You are wonderful

Here's the secret to life:
we are alive.

That's it.

We were born.
Some sort of end to the earthly existence happens.

And now,
right now,
we are here, wherever your here is,
wherever my here is.

This is good.

The secret to life is:
I am alive and that is wonderful,
and you are alive
and that is wonderful.

Wonder.
Means not knowing.
Not knowing means a chance to
learn
a chance to
discover
a chance to
be more, know more, feel more, understand more
and to
thrive in that change.

What do you wonder about?

I wonder about how to spend all of my moments
in the states I reach sometimes:
states of being profoundly happy with myself,
and with others.

I wonder about how to create a world
where human beings are free
to take care of each
other
and to take care of
the Earth.

I wonder how to create change
without being "upset," and "uptight"
and just plain old angry,
at the way certain systems
and institutions seem to be
set up
for the destruction of the Earth
and the making it hard for many
people to live decent, healthy and happy lives.

I wonder how to be happy
all the time,
without resorting to denial
and the phony happiness of
thrashing around
and making a lot of noise and hoopla and using
myself and/or the Earth much more
than is kind.

I wonder
how we
as the family of humans,
can rediscover that certain habits
are not helping us much,
whether at the relationship level when we
have the habit of blaming our spouse for
when we feel bad,
or at the national level,
when many governments have the habit of organizing
around attacking and being at war with
some defined "bad guy."

There is more to wonder about.
Even now, talking, and thinking and writing about
"war"
how can I
how can you
stay in our present,
in our breathing,
in some sort of peace and happiness.

If I am wonderful,
being full of wonder,
you are wonderful, too.
And what, can you happily
and peacefully wonder about?
And when is the wonder unpeaceful?
And can that change over the course
of this book?

I wonder what it will be like
to write a book
over 108 days,
starting each day's reflection
as a blog?

I guess we'll find out together.

stretching brains, not attacking tight muscles

barn in morning


a muscle can contract
it can stop contracting and release and return to loose

if a muscle is chronically contracted
and you try to "stretch"
it
the body has an automatic "stretch reflex"
to tighten against that,
so if you do succeed in
"stretching," you will be
actually only succeeding in tearing
the muscle

ah, so what to do?
find the muscle on the other side
use it
and
as you use it,
see just how much
easily
and honestly
you can uncontract
which is to say let go
which is to say release
which is not to say stretch
the muscles on the other side

so "stretching" hamstrings is cruel
and useless
and using the quadraceps
and honestly stopping when hamstrings bind
and honestly seeing about letting go
as the effort goes into softness at hamstring side
and appropriate use
(to lengthen leg, not to stretch anythng)
of the quads

make
sense?

if not,
come get some lessons,
amazing results in
all sorts of areas of ones
life
from this:
use effort where it should be used
let go where it should be let
go

good

Pose, Warrior, Warrior Pose

Non warriors with the great teacher: Earth and flower and Life

Sad but true:
the warriors are out there
posing away right now.

The Russian hot shot.
Some Georgian hot shot.
Even the brilliant little boy who
is playing President, is busy posing:
I am warrior.

I can send enough
bombs
troops
guns
planes
(not myself, of course)
to blast,
kill,
push away,
push around,
stop,
bully
get my way.

E gad. A world lived out at the level
of sandbox bullies,
whether the so called Terrorists,
or the now hung dead Bad Guy Sadaam Hussein
or the Bush Sr
or the Bush Jr
or the Lyndon Johnson
or the JFK
or the Truman
or the Hitler
and on
and on.

Warriors
posing.

And the poor idealistic
young men,
full of love for something bigger than themselves,
and anger at they don't know what,
and testosterone,
and whoosh,
they are off getting killed
as some older man or men
go through their warrior pose.

And then in yoga:
we hold
"poses."

What are we posing as?
Strong?
Doing it right?
Get our act together?
Taking our punishment?
Being good to our bodies?
Dedicated?

And sure,
yoga can be just plain old fun
and interesting,
if the teaching were just
about finding and discovering ourselves
in the moment,
and in the movement,
and so often,
that gets so lost
in the
poses.

And warrior poses.

What are we at war with?
Our bodies?
Doing it wrong?
Being weak?
Not being young any more?
Our teachers for being better at
poses,
than us?
Our bad habits?
Our wish to not be in pain?
A lifetime of not being perfect?

Who knows?

How could we do warrior
one
as a heart opener,
and no posing,
and lots of learnig.

How could we do warrior
two
as a shoulder and leg support
discoverer,
with no enemy?

How could we do warrior
three
with a sense of learning to
press down into the sweet Earth
and letting it all fly up
from there?

Play with it one your own.
Come to me from private yoga lessons.
Join the neurological upgrading lessons.
Go home from yoga and turn the war into
pleasure.
What would that take?

Won't that be interesting to find out?

Learning by Going "Slow"

Slow
Sonoma
dot
com

the idea:
go slowly
and life will be more available to us
in its everyday
miracle:

yes,
this miracle:
We are alive.

It sounds so corny
or
so obvious

and as Moshe Feldenkrais
said,
it's the elusive obvious
that is
so useful and powerful
in our lives.

and say
we are teaching Feldenkrais
or
taking lessons
and want to
keep improving
each
and
every
day

what's the best
way to do that?

Give ourselves
time
at least twenty minutes a
day

Find a nice firm surface
to lie down on,
grass,
the floor,
sand,
a firm, really firm couch
( I have one made from plywood with
some packing mats and a carpet over it)

Lie down
move
easy,
but with awareness

Not the discharge
wiggle moving

but exploring
how does
this
relate
to that

in ourselves

what can we discover
re-cover
explore
re-explore
examine
re-examine

how much can we love
going
within
going slowly
and trying
out some new, old,
easy, a little less than easy
combinations

how much
fun
can we
have
exploring
and learning

this is a nice
way
to
spend some time

each
day

The seduction of Stretching

some of garden
and the old barn back behind


Stretching is good
for teachers who want to lord
it over their students,
especially if the teacher is
more flexible than the students.


Stretching is a great way
to get the student
concentrating on self pushing
self pulling
self attacking
self violence
and then if they can't "do it"
then they can feel inferior
or bad
or worn out
or in pain
or all of the above
and won't have enough energy left over to realize
that the "teacher"
isn't "teaching" them anything,

that the so called
"teaching"
is just more of the
try harder
hurt yourself
breathe through the pain
"let it go"
stuff
that can be seen
at many levels
in our society

is that true?
i'm not sure.
it sounds right,
but anything can sound
right

in health clubs
and yoga places
the pushing a little more
and getting to the edge
as you hurt yourself
just a little bit
is way the norm

and is it part of our society
or are we moving toward
the fat lazies
at the end of Wall-e
unable to make any effort

these are all questions
that
are
far
less
important
than just coming to the present
this one
the only one
and being in our
bodies
and
in our
awaring
and if it
feels good
...
getting up from this silly
machine
and
going outside
to
walk
and look at the sky
and sense the fullness of us:
ten fingers, ten toes, belly, eyes, ear and nose

now that's a
stretch
that won't hurt!!!!

Neurological Upgrading Lessons

Chris Elms doing this for the first time in his life, at 63:
Feel younger, more at ease, happier in your body.

Whole Brain
Whole Self
Lessons:

to come to the
NEXT LEVEL
of moving,
thinking,
feeling,
living.

In these lessons, you either sit or lie down,
fully clothed,
on a firm and comfortable
table, chair, or bench.


You are guided
to being present
with yourself
and your breathing
and your awareness.



From that being present,
in easy and gentle increments,
you are guided,
by touch
and word,
to new and better feeling
possibilities
of using yourself
and being in your body.


These lessons
to beginners
appear to be "body work."

"BODY WORK" SIDE EFFECTS:
back ease
neck ease
shoulder ease
grace and joy in movement
moving as if 20 years younger
ability to "work out" without the usual masochistic nonsense
discovery of whole new movement, dance and voice possibilities
discovery of the miracle of having a "body"



"BRAIN WORK" SIDE EFFECTS:
new ideas
trying new things in life
sudden creative urges
letting go of old, boring patterns
rekindling love of learning



"HEART WORK" SIDE EFFECTS:
the giggles
a sense of fun
a sense of mischief
a sense of humor
a sense of delight
loving other people
and yourself
more

These touch guided "lessons"

(a far gentler touch
than you may have ever
experienced)



30-40 minute lessons.
You lie or sit comfortably and fully clothed
on a low and firm table.
You are moved and very slow, very gentle, very
brain awakening ways.



Best taken in sets of
5-10 lessons in one week
(10 for children is amazing)
for two weeks and then taking some time
off,
feeling the amazing changes,
and then setting up an ongoing schedule
of 1-3 lesson per week for several weeks on
and several off.


The more you bring one lesson
close to the next
the more the reprogramming of your brain
and action
"stick"
as a new set of habits and options
and
ways of being in the world.







contribute to

• increasing everyday joy,
• decreasing depression and anxiety,
and can
• radically improve thinking
  and problem solving abilities
• Sports can get better
• Sports coaches can radically improve their capabilities
• High performers
  can improve their already fine level of skill
• Musicians can learn to tune their bodies
  and their instruments at the same time
• Carpal tunnel and the aches of sitting around too much,
  or repetitive work can transform
• Actors and executives can be more in touch
  with an inner clarity
  and vitality
• Cerebral palsy
  and
  autism
  can undergo amazing transformation
• ordinary aches and pains can be undone
and your
• whole life
set out on a course of
• improvement,
• joy
and
• learning

If that's not enough
for you
check out the list at
BENEFITS OF THE Anat Baniel Method

---

To come to skill and understanding
in these lessons,
I studied 5years
in the Feldenkrais Method,
with 1000 hours of training.


The next level up from the Feldenkrais work
is the work of Anat Baniel,
who has kept the magic, and rigor and discovery
alive and thriving in this amazing
system of learning, change,
development and transformation.

I am certified as an Anat Baniel Method
Practitioner,
have completed
200 days over four years
(21 of the nine day segments of the Anat Baniel Method

including
Advanced Training in the Anat Baniel System:

Special Needs Children: 31 days the first time around, and then redoing this training, for 4 nine day segments, for another 36 days

Vitality and Anti-Aging: 18 days, plus redoing the first nine day segment once again

High Performers and Peak Learning: 9 days

Learning and Moving: On the ground/ floor/ Earth

Cottage porch this morning.


Can you take learning more and having more fun on your back? This is one of the great glories of the work that originated with Moshe Feldenkrais. He looked at our nervous system and saw clearly that a huge part of our brain is normally involved, when we are sitting and when we are standing and walking, in keeping us balanced and upright.

Lie down on the floor, the ground, the sand, the lawn, the bed and what happens to the brain?

Relief.

All that effort that previously went into keep us from toppling over is now unnecessary. Which means, our brains have a lot more open space for learning.
This is why, among other things, swimming pools are so fine as places of rehabilitation. Gravity is even slightly counteracted by the buoyancy of water.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to lie still in water and to move our spine and ribs and shoulders and arms and legs and toes and hands in slow and selective way. And it’s hard to re-explore how we learned about gravity as a child: by pushing into the floor, grass, sand, dirt, ground with our feet and our hands and our arms and our knees and our backs and our elbows and our backs and our faces and the other sides of our head.
Watch a baby in learning, which is one of their three main modes, along with sleeping and eating. In learning it is pushing some part of itself against the floor/ ground.
And check this out: what we often see as the baby lifting some part into the air, can only be accomplished by pushing another part back into the floor, so even when the baby doesn’t know it’s pushing down into the floor, it is.

Push down, push against something, get feedback in the brain: do this and something happens.

And with a given body, gravity is always the same. Not moody gravity, one day fooling us by being stronger and another by being less.

Each day, if a baby lies on it’s back and push it’s right heel into the floor, if it pushes with the same amount of force and the same direction, the same thing is going to happen.


Salvia ulignosa, a great color, and a trooper plant.

Hey, let’s try that. Lying on the floor, push your right heel into the ground and see what happens. Do this a number of times, see if you can keep the same force and same direction, and notice: with your bones and your muscles and your nervous system as it is now, the same thing happens.

Which hip raises? What happens in other parts of your self? Are you straining anywhere like in neck or jaw or toes that doesn’t really have anything to do with this.

Now: try raising your right hip without pressing your right heel into the floor (keeping both legs long). How is that?

Then press with the heel and see how down push help up movement.

Fine. Now rest, and imagine the heel and heel-less version of right hip up. Then rest and let your brain integrate.

Then press your right elbow into the floor in such a way as to help raise your right hip. Do that a number of times, leaving the leg and heel out of the movement.

Now, press both heel and elbow and raise/ rotate your right hip. How is that?

Now, knowing about elbow and heel, see if you can raise your right hip without them.

It may actually be hard to leave the elbow out once you’ve gotten it clear how much that helps. If it is hard to leave the elbow out, drape your right arm over your body and let it be quiet while you explore once more hip without heel and hip with heel.
Then use both elbow and heel and feel the participation that comes, however small, from the middle of you.

This is exploring and learning and if you were a baby and did this enough, you’d soon learn how to roll over.

You might have a whole new world if you did.

Rest.

Now roll your head to the left. Only to the left. Simply, a number of times.

And now roll your head with this variation: put your right hand on your forehead and roll the two together as you rotate your head to the left. Only to the left. Not beyond the center.

Now rest.

And then try this way of rolling your head: put the back of your right hand on your forehead and as your hand and head go toward the left, the place where the back of your hand touches your forehead changes, from middle of the back of your hand, toward your wrist. And then when you roll back to the center, move the hand such that the contacting surface moves along from near or at the wrists toward your fingertips.

This is complicated.

Go slowly.
Play around.
Figure it out.
Enjoy it and keep going slowly once you figure it out.
Rest.

Now start a sweet and interesting roll to your left side. With your hand in this last position and rolling across and with your head in the last manner.

Sometimes start your roll from your heel.
Sometimes start from your hip (and add on heel and elbow).
Sometimes start from your head and then add shoulders and then pelvis and then a finally push from your leg.

Get a different feel and a different clarity from all these variations.
Have fun.
Rest in between and keep playing around with this and exploring yourself.

Now, bring your right foot to standing on the floor with your right knee pointed skyward. Push your foot into the ground and recall and re-co the two ways of moving your right knee as you rotate your pelvis to the left.


Salvia ug meets you on your way in, as and if you come for lessons,
or breathing and speaking in the present,
or gardening in the present.

In each way, experiment with pushing out your belly and holding it in as you push.
Come to a feeling of pushing out your belly as being a part of engaging your back, and notice how much that helps your rotation.

Rest.

Now, roll to your right, as before, hand on head, sometimes starting at the head, sometimes the pelvis, sometimes the foot.

Have fun.
This is a lot.


(This is much of a chapter in a book I'm writing.
It assumes you've done some things
for a number of days.
That's fine.
If you play on through
this,
you'll learn
a
ton.

enjoy)

Creating Pathways to Change

watching last night a stunning
dvd on Joni Mitdhell

a life lived to create
to plunge into her own truth

a life lived to create
in paint
and word
and sound

a life lived to be
true
to itself

a fine reminder
of how we
can all
un-rut ourselves
come closer to the moment
come closer to the new
come closer to discovering
just
what is

what is
right for
us to be learning
and changing
and evolving
and revolving
and revolting
and catapulting
into

at this time
this month
this week
this day
this hour

of our sweet little
big
small
vast

gift

our life

movement and Independence

Independence

indie
independence

freedom
from what?

to do
what?

and sure
it's nice to have
some habits,
know how to walk,
say,
or tie our shoes,
though that's not needed
much,
how to hold a fork,
or chopsticks,
how to speak a language
all nice habits

and what would freedom
in thinking
and movement
feel like
look like
be like?

what if we had a bunch of
things in our lives
that were new and
not scary
but new
and curious
new and
interesting
new
and exciting:
that good old
freedom from the place:
i don't know?


what if
instead of rushing
through something new
we slowed down enough
to know
that we had possibilities
for change
for a larger way
of seeing
and knowing
ourselves and the world?


what if
instead of
going to yoga
class and
trying to "do it right"
and not giving ourselves rests
and not exploring whether
the "rules" these barely
trained "teachers" are passing down

we actually sensed ourselves
and discovered
inside what was going on
not what we were told was going on?

what if same
with tai chi,
instead of slavery to the form
and the rules
we explored
slowly
each pose,
what does this give us,
how could we do it easier,
how could we connect down to Earth better,
to ourselves
better
to ease and strength
better?

what if
in chi gung,
when they tell us to tuck of tailbone
under,
a great way to tighten up and restrict
freedom of breathing and movement,
we instead tried this
and tried to opposite
and learned
what was real for us
and how we fit together?

can we be free
to not know
which is to be free
to learn
which is to be
free
to become more
than what we
are
so
far??




and pain
back
shoulder
neck

do we crank away
or message away
or "adjust away"
at the pain

and other than gnawing
like an animal chewing off a
trapped paw,

what would a free and independent
way of exploring and
transmitting
this "pain"
be

and our attitude
to "pain"
how conditioned
and stuck is that

and our attitude
about going from something
we are good
(or adequate) in
to more fine, more delicate

from good to great

from effort to exploration and ease

these are some
possibilities

do we see life as
a bunch
of possibilities

that is
nice
when we are there,
isn't it???


happy 4th

get high without drinking
and what fireworks
can be find in inner silence???

Nice try, and why not Now?

Yesterday, Sonoma was graced with a visit from
Mike Merzenich
otherwise known, as Dr. Michael Merzenich
and he's a famous brain plasticity guy.

He discovered that monkey's brains,
if they learn something
and if it's marked for them,
if it's significant
(like learning leads to FOOD),
then their brain which lay
down neurons,
grow,
change.

He went on to make a program
the helps kids listen
to sounds
and words
better

and then older
folk
listening
better

and it improves the brain
and since up until recently
the myth was that you couldn't really improve
or change
the brain
or lay down new neurons,
this is a big deal.

So he's got this program
and it's probably great.

I'm going to offer
for a high fee
to make it twice as effective
because I hear it's not really
that fun
and it wears people down
and requires a sort of relentless
effort

all of which
are NON hallmarks of real learning

okay
okay
the brain is improved
the speed of processing goes
up
kids get better at reading
old folks get better at hearing and being engaged
by life

and still
if it ain't got that
swing
where is it's zing?


so,
what to do?

right now,
key into any
MOVEMENT LESSON
I've already offered in this blog

every one
will improve your
brain
and your
breathing
and your
body awareness
and your flexibility
and your
sexuality

yeah,
yeah,
Chris,
but how about something new?

okay:

he also has someone's vision
improvement
program,
helps people re-acquire access to
the periphery

fine

let's improve
vision
and sex
and
have
a little fun:

1. find something far away to look at
look at it
and enjoyt it and
follow your breathing

2. Now rock your pelvis forward so your belly comes forward
and back
so your belly comes in
do this a bunch of times

3. rest and feel how it is to be you right now

4. Sit at the front edge of your chair and do
the pelvis rocking thing, and add awareness of your back,
so
a. pelvis forward (hands behind you
on the chair might help)
belly forward
back arching
chest coming up a little (and breathe,
don't tense,
smile,
don't tense)

and
b. pelvis backward
belly in
back slouching, rounding, folding,
chest coming down a little
smile don't tense

5. once more
rest,
breathe,
notice yourself
in the moment

6. look at the far thing again
and keep looking at it,
and do a funny,
interesting
brain building thing:

keep looking at the thing
at let your nose and head go
up
and
down

so your eyes stay fixed
and your head and neck move

rest again, breathe, notice the now

7. now
keep your nose pointed toward the thing
and let your eyes move up
and down
so
you'll be looking
above and below the thing

breathe
and enjoy the looking

rest again, breathe, notice the now

8. Now look at the thing,
do the pelvis rolling and rocking,
and let your head go up and down

so

eye keep looking at the thing

and sometimes
a. pelvis comes forward
back arches
head goes up (nose points up,
and eyes keep looking at the thing)
belly comes out
breathing comes in

and sometimes
b. pelvis comes backward
back slouches, rounds, folds
belly comes in
breathing goes out
head goes down
and eyes
keep looking at the thing



9. Rest, breathe,
do something fancier in the other direction

look at the thing
and let your head go
right
and left

breathe

there would
be lots more in a
class
or a private lesson,
but this gets
learning
moving,
breathing,
the pelvis
and vision
all improving

good start

yes

Healing, Health, Happiness and Sex

sex is silly
really
the way most of us get all worked up about it

sex is profound
if we slow
down
and realize
this is me
alive now
connecting
with another person
alive
now

usually we
don't do that

oh,
well

there is always room for improvement

this work

the Feldenkrais Work
and the Anat Baniel take on it
and
my take on it
(here in
essays
and at SlowSonoma.com
is
about real health
real
healing

which means

what???

to connect with ourselves in ways of
moving that feel good
that increase ease
and happiness
that allow us
to really enjoy being in this body
thing
to have a grand old time
using our brains
to do
what they love to do:
learn

this is good

what is good in life?

to be present

to learn

to feel ourselves

to improve our feeling in the sensing way

to improve our feeling in the emotional way

to improve our connection
with God

what is God:

Reality

what is reality:

What is.

What is
what is:

good
on our good days

and on our not so
good
days
and
moments:

a chance
to learn
and improve

and so,
good
also
then


and is the blue sky good
and the green fields
and the blue green
waters

yes,
of course


and our breathing
and our skeleton
and being aware
of them:

yes,
of course

and why all this time
on the Internet?

to find hints:
life is good,
something beautiful
at the core

something beautiful
at our cores

finding that
re-discovering that
un-covering that

all,
good.

vitality, chi, sex, variation, love , life, fun

when googling
(new verb, eh?)
vitality, chi, sex
this,
among other things came up

i liked

maybe you will, 2
(my making it more poemy)
:

"Any single repetitive pattern tends
to distort
the open-ended flexibility of the entire system.
Let us be on our guard against
adopting any particular posture,
mode of
exercise,
or repetitive discipline
as being perfect,
or ideal, or best.

Only constant
variation
calls the
full alertness of the system
into being.

It is, after all, constant
variation
that we are called upon to cope
with throughout our lives,
a condition from
which we can only partially insulate ourselves
no matter how hard we many try to
cling
to models,
and no matter how "right"
those models appear to be from a
particular theoretical point of view.

Any set pattern,
no matter how good it looks on paper,
is a fixation that threatens
to be crushed by its own existence
to the onrush of things and events.

The goal
of bodywork should not be to impose
universalized standards of posture and
movement
upon an individual,
but rather to help the individual
to cultivate the
mental awareness
and flexibility
to continually adapt
to the changing needs of
the moment."

- Dean Juhan, Job's Body: The Handbook for Bodywork, 1987, p. 142

following the movement of life

a little longer essay
at SlowSonoma.com
that includes this:

quote
is one of many brilliant quotes
that could be "shared" from ,
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's
New Translation of War and Peace

it's from a dream
Pierre, a central character,
who starts the book as a befudled
and "absent minded and ridiculous man,"
and ends the book, still a bit absent minded and
ridiculous, but full of wisdom

in the dream
a voice speaks to him
and says:

" ' Life is everything.
Life is God.
Everything shifts and moves, and this movement is God.
And while there is life, there is delight
in the self-awareness of the divinity.
To love life is to love God.
The hardest and most blessed thing is to love this life
in one's suffering, in the guiltlessness of suffering.' "

Page 1064.
you've been through a lot
by the time you get there.
Pierre is suffering
and growing hugely
when he has this dream.

Hint, for Pierre,
though not for everyone,
the book has a "happy ending."

gurdjieff meditation, four of five lines

like this
get up in morning
sit at edge of bed
sense right toes, right foot, right heel, etc up to right hip
keep whole right leg in sensing awareness
add on right arm, like this:
start with fingertips, and up to shoulder, each part of arm (and leg earlier, bones, muscles, blood, whole thing)
keep both in awareness
add
on left arm, shoulder to fingertips
now we are three
add on
left leg, hip to toes
sense all four limbs, as long as want
add on outer world
first:
sounds coming in ears,
plus four limbs in awareness
second:
light coming in eyes
(good idea to open eyes to do this)

get up
go about day keeping four limbs
sound
light coming in eyes
in "continuous" awareness

very sparky
and amazing
and hard
and good for doing with anything

simple start

Feldenkrais is a name
and it's a shorthand for a method
and it's a way of exploring how
to improve

improving is an improbable thing:
most people don't want to change
unless things are really horrible

this is good
and
it's not so good

we all know those few people
who are running themselves raggedy trying
everything under the sun to cure this and that
and the other

most people
however could improve
their connection to their
bodies
and the grace
and ease of their movement
by taking advantage of what the Feldenkrais Method®
which is what the simple word "Feldenkrais" implies.

Feldenkrais is
really a man's last name ( Moshe Feldenkrais,
physicist, judo teacher, inventor, 1904-1984)

So , how could someone get a taste of the Feldenkrais Method?
Come to one of my classes.
Okay,
but quicker than that:
Try to link to the left
that says this:

Desk Trainer/
Chair Yoga
Mini cartoon lessons for
Neck, Shoulder, Back, Hands
(actually,
you can link right here)

That's the quickest way.

Another way might be this

1: Notice that you are sitting on two sit bones, Sitz bones,
the part of your pelvis that is for sitting

2: Lean to the left enough so that you can feel
really feel
that the weight is mainly on your left side

3: When your weight is over there on your left side,
breathe easily,
and after your breath is easy, rotate your head to the left
and to the right.

4: Notice which way seems to be easiest to rotate your head
when you have your weight to the left

5: Come back to the center. See if you notice anything different
from side to side

6: Shift most of your weight now
to the right side
to your right Sitz bone
and become comfortable with your breathing here

7: And in this position rotate your head
right and left
and notice which was seems easier.

8: That is a beginning exploration:
what is our pelvis
where is our weight
how does our head move in space
how can we try something new and be at ease
what is there to learn in some new configuration

And if you want to go further,
there is more:

9: Sitting upright
rotate your head right and left, gently
and notice how your nose moves from pointing to the front
to pointing to the side.
This is rotating your head.

Now: slightly tilt your head to the right
and the left
which means this:
when you tilt to the right, your right ear
goes closer to the floor
when you tilt to the left, your left ear
goes closer to the floor.
In both tilts your nose stays
pointing forward.

10: Practice the difference:
rotate your head right and left
tilt your head right and left

Go slowly and be gentle with your neck
and your nervous system

11: Now:
shift your weight to your left hip,
to the left side of your pelvis

and come back to the middle

and now
as you shift your weight to the left
alternate between tilting your head to the left
and tilting your head to the right

See if when you tilt your head to the right
as you shift your weight to the left side of your pelvis
if you can let your shoulders help a little
as the left shoulder comes up a little
and the right shoulder comes down

This is easier with pictures
and my digital camera is broken

desk trainer
above mentioned has a little cartoon guy to follow
oh well

so anyway

12. Now try the other side:
weight to the right side of your pelvis
and tilting your head
right and left,
letting your shoulders
and maybe even your ribs
help out with this

If confusing,
try desk trainer
or go slower
or give me a call
or buy the book:
Awareness Heals

shoulders, 2

shoulders
hips
elbows
knees

can you come up with a gentle
and interesting
way
to connect
and play with these
four parts
of our mind
body

game?

body and soul

body and soul
on a roll

how to connect with this moment?

just do.

that's the shortcut.

and another:
to follow our breathing

and another:
to begin some simple movement
and go slowly
and with little effort
and see what is behind and
connected to
and stuck
and free
in that movement

say:
this movement,

we sit in some sort of chair
looking at this thing
a computer thing

we slowly let our heads and noses
turn right and left

what is that like?
how does that feel in
neck
throat
eyes
jaw
back
ribs
shoulders
pelvis

fine
and
what do we see
as our head rotates right and left
and
if this is not enjoyable and
even a little or a lot
beautiful
do we want to do something about
how we have our computer thing

and how does it feel
to sit
now
and whatever we are sitting on?

fine:
now,
how about hugging ourselves
nice and sweet
(soul, soul, self love
and soul might have something in common,
the heart in their under this hug),
putting each hand near the opposite armpit,
hug and hug
and rotate the arms
and chest and shoulders
right and left

and feel
in the moment
in the body
and the soul of being now:
chest
ribs
pelvis,
eyes
neck

and how to enjoy something slow
and sweet and simple
like that

are we too fancy
for simple
here and now
self hug rotation?

I hope not.

and now
rest,
hands down,
eyes closed,
how is it to be us
now?

and then,
hug again,
and keep eyes on the computer,
or over the computer,
and let our arms ribs torso rotate right
while our head rotates left
and then coming back
let the torso go left
as the head goes right

slowly
slowly
feeling in the middle
everything lining up

following breathing

enjoying
stopping
resting

and then
fancier still
you figure out how
and go really
really slowly:
eyes one way
shoulders the other
head the others

so eyes and shoulders/torso are the outside of the sandwich
and
the head is going left say
as eyes and torso/ribs are going right

and flow
go slow
find everything together in the middle
if you muddle don't worry
slow
and learn
and be present

and is being present
the royal road to the soul?

one
of 'em I think
(nature and love, the other two)

you discover
you enjoy

ciao
chris

Shoulders

this picture has nothing to do with shoulders.
or maybe it does

the human body
is a marvel

and one of the many, many
sweet marvels is the shoulder

one of our great gifts
coming down the evolutionary chain
are
our shoulders

here they are:
one on each side

hey
try this:
right shoulder forward
and left shoulder back

do that a couple of times
and check out:
did you move your ribs
and rotate your spine to do this,
or did you move your right shoulder blade
to bring the right shoulder forward
while bring the left shoulder blade
back?

that looks complicated in writing
and millions of years of evolutionary
engineering went into this marvel:
a shoulder blade that can take a ride
on our ribs
and can also move independently of our ribs

so
hey
play again,
right shoulder forward
just the right
and see if your ribs are part
of the game
and
notice
if you can notice just what your right
shoulder blade is up to

(it's fair to reach around with your other hand
if you can,
and feel the shoulder blade.
it's big.
and wing/ triangle shaped.)

have some fun:
see if you can discover what a right shoulder blade
feels
like
and
how it moves
and when it moves with your ribs and when it moves
on it's own

plenty more to do
and that's a nice start

the Feldenkrais Method and real (organic) learning

the Feldenkrais Method and real (organic) learning

Brain plasticity is a field that is discovering in research what Moshe Feldenkrais discovered empirically 50 years ago, as he went about "healing" knees that were almost "worthless" from years of brutal and overly competitive soccer playing. He discovered that it was not the "trying" to fix the knees that did anything, and was not just a "working on the knees" that did the trick. He discovered that what he wanted and needed to learn was how to move himself as a whole organism, in the easiest and most efficient way possible, which turned out to be the most pleasant and most powerful way.

In other words, he learned that he needed to re-learn how to move, and that this re-learning meant he needed

1) to use less effort,

2) to involve more of himself,

3) to move with a slowness that allowed him to notice small details he otherwise might miss

4) to try out various ways of moving, even some that were “worse,” because his brain needed

5) to have a variety of possibilities so learning could be a choice, rather than replacing the old rote movement with a new “better” movement


So this sort of learning was about involving our brains in a variety of possibilities, and from those possibilities discovering for itself more effective and pleasant and congruent patterns of movement.

What does that mean?

It means that when you have choices you aren’t stuck.

It means that if you want to move with ease, you have to have choices that you make, not “good ways of moving” that are imposed on you by some well meaning teacher. (Note how most yoga, Pilates, weight training, dance, singing, even music is taught: “This is the way to do it. Yes, you are doing it right.” Or, “No, you are doing it wrong.” Praising, scolding. Good, bad. High level, or maybe not so high level dog training. In this mode, this usual way of “teaching” that really has no “learning” going on, there is no experimenting, no discovering, no involving of our brains and our excitement to be creative and to discover.)


This sort of learning, called organic learning (as opposed to rote, academic, learn it the right way training disguised as learning), is exactly what we almost all, as humans, go through when we are small. To learn to crawl is not a falling into and acting out some internal “crawling” program.”

We, as babies, have to first learn to roll over, to raise our heads to the vertical.

We have to learn what a hand can do to hold up a shoulder, and to learn that we try all sorts of positions of hand forward, to the side, closer to the legs, closer to the middle, hand on its top, hand on side, hand on palm, fingers together, fingers in a fist, fingers down and palm up.

We are little scientists, or we are little artists, creating all sorts of possibilities and experiments in gravity. We are moving. We are falling. We are holding ourselves up. We are trying, good, worthless, okay, pretty good options, and discovering which of these, combined with what we are doing with our legs and chest and head and eyes and spine and ribs and pelvis, are going to get us moving across the yard or floor the most easily.

We don’t want to crawl.

We want to move.

We want to move because we want to get something, “over there” and crawling turns out to the be the way we get there.

So we learn. And are a different being, a different sort of human for having this learning. This is organic learning. This is our human birthright. This is what the Feldenkrais Method and the Anat Baniel Method tap into.

You, too, can join this fun.

I hope you do.