EQUESTRIAN
A More Connected Way of Riding
When we become balanced, aware, regulated, and connected within our own bodies, we create the opportunity to communicate clearly and move harmoniously in the dance with our horses. For me riding is not just a hobby. It is a partnership. I see the horse as a mirror of the rider. If you’re not in alignment mentally, physically or emotionally your horse will tell you long before you notice it yourself, which means the solution usually starts within your mind/body. I work with equestrians on strength, alignment, and nervous system regulation, both in the studio, virtually and in the saddle.
How Breathwork Benefits the Equestrian
Riding a horse is a relationship built through awareness, feel, timing, trust, and nonverbal communication. Horses are incredibly sensitive to what we bring into the saddle: our breathing, posture, muscle tension, emotional state, energy, and ability to be present. When we are holding tension, fear, stress, anxiety, or uncertainty in our bodies, our horses feel it even before we are consciously aware of it ourselves.
Breathwork helps riders turn their awareness inward so they can create a more grounded, regulated, and connected relationship with their own body, and horse. Practicing breathwork isn’t about becoming a perfect rider. It is about becoming a more present rider, one who can notice what is happening within, respond rather than react, and bring greater awareness and intention into the relationship with their horse.
Whether you are working through fear, returning after an injury, preparing for competition, rebuilding confidence, or simply wanting a deeper connection with your horse, this work begins exactly where you are. Through intentional breath and somatic awareness, breathwork can help equestrians:
Develop greater body awareness + recognize patterns of bracing, gripping, holding the breath, or tension
Support nervous-system regulation + a greater sense of calm, groundedness, and what it means to be fully present
Release physical + emotional tension that may be carried into the saddle
Improve focus + mental clarity
Build confidence when navigating fear, performance anxiety, or challenging experiences
Reconnect with the body following an injury, fall, or time away from riding
Become more aware of the subtle physical and emotional signals + how that communicates to the horse
Create greater softness, trust, + connection within the horse and rider partnership
“Horsemanship is the art of mastering our own movements, thoughts, emotions, and behavior, not the horse’s.” ~ Mark Rashid
Your horse feels you.
Your breath connects you.
The relationship begins within.
Wellness Services for the Equestrian
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A gentle blend of intentional breathwork (pranayama), breath-initiated movements, Qigong, Yoga, and visualizations help to regulate the nervous system, ease muscle tension, support relaxation and bring clarity. No previous experience needed, Inner Axis meets you where you are.
55-min
$5555-min
$15 -
We carry our emotions and life experiences that haven’t been fully processed in our body. The Soma+IQ method of somatic breathwork journey gives you an opportunity to go inward, to go beneath the thinking mind and explore what the body and nervous system may be holding.
As equestrians, we can carry far more into the barn and the saddle than we realize. Grief, anxiety, fear, self-doubt, the inner critic, judgement and expectation of others, relationship challenges, past traumatic experiences, performance pressures, and the demands of everyday life can all influence how we feel, move, communicate, and connect.
This is a private and personalized somatic breathwork journey designed to explore and release stored emotions, stress, fear, and trauma patterns that may be holding you back from a more connected relationship with yourself and your horse.
What to Expect
I facilitate a guided somatic experience using intentional breathing, body awareness, music, and supportive facilitation to help you turn inward and reconnect with yourself. You are invited to notice sensations, emotions, and thoughts without judgement. There is no expectation to feel, release, or accomplish anything specific. The journey is yours alone.
The first half of the journey gently builds pressure or up-regulates the nervous system to create the opportunity to release suppressed emotions and stress, and guided breath holds that open space for clarity. The second half turns toward down-regulating your nervous system to a place of calm so you may cultivate more of what you truly want in your life such as peace, joy, gratitude, patience, love, or connection.
This style of breathwork can be a powerful process of self-discovery and best done with more space between sessions rather than daily to have enough time to integrate the process. People often come away from a journey with greater clarity and awareness.
Post-journey Integration Coaching is available to help you process your experience.
Virtual Journey
90-min
$150
In-person Journey
90-min
$150 -
Experience the power of a guided Soma+IQ Breathwork Journey, in a supportive group setting, using shared energy and connection to deepen your journey inward.
There is something powerful about breathing together. A group journey offers a supportive shared space to turn inward, connect with your body, and explore what may be ready to be felt, released, or understood. The first half of the journey gently builds pressure or up-regulates the nervous system to create the opportunity to release suppressed emotions and stress, and guided breath holds that open space for clarity. The second half turns toward down-regulating your nervous system to a place of calm so you may cultivate more of what you truly want in your life such as peace, joy, gratitude, patience, love, or connection.
Although the journey is experienced together, your process is uniquely your own. The collective energy of the group can create a beautiful sense of connection and profound healing. Breathwork journeys can be a powerful process of self-discovery. People often come away from a journey with greater clarity and awareness. Journeys go deeper and are best done with more space between sessions rather than daily to have enough time to integrate the process.
Post-journey Integration Coaching is available to help you process your experience.
90-min
$45
BOOK -
Post-Journey Integration coaching is the bridge between what you experience during a Soma+IQ breathwork journey and how you carry the insights into everyday life. Together we reflect on your experience, notice any patterns and explore how those insights can be carried into your relationships, choices, and movements in everyday life. The breathwork opens the door. Integration helps you walk through it.
55-min
$65 -
As riders we often spend a great deal of time developing our horse’s strength, balance, flexibility, and responsiveness. But to become truly effective partners, we must cultivate those same qualities within ourselves. The horse often mirrors the rider. Our posture, imbalances, tension, energy, and ability to move with awareness. Pilates supports balanced strength, mobility, alignment, muscular balance, and more efficient movement. It can be an important part of maintaining a body that is strong, adaptable and structurally supported for the physical demands of riding and everyday life.
Completely coordinate mind, body and spirit to achieve the natural inner rhythm between horse and rider.
Common Problems
Frustration that your horse won't respond properly to your cues.
Having trouble maintaining a stable seat.
Feeling pain and fatigue during and after a ride.
Imbalances develop over time based on physiology, posture and lifestyle. How you move when not riding, for example other types of exercise or the amount of sitting you do at work, directly affects your posture and how you function on a horse. Resulting asymmetries greatly affect movement and alignment, resulting in impediments like:
Rounded shoulders, forward head and neck tension
Tightness and exaggerated curvature of the lower back
Tight hip flexors and quadriceps
Pilates exercises increase your body awareness and improve flexibility, balance and strength in order to facilitate an optimal riding experience. Pilates helps equestrians:
Lengthen the spine and strengthen the core, which stabilizes the body in movement.
Sculpt a stronger body with increased flexibility, strength and balance.
Strengthen the "core," which includes all abdominals, back extensors, glutes and inner thighs.
Increase range of motion in the hips.
Improve leg position and posture.
With a strong core, increased flexibility and improved body awareness, riders can:
Better absorb a horse's movement.
Avoid collapsing and bouncing in the saddle.
Maintain neutral spine and pelvis.
Improve communication with their horse.
Feel more comfortable during and after riding.
Improve posture and leg position.
Move arms and legs around a stable core with control and ease.
Have a clear understanding of planes of motion and opposition.
Develop a trusting riding relationship where your horse responds to your cues and is confident in your ability.
Pilates is designed to meet you exactly where you are and support you in reaching your goals. Whether you are preparing for competition, wanting to ride with greater confidence, reduce pain and tension in your body, deepen the relationship with your horse, or stay fit and ride longer. Pilates helps to completely coordinate mind, body, and spirit to achieve the natural inner rhythm between horse and rider.
Select from three different ways to collaborate:
Private In-Person Pilates Session. Whether you are new to Pilates, returning to movement, or improving athletic performance, work with me one-on-one in my fully-equipped studio to address your specific wellness and equestrian goals.
55-min
$85Private Virtual Pilates Session. Work with me on Zoom, in the comfort of your own space, to address your specific wellness and equestrian goals.
55-min
$85Group reformer Pilates class designed for riders and limited to 3 people. In this class, we build core strength, a neutral spine and pelvis, open hips and better posture, so you can hold a stable seat, absorb your horse's movement and communicate more clearly through your body. We begin where you are.
55-min
$30 -
A personalized, supportive wellness plan designed to meet you exactly where you are. Develop a fulfilling mind/body/spirit practice that is specifically crafted to you.
Plans may include a combination of daily breathwork practices, somatic movement, Pilates, meditation and/or visualization, and integration coaching, thoughtfully tailored to your individual needs, goals, and energy.
Together, we create practices you can carry into your daily life to support nervous system regulation, greater self-awareness, emotional processing, clarity and a deeper connection to your self and your horse.
55-min
$85
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Pulsed Electromagnetic Field, or PEMF, helps to stimulate the body’s natural ability to heal, helps regulate the nervous system, reduce pain and inflammation, muscle relaxation and recovery, increase energy and vitality support.
60-min
$65 (plus travel expenses, if needed) -
PEMF, or Pulsed Electromagnetic Field, helps to stimulate the horse’s natural ability to heal, helps regulate the nervous system, reduce pain and inflammation, muscle relaxation and recovery, increase energy and vitality support.
Since this session happens at your horse's location, let's coordinate a time together
60-min
$85 (plus travel expenses)
PEMF Therapy for the Equestrian
Everything you do with a horse is a dance.
~ Buck Brannaman