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Mad about Meditation?

  • Mar 24
  • 5 min read

When you think about working within the Equestrian industry, the word ‘meditation’ is probably not on the tip of your tongue… Am I right? Well, in many ways, you are doing it more than you think! Principles of meditation can be adapted to help us both at home and at our “second home” with our equine friends.


So, what is meditation? It’s a word almost all of you will have heard in your lifetime, but to many, the concept can still be quite confusing. Simply defined: meditation is a practice that involves focussing or clearing your mind using a combination of mental and physical techniques. It can be used for multiple purposes, both religious and non-religious, and can benefit people in many areas of their lives depending on the type of meditation chosen.


Now, many of you are probably now thinking “this is sounding a little too Woo Woo for me”. Hang on in there, science has proven the effectiveness and many health benefits of meditation.

Randomised controlled trial studies have shown a reduction in stress, depression, chronic pain and anxiety through meditative practices. Unfortunately, in this industry, conditions like these are seen all too often (don’t worry – EquiHaven’s mission is to raise global standards of equestrian working conditions). Besides, something about this subject has intrigued you… otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this! 


 

My Personal story with meditation

Just like many of you reading this, my personal reality did not (until recently!) encompass the idea of meditation. In fact, I was confined to the thought process that meditation was best suited to monks wearing robes in the wilderness or the unthinkably wealthy housewife sunning it up in Beverly Hills. Further still, “when on earth would a busy groom like me even find the time to meditate?”. Boy was I wrong….     


Now, I must take a minute to deeply thank my partner Tim for introducing me to the practice of meditation. He was already an avid ‘meditator’ when we met and runs a fabulous spiritual web shop (Little Lights – link below!). As the saying goes, “if you can’t beat them, join them!”. Instantly I was hooked. I would be lying if I didn’t say that progress was slow in the beginning, but just like anything worth working for, you’ve got to keep chipping away and you will see results. I began meditating towards the latter stage of my full-time grooming career but certainly wish that I had started earlier.


My chosen practices are visualisation and manifestation meditations. Both can be performed for as long or short as you wish, and I personally practice daily. Whilst these meditations equally aim to help you achieve your desires, manifestation requires more purposeful thoughts and feelings to raise your energy frequency and bring these desires into reality. Visualisation focuses more on mental imagery to achieve specific goals or outcomes. However, the act of visualisation itself plays a large role in the manifestation process.


You’re busy. I get it. However, everyone can find 10-15 minutes per day to give meditation a try! Begin by stopping with scrolling and putting that phone down OR setting that alarm clock 10 minutes earlier. That’s how I did it! If you truly feel that the morning just won’t work for you (although that’s what I find works best for me), try meditating in the evening as you’re winding down for bed. It would be an understatement to say meditation has transformed my life. Seriously. I feel focussed and driven towards what I want to achieve in life, stress levels dramatically decreased, flowed more confidence to stand up for how I wished to be treated and (I believe) these days became quite the optimist (although you’d have to ask Tim about that!).      



Back to the horses - How can YOU implement meditative/mindfulness techniques?

As I’ve already suggested, taking time before or after the busy hustle of ‘groom life’ to practice meditation has certainly helped me to take steps towards the person I wish to be. However, there are plenty of tips to help calm the mind and allow dreams to come to fruition during even the busiest of workdays. Let’s take a look….   


MUCKING OUT: I think it is universally acknowledged that we do some of our best thinking and problem solving during this task. Why not take this time to manifest what you want to achieve? That dream holiday, moving up a level in your riding, starting your own stable or other business, financial freedom. It’s all possible if you take time to feel how great it will feel when you achieve your goals and plan how you will get there. You will! 


VISUALISE YOUR PERFECT SCHOOLING SESSION, TEST, OR CLEAR ROUND: Of course, this applies if you are a groom/working pupil that rides yourself. However, even visualising a great day at work or overcoming daily fears and stresses is equally as useful! Watching videos of personal experiences that went well are extremely useful and this technique is performed by many elite riders and athletes globally.


HACKING OUT/TRAIL RIDES: If the conditions and horse are safe enough to do so, try riding in the forest or place of nature. Begin by slowly practicing breathwork – for example, the box breathing technique described in our ‘Feeling Stressed?’ blog. Allow your head to empty and re-set for positive thoughts. I’m sure your horse will thank you for it too!


BONDING TIME WITH HORSES: I’m not sure about you, but there’s something about being the first or last person at the stable and just hearing the collective munching of hay. I personally like to stay a little longer to groom some of the horses and just let my head unwind and wander from a busy day. Often, I’ll leave the stable with a smile on my face and ready to tackle other goals of mine!


POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS: These can be performed in even the craziest of times! As difficult as it may seem, taking a few seconds or minutes to re-affirm to yourself that you are doing the best you can, everything is working out for you and to see the positives is truly so important. This applies not only to creating a healthy work environment, but to all aspects of life.


This blog is just a taster to possibly inspire you to go off and explore some options. Allow yourself to experiment and see if and how meditation could be implemented into your horsey lifestyle. As a disclaimer, I personally am not a meditation instructor and equally advocate seeking professional medical help when needed. I am, however, a lover of practicing meditation on a daily basis and passionate about helping other horse lovers feel a little less anxiety and a lot more determination to live the life they desire.


Keep smiling,


Steven

Team EquiHaven 



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