For the first time in five years, Linda Kohanov will go on tour this summer/fall, with booksignings, lectures, and workshops scheduled in Denver/Boulder, CO (May 27-31), San Francisco Bay Area (June 2-9), Portland, OR (June 11-18), Chicago, IL (early August), and Cleveland, OH (late-September), among other places. (Details for most of these events are still in the works, and will be released as they become firm.)

The tour kicks off later this month in the Denver-Boulder area as follows:

May 27: Horse Sense at Work: Harnessing the Power of the Herd (A one-day leadership workshop at Fifth Element Ranch, Loveland, CO) 10 am to 4 pm, $199, register at www.FifthElementRanch.com (303) 638-6997

May 28: Warriors in Transition (An introduction-demonstration on Eponaquest’s approach to horse-facilitated work for soldiers and their family members at Fifth Element Ranch) 10 am to noon, $30, register at www.FifthElementRanch.com

May 28: Booksigning at Boulder Bookstore (Linda will discuss her new book The Power of the Herd), 7:30 pm, vouchers to reserve a seat are $5 that can be used to purchase a book, contact www.boulderbookstore.net (303) 447-2074

May 31: Emotional Heroism: The Power Behind Nonviolence (A one-day lecture-demonstration workshop at the Healing with Horse Symposium) 10 am to noon, $199, register at www.healingwithhorse.com/Symposium.html (720)-284-8502

May 31: Equine Archetypes for Self Discovery: A Guided Journey to the Horse Power Within (A two-hour lecture and guided journey) 7 to 9 pm, $30 www.healingwithhorse.com/Symposium.html (720) 284-8502

 

“After more than four years working on The Power of the Herd, I’m exited to be going out into the world again, meeting with people and doing brief yet powerful workshops to introduce people to the latest work,” says Linda. “These one-day lecture-demonstration clinics will give you practical skills, allowing you take horse wisdom back to the human world immediately. (See complete workshops descriptions below.) In Colorado, I’m also happy to see that the sponsors for these events are working together, sharing business and publicity, and most importantly for participants, creating opportunities to attend several of these events at a reduced rate.”

Tara Pagoda, owner of Fifth Element Ranch, and Jennifer Oikle, Ph.D. who is running the Healing with Horse Symposium the weekend of May 31 to June 2, are offering participants the opportunity to attend both the May 27 Horse Sense at Work leadership workshop and the May 31 Emotional Heroism workshop for $100 off the cost of registering for each workshop separately. You can register for both workshops together at either of their websites. (The Healing with Horse Symposium will feature presentations throughout that weekend by a variety of other well-known facilitators in equine-facilitated therapy and experiential learning fields.)

“Tara is one of our experienced Eponaquest Instructors in Colorado,” Linda says. “Dr. Jenn Oikle has also been doing equine-faciliated work in the region, while making connections with professionals internationally that she featured in her recent Healing with Horse Teleconference. Thanks to Jenn’s expertise and enthusiasm, the interview she did with me for the teleconference series was one of the most fun, and informative, interviews I’ve done.”

Multi-Media

You can listen to the interview between Linda and Jenn on the Eponaquest Worldwide home page at http://eponaquest.com/ (A New Interview with Linda toward the bottom of the page).

For YouTube glimpse of Linda’s new book, the theme of her upcoming tour: http://youtu.be/WwJ0TiRkn60

 

In-Depth Descriptions of Linda’s Day-Long Colorado Workshops

 

Horse Sense at Work: Harnessing the Power of the Herd

May 27 at Fifth Element Ranch

Horse sense is “practical wisdom combined with gumption and intuition.” But it also describes the nonverbal interpersonal genius great riders develop through interacting with these powerful animals. Scientists have shown that even during human interpersonal interactions, only about 10 percent of communication is verbal. Someone with horse sense processes information coming from that elusive “other 90 percent,” while being able to calm, focus, and motivate others effectively.

People these days are more likely to talk about “leadership presence,” which is also primarily a nonverbal phenomenon. In her new book The Power of the Herd: A Nonpredatory Approach to Social Intelligence, Leadership, and Innovation, best-selling author Linda Kohanov shows that a surprisingly high number of history’s most successful leaders were accomplished riders, including Alexander the Great, the Buddha, Genghis Khan, Joan of Arc, George Washington, Katherine the Great, Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Ronald Reagan. Regardless of policy and agenda, these people exhibited exceptional poise under pressure, clarity of intention, courage, conviction, and charisma. They motivated horses and people alike to transcend basic survival instincts and endure significant discomfort or uncertainty to face incredible odds in service to ambitious goals.

Through twenty years of intense research—and practical experience teaching people advanced human development skills through working with horses—Linda has isolated key emotional and social intelligence skills that great leaders previously obtained accidentally through a combination of talent and years spent on horseback. She and her specially-trained instructors worldwide have developed ways of helping people hone advanced nonverbal leadership skills through safe, non-riding horse activities.

Most recently, Linda has also perfected ways of teaching many of these skills indoors. The Twelve Power of the Herd Guiding Principles featured in her new book are immediately translatable to the workplace, home, school, church, and in political and social activism contexts where socially intelligent leaders must inspire others to work together toward a common goal, helping people move efficiently through conflict and build stellar teams of creative, empowered individuals.

In this one-day lecture-demonstration workshop, you will learn how to:

• Help others manage fear and anxiety in times of significant change or competition
• Recognize the antiquated, often unconscious power plays that people engage in regardless of culture, religion, nationality, or social status
• Respond powerfully–and more productively—to these “Stone Age Power Tools”
• Use your own body as a “sensing device” capable of reading others’ unspoken moods/concerns
• Use emotions as information in professional settings (without, ironically, discussing the emotions themselves)
• Turn “difficult conversations” into trust-building opportunities
• Set boundaries with aggressive, and passive aggressive, people in ways that create mutually respectful relationships
• Recognize and move beyond limiting behavior and thought patterns to achieve optimal performance

 

Emotional Heroism: The Power Behind Nonviolence

May 31 at the Healing with Horse Symposium

 

Let your heart feel for the affliction, and distress of everyone.

George Washington

…true nonviolence is impossible without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness.

Mahatma Gandhi

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply in himself, and his suffering is spilling over….Happiness and safety are not an individual matter.

Thich Nhat Hahn

 

“Great deeds depend upon keeping your heart open through the 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows of life. To face tragedy, betrayal, and injustice with the compassion, creativity, bravery, endurance, and power necessary to effect change in the world, you must use challenging situations as opportunities to strengthen your heart.”

So writes bestselling author Linda Kohanov in her new book The Power of the Herd: A Nonpredatory Approach to Social Intelligence, Leadership and Innovation. During this one-day lecture-demonstration workshop, Linda will teach leadership, social intelligence, and conflict resolution skills that support nonviolence. She will also talk about how her adventures gentling Midnight Merlin, a violent, formerly abused stallion, helped her develop “emotional heroism,” which she defines as “power combined with compassion.”

“I realized in working with this traumatized, rage-filled animal that kindness, sympathy and understanding were not enough to transform the savage, wounded force that would come through him as he literally threatened my life on several occasions. I needed to tap a new form of power, one I wasn’t even sure existed at the time. In the process, I learned that power does not have to be harsh, exploitive, oppressive, or short-sighted if it is used correctly.”

She later realized that experiences with Merlin had parallels in the lives of innovative leaders around the world. Stories of George Washington, Alexander the Great, and Prince Siddhartha (who later became the Buddha), for instance, reveal that they were talented horsemen renowned for calming violent horses. Linda makes a strong case that their success motivating people to achieve ambitious goals stemmed from the courageous, acutely mindful, nonpredatory approach to power that horses continue to demand of exceptional trainers. She also shows how Washington, who was respected worldwide as one of the finest horse trainers in the colonies, incorporated emotional heroism with a nonpredatory approach to power to win the Revolutionary War.

Linda further explores how power, compassion, and leadership are developed in traditional herding cultures where “master herders” learn how to lead, care for, and live in harmony with large groups of potentially aggressive animals ten times the size of the average human. In one of these cultures, an ancient rite of passage becomes the model for how modern people can develop emotional heroism. In the process, workshop participants will learn specific strategies for preventing and transforming violence in their own communities, families, and the culture at large.

“No matter what’s happening around you,” Linda emphasizes, “this nonpredatory form of power allows you to deal efficiently with interpersonal challenges, helping you diffuse aggression and fear in others. Over time, the skills associated with emotional heroism help you ride life’s roller coaster with ease. An underlying sense of ‘deep peace’ emerges and strengthens. You find that you can let go of the stories that tie you to the injustices of the past. And you can fully enjoy the present, knowing that you are courageous, empowered, and agile enough to meet the future with the relaxed yet expanded awareness of a mature herd leader.”

This workshop is for leaders, teachers, parents, social workers, social activists, clergy, counselors, equine facilitators, and health care workers interested in new ways to reduce bullying and other verbal and nonverbal forms of violence in their schools, businesses and communities. Techniques for assisting soldiers returning from war and other people with post-traumatic stress disorder are also featured, making this workshop appropriate for spouses and other family members who seek to understand and support people who may act out violently in response to unresolved trauma.