Anatomy with clay

Once again I am going to teach the Anatomy with Clay course. It has been 4 years since I taught it last. I didn't realize it had been so long! I am really looking forward to the course. I have pulled out 40 of my favorite horse books including anatomy and movement. I have some really rare out of print books which I can't wait to share with the students.

I have also been collecting bones including "Mica" the shetland pony who now lives on as a skeleton. He is going to be very helpful. In addition I have Dr. Harman's bag of bones and her articulates skeleton the has some movement so people can see how the horse bends in the spine and ribs.

The course is going to be so much fun. Now that I have gotten everything together I can wait! We are packing the car tomorrow and I will be heading off to PA where the course is being held. I hope there is room for me in the car once everything else goes in!

(The photo is Jan from last course showing off her completed model.)

The left behinds

Seems I have been doing a lot of traveling the past 6 weeks. Holland the end of April beginning of May, Reno, NV for the Californios, clinics in Pryor, OK (during all those tornados) and Spokane, WA (it was really cold the first few days) and now Germany for MBS Foundation training.

Along the way it seems I have become forgetful of what I had with me when I got on the plane. Following me on Facebook is like following the trail of the missing. I left my Musto Riding Coat on the plane in LA but I got to sit across from Andy Schleck (Tour de France 2nd place winner for 2009 and 2010) on the flight from LA to Reno. Got my coat shipped back to me by FedEx as they did find it on the plane and it got turned in.

On the flight to Munich I left my travel hula hoop in the overhead bin. Last year in Feb I left my Kindle in the seat pocket on the flight to Munich but I was flying a different airline. I got my Kindle back but I don't think I will be so successful with my hula hoop. The man at the counter seemed entirely disinterested in helping me. I will check again when I fly out to see if someone found it. Unfortunately even if the bin is open you can't see it because the bin drops down and the hoop fits below eye level. I guess this means my hula hoop is on its own adventure. Wonder how many countries it will visit before being discovered as a stow-a-way.

My friend Linda was with me in Reno for the coat drama. It was so cold we had to go to the store and purchase a new coat. I got 2 and love the SmartWool jacket I got. The other is great too, kind of like Carhart but different brand and is salmon colored with a brown polar fleece lining. OK so it was a good excuse to go clothes shopping.

When Linda heard about my hula hoop she decided to write lyrics for me. Here it is:

To the tune of Leaving on a Jet Plane:

All my bags are packed,

but where do they go?

I left them in San Francisco

in the overhead bin, left them there inside.

I made my connecting flight and then,

it hit me what was in the bin:

everything I use to teach and ride.

Left my stuff on a jet plane

Don't know why I forgot again....

Ned is quacking in his travel bag that I might forget him too. But I told him not to worry. He goes inside the bags so he will be fine.

Photo caption: Ned and I having a drink in Bad Tolz with friends.

What we can't see

It is fascinating to discover that the things that hold us back are there for us to see all the time.

These are the quiet places, the ones that don't scream so loudly. But it seems that our attention so often is driving by who demands the most attention.

For example, someone comes for a Feldenkrais® lesson complaining of her knee. The knee is where the student is focusing all of her attention, fear, anxiety and projection of possible (almost always negative) outcomes. She describes the knee pain, all the things that have happened to that knee, the way she can't put weight on it or how turning around that knee is frightening because it might "give out".

If we allow ourselves to be distracted by the part that is making the most noise it is as if we become part of the story of the knee, part of her story to validate and justify her position. But this is really such a small part of the story. Rather than get caught up in this story which in so many ways is already written with beginning, middle and end, it is important to begin to ask questions.

Questions lead us to other areas, other ideas and other possibilities for outcomes. What is happening with the hip? What is happening in the pelvis? When does the pelvis move in relation to the knee. Where is she looking?

By asking questions we begin to unravel the knotted threads and see other perspectives. We can tease apart the anxiety, pain and fear that hold the knot tightly. Questions lead to more questions but this is the process of discovery rather than predetermined outcomes.

Movement leads us to find more questions. When do you move, in what timing? What moves first? What is included in the person's body image as she moves? When is the pelvis, hip, knee, ankle mobilized?

With these questions we begin to see why something might be hurting and also how simply changing our focus can allow for different movement, thoughts and ideas that lead us away from the pain and into more freedom of movement, thought and action.

Softening the ribs

I am still at my MBS training with Mia and Leora. Tomorrow is our last day. We have spent the past 8 days doing Awareness Through Movement® lessons that work on the ribs, specifically softening them.

It has been a fascinating exploration of this area of my body. I have (like so many other horse people) had a fair amount of damage to my ribs not to mention the times I landed on my back and knocked all the wind out of me. Two events I recall clearly happened to the left side. While in Italy in 1998 a horse kicked me and broke three ribs on the lower left. It was very painful, breathing difficult, bending impossible and I stopped sneezing for six weeks!

Now we are working on softening the ribs and I recall this injury because all of my ribs on the left feel more stiff than on the right. Funny thing, my horse bends better to the right just like me. As we continued with the lesson I have felt various areas in my back become more flexible, more alive. Even so there are whole areas of mystery that I become aware of when someone else places her hand on my back. All of this reminds me of my horse, Al.

He is softer to the right. His lower ribs on the left do not want to get closer together. When I work on his spine he looks at me over his shoulder like he doesn't understand his own landscape along the top line. He is so interested in what I am doing that he stands quietly with his eye on me while I work.

Now that my ribs move differently I wonder what will happen when I ride him again. That is going to have to wait until April 14th as I will not be home until then. I can't wait!

The Eyes of March

I am in Calistoga, CA at the MBS Academy Feldenkrais® Training. Today we did a very subtle lesson with the eyes. We paid attention to how we were lying on the floor during a scan. Then we worked with the right eye moving it back and forth noticing how the tone in the body changed or if there were places that started to hold while moving the eye particularly the jaw and neck.

What was fascinating is that I could not move my right eye to the upper right quadrant (9 and 10 o'clock). I would jump across the clock instead of going around. Once that got easier my right shoulder and hip let go. We took rests covering the eyes with both hands. Leora said that if you see black your nervous system is resting. After a break we did both eyes comparing the right and left.

Just before coming out here I worked on several horses who were anxious by covering their eyes one at a time. I cupped my hand over the eye so that I didn't put any pressure on the eye but simply blocked the vision. The horses relaxed and got calmer. One horse started out with trying to only use the left eye. As I continued to cover one and then the other she went from her eyes jumping back and forth to smoothly panning across from right to left. This is so similar to the lesson we did today.

I wonder if the horse's experienced the same kinds of things in their bodies I felt in mine. I do know they got calmer so there is some effect on calming the nervous system. I will have to continue to explore this idea as it was such a powerful lesson today.

Use the driving time to the show productively

Yesterday I took Al to a schooling show at Morven Park Equestrian Center in Leesburg, VA. This was his 3rd show and first time doing Training Level. We did Training 1 and 2. We have been working through the concept of keeping the contact during the canter transitions. Al's idea was that it is OK for contact when you are hunting but not when working on dressage in the arena.

We have been getting better this past week but weren't confirmed to say the least. As I was driving to the show I was practicing Training 1 in my head. Suddenly I realized I could only "see" his difficulties in the transitions instead of the calm quiet ones I prefer.

As I was driving I began to change the image so that I could visualize a calm horse, round and on contact during the canter departs. I also visualized the half-halts leading up to the transition. Sometimes Al's stride is so big the rear end runs over the front end and the only way to get the front out of the way is to hollow and fling the front legs up.

I continued my visualization until I got to the show grounds. I got on in plenty of time for my class so that I could continue to practice the new image before the test. While walking on a loose rein I went through the half halts again this time paying attention to my mouth and jaw so that I wouldn't tighten this area. The mouth affects the entire body so it is crucial to remain soft here. Pretty soon I could feel Al listening to my visualization.

We warmed up at the trot and canter, again focusing on the image of good transitions. Finally it was our turn. We got 7's for the canter transitions! We won our second class with a 71%. Very impressive since the canter transition were far from smooth earlier in the week.

Today I am leaving for several weeks of teaching and educational courses. I will continue my visualization of the canter transitions and hopefully Al will also.

Start of the season

March is such a funny month.

It teases of Spring yet holds onto Winter.

I can tell that Spring is coming:

I saw a robin in my driveway

Al (my horse) isn't wearing his blanket during the day

The crocus are blooming in my garden

The cat wants to go out and sit in her chair

Other signs of Spring:

The daylight is getting longer

The horses are covered in mud

Al had his first bath of the season

Everyone is contacting me for lessons

Signs that Spring isn't quite here:

It is below freezing in the morning

The cat sleeps in at night

The horses aren't really shedding yet

There isn't enough light to ride at 7pm