Breathing is Optional.....

Back from Atlanta. I have no real clue how to put into words how glad I am I did the clinic. It was far beyond what I expected and is going to be really hard to explain if you weren't there. I'll do my best.

The clinic was 3 days long and then on the final day I had a private riding lesson with Wendy. Each of the clinic was divided into half classroom/non-riding time and half riding. The riding time was done as semi-private lessons (myself and another person in my group) that honestly felt like privates. That was my first realization, how despite there being many people in the clinic Wendy does a great job tailoring all the lessons (riding and non-riding) to each participant. I cant say there was one moment I didn't feel applied to me.

The first day was ironically funny, I went into it fearing I would be out of place and everyone else would be perfect. It was quickly clear that I was amongst kindred spirits. The first exercise was everyone sharing what illnesses and injuries they have had. I was last to go, and got to listen to everyone else's list, let's just say we all sounded like we should have been condemned! Broken bones, injuries, illnesses, surgeries, pain. Heck I wasn't even the only person who has to mount from the wrong side of the horse. I knew that first morning I was totally at home with people who got it. We all had challenges, mentally and physically. Even the pro riders who were there had some of the same riding issues the rest of us had.

Most of the focus for me was on re-teaching my body that my right side is still part of my body, that sounds weird but it makes perfect sense after my paralysis my body disconnected itself. So getting two legs back is a lot of my homework. We also worked on my leg position, learning to soften my back and knees, my stops and my turns. That all sounds so simplistic and it goes so far beyond that, but really not sure how to put it into words.

I think for me what I most enjoyed about the clinic is that all those things I have struggled with for the last two years of riding (and in the gym for 4 years) and had no clue how to explain or put into words, Wendy could instantly see and I didn't have to explain. She was also able to show my body how to move a certain way without me having to understand how to move it. She comes at things from the point of view that if you don't know it how can you do it, and uses your body, through a lot of Feldenkrais work, to teach you what to feel and move. She also could see the real cause of a problem, not the symptom. It made learning from her so easy because I felt understood and things weren't lost in miscommunication or my fears of saying them.

I wish the clinic had lasted a month, I felt like we just started dealing with things and the clinic was over. My hope is to get to a second one later this year, possibly Tennessee in August and continue moving forward. In between I was left with a lot of homework I am already chipping away at.

I cant recommend this clinic enough, for anyone who gets on a horse, and heck even those who don't. Even if we had not touched horses just the non-riding part was so enlightening about how we move and how our bodies learn habits that effect us daily.

Thank you Debbie Anderson for sending me down this path!