Join Up

I had the great opportunity to go to a leadership workshop that involved horses.  I have known of this concept for about 5 years and the time finally came for me to participate. 

One portion of the day we were to have the horse do what we intended for it to do, using only our energy and very simple movements.  The elements that invite a horse to follow your lead are:  grounding, congruity of feelings and thoughts, connection, and non attachment to the outcome. 

My intention was to have the horse walk beside me around the pen.  I struggled at first to connect with the feeling state I would need to attract him to join me in my walk.  With some coaching and a few tries, I achieved my goal.  What finally got the horse to ‘join up’ was a giddy/fun feeling…and a little giggle inside: she immediately walked over and joined me around the pen.  I enjoyed every minute.  As I was walking, the coach asked me how I felt.  What happened next was my key learning point..to answer the question, I went from feeling to thinking and…the horse stopped, and my connection with her was dropped. 

The dropped connection with the horse was my point of awareness and has a lot of meaning in many areas of my life.  HOW COOL? That simple walk around the round pen had many layers of meaning and a lot for me to process. 

I am left with the question:  how do I remain in the aligned feeling-state energy which allows people, events, nature and things to ‘join up’ with me (an equine coaching term) .  What I believe is that an aligned feeling-state equals leader energy which allows the Universe to join-up and follow my lead/intentions/desires. 

I am ready to find the answer…and I know it will ‘join up’ with me.  Beautiful!

NOTE:  If you’re interested in Equus Coaching, these are the two facilitators from my workshop Renee Sievert and Dixie St. John.  I also had excellent coaching by workshop organizer, executive coach Michele Woodward.