Return to the Basics

Posted by LeeAnn on August 25th, 2009 at 01:13pm

No matter how many years I rode and trained horses, once year I would return to the basics. I would have some one put me through the exercises on a lunge line so that I could attend to my position and focus on the small, yet important details of aligning my body. Part of mastery in any subject is a review of the foundational basics. The purpose is not to just go through the motions but it is to experience the basics with beginners mind. True mastery of any subject is attention to the basics at a deeper and deeper level.

Part of my journey as a Divine Cowgirl is my attention to my spiritual practice. To engage in a spiritual practice is to engage in a journey of self-knowledge. Horses where my first real teachers about oneness and that the All that Is- exists in all things, is present everywhere at once and is the only, and all power of the Universe. By entering into a relationship with horses, I had to learn the language and way of being of something outside of the human experience. I called it my White horse experience.

Somehow horses opened me to the present moment. They taught me to connect to my own essence, my own nature, my own feminine energy. Feminine energy is the more nurturing side of expression. It is the energy of receptivity. It is the energy of being versus doing. While we all have both the masculine and feminine energy within us, typically in the Western culture the masculine energy of doing is what has been valued. When was the last time you were asked at a social gathering “What are you being these days?”

The Natural Horsemanship movement brought a more feminine approach to horsemanship. Because the central premise is about connecting and relationship rather than force and domination, more attention is placed on whom one is being while in relationship. It is about listening and responding rather than reacting and compulsion.

I believe it is time that we reconnect and claim our divine feminine nature. At least in the American culture the imbalance of the masculine expression has resulted in inappropriate use of power, money and the selfish expression of only “me.”

The healed feminine aspect balances community. It calls us to look at the good of the whole versus the good of only me. It calls us back to the aspect of God that is the Divine Mother – that which brings life. When we mother – nurture- our creativity, our lives, our horses, our children or world we open our hearts. We get back in touch with the spiritual quality of love – agape: a love that is wholly selfless.

The basics are calling. Will you answer the call by exploring and nurturing your basic divine feminine essence? Will you bring that essence forward into your service to the world? Will you bring that essence into your relationships?

I leave you with Saint Theresa’s Prayer…

Until next time,

leeann_sg

The Divine Cowgirl

Saint Theresa’s Prayer
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

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