Your Kidneys, Bladder, and Riding!
Introductions
In my Body-Mind-Centering
classes, I am learning a deeper appreciation of the systems of the
body. In the most recent class I attended, we explored
the kidneys and bladder. Here's an introduction to the
Kidneys:
Artwork: Anatomical Kidney Art by LyonRoadArt
Most of us have two kidneys located near the bottom of
our ribcage in back. They may be rather more large and
high than you have thought of them as being. They are
about the size of a palm -- four to five inches, and are
located near the bottom of your ribcage. (As opposed to the
small of your back.)
To find them, see if you can place
your hands with your palms on your back, finger tips nearly
touching, just above your waist. This puts your hands in
your lumbar area. If you can slide your hands up a few
inches so they rest on your ribs, you will be very close to
where your kidneys are. The left kidney is a little
bit higher than the right kidney.
As simplistic as it seems, plunking your hands on
your back is a great way to begin introductions with your
kidneys. You can begin now and later in the day or
tomorrow give it a go while you're walking. Then on a
day when you can set aside
practicing movements, improving your riding, and/or achieving
goals, you can explore during a few laps at the walk.
Start with your hand on your back near the location of one of
your kidneys and imagine that you can connect with your kidney
in some fashion. You won't actually feel your kidney
under your hand, but through attention you can become aware of
your kidney.
The way you do this is by asking questions and
collecting information. In some ways, it's the dreaded
'guess and check' my son was taught in fourth grade. For
instance, you have your hand on your back ribs and you ask
yourself, 'where is this kidney? is it where I've got my
hand, or is it higher?' and then you pretend you can
feel a kidney and you feel for it, mostly mentally, in both places. And
then you take note of what you felt. Was it the same in
both places or different? Then you put your hand in
another place and ask again, 'Is this where my kidney
is? or was it that last place?' And again you take
note of what you felt. Was it the same in both places or
different? You keep this up and after a while, you've
built up a map of information. To be honest, I don't
move my hand around very much. I kind of pretend, mentally,
I'm connecting to different areas inside my body.
So while you're reading this or walking around the arena with your hand on
your back. Here are some more questions you could ask
yourself:
- As I'm learning and gathering more sensations and information about my kidney,
how heavy or light would it feel? Is it dense and
downward moving? Is it airy and buoyant? Is
expanding or shrinking?
- As I become more able to sense my kidney, what
texture would it have? gushy, spongy, springy, ??
- As I'm learning and gathering more sensations and information about my kidney,
is it higher or lower than where I first thought it might
be? Closer to my midline? further away?
Where does it want to go?
- If I were able to sense my kidney, is it deep within
me? close to the surface? moving to the front
of me? or moving towards my back?
- If I were able to 'see' my kidney, would there be
colors associated with it?
- If I let my bladder initiate movement, what would it
do?
After you've found one kidney and had a conversation
with it, you can switch hands (and switch rein!) and walk
about asking the same questions of the other kidney.
If your horse is a good egg, you can also have a go on
the long walls at having both hands on your kidneys.
(Doing it off the horse is an option, too.) If
you were to check in with the connection between those
kidneys, what do you find? Do they talk to each
other? Does one seem more active than the other?
Do they switch roles? Or change in unison? Does
one lead or take over? Is one MIA? Simply keep
asking questions and noticing what responses you get.
So far, the conversation with the kidneys has been one
of introduction. Where they are, what size they
are, what texture, density, weight they have, and whatever
else you've discovered!
This isn't a dive in and conquer type activity.
This is more listening and observing, asking questions and
waiting for the body to respond. Goals and movements come much
later.
have fun! ask questions of yourself! listen to the
answers of your body.
And if you find this interesting, this is just the beginning of it!
L
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Are you looking for something more in your riding?
Something that really connects the inside and the outside?
Sometimes a hands on experience can do a lot to clarify
something written.
I've studied horse and human anatomy for twenty five years.
I started with Centered Riding and that is solidly based upon
how bodies work and how brains process information. I
know Alexander, Feldenkrais, Trigger Point, myofascial, Ortho-bionomy,
how to develop resistance training programs, and more recently
I am incorporating concepts from Body-Mind-Centering.
I've done yoga for more than forty years, studied (and used)
the chakra and meridian systems for over twenty.
Sometimes I don't go into theory because in the middle of a
lesson it would detract from the practical learning of how to
ride, but I do clinics where I share this information along
with how to incorporate it into your training program.
And if you really don't mind listening to me yak forever, I
can easily do that during a lesson, too. It's just most
folks want to ride!
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