The 21 Wisdoms of EQUUS
The 21 Wisdoms of EQUUS – the theories, disciplines, frameworks and sub-frameworks
When you work with EQUUS, you are not engaging just any leadership and personal development organization. You are engaging with a movement, informed by decades of research and experience, regarding creating conditions for breakthrough learning. Founder and CEO Kelly Wendorf is a world citizen, writer and visionary who embarked on a powerful journey towards awakening and freedom in her early twenties, and emerged decades later with initiations, teachings, alliances, and a profoundly unconventional education. At EQUUS you receive the benefit of those years spent inside numerous disciplines and circumstances. Kelly, and those who work at EQUUS – be they Faculty or Staff, hold a space of uncommon depth and presence that support a client’s process from beginning to end.
Woven into every EQUUS offering, be it coaching, online courses, retreats, workshops or equine assisted programs, are the disciplines, theories, frameworks and sub-frameworks that distinguishes EQUUS as a leader in truly transformational change. Below is the list of 21 Wisdoms that inform all that we do:
Indigenous Wisdom (Kanyini) - We honor the ancestral influences and Traditional carers of this land on which our Discovery and Learning Campus – Buffalo Spirit Ranch –resides. We are good neighbors to our Pueblo neighbors. We are informed by the Indigenous teachers world-wide who have taught us about life, leadership and our connection to all things. Kanyini is an Aboriginal Australian term that means unconditional love with responsibility. We strive to work within the ethos of Kanyini as taught to Kelly by Elder “Uncle” Bob Randall of Uluru, Australia.
Attachment Theory - A psychological explanation for the emotional bonds and relational styles between people that are forged in infancy and childhood.
Biology - A natural science discipline that studies living things. We study biology within the dimension of how nature informs us, and interacts with us, specifically with regards to the flora and fauna surrounding Buffalo Spirit Ranch.
Theory U - An awareness-based method for changing systems. Theory U blends systems thinking, innovation, and leading change––from the viewpoint of an evolving human consciousness.
Trauma Informed Approaches - Recognizes each one of us has trauma to varying degrees and as such all humans need safety, choice, collaboration, empowerment and skilled approaches to meeting that trauma.
Biomimicry - Accessing 3.8 billion years of the evolutionary intelligence of the natural world to inform human living, leadership, structures, production, processes and systems.
Anthropology – the systematic study of humanity, with the goal of understanding our evolutionary origins, our distinctiveness as a species, and the great diversity in our forms of social existence across the world and through time.
Neuroscience – the study of how the nervous system develops, its structure, and what it does. Neural science informs the embodied and somatic approach to change that shape the inquiry and practices our Faculty provide to clients.
Nature-Based Learning – partnering with nature as a sentient, embodied co-collaborator to our personal development and evolution.
Regenerative Theory – built on the idea that humans and the built environment exist within natural systems and thus, the built environment should be designed to co-evolve with the surrounding natural environment.
Equine Behavioral Sciences – the evidence based discipline that studies horses’ and donkeys’ communication, patterns, habits, emotional needs, actions, culture and relationships.
Adult Development Theory – the explanation for the changes that occur during adulthood resulting in changes in perspectives, their place in society, and their sense of self. The theory defines specific stages where significant changes occur resulting in physical, cognitive, and social growth.
Spirituality & Mindfulness – a broad understanding of our connection to a larger whole, and our essence as consciousness itself, and the disciplines and practices that keep us attuned to soul, spirit, awareness, presence, and what some call God.
Ontology – the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.
Conscious Business Practices – an amalgamation of frameworks, theories and sub- frameworks such as optimal mindsets, mindfulness, presence, systems theory, and self- awareness that support mature, skillful, and evolved organizational cultures and norms.
Kincentrism – an awareness that life in any environment is viable only when humans view the life surrounding them as kin. We recognize we are connected to and in relationship with all life, including plants, animals, insects, fish, rocks, trees, rivers, sand, clouds and oceans.
Equine Guided Learning – partnering with horses and donkeys to learn and develop. We recognize horses and donkeys to be wise teaching companions.
Systems Theory – the transdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or artificial.
Anti-Oppressive Practice – an amalgamation of theories and sub-frameworks such as queer theory, disability justice, decolonization theory, feminist theory that posit that the individual cannot be understood outside of larger systems, systems that work to keep privileged people privileged and oppressed people oppressed. As such we are informed by, allies to, and serve the LGTBQ+ and BIPOC communities.
Coaching & Facilitation – our faculty are classically trained and certified by the International Coach Federation which upholds the standards and ethics underneath the field of inquiry, skill development, and cultivation of self-awareness.
You – of the 21 Wisdoms, you and all that you bring––your history, experience, orientations, context, circumstances and your knowledge is primary to leading how EQUUS serves you. All 20 Wisdoms mentioned previously are positioned to support the wisdom you already carry, and in turn, your wisdom will continue to inform all that is EQUUS.