The brain-muscle connection (or matching my image of myself with the reality)

[siglinde99]

Today I had an excellent riding lesson on Monty. I managed to multitask by making each arm and leg move independently (push his bum out onto the track with the left leg, while pushing him forward with the right leg, keeping steady pressure with the right hand while giving and taking with the left hand to get him to relax and bend), at the same time as I sat up straight and controlled the speed and relaxation of the trot by focusing on moving my belly button up and forward  each step, and steering by turning my shoulders. I also remembered that a horse is not a motorcycle (no leaning on turns) and that reins are not a steering wheel (keep hands together with thumbs up, and perfectly level on turns - any pulling must be straight back towards my hip).

As I was riding not long after a swim that involved a discussion of technique and using mental images, I realized that my mental image of how I ride was quite different from the reality. It's a bit like my body image - what my brain sees is quite different from what the mirror sees. Today, though, the brain connected with the muscle and my two images came much closer together. The same thing has been happening with my swimming, as I realize that I'm not doing what I think I'm doing (and start actually doing it). At yesterday's swim, I kicked, pulled hard on my strokes, and managed not to get too far behind the others. When I concentrated on almost sprinting to keep up, I could do it for moderate bursts. As a result, I have now been challenged to push myself on speed as well as distance - challenge accepted!

My riding homework this week is to figure out what is the cantering equivalent of the belly button trick for cantering. I can canter just fine, in that I can get the canter, hold the canter, and feel like I'm having fun. The truth from where my coach (my mirror) is standing is that I tense up the moment I hear the word, curl my toes around my stirrups instead of stretching my heels down, and let my reins go floppy. My coach suggests whisky, but I have to drive back to town after my lesson :).

Comments

[bend-gules.livejournal.com]

Well done you! You've certainly put in the hours in both swimming and riding. It's splendid to hear of results.

That connection: I think this is why dancers use mirrors so much: their art depends heavily on how the result *looks* so they learn to associate *this* move and how it feels (argh, ouch, stretch) with this outcome (lovely! just hold that...).

Some people come equipped with good body awareness, where there's a reasonably good match between what they're doing and what they think they're doing.

They tend to be the 'natural' athletes, because their efforts are rewarded easily, and 'pick things up' easily.

Others are not so equipped, and have to fight for every gain! and it's an awesome feeling to find out hey, I'm actually catching up on this thing called form, or posture, or technique

I sometimes wonder what we'd look and feel like in the medieval period, when mirrors were mostly water barrels and looking glasses were rare.

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I wonder if, in the medieval period, people were both generally more aware of their bodies because they used them more, and less reliant on outside validation because mirrors were so rare?

I have become an intense user of mental imagery to get my body to do what I want, but it took a lot of practice to become aware of what I was doing and what needed fixing/felt right. In fact, it took moving from being a bag of jello to being very active in multiple sports for at least an hour a day - and making the connection between the sports (eg good posture and shoulder position matters whether you are riding a bike or a horse, dancing in any of several disciplines, or swimming). As a medieval woman, I'm fairly certain I would have been physically active every day, rather than hunched over a desk for almost half my life.

I have also noticed that my daughter sometimes struggles to see patterns in choreography when she is dancing. She knows her part and how all the pieces fit together, but doesn't perceive the beauty unless someone shows her the video clip. I think that is an effect of growing up with Youtube.

[utsi.livejournal.com]

I think there's something at play with big picture vs sharper self focus too perhaps? find this interesting because a book on body image I was given has as an exercise -
lay down and close your eyes. now hold your hands above your hips (or other body part) as far apart as you think the size is.
now open your eyes and compare your image to the reality of where your hands meet your body.

best to likely do it closer to ones body than further as I can see involuntary movement of hand width apart.

book came highly recommended, but I have yet to finish it. which tells me it hits too close for comfort for me

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

That would be an interesting exercise. I suspect I would not do well.

[utsi.livejournal.com]

neither did I. that's why I have yet to finish the book. hits a little too close to home for comfort. :( which probably means I should be reading it and trying to improve my self view....
(why is what is good for us so alarming?)