intention

The leader-follower balance in the rider-horse relationship has been fascinating and mystifying to me during these early stages of learning to ride. Let’s see, you have to direct your horse, but you must also allow your body to follow your horse. Soon you realize that you most definitely must lead, you must have clear intent and assertiveness, all the while maintaining a quiet centeredness as well as a responsiveness. Let’s just say this: “easier-said-than-done” is really an understatement.

The uke or following role was easier for me to learn in aikido –- it seemed natural. And as a beginner in aikido, you can get away with not being a leader for quite some time. It does not work that way in riding –- your horse will be the first to show you this! The confident, assertive person I can embody on the aikido mat does not seem to be the same person who is learning to ride the horse. This is one of many fascinating discoveries so far. I am learning that all my ideas and conceptual understanding are going to be put to the real test -- the horse test.

Last week, while riding the dream horse “Phoenix” who seemed to respond positively, almost at my first thought, I began to imagine that I knew something…”I’m really beginning to get it” I told my friends later. This week, the smart little being, who is technically a pony in horse's clothing, aptly named “You Who,” quickly got my attention when he did pretty much just as he pleased, despite the clearest intent and aids I was able to muster –- a humbling experience!

“Clear Intent” is one of the Centered Riding basic principles of particular interest then. How do I communicate to my horse that I am capable, calm and the leader – something horses as herd and prey animals need in order to feel secure. And how do I quietly provide all that without engaging the tendency to push, pull or generally add something extra to the interaction, especially with a less responsive or more willful horse. While I do understand that many of my goals and concerns will be learned on and from the horse and worked out in the riding ring in the course of “more time in the saddle,” I cannot seem to stop trying to further my understanding by reading, watching and making connections between the various other disciplines in my experience.

Obviously, it is not force which allows a 120-pound woman dressage rider to prompt a 1,200 pound horse to dance around a riding ring with her! As you watch her you really cannot see what she is “doing” even when someone describes it to you. Similarly, it is also not force which allows a 120-pound woman aikidoist to receive and neutralize the power of the strike or grab from a 220-pound training partner and even sometimes project him dramatically yet safely across the mat. And often to the uninitiated observer what she “did” to allow a positive outcome is too subtle to grasp.

So the leader-follower balance seems to correlate to understanding what you have to do versus what you must then allow. And the very first thing which you actually do is really quite a subtle mental activity – a clear thought or intention. If you mix up the order of priority and attempt to allow to happen the very thing which requires initially and simply the application of clear intent, you may then find yourself having to try to do something to compensate. The cart before the horse, so to speak? In aikido the correlation is seen in the timing of the response to an attack. In fact we are developing our awareness of situations so that we are not “caught off guard” for an attack but are sensitive to the first hint of the movement of that aggressive energy towards us. The more closely timed your response is to that moment, the less you actually have to do after that. Being in the right place at the right time might describe an effective aikidoist’s reaction.

Once your priorities and timing are in order, the right amount of effort becomes more obvious. Clear intent is something you initiate with your mind – it begins as a thought and it continues as a thought put into action – we get into trouble when we add something extra in the form of unnecessary muscular tension or force which we think will enhance our effectiveness. Renewing the thought or intention repeatedly seems to describe what it is that we must do; after that we must learn to more and more “get out of the way” and allow the activity to have a chance to unfold.

How does this translate into horsemanship? My hope is that with experience and practice of clear intent a kind of natural leadership may emerge and that I may develop a quality of intention that will encourage my horse to want to follow me. Idealistic? Yes. One thing I’m beginning to understand is that, especially when a horse is involved, you can think about it, read and write about it, watch videos and demonstrations, conceptualize, wish for it and hope for it and yes, dream about it -- but when you get on that horse you have to ride it! And that’s what I’m so excited about learning.

The photo above was taken at Susan Harris' CR Clinic at Chapter One Farm in Pedricktown, NJ. Lacey Williams is a wonderful young rider who impressed me in so many ways -- her quiet demonstration of the principles we were learning, her brief mention that she used to enjoy breezing horses at the race track and playing polo!, the fact that she was still recovering from a serious back injury, her courage and composure after a fall, her curiosity about the Alexander Technique -- not to mention her patience showing me how to tack up the horse I was to ride in the clinic, answering my endless questions and listening to my beginner's observations.

harmony

The video shown here is courtesy of Sergio & Candice Cuevas and is the introductory collage of a DVD documenting a series of aikido seminars by women instructors in 2006. It is a short, beautifully-edited piece which shows aikido’s principles in action throughout, while highlighting individual personalities. I am honored to be included, especially among these powerful, centered, accomplished women –- my teachers, friends and training partners: Karen De Paola (Skylands Aikikai), Laura Pavlick (Litchfield Hills Aikikai), Claire Keller, Ruth Peyser and Sharon Silberstein (The New York Aikikai).
ai – ki – do

a Japanese martial art based on joining with and then redirecting an attacker’s energy through the use of circular and spiral movements

ai = love, harmony
ki = energy, life force
do = way or path

a method for harmonizing the life force, a path to loving all beings

A Japanese sensei (master teacher) of ours recently told me that he felt that one of the common translations of aikido “The Way of Harmony” did not adequately describe what O’Sensei (Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido) was working towards in his development of the art. This teacher had been an apprentice to the founder and his recollection was that O’Sensei never spoke about aikido in this way. He spoke of it as being “your relationship to your God” and that was about all he ever said, leaving it to each individual to find the meaning of that phrase through repetition of the techniques. This implies a very personal process -- both an internal journey and a finding of your place in the world.

Back to the dictionary:
harmony - congruity of parts with one another and with the whole

1. agreement, accord, harmonious relations
2. a consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement of parts; congruity
3. Music:
a) any simultaneous combination of tones

—Synonyms 1. concord, unity, peace, amity, friendship. 2. consonance, conformity, correspondence

Well, there is a lot of “peace, love and agreement” in the dictionary’s description. And you may be able to sense some of that in the video, as what starts as an attack seems to somehow end up turning and spiraling around and dissipating. You may also feel the conflict, the power and the martial application. And you will sense the different personalities and energies of the practitioners -- it’s all there on the mat -- a microcosm of our world.

But this condition of harmony does not have to be consonant -- it can also be dissonant (as in 3a above): "any simultaneous combination of tones." In other words, it is not always pretty, in a conventional sense. Things don't always appear to be peaceful and lovely or free of conflict, yet aikido contains, even in the apparent chaos, an underlying order -- “congruity of parts with one another and with the whole.” I think that really says a lot about what happens to a person as they become more integrated within themselves through aikido practice.

The primary means of transmission of aikido was through direct physical contact with O’Sensei, as the students initiated the attacks and had to learn to absorb his powerful response. Learning to absorb a powerful infusion of energy -- this seems to me one of the things we are doing when we ride a horse. You could say the same of sports involving other forces of nature: surfing, skiing, windsurfing. In aikido (and in riding?) we must learn to both absorb and to project energy. One person gives the attack (“uke”) and one person receives the attack (“nage”). Uke takes ukemi -- “ukemi” translates roughly as the art of falling. This interaction has a kind of leader-follower structure, but upon closer observation you may notice that the distinction between who is leading and who is following starts to become less clear. The roles seem to reverse and sometimes seem to contain each other.

So I am wondering what you get out of watching this footage. Do you see a graceful, choreographed dance, a series of conflict resolutions, a playground of energies? No longer able to see aikido from an objective, outside perspective, as I watch, the movements resonate in my muscle fibers. The riders I am meeting all impress me with their ability to see movement in horse, rider and the interaction between the two. Alexander colleagues who worked with Marj Barstow (a horsewoman herself) were all certainly trained to see, both deeply and broadly. So I leave it to each of you to enjoy this small taste of aikido. The beauty of the art and the power of its principles in action inspire me every day. The intense interaction, the connection to a greater power -- these also draw me to horses and help me persevere in riding.

For my Centered Riding friends who have asked about places to learn aikido, visit the website of the United States Aikido Federation to find a list of dojos near you.

poise

poise 1 (poiz)

n.
1. A state of balance or equilibrium; stability.
2. Freedom from affectation or embarrassment; composure.
3. The bearing or deportment of the head or body; mien.
4. A state or condition of hovering or being suspended.

Research is beginning to show that we can gain much useful kinesthetic reprogramming through our visual sense, by observing people and animals who exhibit ease and freedom in their movement and “carriage.”

This image of an Indian dancer is one which speaks to me about the quality of “poise” – in the general sense of a state of being, but also specifically, of the poise of the head atop the spine. And along with poise, comes the concept of balance, and possibly even the terms posture and alignment. She does appear to have good balance and good posture and alignment in this static snapshot of a moment in time. But there is more to it than that, and as you develop your powers of observation you will become very aware of and receptive to this quality of expressed ease. From this image we can extrapolate her larger movement, remembering that balance, posture and alignment are not static, but highly dynamic and consist of a series of continuing, minute adjustments in the relationship of our component parts.

Consulting the dictionary came to me as an afterthought. I have always liked to use the phrase in describing Alexander’s discovery “the quality of ease in the poise of the head resting on top of the spine determines the quality of ease of movement and coordination throughout the entire body.” Well apparently poise is also known to include balance, stability, equilibrium, and a quality of hovering (floating?) and suspension – reflecting polarity between earthly, or earthy and more ethereal concepts. And to be poised also describes an emotional state where we are composed and have freedom from affectation. Poise also suggests a moment of clarity or a state of being ready for anything – “poised for action.”

So, poise manifests in our inner state, our outward appearance and in our relationship to the world. Once again here we are, poised between Heaven and Earth – receiving, transmuting, translating and balancing different qualities of energy.

So I share this image as a reminder to myself that this natural poise is really our human birthright. It is the same type of relationship of head to body you will see in small children before they have had a chance to begin to interfere with their innate coordination; and you will also see it in the movement patterns of healthy animals. The good news is that we can learn to allow this quality of ease to manifest in ourselves -- not by trying to create it or feel it or recreate it, but by noticing its possibility and particularly by remembering that it originates in the poise of our heads on top of our spines.

sacred space

The photograph used to illustrate the first entry "the dream" was chosen for its qualities of poise, balance, suspension and stillness in movement and the cathedral-like expanse of space between the rider and the rafters of the riding arena. The rider is Annelie Andersson-Beck on her horse, Sober (Swedish for "elegant"). I met Annelie at my very first Centered Riding Clinic at the end of August and we each recognized in the other a kindred spirit. She looked at me and said 'I hear you practice Aikido!' and I looked at her and said 'and you ride dressage!' She is a Centered Riding instructor and a competitive dressage and event rider. She had encountered several riding books which mentioned Aikido. One of them was "Horsemanship Through Life" by Mark Rashid.

The experience described in the poem was really in my dream (and is my dream) and I woke up with the phrase 'Riding Between Heaven & Earth' reverberating through me. For me the dream foreshadows the experience of integrating my Aikido training and Alexander Technique experience into my riding. In Aikido we use a number of breathing and awareness exercises to remind us that the center of our being is really the confluence of the vast energies in the center of which we are blessed to be standing.

The photograph above was taken by Maureen Gallatin; I am shown getting to know her beautiful horse, Calvin. Maureen attended the Centered Riding Instructor's clinic in North Carolina this past weekend where I had been invited by Susan Harris (Level IV Senior Centered Riding Instructor) to supply the Alexander Technique component of the program in addition to participating as a student rider for the CR instructors to practice their teaching skills. Maureen's website is Inspired By Horses, and she believes that horses have the potential to inspire and enoble us with their own natural nobility.

As I drove back towards Charlotte after my weekend of immersion in CR, I felt that I had received true grace in my experiences during those three days. Just as an Aikido dojo (place of practice) is considered a sacred space where learning and experimentation unfold under the watchful eye of a Sensei (master teacher), assisted by the senior students, I felt a similar atmosphere in the riding arena -- that it was a laboratory of learning and acceptance. And I felt truly seen and acknowledged and regarded as a precious gem, or maybe as a precious infant -- with potential recognized and nurtured and protected.

The people I am meeting through Centered Riding are so very impressive in their dedication to teaching and learning without ego and their obvious love and respect for individuals, the horse and for the relationship between horse and rider. In addition, they express a beautiful balance between dedication to serious and complete education and a lighthearted sense of humor which permeates these clinics and makes them so joyous!

I am honored to have found this community so early in my riding experience and I am quite at peace knowing that each Centered Riding Clinic strives to create a sacred space where we can all explore Sally Swift's work in a safe, supportive and non-judgmental atmosphere.