To honour the arrival of our horses at our farm this past weekend, we would like to embark on a series of posts on how mindfulness allows you to connect with the people and animals in your life. Our upcoming book project, Sharing The Now: Connecting With Your Horse through Mindfulness, explores just that topic. This blog has the broader purpose of inviting readers to learn more about being mindfully aware, dropping into awareness of the present, and being aware of things without pushing them away if they feel uncomfortable. Extending beyond that is the practice of expanding your awareness in this curious and nonjudgmental way when you are with your horses. Let’s explore some specific tips to feel more connected with your horse, over the next few weeks. These include: 1. Setting Intention to connect, 2. Internal Noticing of your thoughts, feelings and body sensations, 3. Watching Your Horse or observing them as accurately as you can, and 4. Staying Heartful (i.e. our way of describing your noticing the quality of the bond between you and your horse from one moment to the next, while remaining gentle with yourself and your horse). We’ll start today with the first step, Setting Intention.
Learning to connect with your horse on a deeper level starts with setting the heartfelt intention to be there with them. Despite one’s best hopes, it can be challenging to stay entirely focused on just this moment, or on just this breath. The mind wanders and we multitask and plan for hundreds of things in the day, even on a weekend! When one sets the intention to do something, it can be associated with effort and intensity. Certainly, learning to stay fully aware of the present moment experience, realizing when one is focused on something else other than right now, and bringing attention back to the present moment takes practice. What is being encouraged here, however, is to set an intention to be present without making it a task. We can set intentions without forcing ourselves to do so. This may sound abstract but setting intentions is a way to make choices in one’s life, both freely and wholeheartedly. When you set an intention to be present in this moment, and in particular to be present in this moment with your horse, then you are committing to the relationship in a different way than before. Shifting your attention in this way is something that your horse will pick up on. Since horses are animals that live entirely in the present and relate to their world from this mode of awareness, being able to enter present moment awareness with them is the only way to fully connect. This is a simple and powerful first step to transformation of the horse-human bond. These words by David Whyte may inspire you to appreciate the importance of Setting Intention to be wholly focused on events arising as they arise, i.e. on RIGHT NOW. Set Intention To Connect With Your Horse, even for a minute, the next time you see them.
“Enough” by David Whyte
Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.
This opening to life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now.
David Whyte from Where Many Rivers Meet