Leadership Approach at Satori
Stables
Recap
One of the great things Sally Swift did was to introduce
the idea of merging different fields of understanding.
She had Tai Chi and Alexander Technique in her life and she
loved riding. Her genius was to combine them! What
resulted was a tradition of Centered Riding to remain open to
bringing in other areas of understanding. Since becoming
a Centered Riding Instructor in 1990, I have pursued many
modalities in-depth so that I can have a better understanding
of how they can be adapted to riding.
Here's
a little recap of some concepts I have
incorporated in my riding and teaching.
At Satori Stables, riding is done as much as possible
through leadership by example.
This is classic do as I do. When I want the horse to
go into self-carriage, I go into self-carriage. When I
want the horse to halt, I halt. And this works because
when I do this well, the horse will accept me as leader and do
the same. This is the basic tenet of horse-person
interactions at Satori Stables.
Since we are looking to lead by example, it is up to us,
the rider, to provide an example that is coherent and conveys
the example we wish the horse to follow. To this end, I have
learnt about other systems of learning and communication and
have incorporated them into the approach I use with the horses
and that I share with students. Some of the concepts I
have incorporated have come from Centered Riding®, Resonance
Repatterning®, Tai Chi, Alexander Technique,
Feldenkrais, Ortho-Bionomy®, and now, Body-Mind-Centering.®
In this article I'll explain which concepts from these
areas provide direction and how they provide it, and in
upcoming articles I'll explain specifics for the various
insights I have been getting.
The
sympathy of two pendulum clocks: beyond Huygens’
observations
From Resonance Repatterning,
a foundational concept of resonance and entrainment creates
the bridge for all else to follow. I create in my field
-- my body movements, my breathing, my thoughts, the patterns
I wish the horse to implement. The reason for the clocks
-- (LOL! This woke me up last night when I realized I'd
posted this page without saying this next bit.) is that
it is a real world example of how rhythms tend to
coalesce. A room of pendulum clocks will start to sync
up and the pendulums swing at the same time. In the
instance of riding, entrainment is achieved by matching the
frequency that is presented. This can be done with
breath -- four strides in breath, eight strides out breath, or
by following movements of sit bones, legs, and hands.
Once the frequency is matched and that matching continues for
a bit, the horse and rider become entrained. The rider
can then pace, aka lead, the horse simply by changing what the
rider is doing in their own body.
From Tai Chi I borrow the
ideas of a quiet Dan Tien and a central energy source as well
as the idea of being released. I have added in the head
and heart chakras as well. By moving into these energy centers,
we broadcast calm energy, which the horses read as
coherent. We are released in the body and mind, allowing
us to respond in the present with appropriate muscle
engagement. It's very therapeutic! And it plays
really well with the horses.
From Alexander Technique,
one of the main concepts that is that of a beacon used with an
approach of compare and contrast. With Alexander
Technique there is the recognition that a specific outcome is
desired. This is the beacon. As we do things, the
body will automatically self-correct if it is given subjective
feedback about where it is in relation to the beacon. IE
we desire to go left, we do something, we observe whether or
not we're going left. So perhaps with each footfall, we
are observing, 'am I going left?' 'how far to the left am I
going? too far/not far enough/not even left/ etc'
By keeping up a running commentary of what we're actually
doing, we are providing the subjective information our body
needs to self correct. And by paying attention to what
we are doing, noticing when we are 'on track' and when we are
'off track,' we next get to the point of noticing when we go
'off track' followed by not going off track! In essence, it is
the Alexander Approach.
From Feldenkrais Technique
the concepts of exploration through a range and ease of
movement guide what is done. For instance, I want to
turn left. I spiral up through my body and notice the
degree of spiral I can do. I can then move through a
range of spiral -- a little more than that, the same, a little
less, the same, a little more, etc. In this way I can
observe what my body is capable of doing and by introducing a
small amount of change, my body can fine tune its abilities.
Alternatively, in my mind, I can tighten the
spiral a little bit more and notice what happens, then slowly
un-spiral through what I am physically doing to a mental place
that is even less of a spiral. Then I tighten the
spiral. By mentally moving from a greater to a lesser
spiral, and back and forth, I send new information to my body about the potential
it has for carrying out the spiral, which translates into the
body self-correcting into the most effective amount of spiral.
From Ortho-bionomy I
use the concept of allowing the pattern to be as it is and to
assist it with completion. When there is a pattern, if
the pattern is amplified just enough for the system to detect
it, the body will self-correct. Which -- I leave the
body to tell me what the pattern is and what the
self-correction is. I witness. I
attend. I support. I don't decide what something
should be and get it to be that. Using the example of the
spiral again, I may notice that as I spiral, the I deviate
from my plumb line. I can do two things. I can
accept that my body is choosing to spiral in this way, witness
it, be attentive to it, and I
can assist it in spiraling in this way by slightly exaggerating
what the deviation is. My body will then complete the
pattern. I may end up in a position generally held to be
'the right position' or I may not. I will, for sure,
though, end up in a position that is more beneficial to the
body.
With Body-Mind-Centering
I am learning a deeper appreciation of the systems of the
body. In a recent email, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen is
quoted with: "As we embody the structures, the principles
emerge. Instead of saying 'Your pelvis should be here,'
when you engage your pelvis, your pelvis comes
here." These classes have been a deep
dive. An intensely rich and wonderful deep dive.
The answers really are within!
Well...
So begins a new year! I will do my best to provide
more information about the Equestrian Arts!
have fun! ask questions of yourself! listen to the
answers of your body.
And if you find this interesting, there is
more where this came from!
L
(ok, yeah... I saw all those exclamation marks!)
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