Mindy Wiper

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I began my journey with Yoga in El Portal California a snug little town at the west entrance to Yosemite National Park  After participating in years of community hatha/vinyasa based yoga I decided to take the instructor certification program with the Balanced Rock Foundation the non-profit organization that hosted our community yoga  The trainings were spread out so that there was one each month and I found that while riding my horse between teacher trainings "the yoga" had begun to work little miracles for my mind body and spirit while working with horses  I left Yosemite and am currently teaching lessons and training horses near Houston TX where I grew up so that I can develop my own understanding for the correlations between riding and yoga  My students some knowingly some not are practicing pranayama basic stretches and yogic principles to help before during and after their riding  Conversely riding has made my yoga a more vivid experience and I continue with my personal practice when not in the saddle  I try to incorporate yoga into everything I do--from walking driving doing dishes to grooming my horses in training and using pranayama to calm nervous horses  I am excited for where this journey will take me.