Try Somatic Horsemanship - Horse Illustrated

Photo by Natalie Mendik

“Our bodies are our temples, and horses pb america to the altar.” ~ Beverley Kane, M.D.

What brings you that feeling of bid erstwhile you are astir horses? Is it the infinitesimal erstwhile you measurement into the barn and odor each that is equine? The gentle rocking question arsenic you thrust down the way done the forest? Listening to horses peacefully munching hay arsenic the time draws to a close? There’s nary doubt: Horses bring america into the moment, prosecute our senses, and capable america with a brushed consciousness of well-being.

Beverley Kane, M.D., Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine astatine Stanford University, shares experiences from her “Equine-imity” stress-reduction people astatine Stanford Medical School. In Equine-imity, Kane explores the intersection of horses and mindfulness done somatic horsemanship.

“Somatic means ‘of the body,’” explains Kane. “Somatic horsemanship is body-mind rejuvenation done carnal enactment with horses.”

This enactment with (and sometimes on) horses whitethorn see yoga, taiji, qigong, meditation, dance, and equine-assisted body-oriented psychotherapies. Don’t interest if these presumption are caller to you—all you request to instrumentality portion is an unfastened mind.

Qigong

Whether you are taking clip to softly sojourn with your horse, grooming oregon doing chores, getting acceptable to ride, oregon are adjacent astatine a show, taking a fewer moments to link with your equine and link with yourself provides almighty life-affirming balance. Kane shows america elemental qigong techniques anyone tin bask to signifier somatic horsemanship.

Similar to tai chi, qigong is simply a accepted Chinese signifier of assemblage movement, breath, and meditation that brings affectional equilibrium and intelligence centeredness, successful summation to carnal benefits, including improved strength, balance, coordination, and circulation. By practicing unneurotic with our equine partners, the horse’s vigor tin invigorate america and tin besides soothe us, arsenic good arsenic strengthening our horse-human bond.

“In accepted horsemanship, enactment with the equine is often precise mechanical. That mechanical attack whitethorn besides travel with a narration based connected societal dominance and an astir utilitarian attack to the horse,” notes Kane. “Somatic horsemanship focuses connected enactment and energy, and besides a doctrine of compassion based connected partnership. Horses are highly sensitive. They announcement our moods, our assemblage language, our intentions, our consistency.”

“Qi is your captious life-force energy,” adds Kane, describing however qi, unneurotic with breath, assemblage movement, and your horse’s energy, nurture the mind-body connection.

Kane walks america done immoderate of qigong’s “Eight Brocades” practice, adapted for horses:

The dan tien vigor halfway represents powerfulness and agency, meaning your integrity, bravery, conviction, quality and determination.

1. Center Yourself: First go grounded successful your ain assemblage successful the ‘bubbling springs’ vigor halfway successful your feet and the dan tien vigor halfway successful your belly—this vigor halfway is utilized successful tai chi practice. To bash this, adjacent your eyes, and go alert of your breath, your feelings, and your body.

2. Experience Peace: From there, travel into a wu ji lasting airs by stretching your spine up to the sky. Keep your shoulders down and relaxed and your arms dense and long. Your knees enactment softly bent and your feet connected to the world done your ‘bubbling springs’ center.

3. Breathe: In this wu ji posture, respire heavy into your dan tien vigor halfway with a soft, afloat belly; this means expanding your belly arsenic you inhale deeply.

4. Harmonize: In the aforesaid stance, rise your arms up to the entity and ideate bringing the prima down and holding it successful beforehand of you. In your mind’s eye, spot it arsenic a shot of vigor that you gully unfastened arsenic you inhale and property closed arsenic you exhale successful this pose, which harmonizes opposites. Then let your arms to travel down to your sides.

5. Join Energy Centers: Your horse’s dan tien vigor halfway is successful his barrel. Standing facing your horse’s side, spot some of your hands astatine enarthrosis tallness connected your horse’s tube successful a dan tien press. Feel your feet descend softly into the world and respire from your vigor halfway successful your belly. Feel your equine respire into your hands.

The horse’s dan tien vigor halfway is located nether the saddle area, and we stock our dan tien powers erstwhile sitting astride oregon doing the dan tien property oregon hug.

6. Come Together: From there, crook facing guardant and let your limb to drape implicit your horse’s back. Draw close, melding your assemblage with your horse’s broadside successful a dan tien hug.

Face guardant and let your limb to drape implicit your horse’s back. Draw close, melding your assemblage with your horse’s broadside successful a dan tien hug. Become grounded with vigor from the balls of your feet. Breathe from your belly halfway and consciousness your horse’s enactment on your body. Enjoy the enslaved with your horse. Photo by Ruben Kleiman

Become grounded with vigor from the balls of your feet. Breathe from your belly halfway and consciousness your horse’s enactment on your body. Enjoy the enslaved with your horse.

7. Take Somatic Horsemanship Even Further: If you’re comfy and your equine is safe, instrumentality your enactment and question mounted.

Stress and Relaxation

“There’s not a magical formula,” remarks Kane. “There’s a batch of country for free-form interpretive motions. When you bash heavy breathing with synchronized musculus movement, the effect connected relaxation is profound.”

Standing facing your horse’s side, spot some hands astatine enarthrosis tallness connected your horse’s tube successful a dan tien press. Feel your feet descend softly into the world and respire from your vigor halfway successful your belly. Feel your equine respire into your hands. Photo by Beverley Kane, M.D.

Kane describes a 2019 Harvard University and Vanderbilt University survey investigating the effect of stressful tasks connected the parasympathetic tense system, successful which the information suggest the operation of musculus enactment and heavy breathing recovered successful moving meditation facilitates important accent reduction.

Allow the equine to stock with you his groundedness.

“There’s a improvement called entrainment, successful which 1 strategy comes into synchronicity with different system,” explains Kane. “When you enactment a equine with a resting heartrate of 40 beats a infinitesimal with an anxious idiosyncratic with a heartbeat of 100 oregon much beats a minute, that person’s heartrate comes down.”

Looking forward, Kane suggests arsenic we segue retired of the COVID-19 pandemic, we look to horses’ interactions wrong the herd arsenic we deliberation astir moving backmost into our ain satellite of societal interactions.

This nonfiction astir somatic horsemanship appeared successful the January/February 2022 contented of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click present to subscribe!