Aloha, every day is better than the day before - now I am starting to fire on all cylinders - though not without a weightlifting belt when I do stretching. Its great to find I am moving out of the pool of pain I have been swimming in for the past four months or so.

The two weeks spent in the UK has been 'interesting' in more ways than one. Ivana and I had been programmed by Adele and the UK/NCC to tour the country from South to North and from East to West including Ireland - North and South. Interesting - apart from teaching we have been taking review days where we assess the practitioner's work in the workplace, rate them and give them as much professional advice as is possible. The practitioners did their thing and we role playing as the horse owner, did ours. Some of them were out of this world, so professional, at ease and their performance and their results on the demo horses outstanding to where I would be proud to have them work on my own horse. Some need work, not on their ET or their integrity and intent, but on themselves, and the way to present themselves and the work to their clients. In most cases, perhaps because Ivana and I were the role playing owners they had the urge to talk ET language - stoppers - blockers - energy - body balancing - holistic - non diagnostic! Personal development and people skills are extremely important if you wish to become successful professional practitioners. Stop apologizing for yourself and look for positive language to express your work - If the owner uses the word treat, that's fine - you are going to work on and with the horse - you are not going to say as one dedicated ET student said - "I'm sorry I don't treat" - so she lost the stable. When the owner raises the word diagnosis - you do not say, "I'm sorry I can't diagnose", as several of the assessed stated - rather point out where you observe pain or stiffness - where you palpate and there is a dramatic pain action - if the 'no no' word 'diagnosis' comes up, it can be explained that under law only vets have the right to decide on a diagnosis of an animal. Talk to the horse - talk to the owner - while you work - quietly - when you find - an area of concern - point it out to the horse - and the owner - then when the pain is reduced and you have achieved a positive effect - point that out again - emphasize your results to the owner - take your time - and stop apologizing for yourself - If you approach a horse or a problem with a positive attitude, then you have a very good chance of achieving a positive result - If you approach it with a negative attitude you will definitely fail - not only with the horse but with the owner also. You must not only be in charge - you must appear to be in charge - Anthony Robbins has some awesome tape programs - work on yourself - get 'the edge' and take it with you when you go out there to do body work on peoples horses. It has given Ivana and I cause to think and so we will be taking a long look at producing a DVD which will feature me working with a horse and owner, so that hopefully those practitioners who are having trouble in presenting their work and themselves to horse owners due to their lack of personal security can at have a guide line to study and see how a broken down old professional wrestler does it. OK?

An Equine Bodyworker? - look and act like one

Talk to the owner - point out good and bad!

Blairgowrie, that's sort of where it all started. 1994 studying to be a hypnotherapist under the formidable Vikki Watson, one of the leading hypnotherapy instructors in the world. While on the course I 'fixed' someone's back and the following week I was on a bodywork course and from there on it was a graduation from hundreds of bodies to thousands of horses. So this week I returned, white stetson and all to the town that in the 60's was once notorious as the murder capital of Scotland with Ivana and Chris Wylie for a demonstration of ET. We had a good group watching, some excellent questions and excellent responses from the horses. Eyebrows raised as Ivana fished out another 'cock rock' amazing all the onlookers who never even knew they existed. Please no one ever tell me that Scotland has nice weather - it has been freezing every day since we crossed the border. nature paying me back for leaving, I suppose.

Q: This pony is known not to stand still. She accepted ET immediately and stood still as a rock, dropped her head, yawned and stretched her legs, back and whole body several times during the Saturday clinic only to doze off afterwards. After one left coccyx move the hairs on her butt stood up, and they stayed there until we let her out in the paddock. Don't know for how long they stood after that. Any explanation? Any ideas to why? - Eva from Denmark

A: "ET moves in mysterious ways its wonders to perform". After all these years I am still dumbfounded at the way all of you practitioners out there are able to achieve the most amazing totally unexpected results on the most contrary of subjects. The power of relaxation, and the change in the superficial fascia starting the miracle of Equine Touch.

While assessing the students and practitioners in Morpeth, north of Newcastle last week, I suddenly saw Ivana with a big smile on her face as she proudly held up a 'cock rock' which she had pulled from a very relieved gelding. It has now almost become an international competition between all the advanced practitioners of ET to see who can come up with the 'biggest'. I am quite certain that many onlookers raise their eyebrows as our kids - myself included dive enthusiastically for the 'willy' as it drops and starts playing with it. It is not too bad if you pull out something which looks like Ivana's one on the left, but when you retrieve nothing, I can see them muttering among themselves 'strange'- but when we pull out something like this they are 'gob smacked'. Many Vets and Trainers still refuse to believe that 'cock rocks' exist - Oh ye of little faith!

After many years Ivana and I returned to Ireland and headed down South for a level 1 and a ET and Beyond Clinic. The enthusiasm and the dedication shown by our Irish practitioners as well as their concern for the future of ET in the Green Island was such that we ended up having an impromptu round table meeting last night which was very exciting and beneficial for us all and it has been proposed that we form 'Team Ireland'. The unique demographics of Ireland make it as different to the UK as Australia is, though for the opposite reasons. So with this in mind ETF and the Irish Practitioners are looking to create a system wherein Ireland looks after itself with its own team of dedicated practitioners, coordinators and new instructors looking after ET in their own country - from North to South and East to West - the love of the horse knowing no borders. As a result of these initial talks we are looking at returning annually to Ireland and next summer we will be holding an Instructor Clinic to bring on new instructors committed to the ETF mission statement - Helping horses by educating humans.

The next day we continued our tour of Ireland - doing some sightseeing around Galway Bay - to see if it was really worth Bing Crosby singing about and then catching up with Gina Sivver for another demonstration before heading for Kildare for a Prescription and Layering clinic as well as a Mobilization and Stretching one. With 'Team Ireland' in mind I had hoped to get this Newsletter out to y'all as quickly as possible, so that there would have been a chance for further discussion before we left Ireland as soon as the stretching clinic is over but alas no. We drove to Dublin immediately and caught the overnight Ferry to Hollyoak -and then drove through the night down to Lyn Palmers before starting all over again and then headed off to Sweden. Yes we are slowing down!

That week in Sweden I did not slow down - I stopped dead - ulcer and acute abdominal pain found me having for the first time ever to walk off classes halfway through the day - thankfully Ivana, Eva from Denmark and Carolla from Sweden were there to carry the load - after 7 days I still was unable to eat - then I got on the ferry at Harwich - and had to climb 8 decks to my cabin carrying my luggage - I made it up 7 - and the walls closed in - that was it! Ivana carried me up the last one - now I am her patient - the next day we drove all the way across Europe to our home in Czech and the nursing started - here I am after 14 days at long last able to eat a solid meal - have I learned my lesson? Time will tell - but I now make the sign of a cross every time I pass a fast food outlet - Tomorrow we start the first ever VHT Instructor clinic - so I am now getting ready for that - but I am slowing down - promise!