Personal Leadership Skills Produce Extraordinary Results in Leadership Performance.

Across the country, many school districts have incorporated instructional coaches or onsite professional developers to lead school reform efforts. In view of the current economy, specialized positions are being discontinued and teachers are being asked to step into teacher leadership roles. Consequently, hundreds of educational professionals are finding themselves in high-stakes, critically important roles in their schools, with little or no professional development to prepare them for successfully performing their tasks.

The lack of professional learning for teacher leaders places teachers and students at risk. Our mission is to provide classroom teachers, those who are working under tremendous stress “in the trenches”, a way to honor themselves as they implement Personal Leadership Skills designed to produce extraordinary results in leadership performance.

The Teacher Leadership Academy uniquely addresses what has consistently been missing from professional development….appreciating the teacher. We believe that if teachers can re-ignite their personal value, a measurable shift can occur in classrooms and schools!

Find out more on our Teacher Leadership Academy link on www.equinealchemy-southwest.com!

TEACHERS!!!!!!!

In the Southwest, this time of year is somewhat of an “anniversary date” for me. For 32 years, the last week of July meant the beginning of preparing my classroom in anticipation for the possibilities that could be realized in the following nine months.
Today, I want to say “thank you” to all teachers who are preparing themselves and their classrooms for what lies ahead in the following school year. I want to express my appreciation for what you are doing…. within the context of what may seem to be very little economic or political support…..and often with much criticism from those outside the classroom.

The Teacher Leadership Academy 2011 was born from my memories of spending endless hours planning units, preparing experiences for the students, evaluating assignments, creating new and innovative ways to serve the learning needs of my students, collaborating with my grade level or content area colleagues, attending meetings and trainings.
As my school site initiated Professional Learning Communities, I found myself continually reflecting, “how can peer leadership be meaningful….how can leading be connected to the relationship I have with my students and my peers?”

The Teacher Leadership Academy is what emerged from those reflections and experiences. It is much more than just a week of required “drive-by” professional development!
The Teacher Leadership Academy will support teachers as they begin this socially responsible, intentionally work. Our vision is to acknowledge and appreciate teachers for the experts they are, supporting them in their respective teaching contexts. We have integrated into the didactic work of this training, a paradigm shift of the highest magnitude…appreciation for the teacher. As our world changes, the work of educators is to connect with all the kindred spirits now working in isolation. This is how we intentionally work with emergence to create the future we desire.

Teachers, find out more by going to www.wecelebrateteachers.com
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Teacher Leadership Academy 2011!

Equine Alchemy Southwest THANKS YOU and wishes you

a successful and personally rewarding 2010-2011 school year!

Whispers of a Mystical Master

Whispers of a Mystical Master
The theme of Week III of the Equine Assisted Coach Training with Lisa Murrell was Integration, and as an adjunct Instructor, I prepared for the week by declaring my intention to be fully present. By acknowledging multiple levels of frustration as a result of living with the unpredictability of Multiple Sclerosis flares, I could step into my intention with integrity and optimal awareness. Many years ago, my spiritual teacher taught me that the Path to Self and God Realization exacted a focused presence from the student, as the next steps were often shared in whispers. Little did I know on Monday that my personal experience would rush forth in the Language of the Breath; whispers manifested as waves of bliss.
Before I left to return to NM, I expressed a desire to have some photographs made with Simon. I have always connected deeply with Simon, a connection based (on my part) on a commonality of compromised physical abilities. He has always been a source of great emotional healing for me, yet on this day, Simon was distant. I had asked him throughout the week to help me understand why I felt so much fear when I was with horses….I didn’t want to continue to feel surges of panic that were directly related to my fear of falling when I was with them. I wanted to heal the belief that somehow I now had no value to bring to this work because it was hidden beneath my flaring nerves, my frozen breath and my intense shaking. I am a Saggitarius, the Centaur. My connection and identification with horses has always been intense, yet; here I was….afraid. I wanted to transform my ruthless judgment of my worthiness to do what I believe is my purpose….healing…as an expression of mystical partnership with my beloved horses.
Nothing seemed to work in the Round Pen between us. Lisa, in her amazing, intuitive wisdom, placed a chair inside the round pen…in the shade. I sat down, and in doing so, released the tension in my legs, and started to breathe. Simon then approached me in his gentle, powerful way and drew me into what I can only describe as an exquisite place of oneness with collective wisdom of the horse ancestors. Simon began to breathe rhythmically and through this rhythm, he engaged me eye to eye, breath to breath. Simon allowed me to feel the “alayayujnana..or storehouse of consciousness”, and however many moments we shared were ekacitas…moments between time and space. In those moments of Pranayama, or Language of the Breath, I was using my entire boday as an organ of perception. Simon was sharing with me the wisdom of his heart, showing me how to locate consciousness in my own heart and begin to know the world in a way that is harmonizing to me.
What am I taking away from this mystical experience with the Master Coach Simon?
~True power encompasses more than physical fitness.
~A deeper integration of body, mind and spirit emerges through an illness or an accident. Healing requires accessing the wisdom behind the wound.
~Listen deeply and make this work your own.

Upon my return home, I found some recent notes from my Yoga Sutra class about Pranayama. “The rhythm of Ujayii breathing changes the shape of the airway in order to channel the air slightly differently. It does not decrease the air; it slows the air down so that it can maintain its position in the body longer and its use is more efficient”.
Thank you, Simon, for showing me the wisdom behind the wound and the sacred possibility contained within.

Desert Alchemy

“The end is in the beginning…..”

The practice of Horse Medicine Wisdom is the process of becoming whole by  remembering our stories. When we step into our vulnerability, we begin to remember; and when we remember, authenticity is revealed.  We clearly recognize the trail of stories that formulates our life,  and we are restored with the power to consciously manifest our unique destiny….to apply the alchemical process to our stories, and begin rewriting.

The fire of Desert Alchemy is intense; so is this journey of remembering and rewriting.  Often, in reflection upon the gifts of Horse Medicine Wisdom in my life, I feel the hot, late-night wind above the desert, and observe the raw energy of the desert lightning storms. Striking a metaphorical parallel, I am reminded there is loneliness, remote hope, wonder and awe entwined in this journey of transformation.

And then there are the horses, who in their own authenticity and magnificence, teach me how to walk the path of my soul’s purpose.  The intentional exchanges that occur between horse and human quiet the mind and reflect the soul’s wisdom.

The eye of the horse, a mysterious rearrangement of the alchemy of fire, creates openings through which we are able to  manifest our vision, live boldly and purposefully.  The resurrection of inner contentment and calm…it’s a new journey.

“Is it possible, I asked myself, that I am being summoned from some deep and holy place within?

Am I being asked to enter a passage in the Spiritual life,

 the journey from false self to true self?

Am I being asked to dismantle old masks and patterns

and unfold a deeper, more authentic self, the one I intended to be?

Am I being compelled to disturb my inner universe

in quest of the undiscovered being who clamors from within?”

                                                                  Sue Monk Kidd   When the Heart Waits

“The end is in the beginning…..”

Welcome to my beginning…and perhaps to yours.