Awareness Through Movement #313

RoIling at the rate of stretching and bending - with Megan Hopley

a note from Thursday 12 December 2024 which I added as a comment and am posting in the body as well:

“Interesting, I've just done a lesson with the Secret Study Group, from recording of a rolling lesson with Moti and it feels like it was this particular lesson - with a completely different context. Something Vita referred to in our after-discussion in the MySelf.Study group... this lesson introduces the way babies learn to roll.

Major differences between how the lesson from the manual is 'read' vs the way Moti interpreted it was that he invited us to explore being babies rather than adults - and that made ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

'Thinking'/acting/behaving as I would a baby had me lift my head throughout the whole roll and be curious as to what I was seeing - the ceiling of this room took on a whole new dimension! As I explored all the angles I became more interested in what was happening above and that caused my front to lengthen as I sought to look up.

As I listened to Moti talk about letting go of being an adult and simply working out how to move like a baby - without caring if the movement was 'good', 'pretty'... 'RIGHT'... I was free to use my torso like a sausage and get my arms/legs out of the way to make the roll smooth - and reversible.

The lengthening and shortening of each side became apparent and as my pelvis learned to roll from side to side THEN the legs became involved and I could use them as a weight rather than a steering wheel. Sensing in to the same with my upper body was more challenging, I couldn't quite get the armpits to open and allow that same sense of freedom so the elbows started to interfere.

The strain I felt at the very beginning of the lesson disappeared as I involved more of my torso to look 'up' and around in a spiral (at one point I got a little dizzy). I still feel the echoes of this lesson as I sit on my chair now to type this. Arching the back, protruding the stomach lets my head sit on the top as a part of the torso... letting it go along for the ride rather than having it direct any head movements from the shoulders.

A lot to play with in this lesson, and I invite people to explore being a baby!!!”

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This is what I originally wrote:

Please excuse me for not writing a post tonight, after what Moshe put us through last night I really don’t want to even look at the content of tonight’s lesson. So I’m going to be completely selfish with this one, keeping it as a surprise for all of us - except Megan!

I must admit, I do like the sound of ‘rolling at the rate of stretching and bending’ though, let’s see what he has in store for us.

(NOT THIS):