Our work falls into two categories:

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT. We offer these services through the Center (formerly Jempe Center.)

PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION. We offer these services through Pegasus Ranch.  Explore below for a sample of our high-impact, hands-on learning experiences for a pathway to greater freedom, fulfillment, and purpose.

COACHING WITH HORSES :

a unique pathway to Authentic Leadership

There are some people we just TRUST. They have a way of being that embodies respect, curiosity and dignity. They know what they believe yet remain open to the ideas and concerns of others. They draw on an inner strength that means they don’t have to pretend to be something or someone they are not. They make connecting, partnering and collaborating both natural and easy.  We just want to follow them and to help them succeed.

The path toward engendering trust and connecting to others lies in our heart. As humans, we naturally protect our hearts – our deepest cares, concerns and desires. Yet we also yearn to connect, to be understood, and to experience mutual trust and respect. Horses have a unique ability to guide us toward an open heart and embodied connection, trust and authenticity. As herd animals, horses are deeply tuned in to each other, their surroundings and the energy of other animal species around them. Horses inspire and move us to feel our hearts, our power and our longings.

Facilitated by a human coach and an equine guide, Coaching With Horses invites you to explore, practice and play with this way of listening and sensing the subtle energy of their emotions, thoughts and hearts. Join us, and our herd of horses, to learn how to open to the practical power, wisdom and compassion of the heart.

Benefits:

• access authenticity, to be more real

• listen to your heart

• have greater emotional agility and resilience

• develop greater intuition, confidence and self trust

• have a deeper capacity for connection and partnership

No horse experience necessary. This is a hands-on, on-the-ground, safe and fun experience with horses.

To learn more about Coaching With Horses listen to an interview with Virginia on the Career Cue Podcast.

What people are saying about their experience:

“The experience with horses was sincerely powerful and life changing. To see myself through the eyes of such a graceful and remarkable creature was both awe inspiring and humbling, something I will never forget. I would recommend this experience to those of you who really want to invoke the divine spark in your heart and be the leader you know you can be.”  ~~ Kim Smith, Chief Digital Officer, Capgemini

“My goal for my session with the horses was to grow my confidence, authenticity, and vulnerability. And I got just that. This experience helped me take a big step forward on the path of letting myself - my most authentic self - be more visible. The horse was such a beautiful, kind, direct, and unimpeachable mirror for me. This is so different from being told in words how the way I lead impacts others. With the horse you can see the impact right there, undeniably, in real time. As a result, I got a stronger felt sense for when I was showing up authentically, and when I would start to hide out. Now I feel more able to walk through my life with greater authenticity. It started showing up immediately after the session and hasn't let up since.”   ~~ Amanda Blake, Master Somatic Coach, author of “Your Body is Your Brain”

“Working with the horses was perfect in helping me learn how to collaborate with others. I learned that being in relationship starts from a deeper connection to myself, from feeling and trusting myself. I learned that it is ok to be vulnerable, to put my true thoughts and feelings out there. Six months ago my colleagues were going out of their way to complain to my supervisors about working with me. Now they are sharing how much they enjoy and value working with me. This has had a profound impact on both my personal and professional life.”   ~~ Gabe Long, Program Manager, Microsoft

“I easily discovered where my body holds fear. What I didn’t expect was how quickly the horse taught me that I could have my heart’s desire in 30 seconds.”  ~~ Betsy Davis, Executive Director, Center for Wooden Boats

“I did not know what to expect from this experience as I have had minimal contact with horses and had a little fear about the engagement. What I experienced was simply stunning and transformational. Working with the horses took my understanding of centered leadership from my head into my core. During the exercise I felt bodily centered for the first time. The experience opened my mind to what is possible through embodied leadership. Since this training, I have made progress in what I am going for both personally and professionally.”  ~~ Valerie Bone, PMI, Director, Corporate Responsibility & Writer

PERSONAL REBOOT :

reset, Renew & reignite

This has been a challenging and stressful time for many of us – an election that illuminated the divisions in our country, a rapidly evolving business environment, and the personal challenges of having a successful career AND a fulfilling, meaningful life.  We hear again and again from our clients that one of their biggest challenges is finding the time and space to get off the hamster wheel, step back, take stock, get perspective, and update priorities and practices – to do a PERSONAL REBOOT -- and then EITHER get back in the game from a renewed and centered place, OR re-orient yourself to change the game.

PERSONAL REBOOT:  Based on your current challenges we custom design a one day, high-impact, individual retreat at Pegasus Ranch on South Whidbey.  This could include 1:1 coaching, leadership practices, somatic bodywork, coaching with horses, and other possibilities.  We design your custom reboot based on your individual needs and learning style.  You will leave the day with updated priorities, leadership practices, declaration and an implementation plan.  This can be a full day retreat or two half days with an overnight stay in the Wren House (our tiny house in the forest at Pegasus Ranch).

Contact us for pricing and details.

Through this retreat you will:

• Slow down, rest, renew and recharge.

• Refresh your leadership declaration and reinvigorate your signature leadership presence.

• Re-center on what is meaningful and fulfilling and update your personal and professional priorities.

• Reignite your passion for your work and re-connect to your bigger life purpose.

• Upgrade your leadership practices and your plan to create your ideal life and work.

SOMATIC BODYWORK :

pathway to freedom

Ever ask yourself – why do I react the way I do to conflict, moments of stress and opportunities for connection?  The answer, in part, is because your history lives in your body. 

The way you have responded to challenges over time becomes the shape you live in and that shape defines the feelings and behaviors that are and aren’t available to you.  This process is natural and has an innate wisdom to it.  Over time, however, these habitual responses create armoring in the tissues, a process that limits our full expression of health, vitality and freedom of choice.  This process comes to define how you stand, move, talk, think and breathe -- and this shape defines your capacity for love and joy, your limits of freedom and courage. It becomes the structure that defines how effectively you move in the world, as a leader, friend, partner, or family member. 

Somatic Bodywork is a non-invasive whole-body approach that helps you listen to and honor the past, release its death grip upon you, and ultimately frees you up so that you can be the person you want to be and create the future you envision for tomorrow.

SOUL WHISPERING JOURNEYS :

adventures to the heart of your soul

Periodically we take a small group of curious and committed clients on expeditions to remote corners of the world.  We have taken journeys to the base of Nanda Devi in the Indian Himalaya for an audience with an Indian holy man; flown deep into the Amazonian rainforest of Ecuador to be cleansed through shamanic rituals; sailed the Salish Sea on a 100 year old wooden schooner; and have trekked to the wildest corners of Patagonia.  These journeys are designed as once in a lifetime adventures that offer a pathway to permanently shift your perspective and priorities and awaken your power, purpose and presence.

When the next cohort is ready, we will take a Soul Whispering Journey to Tanzania to connect with the Hadzabe (traditional hunter gatherers) and to experience the oneness of life with the wildlife.  If you have interest please let us know as we it will be the emergence of the next group that will initiate the next expedition.

Calling in our Pride

[Blog written by Virginia, during our visit to Tanzania in 2012, images by John]

So early and dark it may still be yesterday, I am snuggled in my bed listening to two lions roaring in the distance.

Announcing their place, calling in their pride.

And hours later, still pre-dawn, we are bundled up in the welcome chill, driving slowly along the dirt road a kilometer from the Ndutu lodge, Douglas intent upon finding us a good spot from which to see the sun emerge on the pink-orange horizon.

And then there He is in all his lion-ness.

Sitting on his haunches on the road, looking around, flicking his ears.

Here I am, He says.  Not questioning, not searching, not wondering about his purpose or his place in the order of things.

And then He starts roaring.

A lion a few yards out roaring in your direction is like nothing else – really LOUD, vibration rumbling through my chest, sending hair on my legs tingling, I can feel his roar in my teeth.

And now just as the sun peeks over the eastern horizon, He begins to walk slowly by us, grunting.  Embodying Lion in his domain, at ease. Even the Thompson’s gazelle senses calm, as he trots up for a closer look at this King, tail flicking and ears pricked.

…..

Later I write, what would it be like to be that comfortable in my own skin, to be that out-loud about who I am, where I am, claiming my place in things.  And then about this gazelle, walking toward Power, with curiosity.  What about that?

All One.