position vs direction - can they unite?

"There is no such thing as a right position, there is only a right direction", FM Alexander said. I have pondered on the words and have found that I do agree and at the same time disagree.

There are those who have trained themselves to become living statues. In their profession the ability to stand still for a prolonged time is trained and developed. Roger "Gränsen" Jonsson is a mime artist with five years of training. -Mime is a combination of tension and relaxation, it's about to rest while standing. To be able to move in slow motion you have to train your body. It takes a couple of years, he says. -When you've put on the costume and makeup and put yourself into position stillness is achieved rather quickly. It is a form of meditation. Even if you are percieved as being standing still you change position very subtly with minute movements every other minute, he continues.

During the 1600s (correct me if I'm wrong!) They trained horses and riders to become living statues. The horse was helped to come into a physical relaxation by soft massage and thereby trained to stay in a pose for a longer time, resting quietly and without unnecessary tension in the selected position.

Positions in this sense perceived as still do not have to be static. And what's preventing them from being static? Well, direction!

If your body is going somewhere - even in slow motion - there's a movement in the brain, that is, the nervous system, and hence a flow of information between the brain and body.

The word position have a physical as well as a psychological application. Deadlock is a term that signals a static relationship without any movement and it can be both physical and mental.

I often see horses and riders in locked positions. A common "place" for a physical deadlock is the rider's hand in relation to the horse's mouth. Another is when the rider takes a position in the saddle, and strive to maintain that position no matter how the horse's body moves. There are mental positions that stem from perceptions that the rider has of himself (performance anxiety) or the horse (lazy, slow, hot)

All deadlock affects suppleness, the muscle suit busy keeping the body in a certain postition, keeping a firm support in the reins or responding to a mental state is stiffening. The stiffened body is affected in such a way that it can no longer follow the horse in its movement/direction.

Now every move requires that the body takes a position. To be able perform a smooth movement requires a clear direction in which way the body/position has to go.

I have started training jujitsu and it's a great exercise in position and direction. If my training partner and I have a good position relative to each other and in our own bodies and a clear picture of the direction of the move, that ensures a soft floating feeling to all moves, and we seem to manage it without apparent effort in our respective bodies, and none of us experience being thrown or tipped over as unpleasant or painful as we train. But when the position and/or direction fails us, we're in trouble, it gets exhausting, inconvenient, uncomfortable (sometimes painful) and the risk of injury increases.

Position and direction are valid also in riding! We do not ride alone, we share a sense of position and direction with a living being. As riders, we select the discipline that we want the horse to work in and the training method.

Regardless of your individual choice, you as a rider need to familiarize yourself with both the position and direction for the maneuver you want to do riding the horse.

Lacking this knowledge transforms riding to horse wrestling and because the horse is much stronger, faster and bigger than us it's easy to resort to "rough methods" and sharper equipment and remaining in the paddock are two bereaved souls...

"Something achieved by means of violence can only be maintained by force."
Mahatma Gandhi