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I was reading Anatomy Trains again and, as always, inspired by the author’s insight and guts to say it how he sees it. It got me thinking about the 3 movements of the pelvis while walking. Walking is something that I have spent 1000's of hours doing and looking at in the last 10 years. Wu Style Tai Chi and my most amazing teacher Wen Mei Yu first presented me with the notion that maybe I don't really know how to walk.
Not know how to walk? I’ve been walking for decades! What was she talking about?
What she taught me was that the pelvis can move in 3 directions while walking most of us only allow ours to move in one maybe 2 directions? Picture her (a small Chinese woman in her 70’s) showing me a (man in my 30’s) to follow the expanded pelvic movement. Learning to allow my pelvis to move in this way while walking made a tremendous difference in my range of motion.
This is true for in the saddle as well as on the ground. The 3 directions of movement relate to the 3 bone structure of your seat, the femur bones the pelvis and the lower lumbar. Any restriction in one of these parts inhibits the others and equally any over use of one area causes the restriction of the others. For instance movement one in the saddle, the power of the horse should raise and drop your seat bones in a forward inclination. In the second movement the power of the horse should also pivot your pelvis from the center, (just in front of the sacrum/lumbar area) to the left/center/right. And third, the same power flowing up through the sacrum/lumbar area allows the pelvis to move balanced between the ball and socket joints of the hips, forward and backward with out ever losing the contact of the seat bones. I ‘see’ these movements in 3 dimensions as if I was inside the bowl of the pelvis( your center) looking out in all directions, from that from that reference point the 3 movements combine as one, creating a gyroscope effect in the center of the body.
These 3 movements when balanced receive and redirect the power of the horse entering into the skeletal structure of the rider. They are the foundation of all balance, timing and sensitivity. By the way Balance, Timing and Feel cannot be separated out. They are one, they stream from the same source and that source is your center--your seat.
James
Not know how to walk? I’ve been walking for decades! What was she talking about?
What she taught me was that the pelvis can move in 3 directions while walking most of us only allow ours to move in one maybe 2 directions? Picture her (a small Chinese woman in her 70’s) showing me a (man in my 30’s) to follow the expanded pelvic movement. Learning to allow my pelvis to move in this way while walking made a tremendous difference in my range of motion.
This is true for in the saddle as well as on the ground. The 3 directions of movement relate to the 3 bone structure of your seat, the femur bones the pelvis and the lower lumbar. Any restriction in one of these parts inhibits the others and equally any over use of one area causes the restriction of the others. For instance movement one in the saddle, the power of the horse should raise and drop your seat bones in a forward inclination. In the second movement the power of the horse should also pivot your pelvis from the center, (just in front of the sacrum/lumbar area) to the left/center/right. And third, the same power flowing up through the sacrum/lumbar area allows the pelvis to move balanced between the ball and socket joints of the hips, forward and backward with out ever losing the contact of the seat bones. I ‘see’ these movements in 3 dimensions as if I was inside the bowl of the pelvis( your center) looking out in all directions, from that from that reference point the 3 movements combine as one, creating a gyroscope effect in the center of the body.
These 3 movements when balanced receive and redirect the power of the horse entering into the skeletal structure of the rider. They are the foundation of all balance, timing and sensitivity. By the way Balance, Timing and Feel cannot be separated out. They are one, they stream from the same source and that source is your center--your seat.
James
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