How heavy is a 2 year old child?
Well that should be a simple, empirical question. My daughter, Katie, weights about 12.5kg and, most of the time, my husband or I have no problem at all picking her up. Hum… but then there are the other times. When she does not want to be picked up she seems to attached to the ground in some way and when she really wants to be put down I feel as if I can’t physically hold her any more, I don’t mean she is throwing herself around in any way or that she is tight and braced in her muscles, its just that she is strangely heavy. I think this effect comes from her completely unified physical and mental intention and that’s the interesting part as we can use the same principle of engagement of the power of our core to be more effective with our riding. In the example above Katie has dropped her center of gravity and you could argue that I’m feeling an application of what martial artists understand as “life energy” coming from her center.
So what’s going on and what does Katie’s weird weight gain have to do with horses?
A simple exercise that Mark Rashid frequently uses on clinics illustrates the power of finding our “center” and the impact this has to our balance and how we feel to another person. Working in pairs, one person places a finger on their forehead and puts all their attention on that place. Letting the finger and arm drop down but keeping their attention on the forehead, their partner then gently places both hands on the shoulders of the first person and tests their balance. The object is not to flatten them but to just gently see how stable they feel.
Next we repeat the process, this time focusing on the area of the heart by touching an area on the sternum and again focusing entirely on that place. As above, the partner tests the balance gently by placing both hands on the shoulders.
Finally, the focus is placed on the “center” which is found about 3 or 4 fingers width below the naval. Sometimes people need a little time to focus and concentrate on this, dropping their attention down to their center, when they are ready the partner again tests their balance.
Whenever I have shown this exercise to riders in clinics, they have found more stability when they place their attention in the area below the naval than either in the forehead or the heart area. Very often the difference is dramatic, to the extent that it is actually hard to push them over in the third exercise whereas they topple easily when the focus is on the forehead. It follows that learning to ride from our center could help to improve balance and reduce the amount of muscular tension we need to do the job of balancing on top of a horse.
Centers – our physical center, center of gravity and center of energy
We could mean a few things when we talk about our center. Our physical (geometric) center is a point in ourselves which you could find if you imagine dividing your body in half from left to right, in half from front to back and in half from top to bottom. These three planes meet in just one point, that’s our geometric center.
The geometric center is not necessarily the same as our center of gravity. For most of us the center of gravity lies approximately in front of the second sacral vertebra at about 55% of our height. The exact location for each individual depends on their build and alignment. A man with a very muscular torso and long, thin legs would have a higher center of gravity. Another person who habitually stands with shoulders raised and leans slightly to the left would have the center of gravity up and to the left. We become more stable and balanced if we can lower the center of gravity.
I also want to explore the idea that our center is also a center of energy that is more than just our center of gravity. In Eastern culture and disciplines such as Aikido, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Yoga, Chinese medicine, acupuncture and meditation there is focus on our center of energy which is located pretty much in the same place as our center of gravity, that is about 3 or 4 fingers width below and behind the naval. This is referred to as the dantien, tan t’ien (Chinese), one point, hara (Japanese), manipura (Indian), navel or solar plexus chakra. The center is the place where our chi, or life force is stored. It is a reservoir for our energy and a place of inner strength. Eastern disciplines teach that if we can learn to live, move and act with our attention on our center then we will be more balanced physically and emotionally. We need to learn to see from our center, move from our centre, breathe from our center.
Although modern science has not proved the presence of energy centers in the body, there are several interesting things about the center from an anatomical point of view. It has been proved that the solar plexus (and heart) is surrounded by cells that are very like those contained on the cortex of the brain. These have been shown to allow some form of “intelligence” and may account for the intuition that some people attribute to “gut feelings”. Also there is a major branching of the nervous system along the spinal cord close to the naval center and it is linked to the glands of the endocrine system, specifically the adrenal glands and pancreas.
Depending on which discipline you study, there are other energy centers in the body which are connected by meridians allowing energy to flow around (and beyond) the body. Qi Gong refers to three energy points; the forehead (the third eye or Ajna), the heart (Anahata) and the pelvic center or many other disciplines, such as Yoga, refer to 7 chakras running up the spine from the perineum to the crown of the head. This also includes a chakra close to the naval. In the most simple terms these points are different ways of dividing up the energy in the body.
In a New Jersey State prison, muggers were shown videos of people walking along the road and asked which they would have mugged. Usually the prisoners were in complete agreement, it was those who where out of balance or out of sync in some way that they chose. Those who were centered were hardly ever chosen.
So what does all this have to do with horse riding!
What part of your body do you associate with strength? Upper body? In fact the strongest muscles of the body are below the waist, the muscles that attach to the pelvic girdle. By focusing attention here we can move in the most efficient way which means only using the muscles that we need to do the job in hand. Often people move with large amounts of muscular tension in the whole body, horses can feel this and will usually respond by matching this with tension in their own bodies. This is neither efficient for movement nor healthy in the long term.
There is also a connection between to extent to which we are mentally present and quiet in our mind when we are riding and whether we are centered. Focusing attention on the center stills an over active mind and improves our ability to communicate with the horse.
It generally seems to be the case they when a rider gets very analytical they are “in their head” and they quickly become unbalanced with a high center of gravity and no awareness of their center of energy. Its not surprising that we have such a focus on our heads, we have a big, heavy brain and many of our sense come from ears, eyes and nose which are located on our head.
We are often distracted with thoughts of the future and “what ifs”, fears or thoughts that are totally unconnected with riding a horse. In the exercise described at the start of this blog that’s like the first test of balance where the person is totally focused on a place on their forehead.
Instead, learn to focus on your center when you are riding. Not only will this help to improve your balance by lowering your center but also you will learn to still your mind. Focus on the center is so much more useful to the task of riding then many of the other unconnected thoughts that arrive, uninvited, inside our heads.
My next post is a series of exercises to help with centering, moving from the center and connecting with your horse by centering.
