"Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is...The only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds." Dan Milman


A month or so ago I wrote a bit about pain and suffering from the Buddhist view point. How to live your life through the Eightfold by the Buddha who was born again through suffering. Since I’m coming out a prior week in the dumpster this quote seemed rather fitting. Now that I’m done throwing my own personal pity party I’m dragging myself back up into the saddle by my bootstraps – which is a bit harder than it was the last time as this time my solace was found in beer and ice cream. Not only am I suffering from an emotional hangover but a sugar one as well and oh yeah my pants are hurting me!

My man Dan is an awesome guy here that wrote this, he also wrote a book called The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, it’s a delight to read and I highly recommend it. He writes in a very down to earth, easy to understand manner. Which gauging from the feedback from some of you I’m a tad fluffy and hard to understand. Well EXUSE the hell outta me!

Back to the lesson at hand…. Being a horse trainer has taught me much about resistance, there isn’t any other sport that you can so easy be demonstrated your own personal resistance to that of working with a horse. I quite literally watch my horses demonstrate the same patterns of behavior as my clients time and time again. And yes my horses demonstrate my resistances too – there are times when I leave the barn both relieved and pissed off at myself. Riding is all about pressure and timing. You teach your horse to “give” to pressure by seeking a release. How the horse learns to get to that point is often demonstrating much resistance, there is nothing like watching a flight animal try to flee pressure, it can be rather scary at times having a thousand pounds either run at a fence to get away or attempt to take you down with them under their feet. Our jobs, as a rider is timing our release to be immediate to when the horse makes and effort to try to seek a release, it is instant with an action.

With that in mind, think of a situation in your life that’s giving you some grief, and no it can’t just be your job either, put some effort into it. Perhaps a situation with a person? People laugh at me (or get incredibly offended) when I say you can train yourself and people the same way as you train a horse. If you think I’m insane let me tell you the one change that occurs when a horse learns to give seek a release rather than resist. An overwhelming aura of peace and fluidity… Every horse that makes the connection to seek a release over resistance is forever changed; there is no magic in it even though to some owners it seems like magic. There is no loss of sprit, in fact the horse actually looks larger and moves with more presence when they make this connection.

Perhaps for those of us humans we must try to no longer resist, and quit trying to “make the magic last”. Instead of resisting and dreading our jobs, our chosen work, we move into it with fluidity, alive, filled with new emotions, and curious to see what might happen next. While not all of you have the opportunity to work a horse through resistance you most definitely have the opportunity to work yourself through resistance. If you ever wish to see resistance in it’s raw form, let me know unless of course you are one of my readers who has watched me work a horse in the round pen, then you know the visual up close and personal. There is no difference on the connection of learning that a horse makes through an exercise than the one you make when you release a situation from your psyche.

Until next time, seek release - seek fluidity seek to be like our four legged friends.