Pain is a messenger from our nervous system on a mission to get us to stop everything and pay-attention-inside-now. Whether we’re experiencing pain coming from a physical injury that’s causing us to slow down so we don’t injure ourselves worse, or an emotional wound that’s made us retreat and reevaluate our lives… pain is a teacher.

While I wish for everyone to live a pain-free life, I know that simply, unfortunately, isn’t realistic. So the reason I write ‘turn pain into purpose’ is because it’s time we transformed not just the way that we assess and respond to pain, but the way that we think of pain.

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Growing up in the horse world, I became accustomed to seeing horses exhibiting behaviors that were a result of pain. I had my own blinders on, because I was taught at traditional stables that this was “normal.” 

Looking back, I know that there is nothing “normal” about a horse being in pain. However, in a world that views them as tools to be used, regardless of how they felt, physically and mentally, pain was almost inevitably a bi-product of horse-human interactions.

Thankfully, at a young age, when I was disillusioned and burnt out on traditional equitation because of dominating, toxic views like this, I found a natural horsemanship community that turned my whole world around. 

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“By having to stare at and walk alongside the unflinching oblivion that is grief, you acknowledge that from then on, nothing will be the same. There is no going back, and that is a very, very, very sad thing. But one day, at least this is true in my experience, it will become easier to also understand that while nothing will bring them back, nothing can take away the good memories you have of them, and the love that you will always have for them.”

Read on or listen here to learn about my insights on the importance of validating pain in others (human and nonhuman animals), how strength of spirit is so much more valuable than physical strength, the phenomenon of losing a loved one and then birthing new life into the world, and much more.

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It may be the strangest sentence I’ve ever written: how horse medicine helped me during labor. But surely, stranger things have happened, and been written. And in hindsight, horses are a tonic in so many other ways - so why not also to get me through the most painful, daunting initiation of my life?

My “you can do this” could only have made the impact it did coming from a hypnotic Labor Land induced vision of my horse, because in my life, horses are the beings who consistently push me, and reassure me that I indeed, can do this. And the inspiration I get from them informs absolutely everything else. I believe we don’t actually need to ride horses, or even be training with them to feel the benefits of equine therapy. We need simply to open ourselves to their guidance. Then it’s our job to move on, one step at a time.

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How was this horse seeing me so clearly? X-ray vision was an amusing explanation for my imagination. X-ray machines can detect bone fractures, some types of injuries to the soft tissue, tumors, even lung or heart problems. However, emotions and their movements, or lack thereof, within the body, remain unseen by even the most sophisticated machines.

The emotional, unseen realm is where horses have technology beat, without question. Horses possess a wisdom akin to what is hard-won by our species most devoted sages and seers. If a part of me had ever doubted this truth, even after a lifetime of being in relationship with horses, this experience would make me a full-fledged believer.

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Our work in this life is to live in a way that brings balance to our elemental constitution. Ayurveda teaches us that disease can be caused from becoming distorted from our true nature.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve experienced Nature “correcting me on my path” countless times. We can do everything we can to “make things happen”, but if Nature has other plans for us, she’ll make them happen. And Nature always wins. The key is, and what we’re really getting into in this post and episode #6 Elemental Constitutions and Right Relationships, is how to not be in conflict with Nature… our Nature and our horse’s to be exact.

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I know firsthand how emotions can be… well, overwhelming! And thus, why we suppress them into the deep, dark corners of our mind - and body. If you’ve listened to episode #4 Emotional Intelligence and Returning to Our Bodies, then you know my story about how I effectively suppressed emotions from traumatic childhood events until my early 20’s. To truly return to my body, I had to address the chronically held emotions that had taken up residence within me until I was ready to look at them, and ultimately, free them. Long story short, I had to become emotionally intelligent.

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