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Equestrian Hypnosis To Overcome Fear Of Riding

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Equestrian Hypnosis To Overcome Fear Of Riding

They say you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

It’s a proverb, of course, with a particular meaning:

You can offer someone an opportunity but you can’t force them to take it.

However, if you’re afraid of riding horses to begin with, then things get even trickier.

Because you probably won’t be able to lead it to water in the first place.

If that sounds like something you’ve experienced, there is good news.

Equestrian hypnosis will help you get over your fear.

It will give you the confidence to take control and be at one with the animal.

Horses are acutely aware of how you’re feeling, and those feelings will affect the way it performs.

If you’re tense, nervous, upset or afraid, those negative emotions are going to cause things to go wrong.

That’s why hypnosis for horse riders makes such good sense.

It lets you get rid of any stress so you can stay calm and learn to work together with your horse rather than working against it.

Before you can do that, however, you have to be able to get back in the saddle.

Or if it’s your first time on a horse, you need the courage to actually climb aboard.

But how exactly can hypnosis and hypnotherapy make it possible for you to do either of those things?

Equestrian Hypnosis: Where Does The Fear Come From?

Equestrian Hypnosis Where Does The Fear Come From cover

The fear of riding is like any other fear: it’s the result of a bad experience in the past.

Then when you face the same experience at some point in the future, your brain yells out WHOA!

Metaphorically speaking.

Why? Because it remembers the bad experience you had and all the stress it caused you.

It’s trying to protect you by reacting in the only way it can.

And that’s how these kinds of fears or phobias are developed.

Research shows that the stress and anxiety you feel when you’re afraid comes from the fight-or-flight hormones released by the amygdala in your brain.

They play an important role in keeping you safe when there’s any real danger.

But they can also overreact when they “think” there’s danger, even when no danger is physically present.

And that’s what leads to the stress, the anxiety, the panic and the feeling of being disconnected from your animal.

Fortunately, hypnosis has the answer.

It’s designed to help you relax and let go of stress and anxiety.

Whether you choose hypnotherapy or self-hypnosis, you’ll have access to a tried and tested technique guaranteed to help you overcome your fear.

You’ll find information going into more detail about self-hypnosis later on in this article, but for now let’s take a look at one of the main problems associated with the fear of riding.

And that problem is: self-talk.

Calm Your Self-Talk With Hypnosis

You’re probably familiar with the idea of self-talk.

It’s the little voice that’s continuously chatting away inside your head.

According to some researchers, it’s thought that the average person is capable of “self-talking” as much as 300 words per minute.

That’s around 50,000 a day!

A lot of this is made up of harmless mundane stuff such as what you’re going to have for dinner or when you’re going to wash your car.

You only run into trouble when this self-talk is negative.

When you hear yourself thinking things such as this:

This is not the same as having doubts. Doubts are normal and they can push you on or motivate you to do better.

But negative self-talk is harmful. Repeat it often enough, and it becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In other words, if you think you’re going to fail, it’s more than likely that you will fail.

For instance, if you keep telling yourself that you’re going to knock down a few fences, then you will knock them down.

If you keep telling yourself that you won’t be able to remember a routine, then you won’t be able to remember it.

It falls in line with your expectations, so that if you expect to do badly, then you will do badly.

On the other hand, if you expect to do well, and if your self-talk is positive and motivating, then there’s a good chance that you will do well.

So how do you stop this negative self-talk from messing things up for you? Here are a few suggestions.

  1. Forget what happened previously. The past is gone, so try your best to focus all your energy on the present.
  2. Focus on what you can control. Maybe you hate riding in the rain. But since you can’t control the weather, try to put your efforts into things that you do have some influence over.
  3. Remember your good points. It’s fine to know and recognize your weaknesses, as long as you also take your strengths into account too.
  4. Don’t try to be perfect. No one is, and demanding perfection will only lead to frustration and disappointment. Instead, aim to be the best you can be at any given time.

There are two techniques you can use to discourage any negative self-talk. The first is a 4-step process called “thought stopping” which involves:

  1. Recognizing your self-talk
  2. Stopping negative thoughts when they happen
  3. Replacing them with positive thoughts
  4. Practicing these steps over and over

The second technique for stopping negative self-talk is to tap into the power of your unconscious mind.

That’s the part of you which is responsible for a lot of the automatic processes you take for granted. It’s what the folks at Psychology Today refer to as “the repository of automatic skills” and is the storehouse of your dreams, fantasies, memories, creativity and imagination.

Here’s another way to think of it. When you see an iceberg, most of the structure is actually hidden below the water.

The part of the iceberg that you can see is like the conscious mind, while the part below the water that you can’t see – the much larger part – is the unconscious.

Tap into that and there are limitless resources available to you that will help you achieve almost anything you want.

And the best way to do that is through the power of hypnosis.

Using Self-Hypnosis To Overcome Horse Riding Phobia

Using Self Hypnosis To Overcome Horse Riding infographics

A good hypnotherapist will be able to help you overcome your fear of riding. But you can also help yourself by using the power of self-hypnosis.

That means that you will be able to tap into your inner resources whenever you need to, even every single day if that fits in with your schedule.

And self-hypnosis is particularly suited for dealing with many of the issues related to this type of problem, such as:

You can help yourself accomplish all of these objectives just by learning how to use self-hypnosis. Check out this Hypnosis Training Academy article to discover exactly how you can do that:

How To Hypnotize Yourself: Discover The Easy 6-Step Self Hypnosis Formula

Self-hypnosis has the power to increase your happiness and your wellbeing while at the same time lowering your stress levels. A boost like that can raise your confidence levels and give you the courage you need to:

As you can probably imagine, none of these things is possible if your stress levels are going through the roof. Your horse can sense how you’re feeling and will be aware of your worry and apprehension.

Why is stress such a big problem? Because it floods your body with cortisol, the so-called stress hormone.

Cortisol is the chemical that triggers your fight-or-flight response, preparing your mind and body for any dangerous situations. But it also does a lot more than that.

It regulates your blood pressure and blood sugar levels. It controls the way carbohydrates, proteins and fats are used in your body as well.

And, of course, stress is not necessarily a bad thing. Stress is the sensation that makes it possible for you to be aware of and respond to danger or threats.

It only becomes an issue when you experience stress for extended periods of time. When that happens, your body stays tense for longer and doesn’t get the chance to calm down in the way that it should.

That can lead to all sorts of other issues including:

Imagine trying to remember a complicated routine when your stomach hurts, you haven’t had enough sleep and your head feels like it’s going to explode.

With those kinds of things going on, it would be a miracle if you even managed to stay on the horse – let alone get it to do what you wanted.

The thing to remember about self-hypnosis is that it’s a bit like meditation. There’s nothing scary about it and you can’t get stuck in a trance.

You’ll simply be able to relax and focus your thoughts inward, shutting off the outside world so you can access your own inner resources.

If you find yourself struggling to get your self-hypnosis session going, try this simple but effective breathing technique:

The Perfect Self Hypnosis Session: Use This Easy Breathing Technique

Tried & Tested Hypnosis Techniques To Restore Rider Confidence

While self-hypnosis is a proven method for helping you relax and overcome the fear of riding, you might find it beneficial to work with a hypnotherapist in the first instance. Just until you feel confident with the various techniques.

If that sounds like something you’d like to try, here are a few of the techniques a good hypnotherapist will be likely to employ. These will work for any other sports as well.

Hypnosis basically helps you to reprogram your mind so you’re able to perform automatically, on autopilot, whenever stress or anxiety become too much to handle.

The other thing you need to remember is that you can use all of these techniques yourself as soon as you’ve mastered self-hypnosis.

And whether you take that route or the hypnotherapy route, you can rest assured that hypnosis will give you back the confidence you need to feel secure riding a horse again.

Conclusion & Key Takeaways

Equestrian hypnosis is an effective way to overcome fear of riding.

Horses are acutely aware of how you’re feeling, so if you’re tense, nervous, upset or afraid, those negative emotions will cause things to go wrong.

Hypnosis for horse riders releases your stress and anxiety so you can stay calm and work together with your horse.

Fear of riding is like any other phobia in that it’s the result of a bad experience.

When you face a similar experience your brain recognizes it and sends out stress hormones.

These hormones such as cortisol trigger the fight-or-flight response, designed to protect you from imminent danger. But when there’s no danger and they still react, that’s when an excess of stress can build up.

And that can cause anxiety and panic, making it difficult for you to get in sync with your animal.

One major contributor to this problem is negative self-talk, the little voice inside your head that chatters away all day long saying things like:

You can stop this negative self-talk by learning to recognize it and replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. An even more effective way to eliminate it is by using the power of hypnosis.

Self-hypnosis is particularly useful for dealing with issues associated with fear of riding such as:

There are lots of hypnosis techniques you can use to overcome your fear, including the following:

If you’re new to hypnosis you might prefer to work with a hypnotherapist until you’re ready to try self-hypnosis.

Either way these techniques will give you the confidence you need to get back in the saddle, relate to your horse and cope calmly with any issues as and when they arise.

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