In horse the primary known goal is to master the springing and pawing actions of the core/hip/knee/ankle complex through repeated separation and recombination.

The primary unknown goal is admitting you don’t know what it’s like to be a horse, and discover through watching and learning how form and function dance in the complex biological particle-wave being known as HORSE.

Springing involves integration of squatting movement with pawing and diaphragm bounce (pelvic, thoracic, and plantar are the place to start)

If we want to be able to rely upon a skill, we have to be able to maintain it. biomechanically, this means taking it apart and putting it back together, fixing the individual parts and maintaining their relationships.

So, we need to learn to be able to sense the details of how we are doing each part and how we are putting them together. If we think we are moving in one way when we are actually moving in another can be a catalyst to pain, reduced performance, and general detachment from our direct sensory experience of life. So if you want maximum benefit and freedom over the long term, pay attention to what you are doing!

springing – squatting, pawing, and bouncing

squatting – working up/down – pulling COM down by connecting ankle dorsiflexion, knee flexion, and hip flexion, pushing COM up by connecting ankle plantarflexion, knee extension, and hip extension. Hereafter referred to as triple extension and triple flexion.

Pawing – forward-back – working the lower body frontside/backside – connecting hip flexion, knee extension, ankle dorsiflexion, and lumbar flexion to swing the leg forward, then hip extension, knee flexion, ankle plantarflexion, and lumbar extension to throw the leg back relative to COM.

bouncing – curved/flat – integrate contraction of plantar, pelvic, and thoracic diaphragms with previous two patterns. Once you discover how functionally ineffective it is to separate the diaphragms from each other you will want to learn to integrate the cervical, palmar, and cranial diaphragms as well. There are more diaphragms, I’m just giving a broad overview.

* Sidebar * – when you work on separating the body into pieces, you are stepping away from the integration, and stepping away from maximal performance in any given endeavor. TLDR you will get weaker/slower during these phase while also deepening your ability to relax. This sets you up to build a more firm foundation, maybe reach a higher peak next time, maybe resolve chronic issues plaguing you before.

Practical Examples:

Leg swing – the leg swing is the foundation of the Pawing movement pattern. Gently swinging your limp leg forward and back from the core, and this becomes an dynamic passive stretch both ways, teaching you to allow the joints to separate/detach from each other along this pathway. Holding your leg for some pause at the ends and/or anywhere in the middle, and this becomes an isometric at the pause points and teaches deceleration to those points as well as acceleration from those points. Holding above-minimal tension anywhere in the functional system, speeding up all or some of the movement, etc. will all have subtly different lessons for these bodies thirsty for information and new experience.

Squat – The obvious foundation of the squatting pattern. Squatting variations could fill a few encyclopedias, so bear with me. You can learn to “power” the squat from various muscles, joints, or contractile fields once the pattern has a “life of it’s own”.

Drops – a squat variation where pulling yourself down “into the hole” is the primary intention, with speed. By pressing with different aspects of the feet/foot we can use the friction between the foot and the ground to pull ourselves down with greater force and/or speed than just gravity would allow. Try feeling what is different about letting gravity pull you down against resisting muscles, pulling down with triple flexion, and rapidly pulling your legs up with minimal COM drop. For an extra special treat, try gripping/relaxing the ground in different ways with your feet or “plantar diaphragm” (shoes off if not there yet, soft soles can work for this too). Once you get a feel for this, try using that grip to pull yourself down into the hole as you did with the friction of the foot on the ground. (for those interested, I believe I made these “drop” discoveries for myself during martial arts and high school wrestling).

I write this stuff because it interests me, so email me if it interests you as well and you have a question or interesting discussion topic: theanatomicalmethod@gmail.com

Hopefully I won’t get bored of this line if thought before I finish at least two more Shamanic Gait post ideas I’ve been chewing/working on: Eagle and Snake.