The ReMembering and ReEnchanting Podcast
Conversations
Conversations with amazing people connecting what is all too often disconnected
In this episode, Kelly Wendorf shares insights on leadership, care, and the wisdom of horses, exploring how ancient species can teach us about thriving through change and the importance of relational kinship with nature.
We had a great conversation, and we probably should have mentioned what the title of Kelly's book refers to! This is how she describes Flying Lead Change in the foreword to her book: "A flying lead change is the equestrian term for a high-level yet natural gymnastic move that happens at the canter, lope, or gallop. When a horse, say, canters, they lead with either their left or right set of legs. (Sometimes, there is, say, a radical change in topography;) this will lead the horse to change their lead... The flying lead change, or flying change, is when the animal, midflight, changes their lead from left to right, or vice versa. At its finest, when you are astride a highly trained horse who deliberately executes the motion with balanced elegance, a flying change is astonishing to experience. .... (it) requires a culmination of complex and coordinated elements executed in one dynamic flow mid-air.: attunement to change, connection, balance and equilibrium; a quiet mind; openness to new possibilities; temp; a suspension of pattern while continuing momentum; and finally levitation to create space for a transition of balance and new direction. Collectively, we are facing the need for the same physics-defying maneuver. Our topography is radically changing, which requires us to change the way we lead our lives, families, and organizations. Such topography calls us to execute this change with similar mastery.
00:00
Introduction to Kelly Wendorf and the themes of leadership and horses
02:13
Redefining leadership: care, presence, and indigenous perspectives
04:44
Stories of horses as teachers of care and boundaries
07:13
Artemis and Merlin: lessons in leadership and connection in herd dynamics
11:05
The role of connection, boundaries, and discipline in herd behavior
16:57
The 56 million-year history of horses and their resilience
19:33
Horses as teachers of safety, joy, and relational harmony
24:31
Prophecy stories and the horse as a wisdom companion in times of crisis
26:25
Relational kinship with horses and learning from nature
30:11
Sensitivity, boundaries, and the electromagnetic field of horses
34:17
Joy, despair, and the capacity to feel deeply in times of crisis
37:48
The importance of feeling and being present in the moment
42:43
Kelly Wendorf’s work with humans and horses at Buffalo Spirit Ranch
47:09
Transformative experiences and practical lessons from horses
56:54
Hope, adaptation, and the microcosm of land and land relationships
57:09
Remembering and reembodying our true selves through kinship with nature
Get a copy of Kelly's book: Flying Lead Change: 56 Million Years of Wisdom for Leading and Living
About Kelly Wendorf
Kelly Wendorf is an executive and personal coach, published author, spiritual mentor, disruptor, and socially responsible entrepreneur.
Her early experiences were vitally and deeply shaped by the natural and ancient world around her where she learned a way of listening to forces within people, nature and moments. This unconventional education grants her a gift of perception that liberates untapped potential and hidden gifts within individuals and organizations, helping them to solve problems differently through a wisdom-informed and wholeness approach.
Throughout her life she has lived and worked around the world, studying with many spiritual and Indigenous leaders in India, Africa, Indonesia and Australia. Such immersion in multi-cultural perspectives has honed a passion for creating a new narrative in the human condition, empowering high-performing individuals, organizations, and their leaders to wield meaningful change in their families, communities, and in the world through servant leadership and innovative business development. She has worked inside a spectrum of clientele – from Amazon, to Microsoft to some of the most underserved communities. She has been called a ‘corporate shaman’ and a ‘CEO whisperer’.
Kelly founded, edited and published Kindred magazine (Australia), an evidence-based publication that explores the social, cultural and biological underpinnings of a compassionate society. Here she spent 15 years immersed in the field of neuroscience and neuropsychology and its relationship to social justice and transformative cultural change. Kelly also authored and Edited Stories of Belonging (Finch), an anthology from authors around the world, including the often excluded Indigenous voices. Her book,Flying Lead Change (Sounds True) was released in December 2020.
As founder of EQUUS she specializes in the liberation of robust leadership capacities in those who are most qualified — the empathetic, the conscientious, the accountable, the generous, and the kind.
As a gifted educator and facilitator, Kelly developed Wisdom Circles®, a group peer-learning and coaching model. An intuitive lifelong horsewoman, she also developed The EQUUS Experience® — an award-winning equine-assisted transformational learning process. Wisdom Circles and The EQUUS Experience® are recognized as a powerful differentiators in organizational change circles.
Together with her team, Kelly continues to develop and grow The EQUUS Experience, Wisdom Circles, and EQUUS’s other complimentary processes that curate various awareness-based frameworks that create breakthrough learning and discovery.
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