09/08/2026
Mindfulness can sometimes sound like something thatâs nice to do when thereâs timeâa should-do thatâs always somewhere on the to-do list.
But what if mindfulness didnât need a lot of our time? What if small moments of mindfulness could help us recognize stress and overwhelm before they continue to build?
Last month, I had the opportunity to participate in an event that explored burnoutâwhat it is, how it builds, and what we can do about itâand Iâve been thinking about the conversation ever since.
For a long time, my mindfulness practice meant retreating to the barn or sitting on my meditation pillow for 30 minutes. That was how I grounded myself, reset, and restored some of my capacity.
Then kids and an unpredictable work schedule came along, and finding those uninterrupted 30 minutes became pretty unrealistic. So, for a while, I simply went without.
I quickly hit burnout and realized I wasn't functioning well without those moments to reset. But I also couldn't wait around for 30 quiet minutes to appear. I needed to find a way to bring mindfulness into the small pockets of time I actually had.
Sitting in traffic. Making dinner. Washing dishes. Cleaning stalls. Taking a quick shower.
And, as they so often do, the horses helped me understand this differently.
After a moment of stress during a training session, a spook on the trail, or a gallop in the pasture, I would watch how some horses were able to transition calmly through the experience. Those horses would take a small moment to resetâa deep breath, a long blink, a full-body shake, a big yawn, a good rollâand then simply move on. These little resets seemed to help them process what had just happened and become ready to respond to whatever might come next.
I also noticed the contrast in horses who had a harder time letting that tension go. They would clench their jaw, hold their breath, stay tight in their bodies, and become anxious, overwhelmed, and reactive much more quickly.
I could see myself in those horses.
Watching the difference helped me recognize something I had been overlooking in my own mindfulness practice: the value of a reset doesnât necessarily come from how much time we give it. Sometimes, what matters is that we take a moment to reset at all.
A breath. A pause. A moment to notice what we're feeling and what's happening around us.
And when it comes to stress, overwhelm, and burnout, those small moments throughout the day can be incredibly valuable. They give us an opportunity to recognize what is building before we keep piling more onto a system thatâs already reaching capacity.
Iâve found that it really can be as simple as the horses have shown me. Adding small moments of mindfulness throughout the day doesnât necessarily change whatâs happening around us, but it can create a little space to breathe, find some clarity, and make more intentional decisions instead of feeling like we've lost control to stress and overwhelm.
If you can relate to this, join us! Weâll be exploring this idea more during our upcoming Virtual Mindful Monday Equine-Inspired Meditation & Mindfulness Gathering on September 14. Iâd love to have you there with me and the horses! RSVP at the link below for all the details.
RSVP here: https://redbirdequine.myflodesk.com/virtualmindfulmonday
