October 11, 2024 • 39 mins
Asha comes from the Hunter Jumper world. She has a Doctoratein in Physical Therapy, she is also an Animal Comunicator and Energy Healer for both people and animals. Today she has tips & tools for co-created rides and relationship dynamics that are MUSTS! No, not MUSTangs, MUST haves for your changing relationship with your horse and possibly with people in your life as well. we saved some of the best for last so be sure to listen until the end.
To reach Asha her website is: ashawolfhealing.com
I can personnly recomend her for animal communication and for human and animal healing sessions. Her sessions are amazing.
For more information on names or materials referenced, or to contact Ishe- please email. iabel.hhc@gmail.com
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Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
This is the Horse HumanConnection.
A captivating podcast where weextend into the world of equine
assisted learning.
Horse Training.
and gentleness in working withthese magnificent creatures.
Captivating stories from theleading professionals and
ordinary people alike unravelnovel ideas in being with
(00:25):
horses.
The horse human connection is anidea, a place, and a voice.
The idea is to support the quietrevolution and recognize the
intelligence and true nature ofthe horse.
The place is a destination farmnear the Umpqua Forest and River
that slows down visitors andpatrons enough to experience the
(00:48):
shift.
The Voice is this podcast.
Welcome to today's episode.
Hi, this is Ishii with the HorseHuman Connection Matrix.
I have a guest today.
(01:09):
I have Asha Wolf with me, who isan animal communicator and
energy healer.
Thank you for joining me today,Asha.
Thank you for having me, Ishii.
I've really been enjoying thenewsletter by your horse, James.
Can you tell me a little bitabout how that got started?
Actually so James is my horsethat I've had since 2014 and
(01:36):
we're in a phase of ourrelationship now where I'm not
riding him anymore.
And it had been coming up for awhile cause he had a pretty bad
injury and I got little whispersfrom him about he wanted to
leave a legacy.
He wanted to be able to sharehis wisdom with others.
(01:58):
And he wanted something thatwould, you know, would last, he
called it a legacy.
And then he started giving melittle images of what that could
possibly look like.
So he actually is the one that'sresponsible for these weekly
wisdom with James little blogsand Facebook posts.
And it's something that he'sbeen kind of pinging into my
(02:21):
field, if you will, for a while.
And it wasn't until about, Iguess we're on week 29, I think
now that I, so I guess 29 weeksago, I finally said, okay, I'm
ready to commit because it's aweekly commitment.
So, but he is the one that isresponsible for those weekly
posts.
And you and James have beentogether for a long time.
(02:43):
So we met in 2014.
And were animals talking to youbefore James came into your
life?
They were.
I've been so involved with, Iguess my former career or my
other career that I'm stilldoing a little bit of, which is,
you know, I have a doctorate inphysical therapy and I've spent
(03:04):
my entire life actually workingwith people.
I started, you know, workingwith people and teaching when I
was 18.
So it's just something that I'vealways done.
There have been times when I'vegotten little messages or
impressions or an image that ananimal might have given me.
And so I always knew that, thatit existed.
(03:28):
And I always knew that I thinkthat it was possible for me to
do.
And it was something that I kindof felt like, well, You know,
when the time is right, I'lldelve into it more, or I know
I'll do that in the future.
It was kind of like part of meknew that that was coming, but I
didn't push it.
I didn't really get superinterested in it.
(03:49):
It was just kind of somethingthat was there in the
background, but what was sointeresting was, was there would
be people.
that would meet me and theywould assume that that's, that I
could do it.
Like, it's like they picked upon something and they would say,
Oh, well, can you tune into thatcat?
And I'm like, well, I've neverdone that before.
(04:10):
And they're, Oh, well, you cando that.
And so then I would just do it.
And I would receive a messageand then I would deliver it to
the person.
And so there's always beensomething kind of interesting
about that.
Like, If you know, like I wasobviously wearing that in my
field and people would pick itup and they would, they would
know more than I did about myabilities to do it.
(04:34):
So were you working in some kindof a healing field or in some
kind of a work that relied onyour intuition or psychic
abilities or?
Or how would, I mean, I mean,I'm sure it didn't happen while
you were sitting down with youraccountant.
I mean, you must have been in acontext where people would think
such a thing.
(04:54):
Well, I was, I was in the danceworld, so I grew up as a ballet
and modern dancer, but I'vealways been interested in like
what else is out there.
So, you know, even though I wasseriously into ballet and
modern, And I was also lookingat some of the fringe aspects of
movement, like getting intoFeldenkrais and Alexander
(05:17):
technique and body mindcentering and, you know, doing
these exploratory workshopsabout how.
movement and being in the bodyat, at a very young age.
I remember doing these, thesekind of workshops at the age of
16.
So all my peers are seriouslyjust into the ballet and I'm
(05:38):
like, well, I love that.
And I'm going to go over to thismodern dance studio downtown
with all these older women intheir forties and fifties.
And I'm going to roll around onthe floor and see what's there.
So I've always been that, beenreally interested in that.
So I think that that reallyopened up a doorway for me of
(05:59):
possibility.
You know, I remember just doingthese different workshops with,
with people and we could explorethings that were, I remember
like being asked to dance frommy blood.
or dance from my bones and theywould be different qualities
when I would embody what I wouldthink of as the energy of our
(06:21):
bones in the body as opposed tothe energy of our blood in the
body.
So sounds kind of wacky.
It doesn't sound wacky to me atall.
In fact, I had forgotten that wehave this in common.
You mentioned it the first timethat we talked and I had
forgotten about it and you'vehit on something The dance is so
(06:42):
important because it's missingfrom our culture.
And as I've been studying allthis stuff about primitive
primitive cultures andactivities that they do for
brain health.
And I want to say for deepeningintuition and even other
abilities, like dance isimportant to that.
(07:03):
And the type of dance thatyou're talking about is not
mainstream, but, but it's thetype of dance that will make.
Every dancer, a better dancer.
And it is going inside andexperiencing movement on, on
that kind of level.
yeah, I actually feel sograteful for that time in my
(07:24):
life.
And, you know, my parents werevery open in the fact that,
yeah, if you want to go takethat class, that's great.
And I just feel very lucky inthat sense.
Small town and in a Midwesternstate that there were that that
existed and I was able toactually experience that.
It was really kind of lifechanging, although I didn't know
(07:45):
it at the time.
And so I, I brought that rightinto my dance and my
choreography when I was in NewYork City.
And I think I've always justkind of had a thirst for you
know, what else is out there?
You know, how else can weexplore?
So, you know, moving into thehorse world, it was really the
same thing for me.
(08:05):
It's like, well, these are themethods that are often used.
How else could we approach, youknow, this subject matter with
horses or how else can Iapproach?
You know, this sentient being infront of me.
I definitely see the connectionand have felt it too.
there's a saying in balletfreedom through discipline, and
(08:29):
I've always thought like, well,that's true, but there's also
freedom through freedom.
Which is the type of movementyou're talking about.
And when I think about thedisciplines in the horse world,
you know, meaning differentriding disciplines there's
freedom through discipline inthe upper levels, but it's not
the same as, you know,communication with horses.
(08:51):
In a way that you can form apartnership.
And one of the things that hasbeen really interesting, like my
top podcast is the one about cocreated rides.
And all of these things feedinto that.
Like, how do I be in my body, bein movement, be present and
connect with the horse oranother dancer?
(09:13):
For that matter, you know, ifwe're just talking about that in
general and, and create fromthere, like there's this essence
that happens.
Yeah.
I was thinking about yourcomment about, you know, freedom
through discipline.
And then you said there's alsofreedom through freedom.
And I'm like, well, if I had tostay with the freedom through
(09:34):
discipline idea, what would thatmean to me?
with horses.
And I was thinking about like,well, when I was asked to, you
know, to move from my bones.
And then move from my blood ormove from my lymphatic system,
like the discipline is in my, myability to train my mind to go
(09:57):
there to like, to, you know,journey into my bones on an
energetic level that takesdiscipline and focus and intent.
And it's like that.
Oh, my gosh, this whole worldopens up and I experience
freedom.
And I think there's a parallelto that with horses in how do I
(10:19):
choose to approach my horseregardless of what I'm doing.
And that takes a lot ofdiscipline and patience and
skill and intent.
You know, to maybe not go thenormal way of things with the
horse and to do something alittle different.
(10:39):
Did you have a moment or aseries of moments with horses
and with whatever training youhad as an equestrian rider where
you bumped up against thetradition and said, no, I'm not
going to do it that way or no,that feels wrong.
I did initially.
It was interesting because I wasactually exposed to horses
(11:01):
through natural horsemanship.
But there was 11 individual thatI was learning from.
She was very young and Iactually witnessed things that I
didn't think were.
Okay.
And.
And I was like, wow, I knowthere's another way.
So I, so I did experience that.
(11:23):
But I also learned an amazingamount of stuff of how you can
connect with a horse on theground.
Like I actually had moretraining on the ground initially
before I got really got intoriding.
So I did love that connectionand I was like, how can I carry
that, you know, into writing andinto, you know, more of what I
(11:44):
want to do with horses.
Was, was that a tradition or atechnique or what was the
training on the ground thatyou're, that you're talking
about?
She just used a variety oftechniques from different
horsemen.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
So I just, you know, it was morejust that, that learning how to
connect with that horse and justhow little can you move to get,
(12:09):
to, to get what you're wantingto experience with that horse in
that moment.
Mm hmm.
Okay.
You know, that idea of less ismore that, that those little
invitations, those little asks.
Versus telling right becausethat's how they talk to each
other with with micro movements.
So it's learning slowing downand learning more of their
language.
(12:30):
Yeah.
And then it was like, just like,wow, I wonder if I can just
think it right.
You know, like, you know,there's moments when we're
writing and we, and we feellike, oh, my gosh, I just
thought it and he did it right.
And we know that on some level,there's been some micro
movements that have happened inthe body because the body is
registering learning.
Yeah.
Our thought and our intent.
(12:51):
But at the same time, it's like,I just thought it, you know and
those are just those magicalmoments.
Yes, they are.
And I think, I think that's whata lot of people want to know
more about.
How do I get there?
How do I get there with myhorse?
And that's with the co createdrides.
Those are the moments that I'vehad that are just so amazing
(13:13):
when, when we're able to openup, but that's not necessarily
like I can say we're able toopen up.
But that's actually a pretty bigthing to me.
It's all about listening.
You know, we get so busy and sobig telling the horse what we
(13:35):
want.
And to me, it's all aboutlistening.
And it means listening tomyself, listening to my body.
So that I know, what is it thatI'm really saying to my horse?
I might be thinking something,what is my body telling my
(13:55):
horse?
Right.
And is that the message I wantmy horse to receive?
I've got to listen to my ownbody and then listening to their
body.
And it's not even just the body,it's the energy field.
It's like when I get on a horse,like I don't want to feel
separate.
It's like I want, I want onebody.
(14:18):
So the images that keep comingto mind, and it popped into my
head as you were talking aboutdance too, is contact
improvisation.
Have you, are you familiar?
Okay.
So for people that are listeningthat don't know what contact
improvisation is, it is where,You're creating a dance
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spontaneously and there are acouple of small rules about
touching.
You stay in contact the wholetime, either rolling a point of
contact or creating leaningagainst each other so that if
one person left, the otherperson would fall.
So the reason I'm bringing thisup is because at some point when
(15:00):
I started learning aboutconnecting with horses in this
other way.
I wanted to dance it contactimprovisation with my horse in
the round pen.
And of course, horses don't movethat way.
They're not going to like leaninto you the same way you lean
into a person.
But there's something about thatthat feels a little bit about
(15:21):
what you're describing.
Well, I've never exploredcontact improvisation with the
horse like on the ground, but Iguess I could relate that to in
the saddle.
You know, like the approach ofhow do you get there reminds me
of the contact.
I know I'm a little out in leftfield, but we, we know I'm
(15:43):
mildly autistic, so I'm going totake that pass.
I thought about the contactimprovisation earlier.
I just didn't bring it up intothe conversation.
So I'm with you.
There's something about when youapproach contact improvisation,
you're two people and you are,or two beings and you're
agreeing to come into contactand create movement together
(16:08):
spontaneously.
So I guess that's like themindset of going on a co created
ride is you're getting on,you're getting on your horse
with permission, with a strongintention to go create together,
to move together.
Yes, absolutely.
You know, like I think to me,that's what every ride is about.
(16:30):
We have the opportunity toexplore, you know, because, you
know, our bodies are differentevery day and the horse's body
is different every day and eachmoment in time is different.
So when we, so when we get onthe horse to co create together,
it's like, I wonder where we aretoday.
You know, how are you feeling?
(16:50):
How am I feeling?
You know, what's the energy in?
You know, that we're playing intoday.
And so it's never the same.
It's like, we always think aboutlike, you know, when we're on
the yoga mat, it's like nodownward dog is ever the same
really, because we're not thesame in, in each moment in time.
(17:12):
And that's why it can stayfresh.
You know, we can do a zilliondownward dogs in our lifetime,
and it can never get boring.
You know, if we, if we choose tobe present, if we choose to
explore, if we choose to breatheand, and see all that's there in
the moment, and we have thatsame opportunity on the, with
(17:32):
the horse.
Yes, absolutely.
And that downward dog analogy isso fresh for me getting back on
the mat after having backsurgery a year ago, because it's
definitely a different downwarddog.
It's a different three leggeddog.
And I'm, I'm very much enjoyinghow it's it's playing in my body
(17:53):
in the different places.
So, and yeah, that's, that's agood, that's a good thing to
mention because it's like, oh,well, you know, I'm thinking
about like me is teachingsomeone in yoga or physical
therapy.
And it's like, you know, thecommon response for someone like
you that has gone through backsurgery and you get onto the
mat.
(18:13):
And it's so easy to, to compareourselves to what we used to be
able to do or what it, what itfelt like before.
Versus like, okay, this is whereI am right now.
This is how it feels right now.
This is my downward dog rightnow.
You know, can we do that withour horses too?
You know, as our horse changes,it's like, Oh, you know, my
(18:35):
horse doesn't do that anymore.
Okay.
But what is this horse offeringtoday?
And how can I partner with that?
Yeah.
So you mentioned that you have anew horse.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I do.
I did not grow up with horses Iwas one of those adults that
learned to ride.
(18:57):
And and so James was my firsthorse and he's definitely my
heart horse or soul mate orhowever you want to describe it.
But as he has shifted intoretirement, I'm like, you know,
I really would like to be ableto partner with another horse.
Under saddle.
I really like that experience.
(19:18):
And so I wasn't sure what I wasgoing to do in getting another
horse.
I had never shopped for onebefore because James just was
there at the barn.
And there's a story there.
But, you know, I, I, I wrote himbefore I bought him.
So, but anyway, it just poppedinto my field to check out
(19:38):
Colorado horse rescue.
So a rescue organization notthat far from where I live and I
got on their website and beforeyou know it, I, I have a horse.
She's not, she's not young, butthere's a journey there for me,
obviously she is going to needsome body work and some support
that way.
So and.
(20:00):
She told me that she chose me.
So I'm like, okay, so alreadyI'm feeling a bit of a
responsibility.
To, to offer her what she needsso that we can thrive together
in partnership.
So I think as her body startsfeeling better, there's going to
be some, there's going to besome magic there.
She's a sweetheart.
How old is she?
(20:20):
She's 15.
Huh.
She's, you know, she's a mareand I love it because she's
expressive and she's alsoexpressive when something hurts
her body.
You know, she's not going to bethe gelding that just kind of
pushes through it.
She lets me know, you know, andI'm like, okay, so how can we do
it differently today where itdoesn't hurt?
(20:41):
And let's, let's get, let's getyou some body work here and get
you body work there.
And you know, and I've beendoing some animal communication
with her to find out, okay,what's, so I understand you're
sore here, but can you tell me,you know, do you remember the
very first time that you feltpain and can you show me where
that is?
Because, you know, we have thiscascade of.
(21:03):
compensatory, you know painsometimes.
And it's like, well, that's fineto treat, you know, the right
side of her lumbar spine, youknow, to help her with her
canner transition.
But is that where it's reallycoming from?
You know, when you trace backthe pain to its original injury
(21:23):
or pain, point in the body.
And so you, you're working onher yourself.
Is there a tradition for horsesthat you use?
Are you just intuitive or do youtake what you know about human
body work and kind of all of theabove, all of the above.
And then I, and then I hirepeople to help do like that, you
(21:45):
know, the official acupunctureand chiropractic treatments, but
I do like a lot of fascial work.
craniosacral work.
I know a little bit about themedicine method.
I can do some chakra balancingand, and then I just, and I can
do like what's called kind oflike a touch point therapy.
(22:06):
And, and then I just go with myintuition and listening to the
horse and looking for hercommunication with me to let me
know what she wants herfeedback.
Yeah.
And then the animalcommunication piece is really
helpful because if you can tunein and.
hear it from straight from thehorse's mouth, no pun intended,
(22:27):
you know, like it's, it's sohelpful.
It's a lot less guesswork.
Like I'm, I'm guessing my horsehas not wanted me to get on her
back.
The last two times I've tried,she's been very like stomping
her back foot.
Like, no, I don't want youriding me.
And I'm scanning her body, but Ican't figure out exactly You
know what it is.
(22:47):
So I just do some general stuffand respect her, but it's, you
know, I, I miss writing too.
And it's, it's a hard place tobe.
So I'm glad she chose you.
What is her name?
Her name is Lady.
Lady.
Oh, that sounds like a greatname.
And she she was off the trackway back.
Oh, name was little Isabellathen.
(23:10):
Huh.
Yeah.
You know, and she's definitelyhas She has some history.
She's got, I think there's aPTSD loop running.
There's definitely someemotional trauma.
There's definitely some traumavisible on her body.
So you know, it's interesting tounpack that with time.
(23:32):
It is.
I'm, I'm my trainer, my horsetrainer who is a human trauma
therapist.
We're not working together now,but I was, I was fortunate
enough to be able to work withher for three years.
Watch her rescue horses off thetrack and treat their PTSD.
And it was amazing.
It's just, I have a video clipsomewhere of her taking this
(23:54):
horse that was triggered andstaying on the horse's back and
riding out the whole thing.
And then coming to rest.
Coming to a stop and resting andself regulating together and
when the horse dropped down intonormal regulation, she then got
off.
But it was a beautiful thing towatch.
(24:15):
It was just amazing.
So yeah, you and Lady have some,some fun journeys ahead of you
and some meaningful connections,I'm sure.
It's very interesting.
It's definitely a step up for mein, in my horse skills and
abilities.
James, I always just knew hejust regulated his nervous
(24:36):
system so easily and well, likeself regulates all the time and,
and lady struggles with that.
And so it's like, okay, youknow, it's, it's, it's
definitely being present in avery different way with her.
I don't know that much about theracetrack.
(25:00):
But I'm just curious if thereare horses that come off the
racetrack that don't have PTSD.
Well, you know, I, I don't knowwhere she got her PTSD.
I haven't explored it that muchyet, but she did show me an
image and I'm like, Oh, okay.
That's, that explains a lotabout being, you know, she, she
can't handle even being near aplace where you would tie a
(25:23):
horse up.
Like I can't even drape the ropeover it, like even just walking
up to a hitching post, she justgoes into high alert, like she's
ready to panic.
You know, even if my, my energyis so calm and I'm being very
careful to, you know, reallyregulate my nervous system, just
(25:45):
seeing it.
Knowing, knowing, you know, I'mjust like, wow.
Yeah.
I've come across a couple ofpeople here in the county I live
in who have trained horses bytying them up or confining them
and only bringing them likewater, a small bucket of water
once a day.
Like that's going to teach themwhat they know to stand still.
(26:08):
I'm like, I can't wrap my brainaround that kind of cruelty, but
it's an accepted practice in alot of places.
Yeah, so I think there'sdefinitely stuff that she hasn't
shown me yet, but she did showme a pretty not so great image.
And, but, you know, my goingback to the racetrack.
It's like, I don't, I, there'sno other.
I don't know if it happenedthere.
(26:29):
I mean, there's a lot of years.
There's, there's 12 yearsbetween the racetrack and.
Today, you know, so who knowswhat happened and, and where and
when so, but you know, she's,she's a sweet girl and there's,
there's definitely some try inher and there's already been a
couple really pretty amazingmoments, so.
(26:53):
Yeah.
So when you work with horses,when you work with people in as
a healer, as an energy healer,you have a lot of tools at your
disposal.
And as I was thinking about ourinterview this morning, I was
wondering, like, where did youstart?
Like, where did that educationof energy healing start and then
(27:17):
what prompted you to grow it?
Because like a lot of peoplewill, will take one you know,
technique or tradition and just,and work in it, but you have
such a variety.
I've never really wanted tocommit fully to any particular
camp or any particular grid,we'll call it.
(27:38):
Because I think that there's,There's beauty and validity in
so many different things.
And so I love to just say, Oh, Ireally like, I like that piece
and take that piece fromwhatever and, and pull, you
know, just pull from differentthings.
I think that we limit ourourselves and we limit our
(27:59):
possibilities when we onlychoose to go into one
methodology.
You know, to me that feelslimiting.
That's, you know, Like just takewhatever we can get from
different places.
And if you've been at junctureswhere it seems like the two
(28:20):
things are in opposition or theydon't go together or there's
some incongruence how do younavigate through that?
Or is that not really come up?
I don't think that's really comeup.
I'm not one to brood in my mindabout something, I'll just like
flow with it, and then if itdoesn't resonate for me in that
(28:42):
moment, I'll just flow withsomething else.
Versus judging it or labeling itor trying to define it.
I don't know if that makessense.
It sounds like an absorptionprocess.
Yeah, I just, I just take whatresonates and, and so, so if I'm
(29:02):
working with a horse, it's, oreven when I'm working with a
person or an, you know, a cat ora dog, it's, it's just, just
whatever is needed in thatmoment.
When we gather information andwe gather our skills, I think
there comes a point when wedon't even necessarily know what
came from where anymore, youknow, it's, it's just what we,
(29:23):
what we know to be our truth andwhat we've experienced, you
know, we can go all the way backto, like, say, you know,
someone's childhood, maybethat's where, you know, we first
learned to be.
You know, to develop a sense ofbeing empathic, maybe because we
(29:44):
had to, to survive, you know,the environment we were in.
Right.
And we learned those skills at avery early age.
And then we, we, we can turnthem into gifts of how we work
with people or animals.
You know, today there's, youknow, you're, you're a very wise
(30:06):
woman and I've appreciated somuch of what you've said and,
and how you see the world andall of the different things that
you do and dabble in and, andhow you have helped me and how
you help other people.
I've got, I got a thing I'mstruggling a little bit with,
maybe, maybe you have some wordsof wisdom for me about it.
(30:26):
And it's a little about what youwere just talking about.
The, the way we see the world.
Like the way I see the worldcompared to the way other people
see the world.
Like I, I'm pretty solid in myperceptions, but when there's so
vastly different than otherpeople's, and it causes
(30:48):
conflict, sometimes I'm notquite sure what to do about
that.
I know it's not easy at all, butI always like to think about if,
if about how I can just see theother perspective and with a
sense of curiosity.
Kind of like, huh, I reallydon't believe that at all.
(31:11):
It's not my truth, but I wonderlike how they got there.
Like maybe it's turning it tolike just being curious with how
that person's life orexperiences led them into that.
Particular belief so that weopen up our curiosity versus
(31:34):
acknowledging that, Oh my gosh,I don't believe that at all.
They're completely differentthan me.
Like, that just kind of closesdown any sort of.
Place of connection.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
So you're saying staying in thecuriosity can lead to some
compassion and but still stayingvery strong in your own
convictions and truth there.
(31:55):
It's like, you know, I think ifwe if we know what we know, if
we are grounded in our owntruth.
Then it, it, it's, it's notthreatened, it's not like we
don't, we don't worry aboutlike, you know, like when
someone says, Oh, I don'tbelieve in animal communication.
I'm like, yeah, cool.
I get it.
(32:17):
It's kind of weird.
It's out there.
It's hard to define hard toexplain, you know, but I'm, I
can just say it's fine.
That's cool.
Right, right.
That helps.
Thank you.
I mean, just putting it inthose, in that kind of context
and thinking about a particularsituation that, that is quite
helpful.
And I think also it's just, youknow, like noticing if we get
(32:41):
triggered, if it, if it riles usup in some way, you know, and,
and then being able to, to turnand say, Oh, I wonder why, like
just turning the curiosity, evenback on ourselves.
Oh, I wonder why that, that,that upsets me.
Or what, you know, likeexploring it in that way too.
(33:04):
But I get it.
It's hard in the moment.
It's like, Oh.
You know, we have our reactionor response to something.
Yeah, there's some things thatare definitely trickier than
others for sure.
And going back to horses, it'slike, you know, when we when we
have a moment, you know, whereit brings something up for us.
And it's like, oh, we get, youknow, there's moments we get
(33:26):
frustrated or, you know, we've,we've We feel like, Oh, I'm not
good enough for whatever theemotion might be around the
horse.
And it's at that moment again,can we just step back and go,
okay, I'm, I'm gettingemotionally affected here.
Let me take a breath.
You know, this is not serving meor the horse.
(33:47):
Let me find my feet.
Let me reground.
Okay, now I'm ready to step backin to the energy of the horse
and see what we can do together.
Yeah, that's a really goodability to constantly self
reflect and self observe andcall ourselves out even, you
(34:10):
know, with compassion.
They okay, you know, withcompassion.
Oh, you're getting triggered.
Oh, you're okay.
Let's just take a moment.
Part of awareness and on theroad to self mastery with, with
all of that.
Yeah.
I mean, that's what it takes isbeing present and being aware.
Horses are great teachers ofthat, you know, and that's a
(34:31):
challenging journey.
You know, it takes a lot of, alot of courage, a lot of
bravery.
And a lot of compassion.
What is your favorite thing todo?
That's my favorite thing to do?
Of anything?
Yeah, just what's your favoritething to do?
(34:53):
Oh, I have so many favoritethings to do.
I can't choose just one.
Okay.
Well, in your work, what is,what is your favorite way of,
Well, let me change thequestion.
If you had a mission statementfor your time here on earth,
(35:14):
what would your missionstatement be?
To help, to help humanity comeback into their bodies and to
acknowledge and trust the wisdomof their own bodies.
To feel the intelligence thatresides in the cells of their
body, that would change theworld.
(35:41):
Yeah, it would.
Getting some goosebumps on thatone.
So, you've heard me talk aboutthe quiet revolution in the
horse world.
Right?
You've heard me talk about that?
Do you feel like you're part ofthat?
I do.
I'd like to think that I am.
But, yeah, I do.
(36:01):
Because I'm always looking foranother way.
I'm, I'm following.
You know, to my best of myability in each moment, I'm
following my breath and I'mfollowing the horse's breath.
Some really good tools, veryusable tools that we've talked
about today, whether it's inlife or with your horse and ways
(36:23):
of looking at things.
I I just, I so appreciate ourconversations.
Is there anything else that youwant to talk about or anything
else you'd like to say?
Well, when you'd asked me like,what are my favorite things to
do?
And then you said, Oh, let meask you about your work.
And then we went into themission statement, but I kind of
wanted to say.
You know, if you ask me what myfavorite part of my work is
(36:45):
right now.
Is it's when I get a new animalclient and it, it's, it's just
like a box of chocolates.
I don't know what I'm going toget.
I feel it's just, I feel like alittle girl.
It's so fun.
I sit down with the picture thatthe, you know, that the person
(37:06):
has forwarded to me of theiranimal, whether it's a cat, a
dog or horse or whatever, a cow.
I've done some interesting onestoo.
And it's just like, Oh, I wonderwhat, what they're going to
share with me.
I wonder what they have to tellme.
I wonder what's important tothem in their world.
Because I, one of the firstthings I always ask is, what do
(37:28):
you want to show me?
What do you have to tell me?
And I give the animal, thefloor.
And it's just I just love thatthose first moments when I can,
I capture their personality andI hear what they have to share.
And, you know, even it's alwaysso beautiful, even those hard
ones where someone's pet isnearing the end of their life,
(37:51):
or I'm talking to a pet that'son the other side.
And what messages want to comethrough still.
It's always.
So, so fun and so exciting andrewarding and humbling.
Like it's such an honor.
I think that's what I want tosay.
If people, if people want toreach you for that or for some
(38:12):
of the other work you do, wherecan they, where can they find
you?
They can go to my website atAshaWolfHealing.
com.
So that's A S H A W O L F.
Just like the animal.
AshaWolfHealing.
healing.
com.
Okay.
Wonderful.
Great.
And I'll I'll put that in the,in the show notes as well.
(38:35):
Well, I so appreciate you makingtime to chat with me today and
also appreciate all the workwe've done together.
So I guess it's time to say, seeyou later.
So much issue.
This was delightful.
I had a lovely time talking withyou.
This was great.
Thank you so much for having metoday.
(38:56):
Yeah, absolutely.
Bye.
This is the Horse HumanConnection.
A captivating podcast where weextend into the world of equine
assisted learning.
Horse Training.
and gentleness in working withthese magnificent creatures.
Captivating stories from theleading professionals and
ordinary people alike unravelnovel ideas in being with
(00:25):
horses.
The horse human connection is anidea, a place, and a voice.
The idea is to support the quietrevolution and recognize the
intelligence and true nature ofthe horse.
The place is a destination farmnear the Umpqua Forest and River
that slows down visitors andpatrons enough to experience the
(00:48):
shift.
The Voice is this podcast.
Welcome to today's episode.
Hi, this is Ishii with the HorseHuman Connection Matrix.
I have a guest today.
(01:09):
I have Asha Wolf with me, who isan animal communicator and
energy healer.
Thank you for joining me today,Asha.
Thank you for having me, Ishii.
I've really been enjoying thenewsletter by your horse, James.
Can you tell me a little bitabout how that got started?
Actually so James is my horsethat I've had since 2014 and
(01:36):
we're in a phase of ourrelationship now where I'm not
riding him anymore.
And it had been coming up for awhile cause he had a pretty bad
injury and I got little whispersfrom him about he wanted to
leave a legacy.
He wanted to be able to sharehis wisdom with others.
(01:58):
And he wanted something thatwould, you know, would last, he
called it a legacy.
And then he started giving melittle images of what that could
possibly look like.
So he actually is the one that'sresponsible for these weekly
wisdom with James little blogsand Facebook posts.
And it's something that he'sbeen kind of pinging into my
(02:21):
field, if you will, for a while.
And it wasn't until about, Iguess we're on week 29, I think
now that I, so I guess 29 weeksago, I finally said, okay, I'm
ready to commit because it's aweekly commitment.
So, but he is the one that isresponsible for those weekly
posts.
And you and James have beentogether for a long time.
(02:43):
So we met in 2014.
And were animals talking to youbefore James came into your
life?
They were.
I've been so involved with, Iguess my former career or my
other career that I'm stilldoing a little bit of, which is,
you know, I have a doctorate inphysical therapy and I've spent
(03:04):
my entire life actually workingwith people.
I started, you know, workingwith people and teaching when I
was 18.
So it's just something that I'vealways done.
There have been times when I'vegotten little messages or
impressions or an image that ananimal might have given me.
And so I always knew that, thatit existed.
(03:28):
And I always knew that I thinkthat it was possible for me to
do.
And it was something that I kindof felt like, well, You know,
when the time is right, I'lldelve into it more, or I know
I'll do that in the future.
It was kind of like part of meknew that that was coming, but I
didn't push it.
I didn't really get superinterested in it.
(03:49):
It was just kind of somethingthat was there in the
background, but what was sointeresting was, was there would
be people.
that would meet me and theywould assume that that's, that I
could do it.
Like, it's like they picked upon something and they would say,
Oh, well, can you tune into thatcat?
And I'm like, well, I've neverdone that before.
(04:10):
And they're, Oh, well, you cando that.
And so then I would just do it.
And I would receive a messageand then I would deliver it to
the person.
And so there's always beensomething kind of interesting
about that.
Like, If you know, like I wasobviously wearing that in my
field and people would pick itup and they would, they would
know more than I did about myabilities to do it.
(04:34):
So were you working in some kindof a healing field or in some
kind of a work that relied onyour intuition or psychic
abilities or?
Or how would, I mean, I mean,I'm sure it didn't happen while
you were sitting down with youraccountant.
I mean, you must have been in acontext where people would think
such a thing.
(04:54):
Well, I was, I was in the danceworld, so I grew up as a ballet
and modern dancer, but I'vealways been interested in like
what else is out there.
So, you know, even though I wasseriously into ballet and
modern, And I was also lookingat some of the fringe aspects of
movement, like getting intoFeldenkrais and Alexander
(05:17):
technique and body mindcentering and, you know, doing
these exploratory workshopsabout how.
movement and being in the bodyat, at a very young age.
I remember doing these, thesekind of workshops at the age of
16.
So all my peers are seriouslyjust into the ballet and I'm
(05:38):
like, well, I love that.
And I'm going to go over to thismodern dance studio downtown
with all these older women intheir forties and fifties.
And I'm going to roll around onthe floor and see what's there.
So I've always been that, beenreally interested in that.
So I think that that reallyopened up a doorway for me of
(05:59):
possibility.
You know, I remember just doingthese different workshops with,
with people and we could explorethings that were, I remember
like being asked to dance frommy blood.
or dance from my bones and theywould be different qualities
when I would embody what I wouldthink of as the energy of our
(06:21):
bones in the body as opposed tothe energy of our blood in the
body.
So sounds kind of wacky.
It doesn't sound wacky to me atall.
In fact, I had forgotten that wehave this in common.
You mentioned it the first timethat we talked and I had
forgotten about it and you'vehit on something The dance is so
(06:42):
important because it's missingfrom our culture.
And as I've been studying allthis stuff about primitive
primitive cultures andactivities that they do for
brain health.
And I want to say for deepeningintuition and even other
abilities, like dance isimportant to that.
(07:03):
And the type of dance thatyou're talking about is not
mainstream, but, but it's thetype of dance that will make.
Every dancer, a better dancer.
And it is going inside andexperiencing movement on, on
that kind of level.
yeah, I actually feel sograteful for that time in my
(07:24):
life.
And, you know, my parents werevery open in the fact that,
yeah, if you want to go takethat class, that's great.
And I just feel very lucky inthat sense.
Small town and in a Midwesternstate that there were that that
existed and I was able toactually experience that.
It was really kind of lifechanging, although I didn't know
(07:45):
it at the time.
And so I, I brought that rightinto my dance and my
choreography when I was in NewYork City.
And I think I've always justkind of had a thirst for you
know, what else is out there?
You know, how else can weexplore?
So, you know, moving into thehorse world, it was really the
same thing for me.
(08:05):
It's like, well, these are themethods that are often used.
How else could we approach, youknow, this subject matter with
horses or how else can Iapproach?
You know, this sentient being infront of me.
I definitely see the connectionand have felt it too.
there's a saying in balletfreedom through discipline, and
(08:29):
I've always thought like, well,that's true, but there's also
freedom through freedom.
Which is the type of movementyou're talking about.
And when I think about thedisciplines in the horse world,
you know, meaning differentriding disciplines there's
freedom through discipline inthe upper levels, but it's not
the same as, you know,communication with horses.
(08:51):
In a way that you can form apartnership.
And one of the things that hasbeen really interesting, like my
top podcast is the one about cocreated rides.
And all of these things feedinto that.
Like, how do I be in my body, bein movement, be present and
connect with the horse oranother dancer?
(09:13):
For that matter, you know, ifwe're just talking about that in
general and, and create fromthere, like there's this essence
that happens.
Yeah.
I was thinking about yourcomment about, you know, freedom
through discipline.
And then you said there's alsofreedom through freedom.
And I'm like, well, if I had tostay with the freedom through
(09:34):
discipline idea, what would thatmean to me?
with horses.
And I was thinking about like,well, when I was asked to, you
know, to move from my bones.
And then move from my blood ormove from my lymphatic system,
like the discipline is in my, myability to train my mind to go
(09:57):
there to like, to, you know,journey into my bones on an
energetic level that takesdiscipline and focus and intent.
And it's like that.
Oh, my gosh, this whole worldopens up and I experience
freedom.
And I think there's a parallelto that with horses in how do I
(10:19):
choose to approach my horseregardless of what I'm doing.
And that takes a lot ofdiscipline and patience and
skill and intent.
You know, to maybe not go thenormal way of things with the
horse and to do something alittle different.
(10:39):
Did you have a moment or aseries of moments with horses
and with whatever training youhad as an equestrian rider where
you bumped up against thetradition and said, no, I'm not
going to do it that way or no,that feels wrong.
I did initially.
It was interesting because I wasactually exposed to horses
(11:01):
through natural horsemanship.
But there was 11 individual thatI was learning from.
She was very young and Iactually witnessed things that I
didn't think were.
Okay.
And.
And I was like, wow, I knowthere's another way.
So I, so I did experience that.
(11:23):
But I also learned an amazingamount of stuff of how you can
connect with a horse on theground.
Like I actually had moretraining on the ground initially
before I got really got intoriding.
So I did love that connectionand I was like, how can I carry
that, you know, into writing andinto, you know, more of what I
(11:44):
want to do with horses.
Was, was that a tradition or atechnique or what was the
training on the ground thatyou're, that you're talking
about?
She just used a variety oftechniques from different
horsemen.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
So I just, you know, it was morejust that, that learning how to
connect with that horse and justhow little can you move to get,
(12:09):
to, to get what you're wantingto experience with that horse in
that moment.
Mm hmm.
Okay.
You know, that idea of less ismore that, that those little
invitations, those little asks.
Versus telling right becausethat's how they talk to each
other with with micro movements.
So it's learning slowing downand learning more of their
language.
(12:30):
Yeah.
And then it was like, just like,wow, I wonder if I can just
think it right.
You know, like, you know,there's moments when we're
writing and we, and we feellike, oh, my gosh, I just
thought it and he did it right.
And we know that on some level,there's been some micro
movements that have happened inthe body because the body is
registering learning.
Yeah.
Our thought and our intent.
(12:51):
But at the same time, it's like,I just thought it, you know and
those are just those magicalmoments.
Yes, they are.
And I think, I think that's whata lot of people want to know
more about.
How do I get there?
How do I get there with myhorse?
And that's with the co createdrides.
Those are the moments that I'vehad that are just so amazing
(13:13):
when, when we're able to openup, but that's not necessarily
like I can say we're able toopen up.
But that's actually a pretty bigthing to me.
It's all about listening.
You know, we get so busy and sobig telling the horse what we
(13:35):
want.
And to me, it's all aboutlistening.
And it means listening tomyself, listening to my body.
So that I know, what is it thatI'm really saying to my horse?
I might be thinking something,what is my body telling my
(13:55):
horse?
Right.
And is that the message I wantmy horse to receive?
I've got to listen to my ownbody and then listening to their
body.
And it's not even just the body,it's the energy field.
It's like when I get on a horse,like I don't want to feel
separate.
It's like I want, I want onebody.
(14:18):
So the images that keep comingto mind, and it popped into my
head as you were talking aboutdance too, is contact
improvisation.
Have you, are you familiar?
Okay.
So for people that are listeningthat don't know what contact
improvisation is, it is where,You're creating a dance
(14:38):
spontaneously and there are acouple of small rules about
touching.
You stay in contact the wholetime, either rolling a point of
contact or creating leaningagainst each other so that if
one person left, the otherperson would fall.
So the reason I'm bringing thisup is because at some point when
(15:00):
I started learning aboutconnecting with horses in this
other way.
I wanted to dance it contactimprovisation with my horse in
the round pen.
And of course, horses don't movethat way.
They're not going to like leaninto you the same way you lean
into a person.
But there's something about thatthat feels a little bit about
(15:21):
what you're describing.
Well, I've never exploredcontact improvisation with the
horse like on the ground, but Iguess I could relate that to in
the saddle.
You know, like the approach ofhow do you get there reminds me
of the contact.
I know I'm a little out in leftfield, but we, we know I'm
(15:43):
mildly autistic, so I'm going totake that pass.
I thought about the contactimprovisation earlier.
I just didn't bring it up intothe conversation.
So I'm with you.
There's something about when youapproach contact improvisation,
you're two people and you are,or two beings and you're
agreeing to come into contactand create movement together
(16:08):
spontaneously.
So I guess that's like themindset of going on a co created
ride is you're getting on,you're getting on your horse
with permission, with a strongintention to go create together,
to move together.
Yes, absolutely.
You know, like I think to me,that's what every ride is about.
(16:30):
We have the opportunity toexplore, you know, because, you
know, our bodies are differentevery day and the horse's body
is different every day and eachmoment in time is different.
So when we, so when we get onthe horse to co create together,
it's like, I wonder where we aretoday.
You know, how are you feeling?
(16:50):
How am I feeling?
You know, what's the energy in?
You know, that we're playing intoday.
And so it's never the same.
It's like, we always think aboutlike, you know, when we're on
the yoga mat, it's like nodownward dog is ever the same
really, because we're not thesame in, in each moment in time.
(17:12):
And that's why it can stayfresh.
You know, we can do a zilliondownward dogs in our lifetime,
and it can never get boring.
You know, if we, if we choose tobe present, if we choose to
explore, if we choose to breatheand, and see all that's there in
the moment, and we have thatsame opportunity on the, with
(17:32):
the horse.
Yes, absolutely.
And that downward dog analogy isso fresh for me getting back on
the mat after having backsurgery a year ago, because it's
definitely a different downwarddog.
It's a different three leggeddog.
And I'm, I'm very much enjoyinghow it's it's playing in my body
(17:53):
in the different places.
So, and yeah, that's, that's agood, that's a good thing to
mention because it's like, oh,well, you know, I'm thinking
about like me is teachingsomeone in yoga or physical
therapy.
And it's like, you know, thecommon response for someone like
you that has gone through backsurgery and you get onto the
mat.
(18:13):
And it's so easy to, to compareourselves to what we used to be
able to do or what it, what itfelt like before.
Versus like, okay, this is whereI am right now.
This is how it feels right now.
This is my downward dog rightnow.
You know, can we do that withour horses too?
You know, as our horse changes,it's like, Oh, you know, my
(18:35):
horse doesn't do that anymore.
Okay.
But what is this horse offeringtoday?
And how can I partner with that?
Yeah.
So you mentioned that you have anew horse.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I do.
I did not grow up with horses Iwas one of those adults that
learned to ride.
(18:57):
And and so James was my firsthorse and he's definitely my
heart horse or soul mate orhowever you want to describe it.
But as he has shifted intoretirement, I'm like, you know,
I really would like to be ableto partner with another horse.
Under saddle.
I really like that experience.
(19:18):
And so I wasn't sure what I wasgoing to do in getting another
horse.
I had never shopped for onebefore because James just was
there at the barn.
And there's a story there.
But, you know, I, I, I wrote himbefore I bought him.
So, but anyway, it just poppedinto my field to check out
(19:38):
Colorado horse rescue.
So a rescue organization notthat far from where I live and I
got on their website and beforeyou know it, I, I have a horse.
She's not, she's not young, butthere's a journey there for me,
obviously she is going to needsome body work and some support
that way.
So and.
(20:00):
She told me that she chose me.
So I'm like, okay, so alreadyI'm feeling a bit of a
responsibility.
To, to offer her what she needsso that we can thrive together
in partnership.
So I think as her body startsfeeling better, there's going to
be some, there's going to besome magic there.
She's a sweetheart.
How old is she?
(20:20):
She's 15.
Huh.
She's, you know, she's a mareand I love it because she's
expressive and she's alsoexpressive when something hurts
her body.
You know, she's not going to bethe gelding that just kind of
pushes through it.
She lets me know, you know, andI'm like, okay, so how can we do
it differently today where itdoesn't hurt?
(20:41):
And let's, let's get, let's getyou some body work here and get
you body work there.
And you know, and I've beendoing some animal communication
with her to find out, okay,what's, so I understand you're
sore here, but can you tell me,you know, do you remember the
very first time that you feltpain and can you show me where
that is?
Because, you know, we have thiscascade of.
(21:03):
compensatory, you know painsometimes.
And it's like, well, that's fineto treat, you know, the right
side of her lumbar spine, youknow, to help her with her
canner transition.
But is that where it's reallycoming from?
You know, when you trace backthe pain to its original injury
(21:23):
or pain, point in the body.
And so you, you're working onher yourself.
Is there a tradition for horsesthat you use?
Are you just intuitive or do youtake what you know about human
body work and kind of all of theabove, all of the above.
And then I, and then I hirepeople to help do like that, you
(21:45):
know, the official acupunctureand chiropractic treatments, but
I do like a lot of fascial work.
craniosacral work.
I know a little bit about themedicine method.
I can do some chakra balancingand, and then I just, and I can
do like what's called kind oflike a touch point therapy.
(22:06):
And, and then I just go with myintuition and listening to the
horse and looking for hercommunication with me to let me
know what she wants herfeedback.
Yeah.
And then the animalcommunication piece is really
helpful because if you can tunein and.
hear it from straight from thehorse's mouth, no pun intended,
(22:27):
you know, like it's, it's sohelpful.
It's a lot less guesswork.
Like I'm, I'm guessing my horsehas not wanted me to get on her
back.
The last two times I've tried,she's been very like stomping
her back foot.
Like, no, I don't want youriding me.
And I'm scanning her body, but Ican't figure out exactly You
know what it is.
(22:47):
So I just do some general stuffand respect her, but it's, you
know, I, I miss writing too.
And it's, it's a hard place tobe.
So I'm glad she chose you.
What is her name?
Her name is Lady.
Lady.
Oh, that sounds like a greatname.
And she she was off the trackway back.
Oh, name was little Isabellathen.
(23:10):
Huh.
Yeah.
You know, and she's definitelyhas She has some history.
She's got, I think there's aPTSD loop running.
There's definitely someemotional trauma.
There's definitely some traumavisible on her body.
So you know, it's interesting tounpack that with time.
(23:32):
It is.
I'm, I'm my trainer, my horsetrainer who is a human trauma
therapist.
We're not working together now,but I was, I was fortunate
enough to be able to work withher for three years.
Watch her rescue horses off thetrack and treat their PTSD.
And it was amazing.
It's just, I have a video clipsomewhere of her taking this
(23:54):
horse that was triggered andstaying on the horse's back and
riding out the whole thing.
And then coming to rest.
Coming to a stop and resting andself regulating together and
when the horse dropped down intonormal regulation, she then got
off.
But it was a beautiful thing towatch.
(24:15):
It was just amazing.
So yeah, you and Lady have some,some fun journeys ahead of you
and some meaningful connections,I'm sure.
It's very interesting.
It's definitely a step up for mein, in my horse skills and
abilities.
James, I always just knew hejust regulated his nervous
(24:36):
system so easily and well, likeself regulates all the time and,
and lady struggles with that.
And so it's like, okay, youknow, it's, it's, it's
definitely being present in avery different way with her.
I don't know that much about theracetrack.
(25:00):
But I'm just curious if thereare horses that come off the
racetrack that don't have PTSD.
Well, you know, I, I don't knowwhere she got her PTSD.
I haven't explored it that muchyet, but she did show me an
image and I'm like, Oh, okay.
That's, that explains a lotabout being, you know, she, she
can't handle even being near aplace where you would tie a
(25:23):
horse up.
Like I can't even drape the ropeover it, like even just walking
up to a hitching post, she justgoes into high alert, like she's
ready to panic.
You know, even if my, my energyis so calm and I'm being very
careful to, you know, reallyregulate my nervous system, just
(25:45):
seeing it.
Knowing, knowing, you know, I'mjust like, wow.
Yeah.
I've come across a couple ofpeople here in the county I live
in who have trained horses bytying them up or confining them
and only bringing them likewater, a small bucket of water
once a day.
Like that's going to teach themwhat they know to stand still.
(26:08):
I'm like, I can't wrap my brainaround that kind of cruelty, but
it's an accepted practice in alot of places.
Yeah, so I think there'sdefinitely stuff that she hasn't
shown me yet, but she did showme a pretty not so great image.
And, but, you know, my goingback to the racetrack.
It's like, I don't, I, there'sno other.
I don't know if it happenedthere.
(26:29):
I mean, there's a lot of years.
There's, there's 12 yearsbetween the racetrack and.
Today, you know, so who knowswhat happened and, and where and
when so, but you know, she's,she's a sweet girl and there's,
there's definitely some try inher and there's already been a
couple really pretty amazingmoments, so.
(26:53):
Yeah.
So when you work with horses,when you work with people in as
a healer, as an energy healer,you have a lot of tools at your
disposal.
And as I was thinking about ourinterview this morning, I was
wondering, like, where did youstart?
Like, where did that educationof energy healing start and then
(27:17):
what prompted you to grow it?
Because like a lot of peoplewill, will take one you know,
technique or tradition and just,and work in it, but you have
such a variety.
I've never really wanted tocommit fully to any particular
camp or any particular grid,we'll call it.
(27:38):
Because I think that there's,There's beauty and validity in
so many different things.
And so I love to just say, Oh, Ireally like, I like that piece
and take that piece fromwhatever and, and pull, you
know, just pull from differentthings.
I think that we limit ourourselves and we limit our
(27:59):
possibilities when we onlychoose to go into one
methodology.
You know, to me that feelslimiting.
That's, you know, Like just takewhatever we can get from
different places.
And if you've been at junctureswhere it seems like the two
(28:20):
things are in opposition or theydon't go together or there's
some incongruence how do younavigate through that?
Or is that not really come up?
I don't think that's really comeup.
I'm not one to brood in my mindabout something, I'll just like
flow with it, and then if itdoesn't resonate for me in that
(28:42):
moment, I'll just flow withsomething else.
Versus judging it or labeling itor trying to define it.
I don't know if that makessense.
It sounds like an absorptionprocess.
Yeah, I just, I just take whatresonates and, and so, so if I'm
(29:02):
working with a horse, it's, oreven when I'm working with a
person or an, you know, a cat ora dog, it's, it's just, just
whatever is needed in thatmoment.
When we gather information andwe gather our skills, I think
there comes a point when wedon't even necessarily know what
came from where anymore, youknow, it's, it's just what we,
(29:23):
what we know to be our truth andwhat we've experienced, you
know, we can go all the way backto, like, say, you know,
someone's childhood, maybethat's where, you know, we first
learned to be.
You know, to develop a sense ofbeing empathic, maybe because we
(29:44):
had to, to survive, you know,the environment we were in.
Right.
And we learned those skills at avery early age.
And then we, we, we can turnthem into gifts of how we work
with people or animals.
You know, today there's, youknow, you're, you're a very wise
(30:06):
woman and I've appreciated somuch of what you've said and,
and how you see the world andall of the different things that
you do and dabble in and, andhow you have helped me and how
you help other people.
I've got, I got a thing I'mstruggling a little bit with,
maybe, maybe you have some wordsof wisdom for me about it.
(30:26):
And it's a little about what youwere just talking about.
The, the way we see the world.
Like the way I see the worldcompared to the way other people
see the world.
Like I, I'm pretty solid in myperceptions, but when there's so
vastly different than otherpeople's, and it causes
(30:48):
conflict, sometimes I'm notquite sure what to do about
that.
I know it's not easy at all, butI always like to think about if,
if about how I can just see theother perspective and with a
sense of curiosity.
Kind of like, huh, I reallydon't believe that at all.
(31:11):
It's not my truth, but I wonderlike how they got there.
Like maybe it's turning it tolike just being curious with how
that person's life orexperiences led them into that.
Particular belief so that weopen up our curiosity versus
(31:34):
acknowledging that, Oh my gosh,I don't believe that at all.
They're completely differentthan me.
Like, that just kind of closesdown any sort of.
Place of connection.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
So you're saying staying in thecuriosity can lead to some
compassion and but still stayingvery strong in your own
convictions and truth there.
(31:55):
It's like, you know, I think ifwe if we know what we know, if
we are grounded in our owntruth.
Then it, it, it's, it's notthreatened, it's not like we
don't, we don't worry aboutlike, you know, like when
someone says, Oh, I don'tbelieve in animal communication.
I'm like, yeah, cool.
I get it.
(32:17):
It's kind of weird.
It's out there.
It's hard to define hard toexplain, you know, but I'm, I
can just say it's fine.
That's cool.
Right, right.
That helps.
Thank you.
I mean, just putting it inthose, in that kind of context
and thinking about a particularsituation that, that is quite
helpful.
And I think also it's just, youknow, like noticing if we get
(32:41):
triggered, if it, if it riles usup in some way, you know, and,
and then being able to, to turnand say, Oh, I wonder why, like
just turning the curiosity, evenback on ourselves.
Oh, I wonder why that, that,that upsets me.
Or what, you know, likeexploring it in that way too.
(33:04):
But I get it.
It's hard in the moment.
It's like, Oh.
You know, we have our reactionor response to something.
Yeah, there's some things thatare definitely trickier than
others for sure.
And going back to horses, it'slike, you know, when we when we
have a moment, you know, whereit brings something up for us.
And it's like, oh, we get, youknow, there's moments we get
(33:26):
frustrated or, you know, we've,we've We feel like, Oh, I'm not
good enough for whatever theemotion might be around the
horse.
And it's at that moment again,can we just step back and go,
okay, I'm, I'm gettingemotionally affected here.
Let me take a breath.
You know, this is not serving meor the horse.
(33:47):
Let me find my feet.
Let me reground.
Okay, now I'm ready to step backin to the energy of the horse
and see what we can do together.
Yeah, that's a really goodability to constantly self
reflect and self observe andcall ourselves out even, you
(34:10):
know, with compassion.
They okay, you know, withcompassion.
Oh, you're getting triggered.
Oh, you're okay.
Let's just take a moment.
Part of awareness and on theroad to self mastery with, with
all of that.
Yeah.
I mean, that's what it takes isbeing present and being aware.
Horses are great teachers ofthat, you know, and that's a
(34:31):
challenging journey.
You know, it takes a lot of, alot of courage, a lot of
bravery.
And a lot of compassion.
What is your favorite thing todo?
That's my favorite thing to do?
Of anything?
Yeah, just what's your favoritething to do?
(34:53):
Oh, I have so many favoritethings to do.
I can't choose just one.
Okay.
Well, in your work, what is,what is your favorite way of,
Well, let me change thequestion.
If you had a mission statementfor your time here on earth,
(35:14):
what would your missionstatement be?
To help, to help humanity comeback into their bodies and to
acknowledge and trust the wisdomof their own bodies.
To feel the intelligence thatresides in the cells of their
body, that would change theworld.
(35:41):
Yeah, it would.
Getting some goosebumps on thatone.
So, you've heard me talk aboutthe quiet revolution in the
horse world.
Right?
You've heard me talk about that?
Do you feel like you're part ofthat?
I do.
I'd like to think that I am.
But, yeah, I do.
(36:01):
Because I'm always looking foranother way.
I'm, I'm following.
You know, to my best of myability in each moment, I'm
following my breath and I'mfollowing the horse's breath.
Some really good tools, veryusable tools that we've talked
about today, whether it's inlife or with your horse and ways
(36:23):
of looking at things.
I I just, I so appreciate ourconversations.
Is there anything else that youwant to talk about or anything
else you'd like to say?
Well, when you'd asked me like,what are my favorite things to
do?
And then you said, Oh, let meask you about your work.
And then we went into themission statement, but I kind of
wanted to say.
You know, if you ask me what myfavorite part of my work is
(36:45):
right now.
Is it's when I get a new animalclient and it, it's, it's just
like a box of chocolates.
I don't know what I'm going toget.
I feel it's just, I feel like alittle girl.
It's so fun.
I sit down with the picture thatthe, you know, that the person
(37:06):
has forwarded to me of theiranimal, whether it's a cat, a
dog or horse or whatever, a cow.
I've done some interesting onestoo.
And it's just like, Oh, I wonderwhat, what they're going to
share with me.
I wonder what they have to tellme.
I wonder what's important tothem in their world.
Because I, one of the firstthings I always ask is, what do
(37:28):
you want to show me?
What do you have to tell me?
And I give the animal, thefloor.
And it's just I just love thatthose first moments when I can,
I capture their personality andI hear what they have to share.
And, you know, even it's alwaysso beautiful, even those hard
ones where someone's pet isnearing the end of their life,
(37:51):
or I'm talking to a pet that'son the other side.
And what messages want to comethrough still.
It's always.
So, so fun and so exciting andrewarding and humbling.
Like it's such an honor.
I think that's what I want tosay.
If people, if people want toreach you for that or for some
(38:12):
of the other work you do, wherecan they, where can they find
you?
They can go to my website atAshaWolfHealing.
com.
So that's A S H A W O L F.
Just like the animal.
AshaWolfHealing.
healing.
com.
Okay.
Wonderful.
Great.
And I'll I'll put that in the,in the show notes as well.
(38:35):
Well, I so appreciate you makingtime to chat with me today and
also appreciate all the workwe've done together.
So I guess it's time to say, seeyou later.
So much issue.
This was delightful.
I had a lovely time talking withyou.
This was great.
Thank you so much for having metoday.
(38:56):
Yeah, absolutely.
Bye.
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