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Epona Equestrian Services' on-site group events are human-development workshops exploring creativity, intuition, emotional fitness and authentic-community-building skills.

Generally, these programs are facilitated by Linda Kohanov and/or Epona Approved Instructors. Often, if a workshop is theme specific, appropriate guest facilitators may be brought in to assist. Each workshop covers the basic philosophy, skills and activities of the Epona Approach™ to Equine Facilitated Experiential Learning. In addition, each workshop focuses on an area of special interest. See detailed descriptions below.

Additional Epona Approach™ workshops are offered by apprentices as their final projects during their last week of training. These workshops are supervised by Linda Kohanov and/or Program staff. See detailed descriptions below.

Participation in one of these workshops is a prerequisite for individuals wishing to do advanced work at the Epona Center and is also required prior to acceptance into the Epona Apprenticeship Program.

Covered in each workshop are the following basics of the Epona Approach™

Listed below are the 2008 workshops. Click the links to read the workshop description, including sign-up information.

Pioneering Spirit: Leadership for the 21st Century

July 8-13, 2008
Facilitators: Linda Kohanov, Shelley Rosenberg, Cathy Huddleston

$2300 includes tuition; on-site lodging; and all meals.

$2000 includes tuition; off-site lodging; and lunch and dinner on workshop days.

Participants staying on-site will check-in on Tuesday, July 8th, from 3:00-5:00 p.m. and receive dinner that night. The workshop starts on Wednesday, July 9th, and ends with dinner on Saturday, July 12th. Check-out for those staying on site is Sunday morning after breakfast.

It’s now commonly recognized that only ten percent of human communication is verbal. And yet in our culture, we’ve virtually become mesmerized by words as our social and educational systems teach us to dissociate from the body, the environment, and the subtle nuances of nonverbal communication. In his book, The Other 90%: How to Unlock your Vast Potential for Leadership and Life, Robert K. Cooper predicts that the “dinosaurs of the future will be those who keep trying to live and work from their heads alone. Much of human brilliance is driven less by the brain in your head than by newly discovered intelligence centers—now called ‘brain two and brain three’—in the gut and the heart. The highest reasoning and brightest ingenuity involve all three of those brains working together.”

In this four-day intensive, you will learn skills for accessing that “other 90%” with the help of the Epona herd, exercising the non-verbal communication, assertiveness, emotional fitness, and relationship skills essential to leadership---as managers, innovators, entrepreneurs, educators, and parents and mentors of the next generation.

“If we’re serious about finding solutions to the challenges of this complex technological, now global society we live in, we do in fact need to engage all three of those brains,” says Linda Kohanov. “The true pioneers of the 21st century are those who figure out how to tap the vast resources of nonverbal intelligence. At Epona, we’ve found that horses provide the ultimate shortcut. It is ironic that for thousands of years these sensitive yet powerful beings carried our bodies around the world, allowing us to explore terrain we would have struggled to traverse on foot. Yet even as they’ve been release from their roles as beasts of burden, horses have not become obsolete. They stand, beckoning, at the edge of a new wilderness—the landscape of consciousness itself—waiting for us to accept the challenge of living life to its fullest potential.”

To register online and pay by credit card, click here.

To register and pay by check: send the check to Attn: Workshop Registration; The Epona Center; HC1, Box 922; Sonoita, AZ 85637. Be sure to include the name and dates of the workshop.

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

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Horse as Muse: Reclaiming The Power of Creativity

August 5-11, 2008
Facilitators: Linda Kohanov and Kim McElroy

Workshop tuition includes meals and lodging in the following accommodations:

$2100 for off-site lodging. (3 spaces available)

$2600 for a private room with a shared bath in the conference center residence. (Limit 6: SOLD OUT)

$2900 for a private room with a private bath in the historic ranch house. (Limit 2: SOLD OUT)

Participants check in Tuesday, August 5th between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. and dinner is provided that night. The workshop starts at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The workshop ends at 5:00 p.m. Sunday, August 10th; dinner and lodging are provided that night. Check out is Monday morning after a continental breakfast.

The Horse as Muse is a five-day exploration of creativity in multiple forms, designed to reinvigorate the senses, tap inspiration, exercise intuition, and expand participants’ ability to experiment, improvise, and more fully express themselves. Linda and Kim will share simple yet profound techniques for accessing the innately artistic soul in us all. Activities with the Epona herd will also reawaken that pioneering spirit capable of discovering hidden sources of inspiration.

As Linda writes in the guidebook to Way of the Horse: Equine Archetypes for Self-Discovery, her newly published project with artist/co-facilitator Kim McElroy: “Flashes of inspiration are a lot like wild horses. You must travel through untamed territory to find them. And whether you seek them out, or come upon them unexpectedly, that first sighting takes your breath away. As the best wranglers will tell you, to track and tame a mustang, it helps to think like one. The same goes for new ideas. In the early stages of innovative thought, creative geniuses tap states of mind more common to horses than civilized people. Yet great artists also have the tenacity, concentration, and endurance to communicate these innovations in ways that only a human being can.”

Beyond the artist’s studio, however, creativity is one of the essential ingredients to success in life—whether you aspire to be a great educator, business executive, parent, counselor, equestrian, or leader/innovator in any number of other fields.

"Reclaiming your innate ability to imagine and manifest, to express the deepest yearnings of your soul, these are revolutionary acts of self-empowerment,” Linda emphasizes. “We’ve grown up in a culture that discourages people from developing creativity. It’s a subtle yet insidious form of social control. Unless a child shows some prodigious gift that can’t be easily squelched, many of our educational and social systems condition people to adopt a machine-like demeanor. In so many ways, we’re taught to mistrust our intuition, dull our own senses, and adopt those ubiquitous fears of experimentation, of looking foolish, of making mistakes. This insures we remain compliant to a system based on surviving rather than truly thriving.”

Literally and symbolically, the horse has a long history of awakening creativity in human beings. When Pegasus struck his hoof on Mount Helicon, the mountain of the Muses, he released the waters of the Hippocrene (literally “horse spring”). Thereafter, according to this ancient Greek myth, artists, musicians, and poets would make the treacherous climb to drink from this vast and flowing source of inspiration. As Angeles Arrien notes in her book The Nine Muses, Pegasus comes from the Greek root pegae, which translates as “geyser.” "Those who drank from these waters,” she writes, “would be endowed with gifts of poetic inspiration, prophetic insights, heightened creativity, intellectual curiosity, and song.”

“We will, in fact, be exercising all of these gifts during the Horse as Muse workshop,” Linda reveals. “With living horses, mythic equine archetypes, and powerful images of horses helping us tap into our own secret springs, we will be learning how to write, paint, and literally dance with horses, not to become professional artists per se, but to learn how to access that hidden power of creativity that makes life itself a work of art.”

“In Arrien’s book,” Kim McElroy observes, “she says the definition of a Muse is ‘to initiate someone into the Mysteries.’ In my own experiences, the horse is always a catalyst for profound change and transformation, and when you harness their inspirational power for your own creative dreams, then inspirations, synchronicities, and insights become a new way of being.”

Yet for far too many people, creativity has been hidden behind a shroud of elitism. Linda,  Kim, and the horses will combine their talents to help participants move beyond the mystique of creativity, while fully experiencing the mystery and the power of authentic inspiration.

"As artists,” Kim says, “we take the unformed aspects of our ideas, and put them into forms that communicate those feelings and thoughts to others.  The secret is in learning ways to express your natural gifts.  Creativity is as natural as breathing, but often in our lives we learned to hold our breath.  When we engage our intent to open up to our natural creative gifts in a workshop such as this one, a quantum shift can take place.  We can recognize and release the parts of us that may have been holding us back.  In learning to exhale, you will release the energy to give your important expressions a voice.”

Linda Kohanov is recognized internationally for her unique ability to characterize in writing, and teach in person, how horses help people reach greater levels of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual mastery. Her best-selling books The Tao of Equus and Riding between the Worlds chronicled the healing power of the horse-human relationship. Her latest project Way of the Horse: Equine Archetypes for Self-Discovery, a collaboration with noted equine artist Kim McElroy, includes a deck of horse wisdom cards and a guidebook of essays that take horse wisdom into the human world.

Kim McElroy loved horses from the time she was a child, and she had a natural talent as an artist and writer, but it wasn’t until she began painting horses in college that her true creative path began to unfold.  After attending the Epona EASE pre-apprenticeship, Kim assisted Linda in her workshop at the Omega Institute, and they embarked on their three- year odyssey into creating the Way of the Horse kit.

For more information contact the Events Coordinator at 520-455-5908 or booking@theeponacenter.com.

To register online and pay by credit card, click here.

To register and pay by check: send the check to Attn: Workshop Registration; The Epona Center; HC1, Box 922; Sonoita, AZ 85637. Be sure to include the name and dates of the workshop.

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

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Writing Between the Worlds: A Summer Writers' Retreat With Linda Kohanov

August 17-24, 2008
Facilitator: Linda Kohanov

Workshop tuition includes two private consultations with Linda Kohanov plus lodging and meals in the following accommodations:

$3500 for a private room with a shared bath in the conference center residence. (Limit 6)

$3800 for a private room with a private bath in the historic ranch house. (SOLD OUT)

Participants check in on August 17th between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.. The workshop starts at 4 p.m.; dinner is provided that night. The workshop ends with lunch on Sunday, August 24th. Check out is after lunch.

This in-depth writer’s workshop draws on Linda’s extensive experience as a professional journalist and best-selling author. For anyone who would like to expand their writing skills and learn how to market their work, while accessing greater creativity through reflective work with horses. This workshop is designed to give participants plenty of time to write in the inspiring setting of historic Apache Springs Ranch, while also offering writing hints, creativity expansion exercises, private consultations/editing sessions with Linda, and advice on getting published, from newspaper and magazine articles, to engaging agents and book publishers. Epona Ranch Manager Shelley Rosenberg, author of My Horses, My Healers, will also discuss the benefits and details of self publishing and marketing. Composer Steve Roach will offer live musical experiences to boost creativity and intuitive confidence.

This workshop is limited to eight participants. For this workshop, Linda would like to interview each participant by phone to find out their writing goals, challenges, and any special projects they’d like to work on during the week. Please send a letter of interest with your contact information and a brief description of your writing experience and/or goals to rasa@theeponacenter.com Make sure to include your phone number. For more information, contact the Epona office: booking@theeponacenter.com or 520-455-5908.

For an in-depth description of the workshop, click here.

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

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The Way of the Horse Introductory Workshop

September 29-October 1, 2008
Facilitator: Carol Roush
$1500 for a private room with a shared bath in the conference center residence. (Limit 6)

The workshop begins at 10:00 a.m. on September 29th and ends at 4:00 p.m. on October 1st. Lodging for September 29th and 30th is included in the tuition cost.

This workshop is an introduction to the Epona Approach™ to Equine Experiential Learning presented by Advanced Instructor Carol Roush.  Attending this workshop satisfies the pre-requisite introductory workshop for those desiring to attend advanced programs.

Covered topics are the basics of the Epona Approach™:

For more information contact the Events Coordinator at 520-455-5908 or booking@theeponacenter.com.

To register online and pay by credit card, click here.

To register and pay by check: send the check to Attn: Workshop Registration; The Epona Center; HC1, Box 922; Sonoita, AZ 85637. Be sure to include the name and dates of the workshop.

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

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Horses as Healers: For Trauma Survivors

October 19-26, 2008
Facilitators: Shelley Rosenberg, Nancy Coyne, and Sarah Janosik
$3000 for a private room with a shared bath in the conference center residence or historic ranch house.

Participants will check in between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 19th. The workshop begins at 4:00 p.m. and dinner is served that night. The workshop concludes at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 25th and dinner is served that night. Check out is Sunday morning after a continental breakfast.

Horses as Healers for Trauma Survivors is a five-day intensive utilizing experiential learning and corrective emotional experience with horses as co-facilitators. Participants in previous Horses as Healers or Way of the Horse workshops will find deeper challenges and practice some new tools. Beginners are also welcome. Each day will include specific information on trauma and healing from trauma. Work with the horses will mobilize healing and help restore damaged trust. Tools for healing and self care include mindfulness exercises and yoga practice, creative process-drawing, writing, and painting to awaken creativity, attention to the body, food and exercise. Epona work on safety, boundaries, authentic relationship and community, and emotion as information will be reviewed and deepened. Other available strategies – body work, psychotherapy, EMDR, and medication for healing from trauma, will be discussed and may be demonstrated. Ample time is allowed for walks, pleasant meals, and good conversation. The daily schedule will include interaction with horses on the ground and on horseback. No riding experience is required. Linda Kohanov’s inspired teaching tools will be reviewed and practiced, including the emotional message chart, skills for authentic community, body scan, reflective round pen and reflective riding. Shelley will offer the connected round pen and journey ride as well as ritual pony painting. Nancy will offer yoga and creative process: supporting the creative artist within all of us to record the horse-human experience in images and writing. Trail riding and individual riding lessons will be available, as well as psychotherapy sessions, individual yoga, coaching, and massage.

Shelley Rosenberg is an accomplished dressage trainer, rider and judge. An Epona approved advanced instructor, she is the author of recently published My Horses, My Healers, a memoir chronicling her journey to healing from a childhood of neglect and sexual abuse. She is also a gifted horse artist. She is the ranch manager at the Epona Center in Sonoita, Arizona.

Nancy Coyne, MD is a psychiatrist with many years experience working with trauma survivors. An artist herself, she uses creative process--writing and drawing, yoga and bodywork, EMDR, and equine facilitated psychotherapy, as well as talk therapy, to help people heal from trauma and flourish in their lives. She is an Epona Approved Instructor and psychiatrist in residence at the Epona Center.

Sarah Janosik, LCSW is a clinical social worker  and has been in private practice for 20 years. She received her MSSW at The University of Texas at Austin in Social Work and a Post Graduate Internship at The University of California, San Francisco in Human Sexuality. She is the co-founder of Austin Center for Sexual Medicine, a regional center that provides diagnosis, research, and treatment of sexual difficulties for men and women. Sarah is an Epona Approved Instructor who facilitates equine-based awareness and growth workshops. She combines her expertise in sexual and intimacy skills with her Epona training to maximize personal and relationship potential.

For more information contact the Events Coordinator at 520-455-5908 or booking@theeponacenter.com.

To register online and pay by credit card, click here.

To register and pay by check: send the check to Attn: Workshop Registration; The Epona Center; HC1, Box 922; Sonoita, AZ 85637. Be sure to include the name and dates of the workshop.

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

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Professional and Life Coach Training through the Way of the Horse

Professional and Life Coach Training through the Way of the Horse at Apache Springs Ranch is designed for both experienced and beginning coaches. It is also a practical tool for consultants, HR professionals, managers, and leaders.

This comprehensive coach-training program is for people who want to incorporate coaching into their lives but lack the skills to make it happen. It also offers people who have attended other Epona programs the tools for more deeply integrating Epona’s emotional fitness, leadership, and authentic community building skills into life and work.

PLC through the Way of the Horse combines the core competency coaching skills/methodologies (as defined by the International Coaching Federation) with the power and transformational potential of the horse human relationship. Learning these skills enables you to create abundance and possibilities for you and your clients.

At Epona, we will study and anchor Professional and Life Coaching skills through a deep journey of self-exploration and transformational learning. In addition to classroom and group process work, our equine coaches help us develop new competencies in working with and relating to others, exercising mind-body awareness, non-verbal communication, assertiveness, creativity, and leadership skills.

Benefits of the PLC through the Way of the Horse:

The 11-month program consists of four on-site, five-day experiences at the Epona Center at Apache Springs Ranch in Sonoita, AZ, plus independent study assignments in between sessions. This program focuses on developing new perspectives on learning and competency in managing your own transitions as well as learning how to utilize these new perspectives in coaching others.

The Epona PLC through the Way of the Horse is designed to fulfill the core competencies of the International Coaching Federation, (ICF).
Program Dates

Session I—June 2-6, 2008

Session II—October 13-17, 2008

Session III—December 1-5, 2008

Session IV—February 16-20, 2009

Cost: $14,180
Includes tuition, on-site private room with a shared bath and three nutritious meals per day, all materials, and conference calls in between sessions.

Program is limited to 8 people. See below for the selection process.

Facilitators:
Linda Kohanov, internationally recognized author, Founder/Director of the Epona Center

Lisa Murrell, Professional Certified Coach (ICF), Epona Approved Instructor The Epona Herd
Adjunct Facilitators:
Marine Spring, Professional Certified Coach (ICF), graduate from Barbara Brennan School of Healing Science
Shelley Rosenberg, Ranch Manager/Head Trainer of the Epona Center
PLC through the Way of the Horse Program Selection Process for 2008

Note: A $25 fee is charged by Epona for any check returned from the bank. This is due when the party is notified of the return.

In this maximum four (4) page application letter, provide the following information submitted as a Microsoft Word Document — text only/no photos or graphics.

All applications will be carefully considered. Applicants will receive email notification as to whether or not they passed the paper-screening phase, whereupon a phone interview will be scheduled. Applicants accepted into the program will receive detailed instructions on location, lodging details, food service, and payment schedules.

Click here for PLC through the Way of the Horse FAQ’s and more detailed information from Lisa Murrell, PCC, www.metacg.com


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