Community Events
Welcome to our Community Events page where you will find details of all the activities and experiences that are offered locally to community members and/or visitors. These events are either one day or a series of days and are open to anyone who wants to come.
Upcoming Events
As well as our Retreats, Individual and Group & Family Experiences, we also have the following events that you can sign up for (click on title for more details):
Kids' Horse Experience - Sunday 13 February 2022
A morning of learning, playing and interacting with the Tula Vida horses in a mindful way. Age: 6 years+. Message for details.
Connection-based Horsemanship - Dates to be announced
This 6-week clinic on the basics of interacting with and handling horses in a mindful and connected way.
Sound Journey with Horses - Thursday 3 March 2022
Enter a world of vibration and sensation as you experience the amazing healing powers of sound with our horses supporting and magnifying the experience.
The Art of Presence - Saturday 4 June - Sunday 5 June 2022
Go deep into the present moment with this weekend retreat filled with movement, horse experiences and soothing body therapies.
Equine Craniosacral Training - 10 - 12 June 2022
Come to a hands-on, experiential craniosacral training with horses led by experienced practitioner Sidsel Sommer. You will learn how to scan for blocks and direct your hands to the area of greatest restriction, and then you will learn how to unwind the block.
Balance & Flow - 1 - 3 July 2022
Gift yourself a 3-day series of mindful movement, breath work and exercises with the horses designed to get your nervous system back in balance and positive energy flowing freely.
The Self, The Art & The Horses - 12 - 15 August 2022
March/May us for a morning series of visual art practice, supported by the insightful Tula Vida horses and surrounded by the vibrant green nature of Costa Rica.
Connection Based Horsemanship
Mondays 9am -11am
Join this 6-week clinic on the basics of interacting with and handling
horses in a mindful and connected way.
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Weekly 2.5 hour group sessions
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Small groups (max 4)
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6 sessions per module
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Community price: $300 (includes all materials & activities)
Explore your relationship with horses through exploring your relationship with Self. Practice energy-based interaction where the horse truly has a voice and the goal is equal partnership, moving as one. What is possible from this kind of
connection?
Horses are communicating all the time and we humans, unless we tune-in, can miss a lot of the questions they ask or the feedback they give us. They read our internal state and intention, as well as our physical movements, and it is
confusing when these don’t match up. Horses want us, and all the other herd members, to be in our best place, present and congruent, as that is best for survival of everyone.
Become aware of what you are unconsciously communicating to your horse with your energy and learn how to shift this into more intentional, conscious and mindful interaction. Discover how small adjustments and slowing down can have a big impact for you both.
The priority is the relationship - this is where the work needs to happen and it starts with self-mastery. For example, if I don’t know what is going on with me, how can I expect the horse to understand me? With curiosity, we can learn to start tuning into ourselves and reading the horse’s ‘misbehavior’ as communication, which is a helpful guide to where adjustments need to be made.
“Horsemanship is the art of mastering our own movements, thoughts, emotions and behavior. Not the horse’s.” Mark Rashid
Goals of Module:
Learning to listen to horses
“Speaking” with horses
Asking rather than telling
Shifting your internal state to create change in behaviour
Achieving goals in partnership with your horse
Using your “energy dial” to influence and move
The power of clarity and intention
Leading & riding mindfully
What to bring: Journal & pen, boots (or we can lend you some), clothes for rain or sun.
Sound Journey with Horses
Thursday 3 March, 3.30 - 5.30pm
Join us for an inner journey of sound healing and meditation with varying frequencies and vibrations... each resonating with different parts of the body and chakra centers. These tones can lead you into a state of total relaxation in which healing and connection to a higher consciousness can take place.
The horses live tuned into the world of natural frequencies and gravitate towards positive and soothing vibration. Enjoy their relaxing presence and feel how they support and magnify the whole experience.
Nicole will use a variety of instruments including the rare monochord, Tibetan and crystal singing bowls, tuning forks, native drum and voice to awaken the senses and promote an overall sense of wellbeing and balance.
Members of the Tula Vida horse herd will be invited to join the journey (at their choice and in a safe way) to enjoy and support the vibrational healing.
Cost: $35 for Community members, $45 for Visitors.
What to bring: We will be undercover but outside so bring comfortable clothing for
the weather and a sweater or blanket for the sound journey. Wear closed toed shoes
for being around the horses.
Equine Craniosacral Training
10-12 June 2022 – Equine Craniosacral Training Level 1
TBD – Equine Craniosacral Training Level 2
For almost 20 years Sidsel has worked with manual techniques on horses, dogs and humans. She is teaching equine manual therapy and osteopathic techniques on the horses body systems. The craniosacral system is of enormous importance to a balanced body, since it is the protection and function of the whole central nervous system.
To understand how the system works you will learn about the biomechanics of the bones, the dura sheet and the way they function around the central nervous system (which is the hard drive of the nervous system), why it all works and how to reboot this system when it is out of order.
The craniosacral system holding us together: The system is key to a balanced horse and some even call it the most important system of the body. It can become overstretched or otherwise misaligned from traumas or illness, which can lead to other illness or pain for your horse.
Help your horse feel balanced and healthy: With basic knowledge of the craniosacral system, you will be able to access blocks and misaligned areas in the horse’s craniosacral system, and you will know how to easily relax the horse’s nervous system through mild hands-on techniques.
Level 1 craniosacral – 3 days
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Biomechanics of the equine craniosacral system, the sutures, the cerebrospinal fluid and the meninges
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Hands on techniques how to find the blocks
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Hands on techniques on how to release the blocks – teaching the osteopathic techniques functional indirect technique
Level 2 craniosacral - 4 days
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TMJ - jaw joint, the teeth and the connection to the rest of the body
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Sacrum and pelvis
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The fascia connection to the craniosacral system
Date & Time: Level 1 is on 10 - 12 June, 9am-3pm
Cost: $950 per person per module, including lunch
What to bring: Notebook & pen, boots or closed toed shoes, clothes for rain or sun
There are plenty of nice local place to stay in the area - click here for the options we recommend that are closest to us.
Balance & Flow
Feeling stressed or out of balance? Come and practice self-regulation with the Tula Vida horses.
Horses have a very sophisticated nervous system and are extremely efficient at moving through stress and back into peace and contentment, going back to grazing again and again. They do this through simple actions of movement (you see horses shaking, rolling, running, head toss etc), breathing (they will consciously increase and decrease breath and heart rate), connection (find support in herd members) and environment (find a safe place in the natural world).
Using principles grounded in neuroscience and Heartmath Institute techniques, we will enjoy Mindful Movement, breathing and meditation exercises, energy-based interaction with the horses and other wellness and balance practices so you leave feeling restored, connected and re-energised.
Date & Time: 1, 2 & 3 July 2022, 9-11am
Cost: $75 Community members, $100 for Visitors.
What to bring: Boots or closed toed shoes, clothes for rain or sun
“Life is a balance between holding on and letting go.” Rumi
The Self, The Art & The Horses
12 - 15 August 2022
Feel like some fun and creativity? Join us for a morning of visual art practice, supported by the insightful Tula Vida horses and surrounded by the vibrant green nature of Costa Rica.
This is a series of creative art sessions with the horses - join for 1 session or for more!
Session dates & times:
Friday 12 August - 9am
Saturday 13 August - 9am
Saturday 13 August - 2pm
Sunday 14 August - 9am
Monday 15 August - 9am
We are excited to be partnering with renowned psychotherapist and artist, Inna Danieli, who will introduce you to a therapeutic process of using various techniques of art journaling and will help you discover the hidden truths that emerge from the unconscious mind when given the opportunity.
The sessions will guide you towards your own healing and uncovering the SELF through the authentic interconnection between the environment, horses, your inner self and your life.
No prior art or horse experience required.
Cost: $40 per art session for Community Members, $50 for visitors.
“It is a joy to be hidden and a disaster not to be found” D. Winnicott
Change your relationship with stress
It is accepted wisdom that being in nature is one of the best ways to calm your nervous system and get out of the survival mode “fight, flight, freeze” reaction we have been experiencing for many months. When you feel safe, relaxed and connected to nature all your healthy and positive energy can flow. This is your optimum state for learning - and through experiential activities with the horses and with us, you will find the tools that work for you to keep recreating your own natural balance after you leave.
What They Say
Create extraordinary shifts within by:
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Examining your own reactions to equine behaviour, which leads to powerful new insights into your own natural abilities and talents.
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Stepping out of your comfort zone while feeling accepted and not judged by a large, powerful being, growing your confidence and self-trust.
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Working with self-reflection and discovery to enhance and promote personal and professional growth.
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Working deeply with horse activities like:
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Learning how horses use clear non-verbal communication – and practicing your own
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Understanding how your own “energy” and vibe impacts others, and learning to modulate it
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Asking your horse to follow you freely without a lead rope (through energy connections and natural leadership models)
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Achieving a personal set goal with your horse
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Practicing setting and responding to effective boundaries, both energetic and physical, and see how this creates mutual trust
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(Activities will be mainly on the ground – no need to worry if you don’t have any horse experience!)
