What is Body Awareness Training?

​World class equestrians in every discipline have for decades spent much of their training time on their own mental, emotional and physical fitness and well-being, all of which develops body awareness.   There are great classes out there from Pilates, Tai Chi, Yoga, Feldenkrais, Parkfit etc to help us get better strength, coordination and the favourite - 'core stability.'
 
The aim of the Body Awareness Training is to help you get the most of what you already do (whether that is PIlates, yoga, running etc) and offer you ways to enhance your practice.  What I have discovered over years of coaching whilst rehabilitating from a long term hip injury myself, is that we can get much more from these classes by simply being more body aware.  This often means feeling more, using imaging when we feel our body can't access a movement, or it's painful, being kinder to yourself, doing a specific side first, understanding and using breathing to affect functionallity, doing fewer repetitions more mindfully and generally doing less.

Classroom Based Body Awareness Training includes bringing attention to your bracey spots, feeling for whether they are emotional or just physical, with tips on how to release the brace, how and when your breath can influence tightness and softness, the difference between intention and focus and how switching between the two feels and how you can look for visual signs in yourself to help spot these often unconscious habits.  All of these impact your horse's movement for in-hand, ridden, liberty and groundwork.

Ridden Components of Body Awareness Training include position, transitions,  how your horse moves your body in different gaits, straightness, forwards, absorbing the elasticity of the horse's movement and how to let the horse help you soften and be more more aware of where you brace.  

                 The concept of body awareness training is to enhance the techniques and skills you already know and to gve you confidence to explore further and be more curious in how little you can do to effect change.

The influences for the training with Martha include Trager, Hanna Somatics, Feldenkrais, Primal movement, Pilates, Qi Qong, Jane Pike, Trager and workshops with Chris Halliday