Resilience coaching in Dubai

Learning how to deal with stress - from horses?

As a previous (and still sometimes freelancing) event and exhibition manager, I have experienced many stressful situations.

Working in events is great fun and exciting, but can also quickly turn into a very tough job, with long hours, little sleep while you travel, and tight deadlines where everything needs to be done at the same time. Night shifts are normal and you have the feeling that there is never enough time to finish everything on the list...

On the other side, horses have also always been part of my life, a hobby that helped me to ground myself in and with nature.

In 2016 I began including the horses into my career, and after numerous certifications and running coaching for many different clients, it is amazing to experience how horses can also help non-riders in these impactful corporate workshops, be it around resilience, leadership or mindfulness:

• As prey animals, horses naturally live under stress - their instincts tell them they could be attacked and killed anytime and that they need to be on constant alert. However, as you may know, living under constant stress is not healthy and leads to burn out and various illnesses.
  
  
• For (our) survival, it is therefore important to be able to regulate stress, and differentiate between real and potential dangers. As humans, we have a tendency to constantly think about worst case scenarios and get stressed while actually things are still under control... but there is always this "what if..."
  
  
• Horses are perfect role models on how to focus on what is actually happening right now, working on the task ahead of you and taking one step at a time, whilst at the same time knowing exactly where you are heading and what still needs to be done afterwards - it is important to have a clear plan, otherwise we just wander around aimlessly (which can be nice, but doesn't help when you have to run a huge project!)
  
  
• Horses also teach us how to work together effectively in a team - again, as prey animals it is crucial for them to stay together and include everyone, and in critical situations there is no time for nonsense and drama - the team has to function, with clear and precise communication. In dedicated activities, getting a team of people to work with a herd of horses, we show teams the best way to achieve results in shorter time and through authentic collaboration.

All my resilience coaching workshops in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Ras al Khaimah are customized and designed to what your team needs. Whilst giving people a break from the office and time out in nature, there are deep personal lessons that are felt, experienced, and therefore remembered for a long time.

If you think your team could benefit from resilience coaching, learning about how to deal with stress and finish tasks more efficiently, please reach out! I will be happy to explain more.