Body Blog
Exploring mindfulness and healing through the body for both horses and humans.
Why Joe Told Me to Clean House
Portrait of Joe in January 2017
August 2, 2020
You’re gonna think I’m crazy, and well, maybe I am, but I’m pretty sure Joe told me to clean house today. Joe is a teacher, like many four-legged’s, but he’s particularly special. He’s a horse who has survived many setbacks in life, including more recently in the last 6 months, major colic surgery, the kind where the horse is strung up by all four legs. But it saved his life, and now he is on the road to recovery thanks to the loving kindness and commitment of his people, Susan Marie Krueger and her husband.
I went to Joe’s home today to give him his second post-surgical Masterson Method® bodywork session and he was much improved from two weeks ago. His spirits were high and his body more open to touch. He walked up to me with a sweet calm demeanor and throughout the session he’d poke his nose out to check-in with me.
Listening deeply is one of the many skills I’ve gained through learning The Masterson Method. Responding to what I hear in a balanced manner is the real challenge—knowing when to follow the horse’s lead, and when to ask the horse to follow me.
Often times, in the hours after an intimate, 90-minute session, I have these images or sensations of the horse I just worked—usually it’s just a sweet sense of nurturance and connection or a flash of their face in my mind. But today, I actually felt Joe’s urging to clean house, which was the oddest thing. Why would I affiliate a horse’s healing with the drive to clean house? Then, after the third calling and as I was scrubbing toilets, it occurred to me:
When we heal deeply in this bodywork, we are actually reorganizing ourselves—we’re integrating on a deep level—and cleaning house is the equivalent of creating new order and washing away old, unnecessary toxins.
I recall how on the evening of my very first course in The Masterson Method I had the most delightful time being present with my then 10 year-old daughter. I was beaming the next morning as I realized how the work I was learning was affecting my personal life. Surely I gain the benefit of this equine bodywork as I give.
Often the horses teach me as I go (as they taught the bodyworkers before me), and Joe taught me a new way to do several techniques so that he could stay present. I love the whispers I hear in the hours after, even if it is to Clean House. Now I can thank Joe for some clean bathrooms! Until next time, friend.