Doing or Being: What level are you?

So when asked the question, "What have the two worlds of ballroom dancing and dressage taught me?" I have an answer.

Both worlds require a tremendous amount of technical understanding, discipline, and feel to create the visual structure of what each sport represents. this is the initial capacity of the sport whether you are a beginner or a world class performer. The initial capacity is in the construction and the doing. Beyond that capacity becomes the art.

The art is the "being" the dancer or rider rather than just "doing" dancing and riding. Getting to this second aspect or capacity requires allowing. the absolute beauty is in the letting go and trusting the work. The allowing breathes refinement, grace, and flow into the form. Ironically, the allowing has to come out of the form or else it has no meaning. I like to believe we are dancing or riding to the edge of creating the form and than seeing how much we can let go without the form falling apart--constantly moving between the two sides of the playing field.

The form has no true meaning without allowing and the allowing has no relevancy without form. A master can inspire their students to be aware of these two aspects or a student's inner desire can lead a search for a master of this understanding.*

*The point where we are in our global mentality of success does not always encourage or support this idea of allowing as an equally important aspect of asking.

Rediscovered the gift of a life encompassing horses

Recently, I had an opportunity to get to know myself through working with a group of people who are also discovering themselves. There was an opportunity to talk and reflect upon my experience and belief system around consciousness in animals. I have always worked with horses from a standpoint of helping them to develop their maximum conscious capabilities, so they are part of the partnership instead of a vehicle for my egoic expression. The joy of the work is having a communication that asks, allows, and builds an interest/willingness in participating. People don't always recognize that animals have this capacity and that it can be encouraged. Part of the beauty is the honesty in which the animals respond. I was reminded of this "organic" part of the soul--mine and theirs. In doing so, I rediscovered one of the gifts of my life encompassing horses (goats and cats...)

Allowing

As I observe partners in motion, I am constantly amazed by how important the allowing is after the asking. When an aid is well executed, it becomes a momentary "intrusion" in the underlying flow of activity. The goal is how to ask with minimal interference. The incentive or reward for the follower is to be allowed to execute the request with minimal interference.

Shearing Patterns

At this point in my life, I have the remarkable good fortune of a healthy body that allows me to feel and experience riding/dancing with very little interference. When physical items show up, they always present an opportunity for me to learn more about the form. For a period of time, every now and then I would feel a twinge in the middle of my spine. Over the years of getting bucked off, jerked on while leading, knocked over, etc., I didn't feel it was unreasonable to be experiencing some changes in my spine. The question was what modality to use to investigate the issue--I chose cranial sacral work. Why? It appeared logical to first look at the wave action in my spinal chord system to identify if I had any energy blocks or misalignments. If all was well then I could progress onto looking at something bigger such as the bone system. It turned out there was a tweak in the flow of that particular area in my spine--a slight misalignment. When the area was invited to realign, I felt like a four lane highway was reopened in my body's vertical axis. Of course, there were a few other trouble areas on the left and right side of my body that I had developed as asymmetrical use patterns. It was interesting to trace their histories from past injuries and how the body protected, compensated, and proceeded to hold onto the pattern even after the body had healed. The body's ability to protect is fantastic, but it also needs to be dismantled as it has served its purpose.
I have always mistakenly thought of the body in two planes--left and right. With this experience, I need to add in thinking of the body as having a top and bottom plane as well. Core stabilization protects and unites these planes. Years of horses spooking, jumping forward etc. created whiplash-like moments in my vertical spine. By engaging my core, it minimizes the shearing action from top to bottom. Similar to lifting a box off the ground properly. When a rider asks a horse to move off properly, there is a momentary engagement by the rider's core to ask and follow--this action actually protects the body from shearing while following the forward thrusting action of the horse.

Breathing--How to breath and move

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the action of correct breathing is a fundamental piece in many systems of body awareness and successful execution of body actions. Correct breathing generates core engagement, throughness, and self carriage. These byproducts of breath create a dynamic and fundamental inner support system like air in a tire. The exchange of air allows the body to engage and relax every cycle. To execute an action with quality, it requires a continuous cycle of contraction and relaxation so the movement is fluid, well timed, and minimizes fatigue in the muscle.

The Future for Humane Dressage

As I move about in the dressage community, I wonder how many people are interested in dressage and how many people are interested in humane dressage. What is the difference? Dressage for the ego/dominance/display or dressage for the partnership/well being of the horse's mind and body/soulful. Most of us are drawn to the horse as a magical being and hopefully with respect and right intention for this being. The horse graciously adapts to people's version of "good care" which does not always include turnout, ability to graze, socialization, and fresh air. Do humans graciously try to be patient and adaptive to the horse's limited lifestyle: warming up the body before getting on the horse, removing mental tension and lack of appropriate focus, giving the horse time to adjust from being without a rider to carrying one? When horses are judged for various " inappropriate actions"--unwilling to go forward, unwilling to round up and soften to the contact, unwilling to turn not to mention bend, etc.--do we take the time to examine and understand the why? What type of horse would truly be willing and happy to go around a rectangular area (with or without good footing) on a daily basis? Could I enthusiastically run on a treadmill if I didn't also do other activities on a regular basis? How often do we see horses who are bright eyed, willing, and eager in the sport of dressage?

The Mindset Behind Inviting the Partner to Move

My role as the horse in dancing has provided a lot of opportunities for pondering the ethics of training systems in dressage. Why is a horse "happy" in the work? How do you create a "happy" horse? During the past three years (out of the twelve total) of dancing, I have started to ask if there was a training system for developing dancers--similar to the training scale in dressage or developmental sequence in ballet. Ballroom dancing appears to be taught from the belief system of the individual instructor with a goal of reaching a look/outcome that is visually acceptable. In other words, the outline might look okay but there are no guarantees for the feel and comfort for the partners.

As I am schooling the Grand Prix (Open Gold Choreography) in dancing, I am realizing that lack of personal understanding of inner body alignment, tension, and timing is a recipe for disaster. As I am asked to create an extended neck/head position for an advanced upper body outline, I am vulnerable to neck, back, knee, etc injuries if I build the look from the wrong place. After four years of dancing with two of the top professionals in pro/am, I realized that I needed to find more answers if I was to survive uninjured. This search led me to a drill system developed by Hans Laxholm of Denmark. He has created a system which parallels the training scale. Since my primary focus is on riding, I was thrilled to learn about such a system. Ironically, the system is not accepted in the dance community and is taught by 1% or so of their population. The system is built around a series of aids communicated between the dance partners. The partnership is an ask and respond system instead of a demand and respond system. The leader INVITES the partner to respond to a learned set of commands, assesses the response, and then follows the response or asks again. The application of the aid allows the follower to prepare and respond in an effective manner. The key is in the understanding of the aids. The second part is the repetition of the aids until the response becomes reflexive. The refinement of these two points allows for a seamless interaction and execution of the movements. The leader and follower can both relax into the form and the delivery of the performance.

Immediately, I noticed my anxiety level for following effectively decreased. I was given a process to focus on, so my mind/body could look for clear aids and respond. Before, I was always guessing and mimicking my partner's actions. I was an athletic shadow/puppet instead of an interactive partner. The complexity of the Open Gold work was making it difficult to "guess" effectively enough. The response time and execution needed to be almost simultaneous. When I didn't react quick enough or in the right way, my partner would use force to push me through the movements. Obviously, the force created tension in my mind and body which blocked my reactions even more. The spiral down was created. Injury potential was cuing up.

So my current thoughts on creating "happy" horses comes from training around the idea of inviting vs. demanding. Inviting takes away the claustrophobia of demanding. The rider/dancer must develop more tact and timing in their process. But doesn't this tact and timing translate to more RESPECT. The tension in the leader is decreased and the need for force in the execution is eliminated. The result is a relaxed, responsive follower.