Otra Mas - San Juan Capistrano, California

Aubree Culleton

Otra Mas is an amazing nonprofit and their staff is top notch. Every one is so easy to work with and they are doing amazing work in the equine world. Scheduling with them was super easy and straight forward.
Keep up the good work Otra Mas.

Tanya's Ethereal Footsteps

For Christmas, my Mom gave my sisters and I (and our partners) tickets to a horse meditation at a stable in San Juan Capistrano, presented by Otra Mas. I thought it was a bit unusual and didn't know what to expect.

When we got there, we were warmly greeted by a woman named, Michelle. Then two other women came and introduced themselves, one who would lead the meditation with the horses, and the other who was responsible for keeping us safe. Michelle took us into a barn that had about 200 pairs of leather boots. She chose styles for us that she thought would match our outfits, in our sizes. Then we sat in a circle of chairs, under a canopy and chatted. Michelle asked each of us to introduce ourselves, and to express why we were each there, and what we would like to get out of the meditation. Following that, she guided us through a short meditation, which was freeing. After that, we all took our chairs and carried them into the ring with the horses. We created a circle in the space where the horses were. They were all older horses, retired to meditation jobs, after having had more active careers.

As we sat in the circle, doing an open-eyed meditation, all three horses came and put their heads into the circle. One of them pulled my hat off and another one put his head over my shoulder and sniffed me. The guides had instructed us to breathe air out and let the horses smell us, just like the horses breathed on us. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before.

After we had finished the meditation, the guides gave us grooming brushes and instructed us to brush the shedding hair. They also suggested that we lay our hands in the area of the horses hearts. Pretty quickly I felt a connection with my horse, Titan. He let me hug him, brush every inch of his body, his tail. I hugged him and pressed my heart into his side.

The guides put harnesses on the horses and then instructed us to walk them around the ring. Titan was tired and wanted to stop often and rest. My husband, who was raised around horses, knew to keep leading him, but I let Titan rest, petting him and hugging him.

Leaving Titan was kind of hard. I hugged him one last time, kissed his side, and wished him a happy rest of his life.

Meditation with horses is likely the best thing you can do for yourself in Orange County. Highly recommend it!