August ATM's a variety of lessons #17

The Carriage of the Head Affects the State of the Musculature (Book Lesson 7)

Tune in to Moshe as he walks us through a lesson lying on the stomach,
and rotating our torso to bend the knees.

WOW, I’ve just finished this lesson to prepare the blog and I’m left with a huge sense of being rung out like a wet towel. I feel like I’ve never done it before, yet I have MANY times… not like this though. With all of this practice ‘under my belt’ it feels like I’m finally getting what this Feldenkrais thing is… and
OMG, it’s A W E S O M E !!!

To introduce these movements (page123),
here is what Moshe wrote in the first paragraph from the book:

“In this lesson you will study the dependence of all the muscles in your body
on the work of the muscles of the head and neck.
(The freer and easier the movements of your head become,
and the farther it can turn,
the easier it will become to turn your whole body
as far as it is anatomically possible.)

You will discover the immediate effects of imagined movements
and learn to distinguish between the projected image of an action
and its actual execution,
and thus acquire improved gradation of the differentiation
between the projected image of a movement
and its execution

is a means to finer muscular action.”

TIP: involve the elbows, turn them this way and that - which Moshe DOES say
and I’ve never heard before!!!

As we have learned thus far, the imagination is a key component of the Feldenkrais Method… according to Moshe, humans
“act in accordance with our self image”,
which lives really in the imagination.
Very often there is a mismatch between what we imagine and reality…
in this lesson Moshe talks us through an imaginary movement
with quite a lot of detail…
this, plus what we have been practicing could p o s s i b l y
provide a very valuable experience.

And before I forget to mention, this Awareness Through Movement book
is a little gold mine… I recommend getting it if you haven’t already.
The information is timeless and he writes a lot more aside from the lessons we’ve been doing…
and, if you do have it.. get it out and take another read :)

Enjoy learning more about, with and FOR yourself with Moshe’s moves: