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Breathe Your Way To Relaxation When Your Ride Your Horse
by Jane Savoie
The simplest, quickest, way to find relaxation on your horse is to BREATHE. Here are 4 quick tips to help you with your breathing.
Now, I know you're breathing or you wouldn't be reading this! But are you breathing in a way that promotes relaxation?
1. Let's find out. First, let's dissect what you do when you inhale. Stand up. Take in a really deep breath. Did your shoulders go up?
If they did, you're just breathing in your upper chest. And there's always tension associated with breathing like that.
To inhale correctly, put one hand on your stomach and the other hand on your shoulder. Inhale. Let your stomach expand and get "fat" while you keep your shoulders DOWN. By doing so, you're lowering your diaphragm and taking in a really deep breath.
2. Now, exhale. Sit in a chair. Inhale as you did above. When you exhale, keep your back straight (don't slouch), and feel your butt getting heavier on the chair.
You can even practice this when you're driving. You want to practice this technique often enough so you can do it on automatic pilot when you're riding your horse.
3. Now let's bring this breathing technique to your riding with one addition. That addition is visualization.
Walk around on your horse. Inhale keeping your shoulders down and letting your stomach get "fat". As you do this, picture your diaphragm lowering and taking air all the way down to the bottom of your lungs.
As you exhale, feel your seat sinking heavier in the saddle, and visualize that your butt is dissolving into your horse's barrel.
In your mind's eye, you can even pretend you're a mythical centaur. Imagine that someone watching you would not be able to tell where your butt ended and your horse's back began.
By the way, this is the last thing I do when I circle the arena before I go down the center line in competition. I take 3 deep breaths. It's a foolproof way to keep my show nerves in check.
4. Sing! Or you can hum or whistle. It all comes back to breathing. You can't sing, hum or whistle without breathing.
Decide what song you're going to use ahead of time. You don't want to be in a critical moment and have to scramble around in your brain to come up with a song. Pick one that relaxes you or makes you laugh.
Promoting relaxation when you ride your horse is as simple as that. The better you breathe, the more quickly you'll relax.
About the Author
Jane Savoie was the reserve rider for the US Olympic Dressage Team in 1992. She has coached at 3 Olympics in Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens. Jane has written 6 books on training and sports psychology. For more info, go to: janesavoie.com or freedomfromfearnow.com
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