From my understanding… the Alexander Technique concepts work on making small improvements in posture by becoming self-aware of the body.
http://alexandertechnique.com/
The technique teaches awareness of tension held in the body and unbalanced ways you are holding your body without your realizing this is causing stress and discomfort. With awareness (mindfulness) you make conscious efforts to make changes of how you hold and carry your body. F.M. Alexander coined the term “constructive conscious control” for the mental awareness and focus used to change the body.
Small changes over time will lead to results to build upon. Even small changes are difficult to achieve if you don’t have good control over the body due to health issues, but small increments will achieve results. Progress cannot be forced or rushed. Through repeated small efforts we change the habit of how our body holds itself and moves. The changes will feel unusual at first, but with practice will become the more natural way of moving. This more natural movement will lower tension and stress and discomfort carried within the body.
If we are in better alignment within our body, then we are more free in movement, relaxed and at ease. We can have a more focused and peaceful mind. The mind can then be more able to help keep the body in proper form. This becomes a feedback loop between mind and body.
Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi and Mindfulness Meditation seem ideal for helping to become stronger and more flexible and balanced in the body, as well as to become more mentally focused.
These same concepts also apply to how we can help a horse make small changes to their body and their movement so they can travel more freely, comfortably and able to carry a rider’s weight easier.
I had a physical therapist (who later became my running coach) and this was exactly his approach. Later when I got into horses, I learned just how far I still have to do with all this. Steinar says the biggest problem he sees in nearly all his adult clinic riders is insufficient body awareness, and the good news is, ANYONE can improve. And even when we have physical problems, that awareness might help us learn to compensate for them.
I use a device called the Motivaider — basically a little beeper-like thing that is designed to do just one thing: keep reminding you over and over again to be conscious of something, so that you can work on it without having a coach to remind you, until it starts to become a habit or something you then do unconsciously. I used it to completely change my just-walking-around posture, which was awful and is now pretty good.
They have smartphone apps for this too, I think. I also use it for riding, picking different things to become aware of. For example, on one day I might choose that every time it goes off (vibrates, at whatever interval you set) I will notice where my seat bones are. The goal is not to change something, just to observe it. It too me so long to realize how many ways I am crooked that were too subtle for most people to even notice, but rippled in big ways on my horses.
Steinar has been staying at our farm for the past month, and it is obvious how much he works at “staying conscious” of what his body is doing. He is constantly — all day and evening — noticing what is tight, what is stiff, what needs to stay fluid, etc. If we watch a movie at night in the house, he will almost never sit in a chair… He is on the floor or the bosu ball doing stretches. When he is working with the horses he is moving all the time… Tryng to stay “quiet”, but he says being stuck/rigid is FAR worse when riding than being a little too “noisy” because you are shifting your weight a little or shaking your ankles, hips, legs, arms a little. Like one exercise we will do is to “shake the spider off your ankle” as we ride, or do the lighten your seat then back then lighten then back then side to side a little with your seat all the time.
Kathy, thanks for coming to check out my ponderings of my blog and adding your comments. I just have a “dumb phone”, but do have a kitchen timer.
I’m going to be working my way through some comparative anatomy in upcoming posts. Sally Swift of “Centered Riding” says it is very important to be able to visualize the muscles and bones while working in body awareness. What is actually happening as we move and what is happening when our horse moves. I was a biology major, but still need review on ‘dem bones’.