Breathe Better to Ride Better
Our breathing is very important to us as riders. Practising correct breathing patterns can help you maintain correct position, pressurise your core correctly and reduce excess tension in your body that can interfere with your connection with your horse.
Being aware of and able to influence our breathing can also help us manage our nervous system state (the way our brain send signals to our body and vice versa). Slowing and deepening our breathing can relax us down if we are feeling stressed or heightened, or have gotten into fight/flight mode. This is not a calm and grounded state to work with our horses in!
It can also be used to bring up our energy if we are feeling flat, overthinking and in our heads or need to perform at a show. Being able to send air in more powerfully and fully oxygenate ourselves can be a performance enhancer!
Here are some exercises you can practise to improve your ability to breathe.
RELAXATION BREATHING INTO THE DIAPHRAGM
Lay on the floor for relaxation, with a pillow or block under your head. Bend the knees or place a towel underneath to support your lower back. Focus on breathing down into your diaphragm, which is the bottom of your ribcage. You can experiment with breathing into your belly, and expanding your ribcage outwards so you are breathing into a cylinder.
BAND BREATHING INTO DIAPHRAGM
Tie a stretchy elastic band around your lower ribcage. Make sure it is stretchy enough to move, but tight enough to give you a resistance. Tuck your hips under, bring your ribcage down and keep your shoulders back, and then focus on breathing deeply into the band, stretching out through the ribcage and diaphragm.
BREATHING TO CALM YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM
If you are feeling nervous or on edge, it can be beneficial to focus on your breathing to calm your brain down and come back to the present moment.
Focus on an inhale of 4, hold of 4 and exhale of a count of 7. Having a longer exhale sends signals to your system to activate the parasympathetic (rest and digest) aspect of your nervous system.
BREATHING TO FIRE UP YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM
Deep breaths in through your nose and a quick full exhale through the mouth can help engage the nervous system. 10 breaths quickly can increase oxygen through the body and send signals to your body that you are ready for action.
BREATHING CHECK-INS WHEN RIDING
You can do regular check ins when you ride to see if you are maintaining your neutral spine, and breathing down into the diaphragm and out into your core. This will help you recognise when you tend to hold your breath, or breath shallowly, and make it more and more natural to keep breathing through your ridden sessions. Your horse and your riding performance will benefit so much from this seemingly simple skill!