Back in the saddle again. Muscles screaming from sitting around hour after hour in the name of “the holidays” are stretched into relief. As I ride out towards the mown corner of the field, I go through some of the mounted rider exercises that make my clients cry and curse, and cause one student to dub me her “Evil Master.” That followed up by teaching Brego, the horse, lateral work (moving sideways and forwards simultaneously, a great strengthening and stretching exercise) and riding out a pretty harmless bucking fit alternately torture and massage muscles back to life.
After some intense dressage training, I take Brego for a breather around the field to let him catch his breath and his thoughts. I ponder thoughts of my own.
We know how to care for horses to keep them at their physical. mental and emotional peak. Too, we know what we need to do to keep our own bodies at the top of their game. We know to eat right, take our vitamins, and drink waaaay more water in the day than we think we need. We know the stretches the chiropractor promises will keep us out of his office, and we know to floss at least once a day after we brush. And that whole 8 hours of sleep a night concept? Sounds divine!
So what of reality? What about those vitamins that long to see the light of day? What of that flossing and those stretches, that take only a few minutes of applied intentionality but yield priceless returns? What good is that knowledge when it festers in forgotten brain-space?
It takes 21 days to form a new habit. Actions spring from habits, lives are shaped through actions. We don’t need New Year’s to commit to transmuting old intentions into new habits.The bargain of the year for eternal youth–or at least vibrant living.