Unlocking Harmony: Intentional Breathwork with Your Horse #83

💥Get your free audio or video exercise at: marydebono.com/breathinghorse💥

Mary Debono explores step two of her six-step framework for creating harmony between you and your horse.

This bonus episode focuses on the importance of intention, breath, and loving energy in connecting with your horse.

Mary shares personal anecdotes and practical tips, along with a free audio/video exercise available at marydebono.com/breathinghorse.

Discover how these simple, powerful strategies can transform your interactions with your horse, whether you're riding, walking, or simply spending time together.

Subscribe to "Easier Movement, Happier Horses" and ensure you don't miss the upcoming deep dives into each of these transformative steps.

💥Want to learn more? Join the Move with Your Horse waitlist!💥 https://www.marydebono.com/joinhorse 🐴

Remember, you and your horse deserve to feel great. Together!

Resources:

💥Get your special gift of an audio or video at: marydebono.com/breathinghorse💥

The book mentioned: Grow Young with Your Dog by Mary Debono. It's available as a PDF for just $8.97 on Mary's website. Prefer a physical book or Kindle? Grow Young with Your Dog is also available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.   

Free rider videos masterclass: https://www.marydebono.com/rider

Email [email protected]

All information is for general educational purposes ONLY and doesn't constitute medical or veterinary advice.  

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi. Today I want to share with you how you can use your breath, your intention, and your loving energy to connect more deeply with your horse. This is step two in the six step framework we have about how to create horse human harmony. And in case we're meeting for the first time, my name is Mary Dibono, and this is the easier movement, Happier Horses podcast. And yes, this is a little bonus episode.

And I also have a free gift for you as well. So you'll hear more about that towards the end of the of this short episode. And also in the description, wherever you're listening or watching this, you should find the link for your free gift. So, yeah, I wanted to talk about the importance and how you use these things, your intention, your breath, and your loving energy. So let's start with intention.

In step number one, we talked about the importance of your self awareness, improving your own movement, body awareness, awareness of your thoughts, all those things, how important that was. So once you have that foundation, which is super important, then you can be more aware of what you want to project to your horse, what you want to, how you want to use your body and mind to interact with your horse in the most harmonious way.

Because remember, we know that your horse feels so many subtleties about your physiology. I often say, you know, how you move, how you breathe, and how you direct your attention are all felt by your horse, and they all shape your interactions with your horse. In fact, your underlying sense of either ease or effort is noticed by your horse and influences how your horse reacts to you. So with intention, when you're clear on what your ultimate feeling that you'd like to have is, it makes things so much easier between you and your horse.

So, for example, a person might think, okay, I want to have a relaxing trail ride. Okay. But if you dig deeper and say, what is it? What does a relaxing trail ride bring you? And you keep kind of peeling back the layers, you'll find that there's a deeper something there. In other words, there's a deeper feeling that the person wants. Either they want to feel, maybe they want to feel joy, maybe they want to feel awe.

You know, maybe they want to feel that real connection with another being their horse. So, you know, someone else might say, oh, I want a really exciting trail ride. You know, I want. I want a lot of, you know, a lot of cantering, maybe some galloping and, you know, maybe exciting things happening, you know, they really want that. Then again, if you peel back the layers and keep asking yourself, well, what would that bring you?

What would that bring you, you keep peeling back, I would say maybe like four times. And ultimately, you may find that it's something again, like, well, a sense of joy or vitality or harmony or that incredible communion you can feel with your horse, that connection, that moving as one. So whatever your intention is, really think about it. So maybe you're going to work in the arena and do some dressage movements.

Maybe you're jumping a course, maybe you're doing a reigning pattern or something else. But keep asking yourself, what is it that you want to feel from that experience? And again, peel back the layers. Don't settle for the first thing you think. And don't even, you know, don't judge yourself, criticize yourself, or censor yourself in any way. Just notice what comes up and then be clear, because that will guide you, you know, having that clear intention.

Like, if you want to think about ultimately, maybe, maybe ultimately you want to feel that, you know, real sense of connection with your horse, that really blissful feeling when you just, you're both listening to each other responding. It's just such a cool feeling. Right. Well, that will shape, then, how you respond if your horse has trouble and needs your support during the ride. Right. If there's something comes up that's going to shape your response, that's going to shape how you handle it.

Okay, so really being clear on that. And it also means that, like, just say your horse is recovering from an injury and now you can just tack walk. So you can, you can ride, but you're just at the walk. There's so many incredible things you can do. There's so much opportunities for connection and sensitivity and response that you can mine from that. And this is true even if you're, if you're hand walking your horse, you can really focus on, you know, your body awareness and how you're signaling your horse.

And that, again, that feeling of connection, that's one of the things I mean, I miss so much about my horse, breeze. He passed away last year, and we were together a long time, and, and he was just amazing. And, you know, that, you know, we would walk. And I also did a lot of running and hiking with him in addition to riding him. Matter of fact, the last few years, I didn't even ride him.

We just had so much fun on the ground and, you know, we would, we would, you know, move together whether, again, whether it was a fast run, you know, a slower run or walking, whatever. And as soon as I would, like, start shifting my weight back, I mean, he was right there. It's like we were each listening to the other and being in sync. So you can do so much of that at the walk, hand walking your horse, or.

I did a lot, lot. I've always done this with all my horses. A lot of work with no halter or lead or anything on. So in a safe place, of course, but feeling that ability to be in sync to me was just pure joyous, pure joy. So to me, that was like such a wonderful thing. So maybe you find that. So again, you can then use whatever opportunity you have to interact with your horse.

You can really mine it for that delicious feeling. Okay, so be really clear on your intention, because I really feel that that helps you align your body, your mind and your spirit and brings you to a place of really respecting your horse and being a true partner to your horse. So ask yourself that about what's your intention? And then again, keep peeling back the layers. Another part of this is using your breath to connect with your horse.

So I mentioned it a little bit in the first, in the episode last, the last episode where I talked about the importance of your awareness and movement improvement, all that good stuff. But really, you know, there's a way that you can use your breath to sync up with your horse, to connect with your horse, to both listen to your horse and to have your horse listen to you on a deeper level.

So it's this, you like, you're tuning into each other through the breath, and it's not just your breath, but you're actually working with your horse's breath. So it's really a fabulous thing. As a matter of fact, this is the free gift. I said I would say it at the end, but what the heck, maybe you have to go and you can't listen till the end. So if you go to marydebono.com

breathing horse, it's all one word, all lowercase. Marydebono.com BreathIng horse course, I will send you an audio file. You'll be able to get an audio file of, I think it's like a nine minute exercise I have that will guide you through this so you kind of get an idea of what I'm talking about. Okay. And of course, we take a deeper dive into this in my move with your horse program.

But this, this will give you a good taste of it, and I think you'll really enjoy it because it's a great way to bond and have that deeper connection with your horse. So now, another thing, too, about this. So it's, we're working with the breath, but at some point, you are putting your hands on your horse. And when you touch your horse, or any mammal for that matter, in a gentle, slow way, where the movements, the touch is gentle and slow, you stimulate particular receptors in the body that are called CLTms.

And they're really fascinating because they're actually, they reside in a part of the brain that's where they're processed, that is part of the emotional centers of the brain, not where kinesthetic touches is usually registered. So they're registered in a different part of the brain. And what researchers have found out about this CLTMs is that when they're stimulated, it actually increases the bonding between the person or animal doing the touching and the one receiving it.

And the one receiving it is more likely to want to cooperate and do things with the individual doing the touching. And this probably has evolutionary roots because it's the type of touch that mothers often do to their offspring. So apparently mammals have these. They're all over the body except on the soles of the feet and the palms of the hand. But other than that, they're on the body.

And it's really interesting. The other thing they found, when those receptors are stimulated, it makes the receiver, helps the receiver be more resilient to stress. That's a really good thing, isn't it? And what I found, too, is just when you're doing this, you just feel so much better. Your physiology gets upgraded, if you will. Your stress gets lower. It's just, it's kind of like a meditation. So it's a really nice thing.

I call it connected breathing. And again, I'll send you that audio file if you go to marydebono.com forward slash breathing horse. And it will be in wherever you're listening or watching this, it'll be in the description. So you'll, you'll have a link, so don't try to write it down if you're driving. So, so that's how we use our breath. You'll learn more about that with the audio file.

And then the other part of this is being, again, intentional about sending loving energy to your horse. And I really think this is a big part of it. I had an experience many years ago and more than 20 years ago with a dog I was working with. And this dog's name was Rocky. He was a very handsome australian shepherd. And he came to me, he was eleven years old.

He was pretty much dragging his hind legs. And of course, his person had taken him to vets and all that. And they said there wasn't much they could do for him. And several people told him to come see me, so he did. And I started working with this dog, and I was just, like, overcome with this feeling of gratitude for being like this dog, literally putting himself in my hands.

He laid down on the mat I had in my office, and I remember clearly what I was doing. I was supporting his back and what I call a lumbar lift. And I just felt this immense gratitude. And at that moment. At that moment, it's like my whole being changed. I mean, I was filled with this incredible warmth in my heart was just an amazing feeling. And, no, it was not a hot flash.

That was way before I was getting them, and it felt nothing like them. So just keep that in mind. And it was, like an amazing feeling. And what was even more amazing than that physical sensation was the fact that I suddenly felt more like, in other words, when I was working with Rocky, then it's like when I was on the right path of helping him, like, when I would support him in a particular direction, that feeling would increase.

So it's like. It was like a barometer for me. And then maybe I'd do something else or change the way my hands were facing or, you know, support them in a different way, and it would lessen, you know, it would reduce in intensity. And it was a very cool feeling because tapping into that, it's like I could feel that where I could be most helpful to rocky. And I did all this stuff that I call it debono moves, but it's applied to animals, so it's based on the Feldenkrais method.

So a lot of Feldenkrais method strategies were employed. And I talk about this in my book, by the way. Grow young with your dog. And I go more into detail about what I did to help Rocky. But the end result of that session was when he stood up. He could walk. It's like, he could walk normally. It was crazy. It was crazy. Now, I've had other experiences like that as well.

And you just think, like, it's amazing how these things are possible. And it's not that I have some magical powers. It's that I was able to communicate with Rocky, and I'm not even talking telepathically. I'm talking with my hands in such a way that his nervous system could realize he had other options in how he moved and how he felt, and he could let go. He could get out of what I call that downward spiral that a lot of dogs, a lot of horses, a lot of humans fall into.

So it was a very cool story. But what it taught me was before that, I wasn't really aware of how I was sending out loving energy. But with Rocky, he's one of my greatest teachers. I often say that because he helped me realize the importance of loving energy and how it has, like, this synergistic effect with the more technical, neuroscience backed strategies that I use and that I teach.

It's like you don't have to do one or the other. You could actually combine them. And I was doing that naturally because, you know, it's funny, I changed my life so much to work with animals. Like, I used to be this it professional. You know, I had the, you know, the. Always wore the nice business suits with the skirts and the big heels, you know, the stiletto heels and carried a briefcase and worked on Wall street and then in Princeton and did all this stuff.

And, you know, that was fine. It was. It was a well paying job. It was, you know, my brain was stimulated a lot, but it wasn't my passion. You know, it wasn't my passion. So quite a while ago, more than 30 years ago, I left that career and totally changed my life. Moved 3000 miles away and, you know, became a Feldenkrais practitioner and started. And even before that, I actually started working with animals before I became a Feldenkrais practitioner and developing my own method and then using all my Feldenkrais knowledge as well to really boost it and really supercharge it.

And so I was always so grateful with, and I still am for every individual I work with because it's just like a dream come true. I've been living it for more than 30 years, but it's still fresh, you know what I mean? It's still like, wow, you know, it's just fun. And so I've always had that sense of gratitude. And what they find about gratitude is it changes when you feel grateful.

It changes your physiology. Okay? And of course, your horse is going to feel that. Rocky felt that, like any other animal is going to feel that on some level. And animals are really sensitive to the energy of appreciation. But so back to your physiology. They've done lots of work on this, lots of studies on this. Heartmath Institute, among others, has done a lot with heart rate variability. You might hear that lately people are using that more and more as a metric for higher performance, both cognitively and physically.

And being in a state of gratitude improves your heart rate variability. So, you know, improves that. That level where it's improving your performance and cognitive ability, you know, physical and mental. And so that is such a lovely state to be in. It's a healthy state. And again, it's, you're more effective at whatever you're doing, whether you're running board meetings or you're riding your horse or you're, you know, hiking up a mountain, whatever it is, you become more effective.

So, you know, that's why you hear a lot about gratitude. But really being, again, intentional about that and, like, taking the time when you greet your horse and when you leave your horse to really have that sense of gratitude, like, authentic gratitude. I mean, like, how lucky are we to hang out with horses, right? So another dream come true. And, you know, and again, I've had horses in my life since I was very, very young, and I'm always appreciative of it.

Like, that's never gone away, and I bet the same is true for you. So being intentional about that gratitude and that will help, like, project that sense of loving energy. And again, my experience with rocky taught me that that can have a synergistic effect with, again, the more science backed tools, if you will, the hands on work, the other things we do to help yourself and your horse, so there isn't one or the other is better.

I find that the combination is really, really valuable. So I began, I was already teaching this work more than 20 years ago, of course, but I started being more intentional about encouraging people to have that sense of gratitude when they worked with their horse, because it really does make a big difference. Makes a huge difference. And even how you feel when you're around your horse and how your horse feels being around you.

So these are ways that I find very powerful to connect with your horse and to, again, find that, to experience that feeling that you ultimately want, that motivates you to be with your horse, whether you're riding, playing with your horse on the ground, grooming, feeding, you know, all the things we do with our horses, right? It's. These will help you really embrace that sense of harmony between you and your horse.

That's it for step two. Okay, we have four more to go, so I hope you tune in. We're having bonus episodes as well as the regular weekly episodes of the podcast so that we get all six steps in, you know, six steps for creating horse human harmony. Easy to say, right? But don't forget, sign [email protected]. forward slash breathing horse. And I'll send you that audio file where you can do the connected breathing with your own horse.

Okay, so thank you so much for joining me. Love love sharing this work. I appreciate you so much and I look forward to talking to you soon. Bye for now.