Introductory or Advanced – Facilitated by Linda Kohanov

Time: 9:30am to 5:30pm daily

Cost includes lunch and workshop materials.

What might we all accomplish if we finally understood how to be powerful, together?

In Linda Kohanov’s new book The Power of the Herd, she takes an in-depth look at traditional herding cultures where tribes must manage large groups of powerful animals without the benefit of fences. As a result, Master Herders employ a sophisticated understanding of leadership and group cohesion as they move through seasonal grazing lands, facing predators, and dealing with changing climates/resources along the way. This knowledge, virtually lost to modern “civilized” leaders, is based in part on the little-known fact that among cattle and horses, the herd leader and the herd dominant are often different animals. Furthermore, group coordination and solidarity are reinforced through acts of daily acts of companionship and nurturing.

“Nurturers, companions, leaders, and dominants are all crucial to herd cohesiveness,” Linda writes. “Members tend to play more than one role, though rarely all four. The thing about being human among animals ten times your size is that you really do need to perform all of these roles well to become a Master Herder, especially in the great unfenced backcountry where freedom abides.”

Linda has drawn compelling insights from this research to create a variety of horse-facilitated activities that effectively teach the nonverbal leadership and communication skills associated with these varied roles, boosting people’s ability to engage in empowered relationships with humans at work, school, home, church, and in political and social activism contexts. “It’s truly amazing what you can accomplish if you know how to engage leadership, dominance, and companionship-related skills—without becoming abusive or indulgent,” she says. “Understanding the differences between these ‘power tools,’ when to employ them, and how to combine them has been a revelation!”

Those who attended Linda’s fall 2012 leadership workshops were impressed with the horse-facilitated work—and the use of her new book as a text that offers explicit instructions on how to take these equine-inspired insights back to the human world. Linda reveals what she calls the four “Stone Age Power Tools,” archaic ways of trying to manage and influence others that still wreak havoc in the workplace—and in other areas of life where power plays regularly and needlessly interrupt our ability to collaborate, innovate, and lead. What’s more, she offers more effective tools in the form of the Twelve Power of the Herd Guiding Principles.

The Power of the Herd workshop shows you how to use nonpredatory, horse-inspired wisdom to handle life, career, and community-building challenges with greater ease and success. The book and the equine-facilitated activities that bring this material to life represent over fifteen years of research, experimentation, and experience teaching advanced human development skills through working with these powerful animals. “If you increasingly avoid the Four Stone Age Power Tools,” Linda says, “while practicing the Twelve Guiding Principles, you will experience significant positive changes in your professional and personal relationships.”

“The simple processes that Linda teaches are a wonderful take-away that can be applied to our everyday lives,” says Lisa Walters, an entrepreneur, equine-facilitated learning practitioner, and founder of the EquuSatori Center in Sebastopol, CA. “This workshop deepened my personal awareness while demonstrating how we are connecting with others and the collective power in that connection. Her new book is bound to be another best seller! Linda does a great job linking the concepts in The Power of the Herd with history, current research and modern science; a powerful combination.”

Laura Brinkerhoff, a psychotherapist and experienced horsewoman who created an innovative equine-based program at a residential treatment center, notes: “I am incorporating the 12 guiding principals into our barn philosophy in a conscious way and continuing sharing the wisdom of mutual aid and non predatory power with my clients and staff (and my husband! Happy to say we LIVE it! ) This is a revolutionary book sure to take our work and human consciousness to a whole new level!”

To register for this fast-approaching event, contact Sue Smades at info@eponaquest.com or 520-455-5908.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the skills you will learn during the upcoming Power of the Herd workshop.

You will learn:

• When and how to employ the roles of Leader, Dominant, and Nurturer/Companion
• How to help others manage fear and anxiety in times of significant change or competition
• How to use your own body as a “sensing device” capable of reading the unspoken moods/concerns of co-workers, employees, and clients
• How to use emotions as information in professional settings (without, ironically, discussing the emotions themselves)
• How to turn “difficult conversations” into trust-building opportunities
• How to engage “Emotional Heroism,” which Linda defines as “power combined with compassion,” in challenging situations

You will practice:

• Engaging non-verbal leadership skills associated with assertiveness, timing, focus, energy modulation, motivation, experimentation, and boundaries-in-motion—with sensitivity to the needs of others
• Setting boundaries with aggressive people in ways that create mutually respectful relationships
• Balancing embodied reason and embodied intuition in realizing a goal
• Recognizing and moving beyond limiting behavior and thought patterns to achieve optimal performance

Cancellation Policy: Cancellation up to 30 days prior to the event start date results in a credit of one-half the workshop tuition. There is no tuition credit for a cancellation 30 days or less before the event start date.

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