The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos and kairos.  Chronos is quantitative, measured or planned while kairos is qualitative, open or experiential.  In terms of Equine Guided Education, learning by the guidance of horses happens within the kairos realm of time.

Chronos time is what we live with on a daily basis. It is sequentially and chronologically measured by calendars, clocks, hours, minutes, and seconds. It is orderly, rhythmic, predictable, linear, task-oriented and energetically masculine. There is rarely enough of it, and we can feel stressed out as we race the clock to go about our activities in terms of schedules, appointments, agendas.  If we don’t pay attention to it we can minimize our sense of responsibility, commitment and social accountability.  Too much of it and we may lose a true sense of our deep spirit and deeper purpose. 

Kairos time flows in the energetically feminine realm -- allowing us to be in the moment. The simplest translation would be “in between time”—a moment of undetermined period of time in which “something” special happens. We participate in kairos time, rather than racing to catch up with it. Kairos time may occur during meditation, the creative process, being with a child, reading a well written book, and other experiences that are personally meaningful to us. One is wholly absorbed in the moment, unhurried and unaware of time passing. These are the moments that nurture the depth of our selves.

There is a literary journal called Kairos that defines the word as:

…”'the right moment' or 'the opportune.' The two meanings of the word apparently come from two different sources. In archery, it refers to an opening, or “opportunity” or, more precisely, a long tunnel-like aperture through which the archer’s arrow has to pass. Successful passage of a kairos requires, therefore, that the archer’s arrow be fired not only accurately but with enough power for it to penetrate. The second meaning of kairos traces to the art of weaving. There it is “the critical time” when the weaver must draw the yarn through a gap that momentarily opens in the warp of the cloth being woven. Putting the two meanings together, one might understand kairos to refer to a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved." (Eric Charles White, 1987)

Kairos time usually involves a period of disruption to the 'normal' flow of things. The old rules, methods, traditions, habits, ways of thinking and doing business do not seem to work any more. It is a bit chaotic. The ground seems to be shifting. No longer terra firma, the rules of the game are changing. Historians and psychologists label it a 'paradigm shift' and it seems we are currently in the midst of this.  Those who are open minded and hearted, and able to shift with energy and changes will fare well.


References:
Time: Kronos or Kairos? in Living Simply by Mari Brodersen.
Kairos — God’s Time on http://journal.cowpi.com/