During the opening workshop with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen at the Body-Mind Centering Association Conference, she asked us to breathe into each lobe of the left lung and then the right, connecting our sensing of the lung to the brain hemisphere on the same side of the body, and then to the whole half of the body.  Instead of focusing on a crossing over relationship of left brain to right side of body, right brain to left side of body, she asked us to visualize the whole left side of the body and the whole right side of the body while feeling a sliding articulation between the lobes of the lungs,  That body half, left side/right side is an older, more primitive developmental pattern in the body.

Today while riding, I concentrated on feeling that same soft articulation of the lungs while feeling the whole right side of my body or the whole left side, and then later, feeling both sides separately and simultaneously as I rode.  It was interesting, and gave me a very distinct sense of right brain, right hand, right hip, right foot and then the same on the left.  It felt stabilizing and I could feel Sanne, my horse, becoming more and more balanced as I rode.

Often we ride with at least a superficial sense of contralaterality, as in “inside leg to outside hand.”  In fact, that is not a true contralateral pattern, but a balancing relationship between body halves.  If we actually cross over, that becomes a destabilizing twist.

At the same time, I was aware of Sanne’s lungs – horizontal where mine are vertical.  Both breathing!  Dolphins and whales breathe consciously – each ascent to the surface a decision, each breath voluntary.  I breath that way as well when riding – becoming aware of when I have held my breath and stopping to breathe in and out.  It is my way of rising to the surface of my consciousness, becoming more aware, and in the process, softer.