CEGA


Discover your ideal relationship with your horse

CEGA creates an atmosphere of openness and trust in which to explore your own special horse-human bond. We want to help you remove blocks, deepen your awareness of the power within, and help you achieve your goals.


Saturday, August 28, 2010

Vibration
Lately I have been listening to lots of different people talk about vibration. They (Ester Hicks, Gary Douglas, Dain Heer and numerous others) say we are infinite beings and I believe them. They say we can have more of what we want in our lives and I believe them. Not because they said so. Because they have shown example after example of how it works. When you create a certain vibration or energy it attracts similar vibrations. This has been proving by scientists. The problem is we don’t look at ourselves as vibrational beings. If we can create the vibration of what we want to attract it will come. I want to have a great ride today, instead of I hope my horse doesn’t spook, buck, be lazy, take the wrong lead etc. We often get caught up in a reaction to something we don’t want that we forget to see what we have and what we want.
You might ask how do I do that? Next time you ride try this, find the feeling of what you are looking for and why you want it. Now stay with it as you move forward. Example: Before you get on remember a time when you had a fantastic ride. Remember what it felt like and what made it feel so great. Why you love horses and how your issues of the day begin to melt away as you ride. Don’t try to recreate that ride. Stay with the feeling that is creating the energy and vibration of how wonderful it was. Create that vibration and enjoy another yet different ride with your horse. The more time you spend in that space the easier it gets.
It takes practice and it can be done. We have spent so much time in our lives following the teachers of the day and then beating ourselves up for not being good enough or not having done it right instead of finding the energy and excitement of the lesson. Enjoying the ride and seeing what is right about this or that.
Yet it is really about how you feel and what your energy is like. When you feel good your vibration is different then when you feel bad. Horses are very sensitive to your vibration. They immediately know where you’re at when you come to visit with them. Horses normally vibrate at a higher level then we do. So…. Take advantage of the opportunity to vibrate at a higher level. Have more fun.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Endless possibilities

Right now, most everything in my life feels wide open and anything seems possible. It's pretty scary! The fact that we have the opportunity to create our own new selves and new directions is always there. Right now it is coming to the surface for a lot of people.
It's like riding (you knew I was going to say that, didn't you?). When you run into a block or stuck area while riding, there are endless ways to release and soften, to move forward, to avoid getting stuck in that space. Look first to your breath--where did it go? Then look to your energy--is it flowing or are there tight areas? Then ask how you can help the horse understand where you DO want him to go--not how you DON'T want him to be.
Then take that breath, soften that tension, and go for it. Once your horse realizes there won't be a fight, he will be happily surprised and much more willing! He'll wait til you figure it out. He just hopes it's sooner rather than later

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Another day another dollar.... another day another ride..... another ride another opportunity to learn and change how I see the world and how I move throughout my day.

Each day is a new opportunity to begin fresh with a new perspective on riding and on life. Today while I was at Pilate's I began the exercises from a place of trying. I continued to be frustrated with my inability to connect my body into a whole and really work from my core, until I began to let go of trying and find the flow of the energy. Once I began to work from the flow of energy I found new ability to be stronger and more fluid. When I was trying and holding myself in place I was stuck and could not move. When I thought about the energy moving through my pelvis and down into the floor. I noticed that it felt easier and that I felt stronger and believe it or not the more I could move. These concepts around energy, work for every aspect of my life. I discovered them through CEGAwork and I continue to be amazed at how they work in all aspects of my life. The more I get out of my own way the easier life becomes.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

If I'd known then what I know now...

Earlier this week, my daughter, Hannah , and I said good-bye to Hannah's thoroughbred gelding, Harley. Old age and various infirmities had finally caught up with him, and it was clearly time. We spent a lot of time reminiscing about the Harley we had known and loved.
Here's one of my most profound memories of him.

Some years ago, when Hannah was in Pony Club, we made arrangements to take a cross-country lesson with the club at the facility of a well-known, high-level eventing trainer. We were all very excited at the prospect--how cool would this be?!

The day before the lesson, we bathed and groomed Harley, and generally prepped him for his outing. He was somewhat agitated, but we attributed it to his picking up on our excitement. The next morning, when I went out to the barn to feed the horses, Harley wouldn't eat, was barely picking at his food, whinnying and very restless. Hannah coaxed him to eat, and we loaded him on the trailer for the long drive.

We arrived at the farm, tacked up, and began the lesson. Harley was tense and not listening to Hannah, which was very unusual for him. He would normally become excited and keyed up, but not distressed, the way he was this particular morning. The lesson was to start in the arena, and we all thought he would settle down once he started to work--maybe it was just the strange place that was unnerving him? The kids started jumping their ponies, and Hannah came off Harley. In good form, she got right back on and the lesson proceeded. She was cantering to a 3 foot vertical, just a single rail, when Harley shied very hard to the left, and Hannah came off again. She landed hard, broke her glasses, and although she really wanted to continue, it was clear that this schooling session was over for her. Someone caught Harley, and I took Hannah into the barn to find some ice for the egg on her head. We decided to ice her head for a while, then load up Harley and go home, to take her to see a doctor at home. Harley was frantic, and absolutely refused to get on the trailer until Hannah came out to load him--at which point he walked on as quietly as an old dog. He was clearly upset and worried about Hannah, and reassured when she appeared to take his lead rope. He was apologizing as clearly as if he had spoken out loud.

On the way home, Hannah and I talked a lot about what could have upset Harley so much. Suddenly, Hannah remembered the video we had been given before Harley came to live with us. It had been taken about ten years before, and showed Harley being ridden in a severe bit, with big spurs, in a dressage lesson, without any regard for the fact that this was a VERY sensitive horse, who never needed spurs. The video had been taken at the same farm where we had gone for our schooling session. This same video showed him at another farm, being rushed at the fences, and generally having a lousy time of it. He was not happy.

It was clear that, before our schooling session there, Harley had known what was coming, and he was completely undone by it. He was fearful, tense, and trying as hard as he could to tell us. And good boy that he was, he tried to be a professional when we got there.

Do I regret that we didn't do a better job of listening to him? Of course. If we had gotten out of our own way, taken a step back, we wouldn't have put either Harley or Hannah through a pretty unpleasant experience. But we were both caught up in the ego aspect of taking a lesson with this famed trainer, and thought Harley would adjust to our needs.

What is my take-home message from this episode? As always: listen to your horse, and to yourself. I mean really listen, on a deep level. Quiet your mind, take some deep breaths, and check in with your horse, and yourself. Get to a still place in your own head, and see what you come up with. Don't edit it--that's really important. Just listen. It's all there, just waiting for you to hear it. And thank you, Harley, for helping us to learn.