Tips to stop thinking..

[FlyingCircus]

Ever have the thing where you think about how you breathe and then can't breathe like a normal person?

I have that with riding at the min ? I've read so much recently and am really trying to improve my riding...but part of the outcome seems to be that I'm over thinking it so much that even sitting on the poor horse I'm holding my hips/bum, then letting them loose, then realise I'm holding again. Then forgetting how to even walk like a normal person ? Doesn't help that my mare is lovely and reactive from the seat/leg so she wonders wtf I am doing up there at the minute!

Have not lost the ability to ride in general....just the basics...like breathing ?

 

[canteron]

Learn a song - the amount of brain space your brain needs to remember the words helps the whole breathing thing.
I know the French version of the Marseillaise if that helps ?

 

[Identityincrisis]

Totally!! This is my biggest problem, I'm an over thinker. When my instructor helps me with something I focus on that and then try to make it perfect which generally has the opposite effect!

And clamping my jaw! She showed me how to stop doing that, but now i hold tension by doing the thing she showed me!

 

[Sprat]

Urgh yes! I'm not quite sure what I've been doing recently but I've lost it completely. I'm always reading and attempting to learn, I think my head has just got so full of all sorts that I'm confusing my poor body (and horse) by doing too much.

Have managed to kill our leg yields. Leg yields for gods sake, they are lovely and easy to do and I can't do them now as my daft brain has scrambled it all up for me.

Let me know when you figure out how to engage your brain again, I'd love to know how!

 

[Bernster]

Yes I’m an over thinker too with riding. Sounds like you might also be in that ’conscious incompetence’ phase of learning - no offence it’s a cycle that explains phases of learning which Mary wanless uses and which I found useful. Means you’re aware of what you need to change and have to actively think about changing it.

I think it’s a case of finding something else for you to think about to redirect your brain - singing, talking, practising mindfulness to help you focus maybe?

 

[MagicMelon]

Talk outloud to the horse. I do this usually if Im about to ride past something scary so I'll chat away to her about the weather, what we're doing tomorrow etc. Anything to help take my mind of what I naturally want to focus on (and panic about). It'll probably help you relax?

 

[Carmen6]

Ever have the thing where you think about how you breathe and then can't breathe like a normal person?

I'm half way down the stairs when my brain blurts out "WHERE ARE YOUR FEET?!". In that instance, I forget how walking down stairs works, totally sh*t myself and cling to the banister, lest I fling myself down the stairs in the confusion. It doesn't happen often, but I do wonder how I would survive in the wild.

It reminds me of that scene in Family Guy where Peter forgets how to sit down.

 

[FlyingCircus]

Yes I’m an over thinker too with riding. Sounds like you might also be in that ’conscious incompetence’ phase of learning - no offence it’s a cycle that explains phases of learning which Mary wanless uses and which I found useful. Means you’re aware of what you need to change and have to actively think about changing it.

I think it’s a case of finding something else for you to think about to redirect your brain - singing, talking, practising mindfulness to help you focus maybe?

I've been in this phase for about 20 years now ? No offense taken!

 

[Lois Lame]

Ever have the thing where you think about how you breathe and then can't breathe like a normal person?

I have that with riding at the min ? I've read so much recently and am really trying to improve my riding...but part of the outcome seems to be that I'm over thinking it so much that even sitting on the poor horse I'm holding my hips/bum, then letting them loose, then realise I'm holding again. Then forgetting how to even walk like a normal person ? Doesn't help that my mare is lovely and reactive from the seat/leg so she wonders wtf I am doing up there at the minute!

Have not lost the ability to ride in general....just the basics...like breathing ?

LOL.

I remember when somewhat younger, even when just walking past all the parked cars facing me as I walked past the supermarket and the chemist and the newsagent on my way to buy lollies or an icecream, I could not control my legs due to the feeling of being watched.

How on earth do actors manage to act? Zillions of watchers.

But yes, I know what you mean about becoming super aware of a natural, normal bodily function and how suddenly it all becomes difficult. In fact, I gave up reading second hand copies of Pschology Today for that very reason.

 

[fankino04]

I used to have this issue when I first got my ex racer and she was somewhat highly strung, I was still at school at the time and doing French and German, I found that although singing distracted my brain a bit trying to chat to her in a foreign language occupied it much better.