Diane’s Road Less Travelled; Answering the Call

"For those who enter the sacred heart of a question, and feel the searing heat it gives off, are usually compelled to live on into the answer."

~Sue Monk Kidd

Hello friends old, new, and yet to meet. My name is Diane. I am a friend and lover to what makes life grow, a beauty maker, plant and animal tender, poet, herbalist, visionary, and perpetual student of life. I am switching my career at this crossroads in my life to pursue a calling that has never stopped tugging on my coat tails. Here is a small slice of my story...

My simplest hope and request here is that you will read my whole story through, that my journey may inspire you in some small or grand never-before-seen way, pierce your heart a bit, and leave the flame inside your soul a little brighter than it was five minutes ago. Thank you for considering my invitation.

 

There's a certain tug I've felt for longer than I can remember, a beckoning light that has never faded: follow the horses, be with them, work with them, and listen to them. In my twenties I mostly answered the calling by hopping fences (well, trespassing, I suppose) to visit with herds of horses. One time on a bike ride home through the valley farmlands, a horse staggered its way across an orchard, bouncing from tree to tree toward me and fell right at the fence line in front of me. I reached through the wire fence and placed my hands on him, he and I just breathing together until, moments later he took his last breath and left the earth plane all together. Something in that moment seared itself on my heart forever.

 

"Our job is not to comprehend or control everything, but to learn which story we are in and which of the many things calling out in the world is calling to us. Our job is to pick up the invisible thread of our own story and follow where it leads."

~Michael Meade

 

Fast forward about 15 years of life and work while studying and practicing various modalities of healing for both horses and humans, and I'm now weaving it all together into the present opportunity of this calling. For about a year now, I have been in active apprenticeship with a private mentor learning a therapeutic bodywork modality for horses called Structural Integration. The work aims to release patterns set in the Fascia tissues that lead to structural imbalance in the rest of the body. Our work is also quite multi-disciplinary. 

Human civilization would simply not be what it is today without the support and strength of horses. Needless to say not all horses get treated with the respect and care they deserve. I've found a way to bring my calling to life by being of service to horses through therapeutic bodywork. It's pretty amazing that I get to make a career out of being with and helping horses in this way! Here are a few examples of the ways people still employ horses in the equine industry:

-Hunter/Jumper Riding            -Trail Riding businesses
-Horse Racing                                -Dressage riding
-Western Rodeo sports           -Ranching industry
-Polo                                                    -All of these lead to horses needing rescue

 

 

 

 

I am at the point in my journey where I need to ask you all; my friends, family, and greater community for support, including all the wonderful people I've not yet met. I have 8 months left of apprenticeship, and in order to take my learning to the next level I need to devote my time more fully as a student. This includes giving 10-20 bodywork sessions a week, studying online classes such as equine anatomy and physiology, equine conformation, case studies, musculoskeletal diseases, etc., and traveling every month to meet and work with my teacher in the Coachella Valley.

 

Below is a general breakdown of how the resources I gather here will be used:

 

 

Achieving through grassroots giving is possible with community participation.

We are living in a time when creativity and coming together as community feel more important than ever to forge a new way forward, and it is at this time I am requesting your help. It is from the most humble place in my heart I ask for your support, that I may continue with my apprenticeship buoyed by the gift of your blessing. 

 

I do believe that answering callings, however unique, strange, or mundane they may seem, helps heal the world in ways we may never see. I liken these actions as waves rippling out in echoes of good acts carried out faithfully by one who had the courage to answer and go forth. 

 

Let's do this together! Why not? And in that spirit, please pass this along to as few or as many people as you'd like. For indeed,  many hands make light work.

Be kind and love one another.

 

"Every calling is great when greatly pursued." ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

*If you prefer to donate with a check, via PayPal or Venmo, send me a message and we can arrange it.