Awareness Through Movement #283

Hopping, (on one leg) continued - with Marianne Rivington

Marianne puts a lot of time and energy into these lessons for Myself.Study, she read through our two previous ones to get into the theme and wrote these notes:

a photo taken from Marianne’s local environment

This lesson follows #281 and #282. My experience was that it works way better to do these three lessons in sequence… after 4 attempts to push and power through #283 and thinking Moshe’s words made no sense, I finally decided to quiet my mind, give myself a whole day to receive these 3 lessons, in sequence. It was then that I realized the beauty of this lesson… like the light of the setting sun shining through the forest of trees dropping their autumn leaves.

On my fifth repetition Moshes words made perfect sense ** and the lesson transformed into a peaceful, standing meditation.

(** There were 2 points in the lesson that remained unclear for me. I suggest that you listen to the words from the lesson and feel for your own interpretation

1. at 18:33 minutes on the recording… he says “the RIGHT heel stands”… I felt it should have been “the LEFT heel stands”

2. at 25:43 “with the left hand hold the right hand in front LIKE THIS… with an indication in brackets that Dr Feldenkrais is demonstrating the position of the hands. I interpreted the hand position as the right hand on the abdomen and left hand on top)

These three lessons develop hopping… and the alignment needed to safely land on one foot. I noticed myself connecting with a profound sense of stability, safety and calmness and realized it had always been there, just waiting for me to recognize it.

So, as with all of Moshe’s lessons please remember to
respect your boundary of comfort and safety.

I spent several hours exploring what I now call “preparatory movements”… creating safety and comfort with external support and giving myself some calm attention to the minute details of safe alignment of my skeleton for standing on one leg. Hopping requires the confidence that one will be able to land safely. This standing scan emerged from my exploration. I offer these preparatory movements in case you may find it helpful to your own exploration of these 3 lessons.

Standing Scan

Please have a chair/counter that you can hold for balance and available to sit and rest whenever needed. ALWAYS respect your boundary of comfort and safety. The same movements may be performed sitting in the chair.

1. Stand, notice your comfort overall.
   On a scale of 0-10 (0 =unable to stand, and 10= complete ease in standing)
   what number would you give yourself at this moment?

2. Explore placing your feet a little closer and farther apart so that they come to rest where it feels easiest.
   Does the right knee point in the same direction as the right toes?
   Does the left knee point in the same direction a the left toes?
   Would you be willing to consider making it a habit to to have your knees and toes pointing in the same direction?

3. Place your feet about hip width apart.
   What is the relationship of your shoulders relative to your hips?
   How do you experience your armpits?
   Begin to slowly shift your weight in the 6 cardinal directions…
   front/back, right /left, up/down…
   passing through a sweet spot in the centre each time.
   Moshe describes the ideal posture as the position where you can move in any direction with equal ease and no preparatory adjustment is required.
   Breathe naturally, notice if there are some points where you hold your breath and in which location or direction(s) this occurs.

4. Imagine a sliver thread pulling the top of your head toward the sky and another silver thread pulling your tailbone towards the centre of the earth

5. Locate the place where your upper thigh joins your trunk and place your right index finger in the fold of the front of the right hip and your left index finger on the front of your left hip and begin a tiny movement as if to sit down. Notice if your tendency is to move such that the fingers move backwards as you being the sitting movement …or forwards. Experiment with both options.

6. Stand holding the back of chair or counter for support… as lightly or firmly as you need. Begin to shift your weight from one foot to other. Locate the right pelvic crest/iliac crest (the big bone just below your waistline) with your right hand and shift your weight onto your right leg.
   Your hand on the iliac crest can help you sense the movement of the right side of your pelvis. Start with shifting 51% of weight to your right foot foot and leaving 49% on the left foot… gradually progressing until only the toe of the left foot remains touching the floor. And finally, if it feels safe, lift the entire left leg off the floor. (***My experience of well- balanced lateral weight shift is that the the iliac crest on the weight bearing right leg will shift downwards)
   Repeat the sequence shifting the weight to your left leg.

7. Stand, ask yourself if your sense any difference.
   What number on a scale of 0-10 in comfort would you give yourself now?

***In this 15 second video I have attempted to show that as the left innominate (pelvic) bone move downwards the superior aspect of the acetabulum (socket) of the ball and socket hip joint moves upwards and aligned itself for a stable connection of the head of the femur in the acetabulum. For many years this seemed counterintuitive to me.

I offer this thought now as I have found the concept so helpful to my safe alignment for support on one leg and hope it will lead you to your own further inquiry.

Sent from Canada, thinking of you folk in Australia doing this lesson on your Sunday evening,

Marianne.”

The lesson is below: