Before my riding lesson last week, I stumbled across this poem by Thomas Zanzig, which was tucked inside a booklet entitled, Learning to Meditate:
"What lies behind us
and what lies
before us
are small
compared to
what lies
within us."
I went for a walk, hoping the magic words would sink in. Instead, my brain did a pre-ride Q & A.
Q: Will the wind make the indoor arena sound like a haunted house?
A: Yes.
Q: Will my horse spook?
A: Probably.
Q: What if I don’t get my heels down fast enough?
A: ???Disaster.
When I returned from my walk, I read further in the booklet:
“Relax the body and the mind, and the heart will follow.”
That sounded promising. Then this:
“Catch your breath and it will free you.”
Cool!
In a corner of my office without books or dog toys, I sat cross-legged on the floor. There’s no way I could do this for long without resting my back, so I leaned against the wall and hoped it still counted as, “keeping an upright, straight back.” Then, I took ten full breaths – inhaling deeply from my stomach and exhaling slowly.
Without invitation or warning, another question popped into my head.
Q: What if the wind is so loud that it spooks my horse, and I don’t get my heels down fast enough?
But this time, there was a different answer.
A: Just breathe, I told myself.
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