Ancient Tai Chi principles

The key to being the best rider you can be is in your bones. It’s that simple. Well the concept is that simple. The last 25 years of hands-on study of the biomechanics of human and equine bodies combined with the ancient teachings and principals of Tai Chi have taught me thatyour bones are the foundation to your connection with your horse. 

Tai Chi for the Equestrian benefits all horses and riders whether you are beginners or World Champions. I have come to realize that any horse’s behavior and performance reflects the rider’s attitude and actions. 

The first step towards controlling balance begins with the awareness of your bones and their structural alignment. When your bones are structurally aligned, your muscles don’t have to work against themselves to support the body (tension). This tension restricts the fluid movement of your spine. Free movement in the spine creates a deeper seat and allows the energy of the horse to move into the rider.

Imbalance in the riders’ body (tension) is transferred into the horse where the horse then has to compensate for the imbalance in the same way the rider compensated, with unnecessary tension.  The resulting tension in the horse’s body restricts the fluid movement of the horse, just as it restricted the movement of the rider.  

The second step to controlling balance is to maintain optimum structural alignment in all of your movements.  When your bones become misaligned, your muscles have to work harder to support against the force of gravity that is constantly pulling you down. Your bones are the very foundation of your seat regardless of what discipline of riding you enjoy. To achieve balance in the saddle, you must maintain the alignment of your spine and pelvis to the moving center of the horse.  This cannot be achieved by holding your bones in position with tension.

Standing Meditation Structural Alignment

The following exercises will help you identify your own habits of imbalance on the ground, where they are the easiest to identify.  Most of our imbalances are unconscious habits. Without self-awareness, you will be trapped in your old ways of thinking and moving. Realize that in all your waking hours in and out of the saddle, you are training yourself to ride.  By becoming conscious of and changing ineffective/imbalanced habits of motion on the ground, you will become a more balanced rider.  Remember that bad habits don’t just go away---they must be replaced.

Ground Exercise

Stand in a shoulder-width parallel stance

Your legs are straight, neither locked nor bent. Your knees are relaxed. Your arms hang naturally at your sides, with the hands relaxed. Make sure that your feet are parallel to each other and your head and eyes look forward to the horizon. Smile.   

Smiling is the best way to relax over 100 muscles in and around your face. Also, it’s very hard to hold on to negative thoughts while smiling.

Suspend your head as if a silken thread held it from above, 

or imagine the crown of your head floating upward. This idea and visualization acts to put your head and neck in proper alignment, without creating undue tension in the muscles of your neck Looking down puts the head and neck in a poor structural alignment. In this position it is impossible to maintain the fluid rhythm of the spine while riding. With the head down you must hold it balanced with the muscles of the neck and upper back, creating tension in the neck and shoulders. Become aware of where your weight is in your feet.

1. ๏Is there more weight in the heels? 
   

2. ๏Is there more weight in the left or right the foot?  
   

Most people stand with the majority of their weight in their heels. When you stand with your weight in your heels, you are at the “end of your rope” as far as balance is concerned. Why? If your weight is in your heels, the slightest push on the chest will send you backwards, out of balance with very little chance to recover.

How your weight is distributed in your feet on the ground is how the weight is distributed in your seat bones in the saddle.

Focus your mind on the balls of your feet. 

Feel where they contact the ground. This is the same point where your feet connect with the stirrups. 

Move some of your attention to your breathing.

Take two or three deep slow breathes, be sure to exhale completely before you inhale. Use your mind to direct every breath deeper into your abdomen.  Many riders feel their weight shift forward into the balls of their feet as they relax and let go of tension.

Become aware of your body

Notice that your weight has shifted into the balls of your feet. If your weight is still in your heels, allow your weight to move into the balls of the feet.

The Test

Have a friend push straight down on your shoulders. You should feel the added force drop though your body into the ground, without having to tense any muscles in resistance to the force. If you are not in alignment, you will tighten the muscles of your abdomen, making it harder to breathe. At the same time, your hips will push forward to negotiate the added load, and the muscles of your lower back will tighten to compensate for the misalignment of your spine. The same happens while riding when your horse moves forward and gravity pushes down on your body, if it is not aligned to negotiate the force.  

Symptoms of imbalance

Now move your weight back into the heels.  Have your friend slowly push against the center your chest.  They should push with just enough force so as you can resist. Notice how you react. 

1. ๏Do you tense muscles in your shoulders and lower back in an attempt to hold your position? 
   

2. ๏Does your hip push forward towards your friend?
   

3. ๏Do you hold your breath? 
   

4. ๏Do your arms or elbows come out or up? 
   

5. ๏Does your chin drop and your eyes look down?  
   

In the saddle, when you begin to lose your alignment, all these same things are likely to happen. The question is, are you aware of it.

Here is a common example of this dynamic in riding 

Move back into standing meditation 

Have your friend push on your chest again with the same amount of force as before.

1. ๏Notice how much more strength you have to resist the push. 
   

2. ๏Can you relax your muscles, especially your gluteus and thighs? 
   

3. ๏Can you continue breathing? 
   

4. ๏While your friend pushes, can you redirect the force of the push down into your feet? 
   

The point of this practice is not that you won’t be pushed over. It is that when you are properly aligned, maintaining your balance is much easier and takes almost no effort. 

Throughout your day, you will begin to catch yourself with your weight in your heels, when this happens, gently shift the weight forward into balance. You will begin to recognize when you are overusing your muscles to compensate for misalignment, in and out of the saddle. 

By James Shaw author of Ride From Within (Use Tai Chi Principles to Awaken Your Natural Riding Balance).  James holds clinics for equestrians all over the USA and also three times a year in Scotland and Yorkshire in the UK. www.shawtaichi.com

About Therapies