In the Jade Dragon tradition we say that every person possesses 3 wild horses. These 3 horses are largely out of control and pull us this way and that. They drain us of energy with their wildness and age us prematurely.
What are our 3 horses?
- The wild horse of breathing. Our breath is shallow, ragged and at the mercy of our emotional states.
- The wild horse of the the body. Our bodies are full of tension that we constantly fight against. They are uncoordinated and disconnected from the earth.
- The wild horse of the mind. Our minds are unfocused and leap from thought to thought generating anxiety and stress out of nothing.
As any horseman knows before you can train a horse you have to tame it first. You have to break it to your will. So before we can properly train our wild horses we must tame them.
- The wild horse of breathing
Learn to control your breathing at all times so that it is always soft, slow and smooth. This will give you great control over your physical, mental and emotional self. Smoothness of breath equals smoothness of thoughts and emotions.
- The wild horse of the body
Learn to stand and move so that you don’t trigger excess tension in the upper body. Both standing and moving practices are essential and complement each other. - The wild horse of the mind
Learn to focus your mind on one thing and keep it there for extended periods of time. Focus on sounds, internal sensations or a visual image. Don’t waste your mental energy on leaping from thought to thought.
Only when you have tamed your wild horses can you begin to train them further. There are many more advanced practices that will benefit your health and wellbeing to extraordinary degrees. But you cannot train what you cannot control.
Come along to one of our classes to find out how. Or learn from home with our ever growing database of skills and knowledge.