13. Mind / Body Connection.

Mind / Body Connection – Sound Mind, Sound Body.

Despite (or because of) technological advancement modern life causes stress to both body and mind.

Described in “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler in his book of the same name, as “too much change in too short a period of time.” he explains, if the full length of your arm represented human evolution, the past 200 years would be represented by the white tip of a trimmed finger nail…

Humans invented the steam engine in the early 1800s and the internet in 1983, and the rate of change since then almost defies belief.

Without doubt such rapid development has, in many way enhanced our lives – but at what costs?

Our hunter-gatherer ancestors walked and ran great distances and needed to be fuel-efficient to survive.

As our ancestors’ prefrontal cortex grew they became better hunters, travelled further and made more sophisticated tools.

Later moves towards agriculture meant humans had to make the most of a relatively small amount of land, work was labour intensive, requiring physical stamina and close-knit human societies.

They had to save and store food so that they would not starve in the winter months, delaying gratification.

The Industrial Revolution and mass production created the consumer society in the late 18th Century and much of a largely rural population moved to urban areas.

Today we are much less physically active and have food, much of it low in nutritional value, constantly available.

In 2015 I had the privilege of meeting and training with Naudi Aguilar, CEO and Founder of “Functional Patterns” and learned some of the techniques that he teaches to help compensate for our cultural inefficiencies.

A revelation I received from Naudi was, not only are we evolved to sit much less often than we do now, but historically we would only have done so when we were both safe and relaxed.

Nowadays a huge amount of our time is spent seated (which in of itself can create health issues) and we sit when stressed, at our work desks, behind the wheel of our cars etc. befuddling our neurology to the extent that we may not be able to relax fully, even when “try” to, our “flight or fight” response to stress inhibited by our inactive seated position.

This affects our posture, alignment and function in a number of ways depending on our habits and numerous cultural influencers.

Naudi’s disillusionment with the fitness industry is, perhaps similar to mine about some aspects of the equine industry.

• Short-term (competitive) gain = long-term physical and psychological damage.

The training I attended with Naudi was otherwise attended by personal / fitness trainers and he was intrigued as to why a horse riding coach would want to sign up.

I told him that I view “Rider is Cause, Horse is Effect” and that the rider’s mind-set and posture has a direct impact on their horse’s way of going and long-term soundness.

I showed him photographs of some clients, and how changes in their posture has a direct impact on the horse’s posture and movement.

I went on to say that while many riders are aware of the importance of posture and alignment, being told to, “sit up”, “sit straight”, “use your core”, “relax”, “breath” are seldom sufficient to created the desired change and that effective dismounted techniques (I would learn from Naudi) would be helpful in addressing some of those issues for me and my clients.

I went on to say that physiologically there are similarities (and important differences) in human and equine anatomy.

While the proportions are different, (The horse a quadruped and (hopefully, when ridden at least) more or less horizonal to the ground and the human a bipedid and (hopefully, when riding at least) more or less vertical to the ground.) we share many of the same bones, muscles and structures.

I then showed him a couple of photographs of “top” dressage horses and a couple of pictures of horses in, what might be described as a more “Classical” frame.

“So” he said, “in dressage competition they want the horses to be carrying themselves on their shoulders?” 

Fascinating that someone with little to no equine experience could understand so clearly what many with years, decades of equine experience do not, will not, or cannot understand.

• In my experience “Functional Patterns” can (amongst other things) –
• Reduce Pain – optimal posture eliminating dysfunction.
• Improve Breathing – excessive lordosis (hollowing of the spine) and kyphosis (rounding of the spine) alters the muscles responsible for breathing.
• Reduce Stress – it’s not stress which kills us – but our response to stress.  Less pain, better breathing and posture allows us to cope with stress better.
• Strengthen the Core – and protect us from injury.
• Affects Non-Verbal Communication – apparent external and our own internal feeling of self-confidence is enhanced.
• Increase Flexibility – movements will be more streamlined and performance optimised.
• Improved Athletic Performance and Higher Energy Levels.
• Addresses route causes rather than chasing the pain.

“Posture is quite possibly the most underrated yet most influential aspect of health and pain management.  Posture is the foundation of efficiency the human body must have if we expect to live pain free… Picture training your body similar to building a house. If you expect to make a quality house, you cannot assume that you take a bunch of wood slap it together and that a structure is going to arise that will last for 100 years. A quality home is always going to be set up with a foundation first. You level off the ground, set in the footings, build a platform and then you start building the rest of the house. It’s quite a practical way of building a house, yet when it comes to training a human body it has become something trainers and wellness practitioners avoid like the plague…If a training system does not comprehensively address the structural foundations humans operate from, it will only do damage to the human body and is not worth doing at all.  At Functional Patterns, every technique implemented is intentionally utilized for the sake of improving human movement dynamics and posture… By comprehensively addressing posture at a foundation, we can secure that we will find sustainability…pain and injury free for decades to come!” Naudi Aguilar

While I integrate Naudi’s techniques with many others within my work, to explore it more fully please visit his website.  There you will find details of his book, “The Power of Posture”, his on-line and in person courses as well as an up-to-date list of his qualified instructors in your area – www.functionalpatterns.com

Next time we’ll explore how our posture affects our horse’s.