Sometimes the easiest way to change a familiar response is to change something surprisingly simple: the environment.
Your horse may struggle to pick up a hoof in the place where it always happens. Your dog may anticipate something unpleasant in a familiar setting. And you may even notice that an ac...
Most people discover the Feldenkrais Method® because they want something physical to improve. Less pain. Easier movement. Better balance. More comfortable riding.
But the changes don't necessarily stop there.
In this episode, Mary shares a personal story about chronic hip pain, an uncomfortable ph...
In this episode, Mary shares how a simple rest break with her dog Tony became an opportunity for just a few minutes of Debono Moves, and why those few minutes can matter far beyond the time you spend doing them.
You’ll discover how everyday opportunities, from grooming your horse to relaxing on the...
Your brain is constantly predicting what will happen next. It uses past experiences to help you prepare for everything from standing up from a chair to approaching your horse with a saddle or walking your dog past a skateboarder.
That ability is incredibly useful. But sometimes a prediction causes ...
We often assume that difficulty and ease are opposites. If something feels challenging, we may push harder, tense up, judge ourselves, or avoid it altogether.
But difficulty is not the same as strain.
In this episode, Mary explores how a challenging experience can still include ease, curiosity, co...
What if the biggest obstacles to easier movement aren't your age, arthritis, or an old injury?
In this episode, I share five surprisingly common habits that can quietly interfere with comfortable, coordinated movement for both people and animals.
You'll discover why slowing down helps your nervous...
What do you believe about your body, and is it true?
So many of us carry beliefs about our movement that we've never questioned, such as “I'm just not coordinated. I've always been stiff. My family all has bad backs. Of course things hurt more as I get older.”
These beliefs can feel like settled f...
When podcaster Andrew Huberman recently interviewed Cesar Millan, it got me thinking about how differently people approach relating to their animals, and how most of those conversations stop at the wrong question.
What if the key to changing your horse's or dog's behavior isn't changing the behavio...
There's a reason the Feldenkrais MethodⓇ asks you to move slowly and keep things small, at least at first. It's not about being cautious or holding back. It's about creating the conditions your nervous system needs to actually learn.
In this episode, Mary Debono breaks down one of the most foundati...
Â
There's a phrase at the heart of Mary Debono's hands-on work with animals: "We ask questions with our hands. We don't make demands."
In this episode, Mary explains what that principle looks like in practice, using two clear, real-world examples. First, a senior dog whose hind legs had been getti...
What if one unexpected moment with your horse challenged everything you thought you knew about connection?
Â
In this episode, I share a personal story involving my beloved Appaloosa, Spotzy, that began as a simple experiment during a quiet ride and quickly became something I never could have antic...
Most of us have absorbed a story about aging, one that treats decline as a foregone conclusion, for ourselves and for our horses and dogs. But that story leaves out something important.
In this episode, Mary Debono makes a compelling case that how we age is far more within our influence than our cu...
