We were sailing on the Celebrity Solstice for an eight day adventure! Kay Laurence, Alexandra Kurland and Ken Ramirez were once again on board. Unfortunately, due to unexpected commitments, Jesus Rosalez Ruiz was unable to attend at the last minute.
The cruise started with an evening reception. It was good to meet up again with familiar faces – and also meet new ones!
Our first day was at sea – and the conference room had huge windows! It was going to be hard not to be distracted by the views!!!
Alexandra Kurland presented – Creating Excellence – Process Over Outcome.
She talked about going micro – always look for smaller and smaller responses. Be aware of your own body – and your horse’s body.
Alex also quoted three books – The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. It explores the old belief that talent is something you are born with – however talent is a product of intense and very deliberate practise.
The second book was Mindset by Carol Dweck . Do we approach things with a fixed – or growth – mindset. It discusses the fact that not all praise is equal ie. it was shown that when students were praised differently after sitting a test, there were differences in how they did the next test. Saying ‘you must be smart’ locked them in to being risk averse. However, saying ‘You must have worked hard” allowed them to take more chances. What does that mean for how we live our life – how we train our animals? How do we change things if our habit is a fixed mindset??
Wow! This was fascinating – considering that earlier in the year I was delving into lifelong problems and attitudes – this was both animal and human training!! See Part 108 – Getting Up Again…. if you missed reading that.
The third book was by Norman Doidge. Now I can’t remember if Alex was referring to The Brains Way of Healing – or the Brain That Changes Itself – but Norman has quite a body of work. Read about some of the amazing stories – and new discoveries of the power of the brain!
Alex also talked about Moshé Feldenkrais – who developed an awareness through movement programme – aimed at retraining the brain to find better ways to move.
All these topics have not only benefit for the horses – but also the humans. Alex talked about the importance of balance – again – horse and human. Balance doesn’t only create an easier, healthier way to move the body – it creates a calmer mind.
I’ve been looking at my notes I found from the seminar…
One of the points Alex made – which is something I just mentioned in Part 111 – Magnum – Treading Gently is Observe Without Judgement — now that can be hard at times – but it’s worthwhile to develop that mindset.
And I have written a nice quote down “There is no right way to move, only better ways – contrast teaches”. Indeed it does!
So these were some of the topics explored – I will write about more soon – but for now I want to finish this post with some photos from our first shore excursion.
Our first port was Ketchikan. I went on a boat trip to Tongass Island. We went past a family of eagles – two young ones waiting for the parents to return – and did a short walk on the island.
COMING UP – FJORDS, WHALES, GLACIERS AND LEARNING!
IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS STORY, PLEASE START AT THE BEGINNING HERE – Part 1 – An Introduction
PLEASE SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR PREVIOUS BLOG POSTS
HorseMagic 