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~ Pam Brown
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What time have you got? 

Or not got... ?

Central to the idea of posture is the plumb line.  In riding, we talk a lot about the line from ankle to hip to shoulder to ear, and it's something we all aspire to get right.  Once we get that, there's a matter of finding the right orientation in space - specifically, are we balanced?  Just as important if not more so.  Here's a Feldenkrais-type exercise to help you find out.

You can do this on a chair or on a horse, on a standing still horse or a moving horse, on a horse on the ground or a horse that is jumping.  The difference between these scenarios is your 'shutter speed' - your ability to grab snap shots fast enough.  Sitting on a chair, you can take your time figuring things out.  Taking a jump, maybe not so leisurely.  But for sure, possible.  In the canter stride, you can evaluate your balance with and between each foot fall once you get the knack of it.  (Maybe start out in a chair though...)

So you're sitting in a chair most likely.  (Or on a Swiss ball - which would be even better!)  Begin by pretending you're sitting in the center of a clock face.  This is where the minute hand and the hour hand are pinned to the face of the clock.  Twelve will be in front of you, the six behind you, three to your right, and nine to your left.  Can you tell towards which number you're tilting?  File that info away. 

Now rock slowly (like the speed of glaciers) forward toward 12.  You only have to go an inch or two, just do it at the break neck speed for a snail.  As you move from the center toward 12, notice if your weight in your seat bones changes in any way - does it shift from side to side?  does it evenly move forward?  do different parts of your body move faster than others?  Like does your chest jump and then your belly?  Or your belly then your chest?  Or does your head go and nothing else?  How exactly does your body 'tilt' forward?  Now slowly come back to center, paying attention to all those things again.  You can do this two or three times if you like.  

And now you'll do this... forever! Not really, although it'll seem like it.  (You can count this towards your 'quiet time' for the day.)  Here's the directions in which to do this:

  • "Part A"
    • center to 12  - ie to the front
    • center to 6  - ie to the back       - pause, pay attention, take stock, etc.
    • center to 12 to center to 6 - between back and front
    • Pause at center and take stock of what's going on in your body.  anything different?  weight? alignment? tone?
    • center to 9 - ie to the left
    • center to 3 - ie to the right
    • center to 9 to center to 3 - between left and right
    • Pause at center and take stock of what's going on in your body.  anything different?  weight? alignment? tone?
  • "Part B"
    • 12 to (center to) 2 to (center to) 12 to (center to) 2  
    • 1 to (center to) 3 to (center to) 1 to (center to) 3
    • 2 to (center to) 4 to (center to) 2 to (center to) 4
    • 3 to (center to) 5 to (center to) 3 to (center to) 5 
    • 4 to (center to) 6 to (center to) 4 to (center to) 6   (noticing a pattern?)
    • 5 to (center to) 7 to (center to) 5 to (center to) 7
    • 6 to (center to) 8 to (center to) 6 to (center to) 8 
    • 7 to (center to) 9 to (center to) 7 to (center to) 9
    • 8 to (center to) 10 to (center to) 8 to (center to) 10
    • 9 to (center to) 11 to (center to) 9 to (center to) 11
    • 10 to (center to) 12 to (center to) 10 to (center to) 12
    • 11 to (center to) 1 to (center to) 11 to (center to) 1
    • 12  to center
    • Pause at center and take stock of what's going on in your body.  anything different?  weight? alignment? tone?
  • "Part A"
    • center to 12  - ie to the front
    • center to 6  - ie to the back
    • center to 12 to center to 6 - between back and front
    • center to 9 - ie to the left
    • center to 3 - ie to the right
    • center to 9 to center to 3 - between left and right
    • Pause, etc.
  • "Part B" in reverse
    • 12 to (center to) 10 to (center to) 12 to (center to) 10  
    • 11 to (center to) 9 to (center to) 11 to (center to) 9
    • 10 to (center to) 8 to (center to) 10 to (center to) 8
    • 9 to (center to) 7 to (center to) 9 to (center to) 7
    • 8 to (center to) 6 to (center to) 8 to (center to) 6
    • 7 to (center to) 5 to (center to) 7 to (center to) 5
    • 6 to (center to) 4 to (center to) 6 to (center to) 4 
    • 5 to (center to) 3 to (center to) 5 to (center to) 3
    • 4 to (center to) 2 to (center to) 4 to (center to) 2  
    • 3 to (center to) 1 to (center to) 3 to (center to) 1 
    • 2 to (center to) 12 to (center to) 2 to (center to) 12
    • 1 to (center to) 11 to (center to) 1 to (center to) 11
    • 12  to center
    • Pause, etc.

If you're 'puzzled' that's normal.  Usually there is a lot of information that's getting passed to the 'right side' of the brain, and that's the non-lingual side of the brain.  The 'left side' is often left (rr) in the state of knowing something's different but having no words to describe it.  That's ok.  The words aren't so necessary.

If you're wondering what's behind this, in Feldenkrais, by moving slowly and paying attention we feed more information into the nervous system and it automatically, creatively finds a better way to do things.  In Alexander, there is the idea that there are better ways to do things, and if we go slowly enough, we can stop doing the unlovely thing and do the lovely thing.  In this case, we would like the body to move as a unit, not changing shape as it tilts.  With Ortho-Bionomy & Equine Positional Release, the patterns of preference are highlighted and then the question is posed to the body 'did you know this is the way you're doing that?' and that releases the excess tone.  

You can do this exercise with any of these approaches and it will work fine.

Now you may be asking, "yeah, but when do I ever tip over like that?  Isn't that wrong?"  

Well, yes, usually tipping over sideways isn't a great idea, but it does happen.  And now you will probably be surprised how often you actually have been tipping over sideways but just didn't know it, because you didn't know that was what tipping over sideways felt like.  Now that you've intentionally tipped over (in all kinds of directions) and paid attention to what it felt like when you were doing it, you now have a mapping between where your body is in space and how your brain tells you where it is.  This is how proprioception is built.  This is how your bridge between the external world and the internal world.  Now if you're trotting along and all the sudden you feel heavy on the right and stretched on the left, you know that means you're tipping right.

And later when you get into jumping or start doing some cantering, this feedback will be really helpful.  You won't be going through the entire clock face, instead you'll be able to quickly figure out which number you're headed to and how to get back if need be.

This is one of those exercises that can be hard to start, knowing how long it'll take to do, but once you do it, you'll discover the benefits are wonderful and well worth the time.

 

Have you had a chance to play with this in your riding?  What is your experience with this?

 
Copyright © Jan 11, 2013 Lynn S. Larson
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"The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities." 

~ James Allen

lynn@satoriconnections.com   512.869.7903