mindfulness

Loving-Kindness Meditation

Often, we find it easy to share compassion with those we love, whether horses or humans. We tend to speak to them with gentleness, readily sharing our kindness and accepting their imperfections. While, we may reserve the cruelest thoughts and feelings for our own mind and body. Thankfully, through practice, we may develop self-compassion that supports us in learning to give ourselves the same care we’d share with a good friend, two-legged or four-legged.

We invite you to pause for a guided meditation to offer your affirmations of loving-kindness to a special horse, person and finally, yourself. You are worthy of life, love, and light, just as the horse.

A Guided Imagery Practice: A Moment on the Farm

It’s wild out there right now. It’s a time of uncertainties and countless, unprecedented changes that makes it tough for any of us to adapt and stay calm. We are all worried. Worried about ourselves, our friends, families, and communities, and our futures—amongst a multitude other concerns.

In moments like these, it’s essential for us each to take time to build resiliency for the many stressors of modernity that are simply out of our control. Try our brief, guided-equine imagery to get a mindfulness moment today.

Healing Traumatic Wounds on the Farm

From then on, the damage of trauma continually triggers the brain and body into continual activation or deactivation--“fight or flight”--whenever encountering any other stressful events. Therapeutic support may help repair the damage of trauma exposure you may be experiencing.

Receiving this therapeutic support on the farm may especially help you heal from these traumatic wounds by targeting a few key areas.

Three Equine Approaches to Optimize Mindfulness

A session on the farm today transformed into an impromptu mindfulness session when we discovered the herd laying for an afternoon interlude in their paddocks. Not wanting to disturb their naps, we met our horse where he was today--utterly relaxed with his hooves tucked under him, eyes gently closed and trusting of his environment. We sat together in a circle with the snoozing horse and guided the client through a meditation, grounded in the natural, bucolic environment.

Here are three equine techniques (no pony required!) to try as you delve into your next mindfulness practice, whether it’s taking a few minutes to focus on your breath or using a guided meditation on an app (Insight Timer, Calm, or Headspace).