Awareness Through Movement #121

Extending the arms and twisting to the back

Another classic Feldenkrais lesson, I’ve never heard seen nor experiecnec any other method encouraging this movement. Therefore, take your time and go gently.

It could be that you come to appreciate the design of your body with this lesson, Moshe gives us even more unorthodox ways to releasing the sticky bits of our shoulders.

You may be able to see in the image below, there’s (supposed to be) a gap between the back of the ribs and the shoulder blades, they’re shaped to work with each other yet they’re separate. The blades s l i d e over the rounded ribs, and… they’re not really blades as such. Their edges are rounded, they don’t cut anything, rather, they’re soft and gentle for that soft motion, like roller skates gliding over a really smooth surface.

Very few people move them this way though, and this area can get stuck into what is called “frozen” shoulder. Hence many people have neck, shoulder and back pain. Imagine what would happen with the rest of the system if this area stuck with glue…. eeeeggghhhwww.

And here is a little visual of the girdle in motion, this is where 3Dgraphics are starting to catch up. Developers still struggle with moving the human body, if they are unaware of HOW their body moves (see that same visual with muscles) then they can only develop from images.