a basic problem in kahler geometry, going back to calabi in the 50's, is to find kahler metrics with the best curvature properties, e.g., einstein metrics. such special metrics are minimizers of well known functionals on the space of all kahler metrics h. however these functionals become convex only if an adequate geometry is chosen on h. one such choice of riemannian geometry was proposed by mabuchi in the 80's, and was used to address a number of uniqueness questions in the theory. in this talk i will present more general finsler geometries on h, that still enjoy many of the properties that mabuchi's geometry has, and i will give applications related to existence of special kahler metrics, including the recent resolution of tian's related properness conjectures.