Writing of Hearts and Horses
“You are safe here,” Jeannette announces to our guests upon arrival. Knowing we were about to embark upon a compacted long weekend of heart expanding endeavors, she wanted the intention of the retreat to be clear and direct; here, we are safe with our writing, with our emotions and with our experiences.
Horses are able to reflect human moods, and being horses, they don't judge or react the way humans often do to the people they are working with.
We all came from various parts of the state, some came from Arizona, others just from the next town over. What we came for, arrived at, and left with will stay with us forever.
This was a retreat of hearts.
The intention of many for this retreat was simply to express love and feel ease to do so in a safe place. We practiced bringing life-force energy into our bodies as breath and exhaled it, achemized into words.
From the detached perspective of the writer’s chair it is easy to forget that the primary purpose of writing is for it to mean something to someone other than you — another human being.
There are times when yoga and writing are simply not enough. We must integrate the land into our souls by exploring it, to see a horizon our eyes cannot comprehend. We change our habits by sleeping in a teepee. We eat and live communally at the ranch yet despite this proximity to each other, there’s a touch that somehow feels out of reach. Sometimes, simply knowing what could be is our true work. Discovering it is pure joy.
Could connection be simply connecting with a quadruped with a long tail, short hair, long slender legs, muscular and deep torso build, long thick necks, and a large elongated head?
“The horse is an amazing animal
and there’s so much research now that is
advancing our understanding of how
horse-human interactions impact health.”
I will write more about the retreat in my next newsletter. It was a manifesting weekend both cosmically and figuratively. (Even if you’re a astrological doubter, this will be an interesting read.)
I’m still integrating this rich experience and there’s so much to share but today, I want to share the spirit of our experience with photos. I’m now surrendering to my other roles as I launch into a new week of work and life.
