Ambers Echo
Still wittering on
Ok huge disclaimed here. I have never done any martial arts. I am a rank beginner now trying to make sense of what I learned at the clinic and share it here. So some may feel I should shut up and not spread my inevitably limited and possibly entirely mistaken impression of this. In fact Mark himself has not written a book on Aibado saying it is something that should be experienced and taught face to face so he can correct people and achieve the right ‘feel’.
BUT, BUT, BUT rank beginners do go to classes like this and are then let loose on their horses! So if these clinics are to be meaningful then I should have picked up at least something of some value. Plus people only know about these clinics because other people tell them about them. Mark himself writes about his own Aikido journey and some of the confusion he has experienced.
And as you all know I share all elements of my horsey journey. Though in this case it is less a ‘journey’ and more a detour up a bewildering set of alleys with glimpses of magic along the way but very little sense of how to navigate this world. So I will write a report but remember these are just my impressions. Instead of trying to explain what it all ‘means’ I am just going to describe what Mark said (to the best of my recollection) and what I felt. And if anyone is interested beyond that then I guess you need to go to a clinic.
'Aiba' means ‘Coming Together With Horses’ or ‘For the Love of Horses' (depending on the symbol used to depict the word) and 'do' means The Way. Hence Aibado: The Way of Blending With Horses.
Day 1: I would sum up the focus of day 1 with the word ‘Down weighting’. Mark said riders hold lots of tension in shoulders, elbows. If these are stiff then soft hands are not possible. You need to ‘down weight’ which sounds as simple as relaxing but isn’t. There were exercises to ‘down weight’ that I can do but can’t describe. All I can say is that if a person rested their hand on mine and asked me to resist downward pressure and then ‘down weighted’ it was a very clear feeling and did NOT involve any pressure or force from muscles. They could press on my hands with considerable force and I would easily be able to resist the pressure then they would ‘down weight’ and my hands would be moving down and I would not really know why. And the same thing happened when my partner and I swapped and I was alternating pressing with down weighting. Down weighting was used a lot throughout the rest of the clinic to move people around. Pressing was easy to resist. Down weighting wasn’t.
I could have 3 people on each hand and I could try and pull them off balance and not move them at all then down weight my hands and just bring them together. And everyone would just move and it was easy. I experienced this both as the person with 6 people trying to resist me and as 1 of the 6. I cannot begin to explain how or why this works. There was something I think about the feel of this: pressing makes you want to brace, down weighting makes you want to yield. But it was not quite that simple because it was impossible NOT to yield. Especially when MR laid hands on me! So it was partly a choice to go with the softness down-weighting created but not just that I don’t think.
I have used ‘down weighting’ with Deedee and Amber and both responded very well so far. They move readily when I move them with this ‘feel’ instead of bracing against a press. Deedee has been a little tricky to bridle since we have had her, and I have been teaching her to drop her head with pressure/release. But today I rested my hand on her poll, down-weighted and she dropped her head calmly for bridling.
Day 2
Centering/Grounding.
We did an exercise to centre ourselves and then did various exercises on balance, resisting movement etc either from centre or not. And the experience was of being much more powerful and stable from centre. Mark said people are often up in their heads and so are ‘off centre’. This is both physically and emotionally. So being centred/grounded means you are more stable and balanced physically and more emotionally neutral/calm if something unexpected happens. The imagery is being the ‘eye of the storm’. With horses you connect and instead of blocking or bracing you blend with what is happening and direct the energy. We practiced this idea with people coming at you as if to punch and blending with them then redirecting them. I consciously centred myself before getting on Amber and did feel a little more ‘solid’ in the saddle’ and less ‘thrown about’ but I might be imagining it! I might try and video canter from centre and not and see if anything looks different.
Day 3.
Softness within Structure.
Horses are big, strong animals so pitting muscle against muscle is not a good idea. The first touch or connection with your horse will result in a brace or in softness. If you generate a brace then you have to use quite a bit of effort to then overcome that brace. If you generate softness then the horse will willingly go with your ideas! But you then have to fill the softness created with clear direction (structure). If you are just soft without being structured you won't be effective. We practiced this in pairs, focusing on the feel of that initial contact. Again it was easy to feel an urge to brace and easy to feel an urge to yield but not at all easy to work out why. But I did not overthink it – just went with it.
I have used this just asking Deedee to move over in the stable etc. Really thinking about the quality of that first touch and almost breathing her over rather than pushing her over! It is very different to pressure/release to teach a horse to yield. With pressure/release I am asking her to move and then rewarding her moving with an immediate release. So in effect I am teaching her what I want which is to yield to pressure. And even though the ‘pressure’ can be feather light or even can just be body language – it is still pressure. But with softness within structure it seems to be that there is no pressure or release. There is just guiding or directing energy/movement. Like dancing. Though this is not something Mark said – just my own musings.
So that’s it. Not sure what I make of it. Not sure if I will seek out more of this. Not sure how much I will use these ideas longer term. But it was a very interesting (if slightly 'out there') experience and 3 days with Mark Rashid and Crissie is never a bad way to spend your time!
BUT, BUT, BUT rank beginners do go to classes like this and are then let loose on their horses! So if these clinics are to be meaningful then I should have picked up at least something of some value. Plus people only know about these clinics because other people tell them about them. Mark himself writes about his own Aikido journey and some of the confusion he has experienced.
And as you all know I share all elements of my horsey journey. Though in this case it is less a ‘journey’ and more a detour up a bewildering set of alleys with glimpses of magic along the way but very little sense of how to navigate this world. So I will write a report but remember these are just my impressions. Instead of trying to explain what it all ‘means’ I am just going to describe what Mark said (to the best of my recollection) and what I felt. And if anyone is interested beyond that then I guess you need to go to a clinic.
'Aiba' means ‘Coming Together With Horses’ or ‘For the Love of Horses' (depending on the symbol used to depict the word) and 'do' means The Way. Hence Aibado: The Way of Blending With Horses.
Day 1: I would sum up the focus of day 1 with the word ‘Down weighting’. Mark said riders hold lots of tension in shoulders, elbows. If these are stiff then soft hands are not possible. You need to ‘down weight’ which sounds as simple as relaxing but isn’t. There were exercises to ‘down weight’ that I can do but can’t describe. All I can say is that if a person rested their hand on mine and asked me to resist downward pressure and then ‘down weighted’ it was a very clear feeling and did NOT involve any pressure or force from muscles. They could press on my hands with considerable force and I would easily be able to resist the pressure then they would ‘down weight’ and my hands would be moving down and I would not really know why. And the same thing happened when my partner and I swapped and I was alternating pressing with down weighting. Down weighting was used a lot throughout the rest of the clinic to move people around. Pressing was easy to resist. Down weighting wasn’t.
I could have 3 people on each hand and I could try and pull them off balance and not move them at all then down weight my hands and just bring them together. And everyone would just move and it was easy. I experienced this both as the person with 6 people trying to resist me and as 1 of the 6. I cannot begin to explain how or why this works. There was something I think about the feel of this: pressing makes you want to brace, down weighting makes you want to yield. But it was not quite that simple because it was impossible NOT to yield. Especially when MR laid hands on me! So it was partly a choice to go with the softness down-weighting created but not just that I don’t think.
I have used ‘down weighting’ with Deedee and Amber and both responded very well so far. They move readily when I move them with this ‘feel’ instead of bracing against a press. Deedee has been a little tricky to bridle since we have had her, and I have been teaching her to drop her head with pressure/release. But today I rested my hand on her poll, down-weighted and she dropped her head calmly for bridling.
Day 2
Centering/Grounding.
We did an exercise to centre ourselves and then did various exercises on balance, resisting movement etc either from centre or not. And the experience was of being much more powerful and stable from centre. Mark said people are often up in their heads and so are ‘off centre’. This is both physically and emotionally. So being centred/grounded means you are more stable and balanced physically and more emotionally neutral/calm if something unexpected happens. The imagery is being the ‘eye of the storm’. With horses you connect and instead of blocking or bracing you blend with what is happening and direct the energy. We practiced this idea with people coming at you as if to punch and blending with them then redirecting them. I consciously centred myself before getting on Amber and did feel a little more ‘solid’ in the saddle’ and less ‘thrown about’ but I might be imagining it! I might try and video canter from centre and not and see if anything looks different.
Day 3.
Softness within Structure.
Horses are big, strong animals so pitting muscle against muscle is not a good idea. The first touch or connection with your horse will result in a brace or in softness. If you generate a brace then you have to use quite a bit of effort to then overcome that brace. If you generate softness then the horse will willingly go with your ideas! But you then have to fill the softness created with clear direction (structure). If you are just soft without being structured you won't be effective. We practiced this in pairs, focusing on the feel of that initial contact. Again it was easy to feel an urge to brace and easy to feel an urge to yield but not at all easy to work out why. But I did not overthink it – just went with it.
I have used this just asking Deedee to move over in the stable etc. Really thinking about the quality of that first touch and almost breathing her over rather than pushing her over! It is very different to pressure/release to teach a horse to yield. With pressure/release I am asking her to move and then rewarding her moving with an immediate release. So in effect I am teaching her what I want which is to yield to pressure. And even though the ‘pressure’ can be feather light or even can just be body language – it is still pressure. But with softness within structure it seems to be that there is no pressure or release. There is just guiding or directing energy/movement. Like dancing. Though this is not something Mark said – just my own musings.
So that’s it. Not sure what I make of it. Not sure if I will seek out more of this. Not sure how much I will use these ideas longer term. But it was a very interesting (if slightly 'out there') experience and 3 days with Mark Rashid and Crissie is never a bad way to spend your time!
).
you can read things and watch things and just think hmmmm money making or hmmmm that’s interesting. I tend to find things more interesting and real from people who don’t make their living travelling around the country selling a ‘product’ but hey whatever floats your boat at the end of the day 
