Awareness Through Movement #273

Bending(s) with closed fists – Part 3 - THE WHOLE SELF

And so we complete this little series with another version what we have been doing the last two evenings. There will be kneeling in this one, the variations are a little/lot different. If you need something to kneel on, please have it nearby.

Warning/tip/suggestion: This lesson could be a little more ‘intense’ than the other two. My guess is Moshe concluded the series in one day, meaning that peoples’ arms were loose and free from the other two. Take your time, allow your arms and shoulders to get in to the rhythm and take breaks whenever your body requires them. It could go for an hour, time yourself accordingly.

Today I was sunbathing with Mark Reese’s biography on Moshe, at the chapter where he talks about falling which really has nothing to do with this lesson, however I found what was written interesting and appropriate enough to add here:

“Since the slightest provocation will stimulate fear or insecurity,
and trigger the body pattern of anxiety,
Moshe devised ingenious means to evade and bypass such reactions.
Moshe engineered nonhabitual movements to circumvent people’s tendencies
to fall into the grooves of previous habits".

(that emphasis on fall is mine)

“The art of falling is thus also the art of recovery…
according to Moshe, recovery is the basis of health.
Moshe defined health as a dynamic condition,
the ability to recover from shocks.
Whether originating from within or without,
from sickness or accident,
from violence or social upheaval,
shocks perturb our balance;
health is the capability of regaining balance
and standing poised again on ones feet”.

When I read ‘fall’ I keep wanting to change one letter to ‘i’ to make that word ‘fail’. I think both ways apply.

Please, with these lessons, be OK with falling,
and failing :)