What’s Grace Got to Do With It?
By Leigh Shambo, MSW
This
summer marked the fourth year of what has become for me a
cherished annual event— hosting and co-facilitating the
equine-facilitated personal growth workshop “Energy & Grace: The
Horse-Human Connection”. My collaborator in developing and
teaching E & G is Kathleen Barry Ingram (from Epona Equestrian
Services in Senoita), a significant mentor and valued friend.
Over the past four years, the workshop has evolved and it has
evolved us. And the horses have helped to instruct a whole new
community of like-minded humans, who are ready to practice
lessons of horse wisdom within their human herd.
....
For three days, a community of 15 women
investigated, experientially, various principles of energetic
awareness with horses. In a powerful interspecies learning
experience, each explored how to thrive within our own ‘field’
and how to understand the energy of others, whether human or
horse. The horses are the most powerful of teachers, revealing
and illuminating the “invisible” truths of energy without any
words at all. The HEAL herd obviously relished being heard in
their own energetic messages, helping humans to communicate in
ways that are natural, innate and highly adaptive.
Horses help humans
understand a universal language which for many of us is already
half-forgotten. In E & G this year, a participant I’ll call
Elena, an adult woman with virtually no previous horse
experience, chose to work with the tall Thoroughbred gelding
Galant. Or shall I say he chose her? Galant strode up to the
fence and focused his powerful attention on her while she was
still outside of the pen.
Invisible
dynamics of “energy” set the direction, tone and context for
much of what occurs in our lives and in our relationships.
Until recently, our culture had no language outside of hard
science for describing energy and then only in it’s most gross
physical manifestations. Recently, blossoming interest in
metaphysics makes a wealth of information available; but trying
to sort through words about energy is like trying to learn
swimming from a book. Energetic practice with horses is like
slipping into the pool of energy communication, and as we
directly experience it we find we can swim. The invisible inner
impulse moves outwardly toward expression and unfoldment.
Horses listen keenly to these inner, subtle indications and are
quick to reflect and express what they sense inside of each
person they interact with.
Elena’s
initial meeting with Galant was auspicious and not entirely
comfortable for Elena. She felt at a visceral level both his
keen interest in her and his noble, self-assured bearing. She
was surprised to feel a distinct contraction in her stomach, a
feeling she could only describe as “… a fear of fear itself… a
deep dread”. Galant had triggered in Elena an energetic
template she had learned well in childhood: the meek shall
inherit the earth. In fact, Elena had attended this
workshop having already set an intention to embody her authentic
power in new ways. But she had not anticipated how it might
feel. Galant’s vibrant interest was more intimidating than a
rejection.
Many
dimensions of energy can be fruitfully explored with the horses
in order to give people a fuller understanding of themselves and
their effect on others. Energy has spatial dimensions— it
exists as a ‘field’ (more accurately, layers within a field)
that emanate from each being. These spatial dimensions are
attention-sensitive, and thus are expanded or contracted
depending on what we pay attention to. By learning to sense
these layers, we become more attentive and respectful of our own
boundaries and those of others. Energy also has what I call
‘content’ dimensions, which have to do with emotion, thought and
meaning. Internal thoughts, emotions and beliefs permeate our
energy layers and are felt by others. Interacting with others
and with the environment requires an ability to balance our
self-centered focus (designed by nature) with the ability to
remain responsive to other beings (also designed by nature) as
well as to context, timing and situational factors.
Elena
wondered, “Why would such a friendly horse arouse anxiety in
me?” Also palpable was her hunger to say yes to his interest.
She felt vulnerable—his approach was too fast, too confident,
and she felt overwhelmed. Tears sprang into her eyes as she
understood the challenge: to know herself as an equal to this
very strong individual. Her earliest conditioning had taught
her to be small and invisible to get along, and her natural
strength had been devalued. It was her own power that
frightened her, not his, and with this thought her gut relaxed.
When Elena
turned to enter the pen with Galant, he immediately moved to the
gate and was actually blocking her way in his eagerness to see
her. Again Elena felt a wave of trepidation – she would need to
“push” him back, in order to enter safely through the gate.
Pausing a moment to consider this, she released a deep breath,
and affirmed her desire to meet his friendly, strong demeanor
with a strength of her own. “I’m ready”, she announced. And
before she even took her step forward, Galant moved away,
clearing the gate. Energy— a clear intention with the
resolve and the readiness toward action—resulted in grace,
the effortless cooperation of the horse who sensed Elena’s shift
in intention even before it was expressed physically.
Now inside
the pen, Galant again approached Elena, like a suitor. Like a
suitor who might be described as, well, quite forward.
Holding a wand made to resemble a horse’s tail, Elena signaled
him where to stop, letting him know how much space she required
in order to feel relaxed, in other words to stay at
physiological baseline. Once she felt calm, she allowed him to
approach, but when he tried to rub his giant head on her
shoulder, affectionately using her as a scratching post, she
felt her heart beat faster. At first Elena felt awkward, even
apologetic, trying to block Galant’s motions that threatened to
push her off balance. Then she seemed to remember that “meek”
was history, and “equal” was what she now chose for herself.
Within moments, Galant was honoring the new boundary (no head
rubbing), and respecting the gentle, positive strength that
permeated Elena’s energy field. He remained every bit as
friendly and interested; in fact, he now respectfully
followed her around the pen instead of trying to push
her around!
By the
third day, Elena was able to engage Galant in active free play
in a large grass paddock (anyone who’s tried it knows how
difficult it is to be ‘more interesting than grass’ to a
horse!). Elena’s congruent, respectful and fully empowered
energy flowed with Galant’s as they co-created dynamic movement
with changes of direction and gait, interspersed with quiet
moments of respectful appreciation for each other. Afterward
Elena expressed with both tears and words, the realization that
embracing her power set the stage for Galant to be his most
brilliant, graceful and focused self. He appreciated her
power and it helped him thrive too. And later she wrote in
a follow up to her workshop evaluation, “I can feel that my
circuitry has been upgraded in a big way and I know I can run
more juice through my system.”
Through
practice and play with horses, it becomes very easy and natural
to follow the flows and textures of energy between beings.
Becoming keen on feeling and honoring the flow of energy, we can
recognize that being effective is the same thing as being
responsive and aware. Each year a workshop participant, upon
being able to sense the energy part so clearly, will then ask me
to define grace. To me, grace is the flash of
recognition, the visceral quickening in the blood that comes
with being both responsive to and responded to, in the
most positive way. When we are attentive to energy in all its
dimensions in ourselves and others, we create an effortless
magic together. Ultimately the horses help us see that in
relationship, grace has everything to do with it.
Author
Leigh Shambo,
MSW is a
clinical therapist and educator whose
first career was horse training and instruction. Leigh
is widely recognized for her articulation of the
horse-human bond and its application in therapeutic and
learning programs. She is the founder and lead
therapist for
Human-Equine Alliances for Learning
(HEAL), a
non-profit organization that supports
equine-assisted services and programs for healing,
personal growth and riding/training.
Leigh is an Advanced
Facilitator
graduate of Linda Kohanov's Epona Center
apprenticeship
program and is EAGALA
certified.
