Uncle Vic – June 2011

June 3, 2011 By: Victor Brick

Hi, everybody. I hope you are all adjusting to this heat. Boy, talk about a change of seasons.
The answer to last month’s trivia question, Where was the site of Captain James Cook’s first landing on the continent of Australia?  Botany Bay National Park is the correct answer.
This month’s trivia question what is the G-8 and who are it’s members? Turn your answer in to Jami.Mignogna@BrickBodies.com.
As I said in my last Uncle Vic, Lynne and I recently returned from Australia where we spoke at the FILEX Fitness Convention in Sydney. Afterwards we spent a week at the Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat near the Gold Coast, about an hour from Brisbane. Gwinganna is one of the top retreat/spas in the world and is owned by our good friend, Tony deLeede, who spent a few days there with us along with his partner, Sue, and our good friends Christophe and Claudine Andanson, who own health clubs in France and distribute the Les Mills choreographed group exercise programs to several countries in Europe. At the end of the week, after Tony, Sue, Christophe and Claudine had gone, we were able to participate in some equine therapy, which involved interacting with a horse, Stevie, and learning how to use our energy and body language to get him to do the things we wanted him to do. The purpose of the session was to help develop our communication skills and emotional control. The techniques we used were similar to the concepts used in the movie, The Horse Whisperer, in that we tried to connect to Stevie on an emotional and spiritual level, as well as on a physical one.
The results were amazing. Although neither Lynne nor I had any horse training experience whatsoever and, although we had probably only ridden a horse less than half a dozen times between us, we were able to get Stevie to stop and go, trot, square off to face us, come to us and stay still, simply by raising and lowering our energy and directing him with our arms and a training whip. When we raised our arm, pointed and raised our energy, he trotted. When we lowered our energy, he walked. When we stopped, he stopped. When we calmed ourselves, he calmed himself. Basically, his energy and demeanor matched our energy and demeanor.
Now, what was the lesson of all this? The biggest thing I got out of the exercise is how much my own attitude and frame of mind can affect others, and not just horses.  In many ways, people are just like horses. Their energy and disposition will match your energy and disposition, especially if you are in a position of authority or leadership. This includes parenting, of course, which is the ultimate position of authority. If you are calm and in control, the people you are dealing with will tend to maintain their composure as well. If you are upbeat and positive, they will be upbeat and positive. If you are negative or pessimistic, they will tend to be negative and pessimistic. When you become agitated and impatient, they will become agitated and impatient. And if you are aggressive and demanding, they will either become aggressive as well or simply shut down and withdraw.  In many ways, it is the law of attraction; ‘like attracts like’. You will attract the feelings and sentiments you send out.
Probably the best example of how well we did interacting with Stevie on an emotional level was when, at the end of the session, Steve came up behind Lynne and kissed her on the top of the head. Here was a horse Lynne had never met before, kissing her on the top of the head after only 30 minutes together. He liked her. He really liked her. And that was because he sensed she really liked him.
Amazing what happens when you send out the right signals. I am going to try it on my staff and kids. I may even try it on Lynne! I will let you know if any of them kiss me on the top of the head.

Thought for the day:
If you are green, you are growing. If you are ripe, you are rotten.