FELDENKRAIS AND HAPPINESS
Can Feldenkrais make you happy?
No.
Only you can make you happy.
However, and ever and ever more: being present sets up pretty darned good conditions for being happy. And to really do a Feldenkrais lesson right you need to be present,. And, in WakeUp Feldenkrais the premise is: Come to class present, experience the class in the present and most important: be present after class instead of falling into the usual post-class yammer-yammer sleep.
So. WakeUp Feldenkrais is about being present and all Feldenkrais lessons provide a marvelous opportunity to be present, since in the lessons, we put our awareness on small and non-forceful movements of our arms or legs or fingers or toes or ribs or eyes or breathing. Just about anything that can move, sooner or later we get around to moving it in a Feldie lesson.
Isn’t that fun?
I mean, really, isn’t moving with awareness fun?
Yes, unless….
Unless…we are moving to “get it right.” Then life goes back to hell on earth, when we are not with what we are doing, but are with a bunch of thoughts that are saying (in that oh, so accusative tone): this is the Right Way to do it, and you aren’t Doing It the Right Way. What a bummer this voice can be, what a bitch, what a bastard. And that is a big secret to unhappiness, isn’t it: to listen to the voice that is saying: You are Doing It Wrong. (Again). To listen to this voice, and to believe it, and voila: we are unhappy. (Again.)
So I say: To hell with right/wrong in these matters.
Let’s get back to : I Wonder, I Wonder, what will happen if I move this way, and then test out that way, and now try out this combination and now try that. A good lesson sets up this flavor: life as exploration and at the center of the experiment is our favorite thing; ourselves. We are the experiment. We are the laboratory.
And as long as we don’t have to Get it Right, we can have a hell of a good time.
Cool, eh?
See slowsonoma.com , if you wish, for today’s essay on Happiness Now.
Ciao.
Chris
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