E2 - Eleni Argy - Empowering Teens Through Intuitive Learning
Keywords
heart-centered living, horses, young people, gender dynamics, relationships, experiential learning, emotional connection, equine therapy, personal growth, self-awareness, listening, nature, teenagers, personal growth, connection, compassion, intuitive learning, emotional awareness, family dynamics, new generation
Summary
In this conversation, Kerri Lake and Eleni Argy explore the profound connection between horses and young people, discussing how equine experiences can foster emotional growth and self-awareness. They delve into gender dynamics in horse interactions, the importance of vulnerability, and the unique ways horses serve as a bridge for understanding relationships. Through experiential learning, they highlight the transformative impact of horses on young people's lives, emphasizing the significance of listening and being present in the moment. This conversation explores the profound impact of nature and animals on personal growth, particularly in children and teenagers. The speakers discuss the importance of being present and listening without judgment, the intuitive learning that occurs in natural settings, and the role of family dynamics in shaping emotional awareness. They emphasize that connection and compassion are essential for healing and growth, and highlight the emerging generation's desire for harmony and understanding in their lives.
Takeaways
The podcast focuses on heart-centered living and the relationship between humanity and the animal kingdom.
Horses have a unique ability to connect with young people, fostering emotional growth.
Gender dynamics play a significant role in how boys and girls interact with horses.
Vulnerability is often more accepted in women than in men, affecting their interactions with horses.
Competition in equestrian sports is predominantly male, reflecting societal conditioning.
Experiential learning with horses can break down gender stereotypes and promote self-awareness.
Listening is a vital skill that fosters connection and understanding between beings.
Young people often express themselves better in non-judgmental environments with horses.
Horses serve as a mirror, reflecting our emotions and behaviors back to us.
Creating a space for young people to be themselves allows for profound personal growth. Listening without judgment fosters deeper connections.
Children are more open to new ways of thinking.
Nature provides a unique learning environment.
Teenagers are at a crossroads, making choices constantly.
Animals help us connect with our true selves.
Personal history shapes our ability to guide others.
Compassion is key in understanding troubled youth.
Emerging generations are wired for emotional awareness.
Family involvement enhances the learning experience.
Nature and animals facilitate genuine communication.
Sound Bites
"Competition can exist without dominating others."
"Horses are the great equalizer."
"Kids just love being there."
"Listening is one of the kindest gifts we have."
"Kids are willing to let go of expectations."
"When a horse listens, they are completely embodied."
"Kids respond to that like this, right?"
"That's really listening without judgment."
"Animals will do that. They're their own creatures."
"I see you. I see you."
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Heart-Centered Living
02:31 The Connection Between Horses and Young People
06:35 Gender Dynamics in Horse Interaction
10:11 Exploring Relationships Through Horses
13:05 Experiential Learning with Horses
22:23 The Impact of Horses on Young People's Lives
29:48 The Power of Presence in Listening
32:04 Intuitive Learning Through Nature
36:31 The Role of Nature in Teen Development
41:11 Navigating Personal History and Growth
48:12 The Importance of Connection and Compassion
55:56 Emerging Generations and New Paradigms
Transcript
Kerri (00:01.854)
Okay, beautiful. I'm Kerri Lake, creator of the Animals of a New Earth podcast and Generation of Harmony and several other things that are all about guiding humanity to function from the foundation of the heart and to really kind of have the sense of what that actually is in our world. The podcast, Animals of a New Earth, is all about just genuine organic conversations with
other beautiful people to illustrate from different facets, from different realms of life, different levels of awareness of the intimate relationship between the animal kingdom and humanity and all of the amazing ways that animals, through their own purity of being, help humanity remember what that is within ourselves. So today we get to play with Eleni Argy.
who is in Sydney or outside Sydney, Australia, and has a business called She's Like the Wind, Equine Experiences. I've had the amazing honor and privilege of dancing with Alini for a couple of years now. We've been playing together either remotely or I did get to go be with her in person in Sydney. we've had quite a beautiful journey that this one
One little podcast thing could not cover the whole thing, but I invited Eleni to come and share with us about because she works with young people. She brings young people to the horses to assist them in their lives and provide them a different kind of guidance. So Eleni, so happy you're here. do you want to add? hopefully you didn't just freeze up.
I just want to have you unfreeze.
Kerri (02:05.72)
Well, it will be wonderful when Eleni's screen unfreezes. There you are.
I'll bubble my head and say something.
That's awesome. Do you want to say anything else to introduce yourself or your work? Please do. introduce yourself. whatever you'd like to for context or introduction.
Thank you, Kerry. I am so grateful to be here. I'm so incredibly grateful for the journey we've had, as you mentioned, over the past several years. I do work predominantly with young people sharing our wonderful...
Eleni (02:53.318)
heard of programs and interactions that also involve adults, individuals, groups, families.
Eleni (03:17.374)
And text of bringing young people into interactive courses, there's really incredible stuff that unfolds. So I'd to chat to you more about that.
Beautiful. When we first started talking about doing this recording, was, for me, was prompted by the idea that every little girl loves horses. Little girls love horses, right? And, you know, it's a thing. And it's less of a thing for boys, at least in our Western cultures, right? In cultures with like English and European influence.
So when that popped for me, just wanted to ask you to share what you see about that. Why do horses speak so much to little girls? What do you see in that?
I think horses speak to little girls and big girls. Until you bring a little boy or a man in that space and you see that equal level of excitement. I think obviously the industry that we're in is predominantly female, right? I'm not sure if that's an emotional connection. know, women are really emotional.
creatures and connect in their responses emotionally to everything around them. I'm not sure if that's it, but there's something really intriguing about horses and girls. you know, it's interesting to see how differently or similarly the younger girls might interact with horses to teenage girls, to women, to older women.
Eleni (05:11.362)
why all these different sort of phases of life, that there's still always this fascination that comes down to a beautiful baseline of, you know, horses being these majestic creatures that can relate to everyone. But it's interesting, know, boys aren't cultured to kind of go, hey, I want to be a cowboy, I want to be a horseman. But what I've found is as soon as you get a little boy in the paddock,
They embody that. They embody this, hey, wow, I can interact with a horse. I'm near this big animal. And I think that men do the same. I just don't think it's something that they've been conditioned to grow up with maybe. But it's magical to watch what happens when you put little boys in the panic tube.
That's amazing. So then by contrast, there's another observation that in the world of horse related competition, competitors at the top are predominantly male. It suggests that, you know, they've been involved for a long time since they were boys. But, you know,
Interesting.
Kerri (06:35.372)
I want to hear you talk about what you see in that. And then I'm happy to share what I see too, but there's a difference there, right? That the top of the competitive scale is male. The everyday beauty interaction inspiration is often associated with female, you know, little girls love horses, but the competitors in racing, ranching, you know, and sport.
and are often predominantly male. So what do you see in that when you look at that?
Well, what I see, and this comes out in our programs too, we run programs that are for girls and women separately and little boys and men separately. And it's interesting to see how boys and men are definitely more action oriented. They're more, I do want to say competitive in a way in that, you know, that this
this bravado comes out, you I can do this, that, you know, I can't show any weakness and they go into a mode of sometimes being the best leader or, you know, having control over the animals and things like that. I think with women, it is more about the relationship and feeling from that.
Shit.
Eleni (08:09.166)
love to see that type of thing break down when you get boys and men in the paddock interacting relationally with horses where there's no task involved, where there's no competition involved, right? And it's scaled right back to the relationship. And it's a vulnerable place to be, right? Boys don't like that. Men don't like looking vulnerable, right?
Women are okay with that. We're actually okay with that, right? We can have meltdowns and then we wipe our tears or whatever and just get back up again. It's just a thing we do. And there's not much shame in that because it's just accepted. Whereas men, I think, know, put on this bravado and might have this inner sort of competitive streak that might come out.
And that's why you see that in competitive equestrian sports as well. I don't know what's your take on this.
It's right along those lines, you know, whether it's the biological makeup of a male human, you know, is different than the female human, I'm sure that all, you know, the biology, the physiology. But what I watch a lot is conditioning, you know, like you mentioned a little bit about our culture and that
there's this expectation that people in a male body would want this and behave like this and are action oriented and, and, and, and, and, and there's the expectation of our society that females are emotional and flexible and blah, blah, blah, blah, the list of requirements is. And so,
Eleni (09:53.078)
and
Kerri (10:11.532)
What the way that I see it is, you know, to some people it seems really nitpicky, but to me it's vital that when we're talking about having a relationship, you know, relationship oriented, to me it's really important to draw out what we're saying there, right? Because for little girls, if we say girls are relationship oriented, we're talking about a particular kind of relationship that's open and vulnerable that, you know,
We think that's what a relationship is, but somebody over here who is competitive and dominating and geared toward causing action with another being, that's still a relationship. Okay? It's just a relationship with different dynamics and different outcomes. So to me, it's really important to look at our own bias
for what a good relationship is. A relationship is emotional and listening and blah, blah, blah, blah, know, like we associate girls and horses and that's not wrong and it's not right either. People, because there are a lot of female people who are competitive, action oriented, right? And it comes down, you know, we can talk about the divine masculine and the divine feminine, the energy that produces that, but...
taking that back a little bit to just, you know, the human part of things and say, well, what if I give male people the space to not have to compete, then what rises to the surface? Is it really who they are? And if it is, great, go compete, have a blast. But there's a way to compete without dominating your competition partner, right?
Like a bobsled team of men, they're not competing with their teammates, They're together competing against the clock.
Kerri (12:26.548)
And so it's not that competition is bad. It's just if you're competing, why? Where does it come from? Who are you really? So then my question for you about that is, what are the kinds of interactions that you offer people, that you offer both men and women that brings either to that place of of vulnerably recognizing a connection?
of
Kerri (12:55.534)
What tools do you use or what exercises do you offer that bring people there?
This, what you're saying is so wonderful. it takes me back to about 10 years ago, I had some of these programs that I was running and I was obligated to run girls groups separately from boys groups. And we did all experiential outdoor sort of stuff. Eventually I started incorporating horses in that. But interestingly enough, we kept the curriculum exactly the same.
Right. There were some things that were a tiny bit more girly, right? And there were things that were a tiny bit more boyish. But the amazing thing was, you know, girls loved the boy stuff just as much, if not more, right? And boys loved doing girly things. I'll give you an example. There were things like, you know, create your own face mask and boys would just, you know,
there weren't really conditions to go, yeah, I should be moisturizing my face and looking after my skin, but they loved playing in this way. And when I started to incorporate horses, I thought, well, I'm forced to have a girls group and a boys group, you know, separate, but what would I offer with horses as a platform and nature as my platform that would be different?
And in my mind, there was nothing different. The animal kingdom and nature, as you know, it's what I call the great equalizer, right? And if you sit in it and play in it long enough, everything starts to make sense and everything starts to balance. Right? So to get to your question on, to your question on what, what was the same or different?
Kerri (14:37.646)
for me.
Eleni (15:03.628)
or what did we do? I mean, in the early days, I incorporated some really basic horsemanship stuff, know, how to lead a horse, how to move the horse around, know, back the horse up. And preceding that, really simple, just be there and hang out with the horse and what does that feel like, right? But in terms of tasks, there was that little bit of doing in terms of horsemanship. And it didn't make sense for that to be any different in terms of what the gender you were interacting with.
Similarly now, where we have kept some groups gender specific, and I'll tell you the reason why I kept that going, was sometimes women among women feel a bit more comfortable to share certain things that they might not share in an environment where it's, you know, it's gender. And these could be our biological
kind of differences, you you have women that start to talk about childbirth and infertility and stuff like that. And men don't necessarily really want to talk about that kind of stuff. And interestingly, again, out of men's conversations come these awareness around, yeah, we're not meant to talk about this stuff.
We do feel all the same stuff, but we're supposed to shut it down and just keep going and do what we do as men out in the community and be a provider and do, you Again, I've kept the groups separate, but the activities are the same. And it's beautiful to watch people really, you know, and I say people because it's any and every gender, really just go back into themselves.
And as you said, if being competitive is what you really are, then great.
Eleni (17:08.728)
let's do a little task and let's see how competitive you can be. If you want to win, if you win, for you. It's for you. You get first prize if that's important to you. Conversations around, okay, was that important to you? And the fact that you didn't win, was that important to you? And why, right? And...
But the same with women, right? The same with girls. If we set a task, what I love to see is, as you mentioned, women and girls can get competitive, right? Extremely competitive sometimes. But what I love about working with horses is, as I said, they're the great equalizer. They will scale you back to what's really important. They will...
I hate to use the word mirroring, but they will give you that really honest, buying feedback as to where you're at. And it's about us just pointing that out and being curious. Hey, why do you the horse did that? Why did you ask the horse to that? Oh, what do you think that's about?
Yeah, I'm so happy that you brought up mirroring and then went beyond it because it really is like mirror is a convenient word for humans to have a concept of looking at ourselves. Right? It's a really convenient word. But the true if we just say the horse is a mirror.
then we cut out the uniqueness of that living being who's gonna respond differently to me than a different horse. And this is like the heart of the conversation that I would love to just continue to integrate into people's self-awareness as other creatures on the planet are not here just
Kerri (19:16.974)
to be tools to humanity. We're here with grace, with profound grace, to walk side by side as something different yet equal to the human species. It's just we have this different consciousness that can look at the horse and be curious and say, why do you think he did that? Right? And it's so beautiful to me that we can
we can assist each other in this way. And this is why, like my book is called, Listen Like a Horse. That's exactly why, because horses are not evaluating that you should be different than you are. They are simply saying, well, there you are. And here's me in relationship to you when that's how you show up. And then the moment you shift the way you're showing up, the horse will say, okay, well, here's me.
Thank
Kerri (20:15.946)
now that you have shifted this way. Right? And so again, it looks like a mirror until you're willing to grant that animal uniqueness and intelligence and awareness and cognizance and consciousness.
You pick this in every moment of that interaction. That's where the beauty lies and that's where the relationship unfolds and that's where the experience unfolds every minute. When you have an awareness of yourself and the other being, whether it's a horse or another creature or another human, interacting with that every minute. What's it like? What does that feel like?
Okay.
Eleni (21:07.758)
Where is my mind when this is happening? Where's my body when this is happening? And what happened there with you? And now it's happening. And like you said, it's these shifts that occur in every moment.
Yeah.
Kerri (21:24.162)
And that's what a relationship is, isn't it? It's bringing yourself with your awareness into interaction with another. It's not a relationship itself doesn't have a list of requirements necessarily because you and I are having a relationship. We're in a relationship here. We're relating with one another, you know? So when,
When younger people come and play with you and your programs and you share with them and guide them and give them tools, what kinds of things do they tell you? How does it help or change their world? What are they willing to share with you about what they get when they do, when they step into a very aware?
relationship. mean, I know I talked to lot of people that are like, you know, yeah, kids really need this kids kids kids kids. There's a lot of kids suck out there, which to me just blows my mind. I can't see it. I can't see that kids suck at all. You know. So tell me, can you talk about that about the feedback that younger people give you about their experiences? Yeah.
Sure. It's interesting because young people love to show up, right? For different reasons than their parents or teachers or psychologists or whatever have directed them to showing up for. Kids just love being there. And when I ask kids, you know, why are you here? They can't...
because
Eleni (23:14.382)
They don't often have the vocabulary to say, I'm here to target this. The outcome I want is that, right? It's the adults that impose all of that on these kids. And yes, we'll have all those outcomes, right? But what I love in the beginning is the lack of conversation. They come in and just be, right? Because that's all they want out of it.
Yeah.
Eleni (23:44.632)
they come, literally will sit in the barn and horses will come stick their heads in and get curious and poke their noses in. And they just love it. And their bodies and faces and expressions will start to feel all that good stuff. Right? What, what I love even more is by the end of a session, whether it's an hour, 90 minutes, whatever it is,
whether there are any tasks or not, right? And I do try to weave in a lot of non-tasks, a lot of just being and hanging out and noticing and breathing and you know, what does it feel like to be back in our bodies before we actually do anything? We might not even get to do anything, right? The whole session might just be hanging out. But what I love is by the end of that hour,
All of a sudden, miraculously, there's vocabulary, right? This is how I'm feeling. I know. And I must say, Kerri, I do, in terms of tools, I do incorporate so many of the tools that I learned from you. And it, it still continues to blow my mind how much vocabulary can come out of that, out of just noticing.
Just make it.
Eleni (25:10.572)
Right? But you need to allow yourself the time and the space to notice what is happening for you and what is happening in your environment and what is happening with whoever, whatever is there in your space creating, co-creating this experience. Right? And somehow, even with kids and young people and the most troubled young people, right? That at school would never be able to say how they're feeling or what they're thinking, somehow find the vocabulary.
to express it.
Eleni (25:44.106)
It doesn't take long, really doesn't.
It's so, and it's so amazing.
Yeah.
It's even just as you're sharing, it's so real for me too. I was talking to somebody else earlier today about listening and how listening is probably my favorite thing in creation, in physicality. Listening is truly this willingness to show up.
Thank
Kerri (26:20.054)
You know, and I'm deliberately not using the word present and presence because a lot of people get pretzeled up when you use that word. But for those who don't get pretzeled up, that's what I'm talking about. But people willing to actually show up with their body and their awareness and their curiosity and their kindness and their openness just to say, yes, I see you. Yes, I hear you. Without words.
Right? Listening is one of the kindest, most profoundly healing gifts that we have to share with one another. as humans conditioned to function as the provider, the strong one, or the nurturer, the caretaker, the cleaner, whatever the conditions are, we're so conditioned that
For one thing, often, know, humans often feel like there's nobody listening, for one thing. And so when you don't have the experience of how it feels that someone would listen, then it becomes difficult to be the listener as well, and to provide that much space for another to be exactly as they are and require nothing different of them. But that is the space where all of these shifts can happen, where
where the clarity can come, where suddenly a person is young or old, is relaxed enough in their body so that whatever their level of vocabulary, they can suddenly produce communication. So when you're working with young people, is it different than working with adults, with people who are linearly older?
Maybe not emotionally older all the time, but linearly older. Is it different?
Eleni (28:21.902)
It's so different. It's so different. I mean, what's beautiful is we have a baseline of just being human, right? This is humanity. We have bodies and we have hearts and we have emotions and our minds, you know, is this incredible thing. But how we process things at different times in our life is different. How we
Right?
Eleni (28:51.744)
react to things at different times in our life is different, right? And you know, biology has a lot to do with that, as you said before, and one might have something to do with that. But I love how kids can, they might have an expectation of something, but they're really happy to let it go like that, right? Right? Wow, check out that horse. Wow, you know.
Thanks.
Eleni (29:19.682)
They're so willing to move through these moments and these shifts when you allow them a space to do that without judgment. Right. And when, as you said, when you allow a space for listening, whether it's humans listening or whether it's horses listening, which is why I love that whole concept of listen like a horse. When a horse listens, they are completely embodied in that.
in that moment, in that accepting of whatever they're receiving, whatever it might be, right? That's really listening without judgment. And when we can do that even to the slightest degree as humans, right? Kids respond to that like this, right? I find adults
have a few more walls up. Mom's thinking about what she's going to cook for dinner. Dad's thinking of how much money that business deal is going to make him or whatever it might be. And it takes a little bit longer sometimes for some adults to get into that moment of really letting stuff go and allowing themselves to be present, which can happen.
Sometimes it's quicker than others for certain people, but sometimes it takes a really long time, you know, especially if it's been an adult who's been hanging on to a lot of stuff. Kids I find are a bit more willing to go, wow, that's a better way? Okay, right, let's try that. So that's why I love working with kids and especially teenage kids. They're at that place of
Crossroads everywhere, right? And you have choices everywhere, in every second. What should I do, this or that? Huh, if I do this, what's gonna happen? That was kind of stinky. Maybe I'll backtrack and go that way. But I think kids are good at making choices, right? And then checking out with curiosity what that did, right? And learning from that.
Eleni (31:33.689)
Yeah, so
Cool, so cool. Because what we're talking about here too, the tools, right, the tools I love to play with are all about recognizing intuitive information, recognizing sensory information, really truly the way animals do. know, animals are not projecting into the future whatever they experienced in the past. Now I have to qualify that because there are lots of people who will say,
you know, my dog remembers what hap- that he got scared at that house. Mm-hmm. Yes, they do. They re- they retain the, the reaction and they retain information about their environment. But the difference between, human projection and animals is humans have the capacity to judge that I'm going to prevent this from happening again.
because it's bad and it's wrong, or I'm going to set things up in such a way that this happens over and over and over because I never want to experience anything other. We're the ones that have that ability to choose. the tool, sharing the tools among the horses that point people's awareness to their own self-validation, like sharing that with kids and teenagers is invaluable.
Doing it in a way where they're you're not wrong, but try to you know Check out check it out if you look at it this way, and then they can prove to themselves That I'm choosing this because of how it feels right so let me ask you this When you when you empower the kids in this way? To make choices Do you find that they choose selfishly do you find that they choose in a very self-serving
Kerri (33:32.95)
Like I win and nobody else wins but me way or is it different than that?
It's different than that.
Eleni (33:47.48)
when it's in the presence of, because I've worked with kids in an environment, in a school environment, for example, where nature was not the setting where learning tools and tasks and activities were a huge part of the environment and the experience, right? And there's value in that type of learning too. But when,
What I notice is when kids are in a natural setting, and I can only speak about horses because I work with horses, but I'm sure it happens with other animals too, it's a completely different form, right? And if you set a task, sure, there might be some that might get competitive and wanna win, but at the end of the day, I don't think I've ever seen anyone
get upset for not achieving a certain task or because the activity took a totally different direction because it does and it will. And that's kind of the fun and the beauty of it because, you know, animals will do that. They're their own creatures with their own, you know, objectives and their own minds and they, you know, they'll just interact the way they want to interact in that moment. And that will take your activity and spin it on its head. And I love that.
I love going, Hey, let's, let's do this. Let's see who can actually even do that. Right. And let's actually see where it is going to go and it'll go somewhere different. and, and then what comes on that the beauty of the conversations that come out of that and the beauty of the reflections and awareness that come out of that are really, again, it puts people back into that baseline. Right. Why are we really here?
Was the outcome of this task really important? Was it important to beat the other person? Was it important, you know, what was important here to you, you know, to each person? And yeah, that's, it's interesting to watch that unfold at the time.
Kerri (36:01.954)
Yeah, and I just, I love so much that you work with teenagers and that you love working with teenagers just because I know there's a lot of opinions about teenagers without a lot of compassion for what teenagers have to process in this world, the way the world is built that, you know, in a lot of urban settings, there isn't access to nature. There's
and
Kerri (36:31.552)
the disruption of nature. And it's, you know, it just illustrates.
it illustrates the contribution that nature is. Whether it's the presence of a horse or working with dogs. Like I have another beautiful woman that I work with who works with dogs in prison with men, even young men in prison.
teaches them how to work with the dogs to do sniffing work, to identify scent. Because when you're teaching a dog to do scent work, you cannot punish a dog into doing scent work. Because if you're doing straight obedience, you can use punishment to make a dog be obedient. But to sniff things out,
You've got to be listening, watching, side by side, guiding, rewarding, appreciating, respecting. And it is, it's, that is the way that these people who are in prison have access to nature, right? To the nature of a creature who only wants to connect with you.
That's what they're about. That's how nature perpetuates itself is connecting, connecting, connecting. That's right. And people think it's because of science, and I guess I just have to put this out there, but because of science, there's this perception, you know, that nature is dog eat dog, that nature is the strongest survives and you know, in a certain light that proves itself out.
Kerri (38:35.512)
But only when you're looking from a limited lens of counting who lives and who dies. Counting who lives and who dies asks you to go beyond the relationships that lead to that one being strongest. The family strength that lets everybody be exactly who they're born to be.
Kerri (39:06.956)
humanity has the capacity to experience that within ourselves. Otherwise, you wouldn't see what you see when you bring kids to the horses. Right? It's within them, isn't it? And we bring them to nature so that they can start to let themselves experience that part of themselves.
and to witness and to ask questions about this very thing that you're talking about. That yes, it might appear that there's competition in nature and there's hierarchy in nature and there are relationships and relational things that happen. it's, you know, I love how young people get really curious and ask a lot of questions about
their place in that and every being's place in that. And I only really ever see that happening in a complete way in the work that we do outside in nature with animals. And I've worked in a classroom setting too, where you're trying to teach these concepts in a different way. But the most profound learning
in terms of my own experiences being out there teaching in different ways with all different modalities. The most profound learning has happened out in nature. And then put animals in that mix, wow, that's just setting kids up to succeed in life, to succeed as human beings. And to find goodness in themselves and everyone else.
Yes.
Kerri (40:53.934)
So what did it take for you to be a human who can operate this way and who can guide and see and ask the questions and have the space for teenagers to do this discovery? What did it take for you to be that kind of human?
are we going back into my history now, Kerri?
It really, as much or as little as you would like to share, like, just feel your own heart with it, you know?
Thank you for asking that question. I think people are born into situations for whatever reason, right? And it's what they then do with what they're given that is a real test of their place in this life. So,
Yeah, I had lots of challenges the first 20 years of my life, in my family environment. And there was a lot of trauma there. There was, a lot of, really no, there was a lot of knowing that what I was experiencing wasn't the right way. Right. And I didn't understand why it was happening, but I knew.
Eleni (42:23.082)
in my body, right, as a child and at every age for those first 20 years, that there were things that were incongruous in my relationships and in my family and in how things were then being processed, right, through a place of trauma. The toughest time that I had was when I was a teenager and the reason for that
was that I was then starting to question not only all the things that teenagers question and all the things that teenagers experience, but was also questioning why things were the way they were in my family. And I had a hard time with that. I knew the answers, right? I knew what should have been, but I couldn't explain why it was the way it was, right? So.
having to navigate that when you're trapped in a family or you're trapped in a situation that just is for you made me think of things in a different way. And that's the best I can kind of describe it. And I was constantly seeking something different that matched the way I was feeling inside, right? I knew that when it wasn't right, it felt yucky. And I knew that when it was right, felt
good, right? And that's just simple, simple, right? When it felt good, I wanted to do more of that. And good for me was in nature with my animals, doing creative things, right? Being in my body, I used to dance and I used to sing and I did art. And these are all the things now that we say to kids, kids need to go back to nature. They need to go back to the arts. They need to go back into your body.
Well, we're in our body the whole time, right? It's just about learning how to be in our body, right? And, and being okay to, to make those choices, right? Like I said, these choices just unfold. And as you said, and, and, and very, very appropriately. So it's an intuitive, guidance that once we,
Kerri (44:45.838)
Okay.
Eleni (44:50.35)
learn that it's okay to listen to that and make choices based on that. All the goodness on the phone.
It's not true.
That's just, so I had pretty strong intuition as a kid, but it doesn't, know, I mean, there were things that were just so simple and so obvious where you go, this is really not appropriate and not right. And this way feels a lot better. And so I think I learned how to hone into that more and more and more as I went. And being then an adult in a place where I could
Yeah, I would just kind of make my own choices and how I wanted to navigate life and a career. And I started off doing something totally different, nothing that had to do with animals at all. And always kept coming back to working with people, working in nature, working experientially, and not just working, living, living that. Right? So now the work I do,
is actually just me living in a way that feels right, in a way that feels appropriate. Because what happened to me the first 20 years was not appropriate. It was incongruous to how things really should be. It was not in alignment. It was not this. Right? And with kids, the most troubled kids,
Eleni (46:20.95)
would just come across my path. And as you said before, there's so much stigma around the naughty kids, the bad kids. And for me, it was like, these are just kids that are so misunderstood that it had probably a lot of complex stuff happening in their family life. Yes. And they haven't been given the opportunity to shine from within and they haven't been given opportunities to find a way.
to heal and navigate through their stuff so that then they can move forward in a way that's true to themselves, right? So, yeah, just the naughty kids would find me and I was like, hey.
I see you. I see you.
I do that all the time and I think when kids come into our space and the barn and the paddock, I think they see that in the first minute of my interaction with them. It's I see you and I got you and just come have a look at this. Let's hang out and let's play and let's play in a different way, in a way that has nothing to do with society or your family or the junk that's going on out there in the world right now.
Let's play in a way that's right in the here and now, right? And it works. That's all I can say. You know, I know there's so much science around all this now, and that's amazing. God bless the scientists that are going to go out there and research all this stuff, right? But for me, all I know is how it made me feel as a child, as a teenager, and as an adult, right? And I'm just going with that.
Eleni (48:09.102)
So I that's the long answer.
That's so beautiful, Alini, thank you. Thank you for sharing so much of it and so genuine.
I've been like, okay, how do I want to ask this? There's plenty of people that I'll start to share with about self-awareness and the sensory awareness and the intuitive clarity and horses and animals and how their presence facilitates the dissolving of patterns, that dissolving of
the judgments and who I think I am that's covering up my heart, right? And sometimes people will say, but what if I didn't have a traumatic childhood? What if I had a great childhood? So that stuff's not appropriate for me. I'm fine, right? And how do you respond? Because, and again, I'm happy to share how I respond, but what is that like for you? Do people come up to you and say, well, I don't
I don't have trauma to go through. Well, you had a traumatic life and that was your world, but I'm fine. Do you ever encounter that?
Eleni (49:29.258)
I do, do. those are the people that often go, we just want to come and hang out with horses. And I go, that's great. Right. And so we invite them into the space, but before you know it, people's stuff will come out. Right. As I said, they find the vocabulary to bring stuff up. Right. Wonder how that happened.
doesn't necessarily need to be a huge traumatic event or years and years of ongoing stuff. As humans, we go through stuff and what might appear really small to you might be really big to me and vice versa. so it's not about comparing whose junk is worse or better. People do often come in with
And yeah, I got nothing. It's my kid that needs all the help, right? I get a lot of that. And then then we realize how much work the parents need to do. That's a whole different conversation. Right. But the people that just go, you know what? I I just, I try not to push the marketing and stuff like that.
at all, feel that the people who are going to align with this are going to find us. Right? So the reasons for that could be trauma, could be anxiety, could be whatever's going on in their head. And it could be nothing. I just want to come hang out with horses. Sometimes it's, what do you do? What even is that? It's like, you know, and it's hard to explain, as you know,
And so I just say, you know, I'll say, look at the website, but even that's very airy fairy and very general because how do you put into words the real shifts that happen in people within minutes, within minutes, as you know. And so it's like, well, just come and see, right. And they'll just then have an experience and every experience will be unique, right. Beauty in every single one.
Kerri (51:50.294)
I love it. That's part of what I want to draw out for everybody and is that it's you don't have to be you don't have to decide that you're broken in order to bring more love from your heart and out into your life. You don't have to be broken in order to earn the right to have assistance and guidance because in fact nobody's broken.
You know, like what you said about, you know, and teenagers, like they've got some complicated stuff going on. We all did at different, you know, different places in our lives and we learned how to cope with it. And then we said, well, that must be who I am for the rest of my life, either consciously or unconsciously, whatever. And so this is again, coming back to how, how horses touch our hearts and animals and nature.
in general, how much of a contribution they are to helping humanity live with an open heart. There's absolutely nothing about an animal that says, you're broken, I need to fix you. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's they will see you and say, I can see you right through all of that. And I'm right here with you. And that is the magic. That's them.
Thank
Kerri (53:18.986)
listening and providing humans the opportunity to feel, to have the experience of being heard, even without words. That, and when we can feel heard without words, before we use words, that's what opens the space for that, the true genuine communication and connection to come forward through words or through touch or through just
an exhale of recognition and acceptance and honor and compassion for one another to the degree that you don't there's nothing to prove because everybody can feel the truth and I think that is the great gift that the innate harmony of nature perpetually offers
humanity, it's just a matter of will we make ourselves available to it, you know? And I think often people think that trauma is the only way. It has to be so bad that finally you're willing to be harmonious. I think with the shift in consciousness and young people, new people on the planet are already wired differently that they're not interested in suffering.
for the right to earn a moment of peace. It's more obvious like, no, like you and I knew when we were kids, like this isn't the way you guys. Like this is off.
This is off. Yeah, you know when it's off. And you know when it isn't. You know when it isn't.
Kerri (55:07.434)
Yes, because it's a profoundly different experience, isn't it? And I think new people now are showing up already wired for their majority experience to be in harmony. Like, why wouldn't it be? It is weird that we would have to knock each other down in order to be loved or be fed, you know?
or be appreciated. And this is the big schism in the old way, shifting in this brackish water before we can emerge into something more clear as we go forward. is there anything that you would like to say or ask before we wrap up for today?
I love that you mentioned that the newer generation of young people are emerging in a different way. And I believe that and I see that on a daily basis with young people. They show up emotionally aware, right? They show up.
wanting guidance in a different way, right? And, and lapping it all up when you show them something that's different from what's been happening through history, right? And, and I love that. And they're so willing to use that as a new platform, right? For me, there's a huge, you know, working with young people, I do need to say this.
as beautiful as it is to work with a young person one-on-one or you know in groups you know with kids all together. For me that missing link is the family so when we can bring in the parent or the care or the whole family the siblings a lot of magic happens there in terms of shifting some of those platforms
Eleni (57:18.434)
that they can then take that back with them and look at things in a different way.
So how do you say it? Because it does, it provides common ground, doesn't it? Where everybody has had an experience of witnessing and seeing and experiencing each other in a different harmonious light and then they can be on the same team from a totally different foundation. It is, that's like, my God, blow my mind beautiful, you know? What a gift.
When I work with families, you really see the gender stuff we were talking about before, like the dad being a provider and the mom being whatever mom is and the siblings all being a certain way. The vulnerabilities come forward and all that pretense starts to strip away. And I love watching that unfold with families. then as you said, that can then be used as a new pattern.
for communicating in a different way, for relating in a different way, connecting in a different way. And I think that's the beauty of offering this as a new paradigm and as a new platform, right? So really new, I say new, it's, you know, it's just.
part of nature, but in this newer generation, I think they're much more clued in, right? And when we say to them, yeah, actually what you think is the right way, that actually is the right way, and go from there, right?
Eleni (59:08.194)
Trust this, trust the heart, trust and go from there.
so beautiful. It's just, I just, I'm so grateful. Thank you for sharing so much and for your ability to articulate all this and share the experience because hearing it in different ways, in different contexts, it's just gonna touch everybody differently, you know? So I'm so grateful and honored.
for
Kerri (59:41.058)
that I'm a part of this conversation in general and so happy that you're here with me and doing what you do and being who you are and so beautifully committed to your own journey.
I'm so grateful for you, your existence and our connection that we've had over the past few years. Every conversation that I've had with you has allowed me to expand the way I think and the way I am as a human being and the way I connect to myself and then to every
and
Eleni (01:00:24.832)
everything and everyone else around me. I'm so grateful to you. Thank you all that.
Thank you so much, sweetness. We will keep it rolling. We'll keep doing more. again, thank you so much. all of my love to you and everybody that you touch. And I'll talk to you soon, OK? Thank you, Kerri.
Mmm. Thank you.
