Discipline

What do you think about when you hear the word "discipline"? The past couple of days I have been thinking about this, as part of the adventure in Colorado.

I am writing this on Saturday night, around midnight -- perhaps discipline is about not staying up until all hours of the night to write a blog, or about studying first before blogging or.... But, before I get into those musings, this is a picture of Sue on Thursday, the first of May 2008. Yes, that is snow -- it was kind of cold, but the sun of the previous days had warmed the ground enough that it didn't stick around for long. But, the weather stayed cool, so that our schedule was adjusted to be inside -- so both Thursday and Friday were classroom days, and the work with horses will be rescheduled.

Which is what got me thinking about "discipline" and its many uses:

• A general area of study, such as the discipline of anatomy or the discipline of business development;
• Specific diciplines of equestrian practice, such as English or Western, or even more specific sub-disciplines such as jumping and eventing or roping and barrel racing;
• A commitment to an on-going practice, such as a daily practice of meditation, exercise or journalling.

Funny, in ruminating about this list for the past couple of days, I didn't seriously consider "discipline" as a structure of punishment or reinforcement. Wikipedia suggests that this would fall under the definition as "to instruct a person or animal to follow a particular code of conduct, or to adhere to a certain "order." .....and this is frequently reinforced with punishment."

During the past few days, we have been considering information (lots of it) from the discipline of equine anatomy, equine massage as well as business development as it relates to the practice of equine massage. This also includes the reflections on the equestrian disciplines and my on-going reflections of my place in this field. This, of course, then brings up the personal discipline, or "daily practice". This intersection represents the nugget of my ruminations.

With the question of equestrian discipline, I find my self increasingly drawn to the Western discipline and interested in those events -- this is my history, my body type and it seems like my pragmatic, practical perspectives push me in this direction. And, based on my preliminary research, most of the market in southwestern Ontario will be in the English/Dressage discipline. So, as a good business person, this would be a better market to target for access for customers and clients.

Then, I am again, faced with the discpline of my daily practice and how I connect and listen. There have been days and times in my life when daily practice, whether it be practicing Qigong, drawing Cards of the Day or going for a morning dog walk, these practices provide a space in the busy-ness for finding quiet. And yet, this daily/spiritual practice seems elusive. Each day I must choose to say "Yes" or "No" to it, and the momentum is toward the "No". This is a process, and even in the writing of this blog, I am learning more about myself in relationship to my spiritual daily practice. I realized this morning that most consistent spiritual daily practice is probably "taking a shower"....which can be a time for listening and quieting, if one is not too caught up in the planning and preparing for the day. This is not to say that I am satisfied with where I am on this journey, but only that I continue to reflect and consider how I can choose the "Yes" which will help me find the quiet and feel more centred throughout each day.

Speaking of days, today was the Saturday that marked one week since I met my roommates, that I have been spending about 23 hours/day since then. (That is if you count sleeping time, when I am not aware of the chatting and laughing that is happening much of the rest of the day.) Today we spent the morning around the apartment (e.g., cleaning, doing laundry, making phone calls (I talked to Lora who was in the midst of reclaiming the sidewalk beside their house, and had great weather for outside spring work!)) and then went down to Denver, introduced Heidi to another American restraunt chain, compared prices at another boot store and then visited the Colorado Horse Park. By the time we got down there, the events of the day were over, but we watched a couple of people working their horses over jumps with instruction from their coaches.
It was interesting to practice identifying gaits and leads, as the horses moved around the arena. I also found myself watching the ways that the riders were communicating with their horses, and wondering if there were other techniques that might be more "cooperative", working more with the horse and its "feel" and less with the reins. I don't know much about jumping, so it was really good to watch even this informal practice. This is just one of the images that Heidi captured with her great digital camera.

This evening included some anatomy studying, more connecting with loved ones, preparations for the potluck we are hosting tomorrow and of course blogs. I consented to being recorded the one phrase I learned in Dutch, to share with her friends for a good laugh! She is running a contest to see if they can interpret what I said..... Funny, I haven't grabbed too many incriminating photos of my roommates, but there seem to be ample opportunities for them to capture me!

Well, it is time for me to wrap this up -- I expect that I'll make shorter posts more frequently. And, if you vote in the poll that I have placed on this blog (top of the right-hand column) it will give me a better idea if that matters to you, or not :). Thanks for reading!