Overcoming obstacles…. the thrill of jumping the fences in life!
Have you ever ridden a horse cross-country?
Or experienced the amazing feeling of riding in harmony with another horse-being, jumping fences and taking the pace and the obstacles, all in your stride?
As time is speeding up, being able to ride the pace, stay calm in the saddle, feel confident that we are holding the reins is all increasingly important.
Knowing how to overcome obstacles is vital. Rather than fall into emotional spirals of fear, anxiety and the many symptoms that make up stress, with the right strategies, the “challenges” become opportunities for us to reach higher, expand our comfort zones and even begin to enjoy the exhilaration of flying over fences into pastures new.
One of my favourite riding instructors gave me immaculate advice: sit back and allow your horse to carry you forward in life.
So making the time to meditate, to calm your mind, enables the calm to resonate at a cellular level. Yoga and Qi Gong and Tai Chi bring you back into your body, helping you to centre, focus and feel strong, flowing energy. Any combination of the above, practiced regularly, with joy (rather than pressure) will help you reconnect with your life-horse at a deeper level. This will enable you to get into your life stride: so you can ride in greater harmony and allow your horse to carry you up and over challenges along the way.
There are clear steps to model for jumping fences on horse-back successfully and they can be beautifully translated into day-to-day living:
* Walk the course first – on foot, see the reality of the size of the fences and work out how many “strides” you will need to jump each one. It is essential to be grounded! The faster the pace of your life, the more important it is that you can feel firmly grounded, in your body and are able to consider the best realistic strategy for any challenging situation. Look at the fence from both sides – take off and landing. See difficult situations from various perspectives and this will help you distance yourself emotionally and find the more balanced, sleek and success-oriented solution.
* When you are preparing to jump the fences, warm up first, jumping smaller fences in the practice ring first
Ensure you are not taking on too much! If a challenge or situation feels overwhelming, look at bite size pieces that you feel you can deal with. Build your confidence and then have that final face to face conversation that takes the most strength, clarity and courage!
* Find your own mantra that helps you stay in the zone
*Create an internal belief that you CAN jump the fence! and repeat it like a mantra “over” and “over” again. Ensure it is positively stated and in the present tense, this will encode your cellular memory, so that you begin to resonate this belief: that means you will be feeling it as a truth, rather than purely something positive you are saying.
* Practice, practice, practice – remember there is no failure, only feedback to help you adapt and refine your techniques.
* Visualise, in a multi-sensory way, what you will be seeing, hearing and feeling when you have cleared the fence successfully. Write this down and read it back to yourself regularly. Just imagine… the excitement and anticipation of that feeling of clearing the fence. Maybe even relief!
Enjoy becoming a master of your own life, see the obstacles as opportunities for you to heighten your awareness, expand your consciousness and blossom magnificently, in body, heart and mind.
For life coaching to enhance your ability to sail over the higher fences and navigate the cheeky obstacles that turn up unexpectedly…. contact larah@ibizaretreats.com.