As a rider I am very interested in the anatomy of both humans and horses. The more I get to know about anatomy and biomechanics the more fascinating it gets. At the moment I am reading a book from Giulia Enders about the gut and I am absolutely loving it. She explains in detail how our digestive system works. As a person who has suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome most of my life I really wish this book would have come to me sooner. It has some very good insights on the gut and makes me realize what a totally magical place our bodies are.
Since I started my yoga practice years ago I have become much more aware of not only my body but also my mind. I have found that yoga has not only helped me deal with whatever life presents but it has also made me a better mother and horse person. It has made me grow in ways I thought unimaginable before and I do consider myself a more content and less fierce person because of my daily practice. My mind is no longer running as much as it did in all different directions and I am a little less reactive than before. I am very Italian and a lot of fire so it has helped me calm my central nervous system and I have learned to move from stress to calm in matters of minutes.
A few days ago I did my morning yoga practice at home accompanied by Yogaglo and amazing Marc Holzman. My daughter Ella took a few pictures of me and I wanted to share the above picture with you because it shows how stiff and crooked I am in the mornings. My hips are not level and my spines alignment looks crooked. My legs are stiff and my back is hard and unflexible. We talk a lot about the pain body and how our mind affects our physics but I also think that I was just born pretty unflexible. To combine that with riding and never having done any stretching I have gotten my body into quite a state of art. Also falling of horses loads of times does not make the body straighter exactly.
Before getting into yoga my teachers could tell me about straightness and crookedness but as a rider I was not able to feel it in the same way that I do now. It does not mean that I am much straighter to this day but I am much more aware of how my body feels and how I sit on my horse. I am also much more aware of the energies circulating between me and my horse and about my breathing. I am using my breath a lot when I ride and it has given me a whole new perspective into riding.
Today I bumped into some great videos directed toward Dressage Riders. Personal Trainer, Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach Nicola Smith gives some great insights into e.g. how we can keep our hips healthy and mobile as riders or how we can deal with stress to improve our riding. Since I am combining yoga and riding I would love to share more of my thoughts with all you riders and fellow horsepeople out there.
What would you be interested in seeing or hearing about? Something that isn't already there? Or is there something that you would be interested in knowing and learning more about? Would you like to read about it, see it in the form of online videos or hear it through a podcast?
No comments:
Post a Comment