by Connor Hill, CHCR Facilitator

If you saw the movie Avatar, you might remember how the indigenous people were in communion with the animals on Pandora. Though we don’t have the same physical neural-connection pathway with animals that the Na’vi do, we can still energetically create a similar communion and discover more about ourselves in the process.

The first time I was invited to connect with a horse in this way was through Access Consciousness. Before coming to Access, I had little to no experience with horses. My first “real” rides were at a 7-Day event in Costa Rica, where for the first time I was able to let loose on a horse, kicking into full cantor during tropical downpours.

As I’ve continued to ride and explore my communion with these animals, they’ve helped me find the specialness of me by uncovering my capacities with animals, never judging me, and showing me how to be me.

Are You Acknowledging Your Capacities?

Before I began working closely with horses, I didn’t know that I had a capacity to communicate with animals. Those rides in Costa Rica were the first time anyone acknowledged that I have a different way of communicating with animals, which allowed me to acknowledge it too. What is this capacity? Horses and I share the ability to “hear” one another from a different space—beyond body language, beyond sensorial cues, and beyond words. In acknowledging our capacities and communion, a greater space of contribution opens up, and I can receive more from them.

Are you Functioning from No Judgment?

As I opened to receive more from horses and spent more time with them, the more I could see that they don’t judge me or buy into any of my bullshit. They don’t sugar coat things and can’t be manipulated by the feelings that I create to control others. They show me how to be in a space of complete allowance—no judgment—for me and for them. I find it’s in that space of allowance that I can best access the specialness of me.

Are You Willing to BE?

I learned early on that horses provided a mirror for who I was being. What do I mean by this? When I’m not being me they don’t tell me I’m wrong for not being me or look at me funny, they just don’t come near me. If I’m not willing to receive, if I’m not totally vulnerable as and with me, and if I’m not being true to me, they don’t care to stand next to me.
So then I have to ask, “Ok, who or what can I be?” I have to be something different: the difference I truly be when I am me. This isn’t a “me” that is defined, it’s the unfolding undefined being that I truly be.

As Gary Douglas, the founder of Access Consciousness and Conscious Horse Conscious Rider says: “Be willing to be the animal that is not the animal that allows the animal to realize that there is a different possibility.”

Through helping me acknowledge my capacities, in their space of non-judgment, and by providing a mirror to when I’m being me, horses are constantly showing me more of the specialness of me.

What might you learn about the specialness of being you from interacting with horses? Find out more of the possibilities with this recent event from Conscious Horse Conscious Rider, part of the Specialness of You event. [link]