Zen & Horseback Riding explains the location, importance and use of the psoas muscles. The psoas are the deep core muscles that link the upper and lower girdles of the body. They are the basis of all efficient body movement and can be used by everyone in any athletic activity. This book explains how to use your body to achieve tone, find self-carriage and to move correctly both on and off the horse. Zen & Horseback Riding is about using horseback riding as a means of self-development and training. It is about improving both your riding and your life. "I liked this book so well after being given a copy that I couldn't wait to purchase six more copies for my friends." Sally Swift, author of Centered Riding The Kindle edition contains color graphics and photographs for color devices.

Zen & Horseback Riding explains the location, importance and use of the psoas muscles. The psoas are the deep core muscles that link the upper and lower girdles of the body. They are the basis of all efficient body movement and can be used by participants in any athletic activity.

Zen has its roots in a Japanese Buddhist sect which holds that the truth is not in scriptures but in man's own heart if he will strive to find it by meditation and self-mastery. According to Zen philosophy one of the great paradoxes is that if you are trying to attain something, you are wasting your time. Never short on humour, Zen masters describe riding the donkey in search of the donkey you are riding. With this wisdom in mind Ingrid Soren sets out to learn the art of horseriding, and gets more than she bargained for. We follow her tortuous and often humiliating path through fear, doubt, joy and insight as it dawns on her that her experiences are but expressions and reflections of herself. The horses that she encounters are inimitable Zen masters, each with their distinctive personalities and qualities. They instruct without instructing, without artifice. Grounded in their own unselfconsciousness, these fine animals offer Ingrid Soren new images for everyday living. They show her how things are interconnected and how Zen is the experience of life in all its aspects.

Eastern philosophy enters the stables in this unique guide to horsemanship. Allan Hamilton describes how horses understand and respond to the flow of vital energy around them. They use this energy, called chi, to communicate with their herd, express dominance, and sense predators. Hamilton shares safe, simple techniques to make you more receptive to your animal’s chi, so you can develop a calm and effective training style that will not only help your horse follow commands, but strengthen the spiritual bond between horse and rider.

Zen in the Stable pairs original wisdom garnered from the equestrian life with fifty stunning photos. A gorgeous collection for every equestrian, animal lover, and anyone seeking peace, Zen in the Stable demonstrates that the human-horse relationship can enrich our lives and make us happier, healthier, calmer, and more loving.

In thirteenth-century China, a Daoist monk named Gao Daokuan (1195-1277) composed a series of illustrated poems and accompanying verse commentary known as the Daoist Horse Taming Pictures. In this annotated translation and study, Louis Komjathy argues that this virtually unknown text offers unique insights into the transformative effects of Daoist contemplative practice. Taming the Wild Horse examines Gao's illustrated poems in terms of monasticism and contemplative practice, as well as the multivalent meaning of the "horse" in traditional Chinese culture and the consequences for both human and nonhuman animals. The Horse Taming Pictures consist of twelve poems, ten of which are equine-centered. They develop the metaphor of a "wild" or "untamed" horse to represent ordinary consciousness, which must be reined in and harnessed through sustained self-cultivation, especially meditation. The compositions describe stages on the Daoist contemplative path. Komjathy provides opportunities for reflection on contemplative practice in general and Daoist meditation in particular, which may lead to a transpersonal way of perceiving and being.

Dressage is often seen as the most formal and controlled of the equine sports, following an ancient, standardized training progression. For philosopher and dressage instructor Dr. Sherry Ackerman, dressage is much more. It -- along with riding in general -- can be a transformational art and an avenue for reflection, exploration, and self-knowledge through which a rider can experience liberation from the individual, egoistic self. This second, revised edition of Dressage in the Fourth Dimension is a pioneer work in awakening "dressage consciousness." Drawing on such diverse sources as sacred geometry, ancient Western and Eastern philosophies, and esoteric spirituality, Ackerman seeks to heal humanity's alienation from nature through riding. She points us toward the liberation from societal conditioning and normative thinking, and, ultimately, from our own egos. Her concept of the fourth dimension requires us to leave the analytic, objective mind behind and enter into the mystery of inspiration. A short, unique, thought-provoking work that has enjoyed a word-of-mouth reputation among horse people for years, Dressage in the Fourth Dimension will challenge riders' assumptions about their horses and themselves.