September 11/12, 2010

New!! Journey to the Self through the Way of the Horse
October 16/17, 2010

Equine Assisted Coach Training Program
September 7-10, 2010

Upcoming EFL MasterMind with Kathleen Barry Ingram
Fall, 2010

NEW!! Equine Assisted Coach Training in EUROPE!!
Coming in 2011!

Coaching Round Pen For Individual and Team Coaching
Group classes on-going, 2010

Horses Used to Teach Executives how to Manage Staff

Corporate trainer Lisa Murrell uses horses to show businesspeople how their emotions and energy affect their working relationships. Through Equine Assisted Training, she shows executives how to manage their staff without steam-rolling them. Murrell said she believes that everything you need to know about your emotions, you can learn from a horse.

Corporate trainer Lisa Murrell, who is shown here with her horse Simon, uses the animals to show businesspeople how their emotions and energy affect their working relationships. Through Equine Assisted Training, she shows executives how to manage their staff without steamrolling them. Murrell said she believes that everything you need to know about your emotions, you can learn from a horse.

Murrell splits her time between New York and Wellington. She runs her own business within MetaSystem Consulting Group, an international coaching firm. She grew up with horses and wanted to get back into the equine life. In 2005, she created Equine Alchemy, which uses horses to help people realize how their energy affects others.

"I started bringing executives to the farm to work with the horses," she said.

Murrell uses horses because they are prey animals and much attuned to their environment. Horses sense when someone is nervous or domineering, even if the person doesn't realize it himself.

Murrell leads the participant and the horses through several exercises. She eventually shows the person how they can affect a horse without speaking or moving.

"You learn where your electromagnetic field is. If you can learn where the horse's electromagnetic field is, and they give you certain signs and visual cues - a flick of the tail or the ear, a movement of the feet - you can move closer so your energy field is pressing against theirs. Pressure means move. You can make your energy bigger and they will go from walk to trot to canter. Take a deep breath, bring your energy down, and they will go to downward transitions. Hopefully you get to the point where you can change your energy and they respond to it. If you can do that, you've learned energetic agility."

The same principles apply to the business world.

"People run over everybody's boundaries all the time," Murrell said. "When you come into a meeting, you can feel a vibe, but you don't pay any attention. You're disconnected from what's going on. If you're the leader, that's not a good thing. If you just go in and start talking or telling people what to do, you're not in relationships."

Equine training helps supervisors use their energy to project positive energy and be aware of the emotions of others.

"Horses are incredible mentors for group dynamics," Murrell said. "They're herd animals. They respond to the energy of the group. People who work in a group are generally not like that. They need to learn how to be in relationships differently. That's the biggest thing this work is about."