The Year Of The Horse: Momentum In Motion (Part 4)

Part 4 of The Year of the Horse: Momentum in Motion is a gentle, grounding live session focused on integration, stewardship, and trusting your natural pace. Together, we explore how to stay aligned with the path you’ve begun without forcing, rushing, or abandoning yourself in the process. Through supportive teaching, reflective journaling, and embodied practices, this session invites you to deepen self-trust, honor course corrections, and cultivate sustainable momentum rooted in integrity rather than urgency. Please note this is a previously recorded Insight Timer Live Session and some background noise is expected.

Transcript

Hello, Hello, And welcome everybody. I'm just going to allow a couple of minutes for folks to arrive to the space. So just take a few moments and look around your environment, See if there is anything that you can do to make yourself one percent more comfortable. So maybe you can quickly grab a glass of water or close a door, Let a family member know that you are dedicated for this next hour. Whatever it is for you, Definitely take a couple moments to create a really comfortable space. We're going to be here together for an hour and great to see so many folks putting comments in the chat. So hi, Peter Brook, Good morning, Your time. It's 8. 30 p. M. Here in the UK, But I know some of you are tuning in all across the globe. Jean from Chicagoland, And hi, Loretta, All the way from California. I hope you're getting some lovely sunshine and great, Great to see everybody and welcome. So I'm so excited for this session. If you are new to this space and you haven't seen me before, Welcome. My name is Dr. Megan Kirk Chang. I've been on Insight Timer since the beginning of the pandemic, So going on six years now. And I absolutely love this platform, Not only as a facilitator and teacher, But I've been an active student and user of this platform for many, Many years. So if you are new to Insight Timer, There is something for everybody. There are thousands upon thousands of different audios and courses. New to the platform soon will be videos, So you can have a bit more of an integrated or embodied experience. So it's really exciting that that's coming down the pipelines. And yeah, Just really, Really grateful to be here and bring folks together across the globe. So a lot of my work centers around healing from trauma, Healing from adversity, Chronic stress, Burnout. I think collectively, Our globe is in a really interesting time where now more than ever, We are seeing a lot of stress and stressful events across the globe, Which can magnify our own personal experience no matter where we are based. So we have access to news and social media and comments like never before. And so I think it's really important that we remember that at the core of our globe, We are human beings. And what that means today is setting aside some time for you to reflect, To go inwards, To think about what it means for yourself to really pause and connect with the essence of who you are. I think sometimes when we are in fear or we are in discomfort, We can disconnect from the essence of who we are. And when I say the essence of who we are, What I mean is just really connecting with the core values of who you are, What makes you feel aligned and connected to yourself. So my hope for you, Whether it's through this session or through your access to this platform, Is that you carve out that time to connect with yourself. We need it more than ever. So welcome to part four of the Year of the Horse Momentum in Motion. And you're not behind if you haven't seen part one, Two or three, You can head to my teacher profile and those live session recordings are uploaded to my teacher profile. I do recommend doing them in order from part one through to part four, Just to understand where we've been and where we're going, But you don't have to. Everything is standalone as well. But definitely feel free to head back and revisit those at any time. And so over the past three sessions, We've really moved through an arc together. So in part one, Back in January, We honored the closing out of the Year of the Snake. So we talked a lot about shedding what no longer serves us. What does that look like to declutter our lives, Whether that's physically, Mentally, Spiritually, Emotionally. So we did a lot of work in January to let go, To release the shedding, So to speak, So that we were prepared to arrive to the Year of the Horse. Now in part two, In February, When the actual transition of the Lunar New Year occurred, And we stepped into the Year of the Horse, Part two, We talked about what it means to set intentions. I still remember the words that folks brought to the live session that they wanted to in the Year of the Horse. Clarity, Love, Peace, Resilience, Motion. There was a lot of beautiful words that we set as our intention of how we wanted to feel. And we talked about learning to trust our intuition. When you think symbolically of what the horse symbolizes, They are guided by intuitive sense. And we talked about naming the direction that we were ready to move towards. And that takes a lot of courage. And then in part three, Last month, In March, We explored the power of the pause before launching. We maybe talked about something that was a bit unexpected when we think of the Year of the Horse and momentum in motion. We talked about recognizing that momentum rooted in wisdom moves differently than urgency. And so this idea of the power of the pause before launching forwards into motion, That's what we talked about in part three. And so today, Here we are, Part four, And we're arriving more at integration today. Maybe you've started to see in the last couple of months since the transition to the Year of the Horse, Something starting to move in motion for yourself. Maybe you're still feeling a little bit stuck or unsure. So today, We're talking about integration and stewardship and what that means as we continue along this Year of the Horse. So this is the moment where movement now becomes a relationship with yourself, Where we trust ourselves more deeply, Where we can access our intuition, Honor it, Start to notice it a little bit quicker. This takes time. And the path that you're on or the path that you've set your intention to be on is no longer just an idea. It's something that you're now learning to actually nurture and care for. So tonight, We're also talking about stewardship, And that's how do we stay in right relationship with what we have begun? So how do we stay in alignment with what we are starting? As life unfolds, As things shift and change, Surprises happen, Or life asks more of us, Or we experience a setback, What does it look like to remain aligned with the relationship and intuition that we've begun to cultivate? And how do we trust ourselves enough to adjust without abandoning the deeper truth of the direction we want to go? So this session is less about pushing forwards or proving or about speed. It's much more about cultivating partnership with the energy that is already here for you and already carrying you forward. Okay, So that's where we're going today. If you haven't done so already, Grab a notebook and a pen, You might want to jot a few things down. I do have a few reflection questions sprinkled in throughout the session. And I'll try to remember to write them in the chat so folks can revisit them as well. But always remember, I'm recording the audio of this. And we'll have that uploaded to my teacher profile as well. So you can allow the learnings to integrate a little bit. And then you can come back and listen again. So we always hear things a little bit differently the next time that we revisit that. So before we dive in, You know the drill, We are going to arrive gently into the body. It's really important that we ground ourselves for this next hour. So I just invite you to find a posture in your environment that feels supportive for you. So maybe that's lying down right now, Maybe on your side, Your back, Maybe it's sitting upright in a chair, Cross-legged, Just notice what feels supportive for yourself. And if it feels safe and right for you, You can gently soften your gaze downwards off the tip of the nose, Or you can flutter the eyes to a close if that feels right. So when we draw one of our senses to soften, It attunes the other senses. So choose what feels right for you in this moment. If you'd like, You can take a slow, Deep inhale through the nose. And as you do so, Just notice the sensation, Sense into the breath coming into the body, Where do you feel it? And then taking a slow exhale out through the mouth. Maybe you audibly hear the breath, Maybe not. There's no right or wrong. Let's just sense into the body, Into the breath right now, Noticing the subtle shifts, The subtle sensations of breath coming in. And the subtle sensations of breath moving out. Maybe it's the first time today that you bring awareness to breath. And if it feels right for you, Just noticing the places where your body is already holding you. So maybe you feel the solid surface of your chair beneath you, Or the floor beneath your feet. Just continuing to sense through the breath and recognizing that in this moment right now, There's no need to strive. There's no need to perfect. We're just tuning into what is, Allowing each moment to unfold just exactly as it is. Remembering there's no right or wrong. And if it feels right for you, Just notice the physical sense of the body. Maybe you notice there's a little tension in some areas of the body. Or maybe a gurgling stomach from a meal you're digesting, An itch or a scratch. Just notice and sense into what the physical body is revealing in this moment without judgment. Maybe there's some intuitive movement, Like a shoulder roll or a little stretch of the neck side to side. Maybe you sense into the forehead and notice if you can melt the muscles between the eyebrows. Just bringing a softness to your physical body. And spending as much time tuning into the physical sense. And as you're ready, Notice the emotional tone of your body right now. What are the emotions that might be here? Maybe there's a neutrality. Maybe there's a feeling or a sense of anxiety or worry, Uncertainty, Hope, Curiosity. Just allowing the emotional tone of the body to be as it is. We're not trying to fix or alter change right now, Just sensing in and acknowledging, Giving validation to the emotional tone arriving here in this moment. So often we spend our time dismissing, Distracting, Avoiding our emotions. That it can feel a little awkward or uncomfortable at first to allow what is to be here. And just notice if you can greet each emotion with kindness, Compassion, Curiosity. Continuing to sense into the breath, Notice if you can let the shoulders soften just a little bit more. And gently ask yourself, What pace am I arriving to this session at today? No need to change it, No need to judge it, Just witnessing. What is the pace that I'm arriving? To this session today? There's a whole spectrum of paces that might exist from feeling really lethargic, Fatigued to distracted. So what is the pace for you in this moment? And as we start to get into our session today, You can continue to keep the eyes closed and just inwardly reflect. What has been moving in you lately? What motion or movement has been moving in you lately? What feels uncertain? What feels intuitively aligned? And where am I being invited to trust myself more deeply? In community, Taking one more deep breath in through the nose and exhale breath through the mouth. Ah Gently returning presence and awareness to your space. Maybe bring some subtle movements to the fingertips and the toes or a big stretch, Arms overhead, Whatever feels right for you. Beautiful work, Just sensing into the physical tone of the body, The emotional tone of the body. Again, So often in our busy, In our hustle, In our lives, We distract, Avoid, Push down, Push away, Say I'll get to you later. It's really important that we practice this idea of tuning into what is that builds our intuitive sense. All right, So we're going to talk a little bit more about the horse symbolism and how it connects to our autonomic nervous system. So the primitive system in our body that moves our fight or flight system. So when we are stressed or activated, Our nervous system has a whole cascade of effects to help us meet the demand of that stressor or that trigger and that's our fight or flight system. But we also have this counterbalance component of our nervous system called our parasympathetic nervous system or our rest and digest system. And when a threat is no longer perceived, We move into parasympathetic nervous system and we can rest the body, We can replenish and rejuvenate. And this is a part of our system that's been part of humans from the very first humans that existed. And as we continue to evolve as a species, We've developed other aspects of our nervous system and our brain that have a complementary cascade of effects. So this beautiful space behind our forehead, Our prefrontal cortex is unique to humans. It's what allows us to create a 10-year vision, To goal set, To plan for retirement. But when we are stressed and we're in a chronically stressed state, That part of the brain can be a little less active and we can make more impulsive decisions or emotion dysregulation can happen. And so we have this beautiful system working always to bring us into a balanced homeostatic state. But sometimes depending on what we've experienced in life or the compound effect of different events, Our nervous system can get a little bit stuck and sticky. So when we think about the lunar new year and the year of the horse, We talked two sessions ago about what the horse symbolizes. And so today I'd love to hear if any folks have new ideas of what the horse symbolizes. But some of the words that came up were movement, Strength, Vitality, Freedom. And so these are all beautiful words that describe the horse. But there's also a symbolic nature of energy and energy is not just full force. There's a beautiful balance and rhythm. The horse symbolizes courage and the horse really is a sign associated with the dynamic movement of life force and the ability to move through life with adaptability, With strength and purpose. But one of the most misunderstood aspects of momentum, Which we talked about last day, Is the belief that movement always has to be fast. And the deeper teaching that I really want to hone in on today is that the horse isn't always about speed. Last day we talked about the power of the pause and rest, But now I want you to think about the symbolism of the horse and its movement and motion as a rhythm. Healthy momentum is rhythmic. Our nervous system is designed to be in rhythmic fluid motion. Not solely dominated in our sympathetic fight or flight reactive sense. We want that rhythmic balance between the two so that we can meet the demands of life, But also we can restore, Rejuvenate and replenish ourselves. So this idea of rhythm, Thinking about where in your life is the rhythm maybe a little out of whack and is it? So with the horse and the year of the horse, Healthy momentum is rhythmic and it includes acceleration, But it also includes recalibration and resetting, Action and sensing, Movement and attunement. This mirrors a lot of the work I've done in trauma-informed healing, Where when we look at somatic body-based healing, We do a lot of movements that look at contraction and expansion and even think about our breath. Okay, When we breathe in we're expanding, When we breathe out there's a contraction that happens to move the breath out. And so this idea of can you rhythmically move through momentum and attunement or acceleration and movement forwards and then reset and recalibration. As I share that what comes up for folks? What is your relationship right now with the word rhythm and what I'm talking about here in terms of the symbolism of the horse is momentum being rhythmic. So we can accelerate but then there needs to be a necessary recalibration to replenish, Restore the action, The movement forwards, But then also the pause to sense into the intuition of what feels right. And then this idea of movement and attunement. Our nervous system doesn't build sustainable trust through force, Through pressure. And that can be physically where we push our bodies too quick, Too fast, But it can also be mentally in the form of our inner critic. What are we, What are the words that we are telling ourselves and they can be quite forceful. So we have to pay attention to how it is that we are talking to ourselves, How it is that we're physically moving through the world and understanding are we forcing and putting pressure or are we attuned. Our nervous system builds trust through predictability, Through repair, And by repair, I mean that conscious decision to pause and recalibrate and safe responsiveness. And that can look different for everybody. So when we talk about today, The rhythm and the stewardship of your path, We're talking about tracking your capacity, Understanding what is your threshold of capacity, Where you feel in flow, And then you move into feeling like something's beyond your capacity. We're talking about honoring your pace, Not judging it, Not criticizing it, Not comparing it to somebody else's, But honoring what your pace is and sometimes that means trusting yourself to take a leap and sometimes that means trusting yourself to pause. And we don't always get it right, But we will know very quickly what the right next step will be. It's about noticing when resistance is protection for your nervous system rather than self-sabotage and that can be a difficult one to distinguish. And then it's making room in our lives for course correction without collapsing into shame or guilt or the inner critic. So this idea of being kind to ourselves, Of being gentle with ourselves, When we've maybe tried something, We've taken that leap, We've said we're going to take the next step, And maybe it didn't work out the way that you expected. And so it's now about making room for course correction without collapsing, Self-sabotaging, And going into a shame spiral. Okay, So let's uh, Let's tune in to what folks are saying. So Peterbrook, This is brilliant Megan, I thought of the rhythm of relationships, Merge, Separation, Considered it in goals and activity to firehorses like new fields to explore as well. Beautiful. I love this addition Peterbrook, Exactly. A lot of folks in previous sessions talked about the ending of relationships, Um, New relationships. So I love this beautiful rhythm of merging and separation. I think that can also be relationship with ourselves as well. And then yes, Firehorses do like to wander new fields and discover new things. Exactly. Beautiful. Um, Abigail, You've been so busy this week and wound up dysregulated. You haven't been able to sleep the last three nights. I can't calm down and things have been very stressful. Thank you for sharing that. I mean, I think my hand's going to be way up there. I resonate with that. I've had also quite dysregulated sleep this week. Um seems to always be like 3 a. M that I wake up and I'm up for a couple of hours and one of the things I have been doing in the year of the horse is starting a strength training program and I've gotten so excited about it and into it that I almost think that I'm pushing my body beyond the threshold of capacity what we're talking about where the strength training i've been doing is actually activating a stress response in my body rather than complementing my body And so the last two days it's been really difficult. I've completely not done any strength training And instead did a very low intensity walk in nature today Yesterday I didn't do anything. I stretched a little bit. That was really difficult But I noticed my sleep last night ironically was a lot better So i'm learning to course correct a little bit right now and understand When am I pushing my physical body? Into a state that it's perpetuating fight or flight in my nervous system and That's a hard one because i've really enjoyed it and yet I do need to recalibrate So abigail you surf and do emdr and recovering from cancer with no family support trying to find new housing so many different things If you surf today, It'd feel better But my therapist called to check in And gave me permission to just stay home And rest I wonder why I need permission to stop And maybe you won't need permission externally forever But it's that mirror You know, What are you making it mean that you needed permission to stop maybe that's what needs to happen right now who knows Beautiful sharing everyone and I think you know really tuning into what is our nervous system telling us? Um, Because I really feel like the body speaks to us in whispers at first And boy, Does it get a lot louder and louder over time if we're not listening? Um, So thank you for that Okay, So today really thinking about What is your capacity and when are you noticing the tipping point of moving out of that flow? Alignment and into cortisol activation or stress honoring your pace Without comparing it to someone else's and making room for course correction This is how momentum and motion over this next year becomes sustainable Right, We talked about last day about sustaining the momentum without burning out And this is not through continual intensity but through integrity And there's a huge difference between Stewarding your path and controlling your path Okay, So let's think of this difference together this idea of stewarding your path versus controlling your path Control says I need certainty before I continue Boy am I good at controlling my path Mapping out every possible scenario thinking about what needs to be in place and when and then I can move Stewardship on the other hand says I can stay present Enough to listen as the path is evolving Stewardship says I can stay present enough To listen as the path is evolving So stewardship allows for flexibility and adaptability and that recalibration Control is that intensity And rigidity that leaves little room for the rhythm Control grips Stewardship tends we're tending to our emotion Control Grips, It's gripping. It's rigid It's tense stewardship Is presence it's listening It's tending to And it understands that course correction Is part of wisdom And course correction can be pausing it can be rest It can be Taking that next step Okay course correction can mean being gentle with yourself kind to yourself The horse really does teach us that forward motion is really powerful But only when we remain connected to the rider within stewardship Understands forwards motion is powerful When we are connected to the rider within ourselves Okay, The conscious self who knows when to guide When to soften When to kick the heels in when to redirect or when to rest Okay, And sometimes resistance we feel is not a sign to stop Sometimes it's simply information or a signal So in our lives as we think about direction and movement forwards and where it is that we want to go What are the intentions that we set? What does this year what does motion look like for each of us? Remembering that resistance is natural, But it's not always a sign to stop. It's a signal so some questions to ask yourself when Resistance or a roadblock comes up. Okay, I'm going to put them into the chat So the first question to ask is is it fear so when resistance hesitation? I sometimes call it paralysis where you just feel frozen. You don't know what to do That's a signal and to learn to Welcome it as a way to steward and tend to your path So the question is is this fear? The next question is is this fatigue? Okay, Because if we're in fear or if we're in fatigue That idea of pausing Is really important to recalibrate we might need to recalibrate Another question is is this miss misalignment just typing it in the chat Or is this growth stretching my edges Okay, So when resistance hesitation roadblock Frozen don't know where to move when that comes up asking yourself and really listening tuning in Is this fear? Is this fatigue is this misalignment or is this growth stretching my edges? And listen to the nervous system response of what that might be it takes time takes time And so with stewardship of our path forwards we can course correct To say okay, Actually there's fatigue happening here I'm pushing my body a little too much into cortisol overdrive and I do need to rest. I need my body to recover Fully recalibrate so I can go back stronger Or something Totally different in terms of misalignment Really connecting with the core values of who you are your essence your truth Maybe you're being asked to do something at work. That's misaligned with Who you are or maybe there's a relationship dynamic happening that's not in alignment with What you know to be true for you in terms of what you need or want And so recognizing if it's misalignment What does course correction mean sometimes it means a courageous conversation with the other person Sometimes it means leaving that relationship Okay, Or is this growth stretching my edges So from a gentle trauma-informed lens When resistance or hesitation happens in our lives as we're working through our motion It's really important that we don't label ourselves as lazy blocked falling behind or failing Those are self-pejorative Comments that Move us out of aligned energy With the year of the horse and keep us stuck So really thinking through what are the words that you're telling yourself? What are the labels that you're giving yourself when you Feel like you're motionless on the back of a horse or you feel like hesitation has come up We don't always as human beings move into gentleness and kindness as our default mode We have a negativity bias as humans where our default mode is to critique ourselves But stewardship and tending to our momentum in motion this year Means that we practice curiosity Instead of labeling ourselves and going in that default self-criticism We welcome getting curious Curiosity restores our sense of agency and restores our sense of trust in ourselves So now is journal time and i'm gonna ask i've Been pondering some questions for us to reflect on I do wish we all had a cup of tea together and you know we had dialogue in multiple formats, But I wanted to ask a couple of questions That you can think about over the next month before our next session and really Integrate this idea of stewardship and tending to your momentum in motion Question one is what path commitment or inner knowing? Am I currently being asked to tend to or steward right now? For some of you again relationships was a big one a few sessions ago this inner knowing of wanting to enter into a specific type of relationship that maybe isn't currently present or Removing yourself from a relationship Folks talked about work and purpose and meaning Folks talked about physical health endeavors So what path commitment or inner knowing? Are you currently being asked to tend to or steward right now? Steward really means tending to um, It means this conscious Attention and attunement that we apply to our movement forwards Where am I mistaking force for momentum that's question number two where am I mistaking? Force for momentum Okay, We've talked a lot about how momentum doesn't always mean urgency and sometimes we can fall into pushing harder Forcing outcomes Chasing rather than attracting It's a very different energy force control pushing Leads to a different outcome than attunement tending to intuition and aligned movement Even saying those you can feel the difference Okay Okay, So that question of where am I mistaking force for momentum? Where am I? And this takes a lot of courage to sit in The truth and authenticity of where you might be forcing something Rather than allowing it to take its course intuitively So What does alignment feel like how do you know you're aligned and i'd love for folks who feel quite confident When they can sense alignment to share some examples in the chat for others because I think when we're new to this Idea of tending to and stewarding our path as opposed to controlling it and forcing it We can't pick up those subtleties right away. It takes practice So what tells you That you are in alignment What are the senses in the body? What are the feelings that come up that tell you you're in alignment? Because I think when we know those we can Pick up on it and cultivate that a little bit easier Alignment feels like ease and flow contentment lightness and joy on the flip side misalignment Would feel like heaviness forcing pressure Julie says peace. Cheryl says being blessed beautiful words Today's session is for you thinking about well, Wait a second How do I actually know? When i'm in alignment, What does that feel like? What are the signs? Another embodiment question is how does my body Signal that I need course correction Okay, How does my body signal or communicate to me that there is a need for course correction So i'm thinking for myself about Body signals to me That communicate that I might need to course correct and I think the most obvious one is is this Almost like i'm tired, But wired feeling at 3 a. M where you know i've pushed myself hard mentally and cognitively in my job for 10 hours and then i've Pushed my body physically for a couple hours But then when sleep arrives and it's disrupted that 3 to 5 a. M window and i'm Flopping around like a fish on a boat just exhausted and just wanting to sleep, But I can't That's a very clear and loud body signal That I need course correction But let's get into the subtleties as well Because we don't always have that loud like bright light sign, Okay course correct Sometimes it's a lot more subtle So folks are saying fatigue and depression lack of focus Pain rage in the belly tightness in the chest like you're gonna cry Your body hurts beautiful sharing and I think those again are Excellent examples and those are also really obvious examples like louder body examples Is there anyone that has an example of a very subtle? Way that the body communicates the need for course correction so I think Where my learning is right now is sitting with the less obvious Um ways that my body's communicating Trying to tune into that, You know, Sometimes when you can't explain it, But you enter a room and The energy exchange with somebody is just off And you can't necessarily Articulate or name it entirely, But there's that You leave feeling i'm just trying to name it for myself. Like i'm actively trying to You know learn this with you all I'm, Just trying to think what what is the word that would articulate that? It's like a subtle It's not like sick to my stomach. That's obvious, But there's like a subtle Like in my solar plexus, Um, The energy that's happening in that area when the energy is off with somebody else Almost feels like sick to my stomach, But much more subtle Does that make sense to folks? So to go from I with that question, How does your body communicate the need for course correction? Start with the real obvious ones, But maybe your work over this next month is to get more and more into the granular Very very very subtle ways that the communication is happening Because that's really important for the year of the horse and momentum in motion Okay, I want to read some of what folks are saying So deb says tightness in your eyes. Ooh, Like sensing just that little bit of tension in the eyes Rachel, There's a hostile energy that comes out um Disjointed mitch says I think I dissociate and pretend that is resting. I think that's a subtle way I oh I rob myself of true rest see that's beautiful job to just Pause and think about is there something there? Um unease marie says a nervous feeling yeah, Cheryl, I agree um rapid breathing You talk without thinking things through a sick stomach feeling that tightens. Yes, Exactly I resonate with those two debbie you project those feelings onto yourself. Okay Also, Really good distinction And marie for me, It's a tightening in my gut like i'm bracing to be punched. Yes Maybe that's what i'm trying to describe as i'm You know trying to learn this at the same time because I think my disrupted sleep is such an obvious one But I think I need to pay attention to the subtleties a little bit more I'm, Not always great in the moment at picking up when The energy is off or something feels out of alignment But it's like it comes afterwards sort of that hindsight's always 2020 And I think my work in the year of the horse or over the next little while is catching The energy exchange sooner so I can set better boundaries Okay. Next question is What does trust in my pace actually look like in practice this month? So trusting in your pace, What does it actually look like? For me, I think trusting in the rest And to go back to I think it was mitch that said dissociation disguised as rest I think trusting my pace is giving a hundred percent to a practice of rest not half-assing it where Maybe i'm like more relaxed or not moving at such a quick pace, But i'm multitasking in my mind or Like really actually compartmentalizing and turning off work for example and being totally in Whatever the rest practice is that's something I know I can work on this month And then What structures rituals or boundaries? Will help me sustain integrity while moving forwards what structures rituals or boundaries will help me sustain? Integrity while moving forward So a really big one for me is As as many of you have likely heard in my first series of this I experienced a significant bereavement with the loss of my sister Not that long ago about 18 months ago and one of my coping mechanisms was to work And i've been really putting in different structures and boundaries around my work Particularly over the last five months because That momentum forwards was not sustainable. I was burning the candle at both ends. I wasn't allowing myself to grieve But I was hustling and doing so much work to avoid the grief so I share that with you because maybe some of you are healing from a loss or You know loss can be multiple different things I'm not the best at it. But if i'm going to talk about integrity with you, Then I need to be willing to Be integral with all of you myself I've taken my work email off my phone But then i've added it back and taken it off and added it back and taken it off So i'm working with the part of me that's not setting that clear boundary And not in integrity while moving forwards Putting two hands up i'm human. I'm not perfect at it. I'm actively working on this alongside you But this idea maybe I need to really think through better boundaries and structures with my work life balance and so I share that with you to You know Maybe that resonates for you in the exact same way or maybe there's pieces of that that you can apply to another context in your life So those are the questions in the chat they'll be in the recording as well take your time with them You don't need to have all of the answers for all of those But write whatever comes up for you Revisit it tomorrow or in a couple of days and write what comes up for you Then the idea is to be honest with yourself rather than have the most polished perfected answer As you move forwards in the year of the horse Remembering the importance of course correction Where you can adjust you can pivot you can move your rhythm without it meaning That it's failure or that you're not doing something right the horse moves forwards. Yes, It absolutely does But the horse also responds It listens to the terrain it's in it changes its pace It senses timing and the horse doesn't constantly run forwards at the exact same pace and this is where Many of us are learning in the year of the horse A more mature relationship with the rhythm of our lives And the purpose of our lives it's not about being rigid it's about breathing the rhythm Alignment isn't a straight line at least I haven't seen it that way it's living out a relationship So if your path looks different now than it did last month Than it did the month before This doesn't mean inconsistency for you, Maybe it's actually wisdom and the question now becomes Can you trust yourself enough to refine your route? Without abandoning your journey this idea of rhythm Intending adapting and stewarding and trusting yourself. Can you trust yourself enough? To refine your route refine it without it meaning that you're abandoning Your journey This is stewardship refining recalibrating and Gives us space to evolve and adapt So with that in mind, Let's collectively place one hand over our heart one hand over our belly If that feels supportive for you, You can place your hands any other place that feels better Let's find the rhythm of our breath together take a deep breath in through the nose Deep breath out through the mouth Sense into the rhythm of your breath Feel the steadiness right here Over the next month Perhaps the momentum you're building is rooted in rhythm Can you commit to moving forwards with rhythm this month Maybe that means the rhythm of allowing more rest Allowing patience or clarity or boundaries Or that leap of faith Let it land What the rhythm is pointing to Thank you all so much for spending time here today As we continue to move through the year of the horse we will meet monthly Remember that momentum does not ask you to outrun yourself It asks you to remain in relationship with what matters most to you So over the next month we're listening We're moving towards the rhythm. We're trusting We're refining and we're moving with integrity The horse's wisdom is not simply motion It's motion guided by our intuition our awareness in grounded alignment So may you leave tonight feeling a little more steady deeply connected to your inner compass and rhythm And ready to continue over the next month with trust