Working with the Potential Energy of Opposites

This is a curious title for a blog post. Through working with horses, however, I run into many peculiar challenges the solutions of which I find in....OPPOSITES!
If this seems a bit strange, try thinking more in opposites and you just might find answers to problems you never dreamed surmountable!
Let me give some examples that I use regularly.
a)Instead of telling the rider to lower their heel in the stirrup I tell them to think 'toe down'. Doing so helps the leg to release in typical tension spots and the heel falls naturally as it should.
b)To sit taller, I suggest the rider sit smaller. There is something about compacting the body to integrate with itself, provided that the head can feel suspended, that makes the body taller.
c)To sit slimmer, I ask the rider to sit 'fatter'....by breathing deeper and lower into the diaphragm....making the belly protrude. The muscular activity of creating a wider fuller torso actually tones and slims the rider and makes him stable and less cumbersome for the horse to carry. This horizontally wider seat helps the rider to interact with the horizontal energies of the horse and unify his body in its personal space.
d)To create beautiful contact and encourage the horse to come round and efficient with more graceful motion, push the energy the horse feeds to you into the rein and send it by your intention toward the bit. Pulling to gain contact contracts the horse and pulls him in on himself, only to drop into the ground. So push into the rein and don't pull on it.
e)To keep the horse more willing to move forward, use less leg. Less leg makes more motion. Think like this.....a shout can be ignored or half-focused on to be heard....but a whisper....ah, you must come close and try harder to listen for.
f)To teach something new or make a request of a horse, try rewarding him first and then asking--- rather than asking and then rewarding. You will be amazed at how a kind gesture produces eagerness to please. Think like this: your horse is a king! Seek his favor by placing gifts at his feet.
g)When circling to the left, skew the body to the right. When traveling right, face the torso left! Look at ice skaters turning. They do just that! Think like this: the inside shoulder of the horse goes through the turn ahead of the outside one....so should yours! Make it better by keeping the entire torso skewed with the shoulders. No need to face the direction you are going! Energy can go around turns! You just need to send it there with your mind. Turning the head....no need....look with periforal vision.
h)An alternative to sending the horse laterally to the left with your right side might be drawing him to the left with your left side!
i)Sometimes it is better to think upward to a downward transition!
j)To sit deeper don't stretch the leg down more, bring it up! The seat nestles back in place and the leg can drop deeper. The faster the horse moves the more this applies.
k)Having trouble with a canter strike off from the outside leg back? Try using the inside leg forward instead! Better yet roll energy from the outside back to the inside forward.
l)On turns try not to use the lower inside leg but use the upper inside leg. Action of the upper thigh pressure is better than weighting a stirrup for bend. Weight is felt by pressure from the upper inner thigh muscle. The added benefit is it messages for the inside shoulder to reach up and forward.
m)On turns try not to let the inside seat drop back but instead send it forward to increase the step forward and under of the inside hind leg for balance.
n)A brief upward lift on the rein can help message for the horse to come up while a steady upward hold causes the horse to fall down in front. Likewise pulling down on the rein only causes the horse to pull up and hollow his back. Best to keep reins low and steady in front of the pommel and work the shape of the horse more with the seat.

I'LL KEEP ADDING TO THIS LIST! STAY TUNED!