Why Yoga and Equine?

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Yoga is great for your mental health and physical health it:

• increases body awareness

• relieves stress

• reduces muscle tension strain, and inflammation

• it sharpens attention and concentration

• and calms and centers the nervous system.

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Horses are also great for ones mental health.

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They can help to sooth our system by reducing anxiety and helping us to feel more settled. Stroking a horse, and feeling their warmth and the texture of their fur, can really help to soothe and settle us.

Sometimes we can feel really out of it, or disconnected from the world. Stroking or connecting with a horse can really help to ground us and reconnect us with the world around us.

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Horses are majestic animals that are wonderful simply to be with. Horses are gentle and honest; they do not have the ability to manipulate or lie. One common treatment technique for those who were abused as children is to put the (now adult) individual in with a large horse and allow them to interact. Very often, the person will break down in tears and say something like, “I’ve never been treated this kindly by anything so big.” This is an experience the client can then take into the human world.

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Benefits of horse work:
• Minimize stress and feel more peaceful
• Realize your unique gifts and talents
• Live in the present moment and respond appropriately
• Explore new avenues of creativity
• Discover their innate resources
• Become more connected with your authentic self
• Improve your communications

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Through the physical practice of certain yoga postures, we learn how to relax and become more aware of our bodies and how we move them. Because horses are masters at reading body language, being more attuned with our own bodies will greatly improve communication with them.

On another, more subtle level, through the practice of yogic breathing, we become more aware of our breathing and learn how to use it as another communication tool with the horses. Yogic breathing also increases concentration, and with better focus, communication with the horses becomes clearer and easier.