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Epona Equestrian Services' advanced events include innovative approaches to the equestrian arts, and human-development workshops exploring creativity, intuition, emotional fitness and authentic community-building skills.

Participation in an introductory-level workshop, either at Epona or with one of the Approved Instructors, is required before advanced work.

Epona Advanced Study Experience (EASE)

Awakening to Your Life's Purpose Through the Way of the Horse

October 12-18, 2009 and February 15-21, 2010
Facilitated by Epona Approved Advanced Instructors Mary-Louise Gould and Carol Roush, with special presentations by Linda Kohanov.

This two-part advanced intensive program is an in-depth exploration of the Way of the Horse as a profound journey of self-discovery and transformation. With horses as your inspiration and guides, you will learn skills for increasing self-awareness, accessing inner peace, and developing an approach to life that enables you to live deeply and awaken to your life’s purpose .

Sixteen (16) carefully chosen individuals will meet for a week on two occasions at the Epona Center in Sonoita, Arizona. Prior to acceptance program, applicants must complete an introductory level Epona Approach workshop. Please see the listings on the Epona website of Introductory Workshops at Epona and Introductory Workshops Worldwide for qualifying workshops. Preference will be give to participants who resonate deeply with the Epona Approach, who have understood and begun integrating in their personal lives the information taught in the Emotional Message Chart, the False Self/Authentic Self metaphor, and the insights gleaned from their own personal reflective round pen experience at an Epona workshop. The EASE program will further define and integrate the Nine Essential Skills for Authentic Community Building through reflective, active, and mounted work with horses and in group process work with two-legged herd members.

The sixteen (16) individuals accepted into the program will be divided into smaller groups and each group will be assigned a facilitator who will act as a guide and advisor, both at Epona and during the months between sessions. (Group facilitators are Epona Approved Instructors who have successfully completed the apprenticeship program and are actively engaged in their own practice of assisting individuals through the Way of the Horse.)

The overall theme of the program is beautifully described by Sue Monk Kidd in her book, When the Heart Waits:

“Is it possible, I asked myself, that I am being summoned from some deep and holy place within? Am I being asked to enter a passage in the Spiritual life, the journey from false self to true self? Am I being asked to dismantle old masks and patterns and unfold a deeper, more authentic self, the one I intended to be? Am I being compelled to disturb my inner universe in quest of the undiscovered being who clamors from within?”

In response to those questions, The EASE program will focus on teaching you how to take new tools and expanded self-awareness back into your life, family, relationships, and community. You will learn how to be more authentic, set healthy boundaries, and actually live from a larger perspective of who you are and what’s possible for you. You will learn how to apply these Epona principals to everyday life: congruency over conformity, authenticity over perfection, and adaptability and inquisitiveness over methodology.

The program will offer experiences in the following areas:

In the end, what horses know is that everything changes...constantly. They teach us to be mindful of the present moment, free of preoccupation and judgment. It is then that we are automatically imbued with lightheartedness; it is then that we can step far enough from our old survival beliefs and behaviors to make room for a sense of humor, self acceptance, and loving kindness that are at the core of our authentic selves. It is from this connected place within that we discover the true nature of who we are, create authentic relationships, and live in peace. In the safe and congruent environment of EASE you will have the opportunity to explore what feels emotionally, physically, spiritually, and intellectually expansive for you and become truly awake to your life’s purpose!

We will take as our texts for the program all three of Linda Kohonov’s books; The Tao of Equus, Riding Between the Worlds, and Way of the Horse, as well as Eckhart Tolle’s,  A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, and from the Institute of Noetic Science, Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life.

TUITION

$6480 (US dollars) for two weeks. Includes training, core materials, and two nutritious meals per program day.

PAYMENT SCHEDULE

SELECTION PROCESS

Please take the time to thoughtfully answer the following questions and return your application as an attached Microsoft Word document to Carol Roush at booking@theeponacenter.com.

Applicants will receive email notification as to whether or not they passed the paper-screening phase. Phone interviews for those passing will then be scheduled. The application process will continue until the program is full and a waiting list is established.

There is an $80 application processing fee. To pay by credit card or check contact the Epona office at booking@theeponacenter.com or 520-455-5908.

APPLICATION FORMAT:

Date application and include name, address, phone number, and email address.

  1. What was your initial experience with Epona? Indicate nature of experience (workshop, private sessions, or an intensive), the name(s) of facilitator(s) and of workshop(s), and dates.
  2. How has your initial experience with Epona influenced your life?
  3. How has this influenced your relationship with your horses?
  4. Which of the Epona concepts or activities were difficult to integrate when you returned home?  For example, the concept of emotion as information, authentic community building skills, and the false self/authentic self metaphor.
  5. Which of the concepts were most useful?
  6. What area of interest appeals to you most during the year of the advanced study program?
  7. A significant emphasis in the EASE program will be on building authentic interspecies communities.  Do you feel ready to participate in an intensive group experience which will require you to be able to sit with uncomfortable emotions, identify your own triggers, and hold the sacred space of possibility for others to allow them to move through their own process?
  8. Describe the role that intuitive insights and/or shamanic states of consciousness play in your life.
  9. Do you have an idea or a desire to integrate this experience with your career or life’s work?

For more information contact booking@theeponacenter.com or 520-455-5908.

Qualified EASE participants interested in becoming Epona Approved Instructors may apply for the Apprenticeship Training program that will be scheduled in 2010. Please indicate if you have a desire to continue with Epona in an apprenticeship program.

 

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