WHY HOLD TENSION? NOTE: To help understand this section and the next ones print and keep the INF diagram in front of your eyes.  Try to get a picture in your mind of what happens during any behavioral change. Trace the process with a pencil.

Tension is both physical and mental. Physically, it does pertain to the stretching of soft tissues and its consequences. Behaviorally it relates to the desire or apprehension to change. This is why, when I observe sentient beings, tension is the object of my full attention. Triggered by a stimulus tension can become unusually excessive or remain as a latent condition. Natural or unusual, tension relates to all aspects of life. Signs of unusual tension highlight symptoms that guide my in-depth evaluations. Their systemic study helps me find the real cause of a problem. When they are obvious signs of unusually excessive tension become the focus of all therapists. Often they distract their attention from the real cause of a problem. Obvious or hidden, the presence of tension can be detected and/or confirmed by sensitivity testing and sensitive palpation. Tension exists everywhere in a sentient being. Always for a reason.  Natural, or unusual. Physical and mental. Supportive or excessive. Supportive tension holds all the parts of the body together. It also connects the body to the mind. And, the mind to the body. Being omnipresent and highly interactive tension regulates behavior. It controls motion and emotions. Unusual excessive tension impairs balance and coordination. Signs of unusual excessive tension can be evasive. Most efforts to analyze them only in a static state are likely to be fruitless. The reduction of obvious signs of excessive tension tends to provide only temporary relief. To relieve unusual excessive tension permanently it is important to locate the hidden tension behind it.  And/or, to understand its real cause. Tension is directly related to behavioral changes. It links physically and mentally the brain and the body. The behavior of sentient beings is controlled consciously or autonomously by specific functions of their nervous system. The study of behavioral changes requires some understanding of Functional Neurology based on the INK principles. Consciously, sentient beings live pursuing well-being. Autonomously, they try to avoid unusual excessive tension. Spontaneity fosters well-being. To develop spontaneity, sentient beings try to delegate most of the monitoring of behavioral activities to their autonomous nervous system. Autonomous monitoring is not an intellectual process. It relies on differential sensory settings to regulate motor reactions.  The differential sensory settings establish a conditional tolerance for unusual tension.  Changing and adjusting the sensory settings are part of the decision making process that can modify behavior: Imprinting. Imprinting is part of the overall decision making process illustrated on the INF diagram. In this process the brain analyzes the stimuli of the autonomous functions it can perceive. The primary functions of the brain of the sentient being are to evaluate sensory perception and to direct motor reactions. As it perceives stimuli it decides if it must override autonomously regulated reactions by directing motor reactions. Immediately, or later thanks to its memory, the brain may chose to change and cause to adjust the settings of the regulating parameters. To do this the brain relies on two intellectual interactive processes consisting of conscious or subconscious functions. The first process is evolutionary. It relies on three important intellectual functions: learning, understanding, and memorizing. The second process is the core of the imprinting process. It monitors behavioral changes by adjusting the differential settings of several regulating parameters. When the conditions are favorable these changes may enhance permanently the beholder's behavior. If the conditions are adverse the changes could jeopardize temporarily or permanently the beholder's behavior. In extreme cases, they may induce partial or total paralysis; often they trigger only a muscular apathy that Thomas Hanna describes in "Somatics" as a form of amnesia. Tension is always actively present. It is a continuously changing condition. In a supportive role it seems to contribute to the comfort of the sentient being. Somehow, playing that role it tends to be an inherent taken-for-granted component of the overall behavior. Welcome, but ignored. The intellectual processes of the brain routinely input intentions and record information about behavioral changes in response to their stimuli. However, when tension is perceived as threatening to become unusually excessive, even for no apparent reason, the overriding mechanism of the brain takes over. Signs of unusual excessive tension tend to become evident. They may emerge as visible symptoms of dysfunction. In equestrian activities, unless they are laying down like jelly fishes stranded on the beach, horses can only stand and riders can only sit in the saddle thanks to their inherent tension. Managing with tact the tension that holds them separately and connectively at stand or in motion without creating unusual excessive tension is the key to optimum riding: The finesse in equestrian tact.

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THE MANAGEMENT OF TENSION "What Works?" The proper management of tension works for sentient beings. Let's analyze: What tension is? Where, why, how, and when sentient beings host it?

Tension is both physical and mental. Physically, it does pertain to the stretching of soft tissues and its consequences. Behaviorally it relates to the desire or apprehension to change. This is why, when I observe sentient beings, tension is the object of my full attention. Triggered by a stimulus tension can become unusually excessive or remain as a latent condition. Natural or unusual, tension relates to all aspects of life. Signs of unusual tension highlight symptoms that guide my in-depth evaluations. Their systemic study helps me find the real cause of a problem. When they are obvious signs of unusually excessive tension become the focus of all therapists. Often they distract their attention from the real cause of a problem. Obvious or hidden, the presence of tension can be detected and/or confirmed by sensitivity testing and sensitive palpation. Tension exists everywhere in a sentient being. Always for a reason.  Natural, or unusual. Physical and mental. Supportive or excessive. Supportive tension holds all the parts of the body together. It also connects the body to the mind. And, the mind to the body. Being omnipresent and highly interactive tension regulates behavior. It controls motion and emotions. Unusual excessive tension impairs balance and coordination. Signs of unusual excessive tension can be evasive. Most efforts to analyze them only in a static state are likely to be fruitless. The reduction of obvious signs of excessive tension tends to provide only temporary relief. To relieve unusual excessive tension permanently it is important to locate the hidden tension behind it.  And/or, to understand its real cause. Tension is directly related to behavioral changes. It links physically and mentally the brain and the body. The behavior of sentient beings is controlled consciously or autonomously by specific functions of their nervous system. The study of behavioral changes requires some understanding of Functional Neurology based on the INK principles. Consciously, sentient beings live pursuing well-being. Autonomously, they try to avoid unusual excessive tension. Spontaneity fosters well-being. To develop spontaneity, sentient beings try to delegate most of the monitoring of behavioral activities to their autonomous nervous system. Autonomous monitoring is not an intellectual process. It relies on differential sensory settings to regulate motor reactions.  The differential sensory settings establish a conditional tolerance for unusual tension.  Changing and adjusting the sensory settings are part of the decision making process that can modify behavior: Imprinting. Imprinting is part of the overall decision making process illustrated on the INF diagram. In this process the brain analyzes the stimuli of the autonomous functions it can perceive. The primary functions of the brain of the sentient being are to evaluate sensory perception and to direct motor reactions. As it perceives stimuli it decides if it must override autonomously regulated reactions by directing motor reactions. Immediately, or later thanks to its memory, the brain may chose to change and cause to adjust the settings of the regulating parameters. To do this the brain relies on two intellectual interactive processes consisting of conscious or subconscious functions. The first process is evolutionary. It relies on three important intellectual functions: learning, understanding, and memorizing. The second process is the core of the imprinting process. It monitors behavioral changes by adjusting the differential settings of several regulating parameters. When the conditions are favorable these changes may enhance permanently the beholder's behavior. If the conditions are adverse the changes could jeopardize temporarily or permanently the beholder's behavior. In extreme cases, they may induce partial or total paralysis; often they trigger only a muscular apathy that Thomas Hanna describes in "Somatics" as a form of amnesia. Tension is always actively present. It is a continuously changing condition. In a supportive role it seems to contribute to the comfort of the sentient being. Somehow, playing that role it tends to be an inherent taken-for-granted component of the overall behavior. Welcome, but ignored. The intellectual processes of the brain routinely input intentions and record information about behavioral changes in response to their stimuli. However, when tension is perceived as threatening to become unusually excessive, even for no apparent reason, the overriding mechanism of the brain takes over. Signs of unusual excessive tension tend to become evident. They may emerge as visible symptoms of dysfunction. In equestrian activities, unless they are laying down like jelly fishes stranded on the beach, horses can only stand and riders can only sit in the saddle thanks to their inherent tension. Managing with tact the tension that holds them separately and connectively at stand or in motion without creating unusual excessive tension is the key to optimum riding: The finesse in equestrian tact.

WHAT IS TENSION?

WHERE IS TENSION?

WHY HOLD TENSION? NOTE: To help understand this section and the next ones print and keep the INF diagram in front of your eyes.  Try to get a picture in your mind of what happens during any behavioral change. Trace the process with a pencil.

HOW DOES TENSION WORK?

WHAT IS EQUESTRIAN TENSION?

WHEN DOES TENSION WORK?

Copyright 2001,. All rights reserved to Michel Kaplan and Beau Geste S. O. A. R.

This page was last updated on: October 31, 2001

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