My name is Jenny Pim.
I can help you to learn:-
- Equestrian Tai Chi, so that you can harmonize with the energy of your horse and both benefit from your practice together.
- To connect with your energy, so that you are completely sure of it, it will not be just a vague imagined feeling.
- To make your energy flow in your body when you ride, so that your horse will be able to feel your relaxed energy, all around him or her when you ride.
You may think this is a new fad, or something that has been thrown together quickly with no thought or structure, but nothing could be further from the truth.
I’m a certified Tai Chi Instructor registered with the Tai Chi Union for Great Britain and Tai Ji Europa, The European Tai Chi Portal.
I began practicing Tai Chi on horseback by chance really, many years ago (2005).
I had a busy life, with three children, breeding Connemara Ponies and teaching Tai Chi, so to save time, I would prepare for my evening Tai Chi class when I was out riding.
I’ll never forget the very time time that I practiced on horseback. I felt as if I was suspended somewhere between Heaven and Earth. The feeling of practicing Tai Chi when you are sitting on a horse, is very different to the feeling you get, from practicing regular Tai Chi on the ground.
The ponies that I practiced on would become very relaxed, they would lower their heads and lick and chew. But I also realised they were benefitting in other ways as well. They became calmer, and more settled overall, and we made a much deeper connection.
When I would go out to the yard or field, their eyes would be looking for me. I felt that our relationship had changed, and that now we had something very special and exclusive between us.
I felt that they looked to me as someone who could provide stability for them and that I was someone they could rely on. But I also felt that they looked at me with new eyes – as someone who could meet them on an energetic level, that they could relate to.
Over the years, I developed The Equestrian Tai Chi Form. It includes the energy flows of the regular Tai Chi Form, so that it has the benefits of regular Tai Chi. (When you see people practicing Tai Chi, they are actually practicing a sequence of movements in slow motion, known as The Form.)
Tai Chi and Equestrianism are natural partners:-
- There is even a Horse Stance in regular Tai Chi. If you are sitting on your horse and your horse is taken away, you will be in the Horse Stance of Tai Chi.
- Another similarity to Equestrianism is that Tai Chi is always practiced with the knees slightly bent.
- The back is always straight in Tai Chi, it does not always have to be erect. Again this is similar to Equestrianism (think the Jumping Position).
Equestrian Tai Chi is completely designed for practice on horseback, you can of course practice it on the ground beside your horse as well. Practicing Equestrian Tai Chi, while you are actually on your horse, allows your energies to mingle and merge, and for your horse to be fully engaged in it.