Awareness Through Movement #1.5

Bending the head to the side when sitting - with Marianne Rivington

Marianne has taken it upon her self to participate in the second series of this “Great Project” by diving in to, and recording a series of lessons by Gaby Yaron and Mia Segal. Gaby and Mia, two people who were trained directly by Moshe, delivered this series in the SanFrancisco training some time between 1975-1978. Because the information lives only through documents, Marianne thought she could take these lessons apart and record them as a contribution to furthering our learning along the way... we’ll be feeding them in amongst the lessons that fit as we work our way through the manuals. To date, Gaby and Mia’s lessons live either on paper, or through other practitioners who have delivered them to their clients and their peers. Either way, there are no known recordings of these documents.. until now - a huge thank you to Marianne :)

One quote from Werner Erhardt that really influenced my approach to working with groups, communities and teams is to

“distinguish what’s missing,
the presence of which
will make a difference.”

and get to work on THAT! This little project of Marianne's is a beautiful example for applying such an approach to life.

It goes without saying that having Marianne work her way through this material is a real treat, for us… and the Feldenkrais community as a whole. Now these lessons will be available to others who are interested in the way Gaby and Mia worked (together), which is quite different to the way Moshe delivered lessons,
and yet…
in essence quite the same :)

Marianne writes us:
“One of the ways to complement somatic learning is to explore a function in different starting positions. Today, with lesson #1 Bending the head to the side when sitting could be briefly described as exploring the side bending function IN SITTING.

This lesson differentiates components of the side-bending function in side lying and then integrates side bending with the basic function of rolling.

The format I’m offering is two shorter lesson that combine as one for a full lesson. You may choose to do both as one entire lesson, or explore the movements as two shorter lessons, and if that is the way you choose, then your learning could be be enhanced if you do the second part within 24 hours… as a general rule of thumb, that’s when your kinaesthetic memory of the first part is clearer.

A recommendation for whichever way you choose, at the completion of the first portion, create a space to stand up slowly, and sense how you stand and how you walk. Then, when returning to the second part, take a few moments to do a brief scan before starting the movement sequences.