Horsensei Store

Learn More …

Are you an equine-assisted learning and therapy professional, riding instructor, horse trainer/whisperer, professional or amateur equestrian and horse lover? You can share your expertise and love of horses with this stress reduction program for your clients, patients, students, family, and friends. Based on our four-week class in the Stanford Healthy Living Program, now in its 12th year, Equine-imity teaches mindfulness meditation with qigong, a tai chi-like practice, to decrease stress and increase emotional satisfaction with, and optionally on, horses. No previous horse experience needed.

“Somatic” means “of the body.” Somatic horsemanship is a way of relating to horses and mules primarily through heightened awareness of the physical interactions between our species. We focus on breath, touch, position, muscle tone, smell and energy—ch’i/qi/ki/prana. Through the entry point of somatic sensations, we engage our thinking, intuition, and emotions. Somatic horsemanship includes equine-guided yoga, qigong, tai ji, aikido and the equine-assisted practices of body-oriented psychotherapies such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and Somatic Experiencing®.

This printable Manual can be used stand-alone or as a companion to my earlier book for both equestrians and non-horse people, “Equine-imity—Stress Reduction and Emotional Self-Regulation in the Company of Horses,” available from booksellers online.

Transforming the Doctor-Patient Relationship with Equine-Assisted Learning