Photo by jean wimmerlin on Unsplash
unpolished thoughts 2/19/2019
It’s a really good feeling to lead a class where the participants feel better afterwards. But it’s even better when they know why they feel better.
That’s why I’m taking a different approach to teaching Awareness Through Movement these days.
In each and every class, I’m explicitly underlining the principles of biological fitness that we are studying.
Ditching the idea of being human for a moment, think about what is important to any living organism:
- the ability to breathe
- the ability to clearly perceive your environment and anticipate danger
- the ability to maintain balance
- the ability to stand your ground (or run, if necessary)
- the ability to self-regulate.
In other words, what are the qualities that make your experience in the world more stable, safe, and potent?
Moshe Feldenkrais didn’t define posture in terms of “alignment.”
Instead, he said that good posture is “the ability to move in any direction without hesitation or preparation.”
Are you sitting right now?
If so, could you come to stand in one single movement?
What would you do if a lion suddenly walked into the room?
What is your clearest pathway to the exit?
Is your body poised such that you could instantly move in that direction without the need to make a preliminary adjustment?
A key feature of life on earth is that it takes place in gravity. The importance of alignment and a clear skeletal connection to the surfaces that support our weight isn’t an aesthetic question. Rather, it’s the difference between creating shearing forces in our joints with every step – or not.
Having a long spine doesn’t just feel good. It’s that continuous reaching upwards that counteracts the force of gravity bearing down on you. Allow yourself to collapse anywhere in the spine and your structure begins to fall towards the earth.
When you’re falling, muscles that weren’t designed to hold you upright must be recruited for that purpose and are no longer fully available to perform the voluntary movements. In other words, your mobility depends on your stability.
When you are upright, the length of the spine serves another key purpose: to bring the teleceptors – your eyes and ears – to the place where they can most efficiently survey the surrounding environment.
In ideal movement – of whatever kind – the head and eyes are free to turn in any direction so that awareness of the environment never has to be forfeited.
How do you stay upright on an uneven surface – even in the midst of a windstorm? You must counterbalance.
For every movement you make there must be an equal and opposite movement that maintains your position over the center of your base of support.
How do you maintain calm in the midst of chaos? Do you know how to observe changes in your level of excitation? Do you have strategies to help you to make adjustments?
Being a human these days is not a simple experience, but the key questions are fundamentally the same as they have been for billions of years, and not that different than the concerns of any other living creature.
You might not live in a war zone and you might not fight for your food, but you still can’t predict what the world will deliver at your doorstep each morning. How can you prepare?
Moshe Feldenkrais did live through war. He was a master physicist and highly trained martial artist. He was also one of the most masterful thinkers of his day.
The aim of the Feldenkrais Method is not simply to make us feel good, or even just to move better. It is the practice of becoming a more potent human being, ready for anything, capable of turning one’s intentions into effective action.
It helps us to achieve not only physical integrity, but mental clarity and emotional dignity as well.
Does that sound like something worth practicing?
************************
If you’d like to experience an Awareness Through Movement lesson with a clear orientation towards improving your biological fitness, sign up for my free online class on February 25, 2pm EST.
(If you are unable to attend live, you will still be given access to the recording)
This class is a preview for my 2019 online classes.
The ¡Reimagine Yourself! program will teach you how to construct a movement practice to rewrite the story of how you move through the world.
************************
You can receive my unpolished thoughts in your email on a daily basis when you subscribe to my mailing list.
*New subscribers also receive a series of welcome emails which include two free full-length Feldenkrais audio lessons.*
(and make sure to check the box to get the unpolished thoughts RSS feed just below where you enter your email address)