Who We Are
The Character and Characters of Rancho Tujunga
Meet Celie Weston, horsewoman, philosopher, life coach
Meet Celie Weston, horsewoman, philosopher, life coach.
It's a chilly autumn morning when we meet up with Celie Weston at her beautiful ranch in Sunland. Celie is used to much colder weather than this though, as she was born in
Denmark/Scandinavia in 1981.
Although her life began in Denmark it was filled with travel from the very beginning. As a citizen of the world, Celie has lived in many different countries besides Denmark and Europe, from Australia to the Middle East and now the United States.
Celie grew up as a creative and musical soul with a spiritual curiosity and an open mind to all cultures and philosophies. But her greatest passion is a love for horses and the study of behavior that began early at the age of 2.
"I expressed my abilities as an artist early on, and I remember clearly even as a small child, that the thing in this world that had the most raw beauty and aesthetic lines was in my eyes - The Horse. I've been drawing and studying them ever since": Celie says.
In 2000 Celie realized that her dream was to show the world that there was a kinder more gentle approach to working with horses than what was being taught in the general horse world. Celie followed her dream which led her to England. Here, Celie began her path of learning about Horse Behavior, Positive Reinforcement and other training tools, at Kelly Marks and Monty Roberts' School of "Intelligent Horsemanship".
Celie has been featured in Danish media for newspaper, magazine articles and radio broadcasts. In 2004, the two largest TV networks in Denmark, produced separate documentary/television shows featuring her work with problem horses and other animals.
To advance the skills of goal assessment and training for horse owners, Celie became certified as a Life Coach in June 2007. Her coaching studies are based on theories from cognitive and transformational coaching, developmental psychology, personality type tools and personal development.
Celie established Celie Weston Horsemanship in October 2008.
Her Dream...is to create a Global Understanding of how to find Freedom and Happiness in the connection between Humans and Horses.
- When asked how people can learn from horses she replies,
"It's amazing what horses and animals can teach us about ourselves and the way we perceive our lives. It is immensely empowering to interact with these powerful beings that live entirely in the present."
"People, function completely different. The pain that we experience in life is usually connected to the past or worried thoughts of the future. In our spoken language we express these feelings with words such as 'I will always feel like this', or 'it will never change'. These words literally connect our feelings with time and so we continue to hold on to pain that is long since over and done with, instead of enjoying where we are here and now. Horses can bring you back the joy of life, who ever you are, horses can change your life"!
"Let me tell you a story, I once worked with this beautiful yet very fearful young horse. She was so fearful that she was dangerous for humans to be around. Everyone was giving up on her and she was heading in the direction of the glue factory."
"I had worked with her for a while and she just wasn't responding to any of the behavioral techniques that always worked on other horses. On the verge of giving up myself, I decided to take an entirely different approach, empathy."
"Over a period of time I focused only on giving her praise and physical contact as much as possible, even when she was acting up.
Soon, her tough demeanor began to soften and her trust grew to the point where I could ride her."
"I learned to see life through her eyes. I never judged her for her mistakes, never disagreed with her choices. Just me listening to what she was communicating was enough. The result was that we both won without a fight."
"If we humans were better at empathizing with each other, willing to listen without judgement, instead of each insisting that it's my way or the highway - imagine how many conflicts could be resolved."
"I'll leave you with this final thought, based on a famous quote from Ghandi that I have changed in order to pose it as a question:
Is there a way to Peace, or is Peace the way?"
Celie Weston is now taking Q&A from all Village Voice readers! To contact her please write to cw@ce- lieweston.com or send your snail mail to the editor at Voice of the Village, Celie Weston at the address below.
sunland-Tujunga
Chamber of Commerce 8250 Foothill Blvd. #A sunland, Ca. 91040
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