, rather than inspiration, causing us to turn against our fellow competitors, our horses, and even ourselves. How many of us can strive for high levels of excellence while maintaining a positive, emotionally balanced energetic space? And how many of us can do it with the eager, focused engagement of our equine partners as well?

When we have a clear sense of self, our values, and our purpose, we come to realize that competition is rarely about others; it’s about our personal journey, our commitment to growth, and remaining in integrity, regardless of external circumstances. Competition becomes a test of character - a pursuit of goals, not rivals.

Podcast Participants:

Shea Stewart
Tik Maynard
Jessica White Plume
Daniel Dauphin
Barbara Schulte
Kerri Lake 

Episode 20 is our Volunteer Episode! It’s a very special conversation among the dedicated hearts who have been working behind the scenes for many months to coordinate the Compass Conversations podcast and who are now working to breathe life into the Intuitive Learning Foundation.

The volunteers considered the following paragraphs and seed question, and the rest, as is our custom, was organic:

We are all stewarding each other. We often consider ourselves stewards of nature and animals, but what if animals and nature are also stewarding us to steward each other? Through intuitive connection, shared experiences, and loving interactions, the non-human world selflessly offers unlimited opportunities to feel accepted, seen and loved.

In our relationships with all non-human life, we have the opportunity to experience ourselves without competition and with nothing to prove. We can experience the common ground of life with lives that are very different from our own. What does it take to experience this common ground with other humans, as well?

Our desire to care for others without greed or judgment, and with an open heart, is a reflection of nature’s stewardship of humanity. The beauty of nature can inspire us to remember who we really are - to be unconditionally invited, again and again, to “re-member” humanity in the vast body of life. When humans listen with a willingness to learn and connect through our heart, we are receiving and re-sharing the gifts of unconditional love that our extended family of animals, plants, insects, minerals, sky, and water are eager to show us.

With the above as a setting, the group spent most of the hour considering the following question: How do our experiences with non-human life guide us in stewarding one another as humans?

Podcast Participants
Kate Coldren
Holly Postlewaite
Hestie Kleinhans
Chloe Garrison
Tina Cormier
Charlene Couch
Majda Pazman
Clare Morris
Kerri Lake

A book falls open on a page with a relevant, resonating message - a breadcrumb, perhaps. A heart-shaped leaf lands in your hand on your way into a job interview. You enter a room full of people and immediately feel a brace in your body. Are these signs or coincidences? How do you know?

Today’s conversation explores questions around intuition and intuitive learning. How can you tell the difference between intuition and intellect? How do they work together? How can you learn to feel and trust your intuition? How does your intuition occur to you - what does it feel like? 

Many of us are on a journey to recover and remember our intuition - as part of our institutional education, we are taught to suppress those feeling parts of us and to focus on producing, influencing, gaining, creating, selling. Education steers our awareness away from what is felt and toward what can be measured and defined and repeated. 

How do we integrate an education of the heart side-by-side with the intellect? We clearly need intellect to function - language serves; science serves; knowledge serves. But how do we weave these complimentary types of knowing together? Integration of our intellect and our intuition brings us into congruence, where we are no longer in conflict with ourselves. The resulting integrity and inner freedom open the doorway to curiosity without judgment and give us the courage to have a different conversation. 

Podcast Participants
Kathy Price www.kathyprice.co.uk
Jessica White Plume  @jessica.white.plume.5
Franzi and Tony  www.equisitwayoflife.horse
Greta Matos www.curakuda.com
Kerri Lake - https://www.generateharmony.com/

Music by Mark Rashid

In this discussion, we explore the flow state, how it feels, and the ancient gifts of self knowledge and awareness that it brings. When we tap into the deep, stabilizing rhythms of nature, we find stillness, peace, love, and coherence with all that surrounds us - like the slow, quiet, and timeless suspension we might feel in the depths of the ocean. 

It’s easy to get complacent about our everyday lives - we get into our routines, lean on our habits, and our brains fill in the rest for us. What if we stepped out of the box society has put around us - the one that says you get your new car, the latest iPhone, the best job, and post it all on social media until you die? What if we actually experienced the world that is always around us? There is so much to explore and see and feel if you can bring your awareness to the present moment and find wonder in the ordinary. 

You can tune in on your front steps or travel thousands of miles away to find that relaxed, intense, focused concentration. And when you do, you may just discover your authentic self is waiting for you . . . waiting for you to own it. Finding that space where you recognize yourself and your connection to everyone and everything else - that is love. Disconnecting from the fears and doubts of the critical mind to recognize the rhythm of your being - that is love.

Podcast Participants
William Brown - https://palmandlotus.com/
Christine Dickson - www.onthepathcoaching.net
Terry Kuebler - www.terrykuebler.com
Shea Stewart - www.equinebalance.net
Kerri Lake - https://www.generateharmony.com/

Music by Mark Rashid

What is it about our connection with horses that inspires so many to get curious about ourselves?

Many of us place all of our focus on the horse - we put equipment on the horse, do things to the horse, try to get something from the horse, look for problems to fix within the horse. In all of this doing, we forget to include ourselves in the relationship. We may fall into dominating patterns, applying pressure to our horses and to ourselves without fully realizing our internal motivations, needs or blind spots.

But there is a burgeoning community that is beginning to look at things differently. Today’s episode begins with this acknowledgement, that humans are part of the relationship.

Horses have become our great teachers. They open up big, beautiful windows into our souls, allowing us to peek in and remember the wisdom of awareness. When we release stories that serve fear and judgment, we create space for self-illumination. We become available for connections that serve the heart. What would happen if I let each person (or horse) be exactly who they are - without a story attached? What would happen if I gave that grace to myself?

Join us as we explore these profound questions and follow the horse down a path of self illumination and awareness. If we are brave enough to look beneath our fears and see what’s really there, we can unlock boundless joy, gratitude, and potential.

Podcast Participants:

Kathy Price - www.kathyprice.co.uk
Suzi Clothier - www.zebswish.org
Matthias Geyson - www.matthiasgeysen.com/
Leslie Desmond - www.lesliedesmond.com
Amelia Nalli - www.amelianalliequinebodywork.com
Kerri Lake - https://www.generateharmony.com/

Music by Mark Rashid

Episode 16 explores the topic of patience. In today’s kinetic, frenetic world, instant gratification can be very appealing - we want our food fast and our information even faster. We are in a hurry to become “experts” in areas of our interests and passions. 

But what do we lose when we rush? We may skip steps and miss pieces in our understanding, and we’ll almost certainly diminish the wonder and awe that it takes to ask questions, fail, fall down, get back up, and finally break through. In essence, we lose the experience itself. What offers from the world do we miss when we rush?

There is value in slowing down, getting quiet, and letting go of expectations. Patience is a state of being. Patience is a choice. It’s internal, thriving in the space where time ceases to exist. We must be willing to surrender any expectation of the end result, to drop the destination mindset. The lesson itself is patience - and trust that we’ll get where we’re meant to be when we’re meant to be there. When we find the ease in letting go and listening, we can release the tension of our insistent internal dialog and drop into a space of being. 

Are you ready to choose patience? To not allow the superficiality of life to pick us up and carry us away? To not be ruled by expectations? To slow down, breathe, and truly experience the world? We may not know where we’ll be at the end of our journey, but we only need to know the next step. 

Podcast Guests

Terry Kuebler - https://www.terrykuebler.com
Crissi McDonald - https://www.crissimcdonald.com/
Greta Matos - https://quilaquina.com/
Mark Rashid - https://www.markrashid.com/
Steve Peters - https://horsebrainscience.info/
Kerri Lake  - https://www.generateharmony.com/

Music by Mark Rashid

 What does it mean to love horses, but struggle to have the same empathy and love for people? Today’s episode touches on a challenge that many in the horse profession face. People who love animals and care so deeply for the environment and the land have a tendency to grapple with conflicting feelings toward humanity, often seeing the very best and the very worst of people in the same day. 

Is it enough to truly and deeply love horses without feeling the same love for their human partners? Can we genuinely affect healing and change without falling deeply in love with the wholeness of the partnership as well as the individuals involved? When we step back from the separation of me from you, we put a crack in our armor to allow light to flow in (and out) - we connect.

What would happen if we created a community of reciprocal care and balance - one without linear, transactional relationships, one where we buoy one another up? What does it mean to truly care? Presence. Orienting to the wisdom of the body instead of the busyness of our minds. Expanding our focus to resilience and regeneration instead of destruction and disdain. Embracing the wholeness of what’s healthy, good, and right instead of fixating on what’s wrong. Dropping the disempowering stories and the pity. If we could manage all of this, or even any of this, what would change?

Join us as we explore these challenging and inspiring topics together.

Podcast Guests:
Shea Stewart - www.equinebalance.net
Chris Adderson - www.forthehorse.com
Suzi Cloutier - www.zebswish.org
Gray Kyle-Graves - www.wholehearthorsemanship.com
Carla Bauchmueller - www.theintuitiverider.com
Kerri Lake - www.generateharmony.com

Music by Mark Rashid - www.markrashid.com

This episode wanders and flows gently through two interconnected topics: risk and relationship. 

Do connection and relationship alter our perception of risk? When you truly know another being for who they genuinely are, beyond their labels, can you have more trust in that person or animal? Would you put your child on a “dangerous” off-the-track thoroughbred? Sleep outside in an area known to have mountain lions? Choose to live in an area constantly being reborn and reshaped by active volcanoes? Living in fear means always seeing risk; living in attunement means seeing truth.

Our culture makes it difficult to open up - to find those tender places inside of us where we let ourselves explore our intuition, awareness, energy, and connection. More and more people are exploring these sides of themselves; however, even some of the most attuned humans still have an energetic governor that stops them from going too far when discomfort arises.

For instance, many empathic individuals connect strongly with nature - animals, plants, the land. We tend to have difficulty managing our feelings about the way humanity treats the land, the way humanity treats animals (horses!). If we dig into this tendency to judge other humans, what do we find? Will we allow ourselves to see what’s underneath? Anger? Pain? Sadness? Grief? Guilt for being human ourselves? What is the risk in rejecting others this way? 

Be sure to listen to this one all the way through - there is a beautiful and vulnerable epiphany toward the end that ties together the entire episode on risk and relationship with others and with the land.

Podcast Guests

Chris Adderson - www.forthehorse.com

Jillian Kreinbring - www.jillinakreinbringinspire.com

Jessica White Plume - @jessica.white.plume.5

Greta Matos - www.kurakuda.com

Joell Dunlap - www.squarepegfoundation.org

Kerri Lake - www.generateharmony.com

Music by Mark Rashid - www.markrashid.com 

What is your spontaneous reaction to the word, “Joy”? Does it evoke emotions within you? Where in your body do you feel it? What words come to the forefront to describe it? How do you know it?

In this episode, our guests endeavor to articulate the essence of Joy, while also pinpointing aspects of our humanity and culture that impede our ability to embrace it. Joy is found through a way of being - with ourselves, with the earth, with others. It’s part of our innate wisdom, something we seek and find and know within ourselves; We find joy in our ability to connect, rather than in external achievements and accolades.

If joy always resides within us, why do some of us struggle to feel it in our lives, and how do we uncover it? The gateway to joy is through getting out of our thinking brain to discover our wholeness. When we strip away the noise, self-doubt, and anxiety, we rediscover a way of being that is in alignment with our true selves and with all of nature.

This is how our horses live, where they want us to be, and where they can relate to us best. If we are perceptive to their subtle cues, we’ll discover that our equine partners (and everyone else!) will seek our presence when we’ve arrived in this space

To get there, though, we have become more content in the being of a way rather than in the doing of a thing. This journey of becoming ok with ourselves is one of the toughest and most rewarding challenges in life. Joy is the signal that we’re on the right track.

Podcast Guests:

Carla Bauchmueller - www.theintuitiverider.com
Chris Adderson - www.forthehorse.com
Crissi McDonald - www.crissimcdonald.com
Mark Rashid - www.markrashid.com
Shea Stewart - www.equinebalance.net
Josh Nichol - www.joshnichol.com