Thursday, April 05, 2007

Awareness Though Movement: Some wonderful things to do in the morning

AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT® ::::::
A BASIC HAPPY MORNING WARM-UP
Key to all the Feldenkrais work, is the increasing of awareness, and the easiest way to do this is to move slowly, and gently, with lots of attention and curiosity.

Lessons either in groups, or one on one, where the primary focus is on verbal instructions guiding movements that led to discovery and ease and awareness are called Awareness Through Movement® lessons.

Throughout this blog, if you following the label Movement Lesson you will find many mini Awareness Through Movement lessons. If you come to my Monday intro class, at the Sonoma Ballet Conservatory, you'll experience them more in depth.
(See Current Offerings.)

Here's a series of movements, that if done slowly and with curiosity and awareness will led you to a richer, more aware and more ease full day.

ROTATION.

1) Gentle rotate your head side to side. In this and all subsequent instructions, go only to 80% of your limit, with 300% of your usual attention and awareness. Try to easily and enjoyable sense, SENSE, sense what is moving in you and how that feels and works.

2). Rest always between movement. Now put the right hand on the left shoulder and the left hand on the right shoulder and gently and easily rotate the center of yourself right and left.

3)Rest. Then experiment: center and head to left and right together, and center and head in opposite directions. Go slow, not to crank out a Twist, but to learn about yourself, about sensing and about pleasure.

4) Rest. Then move the hips in rotation. If you are sitting this can be done by moving the knees forward and back. Do this slowly. Learn about your pelvis.

5). Rest. Then move hips and center and head in various combinations. Go slow. Enjoy. Discover.

FOLDING AND ARCHING

1). Nod your head up and down.

2). Rest. Again put the hands on opposite shoulders. In this configuration nod your center, your ribs and torso and sternum up and down. Less with awareness is 50 times better than more done mindlessly. And safer. And happier.

3). Rest. Now move center and head up and down both together and in opposition. If this is confusing, go even slower and with less effort. Breathe and enjoy.

4) Rest. Now tilt your pelvis up and down. Tilt your tailbone under, bring your belly in and rock on your sitting bones to the back of your pelvis. The push your tailbone out and bring your belly forward and rock on your pelvis to the forward part of your sitting bones. Go back and forth. Wake up the power center, the sexual center, the moving center of you.

5). Rest. Try various combinations of head, center and pelvis is this up and down, folding and arching dimension. ( Want help: come for lessons!)

TILTING AND SIDE BENDING
1) Tilt your head side to side. So that the left ear goes down and then the right ear goes down, as your face and nose stay looking forward.

2) Rest. Put your hands again on opposite shoulder and tilt your middle side to side.

3) Rest. Combine and oppose head and ribs in tilting.

4) Rest. Tilt your sit bones from side to side, once lifting the left side of your pelvis and once the right. Do this slowly, with breathing and ease and awareness. Again, this pelvis is lost to many of us, sadly and with many consequences in painful backs and dull lives.

5) Rest. Try out various combinations of head, center and pelvis in the titling mode.

YOU CAN DO THESE STANDING, LYING, SITTING, DOING A FORWARD BEND, DOING ANY YOGA POSE.

Life is rich and creative is you let yourself be.

( See Movement Lesson for a batch of these mini-lessons in this blog.)





PLEASE BE WELL:


Pleasure
Ease
Awareness
Sensitive Strength
Enlightenment

BE

Waking up to now.
Embracing Change.
Learning to learn.
Loving to move, improve and transform.






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