Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Up and down for the parent, toes and brain and delight for the child

This is my weekly post,
mainly for parents of special needs children,
but the ideas are obviously valid all over the place.

I.e. in life.
watch those feet in action




The wonderful thing about my work as an Anat Baniel and Feldenkrais
Practitioner,
is that I can move around inside myself
if I have forgotten just what connections might be fine
and wonderful for
any of my clients, be they adult or children,
to learn next.

Recall that the learning is about expanding awareness,
pleasure and options (freedom), not "doing anything right."

So, parents have feet, children have feet.

What can we do with this delightful fact?

I recommend this to all adults:
for five minutes in the morning,
warm up to life by bending the knees and touching the floor or ground,
and then reaching up and touching toward the sky or ceiling.

Now, up and down and up and down
and it's one more donkey thing.

BUT if each time you reach down for the floor
you create some slightly different placement of
weight on your feet, and different shape of your feet,
and pay attention to a different area of your whole
self
(feet and ankles,
feet and hips
feet and spine
feet and knees
feet and head)
the time will fly and you'll be amazed at how wonderful
it is to be human.

And your child:
play with her feet with the memory of all the different ways
your feet could push down into the ground,
and you are pushing gently and playfully up
into her/his feet in all these directions and
combinations
(both feet turned this way,
pigeon toed, toes out, both to left, right,
all sorts of angles)

and as you play with the different directions
and shapes of pressure,
think
Pleasure

think
Play

think
where else might this connect,
as above:

(feet and ankles,
feet and hips
feet and spine
feet and knees
feet and head)

Have a smile on your face.
Pay attention to what she/ he likes.
Pay attention to your ease and pleasure and breathing while
doing this.

Have a joyful learning session with your child.
A meditation for you.
A gift and a delight for them.

And the other way around, too.

Good.

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