The Director

Marié Olivier is the Director of Life Principles for Transformation and the Owner of the Equistria Venue in Bloemfontein, South Africa. She is qualified in multiple complementary and alternative healing modalities and the presenter of pivotal accredited emotional intelligence programs in the form of wellness workshops and retreats.

About the director

“As the eternal student of life, I believe knowledge alone is meaningless until you practice and live it!” –Marie Olivier

Health and alternative healing modalities always interested Marié due to her extreme and recurring childhood experiences with cancer and its emotional impact on the overall wellbeing of everyone involved. Growing up on an Arabian Horse Stud Farm, and her whole family competing in different horse sports, she experienced the healing power of horses, as she lived since the age of 6, with the devastating effects of cancer, leaving her sister mentally and physically disabled due to brain cancer from the age of only 18 months, and causing her brother to lose his leg due to bone cancer at age 13. The resilience her family displayed, through the years of dealing with a deadly disease in one form or another, as well as the aftermath of repeated cancer flare ups and coping with the emotional, physical, and mental challenges that came with it, created a deep sense of respect for the power of faith and single-minded focus. Observing her parents’ courage and determination, even in the face of a “5% life expectancy diagnosis” and noticing the effect of their focus and support, on her brother and sister’s emotional and physical resilience, cultivated a deep believe in the human potential to overcome anything. After 40 years her parents and both her sister and brother is the living walking-talking examples of many miracles over many years.

Another field of interest was physics and the fascinating world of quantum mechanics, and while completing her B.Sc. Agric degree as an Agrometeorology Specialist, she juggled her interests by serving on the University of the Free State’s KOVSCOM Development Therapy Committee. She did training in Learning Facilitation at the UFS Centre for the Development of Life Skills, Department of Psychology, acquired a Therapeutic Riding Certification and later served as the KOVSCOM Development Therapy Chairperson. She also acquired an International Paralympic Equestrian Sports Certification for Trainers and trained with SARDA (South African Riding for Disabled Association) in Cape Town. She later decided to discontinue her master’s degree in Agrometeorology and Climate Change in favor of working permanently with disabled children and horses, to explore the specific quantum mechanics behind energetic medicine.

She started hosting and supervising the University of the Free State’s Community Service Therapeutic Horse-riding Project at the Equistria Therapeutic Development Centre in 2001, which evolved into the Department of Psychology’s Therapeutic Horse-riding Community Service-Learning Project. This was coordinated by Dr Pravani Naidoo, who did her Ph.D. on “The Influence of Therapeutic horse riding on the adaptive functioning and well-being of children with cerebral palsy” and involved the Psychology Honours students to work on a weekly basis with horses and pre-school children with neuro-developmental diagnoses, to stimulate psychomotor-functioning-stimulation and promote well-being.

She did her Horse Mastership and Riding Instruction studies at the Beaulieu College Equestrian Academy in Gauteng and qualified as a Certified SANEF Instructor (South African National Equestrian Federation). She later qualified as a Horse Behaviour Specialist at the Ethology Academy of South Africa and were a certified associate member of EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association of Europe) as well as the EAPISA Representative (Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Institution of South Africa) of the Free State Branch for 5 years. The more she learned and explored, the more she became aware of the strong connection between the influence and effect of horses and energetic medicine.

She became a Reiki Master by acquiring a Master Healer Degree and Master Teacher Degree in the Usui and Tibetan system of Natural Healing, as well as an International Jikiden Reiki Practice Certification to become a Reiki Mater in Advanced Healing. This led to an interest in the “Law of Attraction” phenomenon and the study of the universal laws which directly linked with quantum mechanics. The more she worked with this, the more she realized how horses displayed the principles of the universe in real time in every moment on a physical, mental, and emotional level. It is this fascinating interconnectedness that inspires her to this day!

Marié is among other things a qualified Master Life Coach with the International American Union of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), and a LOA Practitioner with the Global Sciences Foundation. She is also an International Journey Practitioner, which included in-depth Enneagram training, (Practice No. 37551) and a Certified International TRE Provider for Trauma and Tension Release and Integration. She was accepted at the International Quantum University for Integrative Medicine to do her Masters, Doctorate and PhD in Integrative Medicine, with a specific interest in Quantum Psychology, which is currently on hold due to other priorities. She continuously explores new ways of demystifying the universal laws and the principles of quantum mechanics, through her equine facilitated processes and other energetic modalities, to allow clients to apply these principles in a practical and strategic way.

Marié has more than 22 years of experience in the field of Therapeutic Riding and Equine Assisted Activities and more than 17 years’ experience in the field of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Learning, and worked alongside psychotherapists, psychiatrists, social workers, life coaches, teachers, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists. She facilitated at Rehab Hospitals, and later also served as a mentor in Equine Facilitated Addiction Programs. She designed an Intervention Program for Schools with traumatized pupils for the Department of Education, which involved the identification of schools with the most difficult situations and doing classroom Journey Processes, after which 10 kids from each school were selected to finish the program at the Equistria Therapeutic Development Centre. This School Intervention Program included a multi-disciplinary team engaging in 3-hour sessions with Equine Assisted Activities, Journey Processes and Tension Release Exercises. The intervention was life altering, with evidence-based results and follow-up testimonials from kids and teachers, to test sustainable outcomes.

She received the Vice-Rector’s Award for Community Engagement in recognition of outstanding service, commitment, and excellence in the field of community engagement, as a collaborator and external partner of the University of the Free State for more than 15 years.

She established Life Principles for Transformation and Wellness (Reg. no.2016/375751/07), with Equistria serving as the company’s base and systematically started to develop an Integrative Equine-Facilitated-Emotional-Intelligence and Awareness Program, and combined this with the Journey Method and Tension and Trauma Release Processes and Skills to create a 5-month Life Purpose from Essence Program. This program evolved into a 35-hour workshop or week retreat during 2019 and the first Equistria Emotional Intelligence and Wellness Retreat was offered during April 2020. This was the combination of all Marie’s interests and highest excitements as a professional, manifested in one beautiful process after 20 years of intensive research and personal experience!

The focus of all the workshops and retreats is on facilitating quality of life and awareness of possibilities. Life Principles for Transformation became a Services SETA Accredited Training Provider, accredited to offer the SAQA Unit Standard on the principles and concepts of emotional intelligence to the management of self and others, which enhanced these pivotal workshops and retreats even further. The workshops and retreats include tools and life skills to allow guests to experience a new integrated perception of life and Marié expanded the Life Principles Group to include extensive Physical and Emotional Detoxification Processes in her program.

She is also an active Advocate for WHISPA, a Gender Based Violence & Harassment Support Program managed by the Life Sense Group. WHISPA offers a dedicated, specialist approach for employers and employees with an Affiliate Network as integral part of the program support structure, allowing individuals to access 24/7 on-demand specialist support, which includes specialist doctors, lawyers, psychologists, counsellors, occupational therapists, and medical facilities. This program also includes a proactive and highly effective support process against HIV exposure. She believes that this can create a culture of safety and wellbeing in the workplace, where employers can provide the re-assurance, that their employees and their families are supported, empowered, and taken care of in the case of adversity, which is what Life Principles for Transformation stands for: Awareness of options, with support and empowerment, which leads to resilience and hope for a better tomorrow.

Marié lives in a state of awe and inspiration as she continuously explores and experiences deeper insights, while staying aware of the simplicity of the universal principles and complexity of quantum mechanics, as well as the supportive guidance she finds through her horses. She loves to share the processes and resources she found on her journey of transformation and growth, which opened magical synchronistic flow and a world of pure potential.

She believes it is part of her life’s purpose to bring energies of change and a deep understanding and belief that nothing is impossible! She believes true satisfaction comes from being aware of the powerful potential and choices that we have in every moment, while embracing the gift of learning from our mistakes, to know better and then do better. She continuously searches and find new ways to balance the fine line between inspiration and discipline, boundaries and responsibility, self-accountability and allowing diversity, and she uses equine facilitated processes, quantum mechanics, and cellular healing processes, in combination with the awareness of the universal principles of life, as an integrative approach to assist people to find their way and live inspired.

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    Services SETA Accredited Training Provider

    Accreditation No: 14650

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    Services SETA Accredited Training Provider

    Accreditation No: 14650