Dave Long wrote:... on the piste ... able to be simultaneously novel and good ...
... Aramis ... varying from hundreds of milliseconds (in his fencing)...
Anders Linnard wrote:...I can check my browser history for them if you want ...
Ulrich von L...n wrote: BTW what is the source of your advice to control anxiety in a stressful environment (slow breathing, relaxing facial muscles, smiling etc)? Your own observations? A book?
I've often wondered if the haka variants in pacific islander cultures served exactly this purpose: they embrace and exaggerate the adrenaline dump and turn it into a threat display.Anders Linnard wrote:the exercise in the article is there to actually accept fear, embrace and observe it. And when you do that it also teaches you handle it and lessen the impact.
If someone is stressed because they're feeling a little out of control with their head a little further off the ground and moving a little faster than comfortable, given all their experience in the previous several years of their life, the first thing we tell them is to BREATHE. Then we tell them to RELAX and LOOK FAR IN THE DISTANCE.Miller wrote:If YOU are a force professional (LEO, soldier, bouncer) your job will be to accost people. From their point of view, you are the threat. You will use the same techniques bad guys use to control your own adrenaline (and, hopefully, more consciously, trained and taught and more effectively.) But the people you confront will not have that option. They will get an adrenaline dump.
If they go pale, things are on the edge of going bad.
If, however, the subject goes pale and relaxes and his eyes unfocus, you may be in for a very bad day. Most people tense and shrink up when the adrenaline hits hard. If you see the relax and the thousand yard stare you have stumbled on someone with extensive experience with adrenaline. He knows how to use every last drop of it. If you see this you may well be in for the fight of your life.
Anders Linnard wrote:... actually accept fear, embrace and observe it. And when you do that it also teaches you handle it and lessen the impact...
Dave wrote:Then we tell them to RELAX...
Ulrich von L...n wrote:Anders Linnard wrote:... actually accept fear, embrace and observe it. And when you do that it also teaches you handle it and lessen the impact...
Almost the Bene Gesserit's litany against fear in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune:
"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."
Generally, not much, as there isn't time; these sorts of situations tend to resolve themselves one way or the other rather quickly, and so we rely on being able to quickly remind the rider to do something they already know (which is why "BREATHE" is so important, if they aren't currently doing so). My wife often tells people to be a "jellyfish": their muscles should be neither tense, nor floppy, but in relaxed readiness, like being on guard.Ulrich von L...n wrote:Dave wrote:Then we tell them to RELAX...
Could you be more specific?
What do you tell them to do in order to relax?
Unfortunately riding is long on pragmatism and short on theory. There's an obvious biomechanical benefit in this specific situation: putting the gaze in the distance brings the head back over the center of balance, countering the fetal crouch which is the naive reaction. My wild guess as to the psychological benefit is that with hyperfocused tunnel vision, everything seems to be occurring too quickly, because there's not much time between when something enters the tunnel and it happens, but by unfocusing the gaze, one notices things earlier, anticipates better, realizes the situation is controllable, if not yet under control, and relaxes.Ulrich von L...n wrote:Do we know the actual physiological or psychological mechanism behind the benefit of an unfocused gaze, "the thousand yard stare"?
Anders Linnard wrote:Hah, that is exactly what Meg said when she proofread the article. I have no real knowledge of Dune, so it's purely incidental.
/A
Not all horses spook the same way. Some bolt straight ahead; others will do a 180 spin; some do a tap-dance and then freeze, legs spread; and others jump sideways or canter at a half-pass across the arena. A very few will buck or rear, but usually if your horse is actively trying to get you out of the saddle you are dealing with a behaviour issue, not a simple spook.
Dave B wrote:Anyone care to psycho analyse that?
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