Finding ways to facilitate learning so students can have a deeper understanding of what is happening within the horse, is one of my deepest passions.
I’m sure many of you join me in the desire to learn and educate ourselves in order to be the best we can be for our horses. This shows up in different ways as we use our mind and brain to study and learn. Through my years of teaching and training, the biggest lesson I have learned is that the truth of what is correct for a horse lies not in the academic information that I have studied, but in whether it is true for the horse. As humans we orient towards our brain and intellect and in this culture that is supported more than other forms of communication. Our horses, however, will communicate what is right for them in their language and all we have to do is listen.
There are many ways to listen but most human beings listen to the language of words. We are taught to put a lot of truths into this language and of course it is our way to communicate and learn. Yet for the horse the language is far beyond that of a simple word, that can ultimately have multiple meanings to multiple people. Language for a horse extends even beyond body language and it requires us to hear through feel. To feel the communication in our belly, which is also considered our second or little brain, then to allow the belly to inform the heart which synchronizes the truth and informs the brain. We can then chose to take the felt sense information from our belly and discern if the information we have learned and stored cognitively, is in alignment with the truth of the horses language.
The second brain in our belly is called the enteric nervous system. It is comprised of two layers of over 100 million nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal system. This second brain communicates back and forth with our brain in the skull and delivers senses and emotions that we often refer to as gut feelings. In truth it is our intuition connecting to our second brain which then communicates to our main brain in our skull. Have you ever had butterflies in your tummy? That is your intuition working with your second brain to inform you to perhaps go a different way than your gps directs, or suggesting you don’t do a particular thing that you had planned. From there, when we tune into the senses and feelings from the belly and allow them to inform our heart, and the heart to inform the head we can truly hear. Words by themselves can be distorted and manipulated by the mind, yet words with the truth from our belly are powerful and allow us to truly listen to ourselves, and to a horse.
We consider the horses’ main language that of body language, yet there are other significant forms of communication a horse will use, predominantly that of energy both in spiritual, static and locomotion form. When we open to a different form of communication and learning, we open ourselves to truths beyond those of the intellect or an equestrian fad. We open to the truth from the horse.
I have always known there is a force beyond that which is visible, but really stepped into the learning and power of energy in motion and energy medicine during my studies with the Quechua Shaman in the Andes of Peru. They saw, felt and knew things that were at the time elusive to me. They made sense of the unexplainable and walked with such peace, connection and humble knowing. During my 7 years of studying with them I noticed my language change, my communication was more silent than vocal yet what I spoke had more meaning to me as I accessed my words not from the brain in my skull but from the brain in my belly. I allowed my belly to inform my heart and my heart to inform my head. For those of you that heard my New Year’s day message, I spoke to that as being a navigation system beyond that of our conscious mind. It is still available to listen to for free at www.equineselfexpression.thinkific.com.
Today, everything I do in my life and with horses is based on the communication from my belly. The truth of listening to the horses and having them be my guidance for whether my information is correct for them or not, precedes any other knowledge I may have acquired and have stored in my brain in my skull.
It is for this reason that I am beyond excited to be presenting my Self Carriage workshop in a completely new, revamped format. I created this workshop 10 years ago and it has been very successful. Yet with my new learnings and understandings of how form and function of body movement and mechanics is based on the underlying energetic component, both as medicine and in motion, has changed my entire outlook and understanding of how to support horses in ‘apparent’ mechanical or emotional and mental imbalance. I haven’t thrown the old out to make room for the new, but I have added the new information in such a layered way that the old will make even more sense and the new will facilitate a much more functional level of learning. Underneath the complex cycle of muscles, ligaments, tendons and bones that are considered the foundation for movement, there is an entire energetic blueprint that governs it all.
During the workshop we will observe horses movement patterns with the naked eye in real
time. We will then observe them in slow motion and starting from the outside movement patterns, based on form and function, you will learn about the energetic patterns that have created the movement. The energetic mold of movement changes with imbalance and when this is understood it is possible to work with the horse to restore the energetic blue print and open to the natural reorganization of the body that innately seeks balance in all ways. After all, everything is energy – in – motion!
I am so grateful for all the research that has taken place to bridge the gap between science and energy, and allow us to explore a more whole and holistic journey for ourselves and our horses. Without listening at this level to the horse, we with good intention create disturbance in the energy field which affects the entire function of the horse. I am eternally grateful for the amazing teachers who I have studied with over the years, so that I am able to bring this information for the betterment of the horse and rider.
I am only offering this workshop once this year, March 11 – 12 at Equine Self Expression in Middletown, IN, and I don’t think you will want to miss it. For more information, please go to www.equineselfexpression.com and find the Dissecting Self Carriage Workshop in the calendar. You can follow the links from there.
The only constant in life is the flow of energy through all things. A horse has a vibration that far exceeds ours, yet we have the capacity to artistically mold and form that union between them and us without the gaps that we create through some of the invasive learned methods that we call horsemanship. We don’t have to throw out the old to invite the new in, we just have to listen to our belly and let it inform our heart and then our head will align with the whole truth, not just the learned information.
Happy Valentines Day and I hope you can allow your heart to synchronize with the expansive truth from your belly and experience something beyond what you once thought was love!
Debbie
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