Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #26 – Lessons from the Icelandic Horse – Yoga in Iceland with Hörður Bender

Welcome to Episode #26 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! This week, I welcome Hörður Bender onto the show. Hörður Bender is a 52-year-old life-researcher who believes that when you do what you love, you never have to work. He is an entrepreneur, a horse whisperer, a garlic farmer, and a yoga teacher. In recent years he has taken people up to the mountains to meditate, and on yoga and horse riding retreats at his farm, Efri-Úlfsstaðir. Hörður believes that our brain is like a young stallion that needs to be tamed, and that the Icelandic horse is the biggest teacher.

Tell me more about Hörður Bender 

Hörður Bender is the owner of a horse and garlic farm, a place where Icelanders and people from all over the world come to celebrate the Icelandic horse. The environment surrounding his farm is filled with natural wonders— including mountains, volcanoes, and the Atlantic Ocean. and he leads yoga and horse retreats in Iceland, with a strong focus on mindfulness and connecting with to the most earth-connected creatures that Iceland has to offer— the Icelandic horse.

What to expect in the Yoga In Iceland episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast

My conversation with Hörður Bender, a yoga teacher from Iceland, was so grounding as he talked about the powerful connection of horses and how his horses teach him mindfulness. Hordur shared his love of Iceland with us, the wild natural beauty and how the lack of noise helps keep his inner world still. As a garlic farmer, a horse whisperer, and a yoga teacher, Hordur Bender is a man who lives what he teaches.

We talked extensively about what Hörður learns from his horses. He revealed how sensitive, alert, and present his horses are, and how they embody true mindfulness. Just by being close to them, sensing their breath and their energy— you feel more grounded and still.

Hörður is actually the first farmer ever to grow garlic in Iceland. He wanted to attempt to grow something that is difficult to grow in Icelandic soil as a testament to how magnificent mother is. “Part of the journey is also seeing what can mother earth give and supply us with.” As Hörður  says, “Here we are in a rock in the middle of the Atlantic. The Icelandic nature keeps you very alert. You always have to be aware of the forces of nature.” 

Iceland reminds us every day who is in control— and it’s not the humans!

Curious about yoga in Iceland and all the yoga retreats Hörður offers? Tune into the episode to find out more.

For the skimmers – What’s in the Iceland episode?

• The power of yoga multiplies when paired with horse riding and with natural beauty
• Horses embody true mindfulness
• In Iceland, your awareness of the forces of nature is heightened 
• Mountain top yoga: a place and space for rethinking 
• Retreats with no schedule, with no clocks 
• Who is in control? It’s not the humans!

Favorite Quote From Hordur

“The horse does not hold that grudge against me, they’re always to accept me as I am again today, no matter what happened earlier this morning or yesterday or last year. it’s not that they don’t remember, but they’re always today’s a new day, it’s a new moment and they’re always present and that’s what I try to tell myself.”

Connect with Hordur

https://mriceland.is/

https://www.youtube.com/c/MrIceland

https://www.instagram.com/mistericeland/

https://www.facebook.com/MrIceland.is

Want more?

https://wildyogatribe.com/thepodcast/

Everything you need is just one click away! Check out all the resources here: https://linktr.ee/wildyogatribe

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Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #26 – Lessons from the Icelandic Horse – Yoga in Iceland with Hörður Bender

[00:00:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. I’m your host, Lily Allen Duenas. Together we’ll talk about the world of yoga and we’ll talk to people from around the world. Join us for authentic conversations about the global yoga ecosystem and we’ll cover yoga philosophies and methodologies along the way. Inhale. Exhale. We’re about to dive in.

[00:00:37] Namaste family, and welcome back to the Wild Yoga Tribe. I am so excited to have Mr. Iceland on the show today. His name is Hordur Bender and he is from Iceland. He’s a fifty two year old life researcher, who believes that when you do what you love, you never have to work. He’s an entrepreneur, a horse whisper, a garlic farmer and a yoga teacher.

[00:01:04] In recent years, he has taken people up into the mountains to meditate and on yoga and horse writing retreats. On his farm, Elfer Usthad of course, Hordur explains the meaning of his farm’s name and also does the pronunciation a million times better than I will. So Hordur believes that our brain is like a young stallion that needs to be tamed.

[00:01:30] And that the Icelandic horse is the biggest teacher. So please join me in welcoming Hordur onto the show today. Thank you so much for being with us. 

[00:01:39] Hordur Bender: Thank you for having me. Wonderful to be here. 

[00:01:42] Lily Allen-Duenas: Amazing. I would love to just start off by asking how you first got started on the path of yoga. 

How Did You Get Started On The Path Of Yoga?

[00:01:48] Hordur Bender: My background is in business. I started business in Germany, actually, I took my bachelor’s degrees in the states, and then I took a master’s in international business in Heidelberg Germany. And my background is really business. About 25 years ago, 20, 25 years ago, I was working at that time in a financial institution.

[00:02:10] And was missing something and tried out the yoga in stock called most living in Stockholm and tried my local Yoga studio and that’s how it all started and been a devoted pro practitioner ever since really. That’s what I have experienced through all these yoga courses is my Biggest teacher and my path has gone towards nature and the Icelandic sort of this young nature we have in Iceland.

[00:02:40] And then towards the Iceland horse really. 

The Power Of Yoga Multiplies with Horse Riding and Natural Beauty

[00:02:44] Lily Allen-Duenas: So you say that the power of yoga multiplies, when it’s paired with horse riding and with natural beauty, how do you find that to be true? 

[00:02:52] Hordur Bender: My experience with the horses, they really are a true sort of force of nature here in Iceland.

[00:02:59] They’ve been with us for 4,000 thousand years as long as we have been here and basically they are so sensitive, so alert to its environment, they practice full consciousness. They are just all mindfulness. They are always present. And just by being close to them, reading into the sensing their breath, their their their energy is that’s what sort of makes a real natural sort of connection to nature.

[00:03:35] And that’s what I’ve been trying to practice in my class is to get people to understand the sort of to come to the same level as the horse and it forces you into a complete mindfulness. 

How Do You Practice Mindfulness With The Horses?

[00:03:49] Lily Allen-Duenas: Amazing. I love hearing about that. How do you practice yoga or mindfulness with the horses?

[00:03:56] I know you lead a lot of retreats that are yoga and horse riding related. So how do you think you marry the two things together? 

[00:04:04] Hordur Bender: Just if I take you, take it back a little bit, because what I was doing earlier, when I started as a full-time yoga yoga professional, horseback riding teacher, I was doing two completely different things.

[00:04:17] I was one in the morning. I was hiking up in the mountains and teaching and through it I had a concept called mountain top yoga. So take a group of people into the mountains, your nightstand, we would hike up a mountain and then to Yoga/grounding. Then in the afternoon, I would normally have a riding course and a lot of the time it was the same people.

[00:04:42] So they would join me for yoga in the morning and then we’d go ride some horses in the afternoon and do this for two, two or three years. And then and that’s from amazing people joining me and we normally stay at the farm here and we have dinner together and there’s a lot of talking and this kind of just developed that, merging these two things together.

[00:05:04] The the the Yoga , mindfulness, the ground and then the horse. That’s how it all came about. What’s sort of interesting about the Icelandic ridermanship versus maybe classical, right like you have in Europe is that the right ridership in Europe is it has a lot to do with control.

[00:05:24] So the ultimate goal there is to control the horse 100%. In Iceland we are not there. We want to have maybe 7 to 8% control of the horse and the rest we want to have this wildness, this pride in the horse, that that makes the horse special. And when people come to my farm and some of them have never even touched a horse before.

[00:05:53] Then what I try to do, and I spend a lot of time initially is just for people. We normally start with the exercises, then, I do a lecture and I show people how to go around the horse and that, and explain the nature of the horse. But then it’s all a question of just getting into the box with the horse, petting it.

[00:06:14] And then it’s just a question of touching and just being with the horse and having him accept you as his partner for the day. This might take five minutes or this might take half an hour depending on the people, but sometimes you have the perfect match between the human and the horse.

[00:06:35] Sometimes the relationship is not really working. So then I have to switch horses but I’m getting quite good at matching the right person with the, depending on the attitude from the person to the right horse, depending on it’s a characteristic of the horse.

[00:06:49] Lily Allen-Duenas: Beautiful. I imagine that matching the energy of the person to the horse is a very active mindfulness as well, and presence and awareness. 

[00:06:59] Hordur Bender: Once you are there, once you’re there with a horse and you start trusting him and you, you sense his energy then on an equal basis, get on top of the horse and ride the horse.

[00:07:14] The experience becomes completely different than sitting on a horse. Having 100% control going in a circle. And then when the back, you have a completely different relationship. And a lot of the people that are pinned on my retreat, they’re sending me emails and messages and oh, I miss my, crystal low-calorie or, the horse’s name.

[00:07:38] They miss him so much because they have developed this relationship with the horse that everybody can do, but it’s something that you have to, you have to work on it actively to establish this relationship and trust. 

[00:07:53] Lily Allen-Duenas: Absolutely. I agree with B I’ve spent time with horses when I was growing up, we had two horses at our house for a little while and I took horseback riding lessons for, oh, I don’t know.

[00:08:04] 5, 6, 7 years and I always preferred to ride bareback in all of my classes and all of my time, because I just loved feeling that connection. And it’s so intuitive. They’re so instinctual. I really do feel like these, as you said, it’s such a Supreme example of consciousness.  

[00:08:23] Hordur Bender: Yeah, definitely.

[00:08:25] They are, and, we see it, the, just in terms of other on the forces like weather or other animals or earthquakes, like we have a lot of right now in Iceland, they are so sensitive towards this and just being in the group with the horses we have about 60 horses at the farm.

[00:08:47] I can tell exactly what’s going to happen, but you can really say if there’s bad weather or earthquakes, you can notice that there’s something going on in a group. 

The connection between horses and yoga

[00:08:58] Lily Allen-Duenas: So I’m sure that some of my listeners who maybe haven’t had much time around horses, maybe haven’t spent any time around them.

[00:09:06] They might be a little like yoga and horses. I still am  not getting it. How do you explain That connection to someone, maybe who’s never spent time around a horse. 

[00:09:16] Hordur Bender: Come back to the force of nature. What I think what my guests thought was most intrigued by, people that have not experienced with horses before is this power, this energy that the horses represent.

[00:09:31] And just to go into a box where this horse and touching him and and feeling that you have some kind of a relationship with sort of an active relationship with nature that is being a horse person, Lord, that is a major experience. 

How do you define yoga?

[00:09:52] Lily Allen-Duenas: That’s beautiful. Yeah. It is a major experience. [00:09:55] How do you define yoga then? What is your personal definition? It’s something I ask almost all of my, all my guests. 

[00:10:05] Hordur Bender: My biggest teacher is the horse obviously. And what the horse teaches me is mindfulness. That is what yoga is first and foremost to me and I’m reminded of it every day, every hour of the day, that is something I flipped.

[00:10:24] The horse has taught me to have this continuous mindfulness during my day, not only when I’m with my horses, because the horses, they are in a continuous mindfulness, they are not. And I even, and and she, this so easily that even when maybe a ridden a horse for long period the day before, and he’s very tired or something, he’s been out in the rain, whatever the horse does not hold that grudge against me, they’re always to accept me as I am again today, no matter what happened earlier this morning or yesterday or last year they, it’s not that they don’t remember, but they’re always today’s a new day, it’s a new moment and they’re always present and that’s what I try to tell myself.

[00:11:12] And that’s, that has been my biggest lesson. And that’s my yoga. 

[00:11:15] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah, I liked that. I liked that a lot. I think that mindfulness is at the core of yoga as well, that ability to be present and also to be just aware of our thoughts, aware habits, aware of our impact and our energy levels. I think that there’s more to, there’s so many layers to mindfulness, 

[00:11:36] Hordur Bender: definitely for sure.

[00:11:38] How should I say this? For me, it makes it, I guess somewhat easier to be mindful, to be in the present, being up in the countryside where you don’t have as much noise as you would maybe have to, to live in the city or something. And it’s funny sometimes, I spent time alone here at the farm.

[00:11:59] And I can go on for days, especially in the winter time, when my kids are off to school. My wife is working and might be at the farm, maybe, one or two weeks by myself. I haven’t spoken a word. I just was there with myself with my thoughts. And working with the colic or what have you been completely present.

[00:12:19] Even sometimes if I’m going, maybe to the store, to the next town to get some supplies or what have you, and I have to speak, and I’m almost startled by my own sound. I might not appreciate it as much as you should at the time. But as soon as I get back into the noise, it’s amazing. 

[00:12:38] Lily Allen-Duenas: I have never accidentally, have not talked for more than a day.

[00:12:45] Just cause usually I’ll end up stubbing my toe and saying ouch or end up just I don’t know, humming singing, but I have done Vipassana retreats in which it’s been enforced silence for 10 day periods and it is so sweet at the end of it hear voices to feel the connection. So I’d love to hear more about your farm.

[00:13:07] I know that it was established in 1876, so it must have been in the family for generations. 

[00:13:13] Hordur Bender: No, it has not been in my family. I actually have two farms. I live most of the time on one farm, then I have another farm, which is the evidence that I have that sort of, that is my, where I keep the retreats et cetera.

[00:13:28] So that’s my working place, but we have another farm where we’re doing the training of the horses and then at , which is a lot of farm, we are doing the garlic and the retreats. So the farm is always for my retreats, it’s always a safe place and there’s nobody else. There is a big sky area.

[00:13:49] No neighbors close by. So it’s isolated there. So that was the thinking of the farm. And I can tell you that story is funny, me and my wife, we got invited to a friend that is from this area, from the study area and this was on Sunday and we go riding there and it’s an amazing area.

[00:14:09] And then his friends, a friend of mine said why don’t you go to this place? this  and visit the farmer. He might be interested in selling his farm. This is on Sunday. So we went to this farmer, and he showed us the farm. We go around there. He drives us around, around the property. Monday, I make them an offer on Thursday

[00:14:32] I bought the farm at that time. I had no idea what on earth I was going to do with the second farm. It was a deep intuition sort of calling from me that I wanted to have a place that would be former students, former horses, where we could make this into a good place for good people.

[00:14:55] I just moved there a couple of months later. And spent about six months just working by myself. Apparently the house was very old, repairing the staples, et cetera, et cetera, all the work that needed to be done then while it’s an, obviously an ongoing process. But it took me two, three years just to make it as I wanted to have it.

[00:15:16] And I’m still not quite sure, where this path is taking me, it’s really part of my, yeah, my life path is what is going to happen at avenues that I’m just I’m there, I’m working. I’m making beautiful people come towards me. Come into my classes to my retreats, that are riding my horses.

[00:15:38] And now we have even started last year as the first farmer ever to grow garlic and Iceland. That is also part of my journey. Is that how magnificent mother earth is? Here we are on the rock in the middle of the Atlantic. It’s windy. It’s snowy. It’s stomy, but it’s so powerful.

[00:16:02] So part of this journey, along with the horses is also seeing how, what can mother earth supply us with in all this, in all of this universe, how forceful and magnificent it is, we are just touching the surface of what mother earth can do with us. And I think one of the reasons I’m growing garlic is just to make a point, is that.

[00:16:28] And if we can grow garlic in Iceland, we can do anything. 

Could you tell our listeners more about Iceland or more about why you love it so much?

[00:16:32] Lily Allen-Duenas: I like that. I like that kind of it’s a testament to what can be done. That’s really powerful. I love how much you love Iceland, your country and the power of it. The natural beauty, the wild. Could you tell our listeners more about Iceland or more about why you love it so much?

[00:16:50] I know I’m probably a lot of my listeners who would love to visit one day and would love to hear more. 

[00:16:57] Hordur Bender: First of all, Iceland is quite a big country with only 350,000 inhabitants. It’s about four times the size of Denmark. So it’s a big country with few people, a lot of space, a lot of nature.

[00:17:14] I love the weather. I love good weather obviously, but also the storms, the snow, the rain, all of this, this is all part of it. And the Icelandic nature, it keeps you alert. You always have to be aware of the forces of nature.

[00:17:33] And now and now, even with the volcanoes and the earthquakes and everything, it keeps us every single day you’re reminded of who is in control. And it’s definitely not humans, it’s nature. Why Iceland has become so popular in recent years is that people are getting more humble.

[00:17:52] Towards nature and its global warming and everything. And I think people come to Iceland and it’s really a place to experience nature in this sort of full scale. It’s not like when you go to the Mediterranean or to the jungle, which is obviously beautiful as well, but you’ll have more. [00:18:13] of a scope of ledger here in Iceland, and then you would have in most other places I would say. You’re never bored if you like nature in Iceland. You’re definitely never bored. 

[00:18:27] Lily Allen-Duenas: I think that’s something that so many people around the world are craving as you mentioned, the connection to nature, but also the stillness and the quiet with our fast paced, busy lives with all of this noise and stimulus and billboards and sirens and honking and even dog barking, all of these sounds, I think that there’s this amazing attractiveness, this calling towards silence and stillness.

[00:18:52] And I feel like Iceland. Embodies that for a lot of people. Do you agree? 

[00:18:58] Hordur Bender: Yeah, definitely. And I think also in this sort of situation now with the covid pandemic, that a lot of people are rethinking their lives as well. Is this my path? What do I want to work in a bank or be a nurse, or, what is my path?

[00:19:13] Where should I work? What should I do with my life? To come to Iceland exactly like I said, be rid of the noise for a week or two and just be here with nature and, be with the scariest person of them all, be with yourself and what, what do I really want?

[00:19:33] So in my experience, with my guests that are coming, this question is forced upon you. When you are with yourself here in Iceland, in the quietness, in the solitude, who am I? Where do I want to go? And then you look at your life and pick what I want to do with it.

[00:19:48] How can I make it better or, or do I want a complete change? So what have you, I think, with the mindfulness with the horses with this vast city of Icelandic nature, like on our beats, the black beats where, you’re completely by yourself. There’s nobody, it’s huge. [00:20:05] It’s inevitable to ask this question.

What should one expect in the retreats?

[00:20:10] Lily Allen-Duenas: And I imagine that’s something that on the retreat that you lead, maybe you’re trying to guide some of the guests as well to some of these kind of more internal questioning and self-reflection through meditation, mindfulness and yoga. [00:20:23] Is that kind of the case, or do you want to just talk to us more about what to expect in the retreats?

[00:20:28] Hordur Bender: Yeah, exactly. And honestly, let’s put it this way, it’s definitely, always a question that comes up. It’s not the question that I forced upon the group and is open. Now we should talk about the labs and what we want to do?

[00:20:43] I think it’s also because it’s so different from most of my guest experiences, coming from the south of the state or whatever. It’s so different from their reality living here in Iceland and nature that you’re forced to, to at least compare your life. Okay this is how it is living and this is how I am.

[00:21:05] Am I happy with this? Or is this something that, but maybe is there something that can inspire me in making the changes I want to do? Cause it’s one of the one of the biggest things when I w the main factor into when, what we want to do with a life is the current needs.

[00:21:23] And that’s what most people are missing is they think they don’t have the ability or the money or the job or whatever, to make changes they want to make, but I would say in all cases, it’s only occurrence that’s that’s lacking, being by yourself in isolation, up in Iceland gives you

[00:21:49] A perspective of maybe not, maybe it doesn’t give you the courage, but at least it gives you this perspective of, how bad can it really go. Why don’t they make the chances I want to make? How bad can it be? Because you are so small. And that’s also part of what Iceland shows you is that you are such a tiny little piece of the universe [00:22:13] that, even if you would make the most drastic changes in your life, how bad is it going to be? And in most cases no, it’s not that bad. You can make the change. 

[00:22:27] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah, I think having that place and space for rethinking. And when you get to look out at the beaches and the mountains and the ocean, and you get all of this natural beauty, it really reinforces that [00:22:39] oh, I’m just a tiny, tiny piece of this little intricate puzzle. 

[00:22:46] Hordur Bender: Exactly. And then if I, how bad can it be? It’s not going to change the universe, I’m going to change my universe. Definitely. And I think that when you put this in perspective, that might give you the courage of doing the things that you really want to do.

[00:23:03] We’ll make the chances that you really want to change about yourself, about your circumstances so what have you. 

[00:23:09] Lily Allen-Duenas: So when someone comes on a retreat with you, what can they expect? What’s the program like? 

[00:23:15] Hordur Bender: The program is normally like this: People arrive on the farm and we do this sort of meet and greet.

[00:23:22] We always do a breathing exercise in a circle, a circle of trust where we start maybe light a little fire and tell a little bit about ourselves, do some breathing exercises. And then basically what I do is that I do a lesson or how I approach the horses.

[00:23:41] Insensitive end of the horse, et cetera. And then you get your partner and your partner is a horse. And that is pretty much your assignment. You will take care of him for the next couple of days in the stable and then exercise him. You can do whatever.

[00:23:58] You can take him for a walk. You can take him for a ride. We obviously do some riding tours together. Right down to the black kids or along the river or what have you. And then in between we are doing our circles. We are reflecting. It’s a place, it’s a place for good people to come.

[00:24:15] And it’s a place where people, hopefully, and and I think so in most of the cases, get a bit different perspective on life. 

When does yoga come into your retreat?

[00:24:26] Lily Allen-Duenas: Beautiful. And when do yoga practices come in, whether it’s meditation or asana practice? 

[00:24:32] Hordur Bender: Like everything else in Iceland, it depends on the weather.

[00:24:35] If the weather is good, we go out, we do yoga outside. We do breathing exercises. We have four active volcanos and a glacier in our backyard. So we are surrounded by extremely forceful and powerful areas just next to us. So that’s always a preferred thing to do is to start the day with breathing or yoga surrounded by the mountains outside.

[00:24:59] If not, if the weather is jealousy, we go into the stables. I have a small riding hole and we do our exercises there. And that really depends on the group. Normally, there’s a lot of yogis that come to the retreat. Obviously I tend to tend to lead the the meditation, the grounding part, but then it’s really up to the group, what kind of yoga they want to do if they want to do yoga and then what kind of yoga and we place it in when we have time, we don’t have any clock on, on the retreat.

[00:25:27] There’s no: nine o’clock we have yoga, and 11 o’clock with the horses. It’s not you, when we wake up, when they wake up, we do yoga. When do we want to do yoga? And we go riding when we want to go riding beauty with specialists. Some of them in Iceland, we have the midnight sun.

[00:25:39] There’s no nighttime. Then we have the river. We paid in the river. I have a sauna as well in the staples. We do a sauna. So it’s a fusion. I don’t have any schedule. And I know that some specially European guests, they get a little frustrated that I don’t have a schedule for my guests, but it’s it’s, that’s a, that’s not what it’s about.

[00:25:58] I don’t even have a clock in the house. 

[00:26:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: I respect that so much. Wow. Oh, that’s amazing. And I think that’s part of what you’re teaching as well. And what you’re, you’re talking about. And part of what you’re trying to convey is slow down, listen, be present and respond accordingly. 

[00:26:19] Hordur Bender: I can say this story, it seems like most of the retreats, when people have arrived, they’ve been on a flight and they’ve been on the clock for four, 12 hours, or what have you.

[00:26:29] They arrive on the phone. They’re so tense because they’ve been on the clock and they’ve been driving and, or finally they’re there and then they’re like okay, when are we starting? What’s next? And it takes them, couple of hours just first of all, just stop asking, no we just do it when we, when I feel like it, people get it and it just naturally calms down.

[00:26:50] And then once you calm down, then, and only then you’re ready to meet the horses. 

[00:26:56] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah, I imagine they would be pretty sensitive to all of that tension and a kind of anxiety. 

[00:27:01] Hordur Bender: They’ve read you immediately. My horses, I was up feeding the horses this morning and they read my temperament, my sense, my energy, every single day, they know exactly what my mood is and where I’m at everytime.

[00:27:19] And the same thing goes with the guests. If I bring a nervous rider or a rider that’s afraid or what have you, they are completely different around them. Same horse, he, around that nervous person or experienced personnel or what have you, they read you. They are so good at it.

[00:27:38] Lily Allen-Duenas: That’s probably a good encouragement to try to also keep your energy calm and still, and be more mindful and slow and present. Cause if you’re more frenzied or a little you’re showing that then they’ll respond to it and you don’t want to affect them like that. 

[00:27:52] Hordur Bender: Exactly. Cause it, if I’m tense and I’m riding and I ask the horse to do something.

[00:27:57] And I get frustrated then, it’s not working. But as soon as I calm myself down and listen to the horse and negotiate with them, things work perfectly always. 

Where can our listeners find you online?

[00:28:12] Lily Allen-Duenas: If only we were that considerate of the humans in our lives.

[00:28:16] Thank you so much for joining me for this beautiful conversation. I know my listeners will be curious about where they can find you online and connect with you. Could you share of course your links in the show notes below and on my website, wildyogatribe.com. But can you just let people know where to go looking?

[00:28:34] Hordur Bender: Yeah it’s I have a web page, Mr. Iceland. Tata. Yes. And then I’m on Instagram as well as Mr. Iceland. Take a look, look at the pictures and a sense, the energy we got there. And I would love to have some more people come this summer, obviously in the last couple of years where we did not have almost any foreigners but it really didn’t matter for my farm.

[00:28:59] We filled every single retreat with Icelanders instead. So we actually saw, and that was quite a, actually quite different than a, than bringing the foremost slanders at the retreats. And then I haven’t put out any dates yet for the summer, but if you guys have a request, we are always open for setting up retreats as well.

[00:29:18] But we are doing the riding portion most of the day. So to sustain that. And what’s 

How many people join the retreat? 

[00:29:24] Lily Allen-Duenas: And your capacity for each retreat? How many people usually join you or are able to?

[00:29:29] Hordur Bender: six to 10 people is perfect. Some of them dip a little bit, depending on the group, if they’re a sort of beginner or horse riding then you know, no more than eight, if there are experienced ladders, then the 10 people, but we tried to keep it small.

Tell me the story of the name of your farm.

[00:29:44] Lily Allen-Duenas: Perfect. And just the last quick question is, tell me the story of the name of your farm. 

[00:29:51] Hordur Bender: (name of farm here) started. It means everyone is higher and starving. It means the place of the wolves. To go real deep, and this is an old name and you go figure this out. Two years ago, I looked at some of my previous lives [00:30:10] and there was this lady who exposed some of them. And in one of the lives, my name was Wolf. So I’ll leave it to the listeners to figure that one out. 

[00:30:20] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you for sharing that. That’s beautiful. So thank you again so much for joining me today on this episode, it’s been a joy to be with you.

[00:30:30] Hordur Bender: Yeah, I will say wonderful. And you are very welcome to visit the farm if you are ever in Iceland.

Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Outro

[00:30:43] Lily Allen-Duenas: My conversation with Hordur Bender, a yoga teacher from Iceland was so grounding, as he talked about the powerful connection of horses, and how his horses teach him mindfulness. Hordur shared his love of Iceland with us, the wild and natural beauty and how the lack of noise helps to keep his inner world still. As a garlic farmer, a horse whisper and a yoga teacher Hordur Bender is a man who lives what he teaches.

[00:31:15] Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. Be well.

[00:31:25] Thank you for being on this journey with me. It has been a privilege to be with you. I know that your time is precious and I am both humbled and honored that you chose to spend your time with me here on the wild yoga tribe podcast. As you are on your own inner journey, remember that you are not alone. There are so many of us on this path to awakening, this path of self discovery and expansion.

[00:31:52] And we are right here alongside you. Remember to hit subscribe so that you never miss an episode. And if you feel called, please share this episode with someone that you think could benefit from it. Leaving a review would also be so appreciated. If you’re on social media, I am there too. At the wild yoga tribe, you can tap into all the amazing resources on my website, the wildyogatribe.com.

[00:32:21] And you can meditate with me on Insight Timer and get your flow on with me on my YouTube channel, where I’ve recorded free yoga classes. If you would like to schedule a private yoga or meditation class with me or a coaching session, you can find the link to do so to book in the show notes or on my website.

[00:32:39] Again, the wildyogatribe.com. Thank you once again, dear listener for being with me, may your day be light and bright. May you be peaceful and happy and led on the right path, free of suffering and free of sorrow. Be well dear one, be well.

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