The Concept of a Drishti in Riding

I’m fortunate to have a friend who is an amazing yoga instructor come to me for a private session every Tuesday. Sometimes it’s just me, but there are usually 2 or 3 of us that participate in the session with Angie. Yoga has helped me in many ways with my riding in terms of my flexibility, balance, focus and core strength, but it has also increased my awareness of energy and mindfulness. I often bring concepts that we work on in yoga to my training and most recently I’ve also been playing with the concept of a drishti in my riding. 

The concept of the drishti is taught frequently in Ashtanga Vinyasa practices. Simply put the drishti gives us a focal point or gazing direction for certain postures. It’s particularly helpful for balance postures but it can be used in a number of postures to help with attention and clarity as it helps you stay in the present moment. It sounds pretty basic on that level but it also goes beyond that to helping with awareness and alignment in the body and mind. 

So how can I bring this into my riding work? One of the things I love about training horses is that it is one of the few places I can truly live in the present. I stop thinking about all the things I need to get done or stressors in my life and just focus on the horse, our connection and our time together. Like many other riders it’s easy for me to get focused looking down, but quite often this is not where we want our eyes to be and we never want out eyes to be fixed because this hard stare takes away from the softness in our bodies and in our breathing. I believe the habit of looking down stems both from a desire to see what our horse is doing and also in times of focus it’s very easy to fix our eyes in one direction though we are sometimes not even aware that we are doing it. I have several concepts that I try to meld together in my riding work. 

As I am riding I not only think about my own eyes and direction of my gaze, but I also think about the directional compass in my low belly, just below my naval. This is also where my center of mass is located.  When my eyes are aligned with the eyes/compass in my belly, this allows me to find an alignment in my torso and also helps me to keep my center of mass in alignment with horse’s center of mass something I strive to do in all our riding work. 

In yoga, I am typically working in one basic area, such as on a mat, whereas when I am riding, I am on a moving animal so I cannot focus on a certain point, but the direction of my gaze and the softness of the eyes can help me to find focus and clarity, but also and alignment in my own body as well as the ability to influence my horse’s movement, balance and direction. Sally Swift coined the concept of “soft eyes” in the Centered Riding world many years ago as a way of creating awareness or our horse’s body and of our own. We also become more aware of our environment, and this softness in the eyes helps to create relaxation and freer movement in the horse. Recently in my yoga sessions, Angie spoke about how hard eyes or a very focused gaze also prevents us from breathing deeply as it tends to restrict our diaphragm. Everything becomes more rigid. When using a drishti you want to keep the gaze soft, allowing full movement of your breath. Breath work is as important in riding as it is in yoga as our horses will resonate off our own breathing and energy. If we are tense and holding our breath, our horses will most likely be doing the same. 

You can take this concept of the drishti beyond the direction of the gaze in terms of movement, breathing, and awareness and also play with how shifting the gaze can influence the point of balance in the horse, depending on the exercise and level of collection. I think beyond my own eyes gazing in the direction of movement, but connect them again to the compass in my low belly. If I want to take the horse into a bit more forward down allowing the center of mass to be a little more forward, I may gaze softly downward and slightly to the inside, feeling that alignment to my own center mass but only allowing the horse to go forward to where he/she can maintain balance and not be too much on the shoulders. If I take the horse back towards collection, my eyes and my drishti shift upward. Again, the eyes in my belly do the same. My chin may come up slightly, lengthening my spine and asking the horse bring his/her center of mass a bit more underneath. All of this must be combined with a correct position and use of my seat and pelvis. 

In all this work I must feel what is happening in my own body and how it influences the horse, striving for softness in both of us and awareness and mindfulness of the present moment we are connected in. Less is always more and I must always return to neutral and soft position, free of grip and tension. When I open my mind to listening and feeling I get moments of really strong connection to my horse feeling as if we are moving together and our balance and minds are perfectly aligned. In this moment it is only the primary aids of seat and body position that are needed. The secondary aids of leg and hand are completely passive and I feel the lightness and connection that keeps me searching for a deeper understanding of this art and striving to better myself as both a trainer and person so I can come a bit closer to the level of wisdom and intuition that is so innate to our equine partners, as they are by far some of the most talented energy masters in the living world. 

Sending you all love, peace, and mindful horse training practices. Namaste my friends.