I've been mostly using bodywork to help Smoky and Rohan relax into the parasympathetic nervous system. In the last couple months, I've had them practicing mindfulness too! While horses don't worry about the future like we do, they can be stressed or worried enough to get stuck in the sympathetic (flight, freeze, fight) state of being. To help them be present, I simply stand with them on a lead line. If we're both present, we stand together with our awareness on each other. If I'm present but they're worried or stressed, they'll be thinking about and then moving toward something else, (similar to our avoidance behavior when anxious!) . When that happens, I show them I'm aware of their concern and redirect their attention back to me. When they can be present enough, they can relax and reset their nervous system. Rohan has a lot of active energy about him, but he's made a lot of progress quickly. Smoky is coming around slowly, it seems a lot harder for him to give up holding onto his worry. I wonder if it's because our habitual patterns get entrenched as we repeat them.
Rohan stands present with his attention with me for a few seconds! This session was half as long as the previous one to get to a point of relaxing, with less thinking away from me, yay! See his tongue out during a lick and chew?!
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