There is a lot happening with this lesson, see how the spine rotates, lengthens and bends at the same time to lift the weight of the head from the ground… although what is not showing in the video below is the hand on the floor to assist the torso lift.
Tonight you’ll hear something called a kinetic chain.
If you imagine a chain lying on the ground, think of what happens when you pick up the first link and lift it toward the ceiling. As the weight of each piece lifts, the weight of the chain is felt through the whole length, each link pulls the next one off the floor and the weight changes.
When the human body is soft and fluid, the same effect can be ‘felt’ as the chain lifts from the floor. The head pulls the neck which pulls the shoulders and the spine into the pelvis which pulls the legs. And the reverse happens when the pelvis lifts. Space is made between the bones as one pulls the next… this can be felt when the systems are soft and loose. When they’re tight there’s all kinds of weird interference, the ribs can get involved before they’re needed, hands and fingers contort without having to, these types of tension feed into the rest of the system and effort or force is used when it’s not needed. For many people who sit in chairs all day, there’s extreme effort used if they have to stand up from sitting on the ground because their systems are not used to that pattern.
Tonight we’ll be exploring ways to sync into the skeletal chain, reminder: be gentle with yourself if this is a novel way of thinking your body, it could take some practice to get used to. This lesson is always available to come back to if you’re really curious and want more practice.
As well as the kinetic chain, you will be invited to think of the space that is available in your armpits. There are ribs in that area, tucked away under the arm. Sometimes when these bones are used to make contact with the ground, that can open up space for the arms to softly hang by the sides rather than clench into the ribs.
It might help to think of your curves tonight, and how when you look to the feet, the spine spirals. Because of the direct connection between the thoracic spine and the ribs all of the bones expand and contract, the stomach rounds at the front and can be used like a bowl to support the head lift. As we learned last night with Megan, the bowl of the pelvis is also involved in lifting the head, as the back softens to make the movement more enjoyable. That’s the theory anyway.. I know for myself it really is possible, and yet softening the systems has proven to be one of the hardest things to learn. Feldenkrais is filled with such paradoxical twists.
Technology is advancing as far as static images of the human body is concerned, many now show intricate detail of the human body and how it’s all connected, yet finding any software that shows how all of the systems move together is extremely difficult. You’ll have to make do with my little snippets until I work out another way to show you how what’s going on inside your body with these lessons.
For tonight’s lesson, it might also assist you to think of the ribs as something of an egg shape. Compared to the base they’re quite narrow at the top, both on the left side and the right side, and at the front and back. Imagine rolling this shape around on the ground, vertically, horizontally, at the base, at the top:
At the beginning of this lesson, you’ll be invited to connect with the collar bones, to prepare for lifting them away from the ribs. This area can get really stuck, and when it’s soft there’s a huge range of movement available in the arms, the chest which affects eating, drinking, speaking and breathing… amongst other things.
Enjoy learning more about your self through these movements, I look forward to catching up with you and hearing how you’ve been going with these lessons.
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