I met a new horse!
Ahhhh!
This one.
A heart.
Arabesque.
A dance.
My personal therapy happens in the round pen, in the circle of nature amongst crisp skies, perched fence birds, dewed grasses, musky stables and the sounds of hooves drumming with the heartbeat of the Earth. One of the greatest beauties of this kind of work is that the horses don’t talk, at least not from intellect and not with words. Horse speak is powerful energy, horse speak is intention, horse speak is from heart -to heart. This is what I come to experience in the round pen….powerful energy, intention and heart.
The horse becomes a mirror to which I see my own habits and fears as well as my potential. A horse can provide an unbiased reflection of light cast into hidden parts of self that need to be drawn out, shifted or embraced. Horses have this natural capacity to tap into a relational field of experience that unarguably reveals truth. A horse will react to your energy therefor it does not have an agenda and shows you what it is that needs attention. Horses express what they feel and need, with absolutely no hesitation, which means to gain their trust you have to be honest, clear and genuine. The more honest you are with the horse, the more honest you are with yourself.
Horses, next to dolphins, have the largest energetic heart field of any creature. It is out of respect for this gift, I come to learn from their unique way with the sacred. My celtic teacher once told me the most powerful part of the spiritual practice was the 13-inch journey from head to heart. She said that the heart is the house of intuition and universal symbol and vision, it is where our authentic nature is held unconditionally, unshaken, unbroken. It is through taking the humble and devotional path into the heart that we come to harness our power and our peace.
In the round pen, I am learning to establish boundaries, define my space, direct, guide, nurture, and respect the horse, and myself, but not with loud calls, not with bribes or fear tactics, not with ropes or whips, but with energy, with precise intention, with clear vision, and a genuine belief that I can.
This week I had a profound internal shift with Arabesque. I was able to briefly embody an energy exchange between my heart and hers. If my heart intended her to move quickly, she moved quickly. If my heart visualized her slowing down, she would slow down. It was incredible, exhilarating, no words, no tools, just vision and intention, energy and heart. While getting her to wildly run around and around and around me, I had a fleating moment when my self-sabotaging mind interrupted the flow with, “You can’t do this, who do you think you are?” In that very second she abruptly halted, stopped in her tracks, disengaged, and in the next second my heart seemed to scream, “Yes, you can, yes you can!” She immediately started galloping again around the pen as if to say to me, “Yes, you can, yes we can.” There were no audible words, and yet a pristine, telepathic-like communication originating not from our intellect but a deeper field of expression.
It is incredibly difficult to articulate the nature and quality of that experience. It became apparent to me that when I stepped out of my heart space, out of my faith and power space that our communication ceased, the current dropped. When I dove my intention and awareness back into the energetic landscape of the heart, we picked up the energy line again and found a language of grace that encourages reverence of the unseen and deeply felt. In those few and rich moments there was a connection beyond measure, there was a source tapped deep within the underground of thought and in that source I think I was able to reach an undiscovered part of me, I think I was able to reach the heart of all things.
I am learning to trust the wisdom in my heart and the same wisdom carried in the heart of the horse and through its access her and I communicate, her and I dance. Appropriately, Arabesque is a ballet term describing a position much resembling a balance of an open heart.
Of course, the horse work is a metaphor. How we experience or do one thing is how we experience or do all things. I take from these horse-speak teachings the fierce reminder to continue to commit to the journey from head to heart, to allow it to be a road well traveled. It is a lesson in trusting in the power of my own frequency, the power of shared energy, meaningful intention and genuine connection to self, to others whether human or horse, to the divine in all beings. True strength is having the courage to walk the path, true wisdom is a humble and unified heart, and true peace is the embodiment of the dance.
Immense gratitude to my amazing equine coach Cheryl Greene, for the insight, support and amazing work.
A radiant heart:
There is a place in the heart where everything meets.
Go there if you want to find me. Mind, senses, soul, eternity are all there.
Are you there?
Enter the bowl of vastness that is the heart.
Give yourself to it with total abandon.
Quiet ecstasy is the there and a steady, regal sense of resting in a perfect spot.
Once you know the way, the nature of attention will call you to return again and again.
Be saturated with knowing “I belong here, I am at home here.”
Keep posted for the next blog, lots of tools for your own journey from head to heart.
Blessings, Aho, Namaste…..Meet people with your heart.
Robin Afinowich
Here, she had just rolled twice for me….and in an incredibly close proximity. A sign of trust and joyful playfulness, two qualities I am trying to establish more in my life. She’s showing me how. I am in love with this creature!
