Awareness Through Movement #110

On the Back, Twisting the Spine with the head Fixed - CONSTRAINTS - WITH RECORDING

“If you think for a moment, you will see that if you take a rope, place it on the floor to represent the heel and head, and if you then want to lengthen the rope — it is necessary for it to lie on the floor. If you lift the middle, or no matter where you lift, or no matter how much you lift — it brings the heel closer to the head. It brings the ends closer, one to the other. Whatever effort done in the chest that lifts it from the floor, shortens it despite a person thinking that he lengthens. He tries to lengthen, and shortens your body instead.”

For me, this paragraph provides further insight into how Moshe was thinking for these lessons. Max, the skeleton Megan loaned me is a classic example. When I lay him on the floor and pick him up by the skull, the rest of his bones move like a chain as I lift him up.

picking up a skeleton from the floor, Feldenkrais lesson - not sure why the men always seem to be in suits.

As the muscles get tighter, a little more warped through movements that bias the skeleton, it becomes more difficult to lift up this way, all sorts of quirky movements intervene.

With lying on the ground when your body is soft and relaxed because gravity, or magnetic forces pull it both from above and below to keep it horizontal in your unique fashion.