Mary Burg is a seasoned Life Coach and Equine guide. Today we take a peek into Mary’s upbringing and life story. Mary’s perspective is joyful, fresh and relatable. She learned early about ‘thoughts becoming things’ and the power of our mind and intention. Mary initially worked in the field of Ecology Wetlands and later shifted into the field of life coaching. She blends her passion for guiding others with her love of being with horses. Mary educates us on the heart centered nature of horses and how she works with them in a coaching session. Mary will always be your biggest cheerleader and believes that if you can dream it, you can become it!

EPISODE TAKEAWAYS (what you’ll learn):

• The power of speaking your own voice
• Pivoting in midlife
• How powerful our thoughts and beliefs are
• The importance of aligning your dreams with action
• The magic of horses and how they communicate with us
• How horses are utilized in the field of coaching

About the Guest:

Mary Burg is a Certified Professional Life & Leadership Coach specializing in career happiness, a Skyhorse Academy Certified Equine Guided Educator, Certified 3 Vital Questions (3VQ) Trainer, and founder and creator of Authentic Path coaching programs. Mary is a transformational coach who believes that each of us is on a divine soul journey, and that part of that journey is to discover our infinite creative power – the power to create our reality. She sees her role as an ally, guiding her clients to discover their soul’s essence, wisdom, and purpose, to hone their creative abilities, and design and create the lives they came here to live. Mary delights in working one-on-one with mid-career professionals who are feeling stuck, burned-out, and unfulfilled to follow their heart’s calling and create livelihoods filled with heart, meaning, prosperity, and fulfillment.

Find Mary Here:

Website

LinkedIn

References Within Podcast:

Mike Dooley: www.tut.com

www.skyhorseacademy.com

About the Host:

Maureen Spielman is the Founder of Mystical Sisterhood, a podcast dedicated to bringing more joy, healing and expansion to the world. She is a seasoned life coach who supports individuals through one-on-one coaching, groups and workshops.

Connect with Maureen:

● Check out her Instagram: @maureeenspielman

● Learn more about her work at www.maureenspielman.com

● Want to join our Mystical Sisterhood Membership community? Find out more here: https://www.maureenspielman.com/mysticalsisterhood

● Email Maureen at hello@maureenspielman.com to inquire about coaching, podcasting & speaking engagements

● Want to view Mystical Sisterhood episodes? Visit the Mystical Sisterhood YouTube Channel here: Magical Sisterhood Youtube

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcasts review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.

Hello and welcome back to mystical sisterhood. This is

your host, Maureen Spielman. Today I'm really excited to sit

down with Mary Berg. She is a seasoned life coach. I met her

through my sister Kelly. And she's very well rounded and well

respected within the field of life coaching. She is here to

tell us her family of origin story, her life's path with

regard to career. And also I was fascinated by the fact that Mary

has worked for a number of years with horses. She has brought

them into her coaching. And she has gotten to know these animals

up close and personal. So she shares with us stories about the

horses, the intelligence and soul that these animals just

embody. So I hope that you love the episode as much as I did. I

learned a lot about her equine work. And there's just a lot

here for all of us. Please join me in welcoming Mary and here we

go.

Hey there, welcome to mystical sisterhood. This is your host,

Maureen Spielman. I started the show to highlight the intuitives

healers and other courageous women that I've met along my

journey and continue to meet. Through amazing interviews, I

seek to ask insightful questions to uncover ways in which you the

listener can apply the wisdom and knowledge to your own life.

I believe that we're all in this together. So sharing healing and

joy, and bringing community together is both my passion and

purpose. If you'd like to learn more about the mystical

sisterhood community I'm building, please visit www

mystical sisterhood.com See you in the episode.

Okay, welcome back to mystical sisterhood. This is Maureen

Spielman, your host. I'm back today with Mary Berg. I don't

even have a bio to read on Mary, because I know her fairly well,

I'd say, Mary, I met you through my sister, Kelly Sanders, and

the two of you live out in Denver. And I think one morning

when I was visiting Kelly, a few years back, I had a curiosity

about you. And so Kelly, put together it was like a 6am

coffee. And we met back by her firepit. And it was just a

lovely morning, a couple hours, just a juicy conversation right

off the bat. And then I went and did, I may have been doing at

the time by coach training. But when I finished it, just want to

welcome you as a seasoned life coach. And there's other reasons

you're here today. But I hired you to guide me through the

process of setting up my business, and worked with you

for quite a few months to really dig deep dive deep, because I

was taking it so seriously, I didn't want to leave many stones

on turned in that process. But I'll say thank you today for

helping me launch my career and coaching and where I find myself

today. Wow. Well, thank you and what a wonderful gift. It's been

to just be able to be with you on that journey. And that was a

wonderful morning. And

you and Kelly have such an amazing sisterhood that

it seems studying that that's how we met. Yeah. Oh,

definitely. Yeah. And I also Marine, just want to thank you

for creating the mystical sisterhood. I feel like it's all

these people that you've invited to the table have come together.

And it's like we're at a party solving a giant jigsaw puzzle.

And only it's not one of those jigsaw puzzles where you can

start with the flat edge and start to build the boundaries.

And then every thing fell in. It's like this infinite jigsaw

puzzle of the mysteries of the universe. And it expands to

infinity in every direction and in multi dimensions. And we're

all just coming and saying, here's some pieces that I have,

that I could share, you know, and I don't know if it's true or

not, but this is what I've experienced. This is what I

think might be true and just all building this picture together

and it's just such a delightful oh my gosh, thank you for the

visual the vision of that and it's true. Because it's pulling

in everybody has their different kind of specialty their

experiences what like you're saying what they're bringing in

and it feels like it's as I've watched it grow, it's pulling in

some mystic it's it's pulling in a

Healing, then it's got the application to our lives,

whether it's in parenting, or, you know, all these different

uncovering of the spaces that we can actually use these tools,

like it's, and I was saying to you before we started, I rarely,

I rarely record two in one day, and I met with a yoga instructor

this morning. But that's what was coming together in my mind.

Because as I go through the process of this podcast,

bringing it into the world, I I don't see a lot before it

happens, I almost as it occurs, it's coming together, and then

I'll see. And it's so similar to the puzzle pieces that you're

saying. And I was just saying to Betsy, who I interviewed this

morning, that it is by, by bringing in people to talk about

the different ways, they not only use it in your life, or use

it in their life, but maybe also teach it in their life, it could

be just utilize it in their life. But the more times we hear

it, it allows it to go deeper into one, maybe one particular

person, or just, it's just amplified in different ways.

It's just it's like a ping that goes out into the universe. And

it's sometimes it gets absorbed. I mean, I know that, yeah, a big

study of the universe and energy and all of that so.

And well. And you know, the other thing that I think is so

valuable about what you're doing is that, and you and I've talked

about this many times before, that there may be hundreds of

people out there who are delivering essentially the same

message. But for each one of us, there's one voice that we can,

you know, that will will really hear the message. And so you

bring all these voices makes it that much more available to

everybody, all of us out here to, to come in contact with the

voice that resonates in our being, and really gets the

message across. So it's just lovely. Yeah, I love that. I

love it. It makes me think of, well, I'm thinking already

thinking of a question like, have you found that in your

business, but it's really your business and life, that for you,

if we're just focused on you, that that message or that that

friendship or that, that it, it just, it gets to the right

people, they come to you. And I know you're a big believer in

the trust of the universe? Is that? Yes, I feel like that's

one of the principles you kind of live by. It is and you know,

it's also something that comes up in my work with clients a

lot. And again, it's something that you and I talked about a

lot that

when when people are starting their own businesses, especially

entrepreneurs, and they're they're thinking about how to

market. And, you know, one of the things I I always encourage

people is just speak your own voice, because there's someone

out there who's looking for the morning channel, they're dialing

their radio, and it's all static until they hit Maureen's voice.

And those are your ideal clients, your ideal clients are

going to resonate with your message, you don't have to worry

about how to find them. They're looking for you. And when they

hear your message in your authentic voice, they'll be

there. And and I absolutely trust that and I've seen it time

and time and time again that I it's no longer a leap of faith.

It's just something I know.

Right? It feels like vibration. Yeah, like vibration. It is I

really truly believe that. Yeah, yeah.

Well, I we had set out questions we're going to today, I'll say

to the listeners, we're going to touch upon a bit of Mary's

background and, and coaching and just life principles that but

also go into your work with the horses and equine

therapy. I don't know if that's right therapy. But just for the

listener, we're going to we're going to dance in both areas

today. And they're both really fascinating to me.

Before we when we met last week, we talked about touching upon,

that that truth that you grew up with, I think you call them

metaphysical healers around you, and would you say a bit more

about that store? And actually, I was listening to the podcasts

that you did with Dina Wiggins, and I loved her phrase about

rearview mirror wisdom. Because I've lived for a long time with

this question.

If I chose this life, if I chose my family, what was it that I

was seeking? Why did I choose them and and this life

And, you know, it's only really, through the decades being able

to look back on the decades and what my choices were, what my

influences were, and how it all fits together and makes perfect

sense and, and led me to finding my path my purpose. And, and it

did I, I really do believe that if I, if I chose my family, and

I think I did,

it was because that was a family of generations of

just very powerful, masterful spiritual, metaphysical healers,

wow. And especially my dad, and probably the most influential

person in my life was my great aunt. Grace.

She was probably my best friend growing up, I was the youngest

in the family. And so when I was growing up, everybody else was

off at school, my mom had gone back to work, my dad was already

working. And so I spent a lot of time alone. And we we had three

generations in our household and Grace was sort of my caretaker.

And so I spent hours and hours and hours with her and she was

just an amazing

spiritual healer. And so, you know, so much of what I still

believe today, I really learned from from her in terms of

learning about the divine, giving me a definition of the

Divine that truly resonates with me, which is that, you know, the

universe, the divine God help what however you want to refer

to it is, is loving, and forgiving, and

for us, and that we are, in fact, a reflection of that we

are divine, and we are powerful creators. And the other thing so

ironic to me all these many years later was how powerful our

thoughts are, this is what my parents said she taught me is

that our thoughts and beliefs that then are manifested in our

actions create our reality. And that we need to, I probably

would have said, guard our thoughts, not in a hyper

vigilant way, but in being aware of what our thoughts are, and

not attaching to and believing everything we think. Yeah, wow,

and really cultivating

an awareness of our thoughts, because

they really do create our reality. And we get to choose

our thoughts. And that choice, you know, is also so

foundational to coaching. So it's just as I look back, it's

ironic and wonderful that this was sort of my grounding in life

from the time I can remember. It's astounding, it's I'm

sitting here, you know, I knew some of this, I don't think I've

ever known about your Aunt Grace.

It's super impactful. I don't think that many people can say

that. And so the fact that that became your foundation, and it

ended up being really the foundation of your life's work

is incredible. Isn't it? Amazing? Yeah. It's amazing. So

I can only really see that in the rear view, like Dina said,

you know, I wasn't aware of it. Sure. At the time, it was just

my life. It was just my environment was the water that I

swam in. And, and, you know, fast forward 40 years, and the

lineage of Coach Training that I was in is saying, We're all

divine beings, and our thoughts create our reality.

You know, it's like, wow, okay. This is like a homecoming. Yes,

I imagine. I know, because you had spent years that's one of

the things I was wondering if you would talk about today, but

you had spent years in the ecology field. And, you know,

how many years did you spend in that? And did you find, were

there? Were there qualities of this coming through? Even in

that work? Yeah, in fact, that's another sort of pattern that I

see in my path was starting with the medical, metaphysical, and

then going into the world of science. And

I worked in that field for 30 years, 20 years in my career, in

ecology, and at the Department of Ecology in the state of

Washington. But,

and so many people in my world wanted to make it either or you

either believe in science and you live by science or

You are a spiritual person. And that's your truth. And the thing

is, I never saw that as a dichotomy. And in fact, and I

love science. And, to me,

science has a very particular function. And its to its a

gatekeeper, it says we're only gonna admit, as fact, those

things that we can measure and test and prove, before we allow

it into, you know, this little fenced in area that we say is,

is, is fact. And so many people want to say that until it's

proven, it's not real, it's woowoo. It's whatever. Well, you

know, think about it. 20 or 30 years ago, acupuncture was on

the you we will fringe you know, it was like, oh, right, yeah.

meridians, chakras. You right? Yeah. Uh huh. Well, now

insurance companies pay for it. Yes. And it's just because, you

know, science only goes as far as our technology and our

ability to measure our environment. And so just because

we can't yet measure, there was a time when we couldn't, when we

didn't have microscopes, and we couldn't see microbes, and

that we couldn't prove, but people believe people had

intuitions and really, it's, it's intuition. It's thought,

where science begins, someone has an idea, they think the

seems like, and that's where hypotheses are generated. And

that's what you test. And you know, and depending on how the

test comes out, then you either admit it as as a fact or not,

but it's really through the unseen, that we bring things

into the realm of science. And so I've I really see the oneness

between metaphysics and, and physics and the universal

truths, that kind of that underlie both I mean, you know,

people, again, you know, people think it's woowoo to talk about

everything is energy, but actually, if you look at

science, everything is energy, everything, everything is atoms,

it's, it's all electricity, it's positive and, and negative

charges. And so, so yeah, so maybe that's not so great. Yeah,

it's just, to me, it's like, what's the argument? You know,

well, and to when you talk about? Well, first of all, thank

you for that all that connection of, wow, it starts with

intuition or itself, it can start with a little ping from

the universe. And that, that that thing that we call science

two does go alongside facts, and what we learned in school and

like, all these things being truth or, you know, for like

social studies, yes, we can say that those events happened,

right. So, so their truth. And I see, I think we still see a lot

of conditioning, and people in that realm where it literally

feels scary, it feels like to go over there is like wild, but

what you're saying is it's really not it's, it's all one,

right? And in both in both science and spirituality and

academia, there's dogma, in both. And you know, I have a

dear friend who's part of my sisterhood, and

she's, she's, she calls herself an atheist, and, you know, is

that, you know, science is, she lives and breathes by science

and reason. And I just say, Well, you know, just make sure

you don't make science or religion, you know, because

there's as much dogma in the, in the academic and scientific

realms as there is,

you know, in in spiritual and religious

belief systems. So

it could be comfort zones, right. If you experienced

something before, you don't know what it feels like. So yeah, but

that's why these conversations are so good, because we can talk

about it. I know, one of the questions I had positive to you

that led to something else I wanted to ask you about was this

idea because I think there are a lot of people who listen to

mystical sisterhood, who are pivoting midlife to, you know,

maybe they've stayed at home, maybe they've been in this one

career and feel burnout. Maybe they're just starting to open up

to GE what is my passion and purpose? But Are you a believer

in pivoting at midlife? How do you feel about that? Well, you

know, that was my path. That's my story. It's kind of a start

up.

So, you know, when people ask me, you know, is this possible?

It's like, Well, absolutely. And

and not only is it Poor

possible, I truly believe that if, if you whatever you pursue

if you do it with awareness, you know, I mean, my work is all

about finding your authentic path. And that can look

different at different points in life. And I mean, I, I made my

change from, you know, science and administration and public

policy to coaching at 52. And I am starting my 20th year in

coaching. So it's amazing. Yes. So, yeah, I, you know, I'm a big

believer in in following your heart, again, it's a rearview

mirror wisdom. I didn't start out saying, I'm going to follow

my heart. I just followed my inclinations. And I tell people

follow your inclination if you have this yearning.

To me, that's your heart's calling. And just allow it. And

you don't have to second guess it or wonder or, you know,

market test it or

anything else if, if it is genuinely calling to you? It

doesn't matter if anyone's done it before, it doesn't matter. In

fact, I think I may have told you that story about

when I was going through graduate school, you know,

anytime you're in school, people are always asking you, what are

you going to do when you get out? And for three years, I just

told people, I said, Well, I'm preparing myself for a job that

doesn't exist. This was long before anybody was talking about

manifestation or anything. It was not in my consciousness at

all. It was just something I was saying. I said, Well, I'm

preparing myself for a job that doesn't exist. I want to be a

wetland ecologist for the Department of Ecology. And at

the end of that three years, I, I wrote a letter to the

Department of Ecology, and I said, Hey, if you're looking for

wetlands ecologist now or in the future, please give me a call.

And two weeks later, I got a phone call. And that said, Well,

as a matter of fact, we're starting up a brand new wetlands

program. And the first thing we need to do is hire well.

So I just walked into the job of my dreams. And I didn't get it

at that point, that that's how it works. Well, it's actually I

believe, how it works. Yes, that we set an intention. And it's a

pure intention. And then all we don't have to figure out how

it's going to come together. All we're responsible for doing is

taking the actions that only we can take. Yes, yes. I love the

story. I love and I and, you know, you told me the other day,

too, about how a little bit of that got seated. And again, I

was blown away by your age, when like the stage in life, I should

say, not your age, when you told me that you read the works of a

nice man. And you said that I think it was like bringing

dreams into reality. So something even then was sparking

in view to back in my late teens. Yeah, I mean, my college

roommates introduced me to her diaries, and that was really, I

think the beginning. Okay, yeah. I mean, other than my, you know,

my my childhood upbringing, but that, that idea that we could

bring our dreams into our waking life. And, you know, she was

focused a lot on psychoanalysis. But she also did you know, she,

she dressed her dreams, she painted her rooms. According to

her dream, she dreamed of living on a houseboat. And she created

that as

a period in her life. And I just, it had a huge impact on

me. And I just in little ways like that I would consciously

create my life. And you know, that was sort of my looking

back. Yes. Oh, and I even looked at you. And I thought, like, Oh,

for sure. You've lived in the Denver area for such a long

time. And I asked you one day, and you're like, No, I haven't

been there that long. But I didn't know that that shift that

you had created for yourself. It was the job before the move. But

then the move and I just know what magical kind of worlds were

opened just from the you know, you being in the business group

of Kelly. And,

and I wholeheartedly, I want the audience to hear that because I

know that you always were attracting clients through

there. You've, you know, when we did our work together, you often

I think that you used to refer to it as baby steps. Was that

right? Yeah. And just that idea of putting those dreams into

reality, speaking them into reality and

backing them up with the Align to action. And I think that

that's a super important part of it. And that's one that I

revisit with myself all the time. It is I mean, vision

boards are incredibly powerful.

And if all you do is create a vision board and stick it up on

your wall, and then just kind of say, well, I wonder why it's not

happening, you know, but we don't have to that. And the

thing is, and Mike Dooley says this so well, in all of his

books, it's

it's just, it's it's take, we don't have to figure out all the

house, he calls them the cursive house, all we have to do is take

action in the general direction of our dreams, and, and the rest

will come together. I love it. And I've seen it again and again

and again.

And actually, it was it was in my former job that I, I was

brought to coaching. When I was

I was asked to move and from directing the Toxics cleanup

program to taking over the air quality program. And then I'm I

agreed and in doing that, I apologies to anyone who's

listening to this, who might have been on my management team,

but I inherited a dysfunctional managing,

as did my counterpart at the Federal Environmental Protection

Agency, who was our oversight agency. But she had come from

EPA Office of Innovation, and she knew about coaching. And she

suggested that we hire a team of coaches and and work with our,

to work with our teams independently, and then bring

them together once they had a common language. And I had

always been interested in personal development and

organizational development. But I'll tell you, the

transformation that I saw in our organizational culture, and the

animosity that those coaches had been greeted with the first time

we got together. And then a year later, one of my managers saying

to one of the coaches, Katherine, can you stay on the

line? I need you was like, wow. So yeah, you know, when it when

I got to the point where my my dream job was no longer my dream

job.

You know, I hired one of those coaches, and I spent a year with

her looking at everything I thought I ever thought I might

want to do, and came down to coaching and it was just another

one of those, you know, rear view or rear view mirror things

were just, I can see how you know, it all. Yeah, together.

And it was from one thing to another. Yeah, that's really

beautiful. And I think that everything is in that divine

timing.

Because I did work around even, you know, I have a gifted friend

around purpose. And I know that it was seen it was seeding

who I would become, but I think I wanted, I wanted it at the

time to turn into something, Let's even say this is five

years ago or something. And that I would have a lot of self

frustration, because I couldn't alchemize it. Like, I think I

was probably thinking about it too much. I was exerting too

much control about it. And in that rearview mirror, now I can

see, well, no, that occurred at that time on purpose for you.

And, and it was an element in your path. So now I understand

that at the time, I used to, I've said this before, but I

think in my path.

I stayed home so many years with the kids that I always was

feeling it wasn't enough. And I have to say, I just saw, you

know, my teacher was Dr. Shefali. And she just did an

Instagram video on this the other day. And it was just such

affirmation for those who make that choice. Because there is I

it's just that's probably a testament to the shame that can

come for any of our choices, right? And not trusting them and

not but now I can now I can look in trust and if anything, it's

just like, like a little more aligned action worrying a little

bit more. So yeah, and you know, I mean, when we tell these

stories, when, you know, we pick out the themes and it sounds

like it's all all was just all ones Yeah, Brittany right.

Without any of these fits and starts and obstacles and bumps

and

you know, and

it hasn't been like that. And

and I do find Well, a couple things one, I will go through

these dark periods where where I feel lost.

Because I've always I don't know why but I've always been someone

who's had not a good

All, but some kind of vision of the future that's evolved. And,

but there are times when I find myself without that, and I feel

lost. And the first time this happened for me in a really big

way was actually right before I came to the horses

and just stopped like I was at the bottom of a dark well.

And

I was working with a friend of mine who is a shaman and an

amazing man. And I was telling him this whole completely lost,

I felt that he just chuckled. And he said, Neeraj, you're not

going to think your way out of

Yeah. And what Yeah, what do you know about that now? Or what do

you Well, yeah, well, what I learned about that, then is that

now I still have those dark periods where and I don't mean

dark necessarily. I, I have also struggled with depression on and

off my whole life. But when I say dark, I really just mean

like, black. No, no vision, no sense of where next and yeah,

like, it's not this, but I don't have a sense of where to go

next. Well, that that time really kind of taught me that

that a darkness is not being lost. It's more like being in

the womb. It's something's gestating. Okay, yeah. And it

isn't clear what it is yet. So now I can relax more. And just

know that whatever it is, that's just hating, will eventually

make itself known. And what you were saying a minute ago, it's

when I tried to force it.

That I'm so unhappy. Yeah, I've got that imagery of like, trying

to fight yourself our way out of that paper bag. Yeah. And that.

It's a remembering of when we get to those places. I

appreciate you sharing that. Because I think I think that's

the human experience. And, you know, you and I have learned

over the years, the things that we reach for to bring that

vibration higher. And that's not always possible to access when

we're lower. But that that what you're sharing is, is is the

human experience, whatever form that comes for people, and we

all are human. So Right. Yeah, yeah.

And it's hard to see that things are for us at times. But we, you

know, often need to get through that that darkness or the

density to get to the light again, good work.

Yeah. So you said that was a dark period before you got into

your work with horses? First of all, that was

we've already had this amazing conversation about the work that

you do, and just the parts of your life are here to be shared.

And when I reached out to you just a few weeks ago, it was the

horses I was thinking about, too. So there's just it is the

both and everything that you're sharing today, which I'm so

excited about. But I'm utterly fascinated by the work that you

do with horses. So Mary, how did you get into this work? And

where would you begin? Oh, gosh, well, that was actually another

very mystical experience.

I was in that period of I don't know what's next. And I had had

a series of experiences of guided meditations where the

animals were calling. I was not busy telling my friends, the

animals are calling me because I thought somebody would put me in

a straitjacket. You know, like, What do you mean, the animals

are calling you? They were saying you need to me you and I

would be in conversation with them. And I say, Well, what do

you mean? Like,

save your habitat? Like, no, that's important, but that's not

it. Okay, like, SPCA? No, that's important, but that's not it.

Okay. Like animal communication, finding. No, that's important,

but that's not it. And finally, what they said was, No, we have

wisdom that your kind need. And you get us. We're going to speak

through you it's not about you know, it's not you adding

something it's you just being the the vehicle for our wisdom

to come through. It's like Oh, cool.

We're live that yeah, you're the conduit. But

yeah, don't wait that great yet.

And

I had gotten reintroduced to horses, it just so happens that

my, my grandfather, my great grandfather, were harness

makers, and my dad raised me to love horses. So it just so

happened.

So my dad raised me to love horses, but we lived in Chicago.

And, you know, unless you belong to a country club, really, and

we didn't.

That's, that's how I would have written horses. And so I, you

know, had a few experiences at summer camp of riding horses,

but I never really got to be with horses.

And then my first coaching partner bred horses, and

and so I got to be present for the births of the horses and got

to be around them and

but I still didn't put that together with my work or, or

this, these messages I was getting. And

so my coach at the time, had just had a miscarriage. And she

was telling me that she was working with a somatic coach to

process that experience. And I thought, somatic coaching.

That's interesting. I wonder what that's about. So I googled

somatic coaching. And up comes Arianna strazi. At sky horse

ranch, she's a biologist, she's a horse woman. And she has

found that

horses are incredible coaching partners in personal

development, and that they have wisdom to share with people. And

I felt like I was at a slot machine and you know, had just

pulled the arm down and it came up cherries, it's like, you

know, so I called her and I said, you know, okay, this is

gonna sound weird, but the animals are calling me and she

said, Well, that doesn't sound weird to me. The animals are

calling a lot of people right now. And I said, Okay. And I

said, Well, could I come down to the ranch, you know, and just

explore this with you. And I did. And I hope this isn't too

long a story, but it's,

um, so I got down there. And the first day, she told me the third

rules of engagement, which was you can't be mean to the horses.

And you have to say, whatever it is, you're thinking, because the

horses demand that whatever is going on inside be apparent on

the outside you don't you don't they? They demand authenticity,

they, they require that you'd be congruent inside and outside. So

what would be an example of that? That if you're scared, so

you're scared?

If you're sad, say you're sad. Don't try to pretend. Because to

a horse, they don't have any judgment. If you're scared,

you're scared. That's okay. They understand fear. That's amazing.

So they don't what they can't What's dangerous is if you're

pretending, because a predator pretense.

And so any, if you're pretending you're dangerous, and they would

just assume not be with you. Okay. And they're also very,

they're incredibly perceptive. I mean, they can read us like a

book, because it, you know, their survival requires on being

able to read the energy and the intention of other beings. And

they're also very opinionated. They're not in a judgmental way,

but they have they have opinions. And if you pause and

slow down and actually tune in and listen, they will, they will

absolutely tell you what they think through

through their actions.

And it's, it's hard to explain it's not like we G horse. Yeah,

this it means that right?

But in context, it's so clear. Yeah, I'm, I'm wondering, do the

horses pick the individuals to do this work? I mean, you are

getting the messages that you had decode. Yeah, but like, and

do you see

the qualities of the horses you're describing? Do you see

any similarities to the way you see the world? Um, well, in

terms of who chooses who, you know, I, well, I don't know

about in personal development, whether the

well, when we're operating in a personal development situation,

if there's more than one horse, we like to have

know whatever horse wants to work with the person come

forward volunteer. And, and if there's only one horse and the

horse isn't interested, then it's a no thank you, you know,

and we just don't.

In the bigger context, I think that one of the reasons that

horse that makes horses so special to me at least is that

these are wild beings. I mean, we do have domestic horses, but

you know, they're originally wild beings. And somewhere in

our history together,

a horse decided that a human was worth partnering with her. Yeah,

I mean, there are other equine zebras don't do you don't

domesticate a zebra zebras have absolutely no desire to partner

with a human being. But for whatever reason? Yes. Horses, I

do believe have chosen us who? Wow.

You were talking about when we were talking last week about

this about their biology and the science, some of the science

roughly that's been done around their hearts? Yeah, there's a

group called the Heart Math, Heart Math Institute, that.

And they don't just look at horses. I mean, it's mainly

looking at humans. And they've done a lot of really excellent

science, and found that

the,

the electromagnetic

generation of the heart is much more powerful than the brain,

that there's more

messages going from the heart to the brain than from the brain to

the heart. That's for the horses or for No, for humans, for

humans. Yeah. For humans and, and horses. And so that,

and the,

and I'm not I'm not a Heart Math expert. Let me just say that

right now. But my, how I understand it is that

one of the aims of Heart Math is to bring our hearts into a

coherent rhythm. Because there's a certain rhythm that brings

about is associated with calm and joy, and well being lowered

heart rate,

increased endorphins, all kinds of things. Well, that's so

happens that

the human heart can be measured about eight or 10 feet, all the

way around us. A horse's heart, energy, electromagnetic energy,

if you hook them up to an EKG, is about five times ours. And

horses just so happen to

have a congruent heart. Rhythm. Oh, wow. So imagine when you

put, you know, imagine a human's standing next to a horse, we're

really standing heart to heart.

And there's this enormously powerful heart energy that is in

this congruent rhythm. Yes. And when humans come in contact with

that rhythm, we tend to be we are influenced by it.

And I've so many times. And before I knew about Heart Math,

I would always just be amazed because I've seen men and women

walk into a round pen with a horse. And tears start flowing

from their eyes, or it's just like this heart opening. So

there's that in terms of, you know, what makes them great

learning partners is just getting us out of our heads and

into our hearts. I always say that, for the first 40 years of

my life, I live from the head up, it was all the the reward

was all in having the right answer and using your powerful

brain and all that. And that coaching got me into my heart.

It got me in in dialogue with my heart to actually where it was

actually something that I could say, Okay, tell me, and I could,

yes, and it was the horses that got me into my entire body as a

place of wisdom. Yeah, that's amazing that they taught you.

Right and, and there's somatic beings I mean, they experienced

the world with their entire

being and you know, one of the things that you you learn if you

train to work partner with them in

And

in any kind of human development, you mentioned

equine therapy. The horses are the same no matter what the

modality the horses just are, who they are. And the wonderful

thing about it is that

in partnering with them, you can take it into any domain, whether

it's horsemanship or

psychology, therapy, even physical healing hippotherapy,

or coaching. And the particular

brand of training that I had was called equine guided education.

Where the horse is the guide, the horse is not a tool, the

horse is a partner and not just a partner dog guide.

Where you really look to them for for their insight. Okay.

Yeah, would you be able to break down for me and the listener?

Like, who comes to you to then engage in the equine guided

therapy? And what is it? What does it look like when you're

actually working in a session? I'm really the same people who

would come to you for coaching anyone who's interested in

personal spiritual development.

Now, let me just say, I wish I were offering it right now.

Yeah, I, I, I offered it until we moved here to Colorado. And I

hope to do it again, starting in 2024.

And it looks like any other coaching session, except that

the, the client is in an enclosure with a horse with a

little bit of training in how to be safe around the horse and how

to, and that's also, you know, I'm looking out to make sure

that that that person is safe, I'm trained to know when, you

know, the horse is concerned.

And, you know, when it could,

when there could be a safety issue,

although it's rarely anything dramatic, but um, and so it's

really a three way conversation. The horses there for the client,

the horse is there with me. And

you would ask the same questions that you would ask in a in a

coaching session, what the person, you know, wants to work

on. Yeah, and, and there's just an exchange, and the horse

has a lot of different responses to the conversation. And I

really think that what they're tuning into is that the energy

and the intention and the emotion and the feeling. And I

do have to say, though, that there are times when I'm, I just

have to sit, they understand what we're saying, yes. They

understand exactly what we're saying. I mean, they speak

English, I don't know how they do. They speak whatever language

we're, whatever it is, they understand what we're talking

about, and more. Wow. And, yeah. So that's why they're so

valuable, because they pick up on stuff that a client might not

reveal to me in a coaching conversation. For months, it

might take us weeks, to really get to what's really going on

for them.

A horse just cuts right

through it. And and humans tend to respond. I think it's partly

this, the Heart Math aspect of things, but also, you know, the

whole archetype of the horses, they're beautiful, they're

powerful, they're fast, they're graceful.

They're soft, they're beautiful, they're yummy. And who, who

doesn't want the horse to be accepted by a horse and have

them come up? And, you know,

and so,

and the only way you're going to get that from a horse is if you

are authentic. Yes, yes. And I always say horses have laser

bullshit detectors for them. And so, and they don't have any

judgment, they just want you to be real. They don't care what it

is. They just want you to be real about whatever it is. Yes.

And so so people respond by just dropping their masks and getting

to the heart of the matter so much faster than they would

without your presence that I can do your description and teaching

around this. I can really hear that.

That

people

because they

And visually see, like, as if we're just meeting human to

human person to person. And we're not ready to reveal yet

the other person was okay, you know, will afford you some time

and how many sessions it takes you to feel safe or

what have you. But I could hear that, like, the client in this

situation, they drop into the heart space really, really

quickly. And I get like it's a resonance in a coherence. And

you know, the very amazing yeah. And they do have an uncanny

sense for actual

circumstances that are going on in a person's life that are not

present in the internet space or not, at the time,

I think I may have shared with you about the client who asked

me to come and work with her with her horses, about her

business, she had a business decision, there was a colleague

who wanted to go into business with her. And she, and that's

how she presented it to me with as a decision. Well, horses are

really great when you're, when you're at a choice point,

to partner with them. Because, again, you know, we tend to make

decisions on what we think we should do, or what we're afraid

of, or, you know, all these other different things and, and

to deliberate in the presence of a horse is to get really clear

on what it is your heart is calling you to do. In this case,

it went into a whole different realm, which is, you know,

she's, I have to make this decision about my business. And

she she had two horses, and she wanted to work with both of

them. And

one was to her left, and one was to her right one was a buckskin.

And he was just there, steady Eddy holding the space. And the

horse. To her left was a bay. And so she's talking to me about

her business and the choices that she has to make. And I'm

asking her questions about this than that. And, and the buckskin

is just standing there while the bay is pulling the scrunchie out

of her hair and pulling on her.

undressing her and very intimate, very intimate, very

intimate, and I'm looking at this and I'm going wow, okay.

And again, it's not lychee horror. So I say you know what's

going on with your bay horse? Oh, he's just mouthing. And I

said, well, over here. It's like he's undressing you.

And she was like, Oh, okay. Now, what she's willing to share is

that this business decision that she's working through is

actually a romantic decision.

And it's about whether to leave the buckskin, who represents her

husband, for the business associate, who wants to be in a

romantic relationship with?

Well, she had no intention of sharing that with me. That's

incredible. You just want to you know, she was making it about a

business decision. Yeah, I was taking that at face value. And,

but in the presence of the horse, it's like, Whoo, yeah.

Now, I can't explain to you how that came about. That's

incredible. Mystery. That's why this I know, this is part

because we've never really talked deeply about your work

with the horses. And the, that's the magical aspect of it is just

there's some deep knowing and intuition and they will do

whatever it takes to somehow Express reflect to you what the

real issue is. I love it. And it's just staggering,

right? Because you were saying the thing about zebras, but you

said the other day, no one's domesticated them. So yeah,

there is a magic here and doing the full circle to our puzzle

pieces. The horses certainly get a few. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Who knows how it works, but I know I know. That's a mystery

and that's it to me. It's okay. That it's a mystery. It's a

magical experience to witness and be a part of, yeah, kind of

as we we finish up today. What is it that you feel when you

finish this session? For the for the most part with the horses

like is your heart so full? Do you just feel just it's

otherworldly

gratitude, just

that I that I've just experienced that it's just a

horrible one once in a lifetime kind of experience and they're

never this

ain and I think the other is just before a session, I always,

you know, I have a little anxiety, you know, I hope, I

hope it all comes together. And all you have to do is just trust

and be open and just step back. And you know, the horse has got

this is like, you know all.

Absolutely. And for the time that you've that you've had to

take off or have taken off.

I'm sure you miss it. I do. Yeah, I do. It's very, very

special. And I just wish everyone could experience that.

Oh, me too. I know. I go. Yeah, it sounds it sounds magical. And

it's on my, I don't always use the word bucket list, but I'm

gonna put it on that list for sure. There you go.

As we finish up today, Mary, is there anything else that you

want to share with the audience or that comes to mind for you? I

guess just that

what I, what I see as sort of my, what my role in terms of my

path is to be an ally, with people to discover our infinite

creative power. That, that, for me, it's one of the great

lessons that we get to learn here in Earth school is

how very powerful we are. And, you know, I feel like a neophyte

I feel like a kindergarten in this regard in terms of really

understanding how energy how to harness energy, and, you know,

but this idea that we are divine beings, that we are powerful

creators, that that's what you know, that's one of the things

there is to explore is really, how, how infinite our

possibility is that there really are, are no limits. If, if, if

we're willing to do the work, and take the action and all the

rest. Yeah, that that we're just incredibly Yeah.

Powerful, and that there's really, so much more that's

available to us than than we normally allow ourselves to

believe. Now, I think that's true. And I And I'm grateful for

your ability to be such a clear channel for that message. That

adds, I really, I do think you, you really

say it so clearly.

That it just, I don't know, it rings true to my ears. And it's

so full of possibility and hope for what what is to come in our

lives. I mean, the shifts that you've taken in the last 20

years is just like, it's, it's all so incredible. And you're

only just beginning.

And it's just I get to see and what other Oh, my gosh,

absolutely. And I was good before you share where to find

you is that I really appreciate your sense of playfulness, too.

And I think that that's when we can open ourselves up to that

that conversation, and that field of infinite possibilities.

It becomes the playground and it becomes I think Heather Hansen

said, the sandbox, and just a place to play. Because it's so

important to bring in those elements to that that light and

the levity, and yes, it's another gift of Mike Dooley as

he's so played. Yes, yeah. I'll definitely put a link to his

work in the show notes because I love him and his notes from the

universe from taught. So yes. Okay. Well, Mary, where can

listeners find you? Mary berg.com. Okay. All right. Yeah.

Great. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much

for having me. Maureen. You're well, I Yeah. I love to be with

you. Yes, me too. And thank you to the listeners for being here.

If you know of anyone who would benefit from this episode,

please share. And yeah, I'll see you next time.

Thanks for listening to this episode of mystical sisterhood.

If you love what you heard, please visit Apple podcast and

subscribe and leave a review and share with a friend if you're

called to do so. To learn more about my one on one coaching

programs, or join the mystical sisterhood membership, visit

Maureenspielman.com or mysticalsisterhood.com Thanks so