As Mental Health Awareness Month comes to a close, we here at Medicine Horse, where mental health and well-being are our priorities, are excited to continue to support you and help you understand how working with horses, supporting our programs, and joining our community will help us all come together with care and positive experiences.
The beginning of mental health is awareness. At Medicine Horse, we come together and share the stories of our struggles. The more we are willing to talk about it, the more we realize that we are not alone, and that we all struggle with anxiety, depression, feeling confident, isolated and stuck. We are also aware of the complexity of mental health and how it is embedded in social, cultural, and systemic forces. Horses show us the way to be with and to work through the mental health challenges we all carry with us, and their language is connection. Connection is our way of creating positive and corrective experiences that build resilience, community, and a safe place to bring our struggles. Horses teach us how to seek health in mind and soul, and this month, we want to bring that to you!
Connection starts with awareness.
Connection happens in the body.
Connection happens when we are present.
Connection teaches us that we have worth.
These are the building blocks of mental health, and we are here to help you no matter where you are! Our groups are:
1. Mental Health starts with Connection, and connection starts with awareness. Horses are biologically aware all the time! They are built for survival, and awareness is their way of staying safe. This means that they are aware of us, themselves, and their surroundings. They teach us to be aware without judgment of what is happening around us, in us, and between us. We become aware of how we show up, what we are telling ourselves, and what we believe about ourselves and others. Imagine being the pasture with our herd… what are you aware of?
2. Mental Health starts with connection… and connection happens in the body. Horses are embodied, while humans struggle with being in our bodies. We often get stuck in our heads… overthinking, racing thoughts, repetitive and intrusive thoughts, brain fog, a sense of disconnection.… all signs that we need to connect with our bodies. Horses’ bodies are big, small, warm, alive. They help us to find our way back to ourselves as we breath, move, and slow down.
3. Mental Health starts when we start to practice being present. Horses are always present. They live in the moment, and help us to be there with them. When we are present, the stresses of the past and fitter dissolve and we find the peace of the moment. This helps to offer relief, perspective, and a sense of space that we all need to step back into our lives.
4. Mental health starts with connection, and when we have connection, we feel worthy and like we belong. At Medicine Horse, we aim to build community for our participants. Our herd is human and horses… where we all belong. This reminds us that we are okay, cared for, and that we have a place where we can be ourselves and belong.
