Aligned Living

Aligned Living offers Equine Assisted Learning to individuals, groups and businesses.

WHAT IS EQUINE ASSISTED LEARNING (EAL)?

Equine Assisted Learning occurs when a practitioner and one or more clients meet together in a space with one or more horses with a view of pursuing personal awareness, growth, and learning. Clients may have a specific goal in mind, or be open to whatever comes up for them on the day. The practitioner will offer clients a relational experience with the horse/s.

The experience may involve doing something with the horse/s or just simply being with them. When ready, clients discuss their experience with their practitioner who assists in drawing out learning objectives. This type of learning is very powerful as it is based on a client’s lived experience rather than just talking about something.

WHAT CAN I GET OUT OF IT?

EAL can assist personal growth in many ways. The following are some ideas about what you might like to get from EAL:

Relationships
Sense of Belonging
Safety
Self Worth
Leadership
Sense of Purpose
Responsibility
Balance
Self-Discipline
Respect
Resilience
Empathy
Emotional Healing
Emotional Intelligence
Self-Confidence
Spirituality
Creativity
Problem Solving
Communication
Mental Health
Self-Improvement
Love
Acceptance
Tolerance

WHY HORSES?

Horses have unique features that can impact people, including:

Beauty – they draw attention and evoke feelings.
Strength – they require you to be careful to avoid getting hurt.
Awareness – with heightened sensing capabilities they are masters in awareness.
Present to Feelings – feelings are likely experienced as movement in energy and vibration, information to be received and expressed.
Always Connected to their Environment – horses live in constant interaction with everything around them.
Congruency – internal experience matches with their outer expression of self.
Present – horses live in the here and now, rather than past or future.
Embodied – they live in their body with their senses and energetic waves of feeling.
Self-regulation – horses tend to naturally attempt to meet their needs or ‘interests’ and engage fully in the cycle of experience – they become aware, mobilise/act, make contact, experience satisfaction, withdraw – return to grazing.
Comfortable with all energetic contact – from gentle and quiet, to excitable and vibrant, to strong and aggressive contact boundaries. Horses can model flexibility of contact.
Heart – the electromagnetic field of the horse’s heart interacts with and influences the human’s heart and its field.
Size – they demand attention, and stimulate awe.

WHO IS THE PRACTITIONER?

Joy is a trained professional in the fields of mentoring, coaching and personal leadership who has 14 years of experience with horses. She has volunteered as a mentor for 7 years and also as a facilitator for a non-profit organisation focussed on healing families and individuals. Joy is passionate about supporting people to be the best they can possibly be, with a considerate and respectful attitude towards the needs of both client and horse.

Joy offers an opportunity to learn how to thrive and realise your potential. “Being in relationship with horses has been a catalyst for all kinds of personal growth for me. Now I want to provide a safe environment to share with others what has been of so much value to me”. Joy is also a parent and step parent and has a current ‘Working with Children Check’ and CrimTRAC.

Joy is a certified Foundation Level EAL practitioner, trained with the Equine Psychotherapy Institute.

WHAT DO OTHERS SAY ABOUT ALIGNED LIVING?

I drove to my EAL appointment feeling very low. I'm an alcoholic and I had picked up the night before, breaking a two month sobriety. It was only the facilitator Joy's gentle approach and complete non judgement, that allowed me to explain where I was at and begin my EAL. I hoped against hope that I could just learn something to lighten the shame, remorse and self hate that smothered me. Joy helped me practise some deeper, more relaxed breathing, and reminded me to tune in to my environment, to connect with my surroundings. I met the mare, Miss Seville, and her steady nature and calm eyes reassured me somewhat. But it was in the middle of the session that the magic happened for me. Miss Seville turned to me, and looked at me steadily for a long time. I felt like she was completely ok with me being around, that she even felt it was good that I was there with her. I felt so accepted, and I remembered something that I don't often manage to. I can be ok with me, in every moment, no matter what. I can even love myself, love myself as I am, not only in achievement or in good times, but in all times and circumstances. I felt so peaceful and thankful, and I carried this through the rest of my day, even though things were not easy. Thank you Joy and Miss Seville, from Bel W 20.11.2013

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Individual Sessions:-

$195 per 1.5 Hour Session
$135 per 1 Hour Session

Group sessions

$90 / person / 1.5 Hour Session
$65 / person / 1 Hour Session

Group Intensives coming soon!