"Can Horses Really Help Me?"
Nafissa Shireen
Helping High Level Gen X Women Lead, Earn, & Build a Legacy on Their Own Terms | Equine-Guided Transformation & Embodied Leadership | The Prosperous Woman Coaching Co.
"How does coaching with horses help me, my team, my business? It seems like a nice experience, but what's the practical outcome?"
This is a common, and fair question I get asked often.
Like any coaching work, the session itself is the tip of the arrow that opens up awareness, facilitates finding answers, and provides support.
The real transformation and results happen in between sessions when clients apply what they've learned or become aware of to their day-to-day interactions, decisions, and actions.
Working with horses is a way to take that work deeper, to get powerful and fast results.
While the ways they help are many, I wanted to share a few ways that working with horses can positively impact you and your bottom line!
There are two main types of activities that I use with clients - reflective and active. Today I'm sharing on of the ways that reflective sessions can have a profound impact.
For starters simply observing horses "do their thing" – in itself is a transformational activity and the physiological effect it has on your body and nervous system is extremely beneficial to your life and business.
In this modern world we are overstimulated, oversaturated - content comes flying at us all the time.
From podcasts to webinars, to pieces of training, to courses and products we’ve purchased, to attending events, seminars, watching YouTube trainings, social media, networking, etc it’s NON STOP.
And especially the last couple of years as our lives have temporarily morphed online - we live in an online virtual world.
In addition to the electronic tethers, more than ever we seem to need to be “on”, to “show up”, to “pivot”, to“adapt”, to “stay relevant” to “implement” to “learn” etc, all while our world, relationships and lives changed dramatically.
For many, it was the difference between survival and losing everything.
It was already an issue before the pandemic, and now it's intensified.
This constant state of high energy, adrenaline, keeps our sympathetic nervous system (aka fight or flight mode) on full charge more often than not.
This is not natural. And when it takes over eventually our nervous system feels like it needs a major "reset".
Our modern lifestyle doesn't have natural spots or breaks where we have the chance to fully activate our parasympathetic (relaxation) nervous system to truly feel peace, calm, and full connection with ourselves!
It’s something we have to actively CHOOSE , and make time for– through self care, yoga, mindfulness, etc
While both parts of our autonomic nervous system are important, because of the world we live in, we tend to stay in an activated state much more than we are in a relaxed one.
Being in an activated state affects everything:
All of these internal thoughts and triggers - have a direct effect on our external outcomes - our health, our money, our leadership, our relationships, etc
What I love about living with a herd of horses is that any time I feel overstimulated – I simply leave it all inside and go outside and just sit with them, and watch them.
Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for hours.
Just me, my herd, our thoughts and stillness.
How does this help? Well, the benefits are twofold.
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There is so much wisdom in how they approach the world and a lot of metaphors we can apply to our own lives, simply from observation.
When it comes to us living in an overstimulated state, horses teach us so much about balancing our sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.
As prey animals – horse are certainly known for their “flight” response.
That flight response is crucial to their survival. When they need the energy to flee, they need it to be available and at full strength and intensity.
That's why horses are also extremely efficient.
When you observe them you notice how most of the time they are in a fully relaxed state – if something catches their curiosity that may be a danger unless it’s fully imminent, they first raise their head, point their ears to see what’s going on.
If they determine it's nothing, they go back to their relaxed state.
However, if they think there is a danger - then they don't ask, they don't think, they don't strategize - they just GO.
And can they ever RUN! Even my 28-year-old senior, when he's in full-on flight mode is amazing to watch the speed and agility that he is capable of pulling out of seemingly nowhere.
Yet the moment horses realize there is no more danger – they instantly return to a fully relaxed state and go on about their day.
They don’t carry that stress with them, they don’t feel the need – in fact, they can’t –it’s actually dangerous for them to stay in that heightened state.
They need to spend much more time in their relaxed state in order for them to be able to have the power and energy ready and available when they need it.
There's a big lesson in that for us as humans first, business leaders second.
They teach us that yes, there are times that we need to be "on". Yes, there are times we need to just "GO".
Yet for us to be fully engaged and present and effective in those moments of “on” – we also need to have even more moments of calm, relaxation, presence, and connection to ourselves.
We also need to be in our relaxed state more than we are in a heightened state.
It's when we are in that fully in our parasympathetic nervous system, our "rest & digest" mode, that we are truly in our most relaxed and creative.
From that state we are able to gain clarity on things that had been swirling in our head, to uncover what has been percolating just below the surface in our subconscious minds, and from that place of clarity with facilitation, we are then able to connect the dots that hadn't been connecting before, and make the right decisions for us, take the actions (even the uncomfortable ones) and create amazing results in our lives and business.
But you know what's even better than simply modeling why relaxation is important?
When we are in their presence, horses actually bring it out in us and help us naturally regulate and arrive in that state.
Yup - just being in their presence can bring you to your most relaxed, self-aware, creative, and inspired state of being.
Just like horses co-regulate each other in the Herd, they also co-regulate with us, which is why it's natural to feel so relaxed and calm and sleep really well after spending a day with a herd of horses just doing their thing.
How do they do that? Well, you'll have to wait until next week to find out, as I'll dive into this as well as share a study done by the Heart Math Institute showing how horses can impact Human's Heart Rate Variability.
I hope though that today, I was able to give you a peek into one small but hugely impactful practical benefit and outcome that working with horses can create.
What could you create if you had the opportunity to unplug from the overstimulation, the electronic tethers, and all the demands that come at you all day, and to fully drop into your most relaxed and creative state?
If you'd ever like to find out, drop me a line, and we'll make it happen.
I gained so many insights from our time together working with the horses particularly about how I show up in my business and the opportunities I might be overlooking. And it almost immediately (ok within 3 weeks) translated into an increase in income because I took advantage of an opportunity, plus I did raise my fees after Chip insisted … Hands down the personal retreat was lifechanging. I mean if I can move an 1100lbs horse just by focusing my energy on it, what else can I do? That was eye-opening. Highly recommend the experience to unlock hidden potentials.