Evolving Self & Humanity

EVOLVING SELF AND HUMANITY

We choose what makes us strong

By: Pat Hutchinson, Canada

We need to be fully present, place our trust in the horse, allow and honor their trust in us

Horses have been showing up for humanity for eons. Now, they are teaching us that in order to not just survive but also thrive, we need to: slow down; practice authenticity and just ‘be’. Perhaps we need to embrace these 3 teachings in order to raise our awareness and our consciousness, which in turn will change the way we live. Horses give us a glimpse of the proverbial Shangri-La.

CHANGE AND AWARENESS

Five years ago I created a huge change in my life by making the decision to follow an inner prompting and begin Equine Facilitated Learning training. The logistics were concerning as it meant navigating through a very different type of life then I had experienced previously. I had taken early retirement a few years earlier from a completely different kind of work as a Civil Servant. I stepped onto a path that was foreign to me and I have never looked back.

I went to see, not bring home, a few horses a friend was re-homing due to an upcoming move out of the province. One of the horses, a 17 yr. old Appaloosa gelding, would not be going as he would not do well in the new, extremely cold

environment. It was fascinating, yet puzzling to see and feel a horse draw me to him, ever so subtly, somehow instilling in my awareness that we would be together. This at a time when I had no conscious intention of becoming the caretaker of any horse, let alone one that I couldn’t ride due to some less than compassionate treatment he had endured throughout his 17 years. Yet he came home with us!

Were the horses calling me? Unequivocally and resoundingly, YES!

BEING VS DOING

Over the next five years, after ‘doing’ so much to get to where I thought I was headed, I have come to a very different realization and understanding of this path I walk. I have learned from horses, in particular my Bud, now 23 years old, that to truly enter his world I must stop ‘doing’ and learn to ‘be’ with him and the other horses. ‘Being’ is the antithesis of everything I had previously learned. I became aware that Bud and a few other horses were gently guiding me. Finding that stillness, which Wayne Dyer called, ‘a place where nothing happens, yet all things are birthed’, is the experience I’ve repeatedly had and that Bud shares with clients.

It begins with the breath and a heart connection. This is so basic to all activity with horses if we’re going to connect with them. Something magical happens when we give ourselves the gift of surrendering completely to the process: the process of grounding our energy, connecting our heart energy to the horses’ heart and allowing ourselves to be wrapped in the horses’ huge energy field, to accept their gift to us and ‘do’ nothing. Somehow our awareness becomes sharper the more we can, to quote Eckert Tolle, be in the never-ending NOW. The more I do this, the more I feel, hear, know, learn and grow. I think differently than I used to.

A young woman of about 35 yrs. of age was having difficulties with relationships. We went into the round pen with Bud. The exercise was intended to help her clarify what her emotions were that were troubling her. As she connected with Bud from a slight distance, Bud walked to the edge of the pen and started weaving back and forth. I had never seen him do this before. The client asked me what he was doing and why. I explained the action and said that I hadn’t seen this behaviour in him before today. I asked her what she was feeling. She shared that she was having difficulty staying focussed on ’nothing’. Her thoughts kept bouncing around in her head. When she verbalized that, Bud stopped weaving and stood still. She then said that she does that a lot with people. She’s listening to them then realizes she’s in her own head not really listening to them. With that Bud licked and chewed, came over and put his head on her chest. She was now totally in that moment as tears fell and the experience and understanding penetrated her body.

EVOLVING HUMANITY

The horses have recently been focused on communicating that they are here to help us navigate through stormy waters and to become more aware of the subtle nuances in relationship, in life and in what is. They help us raise our awareness and our mindfulness. They show us that when we show up authentically, our communication is clear and our monkey mind just flows away.

Horses live totally in the NOW. They don’t worry about the future or fret about the past. They cooperate and protect each other. They communicate clearly and non-verbally. They love unconditionally. They judge nothing. They show up ready to ‘be’ exactly what they are, no hidden agenda. When they meet the same qualities in a human who is in this very moment, no agenda,

an amazing expanded field of awareness and depth opens up to the human. But we do need to be present and allow ourselves to be enveloped in their ‘field’.

I have seen clients, and myself, experience physical and emotional relief and insight into past traumas. I have witnessed many tears, my own included: tears of joy; of an unexpected awareness; and tears of gratitude. So many tears washing away self-judgment, lack of self respect, shame and comprehension of the effects of their own subtle behaviours. So many tears of joy to finally feel at peace, having experienced an undeniable shift, not necessarily understanding it at the time, but knowing something shifted.

An 18-year-old young woman came for a session with Bud. She was dressed in riding apparel, even though she knew there would be no riding. We sat outside a round pen where Bud was waiting and we chatted. As she talked about her experiences with horses, Bud began to race around the perimeter of the pen. This again was very unusual behaviour for him. I asked her how she was feeling right now. She confided that she had been riding for several years and that she was scared of horses and no one knew it. She was terrified of going into the round pen. With that admission, Bud immediately stopped racing and came over to the side of the pen where we were. He stood licking and chewing with his head over the top rail. The young woman started to cry. She opened her heart and her mind, dug deeper and talked further of her life. Bud continued to stand with his leg cocked, his eyes at halfmast, relaxed, present and holding space for her.

Then the young woman asked what had caused the change in Bud’s behaviour. We talked about what she had observed herself in his behaviour and what that meant to her. She shared how she was feeling when she arrived and how she felt now. She understood that horses ‘see’ us with their heart energy and not just with their eyes. She understood what she had repressed and how a shift had happened. We went into the round pen and the young woman experienced being totally accepted, not judged and was totally present to the experience. She felt the relief in her body, of the truth being admitted and shared. She also experienced and later shared, the physical and emotional feeling when her fear disappeared.

RAISING CONSCIOUSNESS

Somehow the horses are able to instil an awareness of something deeper in us. For us to accept what is freely given, seems to be to learn from: their ability to read energy; their nonjudgment; their lack of monkey mind; the importance of body language; their cooperative groups; their connection to something so much bigger than what we see.

These magnificent beings are once again present for us. They show us what we need to do to get to the next level in our evolution. We need to do what they do: develop our awareness of our ability to read energy; be non-judgmental; get control of our monkey mind; be consciously aware of body language; live cooperatively; connect to something bigger than ourselves; understand we are all connected at a deep level.

Horses somehow know we are at a crossroads. Humans cannot sustain our old ways and remain on this beautiful planet. The horses want to help us evolve. They know much that we don’t. We can do it, but only if we have an open mind and an open heart.

Humanity needs the awareness, the political will and the commitment to making this jump. The horses are able to show us that we too already have everything we need to accomplish this. We can just be still and ‘it’ will surface.

Horses expand our perceptions and show us a larger picture of what our world and our relationships could be, if we would just cooperate. We could indeed live in Shangri-La. ~*~

“Sifting through the choices of greenery, we choose that which nurtures and sustains us. We release the difficult, indigestible bits. We choose what makes us strong.”