A few days ago, I wrote how I lost my precious yearling Bear. Since that time, I have adventured through the depths of my own

The word vitality stems from beautiful origins. It’s born from the latin word “vitalis”, which translates to “of or manifesting life” or “belonging to life”.

What if, whenever we felt lonely, what we were actually experiencing was a state of mis-attention. Where our mind had pulled us inward and convinced

Where do you go, I was asked, when you need to unwind, or recharge? Where do you go to reconnect with the world? Ahh, I

It’s 2004. I’m in Sri Lanka, two weeks after a devastating Tsunami swept through. I’m here as an aid worker. The hotel I’m staying in

There’s a moment when you get off the plane in New Zealand and start to make your way through the airport that a waiata plays

When I first started working with the nervous system, my interest was around how I could use these understandings to be more engaged in life.

Yesterday, I slipped out into the afternoon sun, grabbed a halter and walked up the farm to get Saffy out of the paddock. I had

In parasympathetic movement patterns, the shoulder girdle- and specifically the AC joint- is what dictates the movement of the head. If you look at Image

Over the course of a month, I write a number of blog posts and share frequent snippets of my work on social media. I know

Time- or perhaps more specifically, the feeling that I don’t have enough of it- is something that I have wrestled with my whole life. In

This story has two parts. The first part involves something that popped up on my timeline (that created the inspiration for this post in the

I’ve been a little absent from social media of late. My family got visited by everyone’s favourite spicy flu (as my friend Rachael would call

I’ve been musing over this post for a while now, the reason being that what I’m about to talk about is not black and white.

Last week, I wrote about my experience with frustration and how the whole “leave your emotions at the gate” is not mantra that I subscribe

On Tuesday, I caught Merc and brought him into the yards with the plan of going down to the arena and working together. By the

The sit bones get a lot of airtime when it comes to position and balance, and almost all of the instruction that I’ve heard involves

Survival patterns are patterns that we have learned and developed in childhood as a means to get our needs met. They can and do take

I got asked in a podcast interview once who was the horse that has influenced me the most, and the answer was Dee. The reason

In my membership group yesterday, we began a discussion on biomechanics, and I was asked my opinion on some of the more well-known forms biomechanics

Modern living has got us into all sorts of pickles when it comes to our nervous system. Let’s consider movement as an example. In early

We’ve been working through a movement arc series in JoyRide that explores the difference in how the body moves between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous

I thought this would be fun to show you. A couple of days back, my husband offered to come outside and take some photos of

The position and shape of the pelvis changes dramatically depending on whether you are in a parasympathetic or fight flight nervous system state. In the

The subject of core strength and how to properly use and train our abdominal muscles get a lot of airtime when it comes to conversations

The “fight flight response” or the “fight flight nervous system” is a common nickname given to the survival or sympathetic nervous system. It can be

The fight flight brain looks for things that are the same. “How is this experience the same as what I experience yesterday, or last year,

Dear Breath, Oh my, Breath, where do I even start? I think of everything I do and teach and share… when I talk about you,

The superficial front line of fascia is a literal line that travels up the middle on the body. In the movement work that I practice

Thresholds. It’s a word that we hear a lot applied to both horses and humans. How do you define threshold? And what markers are you

Dear Head, For the longest time we had a complicated relationship. I won’t be so arrogant to assume that I completely have you sorted. To

I was listening to my lovely and rather fabulous friend Kate Sandel the other day in a conversation that she was having about separation anxiety.

The other day in my JoyRide group, we started talking about the difference between conscious, subconscious and unconscious, and I thought it would be an

Spooking! We had an interesting discussion on spooking last week in Stable Hours (the weekly Live Q&A in my membership group) that brought a few

Having a sense of progress is important, but it’s easy to miss the small, everyday markers of progress if you are attached to what progress

Your current nervous system state expresses through your motor patterns. It expresses in movement. This is an easy sentence to read and gloss over but

Look up! Many of us consider posture and position from the viewpoint of the outer tube of the body. For instance, we see or sense

An article popped up the other day in my newsfeed and the title was something like “5 Tips to help you become a more successful

What you are looking at in this image is a drawing of the pelvic floor, looking from the top down. You can see how complex

One of the things we often do is “rate” the appropriateness of our responses according to how we “think” we should be behaving or reacting.

A little while back, I read a post on another page from someone who felt like they’d done the wrong thing by their horse in

Movement. From the perspective of the brain, movement is only ever performed with a functional reason in mind. We are designed to move with a

We’ve spoken a little bit about the dome of the diaphragm this week, and this particular part of the body is a great launch pad

The last couple of weeks in JoyRide, we’ve been focusing on the dome of the diaphragm in our movement work. You can gather information about

A week or so back, I wrote a post about what I consider to be the “goal” of working with the nervous system. Here’s a

One of the things I’m interested in learning about (and consequently teaching others) is how to read the structure of your body, and understand, based

Part of my ongoing “work” as a horseperson involves increasing my knowledge base on really understanding more about my horse’s body and how it is

One of the beliefs I have around movement and “training” generally is that “good training” and “good movement” should be a form of therapy. It

Overthinking can be a real scourge for those of us interested in pursuing a peaceful mind. It’s certainly been something that I have wrestled with

Here’s one for the long gamers. Dee is my big bay horse that you see in many of my photos. I’ve had him since he

Frustration is something that you might find yourself experiencing a little or a lot in your riding adventures. In and of itself, frustration is part

I always love the beginning stages of forming a new partnership. It’s such a dance of discovery. I love asking the questions of ‘how do

In the various photos I’ve posted of late, my horse has been wearing a neck rope (or lariat) and I’ve had several questions asking why

A week or so back, I shared a collection of photos on my own social media page of my horses, and a few “between the

This week in JoyRide we’ve been working with the kneecaps and looking at the different movement patterns generally that exist between the parasympathetic and survival

Understanding more about my nervous system has fundamentally affected how I approach movement, and beyond that, exercise generally. We have developed a world view that

I’ve talked a lot about failure before, and the more I do so, the more convinced I become that failure doesn’t actually exist. It’s just

Trail riding, to my mind, is such an art form. I always laugh to myself when I read comments from riders who flippantly throw comments

Whenever we ride in public or are involved in group situations with our horse, there are always so many different dynamics that we need to

If you’ve ever found yourself being able to tell the future in advance, what you are essentially highlighting are your own sympathetic or survival nervous

My horse Dee is a pretty big unit. I’ve had him since he was 2 years old who just never seemed to stop growing and

The scapula, or shoulder blade, is something that most of us are pretty familiar with, as far as parts of the body go. The position

Let’s talk gadgets. The kind of gadgets that I’m interested in discussing are the ones that so many of us human people love to use

The way that I approach physical health, especially in a rehabilitative sense, has changed dramatically over the last couple of years. In the same breath,

In our movement classes this week, we’ve been focusing on the trigeminal nerve, the largest sensory nerve in the body. Activating and re-habituating the sensory

My life has never really run the conventional path. For the most part, I’ve always worked for myself. So much so that I joke now

Change is an interesting thing. When we are stuck in a place that we don’t want to be- physically, mentally, or emotionally- it’s the thing

A frequent conversation that I am having with riders I work with revolves around letting go of the idea that the goal is to reach

We had lots of interesting discussion and thoughts around my post about the jaw-pelvis relationship yesterday, and I wanted to expand on that conversation further

Often, when it comes to making corrections in the body- adjusting our position, correcting our posture, attempting to develop our seat- we focus on specific

Yesterday, we talked briefly about the different learning styles and mode of response that are expressions of the various stages the survival nervous system travels

Your learning style- how you process information, respond to feedback or criticism, the conditions you “require” in order to be able to take things in-

“Comfort zone” is an interesting phrase, and it’s not one that we typically think of with positive connotations. Usually, the discussions about it centre around

In all the work I do, I’m trying to strike a balance between understanding what’s happening at a nervous system level, and then recognizing how

Yesterday, I got my lovely horse Dee out and the paddock and we played together in the round pen for the first time in quite

I teach a lot of movement-based work with a specific focus on the nervous system, and periodically the question comes up, how do I know

I remember getting asked in an interview once, “Do you feel like what you are teaching now is different from what you taught five years

It’s interesting, given that a horse and their movement is so dynamic, that we could become attached to “aesthetic ideals” when we are riding. I’m

Emotional control is a phrase that you see thrown around a lot, and it’s both a lot simpler and a lot more complex than we

When most people think of the nervous system and what working with it might address, the most common response is mental and emotional. Very few

Here’s a piece of writing that I’m going to muddle my way through. It’s a muddle because the thoughts and understandings are in part still

There was a man who set out to make the perfect chair. He got sick of sitting all day at his office in chairs that

8:30 pm, I flop down on the couch, pick up the remote and press the green button. I don’t very often feel like watching TV

One of the common “complaints” that I hear about focusing on the body and the mind from the level of the nervous system is that

Over the last couple of days, we’ve talked about the subjective nature of emotions and how our labeling of emotions can limit the capacity of

Yesterday, we talked about the subjective nature of emotions and how, in fact, the labels that we attach to our experience do not exist as

Part of being self-responsible for how we show up for ourselves, for others, and for our horses involves accepting and embracing just how subjective our

Last week, I added a practice to my membership program called The Story Of Your Body. The purpose of it was two-fold. Firstly, I wanted

If you find yourself in a situation that you would really rather not be in, it’s easy to fall into the trap of being desperate

These days, my teaching, work and practice focus as much on movement and the body as it does on how it is we think. As

So many of our challenges come from using the conscious brain for purposes it wasn’t designed for. For the most part, it’s not our fault.

So, there’s self-awareness (the ability to stay in connection with yourself whilst engaging with the world) and there’s self-centering (the tendency to centre all situations

In my family, we have a little tradition. It’s not a food that we share on a particular day. It’s not a place that we

If I have the belief that there is a right way to do something, I’ve eliminated all possibilities for learning. My quest for “right-ness” can

Last week I wrote about the times and situations where our horsing life is not a source of solace but a source of stress and

Continuing on with our “Showing Up” Conversation! We started yesterday by talking about two different situations that can share the same outward manifestations, and how

Yesterday, I talked about showing up and how showing up for yourself is a very different conversation from showing up in spite of yourself. We

Showing up is something that’s talked about a lot. Personally, I’m a fan of it. After all, nothing happens, changes, or gets discovered if you

I was musing yesterday about a couple of memes circulating the internet (I know they are often not meant for deep contemplation but there you

Most of us are masterful at dissociating from our experience; from being anywhere other than truly where we are right now. And what’s more, the

Depression is a really big conversation, and I know it’s something that many people struggle with, as either an intermittent or regular feature of their

If I was ever to get a phrase or motto tattooed onto my body, this one would be it: Don’t make the story more important

This face right here is the face of a four-legged pup wot needs a lot of exercise. And if she doesn’t get it, she can

These days, breathwork is pretty standard practice. If you are looking for solutions for dealing with fear and anxiety, I would put large swathes of

Boundaries- your ability to recognize a need for them, to create them, and to hold them- is always an interesting discussion. As with everything, there

This morning I was tagged in a post on another page that was asking for help and advice on how to deal with “I’m not

In many ways, the world has cracked open with the discussion of trauma. It’s facilitated a greater degree of empathy and understanding; it’s allowed many

In our movement work in JoyRide over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been working with the centreline of the body. When I refer to

Many moons ago, I was watching a dressage test on YouTube and at the end of it, I started scrolling through the comments. “Wow”, one

The thing is, I don’t have time. Yes, another chimed in. We are time-poor. We would love to do this but it’s so hard to

A common situation for you. Your horse spooks and you find yourself completely discombobulated. In fact, you are so out of sorts, that the only

Let’s talk about “aiming for calm” as the end goal. But first, let’s talk about sensory input (so your nervous system taking information from your

I get asked from time to time how I deal with being online so much (as far as navigating the different conversations goes), and how

A quote that struck a chord with me today… “I need to listen well so I hear what is not said” ~ Thuli Madonsela  

The structure of our body, the way that we move, how we relate to our environment and each other all change in relationship to our

Let’s say we’ve been thinking about something we’re finding quite hard or working through a sticky spot in training. We need a plan, we tell

Perspective. It’s kind of everything and yet at the same time, how much of our perspective is informed by reality? The answer to that is,

My horses are on holidays until the end of the month- I’m devoting so much time to putting my new program together that an equine

My eldest little boy is obsessed with skiing. He reads books about it, studies YouTube clips online, is thrilled at the onset of winter and