The photo: Taking this Quiet Mind/meditation out to your horse is an excellent thing to do. Sitting with a horse like I was when I took this photo, has been scientifically proven to even out the heart rate, slow the breathing and lower blood pressure of the person – all things that happen in effective meditation – and that’s BEFORE you start meditating. Meditating in the presence of a relaxed horse is an excellent way to go a little deeper and more powerfully into your Quiet Mind.
The Lesson
We strive to be Present for answers to problems to flow in our moment of need for the answer – but sometimes we just need a Quiet Mind, so here it is… 🙂
This specialized Quiet Mind is designed to help you to find your own brilliant answers to a particularly frustrating or worrying problem with your horse.
Tuck this lesson in the back pocket of your mind and come back to it any time that you need some extra help.
Eventually, it will be possible to follow the same techniques by yourself without listening to the audio, with your horse’s help and their contribution too.
Click here for an alternate recording
Written Version of the Audio
I wondered about putting up a written version of an audio meditation like this, but decided “yes, to do it”, in case some of the people with other than English as their first language find it useful to help with my accent!
However it is not word for word, because I get carried away with the moment and go with the flow sometimes. The purpose is clear though…
Before we start, I want to talk about how ALL of our feelings are perfect messages, absolutely perfect messages that as soon as we understand them, are no longer crappy feelings – instantly pfft! gone – they are no longer crappy feelings as soon as we know what it is that we have to know or do.
This Quiet Mind is specially designed to help you solve whatever problem you have with your horse – and solving that problem will help you get whatever you and your horse are looking for from each other.
You already know from all the other work that you have done with your horse that whatever feelings come up are not necessarily yours – so keep your mind open to the possibility that some messages that come up may have something to know or do about someone else.
And every problem is just an opportunity for a closer bond with your horse – so think of a problem/opportunity with your horse that you might like to work on – maybe it is just something that is recurring a bit more often than you would like. It can be a training issue or a health issue – whatever you like.
And while you’re thinking about it – just check that it feels good to work on this issue.
And you know the drill by now, like all of our other Quiet Minds, we are going to be working in a place of comfortable growth today, so if at any time you don’t feel comfortable, just pull back gently and keep breathing with us and enjoy the peacefulness and know that you can download and replay this audio and do this exercise any other day that you choose.
For those of you who are feeling quite skilled at these Quiet Mind processes, then just make this an opportunity to take that Quiet Mind deeper and even more relaxing and even more effective. Use it to anchor your listening inside feelings deeply and effectively.
Notice whether you are breathing through your nose or mouth.
Breathe a little harder so as to make a bit of a noise as you breathe in and out.
And while you do that again, notice where you can first feel the air as it comes in. Then notice where you can last feel the air as your breath goes out.
Notice how far the breath comes in and how far down your throat can you feel the air coming in?
Notice what parts of your body move as you are breathing. Can you feel your chest? Can you feel your arms lifting and then sinking down as you breathe out? Can you feel a movement in your stomach? Does it come in and out with your breath? What about in your back, can you feel the movement of the breath in your back? Can you feel the expansion of your ribs as you breathe? Can you feel the ribs flexing in and out as you breathe? Can you feel the expansion of your ribs in your back?
Stay there noticing the expansion of your ribs in your back, breathing in and out expanding your ribs – because as you already know, it’s SUCH an important movement for a rider.
Tracking your breath as it moves deeper into your throat and towards your lungs…
Now see if you can feel your heart beat behind your breath. Enjoy that for a minute, feel for your heart beat. And if you can’t quite feel that yet, then imagine that you can.
Notice that feeling you have right now – that feeling of listening inside yourself? Notice everything about that feeling of listening inside yourself.
Now notice the feeling in your eyes as you are listening inside yourself – screw your eyes up, frown and look hard and kind of squinty on purpose as you look around your body and feel what that feels like – that’s it – squint harder – now soften your eyes, ahhh kind of look that you give a new born baby or a special foal or a fluffy kitten.
Keep breathing, soften your eyes a bit more, gently smile if you can and anchor this feeling of noticing everything inside yourself with soft eyes. Notice everything about it so that you can find this place again quickly and easily whenever you are with your horse.
Now think about that problem/opportunity that you decided to work on.
Soften your eyes as you notice what feelings or discomfort or tension or energy changes or even pain comes up in your body when you think about that problem that is really an opportunity.
Know that whatever it is that has come up – it is a PERFECT message and soften your eyes so that you can really get the full and completeness of this perfect message.
Breathing, soft eyes, even with your eyes closed, take your sight out to your peripheral vision if you can and make the ahhhh… Look at this perfect message and pay gentle attention to whatever is going on in your body, just follow whatever is going on in your body.
Breathing in there with soft eyes and following whatever is going on in your body.
………
Now come back slowly, holding as much of that awareness as is appropriate for us today. Keep your soft eyes as you come back slowly and gently into the room. Big breath.
Come back to this audio whenever you need a bit of a boost with some extra ideas or insights to solve something that is going on.