Tom Nagel discovered through his own horseback riding experience, that how bodies work on the horse is the same as how they work off the horse. He has been able to teach riders how to identify and engage their core muscles, the psoas muscles, to become better riders. Tom started conducting...
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Tom Nagel discovered through his own horseback riding experience, that how bodies work on the horse is the same as how they work off the horse. He has been able to teach riders how to identify and engage their core muscles, the psoas muscles, to become better riders. Tom started conducting clinics for horseback riders in 2001. His two-day Rider's Seat clinics are described in the Clinics section of his web site at www.zenandthehorse.comTom's early clinic participants encouraged him to write a book to reinforce and share the information he was presenting. As a result of the clinics and his book, Zen & Horseback Riding, he was invited to be the main speaker at the 10th Annual International Centered Riding© Symposium in 2005. This is where he met Sally Swift. When he later asked Ms. Swift to write a foreword for his book, she said she would be happy to do so.Tom's experience and expertise is in the basic biomechanics of how human bodies work. He practiced Aikido for 17 years and is an advanced practitioner of Zen Bodytherapy®, a bodywork discipline that combines deep tissue and alignment work. Tom started his Zen training in 1977 under the guidance of Zen Master Tenshin Tanouye Roshi and became a certified Zen teacher in 1986.The 4th Edition of Zen & Horseback Riding contains information about time and space, pushing and pulling as well as time and resource management. You will learn how to apply these concepts directly to both riding and life.Tom's awareness of pushing and pulling initially resulted from an experience that happened after one of his clinics, when he realized he pulled on the steering wheel when driving his car. Later, through the feedback of a friend, Tom became aware that pulling was his habit in life.Tom started presenting the concept of pushing and pulling in his horseback riding clinics and found it to be one of the most meaningful parts of the clinic. He initially wrote a chapter on pushing and pulling in Zen & Horseback Riding and later expanded this into the book, Simple Pushes: Finding Balance in Life.
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