The photo: Just what I like to see – a man sharing the housework! 🙂 There’s a serious side to my choice of this photo however – when the vacuum cleaner is going, it’s pretty hard to hear the phone ringing. And so it is in hearing/feeling our horses – if we have lots of other stuff clouding our awareness, it’s pretty hard to hear them. What makes me and so many others good at hearing our horses, is a commitment to know what to know or do about anything else that clouds our awareness, so that it is EASY to feel/hear/understand our inner guidance about EVERYTHING – including our horses. Does that make sense?
The Lesson
This Lesson is a bit different to all the previous lessons in that it might not be about horses at all.
However, in recent clinics and lessons I have been seeing more and more how ALL these aspects of our energy affects our horses and thus our horsemanship. It’s like when the vacuum cleaner is going, you can’t hear the phone ringing – when there’s heaps of Not Quite Rights and tension going on from another source, then it’s hard to feel/hear your horse so clearly.
This Lesson is a Quiet Mind exercise especially designed to lift you out of the whirlpool that we talked about in the last lesson. Not everyone will need or want this Lesson – so pay careful attention to and be guided by any feelings of Not Quite Right as to whether you do it or not.
I have noticed though, that animal lovers are frequently the kind of nurturers that jump into the whirlpool to save both other people and animals.
So for those who choose to go ahead, you are going to seriously enjoy the positive effects of this Quiet Mind on your horses.
I put a lot of thought into the wording of this exercise and also consulted a dear friend, an elder in his church. I hope that I have struck the balance between his deeply committed Christianity and my deeply committed spirituality.
There are many words that we can use to describe that wonderful being who is bigger than all of us, so if anyone finds that they want this exercise but need it worded differently – then please come back to me and I will do my best for you.
For those who go ahead with this Lesson, enjoy the feeling of increased energy and even clarity, that will come to sooo… many of you who work through this exercise.
Click here for an alternative recording
Written Version of the Audio
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 choose to do this exercise or not and that you can download and replay this audio and get the relaxation from this exercise whenever you wish.
Breathing deeply and evenly, taking our attention to listening inside.
Notice what parts of your body move as you are breathing.
Can you feel your stomach move out and in with your breath? 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.
Tracking your breath as it moves deeper into your throat and towards your lungs…
Keep breathing, soft eyes, gentle smile if you can and anchor this feeling of noticing everything inside yourself, of listening inside yourself.
Now… allow your gentle attention to wander over your body and notice the energy moving around your body. Can you feel any energy moving around in your body?
Soften your eyes, make the same ahhh eyes that you would make when you look at a newborn baby or a young foal or kitten playing. Make those soft eyes as you gently pay attention to the ebbing and flowing and movement of energy in your body and if you don’t notice that yet, then just imagine that you can…
And we will just be quiet here for a moment while we allow our gentle attention and our soft eyes to wander over our bodies and feel the beautiful energy within us and breathe.
Now… still breathing deeply and evenly… and still making soft, ahhhh eyes – notice whether you are in the whirlpool or not.
And for those who are, it’s a beautiful place at the moment, nothing scarey.
It’s very easy to be in the whirlpool at the moment because you can look up at the edge of the whirlpool and see that shining light up there. That warm shining light of God up there. And knowing that you are completely safe in those hands.
And coming out of that light, the hand of God reaching out to hold you and lift you out of the whirlpool.
Can you feel that beautiful energy? That beautiful hand reaching out to hold you and lift you out of the whirlpool?
Feel yourself climbing out, supported by the hand of God and notice everything about the beautiful energy of that.
All the way to the top of the whirlpool and look around… ahh some of you are just coming up to the edge.
And take a moment to appreciate that beautiful support that you were just given as you climbed out of the whirlpool.
And breathing… let any adrenaline go, make soft eyes at the adrenaline, make soft eyes at that energy that has sustained you so well all this time.
Take a moment to appreciate it and let it go…
And now you are out of the whirlpool, come back slowly, holding as much of that awareness as is appropriate for us today.
Now go and appreciate all that lovely energy.
You might be a bit tired, while you catch up on your energy, so get plenty of sleep while your body gets used to this. Make sure that you drink heaps of water, heaps and heaps of water in the next few days.
And enjoy the feeling of not being in that whirlpool any more.