Apart from the spiritual goals, the origins of yoga are a matter of debate. We do know that the ancient Indian practice that originated thousands of years ago to involve your mind, body, and spirit is also used as a complete exercise program and physical therapy routine.
Practiced in the Doma India School established over 50 years ago in San Luis, Argentina, a more strange form of the meditative exercise is horse yoga. According to the Huffington Post, The Doma India School was founded by father and son Oscar and Cristobal Scarpati and it works under the philosophy that respectful and non-violent horse-taming can establish a meaningful bond between a man and a bronco. This horse yoga has reportedly sparked some controversy.
The added equine element to yoga was introduced by the Scarpati family, who considers horses to be a sacred animal, and it has been reported that they apply and develop their concepts on wild, traumatized or on nervous horses. According to an article in Cosmopolitan Magazine, “The great part about horse yoga is you don’t even need to change into gym clothes to do it because jeans will do just fine.”
In an exceptionally-written article, titled Koelle Simpson’s Equine Therapy which was published in Oprah Magazine, the author takes us through the experience of Equine Life Coaching.
According to the school’s website, “The method is to tame the horse according to its nature, avoiding cause fear and pain, and by earning their trust and loyalty,” The Doma India School says that, “This method gives us clear ideas of how to treat the horse, and when and how to teach what we want achieve. The horse learns by persuasion, and knowing its nature, behavior and psychology we can persuade and teach endless exercises that will make that horse a suitable animal to any discipline.”
Take a look at horse yoga in action in the video below. After watching the video, we’d love to hear your thoughts about this interesting form of yoga:
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Image Credit: www.cosmopolitan.com