Sally Swift, founder of Centered Riding Inc., was born in 1913 and grew up in Hingham, Massachusetts, just south of Boston. At eight
years old a scoliosis appeared which has been part of her life ever since. After the diagnosis and into her twenties, she worked with Mabel Elsworth Todd, author of The Thinking Body
. So Sally's body awareness and centering started at an early age. 
Graduating from school, she taught riding for the next twelve years before moving on into other fields. Retiring from the American Holstein Association at 62, she planned to teach riding again "to a few of my
friends". This was the beginning of Centered Riding. As she developed her techniques and the four basics of Centered Riding, the demand for Centered Riding clinics and Instructor clinics blossomed and soon her
teaching activities were taking her all over the United States as well as to Canada, Australia and Europe.
Sally has now semi-retired but still teaches a few clinics close to home at
Lucile Bump's Southmowing Stables in Brattleboro, Vermont, works annually with her Level IV instructors and gives talks at a few trade
shows. She is using her experience in "centering" and "use of self" techniques in new areas such as singers and physical therapists as they help their clients.
Her book Centered Riding
was published in 1985 and is now available in four languages. Sally is currently working on her second book. She has also produced a two part
Centered Riding video. Her book and videos are available in many tack shops or can be ordered from:
Trafalgar Square
PO Box 57
N. Pomfret, Vermont 05053
In the last eighteen years, Sally has been working with the Alexander Technique which has enabled her to discard the back brace she had worn for ten years. The Alexander Technique is a method of
re-educating the mind and body towards greater balance and integration with special reference to posture and movement. The Technique has not changed any of her basic principles but has added
significantly to the depth and subtlety of her teaching.
Over the past twelve years, Sally has developed an instructor program which is now taught by the Level
IV Instructors who either apprenticed directly with Sally (1986 - 1991) or with at least two Level IV instructors. See the
