Get ready to embark on a journey towards embracing a more fulfilling and balanced somatic life!
"A Horse's Guide to Awakening YOUR Mind, Body, Spirit, and Soul" is an exploration into the inherent tendencies that make horses fully somatic... and from those observed tendencies you can choose which you might want to adopt for yourself. They include:
- Maintaining a keen sense of awareness.
- Developing confident leadership skills that compel others to want to follow.
- Establishing rules and boundaries that are unambiguous.
- Striving to maintain harmonious social interactions.
- Acknowledging that each individual has an important role to play in creating a unified whole.
- Remaining curious, with a willingness to try new things if presented in a safe and encouraging way.
- Being genuine, authentic, reliable, consistent, as well as adaptable in the face of changing circumstances.
The journey begins by examining the human traits that make following a somatic path very challenging. By studying mindset, biases, and thought patterns and responding to the section's "reflective" questionnaire, you'll have an opportunity to delve deeper into your own mindset and determine whether it helps or hinders the goals you have set for your life, and your time spent with horses.
Next, we examine the three components of emotions, which include physiology, cognition, and behavior. Tools and strategies for lowering stress responses will be presented, so you can make better choices in how you respond when either your horse's or your own emotions are triggered.
Finally, you'll have the chance to work with your horse as teacher, guide, and partner. Through a series of exercises, you will see just how much you've learned about embracing a somatic life. Your horse will be your sounding-board, giving you a rare visual glimpse into exactly how your mood, energy, intention, and gestures come across to others – for better or worse.
This spiral-bound 189-page book lays flat or folds over... so it's perfect to take to the corral when observing horses and doing exercises!
It measures 11.69 x 8.27 inches (297 x 210 mm) and is filled with engaging images of domesticated horses and the wild mustangs of Wyoming's McCullough Peaks Herd Management Area.
Your Exploration Begins Here...
- Mindset can make or break a balanced life
- Reflections: Mindset
- Filters and Biases
- Intergenerational Filters
- Reflections: Filters and Biases
- Fixed and Growth Mindsets
- Recognizing a Fixed Mindset
- Recognizing a Growth Mindset
- Abundance vs. Scarcity Mindset
- Shifting Mindset
- Reflections: Keeping a Mindset Journal
- Tracing Mindset Back to Thoughts
- Thoughts and Language are Interconnected
- Unpleasant Repetitive Thought Patterns
- Reflections: Mindset and Thought Patterns
- How horses help us to find our way back to nature in our quest for peace and contentment
- Three Components of Emotions
- The Physiologic Component
- What is Anxiety?
- Reflections: Activated Threat Response
- Anger: Anxiety with a Chemical Kick
- Reflections: Anger
- The Cognitive Component
- Body language reflects how we interpret our emotions
- Mirror Neurons
- Why you can't "fake it 'til you make it" with horses
- To understand your horse's mind, observe his body language
- Exercise: Herd Dynamics
- The Behavioral Component
- To understand your horse's behavior, learn about his senses
- Reflections: How did your horse respond?
- Reflect on your own behavior
- Before you get angry and call your horse "resistant"...
- Before you resort to punishment...
- Before you call your horse "challenging"...
- Before you call your horse "fearful"...
- Before you call your horse "lazy"...
- Horse Whispering
- The Physiologic Component
- The Link Between Emotion Regulation and Mindset Mastery
- How Do Horses Regulate Emotions?
- Strategies for Regulating Emotions
- Mindfulness/ Active Meditation
- The Benefits of Mindfulness
- Exercise: Moments for Quiet Reflection
- Mindset mastery can help keep you safe and grounded around horses
- Important Points to Remember About Regulating Emotions
- "Failing" Isn't Failing
- Resilience
- Perfectionism is the ultimate victim role
- Reflections: Emotion Regulation
- The Need to "Rest and Digest"
- Safety is Essential for Horses Too
- Reflections: Finding Safety
- Safety in Social Settings
- Reflections: Our Social Brain
- Reprogramming Your Brain
- The Circle of Life
- The Red Zone
- The Green Zone
- The Blue Zone
- Exercise: Time for Creative Expression
- Moving beyond the blue and into "The Zone" of mind, body, spirit, and soul
- Fully Alive Here and Now
- Awareness
- Environmental
- Emotional
- Judgment/ Storytelling
- Ingrained Thought Patterns
- Exercise: Take a Moment to Discover
- Becoming Aware of Your Unawareness
- What Awareness Means to Horses
- Fast Thinking vs. Slow Thinking
- Move from Reactive to Creative and "C" the difference it makes in your life!
- Choosing Your Response
- Exercise: What choices would you make in these situations?
- Neuroplasticity
- Mold Your Brain
- Learning Types Expand Equine Neuroplasticity
- Association
- Consequence
- Problem-Solving
- Emotion
- Testing
- What motivates your horse to learn and take on new challenges?
- A Training Technique of Every Situation
- Negative Reinforcement
- Positive Reinforcement
- Clicker Training
- Shaping
- Reflection, Extinction, and Distraction
- Latent Learning
- Flooding
- Habituation
- Learned Helplessness
- With each emotion and feeling comes a shift in energy
- Exercise: 3 Spheres of Energy (Human to Human)
- Exercise: 3 Spheres of Energy (Human to Horse)
- Are you the leader your horse wants to follow?
- Lead Like a Leader
- When your horse pulls ahead
- When your horse lags behind
- If a horse can't find a leader...
- Leadership Through Cooperation vs. Leadership Through Compliance
- Exercise: Exploring Your Leadership Skills
- Establishing Boundaries
- Dare to Dream Again!
- A Daily Exercise
- Exercise: Is there something you would like to change in your life?
- Exercise: First, take your idea "to heart"
- Exercise: Then, take your idea to the horse!
- Exercise: Listen to what your horse has to say
- Exercise: Let your horse be your partner
- Exercise: Making it happen
- As you walk around your property, let your surroundings remind you of all you have learned
- Turnout/ Pasture/ Field
- Fence
- Gate
- Halter and Lead Rope
- Hitching Rail
- Hay/ Feed
- Tack Room
- Outhouse/ Bathroom
- Your Rig
- Exercise: Seizing Opportunities, Overcoming Obstacles
- A Personal Reflection
Here's a sampling of the content, exercises, and reflections found along the way...
~ Click sample pages to enlarge ~
