Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: New World Library

Visit my fresh, new, interactive Author Page with New World Library. It's full of great Author Resources: discussions, articles and links to get you truly Unleashed! Enjoy!

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: Feedback from Singapore

I have completed Dressage in the Fourth Dimension this morning and must applaud, cheer, namaste to you with awed gratitude! You have truly written and connected from a transcended dimension and in doing so, opened an understanding that allowed me to "get back on the horse" for I had fallen so far and so darkly off. Now I can, again, respect "the horse", trust "the horse", and love "the horse"...ie, my life, my body, my marriage. Any "other" is "the horse" with which to practice the art of love and beauty, harmony and integration...with an infinite joy de vivre! Thank you, thank you, thank you for this book! --Marianne Boyer, Singapore

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: Feedback from Northern California

The words "Thank you" just do not carry enough meaning or weight to express the gratitude that I feel for our work together. Our lessons this week have left me so inspired and I feel such a higher level of understanding of my horse. I learn more with you in one hour than I learn with other instructors in a month! I am just thrilled. You are so amazing. You bring out the strength of Nitters and her kindness by teaching me how to ask her for what I want more correctly and subtly. Tonight when I let her out of her stall she galloped for several minutes in the pasture, even after our intense work out! I believe she feels the same positive energy that I do.

-- Linda Schaap, Redding, CA

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: Feedback from Central California

"The Central California Dressage in the Fourth Dimension clinic was so awesome, Sherry. It really tied things all together in a coherent framework - Integrated it you might say. Seriously I cannot think of a situation where I learned so much in such a short time. Stuff that I continue to use every time I ride. " --Karla Lund, San Francisco, CA

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: More Comments

AUGUST 13-16, 2010 Spring Brook Farm, Maryland

This was a most AMAZING clinic! We began with an evening of "meet and greet" the riders and the auditors, followed by an exciting lecture delivered by Dr. Sherry Ackerman. We were all mesmerized by her presentation, and the humor and candor of Dr. Ackerman. The readings from her powerful book Dressage in the Fourth Dimension were indications of the dedication and gentle persistence of the riding experience.

The clinic experience was thorough and detailed. We began each day with a yoga session and meditation. These sessions drove home the point that we, as riders, need to have an empathy with our mounts for the difficulty of balance, bending, and self-carriage! The extraordinary movements we "demand" they perform can only be accomplished if we, also, have the physical abilities, knowledge, and stamina! Stretching never felt so all-consuming!

The riding experience was fulfilling, detailed, and extraordinary in its self-awareness! Riders became more accomplished in their own balance, in how to self-correct, and in how to influence the horse to be more balanced and supple through lovely and quiet exercises.

The rest of each day included lectures focusing on the groups and on the seat, legs, and hands, and how to use the rider mind, body, psyche, and spirit to ride fully and with a complete dedication to the powerful beauty of the horse. In return, each and every horse became focused, compliant and collected without physical force! A joy to watch.

Each day was rewarding and riders followed methodical and crystal-clear pathways to using their riding aides. The horses became obviously proud of their abilities and rewarded all their riders with more enhanced ways of moving! We all were amazed at the changes among all the horses and the riders. Auditors were completely involved through hands on demos, and so many notes and discussions and readings!

This was a clinic of wonderful immersion and inspiring instruction. All riders, auditors, and horses were forever changed.

Information is available for other clinics through Tiffany Moritz:

tmoritz@medicine.umaryland.edu

Testimonials on the Clinics

I have been very pleased with this Season's Dressage in the Fourth Dimension Introductory Clinics around the US and Canada. Here are some comments that have recently come in from participants in these clinics:

"I can't believe how strongly the concept of the four bodies were linked with the workshop you gave this week-end - how refreshing to have such a complete approach to dressage and riding. Another aspect, I have noticed is how well balanced you are, in your own bodies (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual). I can't express to you how deep the understanding of the five triangles in the body when opened and toned as you have taught us can make a difference while riding but also in all areas of my life. I was meditating this morning on the one in the neck - very powerful to help align the other ones. I shall study with you again, it is rare to meet someone as integrated as you are, except perhaps, the horses !"

"This was an amazing clinic where I had the chance to surpass myself. In 3 days, I regained my confidence and got my mojo back! What an awesome opportunity! What I loved was the integration of understandings from different fields of study. I also really appreciated the meticulous break-down of all of the riding aids. Now I can be more conscious when applying them."

"Sherry absolutely has what it takes to teach such an integrated clinic. The days were thoroughly planned so that everything was flowing almost by itself. I had lessons of yoga, meditation, philosophy and psychology. And of course, there were the lessons with dressage riding and theory. All off this was put together in a way that allowed me go even deeper in my understanding of relating to horses and riding dressage."

" All of the information from your Fourth Dimension clinic is branded into me, its amazing."

"That whole weekend was life changing.....and so transformational!"

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: Feedback from British Columbia

I have just returned from presenting a fabulous Dressage in the Fourth Dimension Introductory Mounted Clinic in British Columbia. I am blown away by how effective this clinic format is! The change in every single rider's position, administration of the aids, and technical understanding...in just three days....was sensational. And, the integral fabric of seeing dressage holistically really gives the work a leg up. Old patterns change, empowerment sets in...and things begin to happen. It is so exciting to be working with people all over the US and Canada with this program. Here are some of the comments from the British Columbia clinic:

• "It is so great that you're offering such a positive message and a "new" way of riding with the four dimensions.
• "Sherry is a GREAT instructor! She walks her talk. Get her to come back!"
  
• "This was exactly what I was looking for--for both my horse and myself."
• "The combination of all: the body, mind, spirit and psyche really works!"
• "Sherry made clear in one weekend what I have been trying to figure out for over 30 years!"
• "I gained an awareness that I have formerly only dreamed of."
  

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: Feedback from Norway

Elise Fageras, from Oslo, Norway, completed the Dressage in the Fourth Dimension Introductory training this week at ShasTao in Mount Shasta, CA. It was a terrific four days of affirming that dressage really IS an international language! The training approached all four "bodies" that a rider brings to the horse: the physical, mental, psychological (emotional) and spiritual. By working holistically, we shared visible and measurable progress each day with the dressage. These Introductory Fourth Dimension clinics really pack alot of punch!

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: Feedback from Quebec

We have just completed a really fabulous Dressage in the Fourth Dimension Introductory mounted certification clinic in Quebec, at Ecurie Royale. Everything was perfect....we did yoga and meditation outside in the sunshine, held our lectures under a canopy of shade trees and rode in the lovely indoor arenas. Everyone came away with new things to work on and a much deeper understanding of how their bodies, minds, emotions and spirits all work together to ride dressage. These clinics are really sensational! Here are some comments from the clinic:

• "I found the element that was missing for me - i.e. the spiritual body."
• "Another aspect I have noticed is how well balanced you are."
• "I can't express to you how deep the understanding of the triangles and the core open-ness and toning has been for me. "
• "I experienced that is really is the rider's Seat and Position that put the horse on the bit."
  
• "Viewing dressage holistically helped me break through my blocks. I have never ridden better!"
  

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: Horses for Life

Horses for Life magazine has featured a very nice interview with Dr. Sherry L. Ackerman and her ideas about Dressage in the Fourth Dimension. This is a super ezine that has many interesting and pertinent articles for curious, conscious equestrians. Enjoy!

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: Zazen

How boring to sit idly on the floor,
Not meditating, not breaking through.

Look at the horses racing along
The Kamo River!
That's zazen!

- Daito (1282-1334)

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: The Archetype of the Horse

"One of Plato's critics once stated, 'I see particular horses, but not horseness'. Plato answered, 'That is because you have eyes, but no intelligence'. The archetypal Horse, which gives form to all horses, is to Plato a more fundamental reality than the particular horses, which are merely specific instances of the Horse, embodiments of that Form. As such, the archetype is apparent not so much to the limited physical senses, though these can suggest and lead the way, as to the more penetrating eye of the soul, the illuminated intellect. Archetypes reveal themselves more to the inner perception than to the outer."

--Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: Book Review

The following review was written by Dr. Candice Quinn of Southern Pines, North Carolina:

No one who has anxiously awaited the re-issue of Sherry Ackerman's Dressage in the Fourth Dimension has been disappointed. To be able to add this small gem, now with the extra premium of Linda Kohanov's Foreward, to one's library is a privilege as well as being provided with a constant source of profound insights. This volume, then and now, is at once a welcome addition to the body of exploratory interpretations of dressage artistry; and a unique and singular vision of contemplative philosophic reflections set within a poetic discourse. The philosophic tenets presented, however, are not abstractions or disinterested conceptualizations. In an act of great courage Ackerman shares with the reader a strongly subjective exegesis which carries and conveys her own deeply felt, experientially validated, convictions. In her articulation not of the 'techne' of dressage, but of its 'ousia', its substantive essence, Ackerman invites what will be for many a radical revisioning of standard approaches to dressage orthodoxy. The author's mastery of particular philosophic traditions and her willingness to breach the conventions of discipline-specific boundaries lends the work breadth and profound originality. The book's conceptual approach embodies authorial integrity as well. As an advocate of the ultimate unity and universality of knowledge Ackerman's work expresses an affinity of the feel and appreciation of the artistry of dressage with the sense of harmonic, cyclical (ascent-descent-ascent) unity sought by many of the greatest philosophic/spiritual traditions. The suggestion that the aesthetic dimension of dressage, entered into with a true heart, an 'eros,' contains within it the potential for an ascent to a higher level of consciousness invites the rider to journey beyond a narrow focus on technological methods to a place where individual members of vastly different species may meet and dance together in perfect harmony. Fourth Dimension is a wholly engaging work because the author is so wholly engaged in her subject; and it is an inspirational work because the author remains inspired by the creative energy of parts seeking to be whole, and of spirit seeking to manifest as beauty. My first reading of this work, many years ago now, informed, enlightened and liberated my own approach to riding and granted me permission to express a felt intuitive awareness of the transformative potential of riding well, that is, in a spirit of love and appreciation. Year after year I had received technical instruction in the craft of dressage but I knew there was more. Ackerman's integrative approach and symbolic idiom allowed me to enter fully into my own convictions concerning the true nature of the horse-rider alliance and provided a high voltage articulation for my own deeply felt impressions. I recommend this book to any rider who, perhaps secretly, harbors uncertain or enigmatic notions touching on the essentials of riding dressage; or who desires to ride from within the unfolding process; or who yearns to unite their own appreciation of harmony and symmetry with their horse's joy of rhythm in movement - read and be inspired.

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension: Happy Winter Holidays!

Happy Winter Holidays from the Fourth Dimension! Whip Jane Piereth and passenger Jec Ballou (author, 101 Dressage Exercises for Horse and Rider and Equine Fitness) are enjoying a morning sleigh ride here in Mount Shasta...sitting behind a Morgan horse, of course!


"Even that old horse
is something to see this
snow-covered morning"
--Basho (1644 –1694)

May this deep-winter period of quiet darkness replenish and sustain you all. Go joyfully into the silence of the long nights and reconnect with the ancient wisdom. Let Spirit speak! Listen closely and find what gifts this new year has to offer you. Limitless potential...abundant opportunity and, of course, gratitude!!